Heart Tracks - Name Cards

But now, O Jacob, listen to the LORD who created you. O Israel, the one who formed you says, "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1......"From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus." Galatians 6:17

I recently heard a woman named Allison Allen talk about something she does in her itinerant ministry. As people come, they are given a blank name card. She then asks each person to write down on that card the word or words that they think truly describe them, or who others see them as. She said that almost always, the words used are harsh, even destructive. Then, in the course of her ministering to them, she shares with them the reality of the healing Christ. The One who really does make all things new. The One who really does transform. The One who wipes away all the disgraces of the past. She concludes with asking them to now write on those same cards the word or words that they think Jesus Christ would use to describe them. At the end of one of her gatherings, a man came up and just stood before her. He had tears in his eyes, and was so overcome with emotion that he couldn't speak. She saw he was clutching his card. She asked him if she could see it. With a shaking hand he gave it to her. On the card was written, "Convicted Felon." She took out her own pen, crossed those words out and wrote above them, "Forgiven." And that man, weeping in joy and though long a believer, received that truth, and with it, his new name and identity.

In that simple exchange, an even deeper picture came to me concerning His healing, freeing love. His church is filled with people, young and old alike, who carry around mental and emotional name cards that describe and define them according to the devil's and world's definitions and measures. Failure. Cheat. Liar. Betrayer. Adulterer. Divorced. Loser. Forgotten. Ignored. Unseen. Rejected. Second Class. Not Good Enough. The list of names is endless. The pain that goes with them is too. Those names and words hold us in chains, tormenting us, isolating us, keeping us from others, and worse, keeping us from Him. He bids us to come to Him, with all our name cards, and give them to Him. And when we do this, He takes them, and with the ink of His precious blood, crosses of that word or words, and writes in that blood, All things new in Me. And along with that come His words of description for us. Free. Lovely. Favored. Cherished. Precious. Beloved. Honored. Lifted Out. Lifted Up. Hope. Beauty. Glory. His names for us are unending, as is His power to make them our reality. What we have been, had done to us, been known as, or perceived as, all their power has been broken in Him. Like Paul, we announce that they can no longer trouble or hold us. We bear on our hearts and souls, the brand marks of Christ. Like the old hymn says, We've a new name written down in glory, and it's mine, oh yes it's mine.

So, no matter your place in life right now, in your relationships, profession, ministry, or journey as a follower of the King, what words and names have you allowed the enemy and the world he works through to write on your name card? How tightly are you held in their grip of lies? Can you dare to bring those cards that were never given you by Him, to Him? To place them in His hand and behold Him to cross that name, those words off in the ink of His blood, and the power of His cross. And in that blood, and by His cross, write His new name and words for you? No matter how long you've been carrying that false name card, its power is broken in Christ. He invites you to come, name card and all, and receive His new name and words.....for you. A new name sealed by His blood.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Wondrous Love

"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffer! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night." Psalm 1:1-2

One of the first things I remember being encouraged to do after coming to Christ and becoming a part of His Church, was that I needed to have quality "devotional time." Others may refer to it as "quiet time." The crux of it all was that I needed regular periods spent in studying His Word, and in prayer. It was called "spiritual discipline," and it's importance was not left in doubt. So, wanting to do what was right, and also wanting to please Him, I embarked upon having those regular times. I was told I needed to do it, so I did. And it's there that the real problem comes in. As I heard someone put it, our times with Him should never be something we have to do. A requirement. They need to be about who we are. Most of us seem to live in the former, and we miss the joy and wonder of the latter.

I think it's a great tragedy in the church that so few of us, pastors and teachers included, really understand what riches are to be had in our spending time with Him. When we approach it as a duty, then our mind and attention are on things like how long, how much, and how often? We're looking for some kind of standard to be met. Some place that He'll find acceptable and that both He, and we, can live with. We miss the truth that His longing is to spend rich time with us. Intimate time. Life changing time. His heart in union with ours. His mind speaking into our mind. He does this directly through His Word, but also through prayer, and through a word we don't care very much for; meditation.

For the believer, meditation is simply allowing Him to fill our minds with His Word and His Truth. As we're still before Him, He whispers His Truth and Life into the areas of our being that so deeply need to hear and absorb it. It becomes a part of us. It becomes who we are, and our living in His presence becomes a moment by moment experience where His very Life is constantly flowing through every part of our being. It's not limited to a devotional or quiet time. It is an ongoing intimacy that is literally, as the Psalmist say, "day and night." It's not a duty. It's our joy. It's our life. It is not a "to do" time. It's a "who I am" time.

For so many, the words, the ways, the promises of God aren't real to us. We may believe that all of it is real, but it isn't real to us. He, and they, are not impacting our lives in the way that He wishes, in the way that He created us for. Like the great cartoon character Calvin, from the wonderful strip, Calvin and Hobbs, who had to be forced out the door to school each day, so do we seem to have to be forced to come into His presence. Rarely do we approach these times with joyful expectation. That's likely because there is so little expectation that we'll meet Him there. More, we feel if we don't, we'll anger Him, and there will surely be very unpleasant consequences. So we read our obligatory chapters and pray our obligatory prayers. We "pay" Him what we think we owe Him and what we believe He feels we owe Him.

I'm so thankful that I learned the joy of prayer and the study of His Word early in my walk. Even so, there were still times when I felt that if I missed, I would pay a heavy price for it. The "duty" taskmaster was at work in my mind. He still can show up even now. He's a liar. Our times with Him don't earn His favor. He seeks to bestow that always. And while it is true that prolonged absence from His presence will surely bring leanness to our souls, He draws us to Himself not as the stern schoolmaster, but as our loving Father who is passionate about sharing Himself with us. And our lives don't become an "I have to," connection with Him, but an "I get to" one. And that is how He wishes us to see all of our coming to and living in Him. We get to. It's a shared joy. His and ours. He's not just waiting for us. We're already there. That really is "wondrous love."

We live in a fallen world, filled with fallen influences and powers. The counsel we walk in determines everything, both now, and in eternity. If you consider yourself His, then whose counsel do you walk in? Scripture says that we don't live by bread alone, but by "every word that comes from the mouth of God." His bread of life. Many, like children seeing vegetables on their plate, eat it under protest. The goal is to get it over with as quickly as possible. Others as the very bread of their life. Bread that they eagerly seek and feed upon. Which one are you?.....One last thought. We sing so much of His great love for us. Love that compelled Him to offer up His only Son in order that we might have life through Him. Isn't a Father God whose love for us is so infinite that it went to such a sacrificial length, worth immersing ourselves in, growing deeper in? If you say yes, shouldn't you not let anythig keep you from His embrace....and He from yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Secrets

"You have searched me Lord and You know who I really am." Psalm 139:1

I heard Sheila Walsh say that we think keeping our secrets will make us safe, but all they really do is keep us isolated. Most especially do they keep us isolated from Him.

We all have secrets, things, events, actions, that we want to keep hidden. They're those things that we think, and the enemy so joyfully echoes to us, that if anyone knew them, they'd have nothing to do with us. The secrets we keep can, and usually do, carry deep pain. They can carry guilt, shame, and condemnation. They are an ever present heaviness upon our soul and spirit. No matter how hard we may try to escape them, their presence just gnaws at our soul, heart and mind. We want no one to find out about them, and go to great lengths, often destructive ones to keep it that way. We think we're keeping them safe, but as Walsh says, we only succeed in isolating ourselves, especially from Him with who there can be no secrets at all.

The pressure to keep our secrets only grows. We fear the possibility of anyone finding out, and so the guilt and shame that so often accompany them and have us in their grip only grows stronger. The secrets we keep aren't confined to what we've done, or may have had done to us. They also include thoughts, temptations, deep seated anger, even hatred. We carry these secrets everywhere.....including into our worship gatherings. We sing songs, join in prayers, and listen to the sermons, with our secrets in hand. And when we leave, our secrets go with us. We may have succeeded in keeping our secrets secret, but we've deepened our isolation from not only each other, but from the One we call Father.

As a pastor, I think I've come to realize that no one may be more adept at keeping secrets than we are. There's the ever present fear that if anyone found out about them, we'd be run off at the first opportunity. So we keep the secret about the true state of our marriages, families, and spiritual and emotional life from everyone....even Him. We throw ourselves into the work, and try to bury the problems ever deeper. And our soul and spirit dies a bit more each day. I know. I've been in that place....many times. It wasn't just that I wouldn't talk about any of the secrets with others, it was that I really wouldn't fully talk about them with Him. So I tried to handle it all in my own strength and understanding.....and failed. Badly. And that's always the end for us. The secrets we seek to keep will always find a way to show themselves in our lives....one way or another. Exhaustion. Burn out. Spiritual backsliding. The power of the secrets we keep is greater than our power and ability to keep them. They show up...in our jobs, relationships, ministries, and our journey with Him. And none of it need be so. In all of it, the One from who there can be no secrets, is all the while calling us to Him. Calling us, as Scripture says, to "Come back to Me and live."

He calls us to Himself. All of Himself, to come to Him with all that we are...failures, secrets, sins, and bring them all to the cross of Christ. At the cross we find healing, we find freedom. We find the One to who we can give all our secrets to, no matter how dark, and discover that He takes them away, yet never turns us away. Guilt, shame, fear, condemnation, they all lose their power in the face of the power of His blood....at the cross. He knows who we really are.....and loves us. Our secrets may have caused us to live very far from Him, but His call, no matter how far we may have gone is always, "Come back to Me and live." And we will, when we bring all of ourselves to all that He is.

Bring all the secrets to His secret place that only He can make known to you. The cross. His place of safety, healing, freedom....and life.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Storytellers

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, I Peter 3:15

I heard someone say that those who are His should live lives worth telling stories about. Here's the twist. The story would not be about you, but about Him. Christ the King. At this place in your life, my life, what kind of story of Christ are we telling. Is it worth reading about, listening to? What kind of Kingdom storytellers are we?

The world, and even the church, have too often conditioned us to think that only the great and grand stories are worth telling. We love the spectacular. We don't see how the everyday can be inspiring to anyone. But it's in the everyday where His Life and Light shine most brightly. It's in the everyday that a lost and dying world needs to see that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Answer, the Truth, and the Life. Those are the stories His followers need to be telling. Stories that are "read" and "heard" by a world in desperate need of knowing them.

Two storytellers had a deep impact on my coming to Christ. The first was a young girl I knew at the small northwestern Pennsylvania college I attended in the 70's. I never knew her well, but she moved in the circles I did, the party crowd. I don't remember ever encountering her when she wasn't high on something. Of course, I was as well. Such is the life of the party crowd. I eventually left school to work and earn money, and was gone for a year. When I returned, that young girl was in one of my classes. Once a burnt out "hippie chick," I now beheld a young girl that l glowed with joy and peace. I began to talk with her, and she, quietly, but powerfully, told me of how her life had changed, and more, Who had changed it. Gone were the dead eyes that my own dead eyes had looked into. They were replaced with eyes that sparkled with life and light. She told me her story, which was His story in her. No, she didn't lead me to Him, but what I had seen and heard deeply impacted me. I never forgot it, and today, more than 40 years later, it still resonates with me.

Several years later I listened to another storyteller. He was also a fellow "party circuit" guy. When last I'd seen him, he'd had long, greasy hair, and was wasted on drugs and alcohol. He was at my 10th year high school reunion. I went up to him hoping he might be able to share some dope with me. He shared Jesus instead, and what had happened in his life. Once more, I could not deny the transformation. The man before me was no longer the man I'd known. This storyteller, like the last one, left the imprint of Christ on my dead heart.

Almost a year to the day later, I once more came across him in a chance encounter that was not a chance encounter at all. He invited me to his church. My heart was ready to at least see what this was all about. I went, and I heard the preacher tell His story through His Word. My heart was impacted again. I went back several more Sundays, and then, one evening, in the home I grew up in, my desperate heart just simply cried out to Him, "Jesus, I need you." And into my heart came Christ......And all because of two storytellers sent to me by Him, to tell His story through theirs. Ever since, it's been my heart desire to tell His story through mine. And if I tell it right, no one notices me, but everyone cannot help but see Him. We are called to be storytellers. We tell His story in us, and then we leave the results of the storytelling to Him. I never saw that young girl again after I left school, but her story remained. A good story always does. The story of Christ, alive in us and through us, is the greatest story there can be.

The Father created each of us in part, for the purpose of telling His story, His Son's story, through us. Each is intended to be a "masterpiece," a "classic." He writes His story on our hearts, and that story then flows out of our lives and into the lives of others....and all through the everyday wonder of our living in Him. We are letters from His heart to a heartsick world. He intends for us to be read, and we will be read. The question for each of us is, what is being read by those we encounter. Are we stories that give witness to the miraculous transforming power of Christ, or do we just pass through unnoticed, because the world's story is seen so much more clearly through our lives than His is?

Storytellers continue to come my way. I gain much by hearing them. They've lived lives in Christ worth telling stories about. The world likely has never noticed them. Sadly, much of the church hasn't as well. Yet they're heart stories written from His heart by the blood of His Son. I long to keep reading them. I want my life to be a story of Him read by those He places me before. How about you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Christianity 101

"Why were you searching for Me?" Luke 2:49....."The glory of the gospel is that when the church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it." Martyn Lloyd-Jones...."Seeker friendly Christianity tried to revive the church by infusing it with the logic of the marketplace. Hipster Christianity tried to revive the Church by obsessing over newness and relevance....Christianity became more about apologizing for itself and affirming the culture than about extolling Christ and transforming the culture.....A Christianity with no teeth, no offensiveness, no cost, and no discomfort is not really Christianity at all." Brett McCracken

Very likely you're at least somewhat familiar with the current trend of universities establishing "safe zones," for students who don't wish to be exposed to speech, views, or ideas that they might not agree with, or make them uncomfortable. I think this idea has entered into the western church, and in a very large way.

Let me say that I fully believe that the true church should function as a sanctuary against the very real evil and way of the world. The true church is to be a picture of, a reflection of His Kingdom. The values, ways, and power of His Kingdom should be consistently demonstrated in the church and in the lives of those who comprise it's body, which in fact is the Body of Christ. The true church is infused with the power and presence of God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is to be, as someone said, a colony of heaven in the country of death. There can be no safer place for our souls. At the same time, if it is truly functioning as His church, it will be a decidedly uncomfortable, dangerous, even terrifying place for the flesh, our fallen nature. That nature that is so at home in the kingdom of death can find His church to be a most uncomfortable, even frightening place. Yet here is the beautiful fact. With all that being true, His heart will draw hearts that have been trapped in that fallen nature to Himself because those hearts recognize that in Him, there is life, freedom, healing, and deliverance. So they'll brave the fear of the unknown that they might enter into the life of Him who longs for us to know Him.

Chris Tiegreen, remarking on how the story of Jesus' parents finally finding Him in the Temple, and the disciples seeking Him at His grave, shows how we so often look for Jesus in all the wrong places. It cannot be denied that in our desperation to attract a lost culture to Christ, we have too often created a Jesus more to our own liking, and called people to Him. This Jesus doesn't cause any deep controversies, and seems to dislike His church far more than He hates sin. McCracken writes, "Rather than pointing confidently to the way of Christ, the church has narcissistically critiqued itself and praised the culture, all while Christ is relegated to a supporting actor role." Where is the Jesus that Peter beheld? The Jesus who, when Peter realized who He was, fell at His feet and cried out, "Lord, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man." This is the Jesus that I first met. This is the Jesus that after years of running from Him, confronted me in the dining room of the home I grew up. Like Isaiah, I was "undone" in His presence. And in His presence, He entered into my heart and life and began to remake me. He led me on a journey through His church that was decidedly uncomfortable, often terrifying, but was life transforming. And the transformation continues even now. Yes, this church is filled with imperfect people, all at different stages of their own journey, but the common thread is that in the true church, these lives are being transformed "from glory to glory." This is the fruit of the true church. It's messy, but it yields His beauty. The church as it should be. The church as it must be. The church this is His church.

I realize I may offend some with what I've said. I don't apologize. That evening in my mother's home, I met the consuming fire that is Christ the King, and He has been a consuming fire upon my life ever since. He received me as I was, but loved me far too much to allow me to remain what I was. With all my flaws, I've never ceased to yearn for the fullness of His fire in my life. I want nothing else. I'll accept nothing else. How about you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Your Kingdom Come?

"Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Matthew 6:10

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He responded by giving them what is known as "The Lord's Prayer.' Ever since, it is likely the most familiar and most used prayer in the Church. So here's the question for each of us, particularly as pertains to the above verse; how much and how deeply has this prayer been answered in our lives, in our fellowships, and in that part of the world where He has placed us?

Here's another question; when we pray "Your Kingdom come," just what is it that we think we're praying for? In what ways do we want it to come? Where do we want it to come, and even more, where, in our true self, do we not? We may want His Kingdom to reign around us. Does it reign within us?

Most in the Church seem to see His Kingdom as a future hope and not a present reality. It's either something they're trying to build and make happen here on earth, or, it's some far off dream that won't be realized until we leave this place. Either way, we're wrong. The Kingdom won't be ushered in by our efforts. It's already here. Jesus told His listeners that the Kingdom of God was among them and He invited them to enter into it. Now. They didn't have to make it happen, and they didn't have to wait a lifetime to realize it. The Kingdom, in all the fullness possible for those still living in the flesh and blood side of eternity, was here, and it is ours.....If we would receive it, walk in it, live in it, and behold it to grow within and around us. Now. Not later. It wasn't and isn't some goal to be realized, but a reality to be abundantly lived in.

So let's get back to praying that prayer. When we pray it, do we realize just what it is we pray for, and if we have, do we still pray for it? When Jesus directed His disciples to pray for His Kingdom to come, He meant that they were to pray for His Kingdom to come in every facet of their lives, within and without. It also meant that the fullness of the Kingdom, the rule and authority of the Father in all things, would come to every affair both of the Church and the world. There can be only one Kingdom; His. There is no room for ours. More, it wasn't a "someday" expectation, but a "today" one. Chris Tiegreen writes about our deferring the Kingdom to some future time. "God will do miracles, but not now. Every knee will bow to Jesus, but perhaps none today. We may see some momentary blessings - or glimpses of them, but we can't expect them or enjoy them for long." Jesus said that the Kingdom has come, and it continues to come. Not yet in its complete fullness, but it is here. We're called into its reality. Have we entered in, or is our mindset closer to that which Tiegreen writes about? Do we wait to enter into what is already before us?

I asked that if we knew what praying this prayer really meant, would we still pray it? In addition to saying that His Kingdom had come, Jesus also said that in this world we would have tribulation. Those who seek the fullness of His Kingdom in their lives and the lives of others will certainly encounter resistance. Intense resistance. Mark Batterson called this world a "shadowland where light and darkness clash." When we pray for the fullness of His Kingdom to come, it means that His Kingdom will certainly collide with the world's. And we'll be in the middle. The loved ones we pray for the Kingdom to come to, will be as well. So will all the situations we place before Him that cry out for His deliverance, His salvation, His healing. There is a spiritual violence involved in all of it, and it will shatter the comfortable complacency we love so much. We'll no longer be able to pray this prayer from the safety and comfort of our home groups and ladies Bible studies, or from our men's prayer breakfasts. We'll be praying it from the midst of the shadowlands, but we'll be praying in His Kingdom power because we are living in that power. A Kingdom that has come and has already overcome every kingdom of the world, and the satanic kingdom that rules them all.

So, what will we do with this prayer? Do we pray it in power, having no fear of the ramifications that come with that? Or, do we go on giving it "lip service" from the comfort of our spiritual easy chairs? The Kingdom has come, and it is continually coming. It's not a "Someday" thing, but a "Today" one. We're in the shadowlands, but His Light is upon, in, and with us. The fullness of His Kingdom is now, and we must walk in it now. Or, do we just go on acknowledging its reality, but not living that reality? One thing is for sure. For His Kingdom and will to come and be done, our kingdom and will must die. So, do we really want to pray this prayer?....It's His prayer. Is it ours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Side-Trips

"The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, 'Come, be My disciple.' " John 1:43

One of the things I've always heard people say about taking a tour of the Holy Land is the joy and beauty to be found in walking in all the places that Jesus Himself walked in. I can understand that, and I know there is a deep, spiritual and mystical element to all of that. Yet as I dwell upon this there's a thought that comes to mind. We can talk a lot about our walking in all the places that Jesus has walked in. What thought do we give as to whether He can walk in all the places we're walking in?

The disciples, with all their faults, were marked by this fact. They went where Jesus went. If they left His physical presence, it was only at His direction. They didn't make "side-trips." They didn't see any separation between what was "His business" and what was theirs. Their "business" was to follow Him, to be His disciples. There was much they didn't understand, but they did understand that they were His to command. Where He was, they were, and in all their questions, there was no question as to where they'd be. As Peter said, where would they go? Christ alone had the words of Life. Contrast this with how so many of we who also call ourselves His, choose to carry out what we call discipleship. How easy we seem to find it to make those side-trips into places He has not sent us and He would not go. We do this both physically and emotionally, even spiritually. We do this in relationship choices, career choices, even ministry choices. We allow our minds, emotions and the desires that they contain to enter into places that He has not led us and He would not go. We allow our eyes to see things that He would not look at, our tongues to say things that He would not say, and our minds to think things that He would not think. We walk in places that He wouldn't walk in. We go where He wouldn't go, and we have some very clever ways of justifying all of it. Somehow we are blind to the fact that the first result of these unauthorized side-trips will be self-deception. We're sure that He doesn't have a problem with it, and even if He does, we begin to think that we're just a little better informed about it all than He is. I think that this is very likely exactly what happened in the heart of Judas. His side-trips away from the path of Christ eventually led him into a full betrayal...and a place of darkness he could never come back from.

So the question for you and me is, in our hearts, minds, words, actions, and choices, where are we taking side-trips? Where are we walking that He isn't? And are these side-trips getting more and more frequent and of longer duration each time? Where do we walk today that He can't? Where have we been deceived into thinking that He has no problem with any of it? Where do the side-trips lead, and what will be their end? Alicia Britt Chole asked where might Judas be hiding in our hearts? Where might he? Do we hold the heart attitude of Peter, that there is no place to go but with Him, in Him? Or, do we allow ourselves the little side-trips without Him? If we go, what will be the end of them? Where does Judas hide in you and me?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Oppressor

"Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter; I moan like a dove; My eyes look wistfully to the heights; O Lord, I am oppressed, be my security. Isaiah 38:14.....Definition of Insecure - "Not secure; not safe; not confident of security."

Feelings and thoughts of personal insecurity may be one of the deepest woundings in the Body of Christ, let alone in the world. Despite our bold proclamations of our own abilities, or even our supposed trust in His, it doesn't seem to take a lot for most of us to be overwhelmed into a place of despair, fear, and defeat. We try so many ways and means of building up our own personal security. Bank accounts, annuities, retirement funds, and on and on. And we don't just leave it at the material and financial realm. Perhaps even more do we look for security in our relationships. Husbands and wives. Parents and children. As long as these things and people are there, able to be touched, seen, and counted, we can have a very real sense of security, but it's fleeting. Even when we have succeeded in having all of that, behind it all is a lurking fear that in a moment, all of it could be lost. Investments fail. Jobs are lost. People leave us. We're guaranteed permanence with none of them. We're told that the greatest fear of the truly wealthy is that they'll lose their wealth. In whatever measure we may use to count and define "riches," hovering about it all is that same fear. Somehow, all of it can be lost. This can carry over into every aspect of life, and yes, ministry. A brother who had a long ministry as a successful pastor here in Northern Virginia told me that through it all was the fear and the pressure of keeping and adding onto that success. It too could all be lost in a moment. In our hearts, we know that's true, and many of us have experienced if first-hand. The result for all of us is to live with a gnawing insecurity from within. We're not secure. We're not safe. We're not confident......so long as we go on living in a misguided and harmful idea of where and in who our security truly lies. As long as we do that, we're guaranteed a lifetime of abuse at the hands of the Oppressor.

Here's double-edged truth: We're master craftsmen of idols. We can construct them for every aspect of life, both animate and in-animate. In them we place our hope and our security. All of them, sooner or later will fail us, and even in the midst of our having them, the Oppressor of our soul will torment us with fear over losing any of them. Throughout their history, the Father told Israel that this would be so. They wouldn't listen. Will we?

Yet there is another even deeper truth to be known. Even if we have discarded every false idol in our lives, and we look to God alone as our Source for all things, we will not be free of the tactics of the Oppressor. Fear will be his biggest weapon used against us. Fear that somehow, the Father will fail us, let us down, not keep His promise, be found wanting. Isaiah knew this, experienced this. His response to the oppression was to throw Himself onto and into God. In the words of today, he "doubled down" in His trust and confidence in Him. You and I may dedicate our lives completely to Him, and look to Him, but we can be sure that the Oppressor will attack our dedication and trust. In that place we, like Isaiah, must cry out, "Lord, we are oppressed. Be (again and anew) our Security." And He will be, again and anew, every time.

In the faith journey, the Oppressor will not be a stranger to us. He visited Christ in the desert, and His Word tells us that he came back to Him again "at an opportune time." The enemy knows his opportune times. It is for us to know our all sufficient and completely trustworthy God in those times. Do we? Do you? The Oppressor; he will be an ongoing presence on this side of eternity. He is also a defeated one. The One who is Security Himself guarantees it. By His Blood and His Life He does so. He honors His guarantee. Will we?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Uncomfortable Spirit

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Ephesians 5:18-19....."Are we like the early Christians, rejoicing and praising God. filled with gladness and joy so that we amaze the world and make them think at times that we are filled with new wine? Let us avoid all excesses, let everything be done decently and in order, but above all, quench not the Spirit. Rather be filled with the Spirit and give evidence that you are." Martyn Lloyd-Jones..."The unpredictable and often uncomfortable work of the Comforter need not be feared or avoided....We should expect the Spirit to do remarkable things." Brett McCracken

Someone once said of His denomination, "We are a Holy Spirit centered people afraid of the Holy Spirit." I doubt his group alone is guilty of that. To some degree, I believe we all are. Why? Surely ignorance is a great part of it. McCracken says that one great reason so many believers find the Holy Spirit so intimidating is that because so little is spoken of and taught about Him in the Church. I think another, perhaps even greater reason is that we have became so dependent upon our own rational thinking and understanding. If our rational minds cannot grasp it, explain it, then we tend to reject it. James Robison said that the people of God are to live in and with a spirit of amazement at the ways and works of God. How many of us really do?

Vance Havner said that too many believers are living in a pre-Pentecost experience with Him. There may be a personal knowledge of Christ, but the power of His Spirit is lacking. Those who gathered in the upper room had that knowledge, yet they were directed to wait for the baptism of His power by His Holy Spirit. He said that "Some mistake the indwelling of the Spirit for the infilling." A.W. Tozer said that if there is anything a man desires more than the fullness of His Holy Spirit, that man will never experience His fullness. Where are we seeing that desire and yearning in His Church? Where are we hearing it preached and proclaimed? Havner said that "God will reward the man who forgets all else, seeking the double portion of 'power with God and men.' "

This is something more than just seeking to have rousing worship services where our emotions may be stirred but our hearts and spirits remain untouched. This is something more than just trying to stir up the ashes and, as Havner says, "Getting a few sparks instead of being set on fire by God." My particular group has a wonderful old hymn that contains the words, "Oh, I never will forget how the fire fell." Yet everywhere in our fellowships, in all fellowships, are those who have not forgotten because there's nothing to remember. The fire has never truly fallen upon their hearts. I'm not speaking this is self-righteous judgement, but with an aching heart. In the OT, fire consumed the offering that was placed upon His altar. Our God is a consuming fire, but we have allowed so little of that fire to consume us because we place so little of ourselves upon His altar.

Lloyd-Jones speaks of all being done in order. We've got that part down. How many preachers and worship leaders would be flustered, even lost, if the Holy Spirit were to break into the planned order of service? Do we realize how much, even if it's unconscious, we want to control the gathering and what happens? I'm guilty of it. Most of us are. When the Comforter truly reigns, it can be decidedly uncomfortable to our flesh. Chris Tiegreen writes, "God can be honored in the past and hoped for in the future, but He can never, never be allowed to intrude in the present." When the Spiritual gifts of the Lord are allowed to be in operation, all of our natural gifts have to yield. That is uncomfortable, scary, and unpredictable. That is also the New Testament church. Dare we have it to be our church?

I'll end with this. When the Holy Spirit truly reigns in us and in our gatherings, the result is something much greater than that which produces some warm spiritual feelings, but leave us unchanged. When He reigns in our midst, we encounter Him in His reality, and these encounters transform us. That's scary to our control driven, rational minds. But that's also Church, Body Life, as He wills it to be. Will it be so for you and me? We who call ourselves the Church.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Embracing Holiness

"For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9....."We have taken the infinitely glorious Son of God, who endured the infinitely terrible wrath of God and Who now reigns as the infinitely worthy Lord of all, and reduced Him to a poor, puny Savior Who is just begging for us to accept Him. Accept Him? Do we really think Jesus needs our acceptance? Don't we need Him?....David Platt...."Few think of the Christian as the greatest of miracles, a sinner saved through the blood of Christ, sustained by the bread of Christ, aflame with the heavenly fire." Vance Havner....."The most unpopular word in the Church today is 'holiness.' " Brett McCracken

Sometime ago I saw a quote from Francis Chan where he asked, "Where in the Bible does it say that we simply pray a prayer and then we're 'saved?' " I've a greatly respected pastor friend who during the course of his ministry baptized well over a thousand people. He once told me that of all those he baptized, there were so few who "lived baptized." Another friend who is a leader in a small town church that has seen remarkable growth in its short life with hundreds of professions of faith, notes that in the midst of that growth are large numbers of people who have never left behind their old sinful life patterns. Worse, there is no real confrontation concerning it. Brett McCracken writes that God's love does much more than just comfort us. It confronts us.

I don't think I'm a judgemental man, and I believe that His mercy triumphs over judgement, but can we continue to deny that there is something terribly flawed about our approach to evangelism and "soul winning" in the western church? What are we inviting people into? What are we calling them out from? How can we take the matter of sin so lightly when the Father was willing to sacrifice His own Son in response to His hatred of it? And His desire to offer freedom from it to all who would come to Him in believing, surrendered, life transforming faith? If one is to be saved, don't they need to know what it is they're being saved from, and who alone can save them? We too often offer Christ up as a remedy for life's problems. One who makes improvements upon our lives, but doesn't overly interfere in them. Christ says I aim to come into your heart and life and tear it all down, and make something and someone completely new, and different from before. He doesn't wish to make minor life adjustments in us. He comes to make a complete inner renovation....except we don't get to move out while He does it.

Two great soul winners of their day, Charles Spurgeon and John Wesley, both required of their converts that they exhibit evidence of the inner transformation that they professed. They were not only discipled, they were held accountable as well. They were brought into the life of the Church, but it was expected that they exhibit His Life in the process. Scripture calls it "bringing forth fruit in keeping with their repentance." And maybe that word "repentance" is the key to all of this, because repentance means a complete reversal of the way we have been living in opposition to Him, into a life lived in Him. For Him. With Him. I don't think the element of repentance has any great emphasis in our current message of invitation.

I recently had a Facebook discussion with a very good brother concerning holiness. His thought was that too many churches are putting the emphasis on personal holiness and thus isolating themselves from the lost. I agreed with Him that this might be true of some fellowships with a Pharisee type view of what holiness is; rules, regulations, and a distaste for those trapped in sin. But I don't think the majority of the Church is guilty of this. I don't think we're running from the world and its values. We're running into it and them. True holiness has little to do with what we're "doing." It has everything to do with who we are, and especially who we are in Him. Scripture tells us that His throne is surrounded by cherubim who do nothing but cry out "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty." If we are to embrace Him and His Son, we embrace their holiness as well...and it becomes that which marks our lives. We fall on our knees, and we cry out as well, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord. As Platt says, He is the infinitely glorious and infinitely worthy King of kings, and Lord of lords. He is a Savior yes. Even more, He is Lord. He is holy. And He has come. Do we know Him in this way? Not a watered down version of a savior.....but as Jesus..... Savior.....and Lord over all?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Clay Life

"House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?" - this is the Lord's declaration. "Just like clay in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, house of Israel." Jeremiah 18:6......"It is not a noble task being clay. There is no glamour to it, nothing boast-worthy, except that it is exactly what Almighty God is looking for. Compliant, moldable, yielded clay." Henry Blackaby....."Draw me close, not just so I can hear Your words, but so I can hear Your heart." Chris Tiegreen

This year for Christmas, all of my immediate family was together for the first time in a number of years. The best part was having my little great-nieces and nephew with us. The oldest niece is a lover of crafts, and one of her favorite gifts was a kit that allowed her to mold sculptures out of clay. I watched her for a while as she shaped the clay into the figures that she wanted. What had been stiff, straight pieces were slowly shaped into just the kind of figures she desired. There was no resistance in the clay. It was yielded to her purpose. The question for you and me is, as God calls us clay in His hands, just how yielded are we for the purpose(s) He has created us for? Are we compliant, moldable, yielded, as Blackaby says, or do we remain stiff, straight pieces that never take any other form?

Years ago, as a young believer in Colorado Springs, I attended a Friday night service in a local church. They had a lady and her daughter who used the mother's pottery skills as a means of ministry. The dialogue between the two was meant to reflect a dialogue between the Father and one of His children, and as they talked, the mother shaped a pot upon her wheel. As long as the daughter was in a agreement with what the potter was doing in her life, a beautiful piece was being fashioned on the wheel. However, when the mother indicated a direction in which the daughter didn't wish to go, and the daughter stubbornly persisted in this, the piece on the wheel ceased its journey to beauty and slowly became misshapen, and eventually, just a shapeless lump of clay. It was only when the child repented of her willfulness, and yielded to the purposes of the potter, that the mother could once again begin to shape her intended masterpiece. It made a deep impression on me, and I remember it well more than 30 years past now. How often are we just like the daughter? Where and when does our stubbornness, resistance, and double-mindedness mar the work He seeks to do in our lives? When and how often does His intended masterpiece become nothing more than a lump of clay due to our fighting against His purposes for us? Can He shape us according to His pattern of beauty, or, do we more often than not remain shapeless lumps of clay on His wheel? Or never submit to the wheel to begin with?

There is one last aspect of that night that I remember so well. It was the "bond" that the potter had with the clay. As she molded the piece on her wheel, you could see the tenderness in her hands as she did so. A tenderness that moved from her heart, through her hands, into the clay. And so it is to be with us. Tiegreen says that He draws us near so that we not only hear His words, but His heart. If we live that yielded, compliant life before the Potter who is Father God, we will hear and experience His heart through His hands as He shapes and directs our lives. As I watched that woman that night, it seemed like she and the clay on her wheel were one. So it is to be with you and me and our God. Is it that way with us?..........Or, do live a lifestyle of resistance, yes, even rebellion against His purposes? Is the beauty He created us for being realized, or, do we remain just shapeless lumps of clay?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Altar Life

"I urge your brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." Romans 12:1....."If you've never seen your worship as the ultimate purpose of your salvation, you're missing the best part of salvation.......Living sacrifices don't live for themselves. They live for Another. That's their service of worship." Chris Tiegreen

The last two decades in the Church have seen a great deal of debate concerning worship. Most seems to have centered around style. "Traditional" vs "Contemporary" seems to be the main focus. The controversy seems to have abated for the most part as more and more, the contemporary appears to have won out. Yet, my great question for us all is, in all the debating, have we ever really understood what worship really is, and what it's really about? In all the controversy, it seems that we think worship is all about us, what we like. Little thought goes into what it is that He loves and seeks.

Jesus said that those who worship Him must worship Him "in spirit and in truth." That's the only worship that's real. So, dare we ask ourselves, just how much of what we call worship is real? How much of His Spirit and His Truth comprises it? Is what we find so acceptable in our gatherings truly acceptable to Him?

There's been an alarming trait going on in the Church for some time now. That's the moving away from any emphasis on the Old Testament. I've heard preachers say outright that they spend little if any time in its study, so obviously, they spend little if any time in its preaching. It's to their and their fellowships great harm. I realize that we live under the New Covenant in Christ, yet there remains life giving and life saving truth to be found in what He spoke before the giving of His Son.

In those times, the Father called His people to journey to His Temple and there offer to Him the best of their flocks and produce. In this offering also came their asking of forgiveness for their sin, as well as deep gratitude for His goodness. It was to be an act of devotion and worship coming from a loving heart towards Him. These gifts were placed upon His altar and were offerings in which no part was held back. It is a foretaste of the worship we are now called to in Christ. What we bring is more than the best of what we have. We bring the best of, all of, what and who we are to Him. In devotion, gratitude and love for who He is and what He has done for us in Christ the King. It is a Living Sacrifice, and as Tiegreen says, "It lives a dedicated life, an altar life. It now belongs to the Priest (Christ). We are in His hands."

So, just how deep and worshipful is your altar life and mine? Do we live "altar lives" at all. I don't think God much cares what style of worship we come to Him with, or even how skillfully done it is. He cares even less about the props we come up with to accompany it, or the amount of self that goes into it. What He calls for, commands, is ourselves, all of ourselves, on the altar, all of the time. Altar life. No other kind can ever be fully acceptable to Him. Is what we're offering Him really acceptable? There may well be many things you've placed upon His altar. Have you ever placed yourself there? Do you place yourself there now? Worship Life, Altar Life. They're really one and the same. Are they so for you and me?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Issues

And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true."Revelation 21:5...."If we have not yet gotten to that point of laying ourselves on the altar before Him - without reservation - we have not yet encountered the living God." Chris Tiegreen

We're, as I write this, in the second day of another new year. As I contemplate that, I have to ask a question of both you and myself; just what new thing in the past year was He able to do in our lives? I'm not talking about a new job, new relationship, new home or car. His Word says that in Him, the old has passed away, and the new has come. What of the old, fallen aspect of your life has passed away, and what newness in Christ has come? What is really new, and what has remained the same? What new spiritual ground have we stepped out on, and in how many places do we continue to stand on the borderland of His promises? How much of the just passed year looked just like the years that preceded it? How much of the coming year will be the same?

The new year is always a great time for making resolutions, and we make a lot of them. We also fail to keep most of them. Why? Because it's so easy to make resolutions about our issues instead of taking the steps needed in resolving them. In short, we make resolutions about everything while almost never resolving anything. What have been our major "issues" in the last year(s) continue to be so in the current one. Why? Because it's easier to make a resolution than to confront the issue in Christ, and in His grace and power, overcome it, resolve it. Turning our weakness in the flesh into our strength in Him. As someone said, if we don't deal with our issues today, they will surely deal with us tomorrow. And they do.....again and again. Resolutions made in our own strength always allow us to slip back into our own spiritual lethargy. We keep standing on the borderland of His wonder, held captive there by our own weakness and fear. Only when we resolve in Him to take hold of the promise, do we enter into it, and we behold and lay hold of the victory that He's already given us.

Speaking of issues, what greater one could we face than that of the masquerade we can so easily be a part of? That is the issue of our masquerading as dedicated followers of Christ when so much of our lives are not dedicated to Him at all. We give a tithe of our money, time, talent, but we "spend" the rest of that in ways that we see fit. God has His part and we have the rest. We place some of ourselves on His altar, and then worship at the altars of pleasure, material things, success, ambition, applause, and self-fulfillment. We dedicate a few moments in pursuit of Him and the rest of our time in the pursuit of what most pleases us. Along the way He pricks our conscience about it, and we say we'll do better, but it doesn't last, and we slip back.....and the masquerade goes on.

There's one more issue to cover and then I'll stop. It's an issue each of us must face. We as His people must cease to declare that we wish for His Spirit to be free in His Church when we are not allowing Him to be free in our own lives. This issue more than any other is what has caused us to depend upon pastors and worship leaders to create an atmosphere that may feed emotions and make us feel like we're in His Presence, but in reality never lays hold of His Person. We know the superficial, we don't experience the supernatural. Only when we are experiencing Him in our moment by moment walk will we know the true wonder of what it is to gather together in Him. How badly do we want this? How passionately will we pursue it?

Issues. We have them. Our fellowships have them. You and I have them. Do they go on, or are they resolved? Do the masks come off, or do they stay on? Are all things really new.....or is it just going to be "second verse, same as the first?" Will the new year really be new?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Not What, But Who

"Then I heard the Lord asking, 'Whom should I send as a messenger to My people? Who will go for Us?' And I said, 'Lord, I'll go! Send me.' " Isaiah 6:8...."Those who hear Him must listen with a soft heart.....A soft heart will say yes to whatever God wants because it trusts His goodness implicitly. A soft heart complies with God - not one day, not tomorrow, but today." Chris Tiegreen

Sheila Walsh tells the story of how, as a young girl, she asked her mother how she could say yes to God when she didn't know what might lie ahead for her in response to her yes. She said her mother's answer was, "We don't know what we're saying yes to, but we do know Who we're saying yes to." It is that simple truth that make all the difference for us.

It so easy to make Isaiah 6:8 all about a missionary call, but it is far more than that. Saying "yes" to God in all things is a far more sweeping declaration that just a willingness to evangelize for Him. It is a declaration of obedience, submission, trust, and courageous fearlessness in the face of every danger and impossibility that might lie ahead in our ever deeper walk of faith in and with Him. When the Father calls a person, He calls all of that person into all of Himself. In essence, He speaks but three words to us in the call, "Trust and obey." In the midst of the unknown, we look to the known, the Father Himself. We have said yes, even though we have little if any idea as to what we've said yes to. Yet we step out because we do know who it is we've given that yes to. We don't know the way, but we do know the way of His heart. And we can rest there. We can live there. We can move out from there, but in the moving out, we never move out from His heart. It's our dwelling place, just as we are His dwelling place.

Here we stand on the entry way into another new year. This is the 38th that I've embarked on since I met Him in Christ all those years ago. Each one was marked by a great unknown, but each one was also marked with an invitation to know Him who called me. In each of those years there were great challenges, deep joys and sometimes even deeper sorrows. There were giants in the land, and enemies surrounding me, but He called me on, into ever deeper experiences of Himself. His faithfulness, His mercy, His victory, His love.....and His forgiveness. There were deserts, there were shipwrecks. There were the betrayals of friends and loved ones, and yes, my own failures. In all of them, He continually revealed to me who He was, and who He is. And now, He calls me into what will be my 39th new year in Him. I still don't know what He calls me to, but I rejoice that He continues to call me into Who He is, and who He is to me. They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Not so with Him. Though He's the unchangeable One who will never cease being who He is, He will also never cease to reveal to us an ever deeper revelation of Himself. So we can say "yes" to His call because we know Who it is that calls us. The adventure goes on. Deeper, ever deeper into Him. Our part, your part, is to trust and obey. Can we? Will we? Can, and will you?

Blessings,
Pastor O