Heart Tracks - Illusions

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie." Romans 1:25...."We exchange the truth for a lie because we had a falling out with the truth, and lies are the only options left." Chris Tiegreen ... "Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions." Oswald Chambers

One of the well known stories in the Old Testament is when the Israelites, growing impatient with Moses absence while on Mt. Sinai with God, decided that they could not trust this God who had led them out of Egypt. He was too much of a mystery to them, so they decided to "craft" Him in an image they could more easily identify with; a golden calf. They didn't see it as rejection, just a re-making of Him in a form more acceptable to themselves. Scripture says they exchanged the glory of God for a statue of a grass eating ox. They, as Paul writes, exchanged His Truth for a lie. Might there be someplace, many places, where we have done the same?

Chambers said that we suffer from illusions. This is true. We have illusions about Him, what He should do and be. We have illusions about ourselves, who we think we are as compared to who we really are. We have illusions about others, about the church, heaven and hell, suffering, sickness, and a multitude of other things. Our illusions yield so many "cruel things," cruel fruit, in our lives. We need, as a friend has put it, "the gift of disillusionment." To be disillusioned means that we no longer believe the illusion. We are now ready to receive Truth. Have you received that gift as concerns your disillusions? Are you ready (at last) to receive His Truth?

Sometimes the illusions we believe are because of ignorance, bad teaching, or dependence on our emotions and reason. Sometimes, but, I think, not most times. The Israelites did not like the way the Lord had been dealing with them through Moses. They had, as Tiegreen says, a falling out with the truth. Many have. Have you? Where have you believed that He's disappointed you? What portion of Scripture, of His revelation of Himself, has been so difficult for you to accept? In fact, where has His revelation of truth clashed with your version of it? Where have you constructed a golden calf? An image of Him that's more in keeping with how you see Him rather than who He really is? It's happening everywhere today; from our understanding of Scripture to our view of Jesus Christ Himself, who is literally the Word made flesh. Where have we exchanged His glory for an ox?

If you're living out an illusion, accepting a lie as truth, it doesn't matter so much how you got there, but it does matter as to what you'll do there. In his song, "Your Love Broke Through," Keith Green sang of how the reality of his God pierced his darkness, and all the lies he believed and illusions he lived in. He sang, "Like waking up from the longest dream, how real it seemed, until Your love broke through. I've been caught in a fantasy, that blinded me, until Your love broke through." In every place where we've believed the lie, accepted the illusion, may His truth, love, and life break through. May we wake up from the dream, the illusion that seems so real, and live in the life of the One who is.... real.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - House Of God

"My house will be called a house of prayer." Matthew 21:13...."Jesus never calls a church building 'God's house.' Neither do any of the New Testament writers. God's house, after the gift of the Spirit, is the heart of the believer. He dwells in us - individually and corporately. And as His house, we are the house of prayer." Chris Tiegreen

What does it mean to be a "house of prayer" anyway? Does it mean, both as churches and people that we spend a great deal of time in prayer? I have seen both church fellowships and the individuals within them commit to 40 days of prayer, or a 48 or 24 hour period of prayer. Such have the potential to be of tremendous spiritual effect. They also have the potential end of being nothing but an exercise in futility. The condition and motive of our hearts, His house, hold the answer as to which result is ours.

The leadership of the church I minister in has been talking recently about our desires and whether God is committed to actually giving us the desires of our heart. All agree that there have been numerous times when we've asked Him to fulfill a desire, but He hasn't. The responses to those times varied, but the common thread was that in all there is the question, why didn't He? Especially when we fully believed that what we asked for was "good," and indeed, would have seemed to further His overall purpose. I don't claim to be able to give any kind of complete answer in that, but I think, at least in part, we do see an answer in something written by Henry Blackaby.

He said, in response to Psalm 37:4, "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart." Most would say they do delight in Him, yet He didn't fulfill their desire. To that Blackaby writes, "Have you been asking God to give you the desires of your heart without first seeking to understand what is on His heart?" Be honest. How many of us ever begin our times with Him by asking Him what His desire is? His desire for us, our households, our church, our ministry? Have we asked Him to share His heart on these with us? Have we asked Him to share anything on His heart with us? I believe Jesus Christ shows us what true prayer really is. It is the outflow of our hearts to Him, and even more, His heart to us. Sadly, for most of us, our heart desires only flow out. We leave no space for His to flow in. If we did, then more and more, His desire would become ours, and ours His. We would move in a much deeper consciousness of Him. We would not be asking with only our limited heart knowledge. We'd be asking in the fullness of His.

There is so much mystery in the heart and person of the Father. Yet it's a mystery He wants to open to us. Prayer chains, vigils, and gatherings will be severely crippled if the only voice that speaks is ours. So will it be in our times alone with Him. I once used a book filled with prayers to Him for every situation. I used it faithfully. I prayed out those prayers with deep desire and sincerity. I don't remember ever, in the midst of that sincerity and desire, asking Him what was on His heart for me, or the many situations and people I prayed for. More, though not consciously aware of it, I was believing for those prayers to "work," to give me what I wanted. I was focused more on them than I was upon Him. I thought myself a man of prayer. Yet my house, my heart, was only partially filled with Him. There remained a great deal of "me." Our hearts are His house, and if they are to be houses of prayer, than His desire must flow into and out of them. It will be so when knowing His desire is our deepest desire. Is it so for us now? Will it ever be?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Now Appearing

8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. John 14:8-9

About a decade ago I began keeping a prayer journal in which I would enter thoughts and desires that came to me through His Spirit, either by way of other people or just things He was speaking directly to me. Something I wrote down a number of years ago was, "Lord, may You be recognized by us and through us today." I would pray that not only for myself, but also for those He'd entrusted to me in prayer, which, if you're receiving this writing, includes you. Philip the disciple had a longing to see the Father. It's a longing shared by most, including those who would make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ. We're created with a longing for Him. The problem is, even with those who do profess to follow Him, is that the Father is on display before us each and every day. Indeed, each and every moment, but we fail to see Him. Philip spent three years in the company of Christ, and the means of satisfying his longing was ever before him, but he couldn't recognize Him. How like Philip are you and I? Here's the Double Jeopardy; if we can't recognize Him when He's right before us, who will recognize Him in us when we are before them?

It's not really a mystery why we have such a difficult time seeing Him. Our eyes only seem able to function upon earthly objects. We depend upon our natural senses. This is normal for those without Him, but sadly, it's also normal for too many who say they're His. He gives spiritual sight to those who come to Him, but too many never lose their dependency on their natural vision. Paul talked of our learning to see Christ in all things, but we tend to see everything but Him. A great part of the problem is that we never "learn" to see Him, because the learning only comes by experience, and too often, like Philip, we don't know Him because we can't see Him. We learn to see Him when we bring that deep desire to see Him and join it to a Holy Spirit powered determination to see Him. When that is at work in us, He begins to appear before us everywhere. Not to our natural eyes, but to the eyes of our heart and spirit. As our hearts become more and more entwined with His, we cease to see only in the flesh, and begin to have the "insight" of the Spirit.

Somewhere around two years of age, I developed what was termed "lazy eye." One of the prescribed methods the doctors came up with was to put a patch over my good eye with the idea that my flawed one would be strengthened. I was very young, and I'm sure it helped in some ways, but the real help came when in high school, I determined that I wouldn't depend upon my glasses but would try to focus both eyes and see normally. Gradually, my "lazy eye" grew stronger until I was able to read, drive, and see on an almost completely natural level. What had always been blurred became clear. Could it be that if we will act upon that desire to see and know Him, and seek the spiritual discernment only He can give, He will grant us the supernatural ability to do so. We will recognize Him in all the events of life, both good and bad. We will know that wherever we are, regardless of the circumstances, He's there, and because we can "see Him", we also know Him, and we know that He will work all of it for our good according to His purpose. And the fruit of that is that we recognize Him in all things. And others can recognize Him through us in all things. So that simple prayer becomes our reality.

So I leave with the question, is the reality of our recognizing Him and others recognizing Him through us our reality? Are we living, journeying through this world dependent upon our natural sight, or upon they eyes of His Spirit? We can be sure that this day, He will be appearing to us, and He'll be seeking to appear in and through us. A good pastor friend likes to say that every believer ought to be like a theatre marquee that announces to a watching world, "Now Appearing, Jesus Christ!" What are our lives announcing?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heart Tracks - How Far?

2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Revelation 2:2-5

In my prayer journal, I have an entry asking the Lord to, at any point in my walk with Him, show how far I might have fallen from "my first love?" I confess, it takes a lot less courage to write that entry than it does to actually allow Him to carry it out in my life. Other loves so easily enter in, and everything is made so much more difficult because so many of these other loves are "good loves." But when they take the place of He who is to be our first love, than they are not just wrong, they are sin. As we see in Revelation 2, Jesus can and will be ruthless in exposing them in our lives.

Jesus was speaking to the church in Ephesus. As we can see, they were involved in many good works. They were meticulous in their beliefs and doctrine. Their works were right, their beliefs were as well. Their hearts were not. They had wandered away from Him, and their activities may have been in line with Him, but their heart focus was not. To what degree is this true in your heart, and in the heart of your church fellowship?

Another question I have in my journal is equally piercing, and at various times, has made me "shuffle in His Presence." It asks simply, "Would I rather have a building full of people, or a people full of God?" As a pastor, this question cuts to the quick as to what my real motivation might be in ministry. A true pastor will have compassion for those souls he's been entrusted with, but ministry can take some very unhealthy twists for us all. The desire for success, especially as defined by the flesh can exert an ever stronger pull upon the heart. A spirit of competition and comparison sets in, and building our kingdom along with His starts to take place. From there, we begin to see people as instruments to be used to get to where we want, and not lives to be led more deeply into Him. Filling the room can become the primary goal. Hearts filled with Him can become a distant second...or much less than that. We become more concerned about what the church looks like to eyes of flesh than we do to the eyes of the King. We've fallen far from our first love, and we can remain totally blind to it. The Ephesians certainly had. Have we?

If you know the story of Jesus and the rich young ruler, you know that this man came to Him with desire for Him. He also came having done all the right things according to the law. Jesus, seeing into his heart and where its deepest loyalties were, asked him to give all he had away and come follow Him. The young man could not part with his riches, and he walked away grieved, but still holding his wealth. Someone asked where we are like him; walking away each week with full hands but empty hearts? John Burton said that our pews are filled with "rich young rulers." Perhaps our pulpits as well?

So the question comes to each of us, no matter what our place in the church. How far may we have fallen from the One who is our first love? Has He ever really been our first love at all? If He is able to open our eyes to the fact that we have, our only recourse is to confess it, repent of it, and to yield our whole hearts up to Him anew....What might He have "against us" today? How far might we have fallen from our first love? Can we bear the question?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Digging Deep

"My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" Psalm 42:2..."Complacency is the deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. With many of us, He waits so long in vain." A.W. Tozer

I recently read an article by J. Lee Grady about his visit to the Holy Land. On it he went the site of Jacob's well. He said that though a number of Holy Land sites are disputed as to their authenticity, there is no doubt as to that of Jacob's well. He said that visitors to the site are allowed to lower a bucket into the well and draw water up for a drink. He was amazed at how deep that well was; 131 feet down through solid rock. Then he thought upon how arduous the work would be today, let alone 3000 years ago to dig down and actually reach that water. 2000 years ago that very well was the place where Jesus sat and was offered water by the Samaritan woman, and in return, Jesus offered her His Water of Life. The point of his writing was that though Christ freely offers His Life Water, our part is to dig deeply in order to drink of it. It does not come to those who have only a half-hearted desire for it.

I just read a headline that said survey's show the majority of American believers don't read their Bible's every day, or at all. Actual relational prayer with Him is likely even less. I remember seeing some years back the results of a survey that reported that the average daily prayer time of pastors was around 5 minutes per day. With this information, the above words of Tozer should pierce our hearts. Do they? How complacent are we as concerns living in and experiencing His Presence? Do we lounge around "Jacob's well," waiting for Him to show up and draw the water for us? And in the meantime, are we trying to satisfy ourselves with the "soda pop" of this world?

This is not an advocating for a works based faith, but at the same time, true heart desire for Him must be present if we are ever going to realize the wonder of His abundant life, and if we are ever going to know the satisfaction and joy of drinking Him to the full, to overflowing.

We have, in too many ways, become an irreverent, lazy people. We depend on pastors and teachers to tell us what He's saying and doing. We demand to be fed, and become very angry if we're not. Can we imagine how we must look to Him, grown, or almost grown men and women, sitting in our "high chairs," waiting for our food, and loudly complaining about its quality? In His Word, the Father says He is a Mystery, but a Mystery He longs for us to know. He created us to pursue Him, but we're much more fond of the idea of Him pursuing us. Surely in our lost state He does so, but once the relationship has begun, He, as Tozer states, wants to be deeply desired. He waits for it. Does He wait for that with you and me?

His Water of Life is a never ending river, a well that is infinitely deep. How badly, in our day to day lives do we want it? How deeply do we dig? Are we pursuers or loungers? Be assured, our lives reflect and show just which we are.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Visions

"This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: it is not by might nor by strength, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty. Nothing, not even a mighty mountain will stand in Zeruabbabel's way; it will flatten out before Him." Zechariah 4:6-7..."God gives us the vision, then He takes us down into the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way." Oswald Chambers

The Chambers quote comes from his classic work, "My Utmost For His Highest." At the bottom of that page in his devotional, I wrote, "We always want a vision as to what we can do. He wants to give us a vision of what we can be."

For the last 30 years or so, the word vision may be the most overused and misunderstood term and concept in the church. Pastors are told constantly that they need to "have a vision" as to what God wants to do in their ministry and their church. Once they get that vision, they are then to focus all their energy, and that of the fellowship, into making it a reality. Some questions need to be asked here, and I think I'm allowed to ask them as I was once fully bought into the "get a vision" school. Those questions would be, Where does the vision really come from? From His heart and sight, or ours? I'm convinced, again from my own experiences, that a great deal of what we call vision really springs from our flesh, and not His Spirit. We may seek a very good thing, but mixed in with that is that the realization of that vision will also be a very good result for us. Secondly, why does the majority of our vision have to do with the fruit we want to see from our "work," but yet contains so little of what He wants to work in us? So much of our vision is about the works we will do, and so little about the work He seeks to do in us.

I'm not saying that the Father doesn't give men and women sight concerning what He wishes to do through them, but I think we become so focused on the outward results of what He shows us that we completely miss the parallel work He seeks to do in us. That's why Chambers above quote is so piercing. We get excited about what He shows us, and we're very willing to get to work on achieving it. Yet we leave no place for His shaping us to that vision. There's no place for being in His "forge" where He may burn away all our impurities, hammer out our flaws, and shape and form us for the realization of what He wants to do through us. We're not yielded to seeing all His purposes coming to pass in us before anything can be worked through us. We like to be "big vision" people, but we, not He, decide just what "big" is. We have no room for anything less, as we define less.

When I was a student at Bible College, we had a song titled "Make Us Men To Match Our Mountains." Man or Woman, that has to be the yearning of our hearts. God has a vision for each of us. For some, it will be the realization of great and mighty works that are recognized as such. For most though, they will be equally great and mighty works that are recognized by few, but cherished by Him. The size of our mountains will vary, but we can be sure that whatever ours is, it will not be removed by anything less than a work of His Spirit in and through us. These great and mighty works will take place in the small fellowship in the out of the way town, just as they will in the large one in a highly visible population center. God will give visions to men and women in both, and He will allow mountains to be before them in both. If we try to overcome those mountains only on the strength of the vision He gives, we'll fail. But if we allow Him to shape us from the inside out, we will be those who more than match their mountains. And we'll see the vision come to pass, and best of all, we'll realize that His vision for who we were created to be come to pass as well.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Even If.....

"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if He doesn't, Your Majesty can be sure that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up." Daniel 3:16-18..."If faith is to remain faith there must always be both two clauses to it: 'God is able' and 'but even if He does not.' " Mark Buchanan

I'm not sure if there has been any more erroneous teaching of spiritual things than there has been concerning faith. Whether the teaching has been based upon good and pure motives or not, many have found their faith lives shipwrecked as a result. The error, at root, seems to be as to just who and what is the source of our faith? In the midst of our impossible situations, we are exhorted to "just have faith," in the face of life threatening disease, broken marriages, prodigal children, and a plethora of completely overwhelming scenarios. The message, whether hidden or open, is that if we believe hard enough, petition God intensely and often enough, He will do what we ask. In the process, we have to renounce any and all doubt, or, as one person said to me, "We give God an out," meaning He isn't required to answer. What we miss in this is that we put all the responsibility upon ourselves. We've got to do everything right, make no omissions in the process. All the emphasis is upon us, what we must do, in order to get God to do what we want Him to do. In short, we put our faith in our faith. If we have enough, we'll have the results we desire. Somehow, we miss the Biblical command to "Have faith in God." We're subtly deceived. We've made an idol, a god, out of faith. To what degree have we done this? To what degree do we do so now?

Have you ever meditated upon just what it means to have faith in God? If we allow His Holy Spirit to guide our thinking in that, I believe we'll come upon the heart attitude of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They had complete faith in the power and ability of God, but more than that, they were surrendered totally to Him as well. They did not want to die in the furnace of fire, but more, they were determined to trust their God if He, for reasons He would not share, allowed them to perish. They had already determined that He was good, and that they would trust Him, whether He acted in the manner they wished or not. This is faith. It is not a steadfast trust in the results we seek, but a steadfast unmmovable trust in the God of all things. True faith allows, accepts the "even if He does not." Not in an attitude of defeat, but one of victory. An attitude of the heart that declares that He is sovereign, that He reigns, and He is trusted with a greater purpose than we know, and that He is good, regardless of whether our outcome is or not.

We like to make the exclamation that "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good." Do we really believe that? Do we really believe that God is good when our lives are not? That He is good even when He doesn't heal that loved one, or allows a beloved child to die, or a spouse to leave, a job to be lost, or no job to be found? Coming to that place is a journey of maturity in Christ. Christ Himself asked that the "cup" He'd been given to drink, His crucifixion, might be removed, but more than that desire was His desire for the fullness of His Father's will to be done. Such must be our faith as well. We must have a faith that trusts, believes, and obeys, "even when He doesn't" respond to even our deepest desires. We can have that faith because like the three in the furnace, like our Lord Jesus in Gethsemane, and like numberless others before us, "We know Whom we have believed, and we are persuaded He is able to keep all that we've committed unto Him until that day." And beyond that day. Are you and I among them? Will we trust, believe, and obey Him. Even if, in our deepest askings, He doesn't? We can if we truly believe that He does "work all things together for good." Do you believe that.....even if right now, little if anything might be "good" for you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Arise, Shine!

"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you." Isaiah 60:1-2....."It's not the magnitude of the darkness around us, but the power of the Light within us." Unknown

Someone said that they are not moved by what most consider to be "facts." They are empowered by what they know to be "Truth." Which most moves and empowers you? I ask because there can be no denying the "facts" of the ever growing darkness of our culture and society. Depravity and decadence are being mainstreamed at an ever faster pace. Many see this as sure evidence of the soon return of Christ. I'm not writing to argue against that, but I will "argue" against the seeming attitude of just giving up to that and believing that the darkness has won and all that remains for us is to sit on our hands and wait to be taken home, either by way of natural death or His return. I see nowhere in His Word where that is be an option. More, in places like China, Africa, the Middle East, and other places where believers face intense persecution for their trust in Christ, such an attitude has no place. The power of death and darkness has been unleashed against them, but their response is to shine ever brighter in that darkness. They are not looking to leave this realm. They seek to be an ever brighter testimony of His Life and Light to a surrounding world where death and darkness hold sway. Can we be anything less?

Someone prophesied that in the darkness of this generation, there will be an even brighter revelation of Christ. I believe this. I believe that this is to be the heartset of the people of God. We cannot hide in our churches, Bible studies, and prayer groups, hoping to stave off the darkness, or be insulated against it. Neither are we to live in fear or despair because of it. Expectant hope is to be the defining trait of the believer. Since the fall, when sin entered into this world, darkness and death have stalked humankind. That will not cease until He does return, but nowhere are we told to make peace with it, or to give up the battle. That's why I love Isaiah 60 so much. The posture of the believer is to be one where we daily "arise and shine," in Him, for He, the Light has come. And the intensity of the darkness, no matter how powerful, must yield before that Light.

Isaiah 60 does not paint a picture of some heavenly utopia. Indeed, it looks very much like today. Darkness does cover the earth, and deep darkness the people, but we His people can take heart. He is risen. He has come. His glory is upon us. He is the Light that pierces all darkness, even the darkness you may feel is suffocating you right now. His call to you, to me, to His church, is to arise, to shine. His light has come.

There is a song from Hillsongs that blesses me so much. It's lyric goes;

When the darkness fills my senses,
When my blindness keeps me from Your touch,
Jesus come

Our life can be like this...often. At such times, we can pray such a prayer....and He will come. When He does, He will empower us to arise and to shine in the midst of the deepest darkness. Do you need to pray that prayer today? If so, do so. He will come, and you will shine.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Loosed

"They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the word to them." Mark 2:2....."The Word preached with power and fidelity draws the world, that's clear enough. But it's the the Word loosed, the Word incarnate, the Word speaking our truest names and naming our deepest wounds and ministering God's deepest remedy, that transforms the world." Mark Buchanan

The story in Mark 2 is a powerful one. A great crowd has gathered to hear Jesus preach, so great that a paralytic man could not get to Him and had to be lowered through a hole in the roof. In response, Jesus healed him, and then commanded him to take up his mat and walk.....and he did just that....I think we have become so familiar with this miraculous happening that we miss a great deal of what He would have us know through it.

There are a growing number of voices calling for the full Word of God to be preached in His church. I am among them. However, I think we are missing an exhortation to take the "next step" in that, which we clearly see in Jesus' performing of the miracle. He preached the Word, and then the Word became life to the paralytic, and the paralytic became whole. This is something that must happen in the church, but is it really? We can preach the Word, but does it accomplish transformational results in the lives of those who hear it? We can't be satisfied with just having the Word proclaimed. We must see it bear fruit in the midst of His people. Otherwise, we are in danger of sliding towards a Pharisee kind of lifestyle. They had a reverence for the Word of God, but were unable to recognize the Word made flesh when He was there before them. Likewise, we can "worship" the Word but miss, even fight against the realization of its fullness in our midst.

Some years ago I read a book titled "The Word And Power Church." The author believed that the church had two "camps," one that centered on recognizing and preaching His Word, and the other that was more focused on seeing His power manifested in the midst of His church, and through it to the world. He believed that what the Father was doing was bringing about a merging of these two into one Body where not only was the Word preeminent in all things in the church, but that regular manifestations of His power through that Word were as well. The Word preached in power yielded powerful results. The Word was not just confined to a cherished display case, but was loosed upon and through itself to become, through His people, incarnate in the midst of it all. The Bible says that His Word has power to penetrate to the very "marrow" of our being. For too long we have feared that penetration. We've tried to cage His Word and its power, to keep it under our control. We've tried to tame it, while His intention is that it be loosed, set free to make free, to transform, to upend broken lives and a broken world. That's what happened in the first century church. Is it what is happening in ours?

Francis Chan, in his book, "Letters To The Church," likens the church to animals in the movie "Madagascar." They all lived in caged comfort in the zoo. When an accident renders them loose upon an actual island filled with wild animals, they have no idea what to do. He sees the church as being the same. We've too long tamed Christ, the Word made flesh, and we don't know what to do in the midst of a wild and lost world. We need to re-discover who we are in Him. We need to re-gain and live anew in the power of His Word. We need to be His Word made flesh to a world literally dying for that. We need to come out of our "cages," our fellowships, and allow Him to make His all-powerful Word, all-powerful through us. Word and Power churches yielding and producing Word and Power people and lives.

Do we really want this? Do you? Do we want to see His Word loosed in us, through us, and upon a paralyzed world? Or, do we prefer continuing life in our "cages," honoring His Word, but never realizing the fullness of it's power?

Blessings,
Pastor O