Heart Tracks - Caring For His Heart

"One day, as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.' " Acts 13:2....."As far as we can tell, they had nothing on their 'to-do' list other than caring for God's heart....Sometimes, the key to hearing God's voice is to take a break from seeking it....Those who seek His heart will discover what's truly on it." Chris Tiegreen

As I read the above words from Tiegreen, I was struck with what is so often missing from our prayer lives; the concept of ministering to, caring for the heart of the Father. As I look back upon my own prayer life, I can see how so little of it has ever been concerned with caring for His heart. I want Him to minister to me. I've rarely seen any part of it as ministering to Him. How about you?

The wonderful voice of the Jesus movement, Keith Green, had a lyric in one of his songs where the Father laments the prayer life of His people; "Bless me Lord, bless me Lord, that's all I ever hear." How honest can we be that the majority of what He hears from us is much the same? How much time do we spend seeking His comfort, His healing, His intervention into our impossible situations? How much of our crying out to Him is really nothing more than our saying, "Bless me Lord?" When was the last time we came to our "prayer closet" with the sole idea of ministering to Him, of caring for His heart? Do we know anything of what that is?

We all know that God longs for relationship with us. We see that in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, but just what does relationship with Him mean? So much of our prayer is outcome/results oriented. We have an answer, a result that we're focused on reaching. We spend a lot of time talking to Him about that. We're interested in securing His help, His strength, His miracle working power. We want to take hold of His hands of power. He desires that we take hold of His heart of life. We can spend a lot of time in His presence seeking answers, and yet not experience His Presence at all. We've made Him well aware of what we desire but remain clueless not only of what He desires, but too often, of who He is.

I'm not saying that we're not to make our requests known to Him. His Word says that we're to do just that, but more and more I'm realizing that so much of what I desire for Him to do, gets done as I just seek to dwell in His Presence. As I do that, I find that many of those desires were not deep ones at all, and He reveals a deeper desire within me that those lesser ones had hidden. I start to realize the reality of His promise that if I seek first His Kingdom, which is found in His heart, than all "these things" will be taken care of as well. The true and full ministry of the Father to us is found in His heart caring for ours. Our ministry to Him is the same. Isn't it time we entered into that?

We encourage people to "find their ministry," and that's good. We've neglected teaching that all ministry begins with our ministry and care for His heart. Everything else flows from that. Has this ministry begun with you and me? isn't it time that it did?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Be Still

"God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.....Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:1-2,10

In my last writing, I spoke of how we must respond to our circumstances when "hell breaks loose." I wrote that we need to see beyond that which is breaking loose into the sure promise and reality of heaven breaking into the midst of it all. I expect that some read that and said that, sure, they believe it, but how are they to live it? I understand. Too often the church can give "pat answers" to very complicated questions. To walk in victory in the midst of tumultuous circumstances and events requires a spiritual discipline that is alien to our flesh. It also requires the settling of the issue of in what, and who, we are going to place our trust? Psalm 46 tells us that "God is our refuge and strength. Those are just words if we have not settled the question of whether that is true or not. A great part of the settling of that will take place when we choose, by His grace and power, to be still, in Him, that we might know, by experience, that He is God.

In my prayer journal, concerning this verse, I've written, "May I, in my deepest time of need, be still, and know the reality that He alone is God." That can only happen in one way. I have to remain still in my emotions, my mind, and my heart. I have to choose to focus upon Him, and upon all that He has said and promised me that He is. I have to refuse to give in to every suggestion and accusation hurled at me from the enemy that He is none of these and that I have to "do something" to overcome the problem(s). Doing this requires that I know just what it is that He's said of Himself, and what He has promised to be for me. It also requires that I am living in an up to date spiritual experience in Him. I can't be living in rebellion in some part of my life. My will needs to be yielded to His. Wherever we are living outside of His will, we're vulnerable to all the onslaughts of the enemy and the circumstances he works through. But when we are living in obedience and trust, every square inch of ground around us may be sinking sand and shattered by earthquakes, but the ground we stand on is His. It is holy ground and it cannot be shaken. And so, we cannot be shaken.

When such is our life, we can be still. We can be unshaken. And we can know, by our experience, that He is God. Therefore, we can rest in Him. Turmoil may reign all around us, His peace reigns within us. Psalm 46 is not just good words and a nice promises. It becomes our living testimony. To what extend is it yours and mine?

In these ever changing, ever more threatening times, we must cling to the reality of not only His promises, but to Him. When we do, we can be still. We can be victorious. We can, and will, know that He is God. Is that your testimony? If not, are you ready that it would be?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - When Hell Breaks Loose

"I know where you live - where satan has his throne." Revelation 2:13...."Forsake all thought of evil simply as a force in this world. Never depersonalize it. Recognize that there is a relentless, malicious intelligence behind all the pain you see. Some of satan's minions know you by name." Chris Tiegreen

The devil is real. You can laugh at that, deny it, or ignore it, but it doesn't make him less so. In fact, he hopes that you'll do any or all of those. He does some of his best work in the midst of ignorance. As long as the human race believes it can "evolve" past all it's impulses towards evil, he'll only become more bold, and more destructive. That reality has always been evident, and it is growing by the day in our culture, and across the face of the earth.

God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are real as well. The most precious of all things in His eyes is a human life. Your life. Especially that life that has given itself to Him. For that reason, the devil, who hates the Father also hates what and who the Father loves. His goal has been and always will be the destruction of the human race, and more on point, the destruction of you and everything that concerns you, especially your eternal soul. He is very happy for you to not believe this, or to be completely unaware of it.

One of the greatest books ever put forth on the workings of the devil and his demons is "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. In them, a "senior" demon writes memos to a junior one who's been assigned to bring about the destruction of one of God's people. In it, the demon lays out a step by step strategy to destroy that life and soul. In the end, the demon fails, but the book is a chilling account of the agenda of hell that is laid out for any who love and follow Christ. We need to know that there is a strategy devised in hell against each one of us. If you do not know Him by His saving grace, that strategy has already succeeded. If you do, then be assured that the strategy will be used and revised as needed. If he cannot get you to abandon Christ, he will seek to so neutralize you as a follower that your life is spent in frustration, discouragement, and despair. It's who he is, and it's what he does. He is very good at his job. Indeed, he's a master at it. Here's the hope of all who know Him; hell will break loose, but if we refuse to take our eyes and hearts of trust away from Him, heaven will break in. As we walk through this fallen world in the strength of His life, we will, as Tiegreen writes, "Overcome the evil one with the Good One." And the power of the Good One, of Christ the King, is infinitely greater than that of the devil and all his minions combined.

Jesus said, "In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." And the devil who ceaselessly works through and in it. At some point, all hell will break loose in your life, or family, or fellowship. Keep the eyes of your heart focused upon Him. He, and all the fullness of His Life and Kingdom will break in.....and satan will flee......while you, we, stand firm in Him....as overcomers. As victors....in Christ.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Fire Never Sleeps

"When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. The priests could not even enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the Temple, they fell face down on the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord..." 2 Chronicles 7:1-3...."Fire never sleeps." Martin Smith

I heard Martin Smith speak those three words, "Fire never sleeps," before the beginning of a song with the group Jesus Culture. Somehow, they immediately resonated with my heart. We spend so much time talking about seeing revival come, about God's consuming fire coming upon His church, or, like the old hymn, about how we will "never forget how the fire fell." Somehow, we think that His Holy Fire is something that has an on and off switch, operated by the Father Himself. Smith's words remind me, us, that His fire is always there, always available. God is a consuming fire, but do we really wish for His fire to consume us? 2 Chronicles 7 tells us that His fire flashed and burnt up the offerings and sacrifices. Completely burned them up. Are we desiring that His fire completely burn us up?

I finished an article by John Burton recently where he wrote of his burning desire to see a spiritual awakening, a reformation take place in the church of Jesus Christ. I was struck by something he wrote concerning the usual worship service in even the "best" of our churches, whether evangelical or charismatic. He wrote of the order of what constitutes our weekly "great" worship times.....

Be welcomed by greeters, friends and maybe the pastor.
Acknowledge the refreshing presence of the Holy Spirit while worshiping for 30-40 minutes or so.
Shift into a time for the offering and announcements.
Listen to a decent message.
Possibly spend some time at the altar as God touches your heart.
Shake some more hands and then head out to lunch.
Repeat next Sunday.

This may seem to be oversimplifying, but is it? How many of us come to worship expecting those very elements to be present. Quality worship in music and song. Warm and friendly atmosphere. Preaching that touches, even stirs us, and even some quality time at the altar of prayer.....and then we "head out to lunch." Then we spend the week preparing for, expecting more of the same next Sunday. All this may constitute our idea of what a good worship service is, but does it constitute His?

Burton coined a term from 2 Chronicles 7 that speaks to me as well. He said we need to become "pavement people." This refers to verse three where it says the people fell to the pavement in worship as they saw His fire fall upon the gathering. It was all they could do. It was, I think, all that He wanted from them. Could we risk such a happening in our worship? Could we risk the loss of our program, our order of service, our agenda, that all we could be was "pavement people," on our faces before Him? Would we tolerate such a time keeping us from heading out to lunch. I don't just ask you. I ask myself as well.

Fire, His fire, never sleeps. It is everywhere before and around us. Will our desire for that fire falling upon us, upon His church, be so strong that we will offer ourselves upon His altar that His fire might fully consume us? Are we willing, deeply desiring to be pavement people? Or, will we be heading out to lunch....this week, and next, and the next, and.....?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Day Of Trouble

"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." Psalm 50:15

There's a devotional that I've been using for 4-5 years now, and it's titled "Voices Of The Faithful." It's a daily walk written by and through the experiences of missionaries serving in fields all around the world. The one I read for today, August 17, spoke powerfully to me.

Gloria, who along with her family, ministered in Middle America, tells of the day that her husband, her oldest daughter, and two summer missionaries, drowned off a beach in Playa Linda. Her telling of that day resonates with His Life and Spirit. "As I contemplated the body of my 10 year old daughter, I felt my strength leave me. With my hands raised up and my body bent over by the pain, I cried, 'Father, I am not worthy to have You listen to me and I don't deserve to receive anything from You, but please help us.' As my hands came down, my body received the strength needed to handle my 'day of trouble.' "

We need to know, with no doubts, that all who truly follow Him will have their own "day of trouble." Likely many of them. How do we face them? What do we say, to Him, to those who witness our sorrow? In our handling of that day, who do we see? Who are others seeing in and through us? Reading Gloria's account of her loss reminds me of the story I heard of a young preacher and his family driving along in a torrential rain. As they rounded a curve, a mudslide engulfed their car, carrying it over the edge of the road and into the swollen, rushing river below. The young husband and father was thrown free of the car, his family was not. They plunged into the river and drowned. What the storyteller said next powrfully impacted my heart. He said that the young man, filled with shock and sorrow, made an altar out of the mud and stone around him, and gave his God his pain, loss, and above all, his family. As I read Gloria's account, and remember the young preacher, I wonder, could I do such as they? Could you? The answer is no, unless, unless, we are so deeply entwined in Him that even the deepest day of trouble cannot separate us from not only His love, but Himself as well.

Gloria went on to recount that the surrounding crowd on that beach saw God that day. She said she and her surviving children returned to that place to continue their calling, and that the surviving summer missionaries who witnessed it all are either working for her mission agency, or preparing to become missionaries themselves. More, she said that many of those who were looking on at the beach that day have become Christians themselves. In her terrible day of trouble, He was glorified, and through the story, continues to be glorified.

So, when the day of trouble comes, what will we do? Suffer pain for sure. Likely there will be loss. Who and what will be magnified, that which was lost, or He who is Lord even in the midst of the loss? Will we glorify Him, or diminish Him? It will be one or the other. Will it the One....or the other?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Call

"My heart has heard You say, 'Come and talk with Me.' And my heart responds, 'Lord, I am coming.' " Psalm 27:8
I once heard a brother say that we ought never to embark upon any day without first having a true encounter with the Lord. In almost all cases, this comes about through a concentration upon His Word, and a time of intimacy with Him in prayer. These are Holy Spirit supplied water and bread for our souls. We "know" this because we have heard it again and again from many different teachers of the Word. Yet such times may be the most neglected aspect of our walk with Him. Indeed, can we even say we're walking with Him if we are neglecting them?
I cannot begin to count how many brethren I've heard say that they could trace most, if not all of their spiritual struggles to that very neglect. They've let those times of fellowship with Him go by the wayside, and as a result, "leanness has entered their soul." They are missing the nurture of the Lord, and so are spiritually starving as a result. I know from personal experience that whenever I put aside these times, that very leanness enters my soul. I'm far more vulnerable to to the enemies onslaughts, through the circumstances of the day. Anxiety, impatience, fear, temptation, all of these gain strength against us because His life within us is being ignored. Our "outer life" can seem unchanged. We're still "doing ministry," or carrying out our secular occupations with integrity and faithfulness, but our inner life is withering by the moment. Weariness, lack of fulfillment, disillusionment, and more, will be present in some form or another. The desire to go on, to go further, deeper, fades. We come into real danger of just having the form of godliness, but totally lacking the power of such a life.
Some years ago I saw the results of a survey that said pastors on average, spend less than 10 minutes a day in prayer. If the shepherd has such a prayer life, what could be that of the flock? More, this goes a very long way to explaining why so many pastors suffer from burnout, and even leave the ministry, worn out, and used up. To be a true pastor and preacher of His Word requires an ever growing inner life in Him. If it is lacking, then that pastor will at best, only be going through the motions, ministering in the flesh, and at worst, will find their ministry shipwrecked. Yet all the while, the voice of His Holy Spirit woos us. I believe that in every waking moment, He calls us to "come and talk with Me." Do we hear Him?
The Psalmist says that his heart has heard Him. Has ours? Or, have the demands of all the other "taskmasters" we've allowed into our lives silenced His voice, made our hearts deaf to that voice? He calls us. He calls you. Have we heard? Have you heard? Will we, you, come? Or, do we yield to the other voices that seek to draw us from Him? His voice brings forth life. All other voices bring only death. Which do you hear? Which do you come to? Jesus is calling. To Jesus do we come?
Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Marquee

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." Zechariah 8:23

Some time ago I wrote down in my prayer journal, "May we cease asking Him to draw people to the building we meet in, and instead ask Him to draw them to the building, the temple, that He seeks to make our lives become in Him."

I've a pastor friend that likes to say that every real believer ought to be like a theater marquee that announces what is currently appearing there. For the believer, our lives ought always to announce the appearing of Jesus Christ....in us and through us. In a sense, every life, especially for the follower of Christ, announces what is "appearing" in and through us. What's on your and my "marquee?"

We like to sing the little chorus, "He's still working on me," and He is, but how much repeat work is He having to do? As He shapes, molds, and chips away at our flesh, how much of Himself is taking the place of what He seeks to remove? How much of our self-life remains to block out the beauty and glory of His life? Who's coming round to lay hold of us, telling us they want to know the God that they see appearing through our lives?

I'm not speaking of being on a spiritual ego trip, for I well know that we won't know until the fullness of eternity how deep and wide has been the effect of our life witness, but He does give consistent affirmation to those whose lives are shining for Him. Someone asked the question as to whether anyone has ever remarked, be it concerning the fellowship we're a part of, or the day to day living we do, as to their sensing of the real Presence of His Holy Spirit in and through us? When we live in the fullness of His peace, joy, strength, and confidence, they do, and they will. To what degree are we living in those?

I spent years in my pastoral ministry encouraging people to invite friends and family to church. Trying to motivate them to do so might be a better way of putting it. Finally, I came to the realization, for them and myself, that we needed to be the church, be His presence and life, wherever we were. If we would be that, than we wouldn't have to invite people to the building we were meeting in, in order to meet Him. They would be meeting Him directly in and through us. Motivation wouldn't be needed. It would be the natural outflow of the life.

May we be, as was prophesied for the Jew in Zechariah, those who live so deeply in Him that He continually appears through our day to day lives.... even in the most mundane of days. May many "take hold of our coats," and be drawn to Him through what they see of Him through us. May our lives never cease to announce, "Now Appearing - The Savior, Jesus Christ."

Blessings,
Pastor O