The Source

 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

I recently came across an account of a young man from Haiti who was brought to America for a visit. He was to spend several months here, but after 6 weeks, told those who had brought him, "I love your country, and have been amazed at all that you have here. I've never seen such abundance, or enjoyed such comforts. However, I feel I must return to my country, because I feel I'm losing my sense of dependency upon my God." Can we even begin to dwell upon not only what the young man said, but upon the warning, intended or not, for we who are the western church.

Haiti is a country mired in poverty. We cannot even begin to understand the extent of it. Those who are His there are living in the midst of that same poverty. Their wages are miniscule, like everyone elses. They live by faith, literally, trusting Him for everything. Looking to Him for everything. Their reward has been to experience the provision of God in the midst of what we would see as impossible. That young man, visiting here in America, had been exposed to a land of plenty. He lacked for nothing. He ate excellent foods, slept in comfortable beds and locations, and taken places he never thought he could see. His hosts wanted him to stay on indefinitely, but he, who had never known such a life, wanted to go home. He wanted to because he felt his intimate, abiding, totally trusting relationship with His Lord was slipping away. Where once he brought every need to His Father, he now saw that every need was taken care of by his hosts, who were wildly wealthy in comparison to what he had always known. Yet he rejected that wealth because he knew that his true wealth lay in His Savior. He preferred to live in by faith in an Almighty God, than come to rely upon the passing goods of this world. How many of us can even begin to identify with that kind of faith, and that kind of relationship?

We live in an instant gratification culture. When we want something, we usually have the means of getting it. We like to talk about the "1 percenters," those we consider rich and wealthy, never even seeing that in relation to a great part of the world, we ourselves are 1 percenters. Even our poorest live in comparative luxury to a great part of this world. When you add that we have established endless government programs to assist the poor, we have created a system of care and dependency that sees no real need of God. We either feel that we can provide for ourselves, or find someone else who will. We never come to the place of desperate faith that has seen every other door close but His.

The young Haitian didn't want to remain here because he was losing sight of his God. Losing his grip on his faith. Losing sight of His Father as His Source. He recognized the danger. Have we? Like Moses, he turned his back on "the riches of Egypt," because of the immeasurable riches he knew in Christ. Have we the courage, the faith, the will to make such a choice?

This is not an exhortation to sell all and take a vow of poverty. It is a challenge to examine ourselves as to where our dependency really lies. Who and what is really our Source? Has our material abundance deadened our need of Him? Do we look to portfolios, investments, real estate, and so on for our security? Or do we hold it all loosely, while keeping an iron grip on Him? I believe that we live in days where our loyalties, our dependence really lies is being tested. He is shaking this world. When the shaking reaches our earthly resources, will we stand firm because our trust and hope was never in them to begin with. Or will we crumble and fall along with them?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Enticement

 Then the devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6“I will give You authority over all these kingdoms and all their glory,” he said. “For it has been relinquished to me, and I can give it to anyone I wish.… Luke 4:5-6 "Jesus had come to die for the world. Satan offered Him the world without dying." Alicia Britt Chole

The Scripture from Luke 4 details some of the exchange between Jesus and the devil during His temptation in the wilderness. The devil's ploy throughout all of it was to try and entice Jesus into rejecting His Father's commands for what He was sent to do, die for the sin of the human race. He culminated his temptations by showing Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, offering them all to Him if He would just bow down and worship him. Jesus is the King and the ruler of His Kingdom. That Kingdom would be offered, through His death and resurrection, to all who would believe upon His name. Satan was offering Him the rulership of the world He'd come for without the suffering involved in dying for it. This is always the devil's way. He offers us illegitimate means of having things that the Father has promised us. Illegitimate, and almost always counterfeit. Shortcuts to what he's told us, and we believe, is "best." Shortcuts that will always lead to destruction.

Jesus asked, and continues to ask, "What does it profit a man (or woman) if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul?" I don't think we contemplate these words very deeply, especially if we make a profession of faith in Him. If we have done that, we tend to think we've made the choice, and we will never need to make it again....but we'd be wrong. That choice still stays before us every day. And sadly, too often, the enemy entices us to make the wrong choice. The choice that goes against the Lord we say we follow and serve.

Alicia Britt Chole asks a chilling and penetrating question; "What could the devil offer that would tempt us to bow down and worship him? Where does he take us to entice us to forfeit our soul?" Our knee jerk reaction is that we would never worship our great enemy Satan. We would never forfeit our souls and follow him. I believe that, but I also believe that we can, in many of our choices, give some small part of our life, our soul to him. He may not ever be able to get all of us, and if he can't, he'll be satisfied with getting pieces.

He came to Jesus in the desert. Someone said that the devil always finds his way into our deserts. He does. As he did with our Lord, he will tempt us there, offer ways out of the desert, and the pain, hardship, and difficulties that go with it. He will also offer illegitimate means of meeting longings and desires we might have. In the midst of a difficult ministry, he entices us to look for a better, more rewarding place, even if it is not God's place, giving us unending rationale for doing it. He does the same in marriages, parenting, stewardship, and any and all circumstances of life. In contrast to what we know in our hearts is the Lord's way, he offers something counterfeit to it. Something that fulfills a fleshly, often sinful desire. A shortcut.

We all find ourselves in deserts at some time, and often, for a long time. When the devil comes, and he will, where are we vulnerable to his enticements? Is there something, even a small thing, that he can offer to get us to go against His will and purpose for us? Is there a point, a place, where he can put something before us that we so desperately want that in that moment, in that place, we do bow down before him?

Jesus defeated his enemy because He was fully yielded to His Father and His will for Him. He sent the devil off because He was rooted in His Truth and Word, and defused all the devil's half truths and outright lies. He had no open vulnerabilities. Do you and I? We would do well to know the answer to this....before our own desert time. A time that will come to each of us, along with the enticements of our enemy.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Zoos?

 12 So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. 13 And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil. Mark 6:12-13...."Christ expects His disciples to preach repentance, cast out demons, and heal." Francis Chan

Can we take an honest look at what Chan says and ask ourselves if that expectation of Christ is also the expectation of our local church? Are we really not only expecting followers of Christ to live out such a ministry but equipping them to do so? Or, are we content with having them join with us, attend, tithe, and hopefully, get involved with what we call ministry? Do we really expect them to live out Mark 6:12-13? Do we expect it of ourselves?

I've always enjoyed and admired Francis Chan. He founded and pastored a California megachurch, and then abruptly resigned to enter into a new, and to Him, more vital life of ministry. He didn't feel that his fellowship, despite its size, was really living out biblical Christianity. He once wrote that, "We have to stop creating safe places for people to hide and start developing fearless warriors to send out." This reminds me of something I have in my prayer journal, inspired by something I'd read or heard. It simply asks, "Lord, set us free from our "zoos." Make us the church in the wild." The church in the wild carries out the kind of ministry Christ expects of His disciples. Does ours? Do you and I?

Maybe a great part of our problem is that we don't make disciples. We make clones. Clones of ourselves. We tell them what we believe, and we tell them that they need to believe it too. We tell them about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but we too often don't demonstrate what it is to know and experience them. We don't because we may know a lot about them, but we don't really know them. As a result, we lack true Holy Spirit power and life. Our churches end up looking more like zoos, with our people on display for all to come and see, rather than His people out in the wilds of this world, coming against all the power of hell with the unstoppable power of Jesus Christ.

In 1992 the Lord brought me to Northern Virginia to plant a church. In our first 5 years, we grew quickly and I, along with everyone else, was excited. I had great expectations for the future. However, there was a problem. We were adding on people who came from other "sheepfolds." Northern Virginia is a highly transient area, and believers moving into the area looked for churches to attend. We attracted a number of them. I was very content. We had a great congregation of nice, attractive young families. All was going better than I had hoped. Then God stepped in. People started being transferred out of the area to new jobs. The great momentum we'd had stopped. I believed that He would replace them, but He didn't, at least not with those same types of people. It took more time than it should have, but I started to see that He wasn't much interested in my having a ministry to nice, whole, good looking families. He didn't want a zoo on display. He wanted a church in the wild. All those nice people with seemingly small problems, began to be replaced by nice ones, and not so nice ones, with very large ones. Addictions, destructive behaviors, felons, started to sit in our sanctuary. Those of us still there started to see our fellowship, in the words of one of my leaders, as a "MASH unit." We were now on the frontlines of dealing with hurting, wounded, dysfunctional people, providing immediate care as best we could. That was never the kind of church I thought I'd pastor, but it was the church He'd called me lead. It was hard, it was painful, and there were certainly defeats along the way, but all of us experienced His glory in the midst of it all. I experienced Him in ways I'd never experienced Him before.

I'm not saying that our fellowships all need to look like that. In all my 27 years with that church, we never had a permanent facility of our own. There's nothing wrong with having established, beautiful facilities. We just need to make sure that we're not on display in them, but out in the wilds surrounding them, doing what He has directed us to do; preaching repentance, that the Kingdom of God has come, and coming against the demonic power that is in the world He's sent us out to. And, as we go, bringing healing, wholeness, and life in Him to all who will receive our message, which is His message......May we, you and I, go out as such a church, and may we never stop going.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Consumed

 "Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakeable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. 'For our God is a consuming fire.' " Hebrews 12:28-29

I began my first pastorate in the city of Lubbock, in West Texas. Our district campground was in the Fort Worth area, about 400 miles away. Texas is a BIG state. I have a lot of memories of that place; copperhead snakes in abundance, high heat during the day, and a nearby "river" that never seemed to have any water in it. Most of all, I remember the pecan tree right in the middle of the campground. It was said to be the oldest pecan tree in the nation at more than 400 years. Everybody gathered under it at night after camp worship services, and the fellowship was grand, if you could handle the mosquitoes. Texas sized mosquitoes. They were in such abundance that up in the branches the camp caretaker had placed several large "bug zappers." The mosquitoes flocked to it, hovering around, and for many, flying directly into it. We could hear the steady zapping of bugs that then stepped out into oblivion. Something about all that has stuck with me, and I thought I'd write about it today.

Those mosquitoes would come to that zapper, attracted by the light, and many would fly around it, getting near, but ultimately, staying away. Others flew directly into it and were completely consumed. I see a real connection to how many of us are with the Holy Spirit of God. We too can be drawn to His fire, His light. We hover around Him, drawing close, near, but ultimately, we, like the mosquitoes, draw off and away. We don't fly into His fire. We're attracted, but we're never consumed. We may come near, but we end up being away from Him. Our life, our self-life, remains intact. We're never consumed with Him, and we're certainly not consumed by Him. Are we attracted to His light, His fire, but never to the point of giving ourselves over to Him?

The God who is a consuming fire seeks always to consume us. Not for our destruction, at least not the destruction of anything good. He seeks to consume us with His holy fire in order to refine us, to purge us of all the "impurities" to be found in our heart and life. When gold or silver are refined, the impurities within the precious metal, dross, come to the surface and are scraped off and disposed of. The refiner seeks to bring forth gold and silver that is pure. So too does our Father God, the Refiner, seek to do in our lives. All the character defects, impure desires, motives, and destructive attitudes and behaviors. For that to happen, we need to "fly into the fire." Yes, there can be pain involved. Giving up harmful treasures, idols, and those things that tend to kill us by inches, can hurt when we first yield them to Him, but oh the joy and beauty of what He transforms us into when we do.

Are you flying near the fire today, but never flying into it? Never lose sight of the truth that flying near the fire, Almighty God, is not the same as flying into Him, of being in Him. In the end, it doesn't matter how close to Him you get, you will still be found outside of Him. Step beyond attraction into consumation. Fly into the fire.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Meetings

 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13

Dudley Hall is a writer and preacher who has spoken into my spirit many times over the years. I wanted to share several of his thoughts with you today....."For most, 'church life' consists of many meetings with few times of Spirit filled excitement and stimulation.....Retreats are usually just another meeting. We go to a meeting to rest up from meetings...Does our church meet, but not relate, sing, but not praise, preach, but not prophesy?"

Whether we agree with all Hall says or not, we cannot deny that there is a lot of truth in what he writes. If we will take the truth of what he's saying, and bring it before what Paul writes is to be the ministry of mission of the church, what do we see? When we come together, what do we "look like?" Not just to ourselves, but to the Father, to the Lord Christ, whose Body we are?

Just centering on the last questions Hall asks, how do we answer? If you're a regular part of a weekly fellowship, were you coming together mainly for a meeting, or to actually relate to one another and to the Father? I'm not talking about whether you greeted others, engaged in friendly conversation (what most of us consider "fellowship"), and then got in your cars and drove home. I mean, did you participate in real community? Did we really touch one another's lives? Did we have communion, did we have real fellowship in Christ? Did we lay hold of God and did he lay hold of us? When we sang, did we just kind of hum along with the songs the worship team or choir sang, or did we enter into worship and praise with all of our heart and being? How many of us staggered in half-way through the service, so distracted that by the time we even began to focus, the service was over? And the sermon, what did we hear? Someone said that there is a difference between a sermon someone prepared, and a message from the heart of God proclaimed through a vessel in tune with His heart. What are we more likely to hear on any given Sunday?

Hall differentiates between a sermon preached, and a prophetic utterance from the Father. We mistakenly think that to prophesy means to foretell something. It doesn't mean only that. In fact, most often it means He communicates His heart, desire, and will to those He seeks to speak to through His messenger. Hall says that to "prophesy is to bring a Spirit filled proclamation of who Christ is and what that means to this situation." To this gathering. This means that every time we come together, God seeks to speak His mind and heart to what it is that directly applies to those in the gathering. This will require a messenger fully in tune with His heart, and listeners whose ears are attuned to His voice. Can we dare to ask whether we're hearing sermons prepared, or communications directly from His Spirit? What were you a part of this past week?

I came to Christ at the age of 29 with almost no church background at all. I quickly became part of a church whose pastor had hold of the heart of God. Every time I heard him preach, I knew I was hearing from God's Spirit. I soaked in his messages from the Father. So powerful were they upon me that I was there for every gathering that church had. I don't know how many others entered into that kind of communion, but I did. No meeting could have brought that kind of response. I wanted to be in His presence, hearing Him, sensing Him, soaking in Him. This is worship. This is church. Is it your church?

The world is dying for such a church. The church is too. Are you? Jesus asked that if when He returned, would He find faith in His people? I don't think He'll be seeking a church that specializes in meetings, but one that displays all the fullness of His body life. May it be our passion to be such a church, such a people.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Plow

 19So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah." I Kings 19:19-20....."Don't get discouraged and give up, for you will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time." Galatians 6:9

If you're one who seeks to serve and follow Christ with all your heart, you probably know something of discouragement. Likely you know a lot about discouragement. Discouragement by it's very name takes away courage. It "takes the heart out of us." To be encouraged is to have courage, His courage, added on to us. For the believer, to be encouraged is to be empowered with the heart and spirit of the Lord. The need for this is great in the church today, and I hope in some small way, this writing may encourage you.

I recently heard preacher and writer Samuel Rodriguez speak about Elijah's passing his mantle of ministry on to his assistant, Elisha. When he did this, he had found Elisha plowing a field with 12 oxen. Without a word, he draped his mantle, the symbol of his ministry as a prophet of God, about the shoulders of Elisha. Then, again with no words, he walked away. Elisha ran after him. When Elijah told him what it all meant, Elisha asked to be allowed to say goodbye to his family. Elijah simply told him to consider what had just been placed upon him by God. With that, Elisha sacrificed his oxen to God, left all, and went with Elijah.

There is much more there than I can even begin to get into, but here are the main things that speak to me. First, if we are to be His, we must be fully His. If Elisha had 12 oxen, he must have been a prosperous man. The oxen would have been one symbol of his wealth, yet he sacrificed them all to the Father. It was symbolic of giving all of himself to his God. Then he left all to become Elijah's assistant and servant. Though he had been given the mantle and ministry of Elijah, he would now spend the next ten years as a servant. This had to be discouraging at times, to know what he was called to, but as yet, couldn't enter into. He would stand by and see wonders done by the Father through Elijah, but we have no evidence that God did any through him. Ministry can be like that....often. Others seem to have great anointing and favor, while we.....not so much.

Another thing I see here, helped by Rodriguez, is Elisha's act of plowing. I've never done it, but I know the work can be brutal, and boring to boot. It would seem that the plowman often feels he is traveling far distances while actually going nowhere. Ministry and service in the Kingdom can be like that as well. Plowing, plodding onward, with each day, week, month, even years, going on with nothing really changing. What can't be missed is that God's call and the "mantle" that went with it, came while Elisha was plowing. The heavens weren't torn asunder. There weren't even any spoken words to accompany the call. Elisha was plowing, and Elijah knew where to find him....in his field, plowing.

Hopefully, you can see something of where I'm going with this. If you're His, you have a calling, a ministry. As Oswald Chambers says, it's not for us to decide where that ministry is to be. Like Elisha, we're to give ourselves over to Him. Our sacrifice is to surrender all self interest to the call. Whether the call is to what men call greatness or not, it is where He's placed us, and in this place, He's placed His mantle upon us. None of us know exactly what's entailed in that mystical call, but His expectation is that we give all of ourselves to it.....and trust Him not only with the calling, the mantle, but also with the yield of our work. Elijah knew where to find Elisha, plowing his field. This is where the Father needs to find us as well, at our plow, tending our field, regardless of the size and the yield. Faithful in our call, faithful in our field. Following, trusting, believing, and knowing, as Galatians 6:9 promises, there is reward for our work.

Elisha no longer tended a literal plow, but in the decade of serving Elijah, he was still plowing. As Galatians promises, at the "appropriate time," his reward began to unfold. He asked for and received a double portion of the spirit and ministry that had rested upon Elijah. God brought him into a new season of fruitfulness, a place he would never have reached if he'd taken his hand from the plow.

I don't mean to say that you will have a spectacular ministry like these two great prophets. I don't say that your field will yield the kind of fruit that the mega ministry nearby does. What I do say, what I know, is that whatever field you plow, His mantle is upon you, and if you will have it, a double portion of His Spirit. It is not the amount or size of our fruit that He measures, but our faithfulness in producing it. Wherever you are, wherever we are in His Kingdom today, keep plowing. Don't give up. Let us keep our eyes upon Him, He knows where we are and what we do, and the ground upon which we work. As someone said, it is not the physical size of our place that matters, but that any place we are where He is present is a large place. Plow on and see how true that is.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Waiting

 "The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him." Lamentations 3:25...."Today, no one has time to wait." Leonard Ravenhill

Just about everyone reading this will agree that waiting is difficult. Humans have always been an instant gratification race, but never to the degree we see today. Waiting doesn't come naturally to us, and for His people, it requires His grace to do so. However, there is an aspect to waiting that few of us really notice. I expect that's because in the waiting, we're focused upon His giving us that which we're asking for, praying for. We think it's all about what we're seeking coming to pass. In short, we think it's all about us, and what we believe God should be doing for us. Because of that we miss most of what He's really seeking to do in our waiting. It's also likely that it's the main reason that so much of what we are waiting for never comes to pass.

Leonard Ravenhill said that "we need to wait so that we can take a Holy Spirit conducted tour into and around our own hearts." Who has ever entered into such an aspect of waiting? David's plea that the Lord would "search me, and see if there be any hurtful (sinful) way within me," may be known, but we miss the truth that few of us would ever invite Him to do so unless He had gotten us still before Him. I think the times of waiting He calls us into are designed to do just that. Most of us miss His design.

So much of what we seek from Him, pleading for Him to do or give, is not nearly so needed as we think. We're like children before Christmas who badger their parents relentlessly for certain gifts, and then shortly after getting them, set them aside and forget them. They didn't want them nearly so badly as they said, and so often, neither do we. We'd find that out if we ever allowed the Lord to take us on that "tour" that Ravenhill speaks of.

The Father means for the waiting times to also be our growing times. As we wait upon Him, He works upon and in us. He explores with us what's really in our hearts. Much of what He uncovers isn't pleasant. Wrong and selfish motives, various degrees of greed and lust. As He leads us around our hearts, we can find a lot of things we didn't think were there, or wanted to hide. Waiting on and with Him will bring them all out of the dark.

This process is needed even in our good and pure requests. As He searches us He'll not only reveal blockages in our heart that need cleansing and keep us from all He desires for us. He will also use that waiting time to reveal to us, as Scriptures promise, "great and mighty things that we have not known." Most of all, we enter into a deeper knowledge of Him then we ever believed possible, which is His foremost desire for us in the waiting. There are so many riches to be found in our waiting, but sadly, we discover so few of them.

If you find yourself in a "waiting pattern," take heart. He has purposes for you, for us, that go deeper than we know. We may start out thinking we're waiting for answers, but He's purposing that we come to know that we're actually waiting for a deeper revelation of Himself, a deeper intimacy than we thought possible. In Scripture we're told that those "those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with the wings of eagles." As we wait, we seek, and as we seek, we lay hold of Him. For the believer, waiting is not a passive thing, but an active one. Such waiting is based upon hope, and our hope in Him will never be disappointed.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Tremble And Trust

 "When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.' 'Pardon me, my lord,' Gideon replied, 'but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all His wonders that our ancestors told us about?' " Judges 6:11-13

Israel, as they had done consitently, had turned away from God, and were suffering the consequences of that. The Midianites, a neighboring nation, terrorized them with constant raids, and the carrying away of their people and their possessions. They lived in such hopelessness that Gideon was in a winepress threshing wheat, for fear he would be discovered by them and killed, with the wheat taken. In these desperate and seemingly hopeless circumstances, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, addressing him as a mighty warrior, which obviously Gideon didn't see himself as being. In response, Gideon came up with a valid question; if he was all the Lord was telling him that he was, why were he and the people of Israel in this situation? More, where was the almighty God they had been taught about? Where were His miracles and wonders? Where was He?

Israel found itself where it was because of their sinful behavior. We're not told whether Gideon himself displayed such behavior, but regardless, he was living in the same circumstances as those who had. This is a good picture of what can happen in the life of believers and unbelievers alike. Whether as a result of our own disobedience, or that of others, we can find ourselves in very dark places. Hopeless places. Places where we, like Gideon, ask the question, "God, where are you? God, why has this happened? God, where is the power I have heard of, that I have believed in?" Maybe you find yourself in such a place today. Maybe you're asking those very questions. I have. Let me share with you the first time that I did.

It was a month or so after my marriage had crumbled and I had stepped out of ministry. I was in a kind of spiritual coma, with my whole life turned upside down, and absolutely no idea of how I would live, or what I would do. Through a pastor friend, I secured a job with a Coca-Cola distribution center in Charlottesville, Virginia as a trucker's helper. I have never forgotten that first morning of work.

I drove to work that early morning in the dark. I felt shrouded in that darkness. The delivery trucks all went out while it was still dark, and the truck I was on had its first stop at a small store in the city. We parked under a streetlight, and the driver had me stay in the truck's cab. As I sat there, looking at that light in the darkness, I, like Gideon, had those very questions; how did I get here? Why was I here? And most of all, where was my God, the God I had faithfully served. The God I had trusted. I was overwhelmed with despair. With that, the driver returned, and we went about the day. A day I can no longer really remember.

No angel appeared to me that morning. Nor did the Lord say anything in reply to my questions. All I could do, all I felt compelled to do, was to trust Him. Trust Him and tremble. Trust, tremble, and keep looking for the light that was there in the darkness, even if all my circumstances shouted that He wasn't. In the midst of the pain, I would trust, I would tremble, and I would hold on....and I would hurt. I would bleed.

I know. All this sounds so dark, bleak, and hopeless, but the fact that I write this should also tell you that He didn't leave me in my questions, or in the darkness. In all of it, He worked, most of it unseen and often unnoticed, but He knit together events that step by step restored my life, restored my ministry, and brought me into a state of joy I never thought that morning could be possible. That morning I felt myself a hopeless failure. He didn't see that at all, and though I couldn't hear His words then, I know He spoke something completely different to me and over me. As I trembled and trusted, and yes, sometimes angrily questioned Him, He worked and He restored. And He taught me something that I would come to know well as I sat looking at that streetlight; never stop looking at and for the light in the darkness, for He is there, and no depth of darkness can keep Him from us.

I first heard the idea of "tremble and trust" from author Larry Crabb. I've come to see that it is a state of faith that one way or another, all true believers will come to; the state of "trembling trust." In it, we face adversaries, challenges, and conditions that in our humanity make our hearts tremble. Our only recourse in the trembling is to trust. Life can and will be overwhelming at times. The Father understands we're but dust. He's not put off by our trembling, but He will give us the grace to trust Him in it. May we, in our times of trembling, trust Him. He will not fail us. He will make a way. He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. That's my testimony. As you tremble, trust Him, and it will be yours as well.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Not A Word

 "And a Canaanite woman from that region came to Him, crying out, 'Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is miserably possessed by a demon.' But Jesus did not answer a word. So His disciples came and urged Him, 'Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.' " Matthew 15:22-23...."What do we do when Jesus answers us 'not a word?' " Thom Gardner

"God answers prayer." The church has been teaching that since it's beginning, and He does, but in His way and time. That's where our testing comes. What do we do when we rend the heavens with our prayers, and all we receive in return is silence? Silence from Him, but usually, not from everyone else. Well meaning friends, even fellow believers will begin to push us to "do something." We've given Him what they, and often what we think is sufficient time. If He hasn't moved, we assume He must be telling us to take the matter into our own hands....and act. This is especially true in light of the circumstances that we're facing. They're huge and getting "huger." If we don't do something, we could lose everything. It's at this point that many give up. Are you at such a point right now?

Chris Tiegreen writes, "We don't have to know how things will turn out. We know the God who is sovereign over all things." When we are pressed on every side, with darkness growing darker, and still, He has not answered, still not replied a word, it is here that we press in upon Him. Tiegreen also writes, "When we're in trouble, we want out. Soon. God calls us deeper in." Too few of us ever discover that this is so. We're desperate to get out...soon. We don't understand His call to go deeper into Him, even in the most desperate of needs and situations.

As one reads the story of the Canaanite woman, it's easy to see Jesus as reluctant to help this woman. To think this is to not really know Him. He heard her voice and the pain within it. In His silence was an invitation to draw nearer to Him, and eventually, deeper in Him. She had to have heard the complaints of the disciples, tired of her cries and wanting to be rid of her. She wouldn't let go, not of her crying out, and not of the Lord she cried out to. Christ will always answer the prayers that will not let go. Yes, God answers prayer, but we need to understand that He answers true prayer, not the shallow requests that let off because they have never laid hold.

At root, as it is with all things in the faith walk, is, will we believe Him? Will we trust Him? He has promised to provide, make a way, deliver, and above all, see us safely home. He gives us no real info on how He'll do that. He also hasn't promised to give us a running commentary on what He's doing in the meantime. If He has chosen to answer us "not a word," His expectation is that we will "be still and know that He is God." Our flesh cannot do that. It can only be lived out in the power of His Holy Spirit. He may seem unloving, uncaring, and we may feel unnoticed. He is not, and we are not. When we hear no words from Him, He invites us to rest in Him. In the silence, He works. In the silence, we must rest and trust. What are you and I doing....in the silence?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Shepherds

 "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep." John 10:11...."The Pastor/Shepherd has given way to 'the leader.'......Many in ministry can impersonate a pastor without being a pastor. " Kyle Strobel

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been gleaning a book I read several years ago titled, "The Way Of The Dragon Or The Way Of The Lamb" by Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel. It deals with how much of the world's ways and values, the way of the Dragon, has seeped into the church. It sends a chilling warning to the church as to whether what we do in ministry is really embarked upon using the tools of the Kingdom, or the tools of the world and the enemy. It bears prayerful consideration.

Much of the book dealt with the role of the pastor, and since that is what I am, and have been for nearly 40 years now, it spoke deeply into my heart, challenging and convicting me. That's why the above quote from Strobel has to be addressed. How far have we in the church gone from seeing a pastor as much more of a leader than a shepherd? How far has the pendulum swung in emphasizing the pastor as an organization leader rather than guiding shepherd of the flock....regardless of the size of the flock? How far have we gone from the role of pastor as guardian, nurturer, and caregiver of the people, to that of them being mainly responsible for casting a vision for the body, setting an agenda, and then skillfully using ( often manipulating?) various means to achieve the vision?

I'm not writing as a way of coming against strong leaders who are people of vision. That has a place in ministry, but has it become the primary place of a pastor? More than that, have church leaders become those who demand that a pastor be this; one who can grow their fellowship, make it more successful, than one who first and foremost devotes themselves to the care and well-being of their people? Goggin and Strobel write, "A true pastor gives his life for the work of the church, regardless of the gain." That should pierce the heart of any pastor, and I have been among them, who look for a better church (opportunity) when prospects where the Lord has placed them look dim. That doesn't mean that there aren't times to move on, but they have to be dictated and initiated clearly by the Lord, and not by our seeking to manipulate things to get "somewhere better. Somewhere more promising"

As we read John 10:11, both pastors and church leaders must ask, "What is it that we are laying our lives down for? What is it that the church asks it's pastor to lay their life down for?" Is it really for those we are to shepherd, serve, and yes, lead? Or is it for an agenda, either ours or the church's? Strobel writes, "Ministry is bringing the life of God through Jesus and His Kingdom into the lives of people." Is this really what pastors and churches most want to see take place? What growth are we really the most interested in seeing and experiencing: growth in attendance, finances, buildings, or growth in the life of Christ in the lives and families of our fellowships....even if the others are not increasing? I all too painfully remember the times when the former took precedence over the latter in my ministry, despite how I sought to justify it, even deny it. Whether you're a pastor, or the people of the church, how often has it been true for you as well?

Could we, as pastors, leaders, and people of God, honestly go before Him and seek to have Him search out our ways? Do our ways and motives more reflect the Kingdom of God or the kingdom that is this world? Do we live and minister in the way of the Lamb, or the way of the Dragon? One day, all of us, pastors and people alike, will stand before Him and have our ministry for Him examined. That which is of Him will be seen as golden. That which springs from and is empowered by our flesh will be burnt up. We'll not be judged by how large or successful our ministries and fellowships were, but by how much of Christ was in them, and in the people He charged us with shepherding and pastoring. It will come down to what was of Him, and what was not? What will it come down to for you and me?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Valley

 "Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John to the top of the mountain. No one else was there."....We are not built to live on top of the mountain, but in the valley." Oswald Chambers

Jesus took these three disciples to the mountaintop, where they would be witnesses to His transfiguration. What an experience that had to have been. Peter was so in awe that all he could do was blather on about building a memorial to commemorate the experience. I would have loved to have been there, and likely, I would have been as stupefied as Peter, John, and James. We love the mountaintops. We want to stay there...but we can't. In this fallen world, none of us can. We can be thankful for the mountaintop, but we will live out most of our days in the valley.

After this wondrous time, Jesus led the three back down the mountain. When they got to the bottom, they found a dispute between His disciples and a man whose son was possessed by an evil spirit. He had come for help, but the disciples could not cast out the spirit. Very likely, the three who had been with Jesus tried to do so as well, and like the others, failed. Finally, Jesus intervened, and with His command, the boy was set free. In this story, we see much of the problem in the life of a believer; we can't live in the mountaintop moments. We will have to face the reality of the valley. As Chambers writes, "On the mountaintop we can believe anything. But what about when we're up against facts in the valley?" It's a pointed question for you and me. Can we live in the faith we had on the mountaintop when we are faced with the pain, hardships, impossibilities that will abound when we return to the valley...where we'll be living most of the time?

Chambers said that "the test of our spiritual life is the power to descend." We find that power not by trying to live in the atmosphere, the experience, of the mountaintop, but by living in the atmosphere of the Kingdom of heaven. If we cling to the experience, we will always be shaken. If we cling to the One in whose Kingdom we are to live, then we can live in His power even in the midst of the deepest valley. When we have the power to return to the everyday valleys and yet retain the spiritual strength to conquer the adversity that abounds there, we are, as Paul said, "more than conquerors."

Before the pandemic, it was common to see great Christian events and conferences advertised. These were almost always heavily attended. There has always been a large element of the church that seeks the excitement, the "mountaintops," that can be found in these gatherings. Some spent a great deal of time going from one of these to another. They wished to live perpetually on the mountaintop, if not spiritually, certainly emotionally. With the pandemic, the ability to attend these all but disappeared, as did the ability to be a part of regular, local corporate worship. Suddenly, life seemed to be nothing but the valley. Too many lacked the "power to descend." They were overwhelmed in the valley. To what degree were you and I among them?

We live in a fallen world. Life will contain unavoidable pain, disappointment, and times of exhaustion. God is gracious and merciful. He provides us these exhilarating times with Him as a means of refreshing and renewing, but He will always send us back down into the valley. Sometimes, oftentimes, as with Jesus and the three, chaos awaits us there, and in that lies our opportunity to bring Him glory. On the mountaintop, He speaks with us, reveals Himself, takes us deeper into His life. On the mountaintop we are empowered.....to live for His glory.... in the valley. There, the truth He revealed to us on the heights is proved out in the depths. For our good and His glory.

We can be thankful for the mountaintop, but I don't think that's where we'll find Him to be the most real. I think that happens in the valley, where we find how truly almighty He is. The reality of the valley will reveal to us the reality of our Lord. We had little trouble believing Him on the mountain, will we, today, believe Him in the midst of the valley. Will I? Will you?

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Doorway

 Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. Hosea 2:14-15...."The first stage of deliverance is the restoration of hope." Francis Frangiapane

When God was speaking to the people of Israel, He was speaking to a nation that had collectively abandoned their God for other gods, gods who Scripture tells us, "were no gods at all." They had reaped a terrible price in it, leading to their being conquered and enslaved again and again by various surrounding nations. As I contemplated that, it came to mind that not everyone in Israel had done so, yet even His faithful had fallen under the yoke of foreign powers and the righteous were suffering along with the unrighteous. There are consequences to our sin and rebellion, and oftentimes, those consequences will affect the innocent. The result can be, and often is, a loss of hope. Into all this pain and brokenness, God spoke His words of hope. He continues to do so today, for you, and for me.

Of this passage, Francis Frangiapane writes, "In the Valley of Achor (the Valley of Trouble), the scene of our deepest wounds and worst failures, He has placed a door of hope." That door is, and will forever be, Jesus Christ. Tragically, too few ever see Him as that. Our sin, pain, failures, so weigh us down, that we have lost the ability to look up, and it is in the looking up that we will see His doorway. John, on the island of Patmos, held prisoner for the rest of his life, in the midst of it all, looked up and saw a doorway open into the very throne room of the Father. God has for us, always has for us, a door of hope, especially for those who have lost all hope. As Frangiapane says, the first step in deliverance is the restoration of hope. Where in your life might you need such restoration today?

I have had more than one experience with this doorway, but the most profound took place more than 30 years ago. It was in the midst of the darkest time of my life. My marriage had collapsed, along with my ministry. Circumstances in my life seemed to just go from bad to worse. I felt just like Job, who received wave after wave of bad and devastating news. I was reeling, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I had no idea what was going to happen with me. I was afraid, and all hope seemed lost. He seemed far away. He wasn't.

I'm not going to tell you that He turned everything around in a moment, but He did begin a process of restoration. I had nothing, but a door opened for a place to live and a job. From there, another door opened to another place and another job. Slowly, step by step, one door of hope opened unto another door of hope. The pain and brokenness remained real, but into it He constantly came, offering hope, offering Himself. I had been told by many that because of my divorce, a divorce I never sought or wanted, I needed to realize that the door to restoration of my ministry was closed. His witness to me was to refuse to believe that. After a year and half's time, another door opened with the offer of a part time ministry as an Associate Pastor at the fellowship of a good friend. Two years later yet another door opened to come to Northern Virginia to plant a new work. For the next 27 years He ministered to me, and through me, and He continued in many dark places to open that door of hope. Now, in semi-retirement, He still does. Hope is renewed and restored again and again. It will be so until He opens that final door, to my greatest hope in Him, and that is spending eternity with Him, in His Presence.

Someone said that when one door closes and another has not yet opened, that it's "hell in the hallway." It certainly can be, but if we will trust that He is there, that He will always be there, we can hope in Him, not in what we want to happen, but in Him. His goodness, mercy, and sure purpose for us. Our hope is centered on Him. As the old hymn goes, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness." There lies the key to our hope, as well as the key to the door He will surely open. Trust Him.....and hope in Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Hidden

 "For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God." Colossian 3:3

In the wonderful book, "The Way Of The Dragon Or The Way Of The Lamb," authors Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel, tell of their interview with theologian James Houston and his wife Rita. Rita was in the beginning stages of Alzheimers, and they spoke of the great challenges they faced together over this awful disease. James shared that Rita worried that as the disease advanced, "she would forget Jesus." James looked at her and said, "I remind her that what matters is not whether you remember Him, but that He remembers you."

I've a close pastor friend whose precious wife suffers from this disease as well. I remember him telling me that he believed that though her brain was steadily losing the capacity she once knew, still, within, she was somehow able to connect with the reality of Jesus Christ. That even in this affliction, He would be with her, and somehow, she would know it. As Colossians 3:3 promises, our real life is hidden in Christ.

Alzheimers, a host of other diseases, crippling accidents, and eventually, the last enemy, death, none can touch our real life that is hidden in Him. Our outward bodies and lives will decay and fade. Here in the remaining years of my life, I can literally feel the vitality and strength I once had fading away. I'm not moved. I know what my real life is and where it is found; hidden in Him. I know that should I lose even my ability to cognitively reason, I will not be forgotten by Him, and that somehow, even in that place, He will continue to minister life to me. Nothing that this world, the enemy that operates through it, or the death that is surely a part of it can change that. My real life, the real person I am, is hidden in Christ, and if you are one who has chosen to follow Him with all your heart, so is yours. Our real life is not and can never be found in this world that is passing away. It's found in His Kingdom that is eternal. When we know that, nothing can take away the sure hope we have in Christ the Lord.

May His Spirit whisper into our hearts right now, wherever our circumstances may find us, that what matters is not whether we can see, hear, sense, or even remember Him, but that at all times, He sees, hears, and remembers us. He remembers me, and He remembers you. That is the wonder and joy of being hidden in Christ. May we never cease to know it....and even should our ability to remember it fade away, He will know it....always.

Blessings,

Pastor O