Eating Rocks

 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.” Matthew 4:3

...."Jesus replied, 'I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again.' " John 6:35..."Satan tried to get Jesus to turn stones into bread. With us, he just tries to get us to eat rocks instead." Erwin McManus

If you have any knowledge of Christ's wilderness temptation, you know that Satan's game plan was to get Jesus to step away from the known will of the Father, and he used an array of temptations trying to do so. One of the aspects of His wilderness experience was hunger. It is always in our times of physical and human weakness that the enemy comes and seeks to entice us through our appetites to abandon Him and satisfy them. Being in the desert, there would be an abundance of stones. Bread produced in that day bore a real resemblance to those stones Satan pointed to them and tried to get Christ to assuage His hunger while at the same time proving He was the Son of God. Jesus, steadfast in His faith, simply replied, "Man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Later on, after His experience with the Samaritan woman at the well, his disciples urged Him to eat the food they had gathered, as all of them had not eaten in some time. Jesus refused, saying, "I have bread to eat that you know nothing about."

The devil failed to entice the Lord into disobedience. He didn't succeed in getting Jesus to turn stones into bread that He could eat. He constantly failed in every one of his attempts to entice Jesus away from living out the ministry for which the Father had sent Him. However, his success rate against you and I is considerably higher. He's not seeking to try to get us to turn stones into bread. He just wants us to eat the rocks, and never know the riches found in the Bread of Life that is Jesus Christ. The unbelieving exist on a diet of these rocks. They think its bread, but there is no life in them at all. But how can those, for whom the Bread of Life is given, again and again go to the enemy's table.....and eat rocks?

In so many of His encounters with people, Jesus would use the words, "If you only knew." If you only knew who it is who is before you." "If you only knew the life I came to bring you." If you only knew. But too often, far too often, we don't know. And so we end up eating Satan's rocks instead of feasting on the One who is Life and Bread. We're much like the characters in a movie who lay hold of what they believe is a shipment of gold, only to discover later on that all they really had was a load of rocks that had been painted gold. They'd been deceived, fooled, and made fools of. It is always so when the enemy deceives us into eating rocks. The rocks, like those of the Judaean desert, look like bread, and we may even believe that they are bread, but sooner or later, we will discover they are only rocks. He's played us for fools.

Where in your life have you lost your appetite for His bread? Where in your life have you been dining on a steady diet of rocks? Do you know, have you ever known, the food Jesus knew of, but His disciples didn't? That food, that bread, is Jesus. Turn from the rocks you've been deceived into eating, and take hold of Him who is Bread and who is Life. Know the food you were created for. Come to His table. Come now.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Heirs

 "And the Lord said to Aaron, 'You priests will receive no inheritance of land or share of property among the people of Israel. I am your inheritance and your share.' " Numbers 18:20....."The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." Romans 8:16-17

I have sought, by His grace, to live out the truth of these verses in my life. It has not been easy, and indeed, believing their truth and promise has been most difficult among those who are professing followers of Christ. It has cost me to do so, nowhere more than in my marriage. Believing that an invisible God is your portion, share, and inheritance in the midst of a world, and church much affected by that world, will never be an easy way. Yet it is what He calls us to believe and to trust in.

In an age when investments, annuities, salary increases, and what they can bring us receive a great deal of our waking attention, living a life that at root believes that He is a far deeper treasure and far more bountiful source than any of them doesn't seem rational. This is not to say that having investments, making wise financial decisions, and living as good stewards isn't important. It is to say that in the midst of that, we have to live knowing that any and all of them can disappear in a moment. They are not our source or our portion. They certainly can never be our inheritance. Jesus sent His disciples out to minister with nothing but their staffs. The were to depend upon His supply. Such instructions would not be well received in the modern church. We need to have an idea of how we'll be taken care of before we go. As Oswald Chambers puts it, we want to know how we shall live, what will our provision be, and how much will it be? We lose sight of the truth and promise that we are heirs of the Kingdom of God, and co-heirs with Christ. An infinite Source will be our infinite supply. Jesus told His followers to take no thought for how they will be provided for, yet for most of us, almost every thought revolves around this point.

In Israel, every tribe was given a share of the land that God had promised them. Every tribe but Levi. They had been set apart by Him as His priesthood. They were to depend completely upon Him for their portion. It was His intention that they would realize that their share in Him was, and would be greater than the total shares of all the other tribes combined. The New Testament tells us that all believers are counted as part of His "royal priesthood." We are all priests of the Lord, not just those who serve in what we term as full time ministers. We are all full time ministers, but few of us see ourselves in that way. We are all to live with Him as our share and portion. He blesses with "things" but none of them are our inheritance, yet we live as if they are. We give our hearts to trinkets, not realizing that our share in Him infinitely surpasses all the "treasures" this world has ever, and can ever offer.

I have never put my former mate in a light that would seem unkind. I don't try to do so now, but to illustrate the truth of what I write today, I do share this; she was unhappy with the material and financial state of our lives. She wanted much more than I was able to give, or the that the Lord was giving at that time. I would try to explain the truth of these Scriptures to her, but it went unheard. She could not "see" the promises within them. I could not let go of them, and as He leads me along in His way, He proves their truth hundreds of times over in my life. I don't write any of this with a smug superiority, just as one who has been so blessed to have experienced His sufficiency. He continues to. I have discovered, as did Moses, that my inheritance in Him outweighs all "the treasures of Egypt." Have you discovered it as well, or do you continue to hoard the world's trinkets?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Home

 "Lord, through all the generations You have been our home." Psalm 90:1......"All of us are searching for a place called home." Erwin McManus

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was a fan of the "reality" series, "Duck Dynasty." I thought they were humorous, warm, and loving people. The kind of people you think you'd be comfortable with. From time to time I'll follow some of the family members on their FB page. What I see in the comments from their fans are statements that say, again and again, how much they wish their family was like the Robertson's. How much their home was like the homes they see in the series. In truth, I doubt that the actual atmosphere of their homes is anywhere near the perfection people believe them to be, but the deeper thing I see is the longing for "home" in the hearts of these fans. They're aware of how empty so many of their homes are, which only reflects the emptiness of the hearts within. They want more, and they look to the Robertson's, and others like them. Though the longing is real, they don't realize that they search for a home that can only be found in Christ. As McManus says, we're all searching for home, but we have little or no idea about where to search.

I've written before about where I lived as a college student in a little school in northwestern Pennsylvania. We lived in what was loosely defined as a hotel. There were about 10 of us in all, and the atmosphere was usually utter chaos. We were all products of the wild and wooly 60's. Parties most every night, alcohol, drugs, noise, we were committed to everything but our courses. Yet every Thursday night, most of us would gather before the TV to watch a show called "The Waltons," about a loving family living in the Great Depression. There we were, longhaired, sometimes hung over, sometimes high on what we'd been smoking or swallowing, but we rarely missed the show. I didn't understand the roots of our attraction, but I do now. We were all "looking for home." What we saw in that show was not what most of us had grown up with and experienced. I doubt that even the real life Waltons experienced that. All of us, the Robertson's, the Waltons, you and me, are looking for home. Have we found it yet? Have you? I'm not asking if you go to church, or is you've made a profession of faith. I ask if you have truly come to know Him as not only the lover of your soul, but it's keeper, its home, as well?

I flash back to that time in college. I was walking in the midst of a dark time, not the last I would know. As I was literally walking down the town street, I passed the meeting place where all the "Jesus Freaks" gathered. I lingered and gazed in through their open door. As I did, one of them, with the warmest of smiles invited me to join them. I remember hesitating, feeling the urge to go in. I sensed there was something there that I desperately needed. Home, though I didn't know it at the time. I didn't go in. I walked on, into 5 more years of searching. Searching for the home that I never stopped longing for. Then one evening, in the home I grew up in, but had never fully felt like home, I came to Christ my Savior, Christ my Lord. I found Home, and I have continued to find it in Him, and in ever deepening ways over these past 40 plus years. He is our Home, though we don't realize it. He has always been our Home, but in our blindness, rebellion, or just plain ignorance, we keep searching for that everywhere but in Him. I have always regretted not going into the little building where the Freaks met, giving myself more years in the wilderness. Finally, I did. Have you? Will you? When will you?

I don't remember that little building ever having a closed door while people were inside. The door of His heart is never closed to those who endlessly seek "home." We pass Him by every day, really, every minute. He warmly invites us in. He invites us home. It's time to come home. Enter in through the open door that is Jesus.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Plow

 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62...."To hold to the plow while wiping our tears, that is Christianity" Watchman Nee...."The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting." Oswald Chambers....."By perseverance, the snail reached the ark." Charles Spurgeon

We love all of Jesus' kind and comforting words to us. We don't like to look at or think about His hard ones....and there were more than a few. Luke 9:62 is certainly some of them. No one knows the hearts of the human race better than He who created us. Scripture tells us that Jesus knew, always knew, what was in the hearts of those He came to. He knew, and continues to know, how fickle our hearts can be. Like ancient Israel, we tend to look for opportunities to "return to Egypt" whenever the way becomes hard, painful, or costly. He saw those hearts in John 6, when He told them that to follow Him meant that they must do so with all their heart and be willing to lose all to do so. John 6:66 relates that at those words, "many turned back and followed Him no longer." The tendency to turn back from Him is deep within us. Only a deeper work of His grace can give us the strength, will, and desire to press on.

I was much impressed with the quotes from Nee, Chambers, and Spurgeon that I used above. They speak a depth of truth that we must come to grips with. To follow Christ will yield a joy in us that is beyond description, but it will also yield pain. There will be a price, a cost to us. Jesus said so. He warned those who said they would follow Him to "count the cost" before undertaking the journey. Plowing in the days before any kind of machinery was backbreaking work. To truly minister in the Kingdom will require a strength beyond anything found in our flesh. It can only be supplied by His Holy Spirit. In the midst of His plowing up the hard ground of the hearts He has sent us to, there will be pain and loss for us. There will be tears. Our response, if we are to continue, is to wipe those tears, and plow on. If we will do so, we find that it was really He who wiped them away....and gave us the supernatural strength to go on.

As Chambers says, the life of faith will not be one of continuous flight. It will not be one mountaintop experience after another. There will much flat, monotonous ground, where the landscape doesn't seem to change, and nothing seems to be happening. There will also be deep valleys along the way as well. There will be times when we mount up with wings, and there will be times when we ascend the mountain, but we will never spend the time in those places that we will on the plain and in the valley. Yet we keep walking because He walks with us. We trust Him for the next flight as we walk with Him "and not grow weary." We keep on walking as He keeps on leading. We know that He will get us to His purposed place for us....even when it seems that we're going nowhere.

Last, there will be those days where we feel our lives, our ministries, our efforts for Him are moving at a snails pace. We seem no closer to realizing their fulfillment than when we first began the endeavor. What we've prayed for, believed for, and worked for, seems no closer at all. We wonder where He is. We wonder why He has us in this place. We wonder why, though we've been faithful, nothing is happening that we can measure. The area around us looks no different than it did a day, week, or months before. It is in those times that He will whisper His grace into our hearts and spirit. It's in those times that we will hear words akin to what Spurgeon speaks. To persevere, to press on. To know that He is doing something beyond our present understanding, but that one day, it will all be clear to us. And that meanwhile, He's glad that we are with Him. And knowing that like that snail, by pressing on, by persevering, we will reach that place that He leads us to. We go on.

It's a hard saying indeed, but He speaks it because He knows all that is at stake in our following, our ministering, our walking with our hand to the plow. We are a vital part of the expansion of His Kingdom, regardless of what appears to be at the moment. So we go on plowing, walking, watching not the landscape or measuring the pace, but with our eyes fixed on Jesus. We will be assured that we will join the heavenly throngs that will join together in singing the words to that old hymn, "It will be worth it all.....when we see Jesus." It will be worth it for all that we gained on the journey, and for seeing, in all His glory, the One who led us all along the way......Plow on!

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Operation

 He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

If you're relatively familiar with the Bible, you're likely aware of John 3:30. These were the words spoken by John the Baptist when his disciples came to him about the ever growing ministry of Jesus. Previously, it had been John who drew the huge crowds. It was John upon whose words the crowds gave all attention to. Now Jesus, the Messiah, the One to whom John had been pointing had arrived, and those who'd once followed John, now followed Him. No matter how you look at this, it had to have been painful for John. Yet so surrendered to God was he that he willingly gave up his place so that One he knew to be infinitely greater than he could be heard and known. We tend to read his words, "He must increase, but I must decrease," with great admiration, but what of the process for him to come to the place where he could? Where he could be so yielded to the Father that he could become more and more invisible so that Christ could become ever more visible.

I put in my prayer journal recently that "God 'operates' on us without anesthesia.' We may have committed all of ourselves to Him, as John most certainly had, but when we do so, we become the "living sacrifice" of Romans 12:1. We are consciously involved in the process of the total spiritual makeover that He is doing in our lives. And that can not only be painful, it is painful. Sometimes excruciatingly so. He "operates" on us, taking out the diseased portions of our heart and life. All while we are upon the "operating table" that is His altar. Just as undergoing a deep surgical procedure without anesthesia would bring a pain beyond description, so can His working upon us, refining, purifying, cleansing, and expunging. We have given Him ourselves and in the giving, have asked Him to do just that. Being emptied of those things, attitudes, desires, behaviors, and various besetting sins, can be a very painful operation, but He performs it with the most loving of hands. The spiritual cancers that are killing us are removed and replaced with His heart, His mind, and His ways. When Christ enters into our hearts, we are pronounced "new." New men and women, and we are, but remaining in us is a disposition that at root is set against Him. The carnal nature. He then works in us to bring us to the place where we are willing to surrender all to Him. We can look at this as "prep for surgery." This brings us to His altar, His operating table. It's there that the transformation fully takes place, and will continue to take place as we grow deeper and deeper in Him. John continued to minister even after Jesus began His ministry, but he knew it would be a continual yielding up of himself so that Jesus Christ could be exalted.

We will never cease to be a living sacrifice on this side of eternity. He will continue to "operate" on us and always without anesthesia. We will always be "under the knife" of God, but we can trust the Master Surgeon to only cut as deep as needed, and always with the most gentle of strokes possible. The result will be a spiritual life we never thought possible. We will experience what John and all great men and women of God have; a life where all that He is grows greater, and all that is not Him is cut out. All of us may be nervous of a surgical procedure, but all of us rejoice when we see that the procedure was completely successful. His procedures upon us will not fail, and we can rejoice in that. Let the rejoicing begin now....at His altar.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Dismayed

 "They were now on their way to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. The disciples were filled with dread...." Mark 10:32....."There is an aspect of Jesus that chills the heart of a disciple to the core....I have no idea where He is going." Oswald Chambers

I think most who know the story, love the tale of the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, who, forlorn after the crucifixion of their Jesus, were now joined by the resurrected Christ on that road. We love the picture of Jesus coming near, entering into our sorrow and need, and offering Himself, His Life, and His Hope. On that day, He led in a very beautiful and intimate way. But that is not always His choice. Sometimes He leads us in ways where He seems to be aloof, far off, and totally unconcerned with us. We know that He goes ahead of us, but we always think and picture that in terms of His constantly looking back, calling us on, encouraging our hearts. He often does lead like that, Yet sometimes He doesn't go before us like that at all. Sometimes He just keeps going forward, never looking back at us, giving us no real part of His presence, sharing nothing about the journey or where He leads us. All we can see is His back, and even that seems to be fading in the distance, while the landscape around us grows more threatening with each step. But that is nothing compared to the gaping darkness looming ahead of Him. And in it, He says nothing. He is leading, and His full expectation is that we follow....but we do so with fear, even with dread. We tremble at the unknown.

Chambers calls this process "the discipline of dismay." We have committed to follow Him. We have decided that there will be no turning back, but we didn't foresee this. We didn't think He'd lead us into such places. Our expectations never included situations like the one we find ourselves in now. Here is where our dismay arises. Here we must decide; will we keep on with Him....or will we turn back? Chambers writes, "When the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come that following of Jesus which is unspeakable joy."

The Lord has promised us His constant presence. He has not promised us the constant sense of it. There will be times when there is no sense of Him, no spoken encouragement, yet He leads us on. There are times when His voice whispers continually in our ear, but there will also be times when He is completely silent....yet He leads us on. There will be times when we lose all spiritual sight of Him, where He seems to have disappeared into, been devoured by the dark unknown that lies ahead.....yet even here, He leads us on. In all of it, He has told us ahead of time, "I will never leave you or forsake you. Press on!"

We will have those times of dismay in the journey. Deep times. He knows this, even plans for it. But He also knows if we keep on with Him, trusting in His promises and not in what we're experiencing, we will enter into the true joy of the journey. And what we learn of Him in it will prove priceless beyond measure.

You may be undergoing the discipline of dismay right now. He leads in silence. In the past He has spoken His promises, offered His comfort and encouragement, but now, all you have is what He has said....and that must be enough. You may not know where you are or where you're going, but He does. As you follow, you're in His will, and this is a part of it. He's doing a work beyond understanding right now, but only right now. He will get you through, and He will get you home, and you will come to know Him more deeply than ever, and that is what makes for the joy of the journey. Press on.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Prepared

 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ Hosea 10:12...."Only weeds and thorns grow in fallow (unbroken) ground....His rain will only fall on plowed and broken heart ground. Prepared ground." Vance Havner

There is much crying out for a move of God in the church these days. How likely are we to see that? The condition of the ground that is our hearts will determine the answer. If we're truly honest, we can't be too encouraged about the answer.

Preparation, our preparation is key to what the Lord does next, in our lives and in His church, and then through both, what He does in the world. The people of Israel desired greatly that the Father would move on their behalf, but the Lord required that they break up the hard ground of their hearts, through confession of their sin and their repentance concerning it. When that happened, He would rain His righteousness, His Spirit, upon them. He would make His streams of life flow through the desert that had been their life. Likewise, in the NT, Jesus spoke much of the need for His followers to be prepared not only for the outpouring of His Holy Spirit at Pentecost, as well as for His coming return. Indeed, preparation was required for any real move of His Spirit. It is not that we can "make" Him move, but that we would be ready for His move when it came. Hardened ground doesn't receive the rain. It just runs off and is wasted. It is when the hardened ground is broken up, turned up, that it is in a condition by which the rains may fall upon it and bring life.

As Havner says, unbroken ground yields only weeds and thorns. Only plowed ground produces a fruitful crop. Can we stop long enough to examine our hearts as to which we've been producing? This goes well beyond the amount of church work or activity we're involved in. It goes right to our hearts and what is flowing out of them. Our words, thoughts, attitudes and actions. Are they yielding weeds and thorns, or Kingdom fruit? We can be very active in Christianity and yet be very far from the heart of Christ. The Israelites that God was speaking to through Hosea never ceased believing in Him or in being religious, yet their hearts were given over to everything but Him. They had hardened hearts, and He was calling them to confession and repentance. Only then could that hard ground be made fruitful. Where is He calling us to the same?

We can talk about revival, seeing the Spirit move, winning the lost, and looking for His return. If we persist in living with unbroken hearts, we will not see any of them, or miss them if they should happen. It will be so because the ground of our hearts is not prepared. Whatever "rain" falls, be it during the week or in our corporate worship, will simply fail to penetrate the hard surface that covers our hearts. I do believe that even now a move of God is taking place, and it will only grow stronger. Will you and I be swept up in it, or swept aside? The preparation of our hearts will determine the answer. How prepared is yours....and mine?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Longings

 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” 31And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. Acts 4:29-31...."We must have apostolic faith, power, and consecration if we're to see apostolic results....and be prepared for apostolic trials." Watchman Nee

I think there has always been a longing within the church for a ministry like we read of in the Book of Acts. Wonders and miracles. Challenges and victories. Large numbers of people coming to Christ. Cities being turned upside down for the Lord. Our hearts are thrilled at the thought. There have been periods when the church has lived in that power, when the Holy Spirit swept an area, even a nation, moving in miraculous power. But at some point, the moving seemed to cease, and the church seemed to become more of an organization than a living organism, a literal part of the Body of Christ. In those times we read the book of Acts and our hearts are warmed at the thought. We even pray that such times would once again come upon us. There have been moves, but not on the level of what we read of there. Why not? Why do our longings and prayers not bear fruit? The answer is found in the quote from Nee.

There are 5 points Nee makes about the church moving in the power that was witnessed in the time of the apostles. He points to having apostolic power. We want that. We also want the apostolic results that he mentions. It's the rest of the equation we shrink back at. To have the apostolic power and results we must also possess apostolic consecration and faith. And we must be prepared to face the kind of trials they did in the living out of all of it. That is a very tall order for our comfort loving, low risk lives of what we call faith.

Just a short look at what Nee speaks of shows us the daunting steps we must undertake. Consecration; the giving of every aspect of ourselves. Our lives, our families, our future, our ministry. We, and they are not our own. They are given completely over to Him....in total trust. We trust in His goodness all along the way, especially those parts of the way we don't understand, and that will be the majority of the way. This is where we develop apostolic faith. When we have these two, we will begin to pray the kind of prayers the believers prayed in Acts 4, and we will fully believe we are heard, and will trust Him to respond and move as He sees fit. We will see results. Sometimes they will be earth shaking, as they are in the Scripture, and other times, they will be more subtle, but there will be results, and we will know without any doubt that it is Him.

That leaves us with what may be the most sobering of all Nee's points; being prepared to face and walk through apostolic trials. Church historians believe that every one of the apostles died a martyr's death, except John, who after being tortured, was sent to a prison island, where he lived out the remainder of his life. In those days when the church moved in it's greatest witness, it faced its greatest dangers and tribulation. They pressed on, and they were ultimately victorious, but the cost was great. A cost not many in the western church are willing to enter into. The apostolic church ministered on their knees and at the cross. We prefer to do so from our easy chairs and from a distance from the crucified but risen Christ. And so we never really know and experience the wonder of those believers and of that time in the church. We go on longing for, but for the most part, never realizing that which we say we desire. Will this change? I believe we are entering times when only such lifestyles will see us through. Where only the church on its knees and at the cross will triumph.....and see His wondrous works. Will you and I be ready for that, for ready or not, these times will come upon us.

I want to be swept up in such a move, not swept aside and away. How about you? May the prayer of our hearts be "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus! Come soon! Come now!"

Blessings,

Pastor O

Turned Aside

 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:2-4...."God waits for us to notice the uncommon in the midst of the common." Dudley Hall

I'm very thankful for all the times I can point to the miraculous works of God in my life, all the times He "showed up" and did wonders. I expect you are too. Yet the above Scripture causes me to ask myself, "How many times have I missed His activity around me, and what He wanted to do in me as a result?" Could it be that when we stand before Him, we will see all those times, and discover that they far outnumber occasions when we did see, we did notice? What will we have missed in our blindness? What could have been if we had only been looking for "the uncommon in the common?"

We love the spectacular, and that's most often how we look for Him to work, with awesome displays of power. He can and does, but the Bible doesn't indicate that He does so very often. Like Elijah's experience in the cave, He wasn't in the windstorm, earthquake, or fire, but in the gentle whisper. How many of us would expect Him to be in the first three, and so miss Him in His whisper? How many of us miss Him in the various ways He chooses to whisper into our lives?

As Moses walked in the desert, he saw something that might well have been common in that part of the world, a burning bush. The reasons for it would be many, and likely, he'd seen such before. However, there was something happening that he could not have seen; though on fire, the bush was not being burnt up. He didn't miss the uncommon in the midst of the common. He came close to see what it might be about, and when He did, He heard the voice of the Father, who told Him that He was speaking to him because he had turned aside at the sight. Obviously, if Moses had continued on his way, he would not have had this encounter with God. If he had kept on, would the Lord have sought another opportunity to speak to him? If he had kept on, would he have ever become the one who would lead Israel out from their captivity, or would have God raised up another? One thing is certain; if he had not turned aside, he would have missed a life changing encounter with the Creator of the Universe. Such is any encounter with Him. Moses didn't miss it, but how many have we missed? How many times have we been too busy, too preoccupied, too intent upon realizing our agendas, meeting our goals, fulfilling our desires, to notice the uncommon presence and work of the Lord in the midst of the ordinary day to day events of life? How many times has He sought to get our attention, but couldn't because we didn't see, didn't notice, and didn't hear? We didn't turn aside and we missed Him. in the missing, what was the cost to us? I am not looking forward at all to what all my missed encounters with Him cost me in this life. Are you?

A.W. Tozer said that the "overwhelming majority of the church doesn't understand what their purpose in life is." We've missed too many burning bushes and gentle whispers. There is a cost to us for sure, but what has our missing cost those around us? How many will never receive what He had for them through us because we never heard His call to go to them, because we didn't like the means of His calling and voice?

Whatever burning bushes we have missed, can we determine that we'll miss no more? Can we seek to have spiritual eyes and ears so tuned to Him, that we hear His whispers, His callings, no matter what means He chooses? We all have day to day lives to live, but may no day be so consuming that when He appears, we miss Him. May nothing keep us from turning aside....to Him.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Edge

 "Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess." Numbers 33:53....."So Joshua said to the sons of Israel, 'How long will you put off entering to take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?' " Joshua 18:3...."We know what we're freed from, but we don't know what we're called to possess." Francis Frangiapane

We kind of enjoy poking fun and criticism at the Israelites for how slow they were to believe and trust God. From the distance of 3000 plus years that's easy to do. It also makes it easy for us to be blind to how much we're like them. We're like them as expressed in the words of Joshua, and in the words of Frangiapane. We've been given, in Jesus Christ, a "land" we've done nothing to deserve, but like the Israelites of old, we haven't really entered in. We live at it's borders. The Father, through His servant Joshua's words, had to almost push them into the land. Otherwise they'd have made their home on the border. Too many of His people are doing the same as concerns the spiritual land we have been given in Jesus Christ.

Israel knew that God had freed them from their slavery to Egypt. Their bodies were free, but their minds and spirits weren't. They still processed everything through the mindset of a slave, of a prisoner. They had no idea of all that awaited them in their land of promise. Neither do we.

When the nation first sent the 12 spies into the land to explore it, they returned with the report. They agreed on the bounty it contained, but only Joshua and Caleb weren't afraid to face the challenges in occupying it. The people would not enter in, and in doing so, wandered for 40 years until that generation had died. Now, here they were again, and again, they were lingering on the edge. The edge of the fullness of the promise. How many of us are lingering at the edge of all the fullness we are promised in Christ? The land of Canaan contained riches beyond belief for the Israelites. How much deeper are the infinite riches to be had in Christ for those who have received Him? Yet we linger at the edge of it all. We may believe that we have been saved by the blood of Christ, but we know little of what we've been saved for. We've never "explored the land."

Paul wrote so much about the depth of the riches to be had in Jesus Christ. He is the believers promised land. He is a land without borders, without restrictions. The riches found in Him are infinite, and so are the possibilities for us that are found in Him. He calls us to come feed upon those riches, but we prefer to nibble on their crumbs. We never really come to know both the depth of the riches, nor the heights of the life He has saved us for. We're always at the edge of it all, but we never enter into the wonder of it all.

Where in our lives do we continue to sit at the border, at the edge of all His promises? What keeps us from entering in? Unbelief? Fear? There are challenges to taking possession for sure, but the key is that we have already been given the promise, which guarantees victory in and over every challenge. So let us respond to the call, enter into the land, our land, and live in all the fullness and wonder of what He has secured for us on the cross and in His resurrection. Let us no longer linger at the border, at the edge. Let us enter in.

Blessings,

Pastor O

The Return

  But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” Luke 18:8....."The early believers were not looking for something to happen. They were looking for Someone to come." Vance Havner

In my prayer journal I've written a question I came across in one of my readings; "What does Jesus' return mean to you? Does it impact your activities today?" How do we answer that? As we look around at the current world situation the talk of being in the last days is rampant. There is much talk of His soon return. I've learned not to make any predictions on that, but one thing is certain, He is coming back, be it soon or later. How is that impacting the way we live? What do our day to day activities look like to Him? Do we live with our eyes fixed not on the affairs of the world, but upon the One we say we follow? When He does return, what will He find us occupied with, our affairs or His.

Jesus asked His hearers if when He did return, would He find them, us, in a living, active faith? Would He find us with our hearts soaked in worship and in tune with His? Would He find us occupied with the affairs of His Kingdom, or preoccupied with maintaining and adding onto our own? Would He find our fellowships meeting in His name, but more interested in advancing our names? What do our activities really say about us? What stories do our calendars and checkbooks tell of us? What really is our passion? If He should return this Tuesday, what will He find us doing? What will He find you doing? I speak of something more than "church work." Will He find us living with passion and joy, or will He find us overextended, exhausted, and joyless. Ann Voskamp writes, "Busy is a choice. Stress is a choice. Giving yourself to joy is a choice. Choose wisely." What and who are we giving ourselves to? Are we choosing wisely? Some of the ones living furthest from Him are those working hardest for Him. It isn't the work we do that makes us faithful. It is the heart we have in the midst of doing it. A heart that counts all of it joy, regardless of the circumstances.

I think when He returns, He desires that our lives and hearts be found making a sweet song to Him. A melody to Him. In all circumstances. As Voskamp says, "Even the black keys of the piano make music." The life that is found faithful will make such melodies in all circumstances, because in all circumstances we are living for Him, with passion. We do all, even the most mundane things, for His glory. This is the faith we need to be found in. Will we be? Are we now? He will return. Whether it be in the midst of world chaos, or simply for us at the end of our lives, the condition in which He finds us determines our eternity. What will be my condition......and yours?

Blessings,

Pastor O

Altars

 "Build altars in the places where I remind you of who I am, and I will come and bless you there." Exodus 20:24...."The life that counts blessings discovers its yielding more than it seems." Ann Voskamp

The Israelites were a forgetful people. They were constantly forgetting the wonders God did among them. So do we. They often lived as a thankless people. So do we. They took His blessings for granted, and so missed them. So do we. They grieved His heart with the sin of their ingratitude. So do we.

There's an old chorus that goes, "Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done." A simple chorus that we simply mostly ignore. We don't count our blessings because most often, we don't notice them. He blesses us in seemingly numberless ways, but since we live with such a spirit of entitlement, we either don't notice, think them our due, or simply believe they're not large enough to dwell on. As a result of this, our faith never grows, so that we don't grow. Like the Israelites, when a crisis arises, we forget all His past deliverances, and crumble in fear and unbelief, or worse, accuse Him of being unfaithful to us. This was such a problem in the people of Israel that His hand of discipline was raised, and judgement would come upon the nation. Though we live by grace and not the law, we are foolish to think that our own ingratitude will not invite His discipline and judgement. He will deal with it. Maybe He's dealing with it right now. How do we avoid that? How do we learn to live lives of gratitude and thanksgiving? Altars. Building altars of thanksgiving to Him.

God directed the people to build altars to Him in remembrance of their strategic encounters with Him. Times when He revealed Himself, or delivered them, brought them victory, or fulfilled His promise. The altars were to serve as reminders to them of His faithfulness and power in their lives. They marked definite places where God had showed Himself faithful, almighty, and loving towards His people. They were also places where they would worship Him. They were to be reminders of not only what He had done, but of who He was, and that He was worthy, more than worthy of all worship and honor. The altars gave glory to God. The people needed to do this for His glory and their good. So do we, but are we?

When is the last time that you found an altar, if not a literal one, then a spiritual one where you put everything aside in order to simply honor, thank, and worship Him, giving Him the glory? Or, like a spoiled child, have you, we, been more likely to receive the blessing as our due, and like the overindulged child, simply throw the "blessing" aside like a child would a gift they place no value upon? And grieve the heart of the Father in doing so.

So many are living in a spiritual malaise, prone to depression and discouragement, even despair. Maybe to some degree you're among them. If so, where are the "altars" you've erected that honor and glorify Him for past miracles, deliverances, and provisions in your life? Where are your altars of worship that you can return to and worship Him anew? If they are few, or worse, if there are none, it is not too late to erect one now. Think on all that He has worked in your life, all the times where His light pierced the darkness, His peace broke through, and His deliverance was sure. Then, erect an altar there and worship Him. As He promises, He will bless you there.

Blessings,

Pastor O

Unmasked

 "A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything they had." Acts 2:43-44...."How honestly are we living within the Body of Christ?" Chris Tiegreen

I know in verse 44, when Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, writes about the first century believers sharing everything they had, he was speaking first of the sharing of material and financial resources as they were needed. However, the beauty of Scripture is that the Lord places deeper truth and meaning in His Word. He means for us to see deeper applications of His truth. I see that in this verse.

I think one of the great problems with the modern church is the lack of openness and sharing on a personal level between His people. We come together so often with our "masks" on. Our fellow believers know who we are, but they don't know us. We reveal little of our real selves to each other. Most of this comes from a mixture of fear and pride. Fear in that we tremble at the consequences, mostly imagined, of what people will do should they know what is really going on with us in the moment. Pride in that we don't want people to know that we don't have everything together in our lives. We're deceived into thinking everyone else does. We're blind to the truth that none of us do. So, we put on our masks that give out the false impression that all is well, while in some area, even many areas, we're dying. We're dying from the inside out. We're not at all what the church should be, and deep down we know that. Our fear and our pride hold us in this captivity. They make us believe that if anybody were to know the truth about our lives, they'd run us out of the church. The tragedy is, that in some fellowships, this would be true. God help us that it's so, but it is. The church should be a safe place for everyone to come, no matter the depth of their need, their problems, or their sin. The fact that it isn't should never stop us from striving to see that it is, because it is what He raised His church up to be, a living colony and presence of Christ and His followers ministering in the country of death.

I know something of what I write about. When I entered into ministry, I believed that my mate and I were united in our commitment to it. I soon found out this wasn't so. The real pressures and challenges involved soon began to wear upon her and coupled with some deep unhealed wounds in her spirit, the situation worsened by the year, as did my deep pain and heartache over it all. The ministry, the marriage, life itself became an impossible load for me to bear. I continued to pastor, because it was my calling, and I did love it, but all the while, I longed to be able to talk to someone, fellow pastor friends particularly, about the deep pain I was walking through. Fear and pride kept me from it. I was sure the results of doing so would be catastrophic. So, I hid it all, and myself with it. But there's a cost with that. Someone said that if you don't deal with your issues today, they will certainly deal with you tomorrow. Eventually, all my energy to keep things together and hidden collapsed. My mate left, my marriage ended, and all that I had tried to hide became known to all. And God allowed it. I believe He allowed it that He might bring to me, if not her, the deep healing I was so desperate for. He allowed the worst that I thought could happen to happen. He'll do that when He knows that's the only way to bring the wholeness we so desperately need. Yet such is His last resort, I think. His first is that we would be the church as He means it to be. Brethren bearing one another's burdens in love. Forming true relationships with masks off. Relationships founded on trust in one another and trust in Him. Living with and in transparency. Using wisdom and discernment in all but living unmasked. It's a risky life I know, but a rich one as well.

Forgive me if I've rambled, but it's my deep hope that no one walk through what I walked through in the way I chose to do so. May we be committed to being His church. His church as He raised and created it to be. People coming together, sharing, bearing, in real community. Living an abundant life and offering it to all who are passing by. Broken hearts are everywhere. They're desperate for healing and wholeness. May we be a part of a body of believers who offer both in Christ our Lord. May we live unmasked.

Blessings,

Pastor O