Heart Tracks - Holy Wind

      In ancient times, sailing ships were equipped with one or more banks of oars, so that when there was no wind, rowers, who were oftentimes slaves, could propel the ship across the waves.  The problem was that they could only do this in spurts, and when the exhaustion point was reached, had to stop, and they could go no further.  Wind, filling the sails of their ships, was treasured above all else.  I hear the Spirit speaking in that.

     Today, in the church, both in the individuals and corporate fellowships that comprise the body of Christ, I think we have countless rowers, but so little wind.  We may well be busier in the church than ever.  Going out, witnessing to a lost culture of the need for Christ, building programs, crafting strategies, writing books, having conferences, all with the purpose, the good purpose, of bringing Christ to the world.  Yet, in the midst of that busyness, we are exhausted.  Pastor's are leaving the ministry in droves, burnt out, used up.  Congregations are comprised of people who hear the Words of His truth, but rely on the remedies of the world for depression, addiction, anger, and emotional, physical, and spiritual lameness.  We look for rest in the same places it does, vacations, 3 day weekends, or escapes into entertainment, sex, and sports.  We, who claim to follow the One who is the Great Physician, the Healer, have medicine cabinets filled with as many drugs as our unchurched neighbor.  His Word tells us that the Government of all things rests upon His shoulders, but we look to secular government to care for us, becoming as dependent on it as those who are without Him.  I am not saying that any of these things in themselves are bad or evil, or that they cannot be used by a believer, only that they have come to take the place of Him who is above all things, including these things.  Because of it, we float listlessly, without the wind of the Holy Spirit.
     In John 3, Jesus is talking with the religious leader Nicodemus about what it means to be "born again."  He tells him, "Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven.  So don't be surprised by My statement that you must be born again.  Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."  There lies so much of our problem.  We want to be able to explain naturally what is supernatural.  But Jesus said that human effort can only bring about human answers and results.  There are books out that say they can tell us how to bring revival to our churches.  Yet Jesus said that we cannot know, or control, where the Spirit comes from, or where it is going, so we will never be able to have a "how to" manual for creating revival.
   Have we, you and I, been at the oars long enough?  Are we exhausted enough?  Are we weary enough of human activity that is bringing us nowhere?  Can we instead, in brokenness, at His cross, seek His face, His Heart, and His Spirit, until it comes, filling our long dormant sails, and carrying us we know not where, but we know it will be His best, and we really are, in every way, born anew, born again.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Dead Eyes

      Acts 7 describes the death of Stephen at the hands of the religious leaders of Jerusalem.  The entire chapter is taken up with the his powerful testimony of Christ as laid out before his listeners, a testimony that enraged them, and brought about his death by stoning.  Chapter 8 begins with what seems an afterthought; "Saul was one of the official witnesses of the killing of Stephen."  Saul, who after his encounter with the risen Christ on the Damascus Road, was to become the apostle Paul, the apostle of the heart as he is called by many.  Yet, there he was, an official witness, meaning he gave full approval to the murder.  Yet, something in the manner of Stephen's death had to have deeply impacted him.  Stephen, as I like to think of it, "died alive," in that they were able to kill his body, but they couldn't kill him, or the life of Christ within Him.  Paul beheld this, and though he was to redouble his efforts to stamp out the followers of Christ, he couldn't get away from what he'd witnessed, a witness of a whole other sort than what the enemy intended.  On the Damascus Road, the witness would bear life for Paul, just as such a witness can well come to bear life for you, as it most certainly did for me.

     I remember so clearly the first time I was confronted with such a witness.  I had been away from the small college I attended in northwest Pennsylvania for more than a year.  When I returned, I came across a young girl I had spent much time with, partying, getting high, or "wasted" as we called it.  Yet, before she even spoke, I knew something was different.  I saw it in her eyes.  Before, her eyes were like mine still were, dead eyes.  Yet, that was no more.  I saw in her eyes a life I couldn't account for, but knew was real.  It made an impression I couldn't get away from, and though I know she spoke to me about what had happened in her coming to know Christ, I really don't remember anything she said, but I can still see, as I continued to see, the overflowing life showing forth in those eyes.  It would be five more long years of spiritual captivity before I had encountered Him on my own Damascus Road, but the journey began by looking into those eyes, by my seeing, though I didn't understand it at the time, Christ in her eyes.

    Some years later I encountered another lady, one who professed to follow Him, yet, in her words, her actions, and yes, her eyes, I didn't see what I had seen before.  Her eyes, her spirit, seemed to be as lifeless as mine.  She spoke to me of Christ as well, but her words didn't seem to be accompanied by any real life.  I don't say that in judgement, it's just what I remember.  It's very sobering to think what kind of memory might my words and life leave upon those I encounter in my day to day interactions.  When I come across those who can only see things through dead eyes, do mine look the same to them as theirs do to me?  Do yours?
    In John 4, in the story of the woman at the well, after her encounter with Christ, the woman ran into the town and exclaimed to all, "Come meet a Man who told me everything I ever did!"  They came.  Do you think it might have been because they, like Paul did in Stephen, like I did with my college friend, saw in her eyes, life, and not the death that once reigned there, and still did in them?  They came and heard and saw Him for themselves, but not merely because of what she said, but I believe, because of what they saw in her, in her eyes.  Dead eyes no more, but eyes of light and life.  May I, we, walk, talk, and live with such eyes.  May those who encounter us, encounter Christ in us.  Today, what will they see.......in our eyes?

Blessings,
Pastor O
    

Heart Tracks - Die Living!

 When those times come, as they do to all of us, when I'm tempted to give in to discouragement and despair, and yes, self-pity, the Lord brings to mind the life of the apostle Paul.  What must have it been like for him, a man whose heart was bursting with new and fresh insight from the Holy Spirit, who was hearing His voice more deeply than ever before, yet, all the while confined to a cramped prison cell, chained to his guard?  How did he live in the midst of those extremely trying circumstances?  How did he live with the knowledge, as he most certainly did, that he would not leave that cell, that his destination was not further and fulfilling ministry, but death?  How did he live?  The answer to that is found by simply reading those "prison letters," of his, and one sees that as, what he called, "the time of his departure" came near, Paul lived fully and richly, in Him.  Christine Caine said that it was her hearts desire to "Die living, and not to live waiting to die."  When Paul's time of departure, of his death came, he died living.  For those of us who give in to the seduction of discouragement, of despair, frustration, self-pity, we will only be living as we wait to die, and that will not be living at all.   

     One of the great lines in the movie The Shawshank Redemption is the one spoken by Morgan Freeman's character, that a person needed to either "get busy livin', or get busy dyin'"  Which speaks to you and I today?  Are we "busy" with the business of dying, or living?  Though we may be physically alive, does spiritual death grip us, keeping us from the fullness of His life?  Discouragement, despair, fear, self-absorption, these are the markings of death.  Hope, joyful expectation, peace, these are the fruits of His life at work in us. These fruits cannot be quenched by anything, not even a dank, dark, prison cell, where the executioner is literally around the corner.  Even in such a place, we may be "busy about His life."  Paul's life in the midst of such a place was of such quality and power, that the entire Roman garrison knew of him and the life he was living.  What is known about the quality of our life today to those who surround us?  Are we living and breathing life, or death?  

     Paul wrote Philippians 3:13-14 on the brink of his "departure."  "I focus all my energies on this one thing; forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.  I strain to reach forward to the end of the race, and receive the prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us up to heaven."  The upward call; Paul's life was a portrait in responding to that call, right until the very end.  When it came time for him to leave this realm, this life, I know that he left it "straining, reaching forward."  May it be so of me, of you.  May we die living, busy about His life, always moving upward in response to that call, knowing that no cell, no cave, no affliction, not all of hell unleashed itself, can keep us from it.  This is His life.  May we fully live it.  May we never cease straining forward to have it, till the time of our own departure comes.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Ruined Appetites

    When I was growing up, a common warning from my mother as we neared suppertime, and she saw me or my siblings snacking was to stop, so that we didn't "ruin our appetites."  It was a fair warning, because we tended to want to gorge on things that held little nutritional value, and leave us with little or no desire for the dishes she would prepare and most certainly did.  I see a great parallel to this in our spiritual lives today.  We seem to be gorging ourselves on the junk food of this world, filling our lives and souls with "food" that has no eternal value, yet leaves us with no appetite or desire for those things that do.  I once read of a case study of severely overweight people who were literally starving to death because their system was not receiving the basic nutrition it was designed by Him to have.  How overweight are we today with the "food" that does not last, while starving to death for that which does?
     Isaiah 44:3 reads, "For I will give you abundant water to quench your thirst and to moisten your parched fields."  As I once saw it put, before one can be filled with the water of His life, he must first realize how dry and thirsty he truly is.  The "soda pop" of this world which we've been guzzling, masks our true thirst, leaving us craving more of a drink that doesn't quench our thirst, but enhances it.  The Lord said that He would "pour water on him who is thirsty," but life most often seems to find us congregating at the local soda pop machine instead of the living stream of His water.  This is true of an individual, a household, a ministry, and a church.  Do we know how truly parched we are, and if so, are we running to our favorite soda pop dispenser, or to Him who is the Source of all Living Water?
    Decades ago, pioneer singer Keith Green, in his wonderful song, "Asleep In The Light," asked this question of the church; "How can you be so dead when you've been so well fed?"  Could it be ruined appetites?  We may faithfully attend to our daily devotions, our weekly home groups and worship gatherings.  His Word may be shared, placed before us, but it's not received, taken in, made a part of us.  It can't be, because like my siblings and I, we've already filled up on all the junk food that's all around us.  The prepared dinner, no matter how sumptuous, goes uneaten.  We've been to His table, but we've partaken of nothing.  Asleep in the light, starving to death in the midst of plenty.  What will this day, week, life, hold for you and I?  Another visit to the pop machine and candy bar dispenser, or to feast at His table, to drink deeply of His water?  Both options are before us.  Where will we be found?


Blessings,
Pastor O  

Heart Tracks - Community Center or Church?

  Pentecost Sunday, the commemoration and celebration of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, is upon us.  The question that gnaws at my heart and spirit is, how real is that outpouring to me, to the fellowship I serve?  How real is it to you and yours?  I recently read an article as to why a true awakening in the church has not happened.  Now, I know many a pastor and layperson who is praying for just that, yet it tarries.  Do we dare to allow Him to reveal to us as to why that might be so?

     The writer of the article had a number of points, but the one that leaped out at me was his observation that we in the church have become very pragmatic and naturalistic in our spiritual views.  In our needs, spiritual, physical, emotional, material, we seek the same sources of help as those we would call "unbelieving."  We tend to seek first natural, not supernatural provisions.  How many of us, when sick, do not first seek the presence of Him in our church fellowships, but run to a Doctor or emergency room?  We will go to earthly counselors for answers, pharmacies for drugs, and friends, families or banks for loans, all before we will go to Him.  More, when we do come together, it seems to be with little real expectation that we will really meet with Him.  We will sing about Him, hear about Him, but how many of us will really encounter Him?  How much real worship really goes on in what we call "worship services?"  We live so distracted in our day to day lives, that we come together distracted, "worship" while distracted, and most often, leave distracted.  More, we plan our "worship" to such a degree that we leave little, if any room for the Holy Spirit to intervene even if our hearts may be open to Him.  How many pastors or worship leaders will react kindly to having their song list or power point presentations interrupted by a spontaneous move of the Spirit?  How many of us would view such a thing as being "out of order?"
     I've a friend who has lovingly observed that he sees the church today as bearing much more resemblance to a "Christian Community Center" than to the New Testament church.  People gather, relate to one another, share experiences, have good fellowship, none of which are bad, but it rarely seems to be more than that.  In the Old Testament Temple in Jerusalem, such was what took place in the outer court, where the emphasis was on the people, but the outer court was the entranceway to reaching the Holy Place, where God was.  Too often, we who are the church, never get past the outer court, never enter into the Holy Place and encounter Him.  Watchman Nee wrote, "You cannot know God from a distance.  In the outer court, quite rightly, you approach people; in the Holy Place, you approach the Lord."
    In our seeming obsession to be "relevant" to the unchurched, it seems we are almost embarrassed by a Holy Spirit who will not behave Himself.  If someone were to rise up this week and speak something prophetically in the Spirit, how open would we be?  If one or many were to be overcome with the sheer joy of the Holy Spirit, and shouted out that joy, even danced before the Lord, how receptive would we be?  If the Holy Spirit so powerfully came upon us this week so that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING stopped, and all we could do was be prostrate before Him, how welcoming would we be to that?  If the Lord were to be this week, not a general, unobtrusive presence, but a manifest one, where He literally took over His church, and it is His church, would we run to Him, or flee from Him?  I know what a community center would do, and so do you.  I also know, and I think you do as well, what the true church would do.  The question is, which one are we?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Small Stuff

     It's likely that you've heard the saying, "Don't sweat the small stuff."  It makes sense from a common sense viewpoint, but the walk of Christ is not grounded in common sense, but in dependency upon Him and the leading and empowering of His Spirit.  Andy Andrews, commenting on this  said, "Life will be decided by what goes on in the small brush strokes, yielding either a masterpiece or a mess."  I have found that it is not the big crisis that puts the most pressure on my life, but the constant dealing with the small, seemingly inconsequential details of life that wear at my mind and spirit.  Those "thorns" that don't render us incapacitated, but remain as ever present, irritating pricks upon our lives, robbing us of rest and peace.  Life's brushstrokes, and how we respond or react to them will define whether our lives are a masterpiece or a mess.

     Watchman Nee tells the story of a particular thorn in his flesh that he cried out incessantly for the Father to remove, but His answer, as it was to Paul, was "no."  Like Paul, he was to rely upon His grace in the midst of the pain of the thorn.  Nee did not at first find this comforting, but he said he began to picture in his mind a riverboat navigating a river and encountering a boulder that stood five feet above the waterline, and blocked further progress.  He began to see the correlation between the boulder and his thorn.  He'd been asking for the removal of his own "boulder," but to Him came the thought/question, "Would it be better to have the five foot boulder out of the way, or to let Him raise the level of the water five feet?"  He saw then the real power of God's grace in the midst of boulders both great and small.  He realized that Christianity was "not a matter of removing boulders but of having deeper water."  Thorns lose their power against us when we abide in the deep of God.
     We may boldly proclaim "Don't sweat the small stuff," but it will be the small stuff that relentlessly chips away at our spiritual and emotional well being, entering our thoughts on a non-stop basis, stealing peace, joy, and strength.  The "boulders" that keep appearing in the path of our lives irritate, frustrate, and weaken us.  Yet, if instead of raging against them, or demanding that they be removed by Him, we will instead allow Him to show us once more that in our weakness we are made strong by His grace. (2 Corinthians 12:10)  The boulders and thorns are not removed, but our life in Him is deepened so that we may glide over them, move on in spite of them, because His grace really is sufficient in all things, even the most seemingly insignificant.
     There are a lot of brushstrokes going on in my and your life today.  What are they producing, masterpiece, or mess?  Jesus said that in this world we'd have tribulation, and oftentimes, that tribulation comes in the form of frustration, irritation, and aggravation over seemingly unimportant things, yet things that are undermining our spiritual well being and walk with Him.  Will we rage against them, become angry that He doesn't remove them, or, by abiding in Him, find that He is more than able to so deepen us in Himself as to render them powerless in our lives.  What's the "small stuff" doing to you and I today?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Why This Waste?

     There is a great deal of speaking and writing in the church today on entering into the destiny we were created for by God.  Most of it seems to center on that destiny being one of excitement, adventure, fulfillment, and more.  To me, it seems that the appeal of it all is based more on our flesh than our spirit.  We're drawn to the idea of greatness, especially if that greatness results in being noticed, applauded, and esteemed.  Recently I heard a middle aged woman speak of a ministry she felt the Lord had clearly called her to, one that was filled with heavy challenges, hardships, and heartaches.  She said she found herself speaking to the Father of the "destiny" He'd created her for, asking Him simply, "Is this it?"  I can identify, can you?

      In a devotional recently, I read the words of a woman who, along with her husband, had been placed in an extremely difficult mission post in East Asia, a place that had a government system totally opposed to the sharing of the gospel.  Every effort seemed to end in failure, every path seemed a dead end.  She cried out to the Lord over it, asking Him why He was allowing them to waste their lives in a place that was yielding no fruit?  In response, the Holy Spirit brought the scripture from 26:8-10 to her heart, where the act of worship by the woman who anointed Jesus by breaking a bottle of expensive perfume upon Him, is told.  The disciples responded,"Why this waste?  This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor?  But Jesus, aware of this said to them, 'Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for Me.' "  Her heart melted, as she realized that what she, and we, would consider a waste, Jesus considered a "noble thing," indeed, an act of worship.  It's always a matter of perspective, and most often, we end up seeing only the perspective of the flesh.  Nothing given to Him, regardless of the visible result, is ever a waste.  Have you and I been thinking it is?
     What is it, work, marriage, parenting, ministry, that you have "given" to Him, yet you feel is being wasted, where you're being wasted?  Do we see it as an exercise in futility, or as an act of worship?  Those who observed the act, believed it a waste of time, yet Jesus said that the woman would be remembered throughout eternity.  Are we seeing our "destiny" as being something that fulfills us, or that exalts Him?  Do we feel "wasted" where we are right now, or do we offer up ourselves, where we are, as an offering of worship to Him.  Are we living lives, carrying out ministry that He calls "noble," and that will be remembered throughout eternity, or, do we despise where we're at right now, and so miss the opportunity to offer up worship in that place, not realizing that this is what true waste really is?  Is our perspective one of waste, or worship?

Blessings,
Pastor O