Christmas Past - Pt 1

"Don't be afraid! he said. "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone. The Savior-yes, the Messiah, the Lord-has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David." "Christ is being lost in the faith that bears His name." Erwin McManus

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved Christmas. For so long, it was because of the human element of it, gifts, family, and just the all around good feeling of the season. It was not until I first came to know Him, on that long ago August night in 1979, that I began to understand what Christmas was really all about. Nearly 40 years later, I'm still learning how much more I have yet to understand.

McManus said Christ is being lost in the faith that carries His name. He's also being lost in the season that bears it as well, but not for the reasons we're so quick to focus on. He's being lost not just in the insistence that we say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." And not just in the rank commercialism of it all. I think He's being lost in the tragic absence of joy, particularly in the hearts of His people, when joy is to mark the lives of all to whom He has come. He is joy itself, yet in our hearts and lives there is so little joy at all. We have let the cares of life, the emphasis upon what we lack rather than who it is we have, coupled with countless other "stuff" to steal His gifts of joy, peace, and hope. I know. I have walked through such times, and too often.

I remember my first year in ministry. I'd taken on a very tough assignment, but was sure He would bring me forth to "success" in it. Yet what was happening wasn't success at all, at least as to how I defined it. It was Christmas, and in the living room was our tree, fully lit. I have always loved looking at a lit Christmas tree in the dark. It always seemed so uplifting to me. Yet on this night, it wasn't. All I saw was that which was not. The church and my ministry was not where I wanted it to be. Within me were feelings of disappointment, discouragement, and yes, anger. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Why was it this way? Why wasn't God "helping" me more? I wanted good news, but all I seemed to have was bad. As I sat there, wallowing in my self-pity, I was also listening to a radio program. In it, the story was told of a pastor who had planned a great Christmas celebration for his church, and waited in the foyer for all the arrivals. Yet no one arrived. He was alone in the church, crushed and defeated. As he stood there, a group of carolers came by. He felt the impulse to step out and join them. To sing, along with them, of the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ. And as he did so, the joy of the Lord filled his soul. His plan for himself had fallen apart, but the Father's plan had come together. In that simple story, I saw myself. The proclamation of joy that had been announced to me on that August night, was announced to me again on that night. I had been contemplating giving up in despair, but now, the joy of the Lord called me onward. This place was not the end. This chapter of my life may not be the one I had wished for, but He was not finished writing my story. He still has not finished...and His joy keep calling me, leading me on. The joy of the Lord is my strength.....especially when I have none of my own...which is often.

This week, I hope, with His grace, to share a few stories of my "Christmas past." The theme that I hope speaks loudly, is the gift of His joy, peace, and hope in the midst of both the darkness and the light. A child has been given us, a Savior has come. All heaven rejoices, and so must we. The "stuff" will conspire to keep us from seeing the Son, but if we'll look past it, we will behold Him. A friend of mine, Kerry Willis, always signs his correspondence, "All joy." That is what we must know in all places. His joy, as our joy, is all joy. May it be yours, and mine....today and always.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Lane

Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. 5 You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours. Galatians 4:4-5

Speaker, singer, and author Sheila Walsh tells this story of her first becoming a part of the "Women Of Faith" ministry tours. She had almost no experience in speaking in public, and after listening to some of the other women speak powerfully of the things of the Lord, in panic, she retreated to the ladies room and cried to Him, "Lord, I can't do this!" She said that in response, she heard His quiet whisper, "Sheila, run in your own lane." She was not called to be in the lane that any of the other women ran in, only hers. That was her calling, and that was His expectation. It is so for each of us....whatever ministry it is that He's purposed for us. And He has a purposeful calling for each one. A purpose and calling none but us can fill.

Walsh tells another story concerning her sister, also a singer, but never on the scale of Walsh herself. She said she once accompanied this sister on a ministry she carried out twice a month in her home town in Scotland. She would go to a retirement home there and sing for the people. Walsh said that her "crowd" was usually about seven. Six of them would always sit in the back row, but one, each time, would sit at the very front. Walsh said that as her sister was about to sing another song, the elderly lady in front said loudly, "Oh no, she's going to sing again." Dumbfounded, she asked her sister afterwards, "How can you do this?" Her sister's answer both amazed and humbled her. She said, "Sheila, I'm simply going to bloom where my Father has planted me." She would run in her own lane. She would not be looking at her sister Sheila's lane, or at anyone else's. She would run in the lane her Father had given her. She would run to win, and she would win because she ran for Him alone. Can we? Do we? Will we?

A lifestyle of comparing ourselves to others is a death wish, yet we so easily fall prey to it. No one more so than pastors and other ministers in the body of Christ. Getting our eyes on others is the surest path to defeat and despair. Back in the early 50's, two men, Roger Bannister and John Landy became the first to run a four minute mile. Such was their fame that eventually a race between the two was arranged. It was called "The Miracle Mile." Throughout the race, Landy led, but only a few yards from the finish line, he looked over his shoulder to see where Bannister was, and at that moment, Bannister passed him and won the race. His focus went from the lane he was in, to the lane Bannister occupied. How often do you and I do that, and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? How often do we look with envy at the bloom of others and lose the bloom meant for us? Where do we do it now?

You and I are called to run the race, in the lane that He has given us. We are not to constantly measure the number who follow others, or who follow us. We are to keep our eyes on the One who runs with us, in the lane we are in. In the end, it will not be about how many or how much that marks our calling. It will be about the beauty of our "bloom" as we ran in the lane He created us for. For the one who's heart's desire is to bloom in beauty for Him, the victory circle will always include them. It will always be the place where they end. Will it be ours? It will, if we stay in our lane, eyes upon Him, blooming for Him all the while.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Here I Am?

"Abraham!," God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am." Genesis 22:1....."How would your life change if you said 'here I am' to God?" Chris Tiegreen

No matter where and how hard we try to hide, God always knows where to find us. He always knows where we are. Our great problem is that we don't. This conviction has only deepened with my own experience with Him, coupled with 35 years of pastoral ministry. We have done a wonderful job of convincing ourselves that we're "with Him" until He comes seeking for us to be, to go, to do, that which we don't really want to be, go, or do at all. Hence the piercing question asked by Tiegreen. How would our lives change if in answer to His call, we simply said, "Here I am?" More than where such a response would take us, or what we do there, just what kind of person would we be in Christ? Oswald Chambers said that God desires to take a person and make a "holy experiment" of them. To have such free and yielded access to them that He is able to display the fullness of His life in and through them. Such a thing can only happen when we respond to His call with those three simple but powerful words; "Here I am." Have they ever been spoken by us? Do we speak them now?

We all have some very clear ideas about who and where we want to be, as well as what we want to be doing. Self interest is usually at the center of it all. Many in the church are willing to serve Him, but only in places of their choosing. Places that give them a greater platform to display themselves. Places that can feed egos, advance agendas, and enhance comforts. We don't want to be anonymous, but for most, that is exactly what He calls us to be. Hebrews 11 talks about the heroes of the faith, but only a few of them have names. Scripture only refers to them as "those others," but notes that they were "too good for this world." They were His, and were willing to go with Him to wherever He led, to be nothing and no one of note...for Him. With Him. Forgotten, unknown by all perhaps, but held forever in the center of His heart. There is much talk in the church today about changing the world. Somehow, we seem to want to do that without us changing at all. These simple men and women of faith, with their simple response to Him, were transformed by Him, and in return, used of Him to transform their world. How like them are we?

So how would life change for us if we were to simply answer His call with those words, "Here I am?" How would that which makes up our world, our families, professions, ministries change? He calls your name and mine right now. Do we seek a hiding place from Him, or our place in Him? When Jesus walked with the two on the Emmaus road, Scripture says that when they reached the home of the two, "He made as if He would go on"....without them. Within their hearts, they heard His silent call. They invited Him in. Here He was...and here they were. It's the same for you and me. Does He go on without us, without you...or do we, you, go on with Him? "Here I am Lord." Can we say it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Epidemic

"Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23-24...."The great epidemic in the church today is unresolved grief." Steve Arteburn

They say that time heals all wounds, but that's a lie. A lie so many even within the church have believed. Time heals nothing, it only buries more deeply the grief and sorrow that we never bring to Him. It is an epidemic, as Arteburn says. More, it's a tragedy, for He never wills that it be so. I know. I'm one who has lived with unhealed wounds.

Dealing with grief, with sorrow, from those things that have happened to us, been done to us, or done by us, is, I think, the most difficult challenges facing all of us, but especially those who are His. It can be made so by a well-meaning church that oftentimes gives no real opportunity for healing. We like to rejoice with those who rejoice, but not so much to grieve with those who are grieving. More, we don't like to be involved in the mess that can go along with it all; anger, bitterness, unforgiveness. All these things can be very present, but they're not to be present in a follower of Christ. So if they are, the tendency is to deny them, bury them, try to act as if they're not there. But they are, and they fester...like cancer. They are a cancer...destroying so many lives. It is the long, unending journey of unresolved grief, and all the side issues that come with it.

I have always seen and believed upon Him as a Healer. My Healer. I have walked through some deep sorrows in my life, and He has brought deep healing to the sorrow. Even so, there was a time, nearly two decades ago, when He revealed to me how much of the sorrow remained untouched, and malignant. It was showing up in a number of ways, through relationships, in ministry, and in my walk with Him. I thought a great work of healing had taken place, and it had, but I was unaware of just how much unfinished healing remained. How flawed and wounded my inner life, my self-image and God image, remained. I thought He had done His work. He showed me that He had so much more for me than that. So began a deeper journey into Him. It was not easy, and it was humbling. I had to confess to things that were crippling me, repent of beliefs, attitudes, and actions that hurt me, and others. Someone has said that "the devil can't mess with a corpse." It is only by dying out to that which holds us captive that we can live in Him who makes us free. Doing that is never easy, which is why so many of us prefer to just bury it all, try to move on from it. We hope it will be better down the road, but it isn't. We just keep doing the same toxic things, thinking the same toxic thoughts, living prisoner to the same toxic spirits. And all the while, the Healer stands before us....longing to cleanse us, free us, to resolve once and for all, the chains of our grief, and all the toxic elements that go with it.

Arteburn calls it an epidemic. Are you held in its grip? Can you, right where you are, invite Him to fully search your heart, to uncover everything that is crippling you, hurting you, and very likely others, and just yielding it all, surrendering it all, to Him... and His healing touch. Dying to it all so that you can live in all of Him. The devil can't mess with a corpse. Aren't you beyond weary of his messing with you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Silence

"When the Lamb broke the seventh seal on the scroll, there was silence in heaven for about half and hour." Revelation 8:1

I write a great deal on how God speaks to us, and it's a wonderful blessing and honor He bestows that He does. Yet how do we look at things when He doesn't speak? What do we do, and how do we respond when God is silent?

So much in our lives turns out to be something much less than we expected, hoped and believed for. Marriage, or the lack of one. Our careers, our children, our ministries...our dreams. We were told that "God has a wonderful plan for your life," but where we're at isn't wonderful at all. We hear sermons telling us that God has given us a beautiful destiny, but how could where were at be it? We hear that in Christ there is abundant life, but our lives seem anything but abundant. Need is everywhere, but everywhere, God is silent. He doesn't answer. He doesn't speak. Has He left us alone....on our own? Satan will scream that He has. Yet in His silence, He isn't truly silent. He gives us the whisper of His grace.

Scripture tells us that we're to "come boldly before the throne of grace." The blood of Christ give us free access to the Father. Yet the Father doesn't seem to be in His throne room at all. The seat of His Majesty appears vacant. We are overwhelmed by our need, and have come to Him for help, for answers.....but He's not there. At least not in relation to our natural senses. The only response to our pain is....His silence. But is He really silent?

The mystics of earlier times, times when the Body of Christ didn't depend upon their own reasoning, understanding, and logical thought processes, spoke of "practicing His Presence." They meant that the believer had to cultivate His Presence, learn ever more of Him, go ever deeper into Him. In this, their discernment of Him would grow. They would become more and more in tune with the beat of His heart. They would know more of His mind as they took on, increasingly, the mind of Christ. The spiritual reaping in all of this would be immense, but perhaps the greatest blessing would be the steadfast assurance of His presence. A presence that didn't need a feeling to go along with it, or even words to be spoken in it. They had come to know He was there, with them, moving, working, despite the absence of all external "proof." He may seem silent, as we define it, but not as He does. Through His very promised presence with us, He speaks. And in that, we are assured.

I read somewhere the question, "Can He trust you with His silence?" That is a deep trust. He gives it only to those who have journeyed deeply into His Life, and have come to the place of trust, obedience, and restful peace. A peace that cannot be shattered by all the earthquakes of this world. He may withhold His words, but He will not withhold His presence. In His presence, the whisper of His grace speaks....and we hear.

Does He seem silent in your life today? Are you in the midst of the unexpected, the unwanted, the unknown? You seek answers, but there are none coming from Him. You ask that He talk, but He asks, through His silence, that you trust. Trust that He is who He says He is, and will work for your good and His glory as He said He would. In His lack of words, He gives you the abundance of Himself. And that which overwhelms you, is overwhelmed by Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Radical Life

"I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning." Luke 12:49

I just finished an article by a man named John Burton who shared three points from a sermon he'd recently preached. In it, he challenged his listeners to live out these points in all aspects of their lives. They were first, to embrace radical holiness. Second, to engage in fervent intercession, and third, to impact their culture with truth. These things spoke directly to my heart. Do they speak to yours?

To embrace radical holiness. What does this mean to you? Certainly it is something far beyond rule keeping, and abstaining from all kinds of outwardly "sinful" behavior. To embrace a radically holy lifestyle is to embrace the very heart and mind of Christ. God said we are to be holy and He is holy. We are to love as He loves, give as He gives, forgive as He forgives. Embracing radical holiness means we live drenched in His presence. We live at His feet as He reigns in our hearts. As I saw it put, Jesus is in all, as all, for all. When this is our reality, true holiness of heart and life is our reality as well. He flows freely through and out of us. Darkness has no place because we're always running into His Light. We fully embrace a lifestyle of radical holiness because we fully embrace Him. Is such a lifestyle yours and mine?

To engage in fervent intercession is to be engaged in a prayer life that looks like His. His Word says that Christ lives to make intercession for His people. Does our prayer life look anything like His? How much of our "intercession" has as its "goal" the advancement of our own well being, our own agendas? To what level do we intercede for His Church, for a lost world, a lost culture, a lost way? If you "go to church" this week, how much intercession will have taken place in your prayer life for that church, your pastor, and the ministry and mission of both. We are a culture of consumers, and that culture has taken hold of the heart of the church. Has it taken hold of yours? Where are your prayer burdens found? How far outside the circle of you and your family do they go? Read John 17, and see how Jesus prayed for those who were His, and who would be His one day. How much does our prayer life look like this? How far from that prayer life are we?

Last, are we impacting our culture with His Truth? I have seen recent article where noteworthy "believers" have been asked point blank questions about current cultural issues that are spoken to directly in Scripture. Issues that are more and more being found culturally acceptable but condemned as sin in His Word. Into all of this, the Church must speak His Truth, all the while knowing that His Truth will not be acceptable to the majority. All the while knowing that there will be price to pay for it. No, we do not speak it in anger, but in love. We speak it as an invite into His Truth, and all the freedom that comes with it. And we do not just speak His Truth into the culture of the world, but into the culture of the Church as well. Doing this will likely bring far more of a negative response than doing so with the world. Francis Chan said to the congregation of the church he pastored that the hardest place he found to preach the whole Word of God was in his own fellowship. It was there that he found the most resistance....It's popular to say today that the church has to be relevant to its culture. We are only relevant to that culture when we speak and preach His Truth into it. Anything less renders us irrelevant. How relevant, or irrelevant, are you and I?

Radical life. For Him. I want to embrace it....fully. I want to live my time out here embracing it, and when it comes time to leave this realm, I want to leave with my embrace upon it, upon Him, tighter, and stronger than ever. A radical life for Him will surely result in a radical reaction from all that is not Him. The cost is great. The glory gained for Him is infinitely greater. Do we risk it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Two Fires

"And when they had kindled a fire....Peter sat down among them." Luke 22:55....."As soon as they were come to land. they saw a fire of coals there." John 21:9....."Peter warmed himself at the enemy's fire, and denied his Lord. The devil always has a convenient fire for saints who are about to slip....Many saints are living in an interim between Satan's fire and the Savior's fire." Vance Havner

Not long before he found himself at the fire of the enemy, Peter had proudly proclaimed that he would die with Jesus. As he stood at the fire of all those in opposition to his Lord, he denied that he even knew Him. How could something like this happen so quickly? How could Peter end up in the place he was sure he would never come to? The answer is, in the same way that you and I so often have as well....and sadly, continue to..

We get comfortable in our walk with Him. So comfortable that what we're doing couldn't be called a walk with Him at all. Over Thanksgiving, a number of my family went for a walk in the neighborhood my niece and her husband and children lived in. The little girls went with us, both full of enthusiasm for the journey. On the way back though, the youngest declared, "I need a break," and sat down on the curb. We all laughed, and her father got her going, but as I write this, I see it as a great illustration for so many of us. We've been walking in His stride, but we're coming more and more to dislike the pace. We decide we need a break. We don't at first think to stop, just slow down a bit, lag behind Him a little. Inevitably though, we sit down on the curb. We need a break. Not a long one of course, just a breather. But the breather turns into a slumber, and it's the slumbering believer that the enemy most loves to attack. It's the one who thinks they're safe on the curb who ends up warming themselves at the enemy's fire. Their spiritual senses have been dulled. They're no longer vigilant as to the ways of the enemy. They can't discern the difference between the devil's fire and His. In the end, on some point, likely many, they, we, end up denying our Lord. When we choose to "sit on the curb," we leave the presence of His Holy fire. As we get further from His fire, we get closer to the enemy's. Before we know it, we're warming ourselves there. And a fire that should have been alien to us, is now familiar. It has a warm glow. We don't want to leave. We've gone from living between two fires to making our home at the wrong one. And it all began at the curb.

Peter didn't remain at that fire. Some days later, as he and the other disciples were fishing, they saw a fire being kindled on the beach. It drew their attention. As they gazed at it, Peter realized it was the Lord Jesus. He dove into the water and swam to Him...and His fire. It was early morning, so likely it was cold. Peter found warmth at His fire. Jesus was preparing a breakfast, so Peter found food at that fire. Peter found anew, His Lord and His life at that fire. The grip of the enemy's fire upon him was broken. He never again left that fire. Will we? Have we? It depends upon how many "curbs" we decide to sit on rather than walk, stride for stride with Him.

Two fires are always being kindled before us. The enemy's and our Lord's. One attracts, one repels. Which one attracts or repels you? If you claim to be following Him, where and at what pace is He leading you? What's tempting you to "take a break," to "sit on the curb?" Seeking your comfort and well being apart from Him is the first step toward's the enemy's fire. How many more will you take? The enemy's fire offers only counterfeit warmth and comfort. In the end, it kills. The fire Christ kindles brings life, vitality, victory. It seeks to draw us to it. We'll either move toward it, or run from it.Both fires consume. One brings death, the other life. At which do you warm yourself today?

Blessings,
Pastor O