Heart Tracks - Desperate

"For in Him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts 17:28.... "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." John 15:5...."I wake up every day needing Him desperately." Joni Eareckson Tada

Most of us know the truth of Acts 17:28 and John 15:5 in theory, if not in practice, in our day to day lives. When we read the above words of Tada, we are likely to think that of course she does; she's a paraplegic. Her needs are deep and she must have God fully at work in her life. We, on the other hand have full use of our faculties, physically and mentally. We have a lot of ability, a lot of talent, and a lot of strength. We can get a lot done with those. We do get a lot done with those. The question would be is what we're getting done amounting to silver and gold or wood and stubble? And more, do we realize that without Him, we are every bit as helpless as Tada?

Apocalyptic movies seem to be the rage right now. Scenes of cities, once magnificent and glorious, reduced to rubble and debris due to some cataclysmic event. Their builders are gone and forgotten, and what is left of them is being reclaimed by nature. It's as if they never were. Is there any possibility that our lives, spiritually, will end up amounting to the same? Who are we really living in and for? Ourselves....or Him? Who do we live and move in....self, or Christ? Do we really live as if all things hold together in Him....or as if all things depended upon and our held together by us? Do we give Sunday morning lip service to being weak and dependent upon Him while living the other six days trusting in our own strength and ability? We may often say that we are nothing apart from Him, but do we really live like that's so? It takes a deep level of surrender to live as nothing in order that He may be everything. Have we ever been willing to humble ourselves to that degree? Or any degree near it?

I think we are blind to the truth that in His eyes, we have no more strength or ability than does Joni Eareckson Tada. It is not her terrible accident that made her have to depend completely upon Him. She was born with that dependency. Her diving accident may have placed that reality upon her, but she would have been just as helpless without Him had it never happened at all. Self-sufficiency is an illusion and delusion that countless lives and souls are help captive by. The Bible relates how Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful and arrogant king of his day, was rendered totally powerless and helpless by God in order that he might learn that "it is heaven that rules." His pride was broken. Is ours yet to be?

Someone said that we move upward in our spiritual lives by first going downward. When we humble ourselves before Him, He in return lifts us up. When we acknowledge how truly weak we are, He in turn makes us strong in Him. The life of Tada gives witness to the truth of this. Does yours and mine? Or, are we too busy building our "cities," our kingdoms, to recognize and know that it is heaven that rules? If you're building your life on any foundation but Him, what will you do when that foundation crumbles? And it will crumble. In Him we live, move, and have our being. Is that your life testimony and reality? Or is it something you say amen to on Sunday, but forget about by Monday....and all other days as well? Every morning when we wake, we're desperate for Him. Some know that. Most don't. Are you among the "some," or the "most?"

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Hardened Hearts

"Remember what it says; 'Today when you hear His voice, don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled." Hebrews 3:15...."Are we living in rebellion, presumption, or submission?" Watchman Nee

What's the spiritual disposition of your heart? There may be no greater question asked of you or me. We may be the most active person in our church and community. We may abound in good works and generous giving. We may be doing all the "right things," yet the disposition, the attitude of our heart may be totally contrary to the heart and purpose of God. We may have all the surface qualities of a dedicated believer yet all the while maintaining a hardened, rebellious heart.

Watchman Nee asks a penetrating question. What heart attitude are we really living in? The first, rebellion, can be relatively easy to identify. We may justify, deny, or just ignore the symptoms of rebellion in our life, but in our spirit, we know when we're walking against light. We know where and how we're fighting God. Oftentimes over the course of my ministry I've heard people say in response to wrong and sinful behaviors, "The Lord has been speaking to me about that." Yet there's been no change or even an attempt to have change. They pretend to have an openness to His ministry that doesn't actually exist in them. They're fighting God and rebelling against what He seeks to do in their lives. It is one thing to be yielded to Him while He works to bring healing and wholeness, oftentimes in stages, and another to feign desire for transformation while all the while persisting in destructive habits and ways. And the heart grows harder.

A much more difficult heart attitude to come to grips with is that of presumption. There are so many things we presume about God, ourselves, and how He and we should relate, and how we both should relate to others. We presume things in prayer, in ministry, in choices and decisions. Many times this attitude of presumption comes with an attitude of entitlement. We feel we've earned or deserve what we ask for, or, that God certainly must desire the same thing we do simply because we do desire it. We call it good so He must as well. The sin of presumption ensnares us because we think we have thoughts and perceptions on par with His. We presume to know what He'll do and how He'll act. It's really just a subtle form of rebellion, and to persist in it brings about the same hardening of our hearts that open rebellion does.

There is only one pathway to maintaining a softened, teachable, and malleable heart.....that of living in the attitude of full submission to His will and way. We don't fight and resist Him and we don't presume to take on His role in our affairs. We place all of ourselves, and all the desires, dreams, hopes and plans at His feet and trust that He will do what is best and right with all of them. This will include our most precious and longed for hopes and yearnings. More than we want any of them to come to pass, we want His will for us to come to pass. A hardened heart can never do this. Only the soft, tender heart of the surrendered can.

So which heart attitude most describes you and me? We can be soft and open in many, even most areas of our spirit life.....except for that one place. That one attitude. In that place we've become hard, and with each refusal to heed His voice and leading, we become harder. Hardened toward Him and hardened to one another. We become desensitized to both. Rebellion and presumption each yield a bitter harvest. Refuge, peace, and safety are found only in surrender in and to Him. There is always one heart attitude that prevails in us. What's prevailing in you and me?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - It Is I

"It is I; don't be afraid." John 6:20......"What initially made the disciples panic was the very Person who brought them growth, faith, rest, and guidance." Chris Tiegreen

Scripture relates in the Old Testament that, "Moses entered into the darkness, where God was." We don't like to equate darkness with the presence of God, but the reality is, darkness may well be the most likely place to encounter Him. We fear the darkness, and most everything that can go with it; pain, heartache, loss, sorrow. All of these are life realities. God's people will never be immune from them, and its in these places that we're most likely to feel He's left us to face it all alone. Certainly the disciples felt like this when they were in the middle of the lake in the midst of a raging storm. Such was their fear that when they saw Christ approaching them, they thought He was some ghost, some terror of the darkness. Fear does that to us. It can render even the presence of Jesus unrecognizable. Where might it have done so to you?

Beth Moore said something to the effect that those things in her life that she was sure would kill her were the very things God used to grow and shape her more and more into His image. In the midst of the pain and loss, if we will yield ourselves to His hand and heart, He will use them to lift us higher and closer to Himself. It goes against human reason, but in the darkness we can come to have the clearest picture of who He is. Scripture says that darkness is not darkness to Him. It may obscure our sight and understanding, but it can never alter His. He sees where we are, and He knows what we need. And He'll not leave us in the middle of the "storm." He'll get us to the other side. And in the doing, deepen our knowledge and understanding of Him and ourselves. I have a little book titled, "The Bumps Are What You Grow On." Sometimes the bumps become mountains, earthquakes, tsunamis, In those places we can choose to panic or trust. The first will blind us to Him. The latter will reveal Him.

Thirty years ago, when my marriage crumbled, so did all the rest of my life as well. I lost "everything" as far as how I measured things. All I could see was what was gone; wife, family, ministry. I was in a wilderness in every way, and I saw no way out. Fear gripped me in the center of my being. One day, as I told another brother of my pain and disappointment in Him, He simply said, "Have you ever known God to lead anyone into the wilderness....and leave them there?" The words pierced my heart, and I then confessed my absence of trust in who He was, and what He'd promised. Blind fear began to be replaced by the sight of faith. He'd been there. He was there, it was Him, but my unbelief and panic kept me from seeing. When I finally did begin to see, I knew He'd get me to the "other side." And He did, as He's done so many times since.

In the midst of your raging storm, be you in it right now, or soon to come, He's there. He was all the time. Renounce the fear that distorts His face, and then hear His words, "It is I; don't be afraid." Greater is He that is in and with you, and me, than is the mightiest storm that can come against you.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Never Again

25 When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the impure spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.”

26 The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. Mark 9:25-27

I think besides failing to realize who we are in Christ, we don't realize what we are in Him as well. Jesus Christ has authority over all things. Scripture says that all things are held together in Him. When we come to Him, live in Him, surrender fully to Him, we walk in His authority as well.

Jesus had been approached by a father desperate to see his son delivered from an affliction that not only rendered him deaf and mute, but caused him to physically harm himself. Jesus recognized immediately that the problem was demonic in its source. He confronted the evil spirit, commanded that it leave the boy, and added something key to that command, "Never enter him again." Here's the question that comes to mind; if we do walk in His authority, surrendered, obedient, abiding, then we too can speak "never again" to those things, habits, addictions, and people that seek to control, manipulate, and dominate us. What in you life, my life, needs to hear that command of "never again?"

I'm not oversimplifying here. Jesus Christ was and is fully God and fully man. All things were subject to Him. He said that all authority had been given unto Him. When He spoke, the response was instantaneous. He has given that authority to us, but we live in fallen bodies in a fallen world. Though we have His authority, oftentimes we need to exercise it more than once on any given object. Habits, addiction, abusive relationships can become ingrained in our lives. They take root, and they mean to stay. They will resist leaving. What we must realize that is with His authority comes His power. We may be weak, but in our weakness His strength is unleashed. His will is that we be free. When we align our will with His, all the power of hell cannot stand against that. No matter how powerful the stronghold, when we speak in that power of His name, it will crumble. We may need to speak it many times, at least in the beginning, but with each speaking, its power grows weaker until finally, its broken.

All of us, myself included, have lived under a yoke of slavery to something. The harm done us takes place on every level of life; physical, mental, spiritual. Like the father of that boy, we feel helpless. If we will realize who we are, and whose we are, we can rise up in His name and power and speak, as He did, those words to the slavemaster; never again! Jesus asked the father of the boy if he believed He could set him free. The father did believe, but it was coupled with doubt. His plea to Jesus was, "I do believe. Help me in my unbelief." Maybe that's where you are now. You want to speak the "never again." You do believe that you can be free, but that thing or person has held you in its grip for so long. Admit the struggle to Him, confess your doubt, your unbelief, and ask Him to replace it with His strength and confidence. Then begin to speak your "never again" to whatever stronghold holds you in bondage. When you speak those words in His authority, His strength, it will began to topple....at its very foundation. Speak it, and continue to speak it. You will shake the foundation of hell, and the foundation of that which holds you. Never again. What and who needs to hear that in your life?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Voices

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. I Kings 19:11-12

I've always enjoyed those entertainers who do voice impressions of famous people. Some are so good that its near impossible to tell the real from the counterfeit. I think only those intimately acquainted with the one being imitated would be able to tell the difference. I think all would agree that the enemy is always trying to disguise his voice as being that of the Father's. Knowing the difference is central in the life of the believer. But here's a twist on that that we don't often consider. God's voice can be very different from one encounter to the next. So not only do we need to know His voice, we also need to know His heart.

It's easy to take the above Scripture and make it a "blueprint" for recognizing His voice. We focus on the "gentle whisper" aspect of His speaking. Since He wasn't in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, He must then always be in the whisper. Many times He is, but He never places such restrictions on Himself. We need to be so attuned to Him, to His heart, that we can look for Him, hear Him in the earthquake just as clearly as the whisper. We need to know that He will choose the means of His speech. Our part is to have the ears of our heart poised to hear whatever He speaks whenever He speaks it, no matter how He speaks it.

Sometimes He shouts. Sometimes He whispers. Sometimes He shakes. Sometimes He brings everything to a standstill. Our spirits have to be sensitive to the differences, sometimes very subtle ones, and hear what He is saying regardless of the means through which He says it. Jesus said that "My sheep know My voice and follow Me." He never said that His voice would only be heard by His sheep in one way. He just said that we would know it, no matter how that voice might sound.

There is a powerful spirit of deception upon the church these days. We are to know His voice, yet so many are being led down paths that take them not into the heart of the King, but ever further from it. And all the while, they believe it is His voice they follow. They may have heard the sound of the wind, the earthquake, the fire or the whisper, but they were deceived as to whose heart the voice came from. The ears of the their hearts were more attuned to the sounds than to the heart they came from. To what degree might that be so with you and me? How many places of ruin have we gone to because we thought it was Him doing the leading? How many more such places are yet to come?

The Spirit speaks in any and all ways. The devil will try to imitate Him and deceive us in any and all ways. Only those bound to His heart will know the difference, regardless of the differing means He uses to speak. Whatever voice He might use with you, will you know it is Him? The enemy/imitator is always speaking. So is the voice of the Spirit. Which do you follow?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - Wounds

"As He spoke, He showed them the wounds in His hands and side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord."
John 20:20....."In eternity, the only wounds will be the scars of Christ." Sheila Walsh

Wounds. Scars. We all carry them, and sometimes it seems like none more so than the people of God. How we carry them will make all the difference to the state of our life, physically, emotionally, and especially, spiritually.

Some carry their scars and wounds about in a manner that assures everyone will see them. Everyone will know how much they suffered, and everyone will see, hear, and know the cause of the suffering. The wounds and the scars will be the centerpoint of their life. No healing has ever taken place, and really, no healing is truly desired. The wounds and the scars define them, and they can't let them go, they can't allow the Healer to heal them. Their wounds and scars are their prison.

Others carry their wounds in a much different way. They hide them, bury them behind of host of different ways to deny or suppress their existence, and their need. They don't talk about them to anyone, not even the Lord. On the surface, all may seem well, but in their spirit they're crippled. No one else may know or even perceive that, but the wounds, the scars, exercise an influence over every aspect of their lives. They have not refused the Healer so much as they have refused to acknowledge that they need Him. Their wounds and scars are just as much their prison as they are to the first group, no matter how things may appear on the surface.

Then there's a third group. These ones know they're wounded, know that they're scarred. They know, at least to some degree, that these wounds are crippling them, robbing them of life. They are willing to admit to their existence, and are willing to seek help and healing. Their problem is that they seek that healing from ones who cannot fully give it. Secular counselors, psychologists, and other types of "therapy." All of these can be helpful to a degree, but it really amounts to little more than putting band-aids on wounds that require deep spiritual and emotional surgery. Such is found in Christ alone. Scripture says that "all things hold together in Christ." He's the Alpha and Omega; the Beginning and the End. True healing begins, journeys, and ends in and through Him. Those who are in the fourth group know this. When they take the depth of their woundedness to Him, lay it and themselves at His feet, He receives it, and with His touch, the healing begins. From the eternal perspective, it is instant, from our earthly one, it is almost always a process. It has a beginning, and it will definitely have an end. As Walsh says, the only scars in eternity will be His. There will be none on, or in us.

I've mentioned four groups. To which do you belong? Where are your wounds and scars? What do you do with them? To whom are you taking them? This side of eternity, scars may remain, but wounds, even the deepest, can be healed, their power over us broken. Paul said he bore on his body the brand-marks, the scars of Jesus Christ. To him, and those who saw them, they were proof of the power of the Healer who was and is greater than any wound, even the deepest. May our scars, your scars be the same. And may we know that one day, on that day, all our scars will be gone, when we behold Him.....the One the old hymn says we'll know "by the nail prints on His hands."

Blessings,
Pastor O

Home Is.....

Home Is......

Lord, through all the generations
you have been our home!
2
Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from beginning to end, you are God. Psalm 90:1-2

This week, after 11 years, I moved from the place that had been my home. Besides being special and cherished by me, it was a miracle gift from the Father. I never should have been able to get it, as on paper, I would have been the poorest of risks for any lender. Yet I did get it, and without any real personal involvement from me in any of the process. Over the ensuing 11 years, it became the first real home I'd known since leaving the one I grew up in 35 years before. Now, here I am in a new home in the city of Lynchburg, Virginia. A home also given to me by Him. For both my previous home, and this new one, I am overflowing with gratitude to a good and wonderful Father who provided both, but there is something deeper than all that which I've discovered.

The old folk saying goes, "Home is where the heart is." I think it was Augustine who said something to the effect that "our hearts are restless until they find their home in Him." In these latter years of my life, the truth of these have become more real to me than ever before, and more real than I could ever have expected.

As I said, I cherished that home in Manassas, Virginia. I experienced His joy, peace, and contentment while I lived there, but when I left it, I did not leave that joy, peace and contentment behind. I was able to let it go because that lovely place was never really my home. Not anymore than the one I now sit in is. Buildings made of brick and mortar, wood and vinyl, may offer much to the natural eye, but they are temporary dwelling places. We weren't created to abide in them. We were created to abide in Him. Abraham wandered through his world living in tents, and he was content to do so because his God was his dwelling place. His place was in Him, not in the spot where he drove his tent pegs into the ground. He was always able to move on because he was always both moving with, and deeper into Him. It is to be so with all who call Him their God and Father. Jesus said that He had no place on earth to "lay His head," but He did in the Kingdom. He did in His Father God.

It's so easy to get ensnared in the things and trappings of this world. So much so that we cannot bear to leave or lose them. Too many of us are more reluctant to leave this realm than we are to enter into the fullness of His. We're more familiar with our earthly dwelling places that we are heavenly one. In that sense, we're all "prodigals," living far from the Father, and not realizing that when we've made this our home and not Him, we, like the prodigal son, dwell in a hog pen, no matter how richly we may have decorated it.

There was a point where the son realized his yearning for home, and he began to move back towards it. As he did so, his father, who was watching for him, saw him coming and ran to meet him, taking him into his arms in an embrace filled with his love. In what way is God the Father doing so with you and me? What and where have we made dwelling places that are not Him, that we cling to far more tightly than we do to Him? These places are not our home. They are not what we're created for. Paul considered the riches of this world trash and waste in comparison with the infinite joy of knowing and having Him. Do we know the truth of that as well, or has the waste of this world blinded us to the riches of His?

The Father sees where we're at. He stands and His heart calls out to us. Do we hear? Do we leave our worldly hovels that we might come to the "mansion" of His heart? He's the Home we were made for. While we walk to Him, He runs to us. Get caught up in His embrace. Home is where the heart is. May your heart find its home in Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O