Heart Tracks - Toxins

There was a time when some of you were just like that, but now your sins have been washed away and you have been set apart for God. You have been made right with God because of what the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God have done for you. I Corinthians 6:11

Our culture has become very health conscious these days, especially as concerns what are known as "toxins." I'm no biological expert, but my understanding is that these are man-made additives in foods that invade our bodies, and our bodies have no idea as to how to deal with them. Most often, they remain in us, acting as poisons to our system. Many Doctors recommend that we abstain from many, even all foods for a time in order to cleanse ourselves of these toxins. Large numbers of people respond to this guidance and seek to do just that as concerns their physical welfare. The question that comes to my mind is, what do we do concerning all the spiritual "toxins" that have invaded our hearts, minds, and being to this point, and only seek to increase in the future? We live in a toxic, fallen world, and it's poisons have invaded our lives. In our flesh, we have no idea of how to deal with them. How may we be "cleansed" of them? There is an answer; at the cross, at the feet of Christ. It's there we find the cleansing, the healing. It's there too, that we find the heart of the Father.

I recently heard singer Russ Taff speak of his journey to wholeness and healing in Christ. Raised by an abusive preacher/father, and equally abusive mother, Taff suffered terrible wounding to his mind and spirit. His father, because of his addiction, was forced to leave church after church. This brought rejection and deep shame to Taff. Coupled with great feelings of inadequacy, and the sense of not being "good enough," he sought fulfillment through his music. Eventually he found success and wide recognition because of it. Yet through it all, the shame and the feelings of inadequacy remained. He sought relief in alcohol, eventually becoming, as was his father, an alcoholic. All the while, he continued his singing to large crowds of believers, winning award after award. He said that he "hid" his pain and woundedness in that fame. He ran from a God he loved, but felt did not, could not love him. He hid in a lie, and lies are where we go to hide from His Truth.

Taff said he sought healing through counseling and therapy, and though it helped, it didn't really heal. The deep wounding remained. That all changed when he was asked to sing for an elderly preacher dying of cancer. As he entered the room with his guitar, he was paralyzed by what he saw. He said the man looked exactly like his abusive father. He recovered enough to sing several of the man's favorites, and this godly man then asked him to pray for him. Taff said he mumbled some kind of prayer, and then asked this dying preacher to pray for him. The man stood up, embraced him, and began to pray. As he did so, Taff broke down in tears, falling to his knees. As the man prayed, he stroked Taff's hair, and in response, Taff wept all the more. He did so because in the man's embrace, he felt, at long last, the unconditional healing love of the Father. He sensed the voice of the Father telling him to just let Him love him, and for him to receive the fullness of His love, and the healing and wholeness that came with it. As he was on his knees before that dying preacher, he knew he was also on his knees before His God, and His God received him, and healed him. On his knees, at the cross of Christ, in his brokenness, he found his healing. His wholeness. His unconditional love and acceptance.

Toxins. They've invaded all of us. Many, far too many, are living toxic lives. Lives that are poisoning us by inches. No matter how far back the invasion of those toxins have gone, there is healing to be found, received, and lived in. It's found at the cross, in the embrace of the King. In the washing of His blood. There, the poisons are cleansed. There, His great love is discovered. There it is that all of us must come. There is no toxin, no poison, that He cannot heal and cleanse. Come to His cross, kneel at His feet, enter into His embrace. Receive His healing. Be healed. Be washed. Be cleansed....right now.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The Terrorist

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and [a]have it abundantly. John 10:10

Writer Chris Tiegreen tells of an encounter he once had with a woman in his fellowship. As he looked at her, he heard these words in the Spirit, "We don't negotiate with terrorists." He was unsure what it meant, but he believed they were words meant for her, and he then shared them with her. She was taken aback, and told him that she felt she was being led down a new, deeper road in her life and ministry, but was being pressed by feelings of fear, worry, and inadequacy. She received Tiegreen's words as being for and from her Lord. Satan, who is a terrorist of the highest degree, was seeking to destroy all that He had for her. The Father was saying that she should make no concessions at all to that terrorist concerning what it was He called her to. That she would make no concessions at all to the enemy of her soul on any aspect of her life in Him. The called out people of God make no compromises to the thief who has come to destroy lives, marriages, families, ministries and churches and nations. We don't negotiate with the terrorist. Ever.

I think on many levels, the church has lost sight of the very real demonic power that is present and at work in our world. I realize that segments of the church has so emphasized his activity and given him far more power than he could ever possess, but he is real, he is powerful, and he is very much at work. He seeks to terrorize, paralyze, and marginalize the people of God. He does this through fear, seduction, distraction, and deception, along with many other means. His goal, if he cannot get us to reject His call and leading in our lives, is to get us to compromise it. Stealing from us the purpose for which He created us for and called us to is his agenda. Destroying our dreams in Him. Killing our hope, our faith. It's what he does, and no earthly terrorist is as accomplished as he is. He's a terrorist, and he may well be terrorizing you right now.

Here is what you and I must know. This world does not belong to the terrorist. This is the Father's world. Scripture says that in Christ, all things hold together. He is Sovereign. He reigns. The devil may be powerful, but the Father is Almighty. The terrorist will always seek to make us lose sight of Him. When that happens, we can only expect to be at his mercy and all the tactics he employs against us. We have to understand that spiritual warfare is real. In the wonderful movie trilogy The Lord of the Rings, the King of Rohan, his land under attack, says that he will not risk open warfare against the evil wizard Saruman and his orc hordes. Aragorn, the Christ figure in the story tells him, "Open warfare is upon you whether you would risk it or not." Spiritual warfare is upon us, whether we would believe it, see it, risk it or not. In warfare, we're told to "know your enemy." We must know the ways of the thief, but even more, we must know the way and ways of the King. Evil has been unleashed in this world through Satan, but that evil has been completely conquered by the King on His cross and through His resurrection. The enemy will seek to steal, kill and destroy all He has given and called us to. We must know, fully know, that all those plans against us cannot prosper because He has overcome every plan with abundant life. Life that is freely given to us.

Where does the terrorist reign against you right now? Where is his plan succeeding? Look to the King. His plan for you, for us, is Life. His Life. Abundant. Whole. Victorious. Receive it. Enter into it. Now.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - It's What He Does

"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy." Psalm 126:5....."No matter how hopeless your situation, how difficult your struggles, how distant your exile - or, to be more specific, no matter how painful your divorce, your bankruptcy, your unemployment, or your disease - in one way or another, God will bring you back. How do we know? Because that's what God does." Chris Tiegreen

Pain, suffering, loss, death, in all forms, is a part of everyone's life. It's a reality that can't be escaped, so it's imperative that we know a greater Reality in the midst of it all. Plans collapse, desires go unfulfilled, dreams die. The consequences can be, are, crushing. Our world is shaken, and sometimes those shakings can seem to be unending. Like Job, bad news can be followed by even worse news. All visible support has crumbled. All visible hope has disappeared. Yet Scripture calls us to be "prisoners of hope." That's not possible unless we're living in the greater Reality. The reality that He is Lord, that He is sovereign, that He is intimately aware and involved. That where we are is not where we'll stay. That He does not leave His own to die in the wilderness. One way or another, He will bring us back. The prisoner of hope knows this. Because of this knowledge, the prisoner of hope can press on.

In that awful first year of the loss of my marriage and ministry, "bad to worse" was the theme of my life. I was beset by trial after trial. I didn't know where I would go, or what I would do. One sub-zero night on a church campground, I sat, desolate, in a small cottage and read from His Word. Paul wrote of how, on his first defense before Caesar, none stood with him, but that in the midst of that reality, a greater Reality took place; Christ stood with him. As I read that, though alone, I knew that He too stood with me. Words cannot describe the feeling of being lifted above all of it, and hope gone was now hope restored. More trials would follow, more of the reality of a life in a fallen world would come, but every time, the great Reality that is Christ would arrive. New wine. New life. New hope would be given. One way or another, He always brought me back. He still brings me back.

There is a deeper, greater truth to be found in this great Reality that is the Three in One God; His workings and ways are not all about here and now. He works to bring upon and through us, a "greater weight of glory." This world is passing, though so many try to grasp what can't be kept. We were created for eternity, and what we walk through here is part of the equipping. I can't say that every hope, every desire, every dream in this life will come to pass. I can't promise that every loss of this life will be restored. What I do know is that none of those lost dreams, hopes, and desires can keep us from being brought back to what He means to accomplish in our lives in this present "reality," and the greater reality, eternity, that we've been created for. Nothing, for the believer, the prisoner of hope, is final. Not even death. As a pastor once told me in the midst of my sorrow, "His best wine is always yet to come." The prisoner of hope is always looking ahead to the reality of His best wine. The enemy of our soul may seek to convince us that wine has been lost forever. The Father brings us back to it. How do we know? It's what He does.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Looking Unto Jesus

"Looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith." Hebrews 12:2...."Darkness veils Jesus' lovely face, but if we rest on His unchanging grace, looking His way in the fog, that is it." Vance Havner....."He does not say 'see,' He says only 'Look.' " Alexander Whyte

I love Acts 27, which details the terrible storm that Paul and his fellow workers, along with over 250 others were caught in. The crew of the ship expected to die, as did the officer and soldiers detailed to guard Paul and the other prisoners. They, and likely everyone else on board only saw the life threatening storm. Paul saw his life saving and sustaining God. In the midst of that storm, the Father sent His angel to tell Paul that he, and all his fellow passengers were going to live, though the ship itself would sink. He related this to the terrified rest of those on board, saying, "So take courage, for I believe God. It will be just as He said." When everyone else was looking only at the threat, Paul looked off of it and unto Him. This is the key in all threats, indeed, in all of life. We need to look off of those things that threaten us, lure us, distract us, capture us, and look unto Him.

In the days in which we're living, those words of Paul's need to become ours. In the midst of all that can be against us, we must, as he exhorted;Take courage in Him. Believe what He says. Trust that what He says is what will be. Storms get all the attention. The thick clouds that accompany them obscure our natural sight. As one person put it, we may not be able to see just where He is, but we can look towards where we know Him to be. Beside us. Around us. Within us. And the beauty of this is that when we look towards Him, He most often will reveal Himself to our spiritual sight.

Facing you and me each day are questions about the unknown. Fears about what is known. Dangers. Problems. Needs. All of them can fill our line of vision. Their power over us can seem to be absolute. We can let that be so, or, by His grace, the One who is the Author and Finisher of our faith, we can choose to "look off" of these things and look unto Him. It has been said that in the midst of our "realities," we need to look at the greatest reality; Jesus Christ. No matter how real the danger, He is more real, more able, in the midst of it. Jesus said that we would have tribulation. That's a reality. He also said to take courage, that He has overcome the world and all the tribulation it might contain. He has. He does. He is doing so now. That's the greatest reality. Is it ours? Is it yours?

I'm entering into a time of life when all my natural abilities are failing. The needs, the unknown, the challenges that are before me in that are real. But they are not as real to me as He is. I choose to look off of them and unto Him. He will be my "line of vision." In whatever lies before you, will He be yours?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Finished!

28 After this, Jesus, [a]knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. John 19:28-30

I think we have missed most of what Jesus is saying in this passage of Scripture. He speaks what may be the three most powerful words of His earthly ministry; "It is finished!" I think we read those words from the perspective of two thousand years in the future and limit His atoning work to the offer of forgiveness for our sin, and by way of receiving that offer, entry into a future in heaven with Him. To do so cheapens the depths of the work, the depth of the riches that Paul says that we have in Jesus Christ. The atoning work of Christ on the cross for our sin has delivered us not only from the penalty of sin, but it's power over us as well. As Martin Smith wrote in this lyric, "This is the message of the cross; that we can be free." It's for freedom He set us free! How can we miss that? Why do we miss that? Why do we, who call Him Lord and Savior, live as though His work is not finished at all, and ours goes on? Why do we keep striving to reach a level of life that He has already freely given us. Why do we keep trying to "get" what is already ours through faith in Christ? Why do we keep trying to reach a place that we're already at in Him?

Sheila Walsh recounts how she spent a great part of her life in Him trying to achieve a place of acceptance by Him. To be the best singer, the best 700 club co-host, the best wife, the best woman. The end result of all the striving and the intense pressure she placed upon herself in it, was a complete breakdown, and her checking herself into a mental health facility. It was there, on the floor of her room, broken and spiritually bleeding, that she heard a voice saying to her, "Sheila, the Savior knows where you are." On the floor of that room, she at last came to know Him as He really is, and what He really desired from her. Herself. Not her performance, not her checking off of all the spiritual behavior boxes, and certainly not all of her activity. He came for her, died for her, rose for her, and now lived in her. And He invited her into the resurrection life He offered her through His cross. When He cried out those three words, "It is finished," He called a finish to all our striving to live up to a standard, to reach a spiritual goal, to try and win His favor and approval. He called a finish to trying gain entry into His heart and life. He announced a beginning of entering into the life He created her for. A life of victory, wholeness, joy, peace, and wonder. The outward pressures were still there, but the inner, self-made ones were surrendered to Him. He had finished the need for our struggles on the cross. Our part is to be finished with them as well, and enter into, receive, what He now invites us to. To receive healing, wholeness, forgiveness, all the depths of His riches.

We spend so much time asking Him for that which He's already given us. We ask for joy, peace, strength, hope. The list is endless. He has told us plainly, "Freely I have given, freely now receive." So why don't we? Why do come to Him as beggars rather than sons and daughters? As orphans rather than heirs? Before the cross, all of the human race was held in the grip of sin, captive to the whims of the enemy. On the cross, and in His resurrection, Christ finished all of that. Freely He gives us the offer of a forgiven, victorious, overcoming life. Will we receive that life? It is finished. That has been settled at Calvary. Has it been settled in you?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - It Changes Everything

Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken.And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:29-31....."If the resurrection is true, that changes everything." Nik Ripken

In his book, The Insanity Of Obedience, Nik Ripken recounts how, in his interviews of believers who had experienced intense and brutal persecution in places like Russia and China, they were almost casual in their telling of the many miraculous interventions of God on their behalf in the midst of their suffering. He was astounded by this, writing, "In their understanding, God's intervention was not really miraculous. God was simply acting the way God acts! His activity was expected, natural, and completely in character." As a means of further illustration, an elderly Russian pastor took him to an east facing window and asked him how many times he had awakened his sons to join him to watch the sun coming up. He replied that he'd never done that, that his sons would think him crazy if he did. The pastor replied that of course he wouldn't do that, that such a happening was normal and to be expected. He then said that this is what persecution, and the Father's activity in its midst was to them. Normal and expected. They did not take His supernatural interventions for granted. They just knew that it was the way in which He would act. It was perfectly in line with the character of the God in whom they believed. They believed in and upon a risen Christ. For them, the resurrection had changed everything, and their lives reflected that. We say that we believe the same. Has it changed everything for us?

Beth Moore said something along the lines of, "We believe little so we see little, and we see little because we believe little." A simple statement but cuttingly true of much of the western church. Books containing all the promises of God are abundant. They might be found on your shelf right now, and that is very likely where they remain. On the shelf, but not in the heart. Vance Havner said that "Faith begins by letting go and stretching out on the promises." How many of us have the faith life, the trust in Him, to do that? It should be "normal and expected" in the faith lives of His people that God would be Himself with us. That He would show forth His wonder, power, and authority in the affairs, both great and small, of His people. We have sung the chorus, "God will make a way," times beyond number, but in our living, it is we who seek to make our own way. We can't trust the Father to be the Father, but it certainly seems He can trust us to be....us.

The first century church was a collection of believers who lived in awe of their God. Chris Tiegreen says that is the challenge for every believer. "Maintaining the awe and overflowing with joy and praise....Full fountains always overflow." Living in such a state is to live in the expectation that God will be God. We can expect Him to be Himself. We can expect His intervention in our seeming impossibilities and in infinite ways, all of them "miraculous." We simply expect Him to be who and what He says He is. The Russian believers spoken of above didn't believe He could be anything else of less. So why do we? For them, the resurrection, and their faith in their risen Lord had changed everything. What has our professed faith in that same Lord done in us? In our expectations of Him, and in the way we live our lives for Him in our profession of faith and trust, what has really changed?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Heart Tracks - The God Wave

"It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord." I Kings 8:10-11....."The biggest awakening we need is not in the White House, but in the Church House." Tony Evans

The political pundits are spending a great deal of time debating as to what we'll witness in the coming November elections. One side sees a "blue wave," the other a "red one." Many are fascinated, even obsessed. Yet both are irrelevant in comparison with the true need not first of the nation, but of the Church. We are in need, desperate need, of a God Wave. Of what one called, "A Tsunami of the Holy Spirit" upon the Church. Yet how many of us are looking for that, much less expecting it? If such a move of the Spirit were to come upon the Church, your church, would we even welcome it? I Kings 8 describes the dedication of the Temple to the Lord by King Solomon. So mighty was the coming of the Spirit upon that gathering that His priests could not minister. That means that whatever they had been expecting to do, they couldn't. Their plans, their agenda, fell apart. It was God, all God. He filled everything, and there was no room for anyone else. What would happen in our church fellowships if He were to come in such a way with us? What would happen to our well planned and crafted worship sets, sermons, and schedules if He came in such a way that all we could do was fall before Him and worship? If the glory of the Lord filled our sanctuaries, would we still go on sending and receiving our text messages, and fiddle with our I phones? Would we be getting "antsy" as we neared the end of the hour? Would we even recognize His glory to begin with? How can we long for what we don't really know, and have possibly never experienced?

I try to listen to as little talk radio, and watch as little of the news channels as I can. We are looking for answers, for deliverance, from the White House, the Congress, and the Senate. We are putting our hopes upon these houses of government, upon the expected blue or red wave. We're looking out. The Father calls us to be looking up. Jerusalem is surrounded by hills which Scripture calls mountains. These were expected to be part of what kept them secure. Yet the Psalmist said he looked not to these mountains for his help, but to his God. It was on these mountains that they would build their "high places" in order to worship the false gods and idols they'd come to depend on. What "high places" have we built and depend upon now?

The state of our culture is a reflection of the state of His Church. The Father placed a terrible rebuke upon the nation of Israel, the people of God. He said that they had "done nothing to rescue the world." They were weak. They were worldly. They were of the world, but not in it. The comparison to the western church cannot be missed. We, who say we are His, must have as our deepest desire, the seeking of His face, His heart, His Spirit. God is moving. He will either move upon us, or He'll move past us. May we have that Tsunami of His Spirit. May we experience the God Wave that we so greatly need. A wave of His power, authority, wonder and above all, His holiness. May we, as 2 Chronicles 7:14 calls to us, "Humble ourselves, pray and seek His face. May we turn from our sins, that He will hear from heaven, forgive us, and heal our land."......and His Church. Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!

Blessings,
Pastor O