Footprints

 "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor." Isaiah 61:1

I recently heard a woman share an experience that deeply resonated with my heart. She had been prayed over and anointed with oil. The oil was not just daubed lightly upon her but poured heavily all over her. Afterwards, she showered and then thoroughly dried herself. As she walked out into her home and onto the wooden floors, she noticed something. Everywhere she walked, she left footprints that could be plainly seen though her feet were completely free of water. So heavy had been the anointing oil upon her that it had remained and left the imprints of her feet wherever she walked. To be anointed by the Lord is to be set apart and empowered to be His presence and life wherever we go and wherever we are. The footprints we leave and the impressions and impact we make are to be His footprints and His impact. They should be seen. They should point to Him. I wonder. What do our footprints, yours and mine, say about us? Who do they point to?

A writer once asked his readers, "Has anyone ever said that they noticed a strong sense of His presence in you?" To be anointed by Him is a wonderful thing, but anointing is more about His power operating through us. We should all want that, but the impact of His anointing is magnified when we also walk in the fullness of His Presence and Life. We can become very proud of our anointing and the safeguard with that is to live and minister in the fullness of His Presence. Those who are are never aware of how strong His presence is in and through them. They're too focused on Him to be aware of themselves. 

Coming back to our footprints, just where do they take us? To whom do they lead us? Do we leave in them traces of the oil of His Holy Spirit? Are our footprints ever found in places that are well out of our comfort zones? I read this morning of a church that was planted in the meeting room of an office park business. The owner had allowed them to use it for their worship and prayer gatherings. Not long after starting, several homeless people who "lived" around the park started coming. It wasn't long before the owner's office administrator informed them that this couldn't be. She said that they thought "regular people" would be attending. I fear too many churches are only welcoming to those they consider "regular" people, not the "irregulars." Do our footprints find us leaving the impression of Christ among such people in such places?

May we, you and I, live and minister in such a way that we leave footprints soaked in the anointing and fullness of Jesus. May we willingly leave footprints in places no one else would choose to go.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Crossing Jordan

 In the movie Escape From Sobibor, the real life story is told of the uprising of the prisoners in that notorious Nazi death camp. One of the most striking scenes takes place when the uprising begins and large numbers of prisoners begin to make their escape. Though most of the guards had been overcome and the gates had been broken open, there were a number who just stood by, watching. Freedom was there, in the tree line of the nearby forest, but they didn't move towards it. Why? Why remain in a place of torment? I think I understand why. I've seen so many "prisoners" who have remained in their "cells" when the offer of freedom in Christ is right before them....yet they make no move towards Him.

Those held captive in Sobibor had been prisoners for a long time. It was what they knew, miserable as it was. Running into the unknown of the forest involved great risk. If they were to step out beyond the gates and barbed wire of their prison, they'd be entering into unknown territory facing unknown dangers and challenges. Their fear of that was greater than their hatred of their present condition.

In my now, 40 years of pastoral ministry, I've seen so many, even many of God's people, do the same. Before them lies the promise of freedom. Freedom from painful and often destructive addictions, emotional and spiritual wounds, cancerous attitudes, and self-destructive behaviors. They've been presented with the promise of His freedom, but they remain in captivity. Why? I believe the answer is found in chapter 1 of the book of Joshua.

Moses, the leader of Israel for a generation has died. Everything has changed. God tells Joshua in verse 2, "You must lead My people across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them." Into the land. A land populated by mighty peoples who would oppose the Israelites at every turn. God had called a nation of slaves to be a nation of conquerors. He would transform them, but the fullness of the transformation wouldn't take place until they crossed the Jordan. They had to step out and forward to experience His transforming and miraculous grace. His ways haven't changed. He calls us to do the same. Each of us has our own Jordan we must cross in order to live in His promised freedom.

I have witnessed and sought to minister to so many who say they want to be changed, to be free of whatever chains hold them. Yet they continue living in those chains. I think they do because at root, they'd rather not "cross the Jordan." Many are willing for Christ to transform them and set them free, but they want it without any movement on their part. They don't want to go forward into their own unknown. They've  gotten used to their prison cells. They've gotten used to living on the wrong side of the Jordan. 

If you're living on the wrong side of the Jordan, what's keeping you there? Are you always hearing about the promise of His freedom yet never actually experiencing it yourself? Have you watched others "escape" their chains while you remain where you are, watching, observing, but still a prisoner? He stands with you on this side of the Jordan, your Jordan, and asks only that you take that first step towards Him. Not looking or focusing on the unknown, but upon the One you can know, do know. By grace, He takes your hand. By grace, as you embrace Him in your brokenness, He breaks the chains. By grace, He carries you over. By grace, you're now on the right side of Jordan....and freedom. 

Leave your Sobibor. Take that step forward in Him. Experience what Wesley wrote in his great hymn. "I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed Thee." Rise. Go forth. Follow Him....to the other side of the Jordan.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Simple Faith

 What's it mean to be a person of simple faith? At first glance I believe most of us think it implies someone who doesn't really wrestle with a lot of the complexities of what the journey of faith is all about. They just believe it and never really trouble themselves about such things. Secretly, I think we look at such folks as being a little shallow. They've not wrestled and questioned like we have. They're not the deep spiritual thinkers like we are. We admire them, but we're too sophisticated to be like them. If that's our view, how sad and ignorant we truly are.

The pathway to such a faith, such a relationship with Him is anything but simple. It is deeply complex, filled with twists and turns, wounds and disappointments, giants, mountains, and adversaries galore. In the midst of the supposed simplicity stands the cross. No journey of faith can bypass it. It confronts every faith traveler. We will either embrace it and our death to self, or flee it and hold to our own self-rule. To take the latter route opens the door on a life full of complications and confusion. Simple faith is now beyond our grasp.

The cross gives birth to simple faith by teaching us a lesson that evades our flesh. in Christ, up is down and down is up. We talk of being believers who turn the world upside down, but in the American church, while we can excel at upsetting people for all the wrong reasons, we don't seem to be turning much of the world kingdoms on their head. We're missing the reality that before He can turn the world upside down through us, He must turn our world's upside down within us. This happens at the cross, and we reach the cross through the desert that His Holy Spirit leads us through. 

Matthew 4:1 reads, "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert." Some translations use "driven" in place of "led." We recoil at that, but oftentimes, the only way we'll venture into the desert He seeks to bring us to is if He, in His fatherly way, "drives" us there.

The word "desert" is defined as, "A lonely place. An uninhabited region." It is lonely, but not uninhabited. We are there and He is there with us. In the desert He means to accomplish His Kingdom work within us. That's not what we're seeking. Our usual first response is to plead for Him to get us out. He never seems in a hurry to do that. We see the desert as our enemy...and it is....to our flesh. Jesus saw it as His friend. I'm learning ever more deeply that until I learn to see my deserts in that way as well, I'll remain there. In the desert He reveals me to myself, and Himself to me. He'll bring us to His appointed oasis in these deserts, and they'll always be at the perfect time. Yet the desert remains....and so does His companionship. In the desert we discover who He really is. Alicia Britt Chole, in her book Anonymous asks, "What grows in our hidden (desert) seasons? An accurate portrait of God." 

When your only company, your only audience in the desert is Him, real knowledge and intimacy is born. The desert opens our eyes to who He is. In the desert, our character is transformed and we begin to look more and more like Him. Fruit of the Spirit is cultivated and grown through the only available water to be found; His Water of Life. All this will happen if we will surrender all the things that have made our walk with Him so complex and difficult. So crooked and confusing. All things become simpler, clearer, straighter. We have learned who He is, and we trust Him....completely. We enter into the desert living mostly separate from Him. We come out living deeply in Him. We go in thinking we're free while actually we're captive to so many things. We come out completely owned by Him and completely free in Him. 

This is the pathway to simple faith which isn't simple at all. It's a hard won faith that simply takes Him at His Word. All of His Word. Would you walk in it? You'll reach it only by way of the cross and the desert. Both have to be embraced. Both lead to His life of abundance. You may look everywhere for another way, but there is no other way. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Mountains

 Mountains are not a welcome occurrence on our life's journey. They're steep and require effort to climb. They're also large, and tend to block out the sight of most everything....sometimes, at least to us, of the Father Himself. They can be so intimidating that we think they  block us from His sight as well. From our perspective, mountains are to be avoided, not chosen. If we come across one, we immediately want them to be "cast into the sea." Didn't Jesus tell us to say just that? Yet God's "Removal Service" often doesn't resemble what we think it should be at all. Even more, we can't fathom that we'd choose for the mountain to be there in the first place. We want the smooth, easy path. Pain free, problem free. Mountains obstruct and are problematic. They could never be from Him....could they? He always wants the best for us. Mountains could never be part of His best...could they?

Isaiah 49:11 says, "I will turn My mountains into roads." His mountains, placed there by Him. The enemy may lurk there, plot there, ambush us there, but the mountains don't belong to him. They belong to God. Our God. He rules there, not the adversary. Even so, the mountains are real, imposing, frightening. We pray they will be removed, but then we open our eyes and.....they're still before us. Why? Why won't He honor His promise? If He answers, it's likely to simply tell us that, "My ways are not your ways. Press on!" He might then say the most unexpected thing of all: "Surrender to the mountain." Surrender to the appearance of things....so that He might reveal His reality in the midst of the appearances. Instead of running from the mountain....we yield to it. In that lies the secret of its removal. In the surrender we find that He does turn His mountains into roads.

At first look mountains appear impassable. Yet in them are roadways and passes that are unseen at first look. A way through. A way home. This is even more true in the spiritual realm. In the midst of the seemingly impassable are pathways and passes that will take us over and through the highest most dangerous mountain. The Apostle Paul walked through these passes in his ministry for His Lord. He said plainly that "many were the adversaries." These adversaries were never able to prevail against him and His Father's purposes for him. He surrendered to their presence and still always arrived at the place the Lord had purposed for him to be. In his surrender to them he triumphed over them, and all the dangers they contained. He'll do so for us as well....if we'll surrender.

In Joshua 14:12, the land is being given to the Israelites. Most of them chose the lush, lovely and safe plains, which had already been conquered. Caleb chose the mountains. Caleb, who with Joshua had seen all the dangers of that promised land 40 years before. At that time they exhorted the people to enter and take possession of what was already theirs. They refused and suffered 40 long years in the wilderness for their unbelief and disobedience. What enemies now remained had retreated to the mountains, the very mountains Caleb asked to be given him. As Henry Blackaby puts it, "Caleb knew that his inheritance from God was on the mountain. He refused to allow the difficulty of gaining it keep him from enjoying all that God had promised him....Seek out the mountains, and you will witness God doing things in your life that can only be explained through His mighty Presence." 

The mountains are there before us. Will we choose them or run from them? Will we surrender to their reality and so discover the deeper reality of who He is in the midst of them? He will make a road leading to our inheritance. May we refuse to be lowlanders, satisfied with less, and be mountaineers, gaining all that He has for us....and discover, in the end, that He really did remove the mountain after all.

Blessings,
Pastor O

The Sack

 I've been greatly impacted by the life and ministry of a Chinese believer known as Brother Yun, the Heavenly Man. His experiences as part of the heavily persecuted church in China are filled with miracles of deliverance and power. To read of them is both spiritually exhilarating and humbling at the same time.

In his book, Living Water, he tells of when it came time to send out some brethren for the spreading of the Gospel, they would gather to worship and exhort. They would also pass around a sack for the purpose of receiving an offering to support the ones going out. He said that the norm was for people to give all they had to support the mission. He writes, "There was no holding back." Being that almost all were simple farmers, it was a truly sacrificial offering. Sometimes there would be those among them who had absolutely nothing materially or financially to offer. so they would, "men and women alike, with tears streaming from their eyes, literally get into the offering sack when it came to them. They wanted to signal to God that their lives were all they had to give and they were willing to give them for His glory."

How does that contrast with our giving lives here in the west? We speak a lot of being givers and of being generous. By our own standards, we may be, but by the standard of those simple Chinese believers? They don't see giving to HIm as a matter of percentages, but of totality. After we give our "percentage," how many of us really see all that is left as also being His? Completely His? How many of us are willing to put much into His "sack," but not ourselves? How many of us have invisible lines drawn in our lives as to just how much of ourselves we will put into His sack when it passes by? 

How many times have we read or heard Jesus' telling of the rich Pharisee and the widow in poverty? The Pharisee gave a large offering and felt he'd won God's approval. The woman gave two pennies, which was all she had. Jesus said it was her offering and not the Pharisee's that the Father found acceptable. The Pharisee gave out of his riches. The widow gave all of hers. It was not the amount. It was their heart that moved the heart of God. 

How like that Pharisee are we really? Do we put much into the sack and feel we've really worshipped Him, all the while holding back what it is He most desires....ourselves? All that is us, our past, our present, and our future. Our hopes and dreams. Our desires. Our wounds. Our failures and our sins. All that we are given over to all that He is. All of ourselves in His sack. Nothing kept back. Nothing is ours. All we are and have is His. We give our all and all for His glory.

We don't need to wait for our next worship gathering to make this offering. We can do it now in our own time of personal worship. The sack comes to us. What is it that we will put into it? 2 Chronicles 16:9 reads, "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." As His eyes fall upon us, on you and on me, do we offer Him parts and pieces of our lives, or all of our lives? 

Blessings,
Pastor O

Extravagant Faith

 "When He entered the house, the blind men came to Him, and Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said, 'Yes, Lord,' " Matthew 9:26...."God has called us to live in impossibilities.....We've been conditioned not to believe extravagantly." Chris Tiegreen

Scripture says that true faith "believes all things." This doesn't mean that Christ's followers are naive or that they believe whatever someone, say a preacher or leader tells them, though sadly, some fall into such a category. They're in the minority. The Bible understands that Scripture to be applied to have the kind of faith that can believe the Lord for anything that He has promised....no matter the seeming impossibility.

Tiegreen says that He has called us to live in impossibilities. That means He will lead us into places that are impossible to overcome or succeed in by our own strength and ability. Places that unless He comes, we will fail, fall, and even perish. We're not to fear the impossible when we know that He's the One who has led us there. Those who live in surrendered faith have come to know His voice and recognize His leading. He may and likely will lead us into places that everyone around says are impossible. He tells us that all things are possible for Him who believes. Maybe you once believed this. Do you believe it now?

Tiegreen also says that we, the church, have been conditioned to not believe extravagantly. Extravagant faith believes all things. Extravagant faith believes for miracles in the midst of the impossible. Extravagant faith knows the Lord it follows and trusts Him completely.

Someone said that every child believes in miracles until some adult tells them that it's not possible. That's true in the world and sadly, true in His church. We come to Christ in faith. We believe He can and will do miracles in our lives. We believe for miracles and in our early walk, we experience them. Many enjoy our exuberant expressions of faith, but just as many, maybe more, are made uncomfortable by them. They're uncomfortable for a number of reasons, but the most common I think is that they have simply grown used to depending on themselves, others, knowledge, science, Doctors, psychologists, and politicians. They develop a worldview that's not based in Scripture but in the world's value system. They doubt the reality of miracles. They no longer really believe for all things. They believe in Him, but they don't really believe Him. They're uncomfortable being around those who still do, so, though well-meaning, they tell these others that what they're believing for, expecting from Him, isn't reasonable. They're the adults telling those with child-like faith that miracles aren't really possible. Or, they admit that miracles can happen, but it's just not realistic to expect one here. And so, a faith that once really did believe for all things, adjusts itself to take a more "realistic" view of this impossible place.

Today, where you are, are you one who has an extravagant faith in Jesus Christ? If not, why not? He is Lord of the impossible and He lives in us by faith. God of miracles. God of the impossible. He asks, "Is anything too difficult for me?" Extravagant faith answers "no." How do you answer?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Prepared?

 "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am." John 14:3...."The mansion may be ready for you, but you are not ready for it." J.B. Chapman

Believers, especially older ones, are often prone to say something like, "If I'm still here, God must still have ways He wants to use me." I've often harbored those same thoughts, but I'm seeing things a bit differently these days. Someone said that "heaven is a prepared place for prepared people." How prepared are we, you and I, for an eternity in His Kingdom? How prepared are we to abide in the place He has prepared for us?

Life in this fallen world has conditioned even we believers to see it as the true reality. We may have the ultimate hope of heaven, but the reality of that heaven is somewhere on the back burner for most of us. So entangled in the day to day affairs of life in the here and now that we give, at best, only leftovers to the One we call Lord and the Kingdom we say we're a part of. Truly, if the Lord were to call us home today, just how ready are we to go home, to even call it home?

I believe in a life of good works. I believe that we are to be used by Him, to labor with Him as He builds His Kingdom and His Church in this passing realm, but that is not His priority with us. His focus is to transform us into full citizens of His Kingdom. Not just in name but in character. J.B. Chapman asked just how comfortable we would be in the company of those who dwell in the Kingdom of heaven? Would we fit in? Would we really be at home? Or is the truth of it that we have been so immersed in the ways and works of this life that heaven would be a totally disorienting experience for us?

I think each of us who profess to be citizens of His Kingdom need to soberly ask just how ready for the fullness of that Kingdom are we? I don't want to be ill-prepared. I don't want to look like a tourist totally out of their element. I don't want to look out of place in the place that He has prepared for me. 

I will be 74 years old this month and I never thought I would live to this age. I long for my homegoing, but I want to be ready when the time comes. I don't want things in my heart, my mind, my life, to be left unfinished. I don't want to be unprepared for the place He has prepared for me. It has become an ever-deepening prayer that I not be.

Whatever your age this day, may you begin now to dwell upon where your home really is and that you be prepared for that place, He, Jesus Christ, has already prepared a place for you. To borrow a phrase from a pop culture novel of my youth, let us not be strangers in a strange land in the very land He made for us.

Blessings,
Pastor O