Return to Me

Clutter fills our families today; they have no time for relationships, yet they have a deep desire for them. Sadly, families today succomb their lives to their demands and neglect the important necessities of life: connecting with God, their children, their spouse and their neighbors. What happened to small town America where relationships were a priority not a hassal; work was used to provide for the family not remove it and church was about spiritual growth not spiritual entertainment?

While we may expect this type of negative behavior when it comes to a world without God, sadly this harried lifestyle is seen more and more in our churches. Many have become over-programmed, intimately starved, and collaborately confused.

I often wonder what God would include in a letter to the American Church. What would the message to the church of the United States say? Would we be commended for our hard work, perseverance, and our refusal to tolerate false wicked teachers? Can we relate to forsaking our first love? Are we true to God's name? Do we mix with the synagogue of Satan? Does sexual immoratlity permeate our congregations and leadership? Are we asleep, comfortable, and soiled? Is commitment seen by our actions and our endurance? Are we lukewarm, good for nothing? Or are we refreshing or healing?

I believe that God would tell us that some are on the right track, but many are going after the god of success and business. Are we loving God or gods? Are we loving people or profit? Is church growth about salvation or resources?

Dear God of heaven and earth, You are the one who can turn the hearts of man and the direction of our steps. Forgive us, Lord, for making your church a robbers den instead of a house of prayer. Return our hearts to your vision and help us Lord to desire to be holy not harried. Open the gates, build up the highway, remove the stones of selfishness, and humble us so we can raise the banner and display Your Son to a lost world. Give us leadership that is dependent on You, Your power, Your Spirit and not their own. May Your Name no longer be disgraced because we have failed to give You the glory. In Jesus's Perfect Name, Name above all names, Amen.

Did Jesus say, "Grow the church and make money?" Or Did He say "Go and make disciples?"

I am re-reading for the third time, “The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader” by John Maxwell. He quotes an editorial from the Texas Business, “We are truly the lost generation, huffing and puffing down the fast track to nowhere, always looking to the dollar sign for direction. That’s the only standard we recognize. We have no built-in-beliefs, no ethical boundaries.”

Pondering that quote, I couldn’t help but think of the church and add to this quote. Not only do we huff and puff down the fast track to nowhere always looking to the dollar sign for direction, we also look to the numbers sign. Sadly when dollars and numbers become or focus we lose our mission. We lose our purpose.

Jesus commissioned, “Go” which means to point people’s hearts and lives to Him. Jesus continues, “and make disciples” which completes the “Go” by investing in people’s spiritual lives by walking with them, talking with them, serving them, and capitalizing on their commitment made to Jesus. Once a disciple has been made, and the zeal for God enters their heart, they are compelled to “Go and make disciples…” and they are compelled to give to Him out of worship. This is how numbers and dollars are increased.

Sometimes I think we (churches) get into the trap of worrying so much about numbers and dollars that we forfeit our opportunity to be faithful with whom God has given us. They, those God has given us, suffer the loss of our misguided focus. Our only standard is to “Go and make disciples…” not “Grow the church and make money.”  If God sees fit to bless us with numbers and dollars, that is His will, His doing, not ours. Let’s be faithful to His call and He will be faithful to the increase.  

Loosely Let Go and Tightly Let God

Fear is a cowardly ugly sight that belittles a person.  In Mark 14: 66-72, Peter is reduced to a caged animal in despair. His fear gripped him completely. His fear of losing life and all that he understood this side of heaven became his god. His faith in faith became his downfall, when his faith in Jesus should have been his uphill. How often does fear control us? And how is freedom found in this fear? 

Holding our life, our plans, our aspirations and our goals in this life loosely is the key.  To hold this side of heaven loosely is to hold heaven tightly. We should never expect heaven to be a continuation of earth; where’s the hope in that? For heaven is unlike anything we can shape; and thankfully this is true, for why would we want more of this?

In heaven, time will be warped into eternity; the rhythm of seconds, minutes and hours will no longer confine us; deadlines will not be needed to overrule our sluggish tendencies; we will ceaselessly be fashioned into eternity’s domain.

Fear will not be known, only faith. Increased faith will not be prayed for; it will identify us; it will continue us; we will only be recognized by this trait. While fear this side of heaven is our horror, faith in heaven is our only existence.

This side of heaven we only know blessing and the longing for intimacy; in heaven, however, blessing will be our being and intimacy will be our reality; no longer will hope be our longing, for hope will translate into assurance, and the abstract of assurance will materialize into flesh. 

Because Steven filled with the Holy Spirit longed and sought to see heaven open and grasped the sight of Jesus standing at the right hand of God, he was able to loosely release all the fear of affliction and the hope of this world in exchange for the reception of God’s glory.  He left earth long before being received in glory. (Acts 7:54-60).

Our aim is to loosely let go and tightly let God.   

Pump My Heart With Your Love

“It’s lovely to be poor and free from so many things.” ~ Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa truly knew how to apply Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith…”

Mother Teresa burned with two longings: to love the souls of this earth and to love Jesus as Jesus has never been loved before. In order to love in this way, she had to seek the heart of God, not her own. For only God can love the decrepit souls on earth and His Worthy Son like none other. I don’t know that I have developed such a longing and love that Mother Teresa had. Yet, I want to.

The more I know Jesus I realize I have to continuously take two very important steps to make this love a reality in my heart. First take my eyes off the dirt, the trash, the disappointments and harsh limitations of the souls God presents to me in my life. True faith is lived in the hope for things not seen, not in the reality of things here on earth. Secondly, to run forward with eyes of God’s grace, seeing beyond the moment asking, “What can be? A choice to live daily in the unknown can only be accomplished by knowing Him only.

Note in Hebrews it says to throw off “…everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…” What is interesting is that some things simply hinder and sin entangles. Hinder means to delay, thwart, impede, and obstruct. What good things delay you from developing the same longing to love as God loves? Entangle means to snare, noose, lasso, and capture. What sin has you so noosed that love cannot even find its way in your heart? As Mother Teresa says, “It’s lovely to be poor and free from so many things.”

Make me poor in my heart, Lord; strip me, Lord from that which delays love; beat the sin; sift it out; take away the evil that bridles my spirit from Your affection. Pioneer, perfect and fix my eyes, so I can feel my heart pumping Your love.

Therefore Imitate Me, Really? Me?

Some spiritual leaders misinterpret what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore I urge you to imitate me."

They interpret this to mean that they (the spiritual leader) must teach their followers to imitate them, be like them, be molded in their character, their gifting, and their personalities. And if they are not, well, they are not really a true follower.

However, as spiritual leaders of followers, our goal is to teach them to imitate Christ's character, empower them to live in the giftings Christ has uniquely given to them, and employ their passion for Christ in the rare personality He created in them. God's diversity in his followers is His gift to His church. Monotony breeds boredom. Diversity catapults growth.

When you think about it, each of the twelve disciples was different. Yet, they were followers of Christ. Following him did not change their personalities, it changed their spiritual walk. Their walk of flesh became a walk of faith. And that is our aim when it comes to dicipling others. We don’t want to make the mistake of cloning our followers into little “me’s.” This does not reach the righteousness of God. It reaches the "righteous pride" of "me."

Often times, the people we disciple will end up doing something we were never called to. In our training of our followers we must ask, “Are we equipping them? Are we pointing them to faith in God for the task at hand? Are we letting go and letting God take the reigns in their life? Are we empowering them to press on, press in, and press out when the calling is tough? Are we praising their successes and encouraging them in their failures?

Spiritual leaders can get very focused on “their vision” and want everyone to mold themselves to it. While in some cases this is good, in some it is destructive to the followers training. Just maybe God is giving one of your followers a new vision, one you may not even be a part of. Just maybe your follower is hearing God say to them, “But I would have YOU take a path that is quite different from the paths of your friends (or leader), and it is because I would bring you into a place IN ME and a MINISTRY in which they have no part.” (Frances J. Roberts).

Spiritual Leaders, our job is to empower not overpower!

Face the Anxious Giants with Power!

While reading Mark 6:45-52, I found that verse 52 was the key verse in this passage. Of course there is much to learn from this passage, but this verse stood out amongst them all to me.

After experiencing the power of Christ when He multiplied the loaves of bread and the filets of fish and fed over 5,000 people, the disciples were afraid when the storm rose in the middle of the lake. Jesus seeing their struggle, came to them on the water, told them plainly “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Then, He got into the boat, the storm calmed and so did the disciples!

Imagine their faces when they looked at Jesus, their Savior, with total amazement. Two things we can learn from their reaction: first, positively, whenever we have an experience with the power of God, there is never a dull response, “I knew that would happen.” No, each and every time there is total amazement at what God can and will do in our lives. Life with Jesus is always an adventure. However secondly and negatively, the reason the disciples were amazed is because their hearts were hard, “…for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” (Mark 6:52) Amazement does not always mean faith, sometimes it means disbelief. This is how I have come to this conclusion pertaining to the disciple’s reaction.

The prior miracle left them in an isolated amazement. They did not allow it to grow their faith, prepare them for new adventures; they believed God's miracles with segregation, instead of an all inclusive spiritual heart. They in turn missed the greatest opportunity to walk into new adventures with great confidence and the faith to conquer all in the power of God; they retreated in fear and isolated their experiences to nothing more than a mishap that must have a logical explanation.

How many times do we face trials and difficulties and see God answer our prayers, only to face the next one in despair and foreboding. Do we believe that Jesus is God or do we really believe that answers to our prayers can be explained by logical reasoning’s? Whenever trials and difficulties come our way, and we have experienced the power of God before, let us not follow this current example of the disciples, let us face them with POWER AND CONFIDENCE, “ For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power…” (1Timothy 1:7)

Even if we lose all, we must remember that our life is not a culmination of the things of this world, our life consists of the things above. When we start explaining logically the power of God in our lives, we rob Him of His glory; we demean Him to a “genie in the sky.” What blasphemy! He is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit! He is the One True God that deserves ALL our praise, honor, and glory! Everything in our life must be held up to him!

I humbly stand before my Father in repentance for being just like his unbelieving disciples. Just last night, I began to explain away logically a recent miracle in my life. An inaudible impression of my God clearly spoke to me, “It is I that has made this miracle, do not give My glory to another!” Wow, immediately I was stricken with regret, and I was grateful for His intervention. Would it not be wonderful to hear God say about each of us when we face burdens, stress, anxiety, and hardship with the opposite of what was said about the disciples, “…for they had gained insight from the incident of the (fill in your miracle); their hearts were strengthened.” Amen?!

Are There Dress Requirements in Heaven?

The parable told by Jesus speaks of a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused. Why? They were busy; they went to work, busied themselves with their temporary life here on earth, forgetting what lay ahead: eternal life or in their case eternal damnation. These were evil in their heart by omission; others intentionally did evil as they destroyed the servants with the invitation. In either case, the invitation was delivered and ignored; these potential guests were lost forever because of their negligent decision.

With these not willing to attend the banquet, the King sent word to all who were undeserving to come to the banquet. Anyone the servants could find were invited, the bad and the good. The festivity was immense; the wedding hall was filled with guests; the party was ready. However, the King in all His glory looked and noticed in the midst of this crowd one man in particular. This man was not dressed for the occasion! His “non-wedding” attire gave him away! Infuriated with this man's choice of clothing, the King had him thrown outside into utter darkness. Understand this, "Many are invited, but few are chosen."

Understandably, we can accept why the first two were not at the banquet and were destroyed; they refused their invitation. But in the case of this one man, I ask you, are there dress requirements for the banquet held in heaven? According to this parable, there is. You see there are four kinds of people that are invited to the banquet of eternity in heaven.

The distracted: the people that are busy with their temporary life here on earth.
The destructive: the people who kill and destroy all good sent from heaven to earth.
The deceived: the people who don’t know Jesus nor God’s will; they only perform good works that appear spiritual, but are actually dead because there is no faith in God’s Son.
The delivered: the people who know, love, and serve Christ with a heart of faith; these have obtained the wedding attire that reveal redemption and total submission to God’s will.

Take note, the verse “Many are invited, but few are chosen,” actually means “Many are invited, but few obtain salvation through Christ.” There is no other way to heaven; no other way to the banquet with the Son except through the Son. The proper wedding attire is not good works, but the covering of Christ’s blood. We are to wear His “red” attire that cleanses our black sin into white snow. The man at the banquet stood out because his sin was exposed; his sin was not cleansed. His “supposed” righteousness was as filthy rags. All he wanted was the self-satisfaction of food and the party atmosphere; he did not want the Son. His focus was self-serving not Son-serving.

The good news, we are all invited to the banquet. The bad news, only one kind of individual is accepted. Which kind are you: the distracted; the destructive, the deceived, the delivered? Be delivered by professing faith in Jesus. His wedding attire is obtainable! His hand is outstretched offering it to you…will you be chosen?