A Cluttered Closet

Recently I noticed something about my inner world.

It seems that most of us have enough storage and closet space, at least until we get more stuff.  Then we pack the shed, we pack the other side of our two-car garage, or we pack that spare closet where everything seems to disappear like a black hole.  It seems to be a common condition, the conspicuous consumers that we are.  We tend to amass more and more stuff.  Until one day we are forced by age, failing health, or divine sanity, to simply downsize and purge all the unnecessary stuff we've accumulated over time.

In like manner, early on in my walk of faith, my prayer closet was relatively free of clutter and comfortable – almost spacious.  It was a place where I could have some room and get alone with God.  It was small but accommodating in a Holy kind of way.  It was a place where I would regularly go to escape the clutter of my day to day life and routine.  It was indeed a place to breathe and be in communion with my Lord and my Maker.

But something happened along way.  As time and life began to accumulate around my ankles like a rising tide, I began to take more stuff into my prayer closet.  I began to split my communion time with complaining time.  Then I added all my burdens and fears.  Then I brought in my baggage from the past and the baggage of others.  Somehow thinking God was supposed to carry all my burdens and cares and likewise give me a light yoke and an easy load.  Right?

I mean, He did promise that kind of benevolent relief from the cares of this world.  So eventually my prayer closet – like most of the closets in my house, became full of junk.  Stuff accumulated over the years that I off-loaded to God.  All that stuff that seemed impossible to carry on my own, and rightly so.  The Lord indeed wants me to cast my cares upon Him.

But something was drastically wrong.  I used the place that was meant to be an intimate spot of communion, love and refreshing, as a dumping ground for all the things I couldn't handle on my own.  How could that be so wrong?

I’ll tell you.  God want’s all my burdens and cares.  He wants me to boldly come before His throne of grace to find mercy and help in time of need.  But above and before all of those provisions – He wants me.  He wants my love and my time.  And He wants to reciprocate.

My prayer closet was NEVER supposed to be a dumping ground, yet that’s what it became.  It became a cluttered closet too full of my junk and the junk of others.  Too cluttered and full for me to find room for rest and comfort with my Lord and my Maker.

So I've decided to clean out my prayer closet.  I’m going to collect all that junk and take it to the altar of God’s immeasurable grace.  Oh there is a place for my junk and all that stuff, but that place is NOT my prayer closet – my secret place with God.

For only by purging and maintaining a Spartan prayer closet will I gain the wisdom and power needed to haul all the other junk to it's proper altar and place of petition.

Dear Lord please forgive me for having A Cluttered Closet.  Forgive me for a cluttered prayer closet that was no longer a place of rest and restoration, but a place that had become a distraction from the one who I need most – You.

A Cluttered Closet, do you have one?

The Comfort of Discomfort

One of the most profound stories in the gospels is the account of where John the Baptist (BTW not really a Baptist but don’t tell them) was confronted with his disciples going over to follow Jesus.  He understood something that I am still growing to fully understand.  God’s increase is predicated upon my decrease: The Comfort of Discomfort.

It doesn't make much sense that we could gain any comfort from being discomforted, but that tends to be what the Kingdom and our relationship with God is all about.  And no I’m not suggesting that I must somehow pay penance so as to be blessed or so God can be exalted.  That is not the case, but I am suggesting that God will not share His glory with anyone or anything.  So as a result, in my soul I hear the Spirit of God reminding me that my true comfort will be found as I am discomforted; only and all for His sake and not my own.

I admit that it seems very counterproductive and counter intuitive to place discomfort before comfort, but as we observe life we find this principle in place, and rarely if ever do we argue with its premise.  A good example is health and fitness: no pain no gain?

But why is it that I struggle with this principle when it comes to my soul life?  Is it that my soul is so enamored with self-seeking comfort and satisfaction that I fail to understand the “no pain no gain” principle?  Likely it is.

My hope is that a day will come when I finally and fully understand with great peace and contentment the power and freedom found in this principle set forth by Christ’s own life – The Comfort of Discomfort.  As Jesus moved closer and closer to His primary purpose for coming to this earth, He gained great joy and comfort as He ran headlong into His very own discomfort - death.  For the joy set before Him He endured the cross that He might declare it is finished and find the true comfort of the Father.

The Comfort of Discomfort – an elusive doctrine indeed, but an essential one nonetheless if I am to ever live in the fullness of His perfect and comforting will.

The Domino Effect

Through my entire adult Christian life I’ve contended for the freedom of others as well as my own.  And I fully understand that Jesus Christ alone, by His grace through my faith in what God has done, is the only formula for true freedom from the curse of sin, death, and the grave.  I have confidence in that truth, and it has granted me solace and deep peace since the day I trusted in Him alone for my eternal salvation.  I believe it’s all said and done deal, based upon His promise and His action on my behalf.

But in like manner, through my entire Christian life, I’ve regularly battled lies that have laid siege to my mind, will, and emotions.  All by way of the misinterpretation of life events, a poor understanding of biblical truth, and even twisted views of Christian faith and practice handed down from one generation to the next.

Often in those times when my faith and feelings collide and spiritual gridlock seems inevitable, well intentioned Christians will ply the standardized messages of encouragement or even chastening with the hope of helping.  I’m grateful for their offerings of succor to a freeman who by the very nature of modern religion is starved and in need of God’s entire truth so freedom can finally be actuated, and not just seen as an ideal for hope on the horizon of harder, and harder religious work - grit.

Some may even say that we battle demons, and truly some do, but most of us battle lies we believe to be true about ourselves, others and even God.  And it doesn’t take a hoard of minions from hell to derail or sidetrack us from the life of peace and freedom we actually have in Christ – but only one well-placed and strategic lie.  And that can come from our own misunderstandings or even the words of others – all without our cognitive awareness.  Keeping in mind we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the only weapons hell has to fight with – lies.

Jesus came into the world, shed His blood and die for the payment needed to cover all our sins.  But further and often overlooked, is the other reason He came.

Hours before Jesus’ death on the cross, for the payment of humanity’s sin, while being interrogated by Pilate, our Lord states this secondary reason for His coming into the world.

John 18:37 “…I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth.  All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”  (NLT)

Because Jesus is here to testify to the truth, and we who are redeemed by His blood have immediate access to His ear and His voice, our entire freedom in Christ (the evidence that God has actually done something in us) pivots on our willingness to FACE the lies that wrestle for our allegiance, and engage Jesus in a discussion of what is true and what is false.  And that can only be accomplished by paying close attention to what we are FEELING at any given moment of duress.

Yesterday I received some very distressing news.  It caused very bad feelings, and I rapidly traveled downstream with those bad feelings.  Fortunately love, grace and a new day finally came.  But my freedom from those bad feelings only came when I faced the lie that had caused them, and consulted with Jesus as to what was actually true – versus what I felt was true (the lie).

By identifying what I was feeling (I felt cheated), I then was able to go to Jesus and tell Him that very thing.  “Jesus this feels very unfair and I feel like I’ve been cheated in a really big way!”

I told Him what felt true – I’d been cheated and it hurts.  Then I asked Him where that feeling came from and to show me it’s origin.  He showed me a time and a place where I was taken advantage of and how I felt alone and at risk.  And so I asked Him was I alone and at risk in that memory and time, and He said I was not and that He was with me the whole time.  I asked Him to tell me the truth – not just what I “felt” was true and He did.

At that very moment, the bad feelings that were sourcing from a lie I believed to be true about myself deflated and peace actually arrived.  My heart was filled with His words, His truth, His love, and His peace.  No longer did a lie hold sway over my mind, will and emotions – but His truth had set me free.

Now during my time of duress and bad feelings was my salvation in question or jeopardy?  Of course not, but gone unchecked, as they often do, those bad feelings based upon a lie would have compounded as the next lie was encountered, and the next and the next.  All of which tend to pile up and will eventually derail our faith.  And when our faith is derailed we wander around as freemen appearing to be bound and confused – and we are – with piles and piles of lies left unchecked.

Yet the fact remains: If I deal with that one root lie, many other lies and misinterpretations begin to fall like dominos.  Oh we may think it’s the demons, but most often it’s the lies.

Please see it this way.  If we knock down the very first or root lie that has been seated in our soul, countless, if not all the other lies will fall, because lies beget lies, and bad feelings beget bad feelings.  And only the most stalwart people of faith can “fake it” until they get to the next challenge and the pressure compounds and compounds and eventually they burst – everyone does.

And I will NOT fake it till I make it, because that makes me a fake and feel good addict and I will bounce from one experience to the next, never actually dealing with the root cause of all my bad feelings, but only moving from one coping mechanism to the next.  Good feelings junkies pepper the pews of our churches and tend to migrate from one “good” experience to the next – because they’ve never fully dealt with the cause of their good-feeling-addition (their bad feelings based on lies believe to be true about self).

Now granted, we all like to feel good, but true and lasting peace CANNOT be faked or even compared to our search for the next good feeling.  Only a peace that surpasses all explanation and comprehension will truly satisfy us; especially when the winds and waves batter our foundations.

So let me ask you: Are you ready for The Dominos Effect?  Are you ready for Jesus to speak truth to you and begin to hear the clatter of all those dominos fall; those lies and bad feelings that have been stacked up in random twists and turns within your soul?  Are you ready to fully experience His peace – real peace?

I know I am and I’m grateful for The Domino Effect of His truth in my life.

The Domino Effect – let it begin now!

But If From There

This morning I am reminded once again of the nature and often hidden will of our covenant God, and that my friend is a good and refreshing thing.

So often in my life, growing up in a culture and community of faith, I was inundated by an over emphasis on strict and tacit obedience to the things of God.  Now mind you, I fully agree with and seek to maintain a life of obedience to God’s Word and His Spirit’s leading.  But somewhere in the midst of all that well-intentioned religious instruction and tutelage, something was out of balance.

And before I move on, let me remind you that God hates scales that are out of balance, because someone always gets ripped off and equity is pushed to the side for the purpose of greed and control.  Religion tends to do that when erroneous leadership finds a doctrinal niche to control and manipulate the penitent – by keeping the facts out of balance – and sharing only part of the truth versus the whole.

Yes, God has called me to obedience and I’m very okay with that.  As a matter of fact I truly love God, and I do seek to obey Him.  But what about those moments or seasons when I fail to obey, or even when I knowingly disobey, because of how I feel or my life circumstances seduce me into self-indulgence or justification?

Let me tell you, the greatest darkness I have lived under is the pall of misdirection by well-intentioned leaders, who for fear of losing control of their constituents, emphasized law over grace.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Law of the Lord – it’s perfect and it converts my soul, but the law is only there to remind me of how desperately I need the converse of who God really is – Love and Mercy.

In Deuteronomy chapter 4, Moses is reminding the people of their covenant obligation to remember and obey their God.  To remember that it was Him who did the wonders in the heavens and the earth, for the sole purpose of their salvation and deliverance to a land of blessing and prosperity.  And further to remember when things begin to go well, and their eyes gravitate from heaven to earth, and they begin (they did – so do we) to worship anything else but their covenant God – calamity would befall them.  Divine discipline would bring destruction to them and they would find themselves far, far away from their original relationship and proximity to God their Savior.  Sound familiar?

That’s a very scary thing – and that would preach well.  If my intention was to control and manipulate the behavior of my constituents, but that would be only half of the truth.  That would be an out of balance scale, of which God hates.

But in chapter 4 verse 29 we can see the continuum of God’s whole truth and intention, despite the willful disobedience, failings, and sins of His people.  “But if from there,” from our selfish place of disobedience and wayward proximity to God, we begin to “seek” Him – something happens.

Something amazing happens, if from the very spot where we are in disobedience, we begin to look for or to seek Him – redemption and relationship once again flows from Him to us, in our distant and distracted state.

Do you understand that quality of God?  That if and when we blow it, and we find ourselves like the prodigal son who by his selfish and sinful behavior at a fatal distance from our Father, we simply turn and come to our senses – He rushes to our very side!  He knows and understands and seeks to be right where we need Him, when we need Him.  Even from there, that place, that dark and faraway place that the voice of our enemy told us we could not find light or hope.

Please understand.  No matter where we are, were, or may be going God is extremely willing and ready to meet us.  If from there – from that very place of disobedience and distance from Him we choose to seek Him, and we do so with all our heart, He will restore us.  No penance to pay on our part.  He did it all and it was His Covenant, not ours.  It was His Love not ours.

May we always and ever be reminded of the whole counsel of God.

Deuteronomy 4:29-31 “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.  ³⁰ When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.  ³¹ For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.”

But If From There you seek Him, He will once again bring the power and blessing of His Covenant to bear upon your life – regardless of where there is.

PC vs. PC

Initially you might think I’m doing a feature by feature blog about personal computers.  Typically that would be between the trendy-cultish Apple Mac people versus the Microsoft driven various brands of white-collar-rule-keeping-non-Mac-PC-users.  But that’s not what I’m writing about.

Several days ago I had this thought regarding the all too common informal term PC or politically correct, that has come to mean; inoffensive, nondiscriminatory, unbiased, neutral, appropriate, and nonpartisan language.  And frankly I’m exhausted by this inane mantra parlayed by the media, politicians, Hollywood, left wing and right wing nuts and lastly and most sadly, the church.

Oh not the true Church.  You know the one that seems overshadowed by the modern PC church of popularity, entertainment and cash flow.  So relax if you believe yourself to be part of the true Church.  You can stand on the sidelines and watch the fray swell regarding this subject.  But please be slow to take up sides, especially when basing it upon one’s own righteousness.

When the thought came of PC vs. PC; this was my grist for the mill.  Politically correct versus being Pneumatically correct – or Spirit correct.

Now granted I truly hate, hate speech.  I was never a name caller nor was my family.  As a matter of fact, I would have been summarily spanked with a belt by my father if I was ever found to be a person of that vernacular.  My dad spent all his adult life championing the cause of the underdog.  Be it any minority of color, lifestyle, or economic disparity – he had a heart for the oppressed of our society and the world.  All driven by a divine compassion and love for people.  So any mean spirited or derisive epithets were NEVER used, promoted, or tolerated in my upbringing.  Thereby shaping my mind, heart and behavior – I don’t name call.

But what I have realized especially recently is a dire and ceaseless juggernaut of culture and religion that will not put up with Truth.  For the lie we are being sold is this: all things are relative, to included truth and a person’s view on anything, anytime, and anywhere.  Ergo the burgeoning and stifling PC police so prevalent today.  Even within our pulpits and pews.

Jesus came into the world to clearly define Truth over lies.  And from the Genesis garden narrative to this very day, we are at odds within ourselves, with all of creation, and clearly with other humans who are juxtaposed between light and dark.  And this battle is in full swing over the solid and sacred ground of Truth, versus the alluring and popular specter of unending lies.

PC vs. PC is all about the present and continuing battle between our propensities to fall towards being politically correct versus being Pneumatically correct – or as the Bible calls it being Spirit led; i.e. Spirit correct.

Being Pneumatically correct will ALWAYS and ever mean that we speak the Truth in Love (the primary goal for the work done by the 5 fold ministry office and the pinnacle of all Christian maturity); regardless of the lions or the possible losses we may suffer.

Being Pneumatically correct is ALWAYS about being in agreement with God.  Yet we live in a church age where too many will pick and choose what they like or don’t like about God and His Word.  All on the basis of their idea of Christian liberty, or the basis that they just don’t like what God has to say, or how it may cause others to feel about them (the person called to cite God’s Word and not themselves or their own opinions).

Far too often we are worried about what people think, and how it makes us feel, or god forbid and worse yet causes us to be ostracized from our circles of acquaintance.  All the while claiming “we don’t want people to get the wrong idea about God.”  When in fact our fear is what silences the only Truth able to save a lost and dying world.

When altars were removed from many evangelical churches some 20 years ago, and pop culture, psychology, step programs, feel-good short sermons, and that café feel was added to our houses of worship, plus the best of religious entertainment in word and song – that my friends became the standard for a western, Christian church, business model – and we got the glory for getting the crowds.  But we lost the life giving presence found only through heartfelt and honest soli deo Gloria!  Who gets the glory these days?

We became PC to the world around us by giving up the Spirit and the Word.  We are at a grave loss if we have abandoned our practice of being Pneumatically correct; and supplanted it for being politically correct.  Is anyone up for a seeker sensitive latté and some new smoke, mirrors and lights instead of the weight of the Spirit?

This thought is deep within me, for I know if we do not stem the tide and watershed of weak pulpits and pews – the Spirit may not strive to be with us.  And because I’ve seen in my own life, and in the lives of other believers, a progressive loosening of once held core values, a decline in true and biblical faith, vision and even holy ideals – I am deeply grieved and once again on my face in repentance before God for myself and His Church.  

The shrinking and easing of church membership “requirements” are a small and lesser seen PC vs. PC conflict, but nonetheless real.  And years ago there was a committee within our fellowship that took great pains and labor to maintain “doctrinal purity” for our ranks, yet their influence seems lesser and lesser – if they still even exist.

And don’t get me started about the broad confluence and brush stroke of “Christian” authors who ignorantly or otherwise have eliminate a proper and Pneumatic use of Bible exegesis, all in the name of book sales.  And worse yet this deluge of “Christian” literature being consumed these days, have all but neutered our ability and our will, to doggedly mine the true gold of God’s Word and His Spirit’s Wisdom through personal prayer and study of the scriptures.  Oh for the clarity of a Berean call, practice, and tenacity to study and prefer the Scriptures and the Spirit, over the popular velvet-tonged ear-ticklers coursing through the cardio pulmonary systems of our churches today.  Simply put, we have an epidemic of spiritual heart disease and head disease, and they seem to be accepted maladies among us.

I must end my thoughts for now, but may God have mercy upon us beyond what He has already given on the cross through His Son.  And may we together (emphasis on TOGETHER), stand our ground in the final hours of this eternal battle – PC vs. PC.

May the Spirit of Truth prevail in us!  

The Day I Disbelieved

I cannot tell you through joint experience whether God exists or not.  What I can tell you is we are in the polarity of two worlds; belief vs. disbelief.

I think it was Francis Shaffer who challenged us to live within that tension.  And countless other theologians challenged us to dissect the two.  But what I now believe is that we are called, within the world of the visible, to believe and die for the invisible.  Few of which are able to muster the grit or soul courage to march into such conflict of reason.

Because what God has called us to is less than reason, but faith.  And faith is nothing less than magic.  And we are taught to suspect magic, but not logic.  So excuse me while I beg the pardon of logistic dialectic theologians.  Because I believe God is real.  But I like card tricks too.

What I struggle with is the Imago Dei that has been defaced by doubt and fear.  For if and when a lie is planted, we fall drastically towards the watershed of logic, which has been planted in our hearts to protect us from magic.  Ergo the crazy religious cycle of grid lock.

Please pause for a moment with me and confess: I do not believe.  And couple that confession with: yet I need you God.  And as we own up to our failure to believe we receive faith to BELIEVE.  Crazy isn't it?  Get it?

I love Jesus.  But I’ve never met Him skin to skin, eye to eye.

 

Can love be the basis for relationship?  Well I suppose so, because I've loved and it’s been the basis of relationships in the past; but what about God?

Can you in this very moment say aloud; “Father God I struggle to believe that you exist, because my life circumstances are so painful that life feels like you don’t care?”  I mean if God loves me, shouldn't life “feel” better?

Where are you God?  You (if you are God) know the times I've stood in my 32x32 inch fiberglass shower in the basement of my house and cried out God?  I thought you came to make things better?

But now in my life I realize that He did not come to make things “better” but He came to give me access out of what progressively will get worse (sorry to all you Amillennialists).  And that access “out” is by truth.  For every time I embrace a lie my life feels like crap; especially if I’m trying to live for Him.

So I ask you… do you believe what He says?  Or are you in the ditch of disbelief where you wrestle with magic or logic?  Because Paul the apostle told us we are to take captive every thought that presents itself as logical.  And God is NOT about logic and law.  He is about Spirit and Grace.

Is this the day you confess disbelieved?  Or at least admitted your disbelief?  What are you afraid of; God getting ticked off that you struggle with belief or what?

Join me in the confession of faith that says: Lord I cannot believe… unless you impart faith that I may believe.

That, my dear reader, is the power of disbelief...  As we confess our humanity in disbelief, God imparts something.  He imparts an “ear” to hear where there was not an ear.  And as by His grace He provides an ear to hear… faith comes.  But we MUST confess our deafness and our disbelief.

Fear not, for He realizes that we struggle.  Cry out… call out… speak now even your disbelief.  For an honest heart is what He is seeking; a heart that declares the truth of its OWN condition.  Not a perceived religion or bravado.

Join me in The Day of Disbelief.  To God be the glory!

Day 2 of 2014 - RAK

On Things Above

Many years ago I realized I was short.  And by that I mean my maximum adult height only reached five feet eight inches.  That’s right.  I was only 5’8” and worst of all I am even shorter now.  Old age I suppose.

That may not sound all that bad to those who are taller, but from late elementary school age on into my adult years it wreaked havoc on my thinking and self-esteem.  It’s likely because of all the taunting and teasing, or maybe even the “I just-can’t-quite-reach-it” moments (not to mention Randy Newman’s song Short People).  Oh and lest I forget all of my tall friends, who by the way were usually very kind regarding our differences (caveat: I have some very dear friends who are short like me).  And yes I know being short is nothing compared to the issues and physical disadvantages many people live with day in and day out.

But my point is this: When we find ourselves devolved of a divine perspective, our view of life becomes tacitly stagnant and toxic and usually without us even knowing it.  We somehow by default hear only the echoes of accusations directed to the underdog or the naked (Genesis 3:11).

In Colossians 3 the Apostle Paul reminds us to set our hearts and minds on things above.  And in doing so our perspective will change and inner peace will come.  And for that promise I am grateful.

But here’s the rub.  I live below.  I’m earth bound.  So if and when I do have one of those “things above” moments, it’s only through divine action on God’s part.  It usually happens when my mind is changed in relation to my earth-bound-ness.  And that problem, most always stems from the fact that I fail in my belief that there is actually anything above.  I tend to fail in my belief that there is more than a simple horizontal perspective to life.

In Deuteronomy 6 we find the basis of the Shema.  A prayer and a command to believe there is only One God and how therein to live for and to love Him.  I love this passage, but even more I love how Jesus fleshed it out in the Gospels.  And the curious thing is He added something to the command and prayer.  Do you know what He added?

He added the component of our mind.  For in loving God with all our being, we must do so fully and firstly with our minds.  And further, do you know that when Jesus first arrived on the scene, to the very end of His ministry here on earth, and even to the churches mentioned in Revelation, He constantly called for us to repent.

Now most of us when we hear the word “repent” tend to mingle it with confession and a gritty will-driven cessation of sinful and destructive behaviors.  But repentance is not confession of sin nor does it originate from our own willpower or grit.  On the contrary, it originates with God speaking truth to the lies bottled up inside us.  And as God speaks truth to the inner most parts of our mind, our minds begin to change, our thinking changes.  And that my friend is the beginning of repentance – a change of thinking, followed then by heartfelt and subsequent outward changes, and never the reverse, contrary to popular belief and teaching.

My inability to see things from above has little to do with the fact that I’m earth bound, but everything to do with a mind that is yet fully repentant.  A mind that has not been transformed or renewed by the truth of God will never experience nor have the ability to be set On Things Above.  And set it must be if I am ever to get over being short, naked, blind, sinful, helpless, hopeless and retched.

So I ask you: Is your mind set On Things Above?  Can you alone by willpower and dogged determination keep your mind On Things Above?

Because I can tell you my mind tends to slip to things below, if it has not been changed by the Spirit of Truth.  For I cannot memorize, attend, partake or genuflect enough to get my mind set On Things Above, but only by the power of the Word of Truth, only by His Spirit of Truth will my mind be set like a flint and become unmovable in its perspective from above.

For if my mind is to remain set On Things Above I must turn it over to the Truth.  I must experience a metamorphosis based upon Truth being infused into memories, thoughts, misinterpreted experiences, and blatant lies and accusations thrown at me from the very beginning and from every direction.

That is the only way I can keep my mind set – On Things Above.

Oh I’ll always be physically shorter than most, but I have overcome and will continue to overcome the lies that tell me being short is somehow bad or inferior or anything else of that nature – all lies.  Because from my heavenly Father’s perspective – I’m just perfect the way He created me and by His grace I’ll continue growing into that perfect son He loves so very much.

On Things Above – I’m slowly but surely getting His perspective.  And you?