Ask

Ask. Ask again. Don't dive into morbid introspection. Ask, then dance. In other words, live with Psalms 139:23-34 on the front of your heart. You don't live life trying to find everything wrong with yourself. For one reason, you don't have the power to do much about it when you do find something. But God does. Jesus does. The Holy Spirit does. The Bible says that when we say yes to Christ, He literally, not figuratively, but literally comes into your heart and life by the person and presence of His Spirit, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. So all God's love, all God's power, all God's everything...is in you! Ask. By asking, you allow Jesus to search your heart, locate anything offensive, and remove it through repentance and hope. Proverbs 3 & Hebrews 12 make clear that God only corrects those He loves, and that He corrects so He can give you His holiness, His heart, His character, which includes His peace & joy. Ask, and you give God a chance to show you the right path. Ask, and you give Jesus a chance to lead you out of confusion born by sin. Ask, and you give the Holy Spirit a chance to come out of the closet and begin to dance a supernatural dance in your spirit that brings your heart into a deep place of fellowship, connection, and flow with Christ. Ask, and you are closer. Ask, and you are no longer afraid. Ask, and give up the notion that you need to deny darkness in order to feel like you are where you are not. Ask, as a way of telling God you know you haven't arrived and that He has your "welcome mat" to do in your heart and life what He desires. If you are not willing to do this, either you are not a Christian or a shallow person. If you are willing to ask, to live a lifestyle of asking, then you know Jesus has your heart. Why else would you be embracing humility. When you are genuinely asking, you are becoming genuinely humble, and according to Philippians 2, like Christ.

A Poem (from time w/ Jesus)

No longer do i want to be deluded.
Skepticism waters me down,
takes away my punch, my sting.
I must be sharp.
I am called to have a razor edge.
Not to be conformed to superficiality's mold,
But to stride deeply, unapologetically...
as Foster says, "letting people feel the weight of who I am."

In fear I present myself shallow at times to make sure people aren't offended at me taking God & life too seriously.

But I don't want to conform.
I want to call others to conform.

I don't want any longer to be afraid of living the depth God has carved out in my heart.

4/14/2009

Apologetics 101: Clicker Beeps

This thought is straight forward. You be a skeptic about anything and everything. Right now sitting at my table in my apartment i could imagine a scenario that goes something like this: I do not believe my car is outside my apartment. I have not heard it depart from here. All my keys are inside the apartment. Becuase my apt door is shut i cannot see oustide to see if it is still out there. And also, why else would i be having such a wierd thought? Maybe the chances of my car not being out there are even greater than the chance that my car is out there. Who is to say? I am no longer confident that my car is there though i have what most would consider great evidence that supports my view that my car is indeed still out there...right where i parked it a few hours ago. Now, I will admit that for me to be absolutely 110% certain, i would have to walk out of my apartment and look with my own eyes. That is easy enough. But let's say i can't. Well, there are still many good reasons to beleive that my car is there. First, i haven't heard anybody drive it away (stealing my car). Second, i have my keys and someone hot-wiring my car is very unlikely. Third, cars are rarely stolen in Pearl River County. Fourth, no lights or break lights have lit up to my knowledge while i was sitting close to the front window watching TV. Fifth, my alarm never went off. And the list goes on and on.

Now think about this. Many people say that becuase God is not physically sitting right outside the window so that i could look for myself to see if he is there or not, then he probably isn't there. But there is one way that remains that i could see if my car is there without looking outside. I could take my electronic key thing and hit the lock button. My car was locked earlier, and when you hit the lock button after the car is already locked it makes a loud sound. In other words, though i never step out and look at the car and see it physically, by the sound of it locking i can know whether or not the car is there.

Same way with God. The clicker beep sound that tells me my car is out there even though i am not looking at it physically is the same type evidence God gives us to show us His existence. The fine-tuned precision of the universe, the miracles of healing that i have witnessed when praying specifically to Jesus Christ. The strong sense of morality that is deeply woven into each one of us (the fact we disagree on right and wrong doesn't destroy this argument, it just means that becuase humans sinned, our sense of right and wrong is skewed) that there is a right and wrong to the universe. The desire for love which no rocks & gases have every mimicked. The lack of transition fossils in the record that even Darwin himself said that if they don't show up, then his theory is WACK. The desire for happiness that rocks & gases can't produce. The deep sense of brokenness that cries out for help. The fact that our minds somehow can grasp the idea of there being a God. The existence of free will (C.S. Lewis make this argument perfect). The existence of joy. The fact that Jesus fulfilled several prophecies that were out of His control to fulfill...implying the existence of the Father who was also orchestrating even as Jesus walked the earth. And the list goes on. Clicker beeps. Visionless evidence...that shouts, "Yea, the car really is there. God really is there. You can't see Him with your physical eyes, but you can hear the "evidence-beeps" around you. He really is there.

Dragon Monster of Leadership

I'm having a little bit of fun with the idea of "Dragon Monster". What is a dragon monster? The beast that robs of, that breathes fire & burns up everything that leadership is about: influencing others. Brandon & I are sitting here thinking and talking about this in Dallas, TX right now. Let me narrow the scope a little. Let me talk about a specific kind of leadership: areas of leadership that have to do with Christ. Read Jeremiah 9:23-24. We can get so busy studying the Bible for a sermon or a teaching...we can get so busy making encouraging phone calls...we can get so busy counseling & trying to help others...we can get so busy planning events for others...we can get so busy going to church...we can get so busy busy busy doing all kinds of SPIRITUAL things that we totally turn our hearts away from what Jesus says is most important. What is most important is communion/fellowship/relationship/heart-to-heart time with Him, only for Him, not even for a cause, but just to know Him and love Him and go deeper into Him than every before. Psalms 81:10 says, "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it". The promise of God for those who wait with their hearts open to Him. We wait on God when we patiently & prayerfully read the Word. We wait on God when we lay on our beds with worship music in our ears and imagine us sitting on Father God's knee. We wait on Him when we go for a walk under the night sky and hear the sounds of night and clear our minds to hear from Him or to talk to Him. We wait on Him when we journal the deep things of our heart. Isaiah 40:31. Luke 10:38-42. This is the story of Mary & Martha. Martha was working really hard, serving a lot. Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet "listening to His word". Martha got mad and told Jesus to tell Mary to help her serve. Jesus told Martha that Mary had chosen what was best and that would not be taken from her. Yes we are to serve like Martha...but not like Martha. We are to serve like Martha with a "Mary" heart. The Dragon Monster of Leadership is the monster of "Do-Do-Do". This eats up and so many times pulls us far away from where all good works and serving is suppose to come from in the first place...that is, at His feet, drinking in His heart, learning and knowing and falling more in love with Jesus. Warning: If you are not careful, you get so busy doing things for Jesus that you forget at some point that the #1 cry of His heart is for us to experience deep & transforming intimacy with Him.

Praying "Train Tracks"

Prayer. What comes to your mind? Answered Prayer? Unanswered Prayer? You love to pray? You live a prayer-life as Keith Green sang it in the 1970's? You quit believing in a God who answers prayer? You don't have a clue what prayer is or how to pray?

All these questions come to mind. Jesus spoke with weighty words about prayer. In Matthew 6:5-15 in His first sermon recorded He takes a seat higher up in the mountain and goes for it. He thought it that important. The emphasis on this passage is your individual prayer life. In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus talks about never giving up in prayer. It is the story of the persistent widow. She doesn't give up, and even the evil judge finally gives in to her request. Jesus then shares about how much more a Good God than an evil judge will answer. Read 2 Chronicles 7:14. Solomon is dedicating the temple and God says the big word, "if". In other words, I will do these things He says "if" my people pray. Watchman Nee agrees with this. He writes,

"Prayer is the rail for God's work. Indeed, prayer is to God's will as rails are to a train. The locomotive is full of power: it is capable of running a thousand miles a day. But if there are not rails, it cannot move forward a single inch. If it dares to move without them, it will soon sink into the earth. It may be able to travel over great distances, yet it cannot go to any place where no rails have been laid. And such is the relation between prayer & God's work."

Honest answer...is prayer something you do from time to time or do you really pray with faith, believing that some things are suspended in the spiritual realm (Ephesians 6) until followers of Christ through prayer untie them out of that realm through prayer so they can be released on the earth? Do you believe that prayer "works" or are you letting past experiences instead of the Word of God determine what you believe about God & prayer? Is it possible that there are some things in your life and in lives around you that are not flowing yet becuase they are bound by your prayerlessness? Please avoid cookie-cutter religious responses...

Fasting

Fasting is one of the "spiritual disciplines" that the Bible speaks of. There are two questions i want to answer. (1) What is a "spiritual discipline"?, and (2) What are the spiritual disciplines"? Let me answer #2 first. Here are examples of a spiritual discipline: fasting, praying, studying the Scripture, meditation, worship, solitude, simplicity, etc. The word "discipline" can be decieving. We think negative when we read that word. But it is not about negative at all. It is about the Divine. The word simply paints the picture that these are things we purposely do from our heart as we respond to the call to "move beyond the surface living into the depths" (Richard Foster). So here we are. Fasting is one of these things we do from the heart. We deny our flesh (which means to go without something in the physical world such as food, video games, text messaging, sweets, etc.) in order to open ourselves most deeply to God's Spirit. In essence, we are giving up something important to for what is most important. You can fast for all kinds of things. Bottom line is, don't just fast FROM something, fast FOR something. And take it a step further. Don't be random about it. Fast for what is on your heart, but also take some time at the beginning of the fast to ask Father God what is also on His heart for you to pray that you might not have a clue of without Him sharing it with you. Here are some things you can fast FOR: overcoming sin, salvation of a friend or family member, healing, deliverance, revelation of destiny/purpose, finances, direction for next phase of your life, for open doors, for future mate, to hear God 's voice more clearly in your day-to-day life, spiritual gifts, for Him to change your heart, etc etc etc. Fasting is about refusing to living life on the surface as a shallow human being. It is about getting yourself into position to be deep, connected, and spiritually tuned to the Holy Spirit as a lifestyle and to stand in the gap in the spiritual realm for those around us (individuals, churches, towns, nations, generations). The real question is this: Do you have enough faith to make the sacrifice? Nobody fasts unless they really believe Jesus will answer their cry. I end with the words of Jesus about fasting. Pay attention to the promise He makes if you are a willing to be a disciple who fasts. Read Matthew 6:16-18. Verse 18 Jesus says that to those who fast, the Father will see and take notice, and "your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly."

Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Audio Talks

Just got in a little while ago from the Audio Adrenaline concert at our church. It was an even hosted by our youth ministry "The Journey". The concert was called "Audio Talks". It was very refreshing, creative, and different for a concert. They would sing a few songs. Then they would stop and tell some of there stories. Then more songs. Then more stories. I joked with someone that i know i am getting older becuase i really enjoyed the "story" part of the show. Ha Ha, right? The music was awesome too. The song that really gripped my heart was "Ocean Floor". If you haven't heard it, YOU MUST. It is about the powerful move of the Father to throw everything sinful & wrong to the bottom of the ocean floor where it is out of sight and out of reach for those who have accepted His Son Jesus Christ. Amazing. Good sound. More important, deep message. It was fun. As a youth pastor, of course i want the event to bounce. But more importantly, I want everything we do to be a container for God's Spirit, God's Presence, & God's Heart to be poured out in. Thank you "Audio Talks" for sharing from the heart. Beautiful, refreshing, & cool time in God's presenced as these rock stars shot from the heart about how real they were and what God was willing to do with them. I end with this. One of their main messages tonight was that they were little bitty geeks & nerds with music and God has taken them around the world to share and minister Christ to people's hearts. It was special hearing their story, and remember, as they said, if God can do this with them, what could He do if you crawled up into His hands and fully surrendered...
Jeremiah 29:11-14