Being Like Paul

That All Would Come to Him

2009-11-16T18:49:00.004-06:00

"God isn't late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn't want anyone lost. He's giving everyone space and time to change." "With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day." From 2 Peter 3:8-9 The Message

"My dear friends, if you know people who have wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off. Go after them. Get them back and you will have rescued precious lives from destruction and prevented an epidemic of wandering away from God." James 5:19-20 The Message

Maybe it's time we all started focusing less on the frustrations and fears of this world and more on the urgency of bringing all of his children to Him.

Maybe it's time that we all stopped allowing petty differences (and unnecessary religious rules) to come between us and fellow believers.

If a friend is straying - go after him! Run to him! Remind him that he is accepted, loved, and free!

There is a love - a burning passion - for the heart of each and every person, that is beyond all our comprehension yet is within the grasp of all who would simply call upon Him. But how can they grasp it if they don't know who to call to? And how can they know who to call to if no one tells them?

Run to them! Tell them how loved they are by the One who died to free them!

We all have a place of desperation within us. A place that longs for acceptance, unconditioned and free. A place that, without grace - without peace, continues to grow - continues to ache, and cries out to anyone willing to help.

Will you be that person? That person who shares the healing grace so freely given to you when you last ached... That person whole and healed - able to drastically change the lives of others... RUN TO THEM!
He's waiting for us to reach out to those who are lost - to help them to change directions - to stop running from Him and begin running TO him - to his open arms of love.

Insecurity

2009-10-17T18:59:00.005-05:00

a mindful of emptiness

once busy with dreams
things seemed possible
just out of reach

the hoping-fors
and someday maybes
washed away in an instant
by the never enoughs
and less than shes

haunting

a single doubt, one lonely fear
robbing the heart of its glow
stealing the mind's fire

leaves an emptiness behind

a longing unfulfilled
dreams forgotten
inspiration now shattered
quickly swallowed by isolation

one thought, one question, one apprehension
insecurity

distracting purpose
confusing worth
weakens passion and breaks hearts
blurs the truth

We are so much more than we alone can see.
.

A Call to Anguish

2009-10-04T10:24:00.004-05:00

It's time for us to wake-up.

"You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?

You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.
God is not a secret to be kept.

If I make you light bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Shine!

Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in Heaven."

Matthew 5:13-16, MSG

That's My King

2009-09-18T10:10:00.001-05:00

The Birth Pains of Creation

2009-09-15T21:12:00.006-05:00

It has been quite a struggle for me to convey the conviction of my heart to others regarding my stance on politics and the state of the world. “Why fret about it?” I say quite regularly as it seems that almost everyone around me gets so lost in the frustration of it all and in turn loses sight of what is really important. “We’re all doomed…” seems to be the general feeling of fear represented in their arguments—and not really just of my peers, but of the creation as a whole. It seems that we’re all screaming about the state of affairs rather than looking at the context or searching for meaning of it all. Everyone seems to assume that a corrupt and blinded government is to blame and that if people would just get their acts together, things could change drastically. Although I do believe that an overhaul could make a huge impact, I do not believe that it will answer the state of our world.

All around us the world seems to be falling apart. People are becoming more and more calloused every day, and as each shift of the second hand progresses more and more people are dying. Dying not of what is natural but of what is unnatural, unfathomable, unhuman. The only sense of peace in a country now-a-days lies in whether or not they hold tools of mass-destruction at their fingertips. Peace has become a blurry distortion of power. And I have to wonder if we even really remember what peace is, what is looks like, how it feels. Peace – can it thrive in our world? Or would it simply dissipate within any occurrence in which it tried to spread?

There seems to be more ridiculous decisions made each day by those in leadership. Most of us are wondering, “Where have all the true leaders gone?” We laugh condescendingly at their confused efforts at leading us, but deep down inside aren’t we all just scared that this person, who in all reality we know hardly anything about, might be leading us all into peril and destruction rather than progression? Fear. It’s what unfortunately drives us all—into conforming, into resenting, into uprisings, into seclusion, into blindness.

So what do we do about all this fear? It seems to be at the core of everything in our world today. Fear can lead to action – it’s up to us to decide whether or not that action is for good or for evil.

There is a war going on right now. Most of us have forgotten about that. This war is unlike any we have entered into in the history of the world. We fight against an enemy who attacks us blindly. We fight everyday overseas, yet have no comfort that we won’t be caught off-guard in our own territory. All the while, we go about our day to day lives as if nothing has changed. How dare a silly “war” interfere with our routine! We get enraged about the state of our government’s misgivings, and we run out of mental space to remember the things that matter most. When was the last time we really thought about those giving their lives for our “freedom”? People are dying. Lots of them. Why isn’t anyone paying attention? We surely wouldn’t want to miss our beloved “American Idol” for an update on the war. Maybe there’s a great symbolism to our most beloved show – maybe we’re idolizing more than we realize.

So, to me, there are things more important than the actual state of things themselves. You see, the one thing underlying every new crack and crumbling of this world and its systems is the growing apathy of creation. Have we become so numb that we can’t capacitate care and concern? Do we realize how blinded we have become?

The movie Matrix is the best representation of a distorted reality and its implications. I wonder, when will we begin caring more about unplugging those around us to the real reality? We wage a war not of flesh and blood (though that is rampant in society) but of spirit, of darkness and of light. And the most frightening thing is that people are becoming so entranced in the darkness that they can hardly even recognize the light anymore. We’ve got to unplug them from the Matrix of the enemy’s lies. Otherwise, the problems of this world will continue to grow, as they are destined to do, only we will stand alone on the day of reckoning and wonder how we became so misled as to leave the rest of the population behind.

We hold a light and a truth that the rest of the world needs.

That is far more important and pressing than whether or not our government made a manipulative or conniving decision. Deception is all around us. We live in a fallen world. There’s no stopping it. All we can do is make a decision to not allow ourselves to fall prey any longer.

So what do we do then about the devastation around us? Why should we have any hope in a world that is so full of evil and destruction? Is there a purpose?

Yes.

Have you ever had the opportunity to experience the journey of a wife, sister, or friend moving through the process of pregnancy and delivery? It changes them. No matter how bad you want to have a baby, once you are in fact pregnant, your mind goes through an array of emotions – and fears. What will the birth process be like? We all know that it will hurt. There’s no avoiding it. We can medicate and numb ourselves, but the pain still emerges. It must happen in order for the miracle of new life to complete itself. And there will be other, smaller yet still significant pains throughout the pregnancy. Whatever the circumstances, once you become pregnant there is no avoiding what will take place in the woman’s body. It is the natural process. As is the process that creation is experiencing even now:

“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.” Romans 8:22-25

We can have hope in the pains of the world because they are the inevitable pains of the birthing process. We are a pregnant creation. God is enlarging within us his Kingdom. He’s preparing us – and everyone we can gather to come along – for the new place he’s prepared. And we must decide whether to turn our eyes toward that promise as fuel to spread his Kingdom or to remain stagnant, drowning in the despair of this passing world.

“That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead.” Romans 8:18-21

As soon as we reach all that can receive the Kingdom and salvation, God will arrive right on time.

It’s time we stopped fretting about the devastating events themselves, paralyzed, and begin realizing that they are necessary birth pangs – and begin to really work at preparing creation for the arrival of true change. Seek out the lost, the broken, the down-trodden, the desperate, the weak, and the forgotten and pull the cord from the enemy’s Matrix.

But don’t give up in the midst of seeing such evil in the world.
God is on his way.
And the enemy knows it.

Everything

2009-09-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

A Prayer.

God is mighty and powerful. The answer to everything.

Flood our lives with your Kingdom light, Father. Help us to know you as you are, not as we think you to be in our feeble attempts at understanding. Overpower the darkness around us.

God, you are grace and mercy. You loved us when we were unlovable. And you love us still even though we are like sheep with no will to live, no natural propensity to do right. Over and over again you rescue us, and over and over again you have to re-explain things to us. Help us to really learn rather than to just experience things.

Make us into the children that you see us as – powerful for you. Unclutter our minds, our hearts. Refresh and replace our focus with your Kingdom purposes. We long to be effective tools in your movement of truth.

Forge us into tempered steel – strong enough to handle every dart of the enemy, strong enough to stand up against accusations, attacks, and doubtful peers. Let us be your voice, your hands in this world. Show us what that means and how to get there.

Make us mighty and powerful in your Kingdom. You are our Everything.

Amen

The Weight of Truth

2009-09-13T16:00:00.003-05:00

Encouragement in Matthew 10

Stay alert constantly. This is not easy work I’m assigning you – it’s hazardous. You’ll be like a sheep running through a pack of wolves. So be careful not to call attention to yourselves. Be quiet and crafty, gentle and inoffensive. But don’t be naïve. People WILL impugn your motives and smear your reputation just because you believe in me. Don’t lose heart though when they haul you before the authorities. Their intention may be to destroy you, but I’m at work in their treachery. Without even knowing it they’ll have done you – and me – a favor: you’ll have a platform for preaching the Kingdom news to authorities! And don’t worry about what you will say when you get there. The Holy Spirit will supply the right words just when you need them.

When people realize that it’s the LIVING GOD you’re presenting, and not some sounds-good made-up god, they are going to turn on you. Even loved ones. Even your family. But it's only because they don’t understand. They can't see yet.

There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate. But don’t give up! Don’t crumble! It’s all well worth it in the end. Survival is the goal in these times, not success. Be survivors! Before you know it the Son of Man will have arrived – help is on the way.

Don’t be intimidated. Don’t hesitate to share the Kingdom NOW. Don’t wait.

A time is coming when everything will be perfectly clear, and everyone will know the truth.

Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood.
Tell them that the Kingdom is HERE.

"Everyone who calls “Help, God!” gets help.
But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust?
And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted?
And how can they hear if nobody tells them?
And how is anybody going to tell them unless someone is sent to do it?

That’s why Scripture exclaims,
'A Sight to take your breath away!
Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!'"

From Romans 10, The Message

Letter to a Friend

2009-09-10T22:35:00.002-05:00

November 2007

I hope you don’t mind, but I felt led to share a few things with you. My heart was heavy for you last night as I lifted you in prayer. Do you ever go through certain situations in your life that, when you come through them, you realize that it was so you could help someone else along? I’ve been going through somewhat of a “desert” of my own for a while now, and the things that God has been revealing to me through others are far too important to keep to myself! So, I’m not sure if they’ll speak to anything you’re facing right now, but from the burden my heart is feeling for you, I simply hope they’ll help comfort you—because I know what it is like facing trials.

I have seen the light of Christ shining through you in a radiant way. It’s powerful and empowering. I don’t know if you hear it much, but you truly reveal Christ in all you do. I experience you as a strong woman who is not afraid to hold tight to her faith – you share it freely. (And that is a rare quality.) It’s easy to see that you have a heart for God, and a passion for his people. Thank you for that. It is so encouraging.

Unfortunately though, having a heart full of passion for God’s children means having to face testing and trials, and often persecution – far beyond that of being a quiet believer. Satan hates the pure heart of a woman for it gives life and strength to everyone around. And it pushes him into war with us when we become sold-out for furthering God’s Kingdom. We become a dangerous enemy to him.

You know, I used to think that, because of Satan’s hate for us, any time we faced trials it was his fault. What a horrible thing to give him all the credit! Talk about throwing more fuel into his fire-fight against us! He has no power to create every trial we face. He has power to tempt us and test us, but not to lay every trouble before us. It is God who determines our direction, our experiences! And we get to make the decisions.

Even harder for me to grasp rightfully reducing Satan to the influencer that he is, was for me to learn that it is God himself who often leads us into pain and uncertainty. I’d never thought much about that until last week. (It’s funny how sometimes we’ll read things hundreds of times in the Bible and still completely miss the thing that God was trying to teach us through it!) I’ve always only chosen to accept those qualities of God that I thought were good, comforting, or easy to grasp. My, oh my, I’ve missed out on so much of His amazing, complete nature in doing this! I’ve loved him for being tender, giving, and nurturing. But somehow skipped-over any efforts to embrace his power, his righteous anger, his jealousy, or his fierce love for us. And because of this I’ve loved a God for years that I’ve hardly chosen to get to know without condition. If I chose to treat my husband, or anyone else in that manner, they’d have left me very quickly! But thanks be to God that he loves me unconditionally and patiently, and always has. (Otherwise I’m positive he would have been rid of me too long ago!)

Last week I learned something so powerful about God, something I’ve always wondered but have been too scared, too worrisome to face. I learned that, often, God himself will lead us into pain – sometimes he will corner us and sometimes he will lead us into that place of desperate need. I’ve always thought “how could a God that loves us so much lead us to a place of such pain…darkness…desperation…?” When all along I should have wondered, “How could He not?” You see, there are so many times that we try to figure things out on our own, to determine our own outcome – and we completely leave God out of it. Even in our best of intentions to do good – like searching for answers in beloved devotionals or self-help books, or trying to pick out a scripture that we think answers our need. But in doing those things, where is the room for God to answer our need? Where is the space for us to hear his voice? We have become so fast-paced, so fix-it-yourself focused that we often kick God out. So he has to lead us to the desert. He has to lead us into pain and uncertainty. Otherwise, we’d forget all about him and never seek his voice.

In Exodus 14, Moses was leading the Israelites through the desert, away from oppressive Egypt. They had lost faith and were not trusting God enough in their hearts, so God stepped in. The Israelites had been in the middle of the desert, following Moses and an angel of the Lord, when God re-directed their path and lead them into a place of uncertainty. They were hemmed in on either side by mountains and were standing before the Red Sea when the fearsome Egyptian army suddenly closed-in behind them. Where would they go? How could they possibly flee the desperate situation with no visible path to freedom around? It seemed as if God had forsaken them. But God, in his sovereignty, quickly showed his love for the Israelites and his purpose in cornering them. When a frightening situation seemed hopeless, God showed his power by supernaturally parting the Red Sea for them to have safe-passage and destroying the Egyptian army as they tried to follow. Not only did he rescue his beloved Israelites, he gave testament to his glory in order that everyone would see and believe in him.

God often leads us into trials that seem so difficult, so dark, that we can’t see a way out in order that we will run to him for deliverance. Sometimes it’s the only way he can get our attention. And other times he leads us into troubles so that others around us will turn to him as well. You never know the impact you have on everyone around you. And sometimes God tests our faith in order that they might see his deliverance through your testimony, and believe.

“We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary – we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit. Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t wait for us to get ready.”
Romans 5:3-6

Time For Change

2009-09-06T23:07:00.002-05:00

Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.
Revelation 2:17

What If?

2009-08-08T08:27:00.003-05:00

Recently, I saw a movie about the end of the world. Although I assumed that I was going regret watching a movie of this type, it actually lead me into some deep contemplation. There were many Biblical references regarding the end times (their interpretations skewed, of course) but I was surprised at how the ones they used were not the common/well-known ones. They had obviously done their homework. The story followed that there was a super-blast from the sun’s rays which obliterated the entire planet and everything on it – save for a small number of children who were taken away by the angels to repopulate a new world.

What shook me so much was that there were only a small number of people left in the end who were saved (believed in a Savior.) The rest of the world was just chaos and desperation. And, as a devout believer, that really didn’t settle well in my spirit. It was just a fictional story, but what if that’s how the end happened? How could this God that I believed cares so deeply for his people come at a time when there were only a few that knew him? Wasn’t there supposed to be a great gathering of believers throughout the world as Jesus returned to rescue his followers? And would the gracious God of the universe leave no last chance for the lost to return to him before he ended it all? As these thoughts continued to bombard my convictions, each of them was silenced by a burning desire to ask the question “what if?” But avoidance seemed much safer considering the possibility that not finding an answer to this critical question could cause my entire belief system to come unraveled. But I still couldn’t shake it.

Apparently God wanted to show me something in this.

Sometimes in life you have to allow yourself to walk into the dark places, even when you’re afraid, so you can learn that fear and darkness aren’t an end – we can still find our way even when we can’t see it.

And it was there in that dark space the God reminded me of who he is.

You see, if God is who he says he is then his nature alone would prohibit him from ending everything without regard to those who weren’t yet or would become saved. His will is that none should perish. If God is really the God of the universe, the creator and sustainer of every living thing, he would render himself a liar if he destroyed everything before all those who might believe had come to believe in him. And so, although we don’t know when this world will end, we can rest in the fact that it cannot happen until all those who would be saved are saved. I believe that we’ve been religiously led to believe that if we don’t tell everyone right now, right away, that it could be their fate on our shoulders for the rest of eternity. Although I do believe that in part, I think that God is trying to get us to open our eyes to a different reality. What if God really does move his Kingdom through us, his believers? What if those who might be saved need us to be that vessel of salvation for them?

What if the timing of Jesus’ return hinges on that exact moment in time in which the number of people alive is perfectly balanced between those who might be saved finally being saved and those who would never open their hearts to be saved, not? – That moment in time when no one is left undecided anymore...

Thinking back on the movie, what if the scale at that time were to be completely tipped? What I mean is, what if there are far more of those who have made the decision to follow after the enemy and have closed their hearts to Heaven than there are who believe? There is no way for us to know how that will look when the time comes, but it pains my spirit, makes me want to scream, thinking about “what if?” What if evil reaches more than the good does? And aren’t we on the path to that right now anyways? If we as believers continue to sit complacent in our comfortable lives and decide to leave it to those more passionate than us to share God’s salvation, could it be possible that the enemy might be a bit more effective at spreading his false hope and wrong convictions to more people than we reach with our measly efforts of sharing truth?

I solemnly believe that God is without question more powerful than the enemy’s influence in this world, but I also know that the hearts of people, year after year, become more trusting of falsities than of a God they cannot see amidst so much evil. We are supposed to be a light to them, yet we get just as caught-up in the lies as they do because we don’t ever really open our eyes to God’s Kingdom. Every day there is more and more blindness among God’s people. We choose to turn our eyes from the pain, to shrug and say “I’ll just pray for them. Surely God will do something,” and we move on without even thinking of trying to offer ourselves to them.

We get so caught-up in the latest TV shows and who’s going to be the next top model because we don’t want to be “out-of-the-loop” of things. We attend church and even volunteer, but we still doubt that the God of the universe can heal our sicknesses and broken hearts. What so many people are blinded to see is that God doesn’t just exist in the text of a historical book, he doesn’t just sound good in lyrics and stories – He is good. He cannot do anything but good. He doesn’t just love us when we are loveable, his is love - He cannot stop his love for us. God has no boundaries to his power. Whatever we need he can provide. And yet, it’s easier for us to grasp that beauty gains love; television holds the answers to our deepest needs; and we’ve just got to grit our teeth and make it through this life on our own because, after all, we’re the only ones that can control our fate. We’ve become so out-of-touch with God’s Kingdom, that we’ve left him bound from rescuing us. We believe that a pill can heal our diseases and so we bind God’s power because we don’t have the faith in him being the true source of our healing. We read all the latest self-help books before we think to ask for God’s opinion of our lives. Don’t you see it? Don’t you see that we’re becoming just as influenced by the lies of the enemy as those who don’t even know the Father? Shouldn’t it be that we seek him first if we really grasp who he is?

We love to learn about the latest and greatest in marketing schemes for our businesses, yet all the while the enemy is reaching worldwide with his business of marketing lies. When are we going to wake-up and begin focusing on what really matters?

What if that day comes tomorrow that the world would end and there are only a few that believed and everyone else perished? Although my belief in the nature of God tells me that this won’t be the case, I don’t want to sit back while the enemy reaches worldwide spreading desperation, pride, and complacency, closing everyone’s eyes to God’s salvation and hope. What if on that last day I had to look my sister in the eye and desperately try to save her soul because I didn’t think it was important before? Or what if my best friend has to battle the pain and desperation of losing a child to suicide because I never took the time to share the hope that I have with her? What if I could have spared multitudes from sickness, pain, and hell, and I just never took the time to because I didn’t believe?

What if we’re missing out on the greatest power in the universe? What if it’s true that there is a God who is all around us, waiting to heal us, waiting to change our lives, waiting to free us, and we miss out on it because we don’t take the time to open our eyes to see him?

God, help me to see you more clearly.

Reconciled

2009-07-09T22:10:00.010-05:00

"...God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you."

2 Corinthians 5:18-20 MSG

Before we ever knew of Him, he knew us. Before we accepted Him, he accepted us. Before we praised Him, he cherished us. While we strayed from Him, he stayed with us. When we denied Him, he remained dedicated to us. When we couldn't believe, He helped us.

And now, we share in His work. We're speaking for Christ so that the world might know of his compassion. We work together, releasing our differences in order that we might be representatives of the reconcilliation that comes from Christ's sacrifice. When all is said and done, who but us, those who are saved and set free, will show the light of God's love to a lost world? Who else will unlock the doors to God's Kingdom among us and free the captives? Christ, our friend, our Savior, has done the most difficult task of setting things right between us and the Father. Now, it is up to us to set things right with eachother in order that others may know of His love for them.

Though we stumble, He does not falter. Though we lose hope, He is confident.