Category Archives: Transforming Revival

Thoughts on Transforming Revival and what God is doing in our world today

Different Christmas Reflections

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Some “Different” reflections on Christmas…

 “Different” Reflection #1  – A Foreigner

This weekend before Christmas 2012, I will have been here in Brazil for 2 months.

Over the past year, the Lord has done some pretty amazing things to confirm that He wanted me here, and He has demonstrated that in supernatural ways. You can read more of the story on my ministry website at, www.yourservantinchristmnistries.org.

And, my reception here in Brazil has been truly a blessing, and very humbling. The people have welcomed me and opened their hearts and their homes to me in wonderful ways.

But the reality is, that I am a foreigner here. I am trying desperately to learn the language. I am still praying for the supernatural gift of language, but in the meantime, I’m working on it.

I tried to explain to the folks here when I first arrived that “everything you don’t even think about, is new to me.” Everything. Food, cooking, shopping, cleaning, customs, expressions, bathroom things. And with the newness comes the stresses of trying to learn and get things right.

There is the issue of communication. Not only the challenges of language, but making sure that we really do understand one another. The presumption on other’s parts that I know what is going on… the schedule, the routine, the way to dress, all of the things, again that others take for granted, it is most of the time forgotten that I have not clue!

Consider the fact that I live in a house by myself,  without much means of transport other than my feet (which over the years have not been  used to going barefoot or with sandals), so I am isolated here and completely dependent upon others for most things. My last haircut was 6 weeks ago… I really need a haircut, but I have no idea where there is a barbershop near where I live, and I am not ready yet to just wander the streets looking. I am dependent on others for the shopping needs other than what I can get at the store that I can walk to. But they do not have some items I need, so I am dependent upon others and their schedules to take care of those issues.

The isolation also plays a role in my own feelings. I have to remind myself that it has only been 15 months since Marilou died. Part of our relationship was we could just “be” together, we could talk about things. Now, there is no one most of the time. And those who are here, because of language and culture do not understand and cannot connect with the things that I feel deeply. So this deepens the sense of isolation.

Now, what does that have to do with Christmas? Maybe you have already gotten the connection. The Apostle John puts it this way in his gospel, He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.  John 1:10-12 (NLT)

The Christmas story is multi-faceted. We so often talk about Emmanuel, God with us, but John reminds us that the reception of this “foreigner” was not without difficulties. Matthew records the words of Jesus Himself in Matthew 8:20 that Jesus did not even had a place to rest His head.

He had communications issues too, even His disciples did not understand Him most of the time. The religious leaders certainly did not.

Emmanuel, God with us was a foreigner in the world He made by the breath of His mouth. A word of comfort to all who may feel like strangers in this world as well. Indeed, we are made for a different world, and Peter reminds us that we are pilgrims and strangers here (I Peter 2:11).

This Christmas season, let us take great comfort in the truth that the One who was a foreigner in His own creation has gone before us to prepare a place for us with Him where we will never be foreigners, or strangers, or alone, or isolated. It is all part of the story of Christmas.

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Brazil – One Month In

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Brazil – One Month In —

It’s a little hard to believe that one month ago I was sitting in the airport in Rio on my 12 hour layover before making the final leg of my journey here to Joao Pessoa, Brazil.

There’s a song by Matt Redman called “Never Once” that says;”Never once, did we ever walk alone. Never once did you leave us on our own. You are Faithful, God You are Faithful”  That is certainly true in this past month of my journey.  To listen, click here….

I arrived in Joao Pessoa, Brazil on October 27th at about 3:00 am to a tear-jerking reception by member of First Baptist Church of Valentina. Here is a short video of that reception – Click here...

The first weekend I stayed with my dear friends Marcio and Claudia Chaves. Then moved in with the pastor of the church, Bishop Eneas Araujo, and his family while we prepared my house.They were so very gracious to take me in.

I spent time at the house painting and getting things ready… but…

With the pending arrival of guest speakers, the work on the house became more focused, and on November 14th, we spent 12 hours of intensive labor finishing painting, assembling kitchen cabinets, and a crew from the church came an cleaned up.

 

 

 

It was a great blessing to be on the receiving end of such loving labors to help get the house ready. People in the church donated beds, sofas, refrigerator, microwave, sheets, towels and kitchen necessities. It’s been pretty amazing!!

Well, as the crew finished, I showered and prepared to speak at a youth conference that night to about 1500 young people at a different church. It was an electric time and I was truly energized… even after working 12 hours at the house. It was the first confirmation of the verses from Psalm 71: 17-18 that the Lord has given me for this season of my life;

Psalm 71:17-18 (NKJV)  O God, You have taught me from my youth; And to this day I declare Your wondrous works. Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I am moved into the house, and the things that I brought in my four overweight suitcases are making it feel like home. I’m very comfortable and at peace. I feel like I belong. 

 

 

 

 

 

And so, “Brazil – The Adventure” continues, now with language study, learning everything new, from how to shop, to how to prepare the new and different foods that I buy, to how to clean the house and take out the trash. Everything…EVERYTHING, is new. But this is part of the Adventure that the Father has invited me on, and as that Matt Redmond song says, “You are faithful, God you are faithful.”

Thanks for following along on this journey with me. I pray that as you see the faithfulness of God it might encourage you to trust Him for those unknown, or impossible things in your life.

The Journey Continues…

 

 

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A Visit to The Twin Cities…

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Here is The Schedule for My Twin Cities Visit – September 25 – Oct.3

I am looking forward to my Twin Cities visit !!! September 25 – Oct. 3 …
I hope I can visit with many of you while I am there…
Here is a list of the meetings where I will be sharing. You are welcome to come and join with us. I really want to see as many of my dear Twin Cities/ Minnesota friends as possible before I head for Brazil. Come and join us…

—————————————————————————————–

Wednesday, September 26th – 7pm –
Northbrook Alliance Church
Pastor Bruce Hobbs – pastorbruce@northbrookalliance.org
612-554-2836
6240 Aldrich Ave. N.
Brooklyn Center, MN 55430

Thursday, September 27th – 6 PM –

River of Hope Church –
Tom Oestreich,
840 Ohio, St. Paul
651-222 – 4132

Friday, September 28th – 7 – 9 PM –

Trinity Works – Men On Fire,
Bethel Christian Fellowship
1466 Portland Ave. St. Paul, MN

Saturday, September 29th – 10 AM –

Seed of Abraham Messianic Congregation,
9500 Minnetonka Blvd., St. Louis Park, MN 55426
(Calvary Worship Center Building)

Saturday, September 29th – 5 – 8 PM –

Pot Luck Dinner and Meeting –*** PLEASE RSVP TO THE CHURCH SO THEY KNOW ABOUT HOW MANY TO SET UP FOR… Thanks
Rosehill Alliance Church
2105 Roselawn Avenue West, Saint Paul, MN
(651) 631-0173 • rosehillcma.org

Sunday, September 30th – 6 PM –

Pastor Dan Erickson
Abundant Grace Fellowship
1055 109th Ave Blaine MN 55434

I am looking forward to being back in the Twin Cities I have missed you all!!!!!!

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The Adventure Continues…

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The Adventure Continues…

Hezekiah put his whole trust in the GOD of Israel…  He held fast to GOD—never loosened his grip—and obeyed to the letter everything GOD had commanded Moses. And GOD, for his part, held fast to him through all his adventures. — 2 Kings 18:5-7 (MSG)

Indeed the Lord is faithful to hold us fast as we follow Him on the adventures He has ready for us. In December of 2011, the Lord invited me on an adventure with Him. The invitation came with the picture of a motorcycle and sidecar.  He was driving the motorcycle, and I was in the sidecar. My job is not to drive, but to trust Him as He drives. My job is to stay in the sidecar.

Thanks to Daron Otis for this totally awesome depiction of my adventure…and more to come!

Some time after that I looked up the definition of “Adventure.”  At Dictionary.com, adventure is defined in this way:  1) an exciting or very unusual experience. 2) participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure. 3) a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.

And certainly this new adventure is full of the spirit of adventure, exciting undertakings and actions of uncertain outcome! From the very beginning, God has proved Himself faithful and has reminded me that He is holding me fast…even as I never loosen my grip on Him.

On October 25, 2012, I will board a flight that will bring me to the city of Joao Pessao, Brazil, and the People of First Baptist Church of Valentina. A people I have come to love and cherish over the  past four years of my travels there. Their story is the subject of my book, “When God Transforms the Desert.” 

And true to the definition, there is the element of uncertain outcome. Who know what lies before me on this adventure? I certainly do not, but my “Daddy” does. And wherever He takes me, it will be good.There have been many confirmations along the way. The phone call in which I was told (by someone who was not aware of the invitation from Pastor Eneas for me to join them in Brazil) that I had a “Macedonian Call” on my life. The time as I was driving, feeling overwhelmed, said out loud, “Jesus, we need to have a talk.” And at that very moment, a bright green…  you guessed it, motorcycle and sidecar drove past on the other side of the road. Yes, He has proven Himself Faithful over and over again.

I want to take a moment here, and encourage you to believe God for your adventure. The one God has in His heart for you. To join Him on this “Great Adventure,” do not fear, He knows all about you, He has an adventure that is tailor made for who He made you to be.

If you accept, you will find the road, unknown, challenging, “adventurous” yet so wonderful because He is there with you all the way, never loosening His grip on you. Showing you facets of His wonderful character and faithfulness that you would never have know if you had not accepted His invitation to join Him on your adventure.

I do not know what your adventure might be like, but I know if you hold tight, and stay in the sidecar, it will be a ride you will never regret.  Ask Him what your adventure might be.

 

 

 

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FOCUS

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Focus –

 

Ok, I admit it, I can sometimes be very distracted. It just seems like all around me are things that scream to be completed, or demand attention. Bills that need to be paid, a lawn that needs to be mowed, dishes that wait to be washed, the list seems to never come to an end. In fact it seems that as I get two or three items checked off the list, four or five are added.

Plus, even in the midst of working on one task, if I walk to get a drink of water, there are two or three things that grab my attention on the way there or back! At times it is just maddening.

We live in a society, and in a day when one of our major battles is the battle for focus. And this is certainly true among believers today as well. And it is one of the major reasons for our inability to get to that place of intimacy with the Lord that brings us into the place of loving Him with all our heart and soul and strength and mind (Matthew 22:38). There is no way we can nurture intimacy with God if we do not make time to spend focused on Him, His Word and His character. It is an essential to the development of an intimate relationship, time and focus. Jesus said, “Abide in Me…abide in My love” (John 15:7,9). Love is more than an adjective that describes God. The love of God is God Himself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The love of God here is His presence around us. That presence is cultivated and grown as we spend dedicated time with Him. We cannot cultivate the depth of relationship without spending focused time in His Presence, and learning about Him.

We suffer from such a level of distraction that it is almost impossible at our usual pace to spend enough time to be able, as the Scripture states, to,..”be still and know” that He is God – or who He is, develop that relationship of intimacy (Psalm 46:10). Because of the pace of “modern” society, it takes a great deal of discipline and motivation to say “NO” to the myriad of voices that cry for our attention. This is a two-sided dilemma for us. On one side, we cannot deepen our intimacy without time… yet when we spend time, we find the intimacy that motivates us to spend more time. When we neglect the time, we lose the intimacy and the motivation to spend the time we need to grow the intimacy. So how to be deal with this issue of distractions?

Each of us have different areas of distraction. A mother with young children will have totally different points of distraction than a retired person living alone. However, for each of us, may I suggest that we find, “Anchor Points” in our days that we can tie our lives to.

An “Anchor Point” is some physical location within our home, or perhaps our yard, or some other location, that is dedicated to be the place we spend time with Him. An “Anchor Point” is also associated, not just with location, but with memories. Memories of times when the Lord has touched us or spoken clearly to us. Touch points that draw us back in anticipation of hearing from Him, meeting with Him. In Song of Solomon 6, the Sulamite knew that her beloved could be found in his garden. Find or make some “Anchor Point” for you to dedicate to be where you anticipate His arrival, listen for His voice, and long for His touch. He will come and meet you there. Focus on him, and you can say, “You who dwell in the gardens, The companions listen for your voice – Let me hear it!” – Song of Solomon 8:13.

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Integration

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Integration

I had an interesting conversation yesterday afternoon that started with talking about God’s character, and turned to the question of “integration.”

The discussion focused on the reality that we as believers, and maybe especially in Western culture/ mindset., like to Pigeon-hole things. In other words, we like our lives to be broken into manageable segments. We have the “work” part of our lives, the “family” part of our lives, the “religious  or church” part of our lives, and on and on it goes. This includes God. We have the tendency to keep Him safely in His own room, but we don’t necessarily let Him wander around in the other parts of our lives. So we are ok with leaving Him out of the workplace, politics, recreation and sports. He belongs in church on Sundays. He has His place. We don’t say it that way, but we live that way.

That might seem a bit crass, but the reality is that we tend toward that more than we care to admit. Our conversation eventually turned to the issue of how tightly we hold to our theological convictions. Whether we are a Calvinist, or an Armenian, pre-Trib, post-Trib or whatever… sometimes we argue these convictions as if God’s future, depended on it. It seems sometimes that those who argue the most vigorously seem to do so out of an insecurity that if their “system” were ever to not fit together perfectly, it would all come crashing down around them. There is no room for “not knowing.”

Now before you get all hot and bothered and think that I am against systems of belief and theological understanding, let me assure you that is not what I am saying. My major in seminary was in Systematic Theology. Paul wrote the book of Romans, inspired by the Holy Spirit, as one of the greatest books of theology we have in the Bible. It’s not “having” a system that is the problem. It is holding to a system so tightly that we act, whether we mean to or not, as though we have God all figured out. And when you say it like that, most of us would realize that is the height of arrogance. Let us make sure that we first of all allow ourselves the reality of not knowing everything about our infinite God. And secondly, let’s tear down the walls that we have built to keep God in our tightly organized boxes. It’s ok not to know!

What does this have to do with integration? It goes back to my initial premise, that when we talk about revival and transformation, we must begin at the beginning, and that beginning is what Jesus called the “First and Great Commandment,” to love the Lord with ALL our heart, and ALL our soul, and ALL our mind. I would say that is pretty much integration. God is not interested in being kept in a box in our lives, whether that is a box of moral exclusion, or a box of theological systems. Why is it that people like George Barna keep showing us as believers that we are really not any different in our lifestyles than the “world?” It is because we are not integrated. Or better put, we  have not known how to integrate God into every area of our lives and allow Him the freedom to be God in every part. It is because we do not love Him with ALL our being, every part of who we are. And maybe we don’t really believe that He loves us enough that whatever He does an allows in our lives have the ultimate purpose of our best.

Our first reaction to this idea of integration might be to resist it, or think we don’t need to deal with it, Jesus is Lord of my life, thank you very much. But this is where it gets a little tricky. Webster defines integration as: coordination of mental processes into a normal effective personality or with the individual’s environment. If we add to that the spiritual processes, then we begin to see the challenge to allow the “who” of who God is to be what coordinates all of the part of our personality, and environment. You see? Love the Lord with ALL… integrate His love, His ways, His Grace, His Mercy… ALL of who He is into ALL of who we are. You see, God is totally and fully integrated in Himself. We are created in His image. He made us to be wholly integrated. The effects of sin have chopped us into separate pieces. A part of His redemptive purpose is to make us once again whole and integrated.

How is it with you? Are you in the process of allowing God to be integrated into every area of  your life? Take some time to ask Him to show you where there is still fragmentation. He will delight to show you if you are sincere in asking. His will is for you to be wholly integrated and be able to love Him with ALL your heart, ALL your soul, and ALL  your mind.

…till next time…

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Loving God – It All Starts Here

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Loving God – It all Starts Here

Bring up the subject of God, and loving God, even in the Church, and you can come across all sorts of differing reactions. I have had people tell me that they struggle to love God, or understand His love for them. Some people struggle with talking of having any kind of intimacy with God. Perhaps it is hard to break through the stereotypes that attach themselves to us from our past relationships or out past religious experiences. Perhaps we cannot get past thinking of God as a theological concept, and so intimacy with God is not even a consideration for us. Our minds and our emotions create great filters through which we “filter” our relationship with God.

Yet, loving God supremely is what Jesus called the “First and Great Commandment.”  Taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-6, Israel, remember this! The LORD—and the LORD alone—is our God. –  Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

He repeats this command in Matthew 22:38 in response to the question, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? In this Old Testament and New Testament reinforcement, Jesus says to us that our love for the Lord must be primary, and comprehensive…

 All Your Heart…

We must love Him with all of our heart – all of our emotions, all of our motivations, all of our affections, all of our allegiances. Whatever comes first in any area of our hearts keeps us from loving the Lord with ALL our hearts. We are to overcome every and all blockages or misconceptions in order to love Him with ALL our hearts. That seems like a pretty tall order!

 All Your Soul…

But in addition, we must love Him with all our soul.  That means that our love for Him trumps all of our neediness, our desires for comfort, all our inclinations for ease and for the pleasures of self and the flesh. He is to be at the very top of our “life hungers,” and our love for Him is to be the center of our life’s security. As David, we are to hunger and thirst for him as we would hunger and thirst for food and water in a dry and weary land (Ps. 63).

 All Your Mind…

But we must also love Him with all our mind. Our thoughts, our aspirations, our contemplations, our meditations are all to be centered and rooted in our love for Him. Our thoughts are to be filled with love for Him that infects all of our decisions, and reactions to lives circumstances.

Now, if the Lord put this first thing before Israel at the very beginning of their “relationship” together, and if Jesus said that this is the first and great commandment, that would seem to indicate that God desires for us to understand that this is important to Him, our love for Him. Not because He is selfish for people to love Him, or lonely and needs affirmation. Of course not. He is God, He is infinite, perfect and complete in Himself. He needs nothing. He knows that for us to be complete, He must take first place in all these areas of our lives. Not because we grudgingly obey a law, as stopping for an inconvenient stop light. He made us for relationship, and for relationship with Him. We will talk at a later time about how to fall more in love with Him, but for now, He knows that we will  only be complete as He made us to be if our first and primary love is for Him.

Let me ask a question of all of us… Have we spent some time lately truly and honestly assessing whether our love for God has that kind of priority in our lives? I mean, not just our lip service, but is it reflected out in the way we live our lives, what we long after, what we think about, the decisions we make?

 

Take some time this week to purposefully set aside time to ask the Lord to help you answer this question:  “Lord, as you see my life, am I loving you with all my heart and soul and mind?” Allow Him to tell you how He sees your love for Him. And if there are some things He gently reveals to you that could be changed, write them down, and ask Him to show you how to change them.

 

Loving the Lord with ALL our heart, and soul, and mind, is not optional, it is not up for a vote to see where on the list it should be. By God’s repeated insistence, it needs to be first in our lives. Let’s start here in our quest for transforming revival.

 

 

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An Unconventional War — Continues

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Last Friday, April 27th, The Sentinel Group released a short 8 minute video addressing the issues that have been raised with the Kony2012 viral video. http://www.anunconventionalwar.com

You can watch the message presented by George Otis, Jr. at IHOP-Kansas City here; Our Response

The explosive Kony 2012 ( Kony2012 ) video was launched  by Invisible Children, Inc. to raise the awareness of the atrocities that have been done by this very evil man and his followers. It has raised world wide attention, but has not communicated all of the story.

The Sentinel Group, produced a DVD several years ago documenting the amazing story of how God gave divine strategies to His people that resulted in Kony leaving Uganda and not returning.

Friday night, George Otis, Jr. Director of The Sentinel Group gave a powerful challenge via the webcast from IHOP – Kansas City regarding the truths behind what God did in Uganda. He stated that today, we have “traded God and prayer for social media numbers.” He told how the people of Uganda became desperate for God to do something in their situation, that they began to pray with perseverance, and were willing to give their very lives to see God bring a resolution.

In the light of the several social challenges that face our nation and our world, George challenged us to “return to what worked.”  I would strongly encourage you to visit the website, watch the 8 minute video and explore the four responses that The Sentinel Group and others have put before us in these days.

I fully support the message and the challenge that George brought in his message and in the four responses (Watch, Pray, Learn, Go), but I would like to put forth a caution. The caution is this; In our enthusiasm to “change history,” to respond to the challenge to see God work in other places in our world today as He did in Uganda, in our enthusiasm to seek God to bring Joseph Kony to justice, let us not fall into familiar patterns. Allow me to explain.

Why is it that we have an abundance of “activities” and yet do not see the kinds of breakthroughs that are being experienced in transformed communities around the world? It is because our natural tendency is to hear such a challenge as An Unconventional War presents to us, and we revert to relying even on our “activities” and meetings rather than remembering that what God is looking for has to do, not with activity, but character. He is looking not at our calendars, but at our hearts. It is immensely critical that as we seek for the apprehension of Kony, or the solution for other key social issues that we remember to allow God to examine our hearts.

Are we guarding our hearts against the distractions that divert our absolute attention to His agenda? We are so easily distracted by all the other “important” issues that swirl around us. God requires that we be singular in our focus on Him, and His Kingdom agenda.

Are we diligently seeking a position of humility and brokenness? God’s presence is attracted to the humble hearts. Yet we, even as the people of God, do not seek after humility. Even as we pray for bringing Kony to justice, we can have an attitude of how superior we are to him. We so easily lose sight of our own attitudes as we seek God to do what we want Him to do in our society.

Are we asking God to instruct us how to pray? Are we really interested in what is on His heart? Or are we cemented to our “agendas” of what God should be doing in answer to our prayers? God will speak if we will listen.

Are we truly expectant that He will answer? There can be an underlying skepticism that invades our prayers. Not many in the West have experienced the kinds of supernatural answers that we hear about, for example in An Unconventional War, so we have an underlying doubt whether God really wants to work that way, or that He will.

I share these cautions because there is nothing I want MORE than for God to rally His people in humble, expectant, unity to ask Him to be the answer to the awful problems of our times. We already have demonstrated that we do not have the answers to these issues. Now is the time for the people of God to turn to Him to intervene for the Glory of His Name. Only let us not revert to our usual patterns.  God will come as we align ourselves with His heart and His requirements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Tragedy of the Uncontemplated

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I was deeply affected today by the words of A.W. Tozer from his book, “The Knowledge Of The Holy.” A good book to come back to time and again. Here are his words from the chapter on The Self-Existence of God,

Is is not a cheerful thought that millions of us who live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote the Christian religion, may yet pass our whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God. Few of us have let our hearts gaze in wonder at the I AM, the self-existent Self back of which no creatures can think. Such thoughts are too painful for us. We prefer to think were it will do more good — about how to build a better mousetrap, for instance, or  how to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before. And for this we are now paying a too heavy price in the secularization of our religion and the decay of our inner lives.

Last time I talked about how important it is to know who God is in order for us to truly love Him with all our heart and soul and mind as Jesus commands us. Tozer’s words are a powerful rebuke even more so to this present generation.  Do we love God for who He REALLY is? or for our ideas of who He is? And how does that show itself in the way we live our lives? How is our understanding of God honestly and practically demonstrated through our daily decisions both large and small? Tozer goes on to say,

Perhaps some sincere but puzzled Christian may at this juncture wish to inquire about the practicality of such concepts as I am trying to set forth here. “What bearing does this have on my life?” he may ask.”What possible meaning can the self-existence of God have for me and others like me in a world such as this and in times such as these?”

This is what I am challenging us with. Our understanding of God is borne out in how I live my life. Or to put it another way. how I live my life gives evidence of what my concept of God is.  It is inevitable, whether you realize it or not, your life is a demonstration of your understanding or lack of understanding of the character of God. But now, grasp what Tozer says next,

To this I reply that, because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological.

Don’t let the importance of this statement pass you by. In a largely secular society, we live out our lives mainly looking for secular solutions to the issues of our lives. And very honestly, this is just as true in christian ministries. What is he saying here? It is simply and so profoundly this, the answer to every issue of our lives has it’s origin in who God is. Every one. Don’t miss this now… EVERY ONE.

Do you begin to see how huge this is for your life? Do I realize this? The implications of this are life-changing. It is not a mix of secular and “religious.” Every issue, every relationship, every difficulty, every challenge in my life, in your life is rooted in the character of God.  Perhaps it is time that we face this head on. And in the context of my challenges to us here, how does that work itself out into how I love God with all my heart, and all my soul and with all my mind?  For each of us, coming to grips with this is profound beyond words.

A CHALLENGE FOR US ALL

Let me give you a challenge  here. I will take the same challenge. Take time with paper and pencil (or on your computer if you prefer) and begin to list every area of your life. Every part of your life, down to the smallest issues… don’t thing anything here is too small. And then beside that find what part of the character of God relates to that issue. Then take time before God to answer the question of whether or not you are really addressing that issue as if it’s only solution is found in who God is.

This most especially as we are giving our attention to the agony, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah.

It is the Tragedy of the Uncontemplated, that which we fail to contemplate about God which will be the greatest weakness in our lives. Think about it.

 

 

 

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Loving the Lord … The First and Great Commandment

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Last week I asked the question, “Why Start Here?” meaning why start with what is described in Matthew 22:38 as the “first and great” commandment?  And I postulated that perhaps our love for the Lord was not what it might be, or should be. That it is easy for our love for the Lord to grow cold, as in the case of the Ephesian church in Revelations 2. Notice there, that Jesus is addressing that issue to a whole church!

In Hebrew usage, the heart was regarded as the seat of thought and volition. That is why Proverbs 4:23 is so critical in this discussion as well, “Above all things, guard your heart, for out of it are the issues of life.” Therefore it is out of this center of our “willing” and our “thinking” that love for God is to flow.  Love for God is to flow out of all of our faculties, our “heart, soul, and mind,”  The question in Matthew 22 was meant as a test, postulated by one of the “lawyers” from the Pharisees. It was a “religious” question that brings out, not a “religious” answer, but a life answer. As I see it, Jesus’ answer is far deeper than most of us understand.

How is it possible to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind?” Is it a matter of religious will? That’s kind of what the Pharisee was looking for. A keeping of some set of standards and rules that will “prove” that I love God? The initial answer for most of us would be to say, “certainly not!” Yet, again and again we find ourselves falling into that very subtle trap of gauging our love for God by what we do. Now don’t get me wrong! Certainly the second commandment shows that loving our neighbor is equally important to the Lord. And certainly true love always demonstrates itself in action. That is the very nature of the agape love of God, that it took action on our behalf.

But I want to dig a little deeper. I want to propose that to live out the first and great commandment means that we must first KNOW our God, and that as we know Him more, our love for Him will grow in us, and in our expression to others. But our love for God must begin in who He is. Not in our selves. It must begin with our coming to know Him in deeper and more intimate ways. Not just with an intellectual assent to the theological precepts of the “attributes” of God, but in intimate, personal experiences of His personhood as they apply to every area in my life and my life experiences.This is what feeds and grows us to be “God-Hungry” believers.

Then, out of that passionate, experiential, transformed adoration of who He is, our love for Him is expressed in my heart, my affections, my soul, my life choices, and my mind, how I think on a daily basis.

We will explore this further. But for now, take some time and again, get away and ask if your love for God is growing out of your own very personal and intimate encounters with who He is in His very character. How is that happening for you? Is it growing?

Think and pray about it, and we’ll resume the discussion…

 

 

 

 

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