What Is Our Call

Holy flashback Bibleman!!!! It came out of nowhere and with no warning. There we were talking about a simple meeting of men over their bibles and suddenly I was thrust back in time to all of the bible studies I can remember from my days in a church that shall remain nameless. My buddy at work said that at this meeting the question was put forth "What is our primary call as Christians?". Even as he said it I felt a cold cringe in my belly. The response?? Evangelism, of course (wave your flag and say hurray at this point). I couldn't stifle the laugh the burst out. Though not a full blown belly laugh it was enough to arouse my work mate's curiosity.

The response was such a throwback to a gift based (try giftocentric if you like) theology that I could hardly believe it. How can we continue to base things on what we perceive to be the best gift? How can we continue to marginalise people based on what God has given them to do? How long will we base our worth on what we do?? AAAaarrrrrrgghhhh (sorry, couldn't help it) I thought that by this stage in the game we realised that our primary call as a Christian, or even just a human being for that matter, was to intimacy with God. I don't remember God saying to Adam when he was hiding," Hey, Adam, I noticed the garden is looking a little messy, what's with that??" God sought out Adam from a heart for fellowship not an employer/employee relationship. Stating that our number one call is to evangelism sets us back into a religious mindset that produces competition, pride and more disciples with no clue about their relationship to the Father through Christ.

All that we do will flow out of our relationship, not the other way around. Evangelism will spring from a heart that is intimate with the Father and a desire to introduce people to Him. This will also be true of teaching, prophecy, helps, giving, wisdom etc.

Besides, if we are going to be like Jesus then we are going to want to do what we see the Father doing just like He did. How are we to do this if we are not intimate with Him?????

I'll leave it there. There is just too much I could say on this one.

Ask Not What You Can Do For God

Well it was a good week at work and I am still glad that it is Friday so I guess I get joy on two levels. Part of the reason that I had a good week was that I had the opportunity to work with one of the other lead hands whom I rarely get to connect with one on one. We usually like to spend our time talking about spiritual things, marriage, kids etc., so the time is well spent.

Today we talked all over the map, but one thing stood out for me and that was a continuation of a thought from the previous day. It started with a rant about conference brochures, book jackets and all the fluff they are covered with. It was a good rant too. I personally hate all those blurbs on the speaker or the author and all the things they have done and why I should put importance on every word they care to drip from their lip. Blech! I feel that if the Spirit is speaking through them then that should be evidence enough. I guess they think that just in case God does not validate their message they should have a few good friends to back them up or maybe a splashy ad telling about all the other great things they have done. It's no wonder that the books I have read currently are all ones that God has told me to pick up (except for my photography magazines...oops). The continuation of this thought was that it really seems odd that we spend a lot of breath telling about the exploits of men for God. It is encouraging to hear tales of spiritual daring do, but so much of the emphasis seems to be of the fortitude of the people and implying that if we were similarly gifted or driven then we too could do such wonderful things. The fact of the matter is that it is amazing to me that God can do the things He does with the materials He has to work with. As a carpenter I would probably go through the pile of wood and chuck out most of the stuff as scraps and yet God builds wonders and beauty with those same studs (no pun intended). Perhaps the difference is His willingness to invest no end of time on each piece, but in the end the kudos should not go to the stud but to the craftsmen who so lavishly applied His skill to the stud.

So the end of this is that I would really appreciate it if the next conference you speak at or book you write could leave off from all the furious back patting and just get the job done. Better yet, maybe just a nod to God would be a good place to start.

What A Difference A Word Can Make

It is so interesting to me how long a lie can interrupt the flow of grace from God's word. Simple things clog the lines of communication from the Spirit. Little things like emphasising the wrong word or even a simple shift of inflection will throw our theology off on a tangent and it will spread out to the interpretation of other passages until its subtle infection has left us with rags instead of robes.
One of these points for me has been John 8:32 where Jesus says that the truth shall set us free. It seems that for so long I have believed that what He really meant was that the truth can set you free. The fact is that He said it would set me free. The problem is that when I do not see freedom then I change the word to make it fit my reality instead of the other way around. In this case it is when I do not see freedom in my life then I doubt that His word is for real or even for me. The reality is that this is a litmus test for the presence of lies in my life. Where there is no freedom then there is a lie blocking the flow. When this lie is dealt with the power of the word enters in and does precisely what it says it will which is usher in freedom.
The only unfortunate things is when we get caught for so long in a lie that we fail to see it anymore. It is at these times that God uses other people so effectively. He sends people who will grind into us in the location of weakness so that we can more easily identify the issue and allow Him to change it. Then, when I follow what the verse above says, Jesus sets me free. How simple is that! The other thing is that Jesus is the truth, so I don't need to get to know some obscure, dusty facts in a library like a wizard's apprentice looking for the right spell. It is all about intimacy with a person who will speak to us, guide us, encourage us and more, all from a heart of never ending love!

For this reason I am becoming more and more thankful for God's holiness each day because it also assures me that He will never turn aside from His intentions for me and all I have to do is to stay close to Him and He will do His thing. Paul knew that even if God has to use the devil to destroy our flesh He will still preserve our spirit for Himself and His glory. He will never give up.

WOW!

Hang Drum...Not Hum Drum

I was cruising around Youtube tonight and totally by accident came across this amazing instrument called a hang drum (pronounced hung drum). Oddly enough it originates not in the Caribbean or Thailand, but in Switzerland. The sound is absolutely mesmerizing and sooo melodic. If you go on Youtube and type in hung drum you'll find tons of videos. This is the video that got me hooked. It actually made me miss the family jamming nights with the Pedersons, Adairs and Toppings et al; those were truly pieces of heaven. I hope you enjoy

Servant Of All

So there I was during worship this last Sunday when the team started to play this song about Jesus being the servant of all. I was drifting in and out of a great prayer/worship/meditate place when all of a sudden this thought really slammed into me.... Jesus servant of all. It opened a door that I haven't really looked into before, at least not for any length of time. This is probably because I spend most of my meditative time being blown away by His majesty, which encompasses His divinity and His humanity but most especially His character. His majesty lifts my eyes up to see Him seated in the heavenlies far above all the riff raff bs that tries to elevate itself in His face. It is humourous to me to see someone try to get 'all up in His face', but that is a rabbit trail for another day. When I think of Jesus as a servant I begin to see a few things more clearly.

1. Jesus doesn't mind the title. The depth of this humilty is unsearchable and yet it is part of the core of who Jesus is. Of all the titles His is given this one opens the door the widest to the character traits of mercy, justice and compassion.
2. This should begin a revolution in my prayer life as the fact sinks in that He is never put out by a request for aid. I have known this before, but not at the level of partnership. It has always been a servant and master kind of thing or at least a teacher and student relationship.
3. This shows up so much of how we structure leadership and how we approach leaders. In fact this may explain why we tend towards a religious mindset so often. Even in our best efforts our tendancy towards religion creep along beside us because we find these parts of God so foreign to our thinking.
4. This makes serving easier. I know that sounds weak and pathetic, but it is true. Knowing that in serving I am elevated with Christ makes it so much more fun. There is nothing threatening about it at all because when I go low I am with Jesus and He is above all pricipalities, powers and names that can be named so there is truly nothing to lose. Sorry if that sounds crass, but I find it very liberating.

I will leave it at that for now because I hear my wife doing the dishes and I want to have some fun too.

Yeah God!

WOW

As I was busily driving around today in the GTR Mazdarati I started to think about a discussion that Cris and I had today. There was a bit of a disagreement which I thought we had resolved and yet something was niggling at me from the back of my bean. Normally I would shelve this as some kind of mental warfare to derail what had been a good day and a seemingly good resolution to a minor crisis, but I have been allowing these things to ramble of late and see what God may be saying in it all. This time He showed me that even in my best intentions I had allowed the blinders to be slipped over my peepers and had acted in a self preserving manner. The issue that we discussed was not what was important, the fact that I put myself first and proceeded with a self justifying mindset is what was important. It blinded me to what was pivotal for my wife.

At this point it is important that I rabbit trail back a few years to a question that I posed to God. It was all about the meaning of holiness. For years I had heard and read about this word, but had little or no real understanding of what it meant in practical terms which made adhereing to 1 Peter 1:16 difficult. After a while it dawned on me that I could actually go to the source and ask God what this word meant (duh). He replied that holiness is the complete, undivided, unwavering and unending devotion to the object of your love. This blew me away on so many levels. The particular level I need to address here, though , is my wife.

What I realised is that I had not approached the whole incident from the standpoint of holiness, not to God (whose laws state I am to love others as myself not after myself), nor to my wife (whom I am to love as Christ loved the church). I had to call her back with this renewed perspective and apologise for not seeing what was important to her and actually acting like it was important. It went well.

I thank God that He is slowly softening my hard bean and dropping in some jewels in the process. I also thank Him for a wife that sees this and is patient. She's solid gold that woman.

I Had To Add This One!!! Go God!!!

I love God stories. Not stories of what people have done for God (YAWN), but stories of what God has done. Wow, what a booster for the faith. Check this story out, I found it on Youtube right next to the other one. Just for kickers, if you have a God story please share it in the comments and I will either post one or comment one of my own. Let's build each other up!

A Good Word From Graham Cooke

No words from me today. I had some good ones I thought, but I can get back to those later. This is a simple message and somehow inside I wanted to go...Yeah,yeah I know that, but I need these hammers to keep chipping away at the walls and objections inside. I hope you enjoy it too.

Post #200......(Pass The Cake Please)

Who'd have thought it would have gone this far? Maybe my wife would, she knows how much I can talk when I get going. Anyway the theme remains the same; unity.

I have been thinking this morning about an email I received from some friends who were attending our missions homegroup. They were very new and seemed to be searching out what they were about. It was good to have them but now they are moving on to other things. In the email they explained that they have been very impacted by the teaching of both Kenneth Copeland and Creflo Dollar and were going to do a video series on some of their teachings. There were some hints at the last couple of homegroups that they may have been going this way so it wasn't to much of a surprise. What did surprise me were the feelings that came up in me. I am somewhat familiar with the teachings that these men have and have fellowshipped closely with other men who have been full on in the word faith movement (please forgive if I use wrong terms here, I'm not versed in all the lingo). When I was in China with jet lag I watched brother Kenneth and Benny Hinn (at 3AM on satellite tv) as well; again please forgive if they are from different streams but the men I fellowshipped with followed both of them and spoke with equal regard to both of them. There was some good stuff there that I enjoyed even more than the irony of watching it from a communist country.

For many years I have spoken my piece against the whole prosperity gospel and generalised about the word faith movement, all the while feeling quite highbrow in my opinions. Now, though, I was tunneling through much self-doubt regarding my own faith walk. I wondered if it was a lack of faith that has me tied up financially and if it has also been blocking the doors to the missions field for us as a family. There were other issues as well, but this is a blog post not a book. So I woke early one morning and set out for a walk to try out this new lesson in silent warfare that God has been teaching me.

As I trundled around the lower Mission area the thoughts came streaming in like a loud TV from next door. I couldn't change the volume, channel or the neighbour so I walked and listened. It became interesting though that although these voices were familiar they were not THE familiar voice I was waiting for...so I walked on. Slowly I became aware of the fact that I have become so attuned to listening to the neighbours TV that the signal coming into my own mind were being ignored. When God did finally speak He shared with me about my faith and stilled my worries. He began to share with me that I indeed have faith for great things, just not the same things as my brother and sister do. I love that God never made it about them being right and me being wrong but rather spoke directly to my place of need. He showed me that I have faith for the people of God to come together as one and faith to see walls of separation come down. I have marginalised this for so long because it wasn't about healing the sick and raising the dead so it was probably just a cop out.

This is the beginning of a change in understanding for me. This is the beginning of seeing for me. I tend to be a very black and white kind of person, and when it comes to the foundations of faith and truth don't expect that to change any time soon. The black and white, though, tended to extend into all things I did not understand and to people whom I didn't get. I am beginning to see more of the truth of what my favourite verse in the bible (Ephesians 3:10) is talking about:

9...and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things;
10so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.
11This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord...

I love this verse because it says there are many facets of God's wisdom and that these facets are being reflected through His people. He is showing it to the rulers and authorities that didn't get it when they rebelled from heaven. So now it is our chance to show it off. The catch is that none of us has the capacity to show it all off. We need others to show the parts we are not called to show. If I look to the apostles I quickly see that even those who were with Jesus for 3 years never assumed that they could do it all themselves nor that they were expected to fulfill all the offices and duties of the church. So now I look around and I see so many unique calls and duties that God has given to His children. I see those who by faith will gain riches for the kingdom and I see those who by faith forsake all riches to go to the darkest places of the world with the gospel. I see those who by faith pray and intercede for people and cities and I see those who by faith evangelise and transform people and cities. There are those who by faith establish radio and television stations to spread the word and those who by faith go to places where there is no radio and television to spread the word. There are those who stand by faith before governments to profess Christ and those who by faith suffer torture by governments for professing Christ. Above all this though I see a vision of a united body where all the parts are working and supplying to one another from the bounties of their faith. I see a body with no divisions of denominations where people of faith give to one another without measure. A body where the rich don't tell the poor to step up their faith, but rather pony up some cash. A body where the intercessor doesn't tell the evangelist to soften his own ground with prayer but rather partners to target and take down strongholds and set prisoners free. A body where the poor don't tell the rich to pack a food hamper but rather bless them to plunder the wealth of the nations for the kingdom. A place where the evangelist doesn't bash the prayer warrior for only opening his mouth in his closet but rather shares his gift and anointing to effect change in the intercessors sphere as well. A body where, as a dear brother of mine always says, we esteem each other as better than ourselves.

Then I ask myself, who wouldn't want to be a part of that????

Return To Silence

Went for a walk this morning and had a heavy heart from two days of taking kidney shots to my spirit. I dearly love the autumn season and my youth spent in the rain in Abbotsford made today a perfect day for a quiet stroll. The leaves are turning and the ground was wet from the rains last night and Sunday mornings are always very still as most people are either recovering from or clinging to the last moments of the weekend.

The thing I found most peaceful about it all though was walking out the revelation God gave me a week or so ago. It happened when I was riding my bike to work the other day with my mp3 player blasting worship music in my ears. I was almost half way to work when the noise in my ears became unbearable and I yanked the earbuds out. In that moment God spoke to me about fear. He reminded me of the question I yelled at Him a while ago regarding the root of my fear of being alone/quiet and especially the fear (silly as it seems) of going to bed early. You see, I always seem to need to watch a movie or play on the computer or have my nose in a book until I can't keep my eyes open anymore and then I finally go to sleep. None of these things are bad in themselves, but they keep me from getting rested and also keep my mind tucked away from God as I drift off. It has troubled me for some time and all my best resolutions have quickly fallen away. Then God spoke to me while riding down the shoulder of highway 97. He told me that the constant noise and distraction was coming from a fear of the voices that come in the silence. The picture He used to drive this home was that of my bike and the noise that it has been making for the last month or so. There was a clunk, clunk, clunk in the bottom bracket that was making me mental since I'm a bit of a perfectionist and things being out of whack make me go out of whack. This noise had actually caused me to stop riding my bike. Every time I thought of hopping on it and riding to work I heard that clunk, clunk, clunk and decided to drive instead. God said that it was the same thing with being alone/quiet and going to bed at night. The noise of the voices that come against me seem unbearable and so I just try to drown them out till I fall asleep or until there is someone else around. I have been afraid of the silence because of the noise.

The voices always come and speak lies and confusion to me. The voices always want to draw me into an argument or into an attempt to draw out enough evidence of my faith to prove them wrong. It is so maddeningly circular and unproductive that I find it easier to just drown them out. The bad thing is that I end up drowning God's voice out too. In all the arguing and babble I couldn't make it out either so it was seeming quite hopeless. Perhaps it was hopeless like Elijah felt hopeless standing on the mountain in the face of the wind and the earthquake and the fire. That must be why he went back into the cave. That is why I go back in the cave, till God comes again and reassures me with the still small voice. This time the voice of God assured me that the storm of thoughts would not destroy me or distance me from Him. He told me that if I surrender to Him in the midst of the storm it will pass. He said I do not need to put up a mighty struggle and valiant rebukes. He told me to just be quiet and He would handle it. So for the past week I have been doing this every day. When I am driving my truck at work I leave the stereo off and when the thoughts start to break on the shores of my mind and the darkness begins to cloud my eyes I simply say to God," See, those are the kind of thoughts that have been messing me up." I'm not sure how, but He then proceeds to still the storms and restore peace to me. It has been absolutely wonderful. The walk this morning was no different. As I walked I just let the tangle of thoughts roll around my head and patiently waited for His voice to clear it all up. It amazes me how clear His voice is when I keep my mouth shut long enough to hear it. It also amazes me how faithful He is to speak when I give Him a chance to say something. Maybe sometimes He just wants to let the storm look really big before He blows it away so that I will know how great He is; not for pride's sake, but for trust.

He is an incredible Dad, how can we not love Him?

Oh yeah, for evidence of just how easily He can blow away the storms I look to Thessalonians 2:8

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

WOW! He just shows up!!! How easy is that???