WHY I READ THE BIBLE

Matthew 22: 36-40
“You shall love the Lord  with all your heart, soul, and mind.”

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

My primary FOCUS, my CENTRAL OPERATING PRINCIPLE in my life is to love God with all my heart, soul, and mind.  Then, and only then can I love myself…Then, and only then can I love my neighbor and everyone else.

Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets by enabling us to be in a relationship with God as it was created to be in the beginning.  That relationship was broken by man’s failure to listen to and obey God.  Jesus reconciled that relationship by dealing with the breach of sin by dying on the cross as the sacrifice for that sin.  We all hear those words.  I believe them.

The entire Bible tells the Story of God, who loves those whom He created so much that He remains steadfast in His love even though we humans have continually rejected Him, disobeyed Him, replaced Him with our own idols built with our own hands, and continually went our own way, which always leads to disaster, of which He continually gets us out of.  In spite of all the idolatry, adultery, and breaking our relationship with Him, He continues to love us, watch over us, seek us, and finally sent His Son to save us once and for all.  BEHOLD, what manner of LOVE is that?  While we were His enemies He sent Jesus who died for us so we could be reconciled to God and live life as it was meant to be lived; in fellowship with our Creator.  Truly understanding and experiencing that kind of love should change us forever and instill in our hearts, should, and minds an overcoming AWE and a true desire to love and worship Him forever.

God is to be the main focus of my life and everything I do.  That is to be the main message of my life as a follower of Jesus.  God is to be the main focus, message, and mission of all who follow Jesus as we gather together, one on one, in our homes, and in our gathering together as churches.

The world today needs to hear the Truth, that God loves everyone and has done all He has done to walk in a steadfast and loving relationship with everyone of His creation.  That has been God’s message and mission along.  We continually hear that and know that and even commit to that, but then we fall into a pattern that has been fallen into since the beginning of time.

We begin to invert the order that Jesus gave us in His sermon on the mount.  The commandment slowly changes into Me loving me, Me loving others, and then stringing along at the end, Me loving God.  In the end that is idolatry and we lose not only our first love, we lose the power to love others and ourselves.  Then we become noisy gongs, clanging cymbals; we gain nothing and become nothing, just wind without air.  Listen to the daily news, social media, and all the chatter and you will know that is true.

The FOCUS is God, not us.  We are in the picture but the FOCUS is on Him; not our needs, our rights, our desires, our pleasures, our comings and goings.  God’s intention is to give us LIFE, and life abundant.  He will meet our needs; He is the giver of our right to become His children and to inherit the kingdom; He gives us our desires and pleasures.  We are created in His image.  We are hardwired to be “His people” and know that He is “Our God”.  As it was in the beginning it now and ever be.  Amen.

QUERIES

What does having God as the FOCUS and CENTRAL ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE of my life look like?  What can I gather and learn from the examples that I see, in Jesus, Paul, the Saints in Hebrews 11, athletes, Military leaders?

How will knowing the whole Story of God found in the Bible help with the epidemic in the world today of fear, feeling vulnerable, and results of

age-old societal humiliation, that lead to and results in hate, discrimination, and wars?

IT IS THAT SIMPLE

When all is said and done it all comes down to this…

“WHAT IS THAT TO YOU?

YOU FOLLOW ME.”

Not the world’s system, not the political system

Not other people who think they know better…

“YOU FOLLOW ME”

“THIS IS MY BELOVED SON

LISTEN TO HIM.”

Solomon, a man of great wisdom

Boiled it all down to this…

“THE END OF THE MATTER; ALL HAS BEEN HEARD.

FEAR GOD AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS.”

That is the Alpha and Omega,

The beginning and the end of my faith.

IT IS THAT SIMPLE!

MY OWNERS MANUAL

Advent is fulfilled.

The waiting is over.

God became flesh and dwelt among us.

During these past few weeks of being intentional about Advent, I have seen differences in me as the result of my past three years here in my hermitage.

I notice changes for the better that have occurred unnoticed and without being on my agenda for change.  But there they are.  Seeds have sprouted and I am thankful.

The most important lesson learned is to simply turn myself over to God, which is not always easy to do.  But I know for sure that it is the only workable and sustainable method of true transformation.  A seed simply planted in the soil of my mind, heart, and soul that is filled with Jesus, the Word of God, the Bible, the words of God, and instruction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will grow and transform me into who I was created to be.  My life experiences are all compost and enhance the new growth.

Everything made has an owner’s manual.  What is it I own?  I am given my inheritance…my relationship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the kingdom of God.  For me the Bible is that owner’s manual.  It is to be the central organizing principle of my life.  It is the major provider of my values, my intentions, and the way I view and walk through life.  Other modes of information like books, preaching, teachings, etc. are helpful as aides but only the Bible, taught by the Spirit, has the Word and words with power.  It is that power that radically transforms heart, mind, and soul.  I do well with more of His words…less of mine…less of others.

I did a lot of reading and listening to teachings this year.  I am a life-time student so I enjoy learning.  But at some point I began to feel less nourished by what I was reading and listening to.  A spark would come but it rarely proceeded into a flame, and even less into a fire.  But my daily lectio divina reading in the Bible became alive as I read and I felt inspired, full, and nourished.  I believe the invisible transformation was a part of that.  I allowed the words to sink in before I analyzed them to death or put my own spin on them, either mine or another’s.  This will be my pursuit in the New Year.

DEVOTED UP NOT DUMMED DOWN

God created us to be in an intimate relationship with him.  He came to dwell with us for awhile in the person of Jesus.  To the naked eye He was no one special, just the son of Mary and Joseph living in a small town in Galilee.  When He grew up He hung around with His disciples, wined and dined with the town’s people, fully becoming one of us ‘common folks’.  That is a good and a wonderful gift.  No other god would do that, be One with His people and enjoy hanging out with them.  But I wonder sometimes if we don’t get so caught up in the familiarity of Jesus that we forget who He truly is.

 He is the God of the universe, the Creator of this world and of every living thing in it.  He is God, the great I AM who rules and reigns in the heavens and the earth.  If that was all we knew Him for we would be totally AWE struck and would tremble and bow at the mention of His name.  We would show honor and respect and without question take our place as His servants, ready and willing to do whatever He commanded.  But we have been blessed by a God who shows us His more intimate side because He loves us.

Every once in a while I am jarred in my thinking of who this most intimate relationship in my life truly is.  The disciples had that jarring event when they were at sea in a storm and were afraid for their lives.  Jesus woke up and rebuked the winds and the sea and the storm ceased and there came a great calm.  These guys were His friends.  They had been around Him for awhile, living together, journeying with Him, partying with Him, and laughing with Him.  But in that moment they were jarred in their thinking and looked at Him.  They marveled and stood in awe and asked, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and seas obey Him?”

I continue to marvel at my relationship, my intimate relationship with God through Jesus.  I never want to lose that sense of being AWE struck at who He is.  It simply makes me love Him more.  I don’t love and serve Him out of a sense of religious duty.  I love and serve Him out of a sense of relationship and devotion.  His familiarity with me enhances my reverence and respect for Him all the more.

In these days of dummying down everything, I don’t want God to be dummied down…I want to be devoted up to Him.

IF ANYONE THIRSTS

God is relentless.  All through the Story of God in the Bible He is seeking those sheep who are lost.  When others give up He is steadfast in His invitation and call to “COME!”  Though His people, His children forsake and abandon Him, He never forsakes or abandons them.  Right up to the end of time He is calling and wanting their response.  But I have to ask what kind of God this is?  It must be our choice for He will not demand our love and devotion.  He created us free to love; it is our choice who our love and devotion go to.  What kind of God does that?

Time and time again we, as God’s people, have squandered our love and devotion on golden calves, idols of all kind, man made images of created things, the pleasures of the world, our hand made cisterns, on everything and everybody except Him.  In former times His anger was provoked and punishment was given.  But, He has never given up on His people.  Behold, what manner of love He has bestowed on us!

The Jews gave up on the Samaritans.  But Jesus sat at the well of Jacob and encountered a woman who had come to draw water.  “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ’give me a drink’, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  She asked Him for that water and came to know who He was, and went to bring others to Him.

The water He offered her comes from God, the Fountain of Living Water that ends all thirst and becomes in one who drinks a spring of water welling up within to eternal life.  The woman asked, came to know the Christ, and left her water jar behind, unfilled.

In the end of time, at the finishing act of God’s Story recorded in the Bible, the same invitation and call is found.  “It is finished!  I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.”  The call comes at the very end of the Story.  “The Spirit and the Bride say ‘COME’.  And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

No one has an excuse for not dwelling with God throughout eternity and being one of His people except those who choose not to.  Some will choose to continue squandering their inheritance in reckless living, choosing the desires of the flesh and the pleasures of the world that are Satan’s deceptions and delusions.  Some will choose to keep trying to quench their thirst from the cisterns they have made for themselves, even though they are broken and hold no water.  Others will choose to see their guilt and recognize Jesus’ goodness even as death is near and ask, “Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom”, and will be welcomed by Jesus who was hanging on the cross next to him, so that could be done.  Others will come to their senses and realize how good their Father is and how good they truly had and will run to their Father sorry for their sin and selfish ways, wanting only to be treated as a hired servant, only to find their Father running toward them, welcoming him or her as an honored child.

All of created humanity has this choice and always has. The price has been paid for all who ask, who believe, and receive.  The choice is mine and yours.

As the final act of God’s Story is coming near the call still goes out…”If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).

/o:p>

TURN YOUR EYES UPON JESUS

When God led the Israelites out of Egypt He allowed them to bring the silver and gold jewelry that they had plundered.  These are the very things they used to make the golden calf that very much displeased God, which would be a pattern that God’s people followed throughout God’s Story recorded in the Bible, and continues today.  We take the very things that God gives us and make idols out of them.

When we come to the final Promise Land, the proverbial “You can’t take it with you” will apply.  We came naked into this world and we will enter the next one naked as well.  But, as always with God, that is the best thing for us.  More than not the things we treasure here on earth are the very things that cause our earthly tears, mourning, pain, and death.  These will not be in heaven.  They are the former things that will pass away at our death and indeed are passing away even now.

The words to the song, “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” are significant to me these days.

                        “Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full in His wonderful face.

                         And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

                          In the light of His glory and grace.”

When I look at Jesus face to face He becomes my only focus.  All else passes away like the flowers of the field and all that is flesh.  There will be no idols or potential idols in heaven…Simply Him.

Things are being stripped from me as I speak.  My body is deteriorating, relatives and friends are dying, things that seemed so very important are becoming insignificant, depths of meanings that I put into people, places, and possessions are fading away, losing their meaning to me.

The one thing that is growing and fulfilling me now is His Presence.  My love, peace, and joy are found only in Him.  I still have love for others but it is free of the attachment I used to put to it because I know there is a shelf live to it all.  It is no longer the main stay of who I am.  God’s love is given freely with none of the proverbial strings attached, and oh how freeing that is in my love for Him, my love for myself, and my love for others.

The free gift from God is found lying in the manger.  It is there for the receiving and believing of anyone and everyone who opens their hearts, minds, and souls.  Behold, what manner of love God bestows on us?  He is the God I can attach my love and life to…Forever!

GOD'S ULTIMATE PLAN

The innocence of a baby in a manger is overshadowed by the image of an innocent man hanging on a cross.  I love the song, “Mary Did You Know?”  But she knew.  Those people who had been faithful to God, waiting for Him to act on behalf of His people, they knew what the cost of their freedom would be.  They had read the prophecies and they knew.

Those who expected a warrior king to overthrow their oppressors were the ones in the crowd who hailed Jesus one day and then yelled crucify him the next.  Their vision was limited by their need to be free from oppression by the Romans; selfish motivation to be the victors in this world’s system.  But it is the world’s system that man crafted that was at odds with the world that God had created. 

His Son did not come to fix the world’s system made by man; He came to overcome it and destroy it.  He came to offer the Kingdom of God that was meant to rule and reign since the beginning of time.  The new wine of the new covenant can not be put into the old wineskin of the world system made by humans.  That system must die and be buried, not fixed. 

What had been created in the beginning was what was resurrected and is what will rule and reign for eternity.  Mary knew that; Joseph knew that; Zachariah and Elizabeth knew that; the wise men from the East knew that; Simeon and Anna knew that; John the Baptist knew that.

These folks were not fickle in their faith.  They held strong to their beliefs.  They knew and held the paradox of great joy in the cradle and great sorrow in the cross.  They knew God and God knew them and confided His ultimate plan with them, His plan from the beginning.  Time and tide would bring others as they received and believed and opened their hearts and minds to the teachings of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit; the same teaching they heard for years from the Prophets of long ago.

Today as it was then, it seems to be the ordinary, no one special people who know the brokenness of humanity first hand that are most able to see and hear God’s ultimate plan.  It is those who are poor in spirit not rich in self, who are humble in heart not haughty in head, who are merciful not mighty, who seek peace not power, and who seek God’s Presence not worldly position.  It is those ‘nobodies special’ that will make up the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom full of ‘special nobodies’ who are there to worship the God who came to earth as ‘nobody special’ and will come again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords…             

Maranatha & Merry Christmas!

HE IS ALL THERE IS

The promise of eternity is this…”The dwelling place of God is with men and women.  He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.”  This is the Kingdom of God…His Presence forever.  The world got a glimpse of that when God became flesh on earth in Jesus.  The disciples got a glimpse as they walked with Him for three years.  They knew what that was like and it changed them forever.

His Presence changes everything.  It is like sitting under the Fountain of Living Water on a hot day…you just never want to leave.

Immanuel…God WITH us!  What greater gift could we receive…what greater gift than to be WITH Him!  It cuts through all the foolishness we look to for love, peace, and joy.  His Presence SIMPLY IS and I can do nothing more nor want anything more.

WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT

There are times when I just sit alone in thought and I am filled with this incredible feeling of love.  My heart, mind, and soul are overflowing with a feeling I can only describe as Divine.  It is very intimate and private at that moment in time.  Then there are other moments when that feeling comes and is in response to hearing someone share their most intimate thoughts and stories.  Watching a documentary on Rich Mullins and listening to Meredith as she spoke about her experience with the birth of her daughter, I felt one with these folks even though Rich is dead and Meredith is many miles away.

It seems to me this is what being a Christian is all about; being with other believers in a way that precludes time and space, in a whole other realm;  feeling one with each other, not arguing over doctrine or performing programs or even preparing sermons.  It is just basking in God’s love for us as His kids, His family.

It is all about Relationship, intimate and loving relationship, one with another.  It is not about business and organization and saving the world.  It is about loving one another and sharing that love wherever I am and whoever I am with.  Jesus…Immanuel…one with us; God with us, each one of us in a very intimate way.  He came as a totally dependent infant, entrusting Himself into the hands of Mary and Joseph, and grew as any child does, honoring His parents and being part of a family.  This is the God who created the world being one with us, being cared for and loved and wanted only to care and love people in return.

This is what it is all about; not doctrine or scholarly research.  It is about love, intimate relational love, taking care of one another.  I can do nothing more than truly receive that love from Him and give that love to others.  When I am faithful in doing that all the other stuff will fall into place or fall off my plate.  I have spent so many years trying to be and do, when what I really needed to do was trust who I am and who’s I am and do what comes from that.

BE HONEST...WE ALL WANT TO BE EMPEROR OR POPE

When someone rejects and denies God, they become their own God and eventually begin to see themselves as everyone else’s God.  When someone rejects and denies authority, they become their own authority and eventually see themselves as everyone else’s authority.  The consequence of this is that there are a lot of individual gods and authorities running around on earth these days and that leads to disorder and chaos, which leads to violence, and eventually destruction.

Rejecting and denying God’s Spiritual direction results in operating in and out of human Fleshy direction which is always self serving.  A self seeking and serving self cares very little for anyone or anything else, even though it thinks it does.  The self thinks it is being benevolent to others but it is really only feeding itself; hence the pride and arrogance of acting humbly towards others in the mind but not the heart.  This is true both in the secular world and in the church.  Truth be known, we all want to be Emperor or Pope!  That is self at it’s most honest.

God always shows up, for both the secular and for those in the church.  To the secular world, “He who sits in heaven laughs as the kings of the earth set themselves up against the Lord.” (Psalm 2)  To the church, those who claim to speak for God, He asks…”Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?  Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?”  (Job 38).  Our human history since the beginning of time, up to this very day, reveals that we just don’t get it!

God made us simply to BE with Him and enjoy being in His Presence.  He gave us all we need and ever would need to live an abundant and flourishing life.  But right out of the gate we thought we could do it on our own and have been messing up ever since.  We know deep inside that we can’t because we keep going back to God, repenting and promising to do it His way; but it doesn’t take very long until we’re going out on our own, again and again and again.  God is loving and patient beyond my understanding and comes to our aid and rescue again and again and again.  Behold, what manner of love is that?

Day by day I get it more and more.  Simplicity comes from being silent and still before God.  Simplicity comes from yielding and being yoked to the One who knows best.  God made us simple.  Lord, help me live in that simplicity that lives within me.

HEED THE GREED

Machines and technology that were made by man to provide a more convenient life for us are now threatening to end that very life, and the world around it.  Our greed for ease has made some rich enough to enjoy that ease but has also made others bare more burdens and know no ease in their lives.  There is a lot of finger pointing for our present predicaments in many areas of our lives but the truth is when one finger points at another there are three fingers pointing back at the one doing the pointing.  We are all to blame.

We have all failed at the one responsibility God as Creator gave us…care for and attend to His Creation.  Thinking it was ours to do as we pleased with it, we used and abused it rather than see it as His and help it to flower and flourish.  The shame is ours to bear…all of us.

Rather than arguing with one another we need to all agree and take responsibility for repairing and restoring what we have destroyed and do what we can to make it right again.  We need to heed the greed and see our selfish ways and take on our responsibility to care for and attend to all that God created for His glory and our delight.

Machines and technology can make things bigger and faster, but they cannot make things better.  There are too many unintended consequences to tend to in the aftermath of their work.  They just don’t clean up after themselves very well.

MAKE NEW WAYS BUT KEEP THE OLD

As I grow I don’t lose the need for my foundation; I need it even more to hold me and support me as I grow.  Independence is often viewed as moving off my foundation and going off on my own, to build my own life.  Without the foundation that was laid in my growing up years I will stumble and fall.  We are quick these days to see foundations as stumbling blocks to be done away with so we can be who we are meant to be rather than a cornerstone that actually helps us become who we were meant to be.  The new growth is fresh and exciting but it is the old growth that strengthens and feeds that new growth.

People are too quick to want to grow up and get out on their own.  It has not strengthened our culture but has weakened it.  Intergenerational tribes and families are a thing of the past in our highly mobile lifestyle.  My default family has always been the Waltons.  They were a three generational home who in their dependence upon one another actually made them strongly independent in themselves as individuals.

In my thinking that is a good goal for our homes and our churches.  Discarding the “old folks” and the old ways is like clear cutting land.  It destroys the soil that has been worked and matured and creates a strong foundation and support for new growth.

The attack on tradition and family was a strategic battle plan for the enemy of God and mankind.  It weakened the very fabric of our culture.  We are seeing the fruit of these unintended consequences in today’s political and world wide chaos.  Unfortunately we can’t turn back time.  But I think we can recognize the problem and make better choices. We need to make the old ways and the new ways compatible with one another, not eliminate the old ways to make way for the new ways.  Both are needed to create wholeness.

I'M OLD BUT I STILL HAVE SOME PAGES TO BE TURNED

Having spent many more than my 10,000 hours in institutional religion and outside the church trying to fix the church, I feel like I have some ideas of reason and wisdom from which to share on the subject.  Having spent many more than my 10,000 hours of my life on another path other than the one God designed for me to walk on, I feel like I have some ideas of reason and wisdom from which to share on the subject.  Having spent many more than my 10,000 hours in silence and contemplation before God in His Presence, I feel like I have some ideas of reason and wisdom to share on the subject.

Add to that over 40 years of reading, study, and instruction in the Bible, leadership training and certification in Christian growth and direction, a few years in ministry, and even a few years in seminary, 25 years of Camp work, 10 of those in an administrative position, and most important almost 70 years of life experience, I feel like I have a few or more things to say on self growth and working with people that may be helpful to those who care to listen.

I know that I am not the only person of age that can make those claims.  I didn’t do those accomplishments all by myself in my room.  There is a wealth of wisdom that is untapped these days.  Some are sitting in the pews of churches, some are sitting in nursing homes or retirement centers, and some are sitting on the benches in town, waiting for a bus.  They are everywhere, containing all that reason and wisdom, but continue to be invisible and unheard.  Peter, Paul, and Mary sang a song that had a verse that is significant to this time in space.  “Just when you have the wisdom of the ages, there is no one who wants to turn your pages.”  I find that a mighty truth statement.

I live in a very fast paced and hi tech world today that has left many of us oldsters left behind in the dust.   I can’t keep up with the daily changes that occur, just as I had finally learned to work what I needed to learn to be able to use the “toy” given to me to make my life easier.  I truly try to keep up with all the “new and better’ stuff, from gadgets to ideas, but I find it difficult and frustrating, so I succumb to sitting and silence.  I go to workshops or lectures on redoing church, just to be told that everything I did failed or sucked.  Seems to have worked well for me and many others for many years, but now it’s old and irrelevant to life so it needs to be refused and rethought.  I am all for change but to be told the old way never worked is too much. 

I am not for “clear cutting” and starting all over again.  I have lived through several of these “new ways” and found them to become the old ways, but with new leadership.  It wasn’t so much that the old ways of the church were deficient; the church changers simply wanted to be Pope and run things their way.  That wasn’t true of all but it was true enough for many that I grew leery and weary and simply left them to themselves.  Unfortunately I saw enough of them fail and reap what they sowed.  That didn’t make me feel good or right, but it continues to make me leery.

I think there is a time for your people to step into leadership, but I think they would do better to step into it knowing that others have plowed the road ahead of them and are still there to aid and assist them in their endeavors.  I think they would do better to know that foundations are to be built upon and not destroyed and disregarded.  I think they would do better to see us oldsters as complements to their ideas and not complainers because things are changing.  Change is good and necessary but it can come by building on the old ways not just saying they don’t work and doing away with them.  I taught some pretty staunch church people to clap their hands and sing some upbeat songs, not by telling them their passive singing was wrong, but by simply doing it with a group of kids in front of them, all smiling and happy to be in church with them.  The joy was infectious and the clapping came all on its own.  Everyone was a winner in the change and that is the way I think it should work.

My hope is that older people would bring out their books more and younger people would be encouraged to turn those pages of experience and exchange it for some of their enthusiasm.  Then everyone is a winner and feels needed, and appreciated.

  

OUT OF THE DARKNESS INTO THE LIGHT

I accepted the challenge from my brother and my cousin to pay attention to the political race this past year.  That meant being a part of the world’s system a bit more than I cared to be.  After all is said and done my response is what I kind of knew it would be…”Is this as good as it gets?  Is that all there is?”

I felt like I had lived these past months in a coal mine and as I cam out into the light and fresh air, I was covered with soot and needed to be washed off from the inside out.  My mind was muddied and cluttered, and my mood was dim.  I kept listening and waiting for the Recall to my contemplative life.  It has come and I am responding to the life I love to live.

I don’t fit in the “In” crowd; I don’t fit in the “Progressive” crowd.  I don’t fit in either the “Conservative” or “Liberal” crowd.  Let’s face it…I don’t fit in the world and that is more than ok with me.  I am getting back into my way of being with the world, which is more prayer than participation and I am feeling much lighter.  As the dark gets darker in the affairs of the world outside me, the Light gets brighter inside my soul and my spirit. 

I am happy to return to my quiet life where I can clearly hear that still small voice that gets lost in all the booming voices in the air waves of the world; the world where everyone speaks but no one listens; the world where God’s voice has been drown out and isn’t even missed by many. 

I have been overwhelmed with a sadness that God has been ignored, abused, and disrespected by so many people, especially by those who claim to know Him and be His children.  They are missing so much and aren’t even aware of it.  This hurts my heart, but it is nothing new.  Jesus was born into such a world.  He negotiated it and taught His followers how to negotiate it without succumbing to it.  I am learning by following Him as He walked through this world not to judge or condemn but to only love and pray for others.

Myself…I am recalling myself back into my life of contemplation and inclining my heart and ears not to the media and social networking, but to His voice, the one I have come to know and love so well.  It is there and there alone where I will find Truth.

God and His Kingdom are where I fit; my home and my dwelling Place is in His Presence.  I am tuned into His words and I wait upon Him only.   That might not be “In” or “Progressive”, but it suits me fine.  When I think about it, I am a Regressive…Back to the ancient paths.  I’m fine with that. 

I HAVE FOUND ME A HOME

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word,

And My Father will love him,

And we will come and make our home with him.”

John 14:23

God’s promise to His people is a Place in His Presence

A place to settle into and be at peace

A place of rest from the work of being, to simply BE

A place of rest from the wandering to and fro, to simply BE

Not just BE in themselves but to finally simply BE in and with Him

There will be no quandary or fuss about obedience

Obedience will be our inherent nature

For where obedience is, that is where God dwells, He and His Son.

My heart yearns for a home and that is what God promises His children.

A home and hearth filled with love, joy, peace, and security.

A Place where I am fully known from the inside out and fully loved

A Place to simply BE me as I was designed and made

From the very beginning of time.

WHAT BETTER TIME THAN NOW

What will be, will be…What is coming will come.  Now is not the time rebel in lieu of our American and worldly rights.  Now is the time to repent of our rebellion to the Covenant God made with us as He gave us the right to become His children.  The children of God need to lift their eyes higher, above the madness and chaos of this worldly system we live in.  We live in serious times and we need to take the Word of God seriously.

The rulers, authorities, and powers over this present darkness…the spiritual forces of evil are gathering and preparing for battle.  The energy is high because they know their end of reign is coming.  Therefore, it is time for God’s people to prepare for those times that have been spoken of by the Prophets of old and by Jesus Himself.

We are not to stand in fear.  We are to stand firm.  We know who we are and we know Who we belong to.  We know who wins this final war, but we must prepare and tell others to prepare as well.  “For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man…they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away” (Matthew 24:37-39).

The die is cast.  We do not know when but we do know it is coming, and from the events in the news is appears to be coming soon.  There is no need to panic but there is a need to PREPARE as we WATCH and WAIT.

God is in control and has supplied His children with the necessary armor for battle.  It is not the heavy and immovable armor that Saul supplied to David as he battled Goliath.  It is armor that is manageable and available to us just as the five smooth stones were to David.  Paul speaks of it in Ephesians 6.

The belt of TRUTH, the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS, the shield of FAITH, the helmet of SALVATION, and the SWORD of the SPIRIT (the Bible).  All of this armor is covered in PRAYER and is rooted in the GOSPEL.

Committing ourselves to these and sharing with others the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is the root of all these things will do what needs to be done in these days of darkness in order to stand firm.

What better time than this season of Advent, this time of watching and waiting for the coming of Jesus!  What better time to receive the gift of the Love of God to this broken world!  What better time to RECEIVE and BELIEVE in His name, the name above all names!  What better time to rally in the only RIGHT that we are ever given by God, to become individually His child and collectively His children forever!  What better time to forsake the delusion and deceptiveness of what the world has to offer; to accept the forgiveness and reconciliation of God that Jesus came to give; to enter into the Covenant of Love that God openly invites all to live in for eternity!  What better time to BEHOLD what manner of love God has bestowed on us!

 This is the love that casts out fear; this is the love that overcomes the darkness; this is the love that makes everything right; this is the love that calls out, “COME”…”Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”  Come to Me, all who thirst and drink fully, never to thirst again.”  “Come to Me and you will find all you need and are seeking.”  “Come to Me and know that I AM God.”

What better time than now!

I AM SEEKING WHERE YOU ARE STAYING

All too often I get caught in the mire and muck of living and I forget the MYSTERY of who You are and who I am in You.  You lovingly created me in Your image and all You ask of me is to love and enjoy You and to love and enjoy all that You created.  I get focused on the tree of knowledge and lose sight of all else that You created that comes freely from the tree of Life.  The knowledge of good and evil doesn’t feed me and nourish me.  It doesn’t satisfy the longing in my heart, soul, mind, and body for Your Presence.  It clouds and clutters my mind and tires my eyes and blocks my ears.  It adds to my pride and subtracts from my meaning.  I lose the MYSERY and I am left with an empty form.  “It’s magic and you don’t want to know just how it works it will ruin the show.”

Your Presence is enough for me.  I want to bask in Your closeness and feel your pulse beat.  You will teach me enough just to know You and that is enough for me.

“One thing have I desired of the Lord,

That will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

All the days of my life,

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

And to inquire in His temple.”

Psalm 27:4

And where is that temple?  “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”  Revelation 21:22

There are times that I get distracted and unfocused.  I begin thinking about whether I should be doing something, moving somewhere, or joining some group.   So I begin searching while all the while unsure of what I am seeking.  I explore my leads and they leave me unconvinced.  It always boils down to this response…”Why are you seeking the living among the dead?  Remember how I told you…”

Then I remember that moment in time when God Himself made His Presence known to me on that Palm Sunday afternoon in 1973.  Then I remember how Jesus Himself made Himself present as I read the Scriptures for the first time with newborn eyes.  Then I remember Him being my All-In-All and knowing I was His and He was mine.  That is the place I always return to again and again when I get off center and off focus from time to time.  He draws me back as I remember the love that I had at first and He calls me home to that place in Him. 

“Jesus saw them following Him and asked, ‘What are you seeking’?

They answered Him, ‘Where are you staying?”

John 1:37

THE CONSTANCY OF YOUR COVENANT

It was in the silence and stillness

Away from anyone and everyone

That the inner transformation was done.

No fanfare, no credits

The healing simply came

Day by day and moment by moment

It came in the power of His Presence

Just as it came in the beginning

Those many years ago when You came and sat with me

The impartation of a love so consuming

I was immediately infused with You Spirit

And I have never lost that pure moment of time

No one or no thing can take that moment away from me

No need to define it

No need to defend it

Only the need to live it in all I think, say, and do

I have learned much

I have healed much

All because I have been loved much

By You and You alone

I am eternally grateful for Your faithfulness

And for Your everlasting love

In the constancy of Your covenant with me

I have been made whole

Remade into the me I was designed to be

Inwardly woven and crafted by Your loving hands

I am Yours and You are my God

Forever and ever

Amen

MY FAVORITE THINGS

I love God and I enjoy being in His Presence.  I come to the garden alone, and He walks with me and talks with me, and tells me I am His own.  I enjoy walking in the cool of the day with Him or sitting on the bank of a river, stream, lake, or pond, or by the ocean.  It is just so simple and pure.  I enjoy following Jesus as we walk along His Way, His path.  I enjoy learning from Him; how He encounters others along the way; always compassionate, always fully present to them; healing them, dining with them, enjoying their presence.  In that warmth of love and acceptance many are transformed.  I love being in and watching nature as it speaks to me of the things about God; His sense of beauty and order, and His constant and faithful care of His creation.

I love reading and studying the Bible.  It is the Story of God and reveals how much He loves all that He has created, even when they don’t love Him in return.  It amazes me how loving and faithful He is, constantly seeking those who are lost.  It humbles me to see how forgiving, how compassionate, and how truly He cares about us as people.

It makes me sad when people don’t see that.  It seems so simple to me.  It started out that way with me; simply His love and His Presence.  He walked with me through all my themes and schemes, all my wandering off the path, all my selfish and bad choices.  I have come to a place of simple and sincere satisfaction.  I don’t need or want the things that used to take me off the path and out of the way.  Been there, done that, over it!

Now my long ago dream of sitting in a rocking chair on a porch of a cabin out in the woods, reading and writing insights from Scriptures and simply being in God’s Presence is all I want to do.  “One thing have I desired of the Lord…”  To be with Him where He is staying.  That is all I am seeking.

HE IS ENOUGH

I love the simplicity of God.  He is straight forward and truthful.  Those who simply listen and obey, simply hear.  I love being in a world of wonder and beauty and don’t feel the need to know the whys and wherefores of every little detail.  There is a true profoundness in the simple that is exciting and needs no explanation to enjoy it.  It is enough for me to know that God created all things and He made them all to be good.  It is enough for me to know that He created me and made me to be all good.  It is enough for me to know that God loves me so much that He sent Jesus to die for me and save me from enslavement to this world that has been corrupted by the sin of forsaking the One who created it.

“God made man simple; man’s complex problems

Are of his own devising.”

Humans have sought out many schemes.  The many schemes of human devising have entangled those who make them and those who listen to them into a web of confusion and chaos.  All too often human wisdom and knowledge lead people astray; leads hem to a self centeredness and away from a God centeredness.  I have seen it happen to the “best” of them, who began as true lovers of God; I have seen it happen to me all too many times.  We think we are doing God’s work but it turns into building the tower of Babel again and again, only to have it fall again and again.

Pride and arrogance die hard.  So does the heart that says, “I am, and there is no one besides me” need to be broken again and again.  When I stop and sit in the dust, on the ground without a throne, in silence and stillness, I see the trail of tears that lies behind me were of my own doing; but then I begin to see the faithful Presence of God on the right and on the left of the path. He was there all the time…waiting.

I have come to believe that those many failings of mine were all a part of my growth and God never threw up His hands in disgust or disappointment.  He was walking right along side of me waiting for me to come to my senses.  Behold, what manner of love is that?

I am not perfect yet.  I still have my “me” days.  But they are fewer as the growth of my love for God seeps in deeper and makes me more secure.  I am a root person, a foundation person.  I look at this world where all the foundations that are not built on God are crumbling.  Human schemes and endeavors are the cisterns that were broken and unable to hold water to begin with.  I do not want to mend the cisterns.  I want to drink as the Fountain of Living Water, that has been flowing from the beginning of time and will continue to flow forever.  When my roots soak into that water the fruit will be good.

HIS PRESENCE IS ENOUGH

“One thing have I desired of the Lord,

And that will I seek after;

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

All the days of my life,

To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

And to inquire in His temple.”

Psalm 27:4

The world is inundated with voices speaking.  The competition to get into the mix is fierce.  Tongues stumble over one another trying to get into the game.  It is overwhelming to the mind and soul to even hear them much less listen and reflect on what is being said.

In the flood of human words God’s words get buried and indistinguishable.   That is the point I must stop and withdraw from the arena.  In the Quiet His words rise in my spirit and I can hear and digest them in my mind, heart, and soul.

I spent many years finding my voice, believing I had something to offer to the conversation many were having about the church, religion, and things of theological worth.  I studied and trained to be able to compete with the other voices, but never found a place at the “adult table”.  I tried not to feel bad about my lack of “the right stuff” but I did, on some level, wondering why.

I remember a lesson I had learned in my younger years when I was encouraged by a teacher to be a professional golfer.  “You could be another Patty Berg” he used to tell me.  I loved sports and played many because I enjoyed the games.  But I found when I was working to make it a profession I wasn’t enjoying it.  I was worried about my performance and stressed about the competition.  As Ben and Jerry say, “If it isn’t fun why do it?”  I stopped working on a lucrative career and just went back to playing the game.

I love spending time in the mornings just simply being in God’s Presence, having coffee, communion and conversation with Him then and throughout the day.  I delighted in the insights He shared with me and discovering answers to the questions I asked.  When I tried to “Professionalize” that, it changed my inner feeling of joy and began to feel like a job.  Seeing my old friend Brian last week reinforced that difference in my mind. 

I seek God’s Presence for the deep joy of it, not to get something out of it.  I found myself missing that joy and wanting it back.  I don’t want to be another voice in the sea of voices.  I want to be His kid and enjoy His Presence and delight in our communion and conversation.  I am not aiming at being a ‘professor of faith’ but being a knowledgeable and faithful prayer, an invisible under girder of others and this world.  I want to be like Anna and Simeon who saw Jesus as an infant and knew who He was because they were silently and secretly waiting for Him, as they spent their time in the temple, in God’s House, in His Presence.

GOD IS SOVEREIGN & FAITHFUL

“You keep her in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You,

Because she trusts in You.  Trust in the Lord forever,

For the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 26:3,4

The faithfulness of God is seen daily, in the rising of the sun and the setting of the sun; in the rising of the moon and the setting of the moon.  Since the beginning of time this has been the way it has been.  It is a simple truth but to me it is an amazing thing, worthy of my attention.

The world can have its anxt in these times of chaos and confusion.  But my mind is stayed n the beauty and majesty of a faithful God who created a world of wonder.

All those who feel they have something to say are talking much.  I feel the need to simply be silent and still in God’s Presence, for He is a rock above all the waves of the storms of life.

(Stayed: to remain, to stop, to wait, to endure; a support or brace.)

My mind is stayed on God, the God who is steadfast, fixed, steady, loyal, and constant.  He alone is my safety and security.  There is no other.  In the end there will be no need of the sun or moon to rise and set, for the glory of God Himself will give its light and the Lamb will be the lamp, just as He was in the beginning.  That is the light that shines in the darkness that the darkness can never and will never overcome.

In this hour of apparent darkness in this country, when all seems lost, God brought forth a Super Full Moon to bring light.  I find this to be a testimony to the truth that God is sovereign and in complete knowledge and control of all things. 

HELP OR HINDRANCE?

Matthew 16:21-25

Peter, who had just declared Jesus as “The Christ, the Son of the Living God”, now begins to rebuke and correct Jesus after He was telling His disciples about what is going to fulfill His mission here on earth.  Rebuking God is never a good idea and takes great pride and hubris. 

Jesus first identifies the real culprit…”Get behind me Satan!”  Jesus knows his ways because they are the same tactics he used in the garden with Eve and in the wilderness with Jesus.  Satan’s MO is to doubt God and follow your own mind and desires. Abandon God and build your own cisterns.  It is the error that has passed down from the beginning of time and continues right up to today.

Book after book after book that I have been reading is being written on the failure of Christianity, Religion, the Church, and then offers new ways and changes are being heralded to fix the problems.  Most of them question all that has been done by the church in the past, question the Bible and expressing the need to reinterpret and rewrite it to make it relevant to our times, and changing our understanding of Jesus and God altogether.  Doubting God and what He has been actively doing throughout time takes a great pride and hubris, and never turns out well.  I love and respect many of these people but they are seen as the best people in the field they are all people at best. 

After I read Jesus’ rebuke of Jesus, “Get behind me Satan”, I hear Jesus call Peter a “hindrance to Me”, and I feel sad on one hand (poor Peter) and concerned on the other by how I and others think.  Jesus doesn’t hide the motivation.  “You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man”.   Then He goes on to talk about denying oneself, taking up one’s cross, and following Him; not forfeiting one’s soul to gain the world, and so on.  How much of what good people who really love God, just as Peter did, are less than helpful and more of a hindrance to what God is doing in the world and His church?

I am not without guilt in this.  I have been critical of Christianity, Religion, and the Church in things I have talked about and written about.  I have many “great ideas” to make things different and better.  I enjoy being in the “conversation” about “re-imaging the Church”.  Lately I have been more and more convicted about thinking, talking, and writing about it.  How is the Spirit convicting me…through the Scriptures, these in particular…

Isaiah 55:6-13; Psalm 127:1; Matthew 15:13, 14; Matthew 16:18, 23.

The last thing I want to be is a HINDRANCE to the work that God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is doing in the world today, in the Church today.

Yes, I have done my 10,000 hours that entitles me to be an authority on certain things.  But in matters of God He is the ONLY TRUE AUTHORITY.

So, my solution is simple.  BE STILL AND KNOW GOD IS GOD.

I love God with all my heart, mind, and soul and my one desire is to be what He is about, not what I think He is about in this world.  Enough said.

My Prayer for myself:

Ecclesiastes 5:1,2

“Guard my steps when I go to the house of God.  To draw near to LISTEN is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.  God is in heaven and I am on earth.  Therefore

LET MY WORDS BE FEW.”

HERE AND NOW UNTIL THEN

People are calling for churches to be Schools of Love.  I love this idea but usually what happens is we never leave the place where all that love is happening.  Awful things have happened because people have misused God and the Bible.  So we respond to that by making changes in our beliefs about God and adapting the Bible differently to meet our new understanding.

I don’t understand all the violence and destruction God did that is recorded in the Old Testament.  It’s difficult to reconcile that with the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament.  But I do know He is the same God in both.

God’s behavior looks harsh; unloving; ungod like.  He was destroying abominations that were things going against all He was about.  He was angry and destroyed them.  So we ask, “Where’s the love?”  We try to explain the behavior but actually make lot of assumptions and presumption on our part. 

How are those who are speaking out about Love for all treating Donald Trump and those who are following him?  How are they treating bigots and people of violence and those who hate those who hate people different than them?  I see that same righteous anger in them that I see in God’s behavior.  Where’s the Love?

Those who follow Jesus and walk with God are to show a different way than what is.  The only way to end bigotry, discrimination, hatred, and violence is a true heart transplant that only God can do.  Then a world without bigotry, discrimination, hatred, and violence must be demonstrated by those who have been truly converted to love.

Energy can’t be changed, only converted.  The energy of love and peace is the same as hate and violence; only conversion will change it.  People must be taken out of the slavery of the evil one and taken into the presence of God, where they were originally meant to be.  God did not make a world where bigotry, discrimination, hatred, and violence grew.  Human beings built that world by following the temptations of the enemy of God; temptations of he flesh; temptations of success, wealth, and power; temptations that human’s couldn’t overcome; temptations that Jesus proved could be overcome be overcome by listening to and obeying God.

This country has been making bad choices for a long time; we dress up sin so it is acceptable; we shed innocent blood throughout our land; we cast God out of our government and our learning institutions; we omit and change His words in our religious institutions.  Then we have the audacity to blame Him for the mistakes that those who misuse Him did supposedly in His name.

“God made man simple; man’s complex problems are of his own devising.”

Ecclesiastes 7:29

When human beings try to do things of God without being born again and having a heart transplant, without being in a relationship with Him, they will fail and misuse them.  The flesh cannot understand the things of the Spirit.

God has been trying to set up a People who would be a demonstration of a world without bigotry, discrimination, hatred, and violence that nations could see and be envious of.  He still keeps trying but it must be done His way.  In the end it will be that but our prayer is we can see that here and now until then.  That means doing away with the things that God has asked us not to do and living in the life that comes from doing what He has asked us to do.

God’s love shown to us and through us can and will overpower sin; all sin.  In love, no condemnation, we must take sin seriously and follow the example of Jesus.  “Jesus was left alone with the woman standing guilty before him.  Jesus said to her, ‘Woman where are your accusers?  Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one Lord’.  And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more” (John 8:9-11).  Ours is not to condemn but it is ours to point others to Jesus who can release them in love and reveal the right way to be and to live.

GOD'S WAY WORKS FOR ME

“Where there is no vision, the people perish,

 But blessed is he who keeps the law.”

Proverbs 29:17

There are many translations of the Bible so there are many versions of this verse.  Other words for vision include “no revelation of God and His Word”, no redemptive revelation of God”, God’s law and order”, “guidance from God”.

Other words for perish are, “cast off restraint”, get out of control”, law and order disappear”, “lose self control”, “decay”, “run wild”,  “stumble all over themselves”, “do what ever they want to”. As I read over the many words for perish I felt like I was reading the past few years of newspapers.  It is what is going on in this country and world today.  I found it disturbing, to say the least.

The small seeds that have been scattered and planted for the past decades have now bloomed and everyone wonders, “Where did these weeds come from?  How did we get to where we are in this country, with so much division, hatred, lawlessness, and violence?” “How did we come to this?”

This country was never perfect but it did have boundaries of behavior that were acceptable and unacceptable for all people. We had standards to measure by.  Acceptable behavior was upheld by society. Unacceptable behavior was addressed and corrected.  If unacceptable behavior was not corrected then it was punished.

Over time and tide those standards have been battered down and washed away by relativism and having no objective truth.  Little by little the boundaries of behavior were pushed against again and again, little by little, and finally those boundaries fell completely.  Without those boundaries anything goes.  Some people are now able to abuse that freedom,  to cast off restraint, get out of control,, run wild, ignore law and order, do whatever feels good to them, and in the end they wind up stumbling all over themselves.  Others now act all shocked and disgusted at those who do and say what they want with no remorse.  Then the pointing fingers come out and the scapegoating begins.  The war of words and opinions fill the air, everyone blaming one another.  This only accentuates the division, hatred, lawlessness and violence and tends to drown out any voice of reason or any hope for a solution.

I have a Trinitarian and Biblical worldview so I am not at all shocked; just sad.  I know that human nature is just that and that the deeds of unredeemed or unconverted flesh lead right to where it has led.  Many of the World Religions would testify to that as well.  But Religion is the number one boundary that has been battered down and done away with.  And that is what makes me very sad because in the end that is where the root of the problem lies.  Religion has failed to do what it was meant to do; make us better people, people of love and peace and contentment.

I consider myself a disciple of Jesus, not of a tradition or a church, but I come from the Christian Tradition so I can only speak to that; but we have failed again and again to listen to and stay true to our Source and now we are where we are.  But this is nothing new.  When Jesus came to earth the world conditions were not unlike ours.  A corrupt government centered around power, money, and immorality ruled over the people.  Those who believed in God knew at some point their king would come and defeat the rulers that were ruling over them.  Jesus did come and where did He go?  Not to Caesar or Pilate, but to the established Religious System.  There is where he placed the blame.  They had compromised their mission.  They did not help the poor or heal the sick.  They marginalized people and had no love or compassion for those who God had put in their charge to care for.  They were too busy and too blended in with the world system of power and prestige.  Out of the fear of losing that they killed the prophets and eventually crucified God’s Son.

There are a lot of people who see the problem and are trying to come up with new ways of doing things.  I have seen this concern many times and have watched as people come up with new systems to replace the old systems that are no longer working.  Eventually the new system becomes the old system and you know the routine.  I have been a part of several of these groups and they looked like this…We don’t like the idea of Pope so we will leave and do something different.  The only thing really different was that they became the Pope.  I began to see the problem.  We want to do it our way, which is that good ole human nature rising itself once again.

The thought that went through my head today was this…Perhaps our extremely righteous indignation against Donald Trump is that we really know deep inside our hearts that there but for the grace of God go I.  I don’t believe that I am the only one who always wants to have things my way and tend to want to make others do things my way.

So, when it comes to always trying to change Religion or change the Church, how much of that change reflects “things my way” thinking?  Do we even ever think to ask God how He feels about His Church and does He want things changed.  I have been to many “making the church better” meetings and except for the opening two minute prayer which we don’t even wait for an answer before we start in on our ideas, I would say the answer is no, not REALLY.  Somehow I think that might really be our problem.

I have continually been struck to conviction when I ponder Isaiah 55: 8-11.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

Neither are your ways my ways.

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are my ways higher than your ways

And my thoughts than your thoughts.

So is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty

But will accomplish what I desire

And achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

I don’t sense that God is all worried and disturbed about what is happening in Religion or in the Church.  The People He has been continually building since the beginning of time and will continue to build until the end of time is alive and well and “the gates of Hades will not overcome it”.

As for me, I want to hear that prophetic vision, find that “spring of living water”, and go with its flow; I want to stop digging the man made cisterns that continually break and cannot hold water.  (Jeremiah 2:13) God’s ways work for me.