Pragmatism and "Praying about it"

Have you ever considered how incredibly odd a Christian must seem to a non Christian? If you are one of the 15% of Christians who converted as adult, then you likely have firsthand knowledge. But if you are one of the 85 out of 100 Christians who are "lifers," you may not be aware that you are weird.
You get excited about weird things, you behave in unexplainable ways, and you react in surprising ways to things that other people do not even notice.

And you say cryptic things, like:

...we don't know God's plan.
...he's just having a "wilderness" experience.
...I have a heart for worship.
...you need to spend some time sitting at the feet of Jesus

Though most citizens of a christianized culture are probably familiar with these statements, they really don't really know what they mean. To be honest, I don't really think we know what they mean. Oh, we may know the bible answer, but I doubt we'd be able to explain the spiritual ramifications of these statements, even to one another.

Like me, you might find this amusing, but it actually does matter. Take, for example, the ever popular

I need to pray about it.

On the surface, this is a very wise statement. Of course we should pray about everything, we're taught that from childhood and it even says it in the bible (Phil 4:6). One of the cornerstones of the Christian faith is absolute dependence on God for direction in our life. So, obviously, when someone says they need to pray about it, it means they need to consult God before they make that particular decision.

Makes sense right?

Maybe, but think for a moment, if you will, about the times when we play this particular card:

...we're thinking about having a baby, but we need to pray about it...

...did you hear about that mission trip to Uganda? Sounds awesome! I'll have to pray about it...

...I'm thinking about going back to school, but I need to pray about it...
...we're thinking about sponsoring a child from Kenya, but I need to pray about it...

...you need help in the children's ministry? I'll have to pray about it...

...I want to got to that party, but there's going to be alcohol. I should pray about it...

...the meals/hospitality ministry is really short on volunteers? Cool, I'll pray about it...

...the Red Cross needs money to help earthquake victims in Japan, but I think I need to pray about it...

In these situations, what does I'll pray about it, actually mean in practice? Why do you need to pray about it? How are you going to pray about it? What is the end result going to be?

I think I'll pray about it, is the Christian equivalent to We should have a meeting about it. It really should help you make a decision but, practically, it is just a way of avoiding making a decision. If you don't think so, think with me to all of the times you've said, "I'll pray about it," and then ask yourself how often you've actually prayed about it.

I mean an intentional, specific, pointed time of prayer. Did you seek advice from others? Did you look it up in the bible? If you said it in response to a request for help, did you ever get back to the person who asked?

Or was it just a way to get out of an uncomfortable situation long enough to forget about it so you could do whatever you wanted?

Pragmatism is a philosophy which basically states that the only solution to a problem is the one that actually works. When it comes to "praying about something," I admit, I get a little pragmatic: if it doesn't work, it's not a real answer.

And, to be honest, I sometimes feel there are a few things we really do not need to pray about. Please do not think that I'm saying God doesn't care or that we shouldn't care what God says about certain decisions. 

I'm saying that we don't need to pray about it because we already know the answer.

We know the answer, we just don't like it. Maybe we need to pray that God will help us make a decision more cheerfully or do something more willingly, but the question of whether or not we should do certain things is really not a difficult question.

What do you think? Are there times when we don't need to pray, we just need to do what we know is right?

    

And please, do pray.

Distracted by Jesus

There are, broadly, two different ways to deal with our mortality: we can either deny it or we can fight it.

Denial itself can either be the hope that we may escape death or our eyes-shut-tight refusal to acknowledge it. Practically speaking, I think we most often fall into this category. I say practically because, though we may profess differently, we generally live our lives as if we believe that we are not going to die.

We live fully in the moment, absorbed in our immediate surroundings.

Distracted.

These distractions can include seemingly trivial hobbies but they could also be a career, family, or philanthropy. It could be art or self-expression. Sometimes the pursuit of meaning or understanding itself is our distraction; or maybe it is love, both giving and receiving it. These are often the most powerful, we may even build an entire life upon them.

If we are not refusing to acknowledge our mortality, then we are likely fighting against it. For some people, this does mean trying to live forever physically (isn't Walt Disney still frozen?). For more people, however, it means leaving an eternal legacy or a "mark." The desire to leave a part of "you" behind after your are gone is simultaneously noble and fundamental. It gives us comfort to know that, after we are gone, a piece of us will continue; it doesn't so much matter if that piece is a scholarship foundation or a child.

From a practical perspective, these two responses both still end in eventual death and decay. The best we can hope for is to prolong our life, be it 100 or 1,000,000 years. The only thing that can transform our fate, rather than distract us from it or delay it, is Jesus Christ.

This is the heart and flesh of the "Good News."

Hope.

The trouble is that such transformation does not necesarily guarantee a happy, satisfying, or pain-free life. After all, there are plenty of people who do not follow Christ living fulfilling lives out there. By the same token, there are plenty of followers of Jesus Christ leading unfulfilling, empty lives. Devoid of hope.

I realized this as I was listening to a lovely song about grace, that there are so many hurting people out there that are hiding their pain. As I thought about this, I realized that there are likely as many wounded and desperate Christians out there as there are wounded and desperate non-Christians.

How can this be? How can we all be experiencing the same levels of fear, doubt, and loss when some of us claim to have exclusive access to grace, peace and hope?

Make no mistake, dubious Christian, we are, all of us, lost and hurting. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I praise God on your behalf. But I can think of 15 people in my personal life who deeply love Jesus, love His word, and follow Him who experience fear, doubt, pain, and some deep darkness in their present, one of them being me.

Just like we wrongly assume anorexics are skinny, we wrongly assume that hurting people are sad. We're not, not all the time anyway. Sometimes we laugh and make jokes. Sometimes we feel good and even experience joy.

Joy doesn't preclude hurt.

Why then? Why do we have hope and yet not feel hopeful? There is no simple answer for this Problem of Pain lies at the core of who we are as humans, yet I think I might understand a small piece of it.
Sometimes, we make the mistake of making a hobby out of Jesus.

Sometimes, we turn Him into an activity, something we do on the weekends, an activity to promote our spiritual health, like Yoga. But it doesn't change the substance of our lives. Like many of our other distractions it buoys up our spirits temporarily and fills some of those late-night hours that would otherwise be spent in pondering the meaning of our lives.

We believe in God. Still, we live fully in the moment, absorbed in our immediate surroundings. Serving. Doing. Loving. Praying.

Distracted by Jesus.

A good friend of mine said recently, I don't want 'to be' a pastor, it's not my job or even my calling, it's me. I can't stop it, I would lose myself.

I am not a Christian because I adopt a philosophy or subscribe to a pattern of living. I am Christian because it is me. If I limit my faith to what I do or what I believe, there is a painful emptiness in the center of my being. I lose myself.

This is a bear of a distinction to make because so much of what we do and believe does, indeed define us. I cannot make a better explanation than Acts 17:28

"...in Him we live and move and have our being...'"

Like blood in veins, air lungs. He breathes through us: living, moving, being.

How can you tell if you've made a hobby of Jesus?


Props to Coffee Shop Dharma for the photo!

 

"You Are More" by Tenth Avenue North



Trust: The Highlights

I took the first week of  Twenty'Leven off from blogging, and pretty much everything else, to really pray and seek the Lord on His plans for my life, specifically for this year. These prayers revolved around my One Word for 2011, "Trust." It really was a great fruitful time of prayer, but I am struggling to distill this all down to something meaningful that I can share.

Last year, 2010, my One Word was "Unshakable" and 2010 was a year that truly was shaken so that only those things which were unshakable remained (Hebrews 12:24-29). I compared myself to a bare concrete foundation This year, God has made it fairly clear that He doesn't want me to build on that foundation; He is going to be the Builder.

Thus, this year I have two verses guiding my One Word:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

"Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it..." Psalm 127:1

Now to the awkward summary of the past week.

Over the past 2 weeks, several things have happened of varying degree of importance:

• God gave my my One Word for the year
• God broke down my expectations for the next 5 years.
• I read the Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns (which, sadly, has been sitting on my bookshelf for over a year)
• I began fighting my way out of a 2 month long period of what some people would call "depression", some would call "Seasonal Affective Disorder", and some would "spiritual warfare," but what I choose call "a funk."
• Someone from my sleepy little town won over 70 million dollars
• I discovered that I am not going to Switzerland for the summer (I know, you didn't even know I was going! Well, I'm not so...)

So, how then do all these things fit together? In many, many words. There are so many words, in fact, that I have a suspicion that they are mine and not God's so I am going to spare you the long version and give you another bullet list of the "takeaways" from the past few weeks.

• I don't trust God
• I've created a false image of God
• I am afraid of not having money
• I worship God with my writing
• I must write to worship God
• I live in a "Culture of Affluence"
• I love music
• I love kids
• I am going to Haiti

Instead of sharing with you the path to all of these conclusions right now, I'm going to give it to you in pieces. This is partly because I'm embarrassed by how long the post would be otherwise, and partly because God is still working it all out.

So there you go, the highlights of a simultaneously confusing and enlightening few weeks. Looking forward to sharing it all with you



Next Post: I'm Not THAT Person

Haiti: 1 Year Later

"Dear Jesus, please bless India, Haiti, and Uganda. Please help the poor people to get money from the rich, and help the rich not to mind."   --Adrianne, 7

"Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it." --Luke 18:17

I feigned a more pious prayer by burying my head in my hands as Adrianne prayed. The truth was I was embarrassed by my tears at her prayer. As I explained my reaction to her simple, pure prayer of faith for the people of Haiti and for the poor to her parents, longsuffering smiles appeared on their faces,

"Yes, she prays almost that exact prayer every night."

Every night. This sweet, beautiful girl prays for Haiti every single night. "When was the last time I prayed for Haiti?" I thought in panic. A few days ago? Last week? "But," I comforted myself, "I talk about Haiti a lot. I blog about it. I send money." Isn't that always the way? We so quickly tire of "just praying." We either feel a need to do "more" or we simply get frustrated with praying the same prayer every night, as God has called us to do, and move on. I realized, as we marveled at her unwavering faith that, what we write off as simplicity or a lack of creativity, God sees as faithfulness, faithfulness that puts me to shame.

God help me to be more like Adrianne.

On January 12, 2010 Haiti was hit with a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. This disaster came on the heels of a catastrophic hurricane season and was followed by severe aftershocks and a year filled with devastation and disease.

A year has passed and God has been amazingly faithful. Much has been done, but Haiti is still in severe distress. Even a cursory glance at photos or the first hand accountsof those who are currently serving in Haiti makes this painfully obvious. Educate yourself, let your heart be broken for Haiti, let yourself be moved.

Please join Adrianne and continue pray daily for this deeply troubled country, pray for the hurting people, pray for the leadership, pray for those in Haiti who are working tirelessly not only for healing and reconstruction but for lasting and sustainable justice and security in a country that has never experienced such things.

For some great information on the state of Haiti today, World Vision has a comprehensive one year report available here. You can also watch this short video from Richard Stearns, president of World Vision: Haiti Earthquake 1 Year Later.

You can also donate to help Haiti through Compassion International: Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. Current photos of Compassion's work in Haiti are available at haiti.compassion.com.

But if simply giving money is not enough for you, you can now sponsor a child from Haiti or from an equally desperate region. Child sponsorship is not an investment in a cause, rather it is an investment in a person. When you write your letters and send your support, you are telling that child that you believe in them, that you choose them. The value is incalculable though the cost is right around $1 a day.

For a firsthand account of the impact of encouraging a child in poverty, you can read Elissain Jean Jacque's story here.

If you do not currently sponsor a child, I deeply encourage to you seriously consider doing so. It is one of the greatest things you will ever be part of. If you do sponsor a child, pray about sponsoring another! Visit www.compassion.com or www.worldvision.org to find out more information.

"But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth." --1 John 3:17-18

God, may we be moved not by guilt or by a need to "do something" but by your spirit. Lord, may we not tire in the work that you've put before us, may we not tire of being brokenhearted for the people of Haiti.

God, please help us all to be more like Adrianne.

Thanks for loving Haiti,
--Sarah Elizabeth

Taking a Little Break

To all of my Rabid Readers (AKA "Mom):

Since I finished school mid-december, I have actually been able to do a bit more blogging than usual. Crazy, I know. However, I'm going to intentionally ruin my blogging streak by taking a week off.

During this week, I'm going to do a bit of reflecting on my One Word as well as a few other things. I'm hoping to have something to exciting write about when I get back! In the mean time, stay warm and have a great first week of 2011!

--Sarah Elizabeth

"Slow Dancing with Temptation" J. Acuff

This is a truly amazing post by Jonathan Acuff, author of "Stuff Christians Like." I highly recommend, I've subscribed to the blog and would order the book tomorrow if it wasn't in direct violation of my "stop buying things you don't need and simplify your life" covenant.

http://stuffchristianslike.net/2008/06/268-slow-dancing-with-temptation-the-dump-throwing-up-and-your-dad/

Freedom from Fear cont.

"A ten thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at you right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only look with your eyes and se the recompense if the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place-the Most High, who is my refuge- no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent." Psalm 91:7-9

This is a continuation of this morning's post on verses 1-6. This section outlines the protection of the Lord more explicitly which creates a problem in interpretation.

I am of the school that believes that the simplest, most obvious interpretation (especially of scripture) is the correct one. The simplest, most obvious interpretation of these verses is that those who make their refuge in the Lord will not be afflicted by evil or plague. We also know that, in experience, there are many who seem to or claim to take refuge in the Lord whom evil indeed befalls and who experience plagues.

These two premises cannot be reconciled simply. To my way if thinking there are three explanations:
1) God lied in this psalm. Of course if you believe the bible this cannot be. Yet I have trouble simply ignoring a seeming contradiction. If there is no other explanation, than, even if YOU don't believe God would lie, you can't deny that, to one who does not have the same faith as you, rationally, this is a contradiction or a lie.
2) Those who experience evil and plagues in this world are not dwelling in the shelter if the most high. This is possible and definitely more comfortable than calling God a liar. But this brings us close to judging the hearts of others, a big foul in the life of the Christian. On the other hand, if you really can't know the hearts of others, this is a feasible option. My only question is, then, how do you know if YOU are dwelling in His shelter?
3) The most obvious interpretation of these versus is wrong or incomplete; there's an x-factor we don't understand yet. This is my favorite although it means that the words of my trusty ESV don't mean (exactly) what they seem to, or that there is some important context that I'm missing. This means more digging, a fun idea but one that must, unfortunately, be delayed as I've reached the end of my lunch hour.

I'd love to hear your thoughts in the mean time!

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Freedom from Fear

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty...he will deliver you...you will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday." Psalm 91:3-6 (excerpt)

For those of us who fear this passage seems like a life raft, for those who have experienced loss and pain it seems like mockery. But what is the Lord promising us here?

He promises a place of refuge, a shelter from evil; he promises to be our defense from attack, and he promises us that we will not fear. But nowhere does he promise us freedom from affliction. He does not promise that the attacking army will never come but rather that, when indeed it does, we have a ready defense in him and that we need not fear.

There are few things that truly cause me fear. I generally feel that there are not a lot of things that could truly threaten my happiness it security but one of those that can is the allred and death if a loved one. Because of events if the past few years, I have become particularly afraid if cancer.

It is like a stealthy assassin, sneaking into your very body, unnoticed until it is too late. It's crippling kind of fear, and there is no guarantee, not even from God that it will not affect your life. Quite the opposite, odds are that it will!

Yet this psalm promises a place of refuge, a shelter, and freedom from fear. I admit I'm not exactly sure how to claim that at this point, but I know that it its true and that is hope itself.

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Fellowship: Beyond Potlucks

"You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence." Psalm 90:8

"But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

"Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed." James 5:16

There is no place in the body of Christ (the collection of His followers) for sin. To be sure, it exists abundantly because we're all sinners, but wherever sin exists in our fellowship, His Spirit is blocked.

This is where a lot of confusion exists in regard to sin and grace. Obviously Christians are still sinners. It is so obvious, in fact, that those who are not Christians become absolutely incensed when they believe a Christian or group of Christians denies this fact.

Forgiveness allows us to become Christians while we are yet sinners, but grace compels us to not remain in our sin. But forgiveness and grace are only effective on sin when it is exposed or "in His light." This requires the most dreaded of words to Christians and nonchristians alike: "confession."

We Protestant Christians get a little touchy when it comes to confession, "why go through a priest when you can go directly to God? I don't need no priest to tell me I'm absolved!" Well maybe, but without the physical act of confession to another human, will you go to God? Will you be able to hear his voice when you're filled with pride or shame? Are we not to bear each others burdens?

There are no secrets with God (take the book back to Barnes & Noble and ask for your money back). A secret is simply something that remains in darkness and, as we read in 1 John, there is no darkness in Christ. This aversion, this fear of confessing our sins to one another blocks much of the healing that God promises for sin. We may be forgiven in truth but will we truly be able to receive that healing when our sin is still a secret?

Beyond healing, 1 John 1:7 also says that fellowship happens when we walk in the light, His light. I don't see how this is possible without confessing our sins to one another as it says in James 5.

If there is one thing that truly threatens the existence of Christ's church, I believe it is not secular humanism, it is not the theory of evolution, it is not gay marriage, neither is it even sin, it is an inability or outright refusal to confess our sins to one another. Hypocrisy and secret sin are the cancer of His church, a mass of darkness growing secretly deep within the body destroying it from the inside out.

It is not enough that we hang out together on sundays, that we have cookouts, that we have bible studies, thats we pray for our sicknesses, we must walk together in His light, confessing our sins to one another and praying for each other, bearing one another's burdens in Christ. Without this our fellowship is shallow, counterfeit even, and we create a fertile place for hypocrisy.

BUT, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our suns and cleanse us from all unrighteousness!

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Security

"So teach us to number out days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

Security is over of the more basic human needs, the second tier of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, ranking just before physiological needs. Or more pointedly, security is important to humans.

We all use different things to fulfill this need for security, a job, family, money, self confidence, health, even solitude. But, whatever our drug of choice, it all fails at some point. We lose our job unexpectedly, we go into a recession, our loved ones abandon us or die, we get cancer. There is no secure wall that cannot be breached.

But God (aren't those great words?) teaches us this life is indeed as fleeting as a blade of grass or a flower, but that is not cause for fear. Rather it simply changes where we find out security. It teaches us, as we build our protective wall, to be more discriminating in our materials, choosing something that will outlast all of this.

Life is short--how do you choose to end that sentence? Whatever you choose, there is wisdom to be found in recognizing our mortality. The greatest understanding comes to us when we recognize the fleeting nature of our existence, just ask someone who is dying. But we don't have to wait until our death bed to find wisdom and clarity. For a moment ignore the lie that what is "now" will last forever, and look at your life in terms of the millions of years (or thousands, if you prefer) that have come before and will likely come after, and think a little bit about what truly lasts.

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Woot

Please forgive the informal speech of this post, I was wicked excited and everything else flew out the window. I just had to share it and I don't quite have time to revise and proof it.

I had the most truly awesome revelation this morning reading proverbs, which is a collection of sayings regarding the virtue of wisdom and knowledge and how to find said virtue and knowledge but, get this, they were written TO an illiterate population. Shut yo mouf! An illiterate people with access to knowledge and wisdom?? Exhorted to seek knowledge and wisdom? And even more, an illiterate population interested in knowledge and wisdom?

The sweet part is that the last chapter of my "Comm in History" textbook discussed the role of communication in the religiously dominated middle ages, specifically highlighting the control that the church had over an illiterate society. The whole premise of such a heierarchy and actually most authoritarian governments is that the educated have the right and obligation to exert power over the uneducated. But here is a whole book (forget about Job and Ecclesiastes) chronicling wise sayings intended for those who are uneducated or at least illiterate.

Take it a step further and you get Hebrews 1:1 "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;"

Not only are the spiritual implications phenomenal (having been brought near by the blood of Christ, abolition of the human priesthood, etc) but what about the cultural implications? If government power was tied up in religious authority, then this idea revolutionized every level of society, bringing the ultimate and final authority, the greatest power in the universe and over men, into the mind and home of the basest levels of society.  Essentially Jesus brought about the spiritual and cultural democracy that God intended from the beginning.

I haven't wrapped my head around this yet but I've been looking for so long for proof that scripture, that God's design, validates this idea and that the religious, social, and political abuses of power in the Church's history were human perversions. This utopia that we are pressing toward, that many believe we will never reach until we are free from the shackles of Christianity, was founded by God and refounded by Christ! 

Of course, by way of disclaimer, I am just scratching the surface and there are still many issues to address but still, woot.

It's small and not Christ-like but I feel a "neener-neener" in my soul!

-Sarah Elizabeth

BOLO: Spiritual Reality

Be On the Look Out for something extraordinary in the ordinary.

Various branches and schools of philosophy have mused for years, really since the invention of musing, about the relationship of the physical body, the mind, and the spirit or what some call the "essence." This preoccupation with these three elements is understandable; it is truly a fascinating subject. The three are functionally distinct yet highly interdependent. As neuroscience delves more deeply into the mysteries of the human brain the relationship between the physical body and the mind becomes even more interesting. Emotion, personality, memory, instincts, intuition, all of these are hardwired and filed away somewhere in the folds of the human brain. So then, is that which we call a "mind" really just another somatic organ? On the reverse side, it has been proven that psychological depression actually has physical symptoms as well and those who are in a happy or content frame of mind generally have more energy than those who do not.

Fascinating as that topic may be, it is the spiritual element which concerns me today. The term "spirit" can refer to many different things depending on your background, beliefs, and taste in movies. Some believe the spirit to be that eternal part of you which continues after you die as a ghost or an angel. Some believe it is your personality, or that force which drives the vehicle of the body through life made of dreams, desires, and pluck. Sometimes we refer to the "human spirit" as the sort of transcendent attribute common to every human on the planet, that which links us together as a species. But all seem to agree that the spirit is metaphysical.

Still, on this side of the bright light, the spirit is trapped inside a physical body and undeniably effected by physical and mental influences. For example, when someone is sick, tired, cold, etc. they are also often in "low-spirits." Similarly, someone excited, who's physical body is buzzing with adreneline, is described as being in "high-spirits." Likewise, we know that when we are emotionally sad or physically ill, we begin to question our spiritual health as well. At the end of a long battle with a disease, we may see someone lose the will to live; the driving force of the spirit is weak. Though the exact nature of the relationship is hard to describe, the relationship exists.

If you believe that the spirit continues after the end of the body or in an afterlife, then that makes us mortal yet oddly eternal creatures. Rather than just an interesting quirk, this changes how we live mortally. The specific manner of change depends mostly on your specific beliefs. This is the point where I tighten the lens even more and talk about Jesus.

Christians often talk about spiritual life and spiritual death. In a nutshell, this has to do with that inexplicable change that takes place in our spirit when we release our life to Jesus and accept His sacrifice. We use words like, "rebirth", "regeneration", or "redemption", but they all boil down to a new life in our spirit. Specifically, the life of Jesus. When we release the authority of our spiritual life, submitting it to God, we're spiritually revived; entirely new, yet retaining the essential elements of who we are.

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God [Jesus Christ], who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galations 2:20 

Actually, that verse explains the phenomenon much better than I did. The process sounds a bit weird and maybe even spooky, but then, what spiritual things aren't a little weird? And therein lies the trouble. Because spiritual things are,in fact, metaphysical and extrasensory they are not only exempt from empirical observation, it is hard to figure out what to do about them.

This is an excerpt from today's reading in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers:

"Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord's surprise visits. It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of child-wonder which He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious (that is, using religion as a higher kind of culture) and be spiritually real."

"Spiritually real." This is the hard-to-define goal that we strive for while the clock is still ticking, spiritual reality. Not simply acknowledging that we have something called a spirit, but letting it be as real as our physical body or mental processes. Or maybe we could call it the manifestation of the spiritual in the physical, or, even better:

"...carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." 2 Cor 4:10

Chambers says that being "spiritual real" means living in the expectation of seeing Jesus Christ, His life, His power, and His purposes where we least expect them. Not overspiritualizing or reading hidden meaning into ordinary things, but, in general terms, seeing the inherently extraordinary quality of ordinary things. The result of such a life is, as Chambers describes it, an attitude of "child-wonder."

This life could be and, no doubt, will be described as naive and impractical. But, when the firm foundation of what is commonly known as "reality" begins to crumble and disappoint, as it inevitably will, that child-like spirit not only endures, but continues to see Jesus even as the security of the world wanes.

Sarah Elizabeth

Thankful

Thankful is a wonderful word; it has a rich meaning and a pleasing sound. When I find a word I particularly enjoy or that is on my mind for one reason or another, as in this case, it is my inclination to tear that word to pieces. While this tendency irritates those who appreciate prose or lyrics in their simplest form, the process can be very enriching. The journey into the history and innards of a word or phrase almost always brings a greater depth and understanding not only to that word but life in general. It is as if I prod and squeeze the words in order to get every drop of nuance and meaning. If you allow that to mull and age until all of the flavors have muddled together you end up with a much richer meaning than you could imagine a simple little word could contain. I am a word vintner!

While I may justifiably be accused of "reading into" a word a bit too much, I don't think that is true in this particular case. The meaning of thankful is so commonly known, that you may find it difficult to define. Most simply, it means to be "full" of thanks or thanksgiving. That of course makes me wonder about the meaning of thanks. My good friends, Mr's Merriam and Webster define "thank" as to express gratitude (1). More simply, I would say "thank" means to recognize and give credit to the source of your positive state (happiness, wellbeing, etc.), Interestingly, "thank" comes from the same root as 'think' (2). This seems appropriate as "thanks" or "thankfulness" is a product of thinking or, rather, it should be. True thankfulness is always be a product of reflection. Superficial thanks, often the result of a social compulsion or other self-serving motives, has little value because it is not really the result of true reflection.

"Thank-you," has become a common and empty phrase; time and thoughtless use have leached away nearly all of its meaning. As I go through the day, I interact with hundreds of individuals each day and this phrase passes both their lips and mine nearly as many times. I am embarassed to say that it is usually without a moment of thought. Several times I thank those I'd rather scold. While it is not always necessary to say everything that you think and mean, it is important to think and mean everything that you say (which may be especially difficult for those of us who suffer from excessive word use).

To be thankful has a deeper meaning than simply giving thanks. To be full of thanks is to dwell upon, to thoughtfully reflect, on your current state and then to recognize and acknowledge its source. We should be familiar with this process, at the very least we do it on the fourth Thursday of every November. We may also do it on the last Monday of May or on other red-letter days throughout the year. But thankfulness, especially for a Christian, ought to be a characteristic not a temporary state. Not only does the word of God specifically say to give thanks several times, but 1 Thess 5:18 says to give thanks in everything. Psalm 100:4 says to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise; to be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

I love that chorus that says, "I'm forever grateful to You. I'm forever grateful for the cross. I'm forever grateful to You, that you came to seek and save the lost." It would be much easier to stay in the place of constant thankfulness if we were to remember that, regardless of our current state, God has come to seek and save the lost.

Studies: February 12, 2010

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My Utmost for His Highest
February 12, 2009

And they said unto Moses, "Speak thou with us and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." Exodus 20:19

We do not consciously disobey God, we simply do not heed Him. God has given us His commands; there they are, but we do not pay any attention to them, not because of wilful disobedience but because we do not love and respect Him. "If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments." When once we realize that we have been "disrespecting" God all the time, we are covered with shame and humiliation because we have not heeded Him.

"Speak thou with us; but let not God speak with us." We show how little we love God by preferring to listen to His servants only. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we do not desire that God Himself should speak to us. Why are we so terrified lest God should speak to us? Because we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him. If it is only the servant's voice
we hear, we feel it is not imperative, we can say, "Well, that is simply your own idea, though I don't deny it is probably God's truth."

Am I putting God in the humiliating position of having treated me as a child of His whilst all the time I have been ignoring Him? When I do hear Him, the humiliation I have put on Him comes back on me - "Lord, why was I so dull and so obstinate?" This is always the result when once we do hear God. The real delight of hearing Him is tempered with shame in having been so long in hearing Him.

What a wonderfully appropriate verse! Isn't this just what the church is doing? We have been looking to respected preachers, teachers, and leaders to tell us what God is saying rather than going to the Father, Himself. While these teachers may be worthy mouthpieces of God, as Moses was, the word is always purer, more effective, and pierces more deeply when it comes from God. I love this statement, "we know that if God does speak, either the thing must be done or we must tell God we will not obey Him."

I have been so frustrated in the past because my words, words which I thought were from God, were not valued or heeded by those to whom I was speaking. Now it is very possible that this was due to my own inadequacy as a speaker. But even if the words were blessed by God and delivered perfectly they still would never have the convicting power that God's words have when He speaks directly to our hearts. As a speaker I must allow God speak to hearts and as a listener I must allow Him to speak directly to me instead of relying solely on another human to guide me.

Relief in the Aftermath of the Haitian Earthquake

Please continue to pray for the country of Haiti as its citizens attempt to make sense of the damage caused by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit on January 12th. The current death toll is approximated to be 65,000 with over 200,000 displaced and 3,000,000 total people affected by the quake (USAID, Jan 18, 2010).

Specific Prayer Requests:

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  That the people of Haiti will cry to God and recieve the hope and joy of the Lord in the midst of despair
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  Healing for the injured
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  Comfort for the bereaved
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  That the missing will be found
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  For the many relief workers, emergency workers, and doctors, both Haitian and foreign
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  for their safety and health
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  against fatigue
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  For water purification efforts and waste santization to prevent spread of disease
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  Safe and clear air, sea, and ground transport of supplies especially within the city of Port-au-Prince
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  For the restoration of communication channels
• Against looting and theft of emergency supplies
• That banks and businesses will remain open to help prevent further economic strain
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  For security of the many temporary and ad hoc facilities now in place
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  Increased and lasting mobilization and compassion for Haiti's situation

As my heart is especially inclined toward the Ministry of Compassion International, I've included an update from their blog. For more information you can visit their website at compassion.com. If you would like to make a one time donation toward their Haitian Earthquake Relief Fund you can do so here.

Compassion International's most recent update on the situation in Haiti:

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Jan. 19 at 8:15 p.m. (MT): With heavy hearts, we report that one of our Haitian staff members has succumbed to internal injuries sustained during the earthquake.
Please earnestly pray for her surviving family members and for the rest of our staff who will dearly miss her. Please pray for the morale of our Haitian team; they are deeply discouraged, especially after this news, and in the face of personal loss and widespread devastation.
Please continue praying for contractor David Hames, who is still missing. Your faithful prayers are needed more than ever, as it has now been an entire week since the earthquake hit. We are pursuing every effort on his behalf and are boldly asking God to miraculously intervene. We are in close contact with teams working at the collapsed Hotel Montana and are communicating with officials and hospitals in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Statement by Renee Hames: "For all the people who know and love David with me, we need to remember that God says, "Be still and know that I am God." He is our God who will provide beauty and joy even in the midst of devastation. I have been blessed with friends who have tucked me under their wings and have prayed with me, encouraged me, support me and cried with me. Because of the support structure they have built around me, I have felt a great peace. Please continue to pray for David's rescue and well-being."

Our latest estimates are that about 50 child development centers were seriously hit. We have made contact with nearly half of the affected centers and are assessing the immediate needs. However, at this time, no information has been received by our International Program Group in Colorado Springs listing the centers or the damage associated with them.
We have not yet received information about affected children. The sporadic communication and transportation problems in the capital hamper our teams' attempts to provide assistance and gather information about each development center and each specific child.
However, we have secured a mobile satellite-enabled communications unit that will provide more reliable and consistent communication with Port-au-Prince.
We continue working diligently to collect accurate information to share with you; however, this process will take some time, even for the church partners and children outside of Port-au-Prince.
If your child was affected by the earthquake, we will contact you directly.
As we reported earlier, the Haiti office building remains standing, but we still don't know the extent of the damage it sustained from the initial temblor and aftershocks. Thus, our staff are using the parking lot of the building as an operational base until the office's safety can be fully evaluated. Communication to this operations center from the rest of the country is hampered by the logistical problems affecting the country.
Until further notice Compassion is not conducting any travel to the country (e.g., sponsor visits, individual relief efforts, tours, vision trips, etc.).

Freedom via Slavery

Daily Bible Reading: Romans 13-16
Romans 13:1-7 (emphasis added)

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God's minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience' sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God's ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

This is certainly not a passage often preached among American Christians and, if preached, not often observed. On the contrary, we often feel obliged to go head to head with national officials and governing bodies on both the legal and social playing field. We may even cling to the constitution as the 67th book of the bible, confusing our rights under its protection as important as the exhortations of Jesus Christ or the teachings of the apostles.

In order to protect our inalienable right to religious freedom, we now have Christian lawyers and legal assistance agencies such as The American Center for Law and Justice which exists to "to educate, promulgate, conciliate, and where necessary, litigate, to ensure that those rights are protected under the law." This is all very admirable if we understand that such organizations serve the Constitution and are not a ministry of the Church.

Let me restate so that there is no confusion, the Church has no mandate, no blessing, and no power from God, that I have found in His word, to protect itself from oppression, persecution, or the infringement of the rights protected by the Constitution.

On the contrary, Jesus Christ promised His followers that they would, indeed, be persecuted.

And you will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. Mt 10: 22

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Mt 5:10

Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. John 15:20

These conversations would have been the ideal time for Jesus to explain to His disciples how to fight for their right to preach His name or even their right to exist peaceably. He did no such thing. Matthew 5 instead goes on to tell the disciples they are the "salt of the earth" and the "light of the world" and exhort them to continue to reveal to the world the truth and hope of the gospel. Matthew 10:23 says that if we are persecuted for the message that we preach then we are to leave the city!

John 16 and 17 go on to promise the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that Christ sent to the disciples after His death. Jesus explains that when they are persecuted and threatened for their beliefs, they need not fear because He will intercede on their behalf. He goes on to assert His authority as the Son of God and to lay out His plan for convicting the world through the Spirit. The disciples are only told that they are to be His witnesses. This is our first and really our only commission, we are to witness for Christ.

Please do not think that I despise the blessing of religious freedom from God via the founders of the Unites States and the authors of the Constitution. I only hope that we understand that our identity as Christians and our identity as Americans (as commonly expressed secularly) are distinct and often not compatible. This is not to say that freedom is not a commendable and biblical ideal. God Himself is a god of forgiveness, renewal, and liberty. These words are the words of the promised Messiah in Isaiah 61,

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound...

Christ comes to proclaim liberty but by His standard and according to His terms. He does not simply want us to be able to "do what we want," he wants us to be free from slavery to sin and even death? Which government can offer that!? In light of Christ's self proclaimed power and authority, anything we do to protect or liberate ourselves is not only superfluous but also stinks of doubting His profession in these passages.

This ought not be a condemnation, however, we ought to be rejoicing in the freedom Jesus extends to us through these promises!

To return to the particular passage at hand, Romans 13:7 goes beyond simple non-resistance, though that is a feat in its own right, to direct us to render to these "authorities" their due, namely taxes, customs, fear, and honor. Jesus makes a similar statement in Matthew 22.

We complain about not being able to pray in school or put up a Christmas tree in government buildings but we would do well to recognize that this passage was written around AD 53, which was less than a decade before Nero rose to power and initiated the first great persecution of the Christians. The hostile atmosphere toward the Jews had already been established culturally and remember that persecution of Christians arose both from those who persecuted the Jews and the Jewish people themselves!

This is not simply to remind us how very privilege we are as American Christians, but to understand that even under such hostile and blatantly immoral activity from reigning authorities, Christians were (and still are) instructed to live peaceably, pray for their leaders (2 Timothy 2) and willingly pay taxes to them. Of all of these things, we can agree that we generally find the third the most difficult.

But with such a yielding of personal will to God's authority, with a humble obedience to His will what rewards we reap! We are free from self preservation because if we stand or fall it is by Christ's power. We present our bodies as slaves to righteousness, casting off personal freedoms of our flesh and claim the promise of God in Romans 6:22.

Now, having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

jingle, jingle...

that's the sound of the change jingling around in my life. if you would like to see a perfect example of the "love-hate" relationship, I must say that my attitude toward change is a pretty good resource.

change excites me, it invigorates me. but like physical exercise, though the prospect is a promising one and the first few minutes are indeed energizing, generally my eyes lose their vision and the work becomes a hopeless drudgery. there is a part of my conciousness that knows that, if i will get my eyes off of my "momentary light affliction," then i will be able to see the "exeeding and eternal weight of glory." alas, the misery in my flesh cries out for relief and i quit the race, not realizing or not believing that my Lord was standing there with a water-bottle full of grace in his outstretched hand.

to the present. the Lord has been stirring some changes in my life over the past year and especially the past several months. this is exciting but i am quickly passing through the invigorating stage and promises of the upcoming drudgery are whispering about the edges of my mind. i find myself wondering if i am going to, once again, quit before the goal is realized.

of course the enemy immediately sees these chinks in my armor and orders his archers to fire. generally my shield of faith has been sagging listlessly at my side and the fiery darts exploit my doubts, which are developing into full grown misery and resentfulness.

thank God that He is faithful and reminds me to raise the shield and thwart the attack with my faith-the faith He has authored by His own hand. Furthermore He urges me to draw out the dusty sword that He has given me, the promises of His own Word which releases the power of the Spirit of God in my life!

and still, i can hear these promptings and urgings and turn away. i am able to tune them out and nestle still further in my miserable uncertainty or worse try to compensate for my lack of faith by erecting rickety human plans doomed to burn in His trying fire if indeed they do not collapse before.

God forgive me for replacing faith with my silly plans and hiding my face in fear rather than raising up the sword you've given me. thank you for your promise, thank you for your Word and your very own Spirit. Your loveliness and power overwhelms me and washes away my fears and doubts. keep my eyes upon your prize. and bring on your change. jingle, jingle...

why i don't sign petitions

i could not begin to number the emails, telephone calls, personal visits, and facebook invitations, that i have received pertaining to some kind of petition or another. these causes range from changing the speed limit to protecting child sex slaves in Rwanda. name the issue and there is some kind cause or movement trying to change it. superficially, this is encouraging. it is exciting that along with celebrity gossip and pornography, communication freeways are also spreading awareness about social injustices all around the world and we, the people, are moved by it. after fancying myself a social activist for a few years, i realized that my awareness and outrage over these issues translating into nothing more than a periodic donation and clicking on the button that says "sign up here." anymore, social activism costs very little while rewarding us with a t-shirt or bumper sticker to go with the satisfaction of knowing that we're "changing the world." 

the trouble is, the world isn't getting any better. i read an article recently that said that in 2007, the United States passed a law prohibiting military assistance to countires known to tolerate child soldiers (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1175). praise God, what a victory! sadly, i realized that, though this shows the u.s.'s concern for this horrible practice, it will not end it any more than the death penalty will prevent the murder that will happen tomorrow (especially considering that the enforcement of such legislature slightly questionable). i will not pretend to fully understand the nuances of international policy or that i know a better way for our government to combat social injustices overseas, however i do know that without exception, wherever there is a law there will always be an army of lawbreakers. the sad fact is that there is absolutely nothing we can do as a government, coalition, or individual to prevent one person or group of persons (especially one several countries away) from victimizing another.

some would say that awareness, activism, and even our laws help shape our social mores. activism played an important role in changing our views on ethnic discrimination. awareness combats the ignorance that often propagates what may be an accepted evil. but did the civil rights movement end racism or simply redirect it? while the majority accepts that it is wrong to (overtly) judge someone based on their gender, the color of their skin or their cultural practices, but would anyone dare say that discrimination is any less prevalent now than it was 100 years ago? do we not judge someone based on their physical shape or their use of poor grammar? the evil that has been largely 'defeated' still lurks, as strongly as ever, in the shadows of human behavior.

i'm not suggesting apathy or inactivity, rather i would say that petitions and legislature are inappropriate treatments resulting from misdiagnosis. people do not wrong one another because we allow them to do so; because there are no laws preventing it. rather, people wrong one another because we are sinful and wicked. while well-meaning and perhaps marginally effective, the world's response to wickedness can never be truly effective because it does not even understand sin.

it's not enough to contain sin with laws, ethics or even morals. if you live in the world long enough, you will realize that you (or another) can spend your entire life avoiding "bad" things and still manage to kill and maim the people around you. there are common practices within humanity which are far more devastating and cause much more damage than murder, rape or child abuse. but how would you legislate love? respect? unselfishness? and we know by experience that laws have no hope of preventing the corruption that plagues our economy. sin encompasses an array of activity and inactivity that cannot possibly be anticipated by man let alone enumerated by a lawmaker.

we flatter ourselves when we think that we can change the world. we cannot change the world anymore than we can change ourselves. how can i hope to prevent a monster from putting a gun in the hands of a nine year old when i cannot even prevent myself from spreading a malicious rumor? how can i help Rwanda remove the speck in its eye when i can't even see around the plank in my own? sin is not combatted by raising awareness or by writing a letter to my senator nor is a child saved because i send him $50. wickedness is stopped by a changed heart, hearts are only changed by the power of God.

that said, God can and often does use the voice of an individual or the actions of an organization to speak to the heart of another. there are times when God may use my bank account to fund his work. but God changes hearts in times of silence and static and there are times when He sends bread from heaven and pure water from a stone. our participation in His work must begin with prayer. there is no greater weapon that we can employ to combat the injustice around the world. the thousands of swords in the hands of a multitude of mighty warriors were powerless against the giant that God defeated with a small stone. yet we still insist on running the forges overtime and overcrowding our barracks.

i do not sign petitions because, for me, it a cheap excuse for inactivity. it gives me reason to feel good about myself while not costing me more than a moment of my time. i do not march in protests because it is an inefficient use of time that should be spent in a secret place of prayer.

desert song

this is my prayer in the desert
and all that's within me feels dry
this is my prayer in the hunger in me
my God is a God who provides

and this is my prayer in the fire
in weakness or trial or pain
there is a faith proved
of more worth than gold
so refine me Lord through the flames

and i will bring praise
i will bring praise
no weapon forged against me shall remain

i will rejoice
i will declare
God is my victory and He is here

and this is my prayer in the battle
and triumph is still on it's way
i am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ
so firm on His promise i'll stand

all of my life
in every season
You are still God
i have a reason to sing
i have a reason to worship

this is my prayer in the harvest
when favor and providence flow
i know i'm filled to be emptied again
the seed I've recieved I will sow

The Importance of Commissioning

"This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,"

"Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all."
1 Tim 1:18; 4:14-15

As a bit of background, Paul wrote this first epistle to Timothy, a young minister and Paul?s prot?g?, during a time of his absence when Timothy was left responsible for the church at Ephesus. Timothy was Paul's apprentice of sorts, but more than that, he was his "son in the faith." His concern for Timothy's success as a minister was motivated by Paul?s concern for the church and also his affection for Timothy as a person. As a loving "father" he encourages Timothy not to consider his own strengths or limitations as a person but rather to consider the spiritual gift given to him and the prophecies made concerning him by the spiritual elders.

Taken collectively, these passages make up a heavy exhortation to Timothy to draw strength in his calling by the gifts and prophecies made concerning him. Considering the nature of the audience of this epistle and the relationship between Paul and Timothy, there is a two pronged application that can be drawn from these passages. First, as witnesses of Christ's gospel, often experiencing discouragement and fear, we can be encouraged ourselves. Secondly, we can also take the role of Paul in this relationship and encourage those (especially) young people who experience the same struggles.

This practice of "laying on of the hands of the eldership" served to both commission and equip Timothy by the power of the Holy Spirit. It had a weight which served as an anchor to Timothy during particularly stormy or tumultuous times. Timothy was commissioned unto this ministry by those he loved and respected. This experience was a mile-marker which he could recall in order to reassure himself that he was indeed called to this ministry.

As we serve the Lord in any capacity, it is vital to know that the Lord has called us and that He has given us the gift of His spirit. Without this authority behind us, we cannot hope to succeed in any ministry. By the same token, when we have this assurance, there is no need to fear.

In the spirit of discipleship, we ought also take the role of Paul on this subject by exhorting younger ministers ?not to neglect the gift? as well. It is easy for one young in the faith, to begin to question even those things which formerly seemed unshakeable. This is why it is especially important to help those we love and mentor to build a solid foundation on the promises of God and His calling in their life. This does not necessarily mean having a formal commissioning ceremony, but it does mean investing in their ministry and praying for them openly. When you hear a word from the Lord it is always powerful but it is especially powerful when that word comes from the mouth of another whom you regard as a spiritual father (or mother). Those prophetic words that come outside of ourselves are more difficult to doubt.

If there are those in your life whom you consider spiritual children, be sure to pray for them often and with their knowledge. Seek the Lord on their behalf and share with them if the Lord directs you to do so. Be the church and lift them up.

Father thank you for Your promises. Thank you for your gifts and for the prophecies that You give. As we seek to serve You, may we meditate on the gifts that YOU give devoting ourselves entirely to them so that we are filled with Your spirit rather than our own wisdom and skills. I pray that when we experience trials and doubts begin to creep in that we would remember the promises You?ve made to us directly and through the mouths of others. Likewise, Father, may we encourage and exhort those whom You have entrusted to us. We pray all of this, Lord, that You may be glorified both in and through us and that growth and maturity would be evident to all. Thank you again, Father for the gracious gifts of salvation and your Spirit, for the promise of sanctification and of eternity.