GodTV

SO... tonite we got to watch this channel on our newly acquired DSTV thingy. Our friends, the Pages got a hold of us and enticed, encouraged and exhorted us to come over to their place and watch the revival happening in Lakeland, otherwise known as the Lakeland Florida Revival.

Let me say up front... those who know me well, will know that I've maintained (through personal experience) that 'the deadliest kind of lie is the one that closest to the truth'. And watching Todd Bentley gives me that kinda check in my spirit. Yes I like the praise and worship... and for now that's where it is. I can't say I like much else. Why?

As much as I believe in angels and their appearance to mankind (when commanded to do so by God) my theology excludes using angels personally or having an angel who visits me to give me words from God. Yes I believe angels do protect us... just I am not aware of such and I only know of one encounter, that involved me that I could construe involved angelic intervention. My spiritual weapons are mighty and include the name of Jesus, the Word and the blood of Jesus. I don't call on angels. Apparently TB does...

He had a 'personal' angel by the name of EMMA. The man has removed references to this that I had previously read on his Fresh Fires website. Makes me wonder why he's changed his story ever so... And visiting heaven and chatting with Paul and Abraham? Come on... seriously!

But I do like the praise and worship!

About first love!

In a previous post, I was saying that we need reminding of amongst other things God's great love for us. When I review my own life, I realise that I'm not filled with the love of Jesus like I was the first day I believed in him. I've kinda lost my first love...

Not entirely but at times I come to the point that my faith is just not working for me. In trying to become something my leaders would recognize as being Christain, I've lost sight of the real thing. There is nothing the Father wants more than me to know of His great love and to never move from that thought for the rest of my life. God's plan of redemption from the OT all way to the Second Coming is about bringing us into a relationship of love that the Father, Son and Spirit have shared for eternity. Nothing less. Nothing else.

This life in Jesus is the real deal. Christianity is not a pastime. It's not extracurricular or event driven. It's about Gods' life filling our's and not some theological abstraction. It's fullness, freedom, joy and peace of living in him that flys smack in the face of our worst circumstances. It's not about working hard in whatever ministry, the latest book or idea, or even a new building. It's about a life that we can see, taste and touch. Something that we frolic in every day. It's that being true worshippers stuff...

The problem is somewhere between the obligations, guilt motivators and leaders rewarding good behaviour or jobs well done. Many of my decisions to be involved are based on needing recognition and honor from others. Who doesn't want to be liked and appreciated? Do you see the real problem here?

When ministry efforts become a struggle it usually means we're losing the focus. Trying to earn approval is wrong and it's a diabolical trap when we try to earn God's approval as well in the name of being good sons. We're approved only by what Jesus did on the cross. Nothing else. There is not one thing we could do to make God love us any more. Neither is there anything we do that can make him love us any less. He just loves us!

We must have our security deeply rooted in the knowledge of his great love for us. Instead of teaching people how to be good Christians, based on what we do, we should be reminding them of what he has done, of who we really are. Then we'll start seeing less spectating and more enthusiasm for the Kingdom of God.

Worship or worshipper?

What is God looking for... the worship or the worshipper? The first word speaks to me of 'doing' and the other word speaks to be of 'being'.

I'm amazed how easily we can be sidetracked with the 'doing' stuff when we talk about John 4:23. It even came up the other evening in our leader's meeting. All the focus was on the expression of worship, getting it right and setting a good example. Although I can't fault being a good example... that's a good thing at all times.

But God is seeking such worshippers that worship in spirit and in truth. It hasn't really got anything to do with the doing stuff. It has to do with a right understanding of our being. Phil 3:3 says that we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh. The Amplified version also adds... and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances.

I think that too often our confidence actually is in the sound being right and people looking right and sounding right. And yes, that stuff does help us but it would help better if that would flow from a revelation that the way into the presence of God is forever open because Jesus made it so with his blood, see Heb 9. Paul said it so well in Rom 12:9, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Worship is not an event. We know that. We preach that. We should remind ourselves more often of who we are in Christ, our right standing and God's great love for us. Those kinds of personal revelations, get us into a lifestyle of worhipping God that is not event driven but is just that, a style of living. And being true worshippers all the time...

It's about imbalance rather

Someone asked me a few weeks back about how I balance being a husband, father, employee, deacon and so on. I replied that I do it by being imbalanced!

The answer was rather glib and while I do live selfishly a lot, I also have this revelation that at the end of the day, life is not about me... its all about Him. All creation is there for the praise of His glory! That includes me. Now at times I choose to "blow my own trumpet"... look at me, feed me, I have approval needs, me, me, me. At other times I choose to play my role in God's band. I have a small role there but I do get to play a guitar. This band is so huge you wouldn't see me, in fact I doubt anyone wants to be seen. Rather we want to be heard playing the song that pleases God 'cos it's all about Him and we play for His glory.

As this revelation becomes clearer and takes on significance, I find the trumpet tends to stay packed away more often these days. John 3:30 says, He must become greater; I must become less or as the KJV puts it, He must increase, but I must decrease. Now that's Kingdom balance!

Having heaven on earth!

Following on from that Superman stuff... I was thinking about the state of our local church and the place that I'm currently in (emotionaly and spiritually speaking) and was reminded of my hilltop experience (literally) on the Hare Krishna farm when I decided to acknowledge my need for believing in Jesus!

There the ebb and flow of penance and joy was very real! There was weeping for sin and there was this sense of being truly alive and having breakouts of happiness and singing. The joy of redemption really does exceed any other kind of happiness!

When we have 'people troubles' I think we prefer the view that we've done everything that we should have done with those relationships and that we're in the right. It's not that we think they're wrong, although sometimes we do, it's just that their right isn't the same as our right. But even so... this attitude of self-assurance is not that of repentance.

That word 'heaven' strikes a chord with most of us... we have this deep desire for the paradise lost by Adam. Yes, the Kingdom of God is at hand but where is it? We would like a little foretaste of heaven on earth. I'm not surprised that so many people prefer heading out to the beach on a Sunday to seek that joy. They find some of it in those natural settings. Every heart longs for such. Whereas in a local church, where's the attraction? The radiance of God for most folk is just not as attractive as it is out in nature. Most folk are not in a church.

I sense a season of the call of the Word to 'Repent!' Coming back to my experience, repentance was the gateway to overflowing joy. In spite of my regrettable past, it was those acts of repentance that made the difference of the acceptance by others to me as a person. Repentance brings something of heaven down to earth. It's the very basis of the Good News. It's the gateway to the heart of the Father. I'm thinking of the prodigal son. It brings true life.
Rats... I've got a lot on my plate!

Waking up Superman!

I was reprimanded once for not leading the praise and worship time. I had my excuses but truth be told, I was physically tired. The following day my car was to go in for a service. That night I went to bed to the sound of barking dogs and it seemed that when got up to start the new day, that I'd been hearing dogs the whole night. During the ordeal I was getting pretty fussed up about the noise and was contemplating various minor evil needs that I could dish out on the animals and owners alike, and all the while losing more and more sleep and getting more and more frustrated by the noise.

Yet somewhere in that time I came to the awful conclusion that my anger was my own doing and that at the root of it all was my own pride and sin. It wasn't the barking dogs that was causing me to lose sleep. In the process of repenting, I also repented of letting my lead elder down. The significance of following my leader dawned on me in a fresh way. The import of obedience took on a new level of commitment and so easily too! I was reminded of the car going in for a service and God said that he didn't just service me... he made me brand spanking new!

For this cause we do not faint; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.
2 Cor 4:16, 5:17, Eze 36:26-27

Waking up Superman - 2

My own revival

There is a revival happening here in my head... or should that be my heart? Whatever, it's not like I expected it to. I expected revival to be like an event occurring at a time when God befittingly decides to intervene and pour out some revival juice over the land and we all go gaga for awhile. And while there may be some truth embedded in there somewhere actually revival is more like when my car is serviced.

I'm pretty sure that you've seen those '911 Emergency' TV shows where someone drowns, or is involved in an accident of some kind, chokes or has a heart attack. Then we see paramedics trying to revive the person. To be revived is to regain consciousness, is to receive new life, energy or strength, it is to be resurrected and come alive again. That is revival!

God has been challenging me recently... to this thing of obedience and faith. This is certainly not a new thought or brand new revelation. Yet... at a personal level something is going on here. I'm discovering that life is not about me.

For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels - everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Col 1:16, Rom 8:28

I like that "For everything..." verse. It is taken from the Message Bible by Eugene Peterson. There is definitely a purpose to having this created life. And while it's not about me directly yet it affects me directly and has huge - say HUGE - eternal and personal consequences.

Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
Rom 12:1-2

Again the Message Bible puts the above text like this:

Here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Waking up Superman - 3

My own makeover

My revival feels like I'm waking up from a deep sleep. Actually it feels more like a coma. Remember the story of Rip van Winkle? The big difference though is that all this time I didn't know that I was in a coma. Now I'm busy waking up for the first time... and with that comes this dullness like when you wake up from a real sleep, except the dullness in this case is my flesh. This theme of dreams is strong. I've just remembered a line from Keith Green:

Like waking up from the longest dream,
how real it seemed, until your love broke through.

It's from a song called, "Your Love Broke Through". He had a role to play in me becoming a Christian in the first place and I have a lot of his music. Anyway his quote says it so well.

Listen. If you're like me, you would've also seen those extreme makeover shows, or Oprah's makeovers or the show where someone is chased down in a mall and asked if they wanted to be made over! We always have a WOW moment when the before and after views are shown. But it really amazes me though to watch the person's reactions. As an audience we have had our big WOW and then they put the person in front of a mirror and their reaction is always one of surprise. Even in extreme makeovers where surgery is involved, the person may still have swelling or some bruising and yet when the bandages are pulled away for the first time... there is this reaction of real amazement.

My old view of myself is the one that I see daily in the mirror. My flesh is sinful. My flesh is weak. It is given to being cynical. It can be sceptical. It can be lazy. It's fat. But I am beginning to wake up and see something else for the first time. I am discovering that actually I do have a spirit... after all. I mean look at it this way: If you have never seen a thing but you know that it exists, the first time you actually see it, it is quite an experience. I remember the first time I saw New York. The first time I visited Disneyland. The first time I drank root beer! They were memorable occasions. And so while I've known about this spirit stuff the reality of it is only now beginning to dawn on me.

While my flesh may be regrettably sinful my spirit being is not! While my flesh is weak my spirit being looks like Superman! While my mind may be given to bouts of cynicism or scepticism, my heart rejoices in the freedom of knowing the truth. While my flesh might groan and moan about doing something, my spirit being is extremely enthusiastic and willing to go! Like I say, I am starting to see something that I haven't seen before.

The old me is that flesh-n-mirror view but the new me looks more like Superman!

I really don't recognise this Superman person. I'm having a hard time accepting this spirit being because he even has lots of hair and he's so big! And yes even the big S on his chest is like so over the top! And yet. I see the Father inhabiting that space. The Holy Lord God Almighty is there. I see the Son, Jesus Christ there. My Saviour, my Lord, my King and my big brother. I see the Holy Spirit in there. My personal guide, my friend and helper. On my computer I have a help system. It's available and is context sensitive to whatever I happen to be working with. That is what the Holy Spirit is like and so much more!

This new view of myself is difficult to identify with. After all I'm used to the old view and it is a lot more comfortable being a couch potato than a flying Superman. Lord of the Remote Control is way easier but even so... the flesh doesn't feel as comfortable as it used to either. I like this feeling of strength. I could get used to this for sure. I like the ability to see through things. I like the ability of flying. I like the authority of taking out the bad guys and throwing out the riff-raff. I like the ability of being able to rescue people in trouble. However my kryptonite is my flesh. When I expose my spirit being to sin it would seem to cause it to fail.

Like when... my lead elder asked me to lead one Sunday evening.

I've been doing this obedience off and on but I'm beginning to understand the significance of just doing it! Actually it is that simple - just do it! Surrender to it and play follow the leader! Like the game of 'Simple Simon Says!' And following it up with thankfulness!

Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Heb 13:7, 17

"and not with groaning..." Now that is interesting. I used to think that this implied that we shouldn't groan about having to obey our leaders. But what I pick up here is that when we obey our leaders, they watch out for us with joy, however when we don't obey, they groan and that --that is their groaning-- is therefore not to our benefit! That's a tough one for me 'cos hey... I want to profit whenever I can!

Waking up Superman - 4

What about priorities... being a Husband, Father, or Worker?

I was having this discussion with a friend over coffee at work in the week and essentially that was the question. How do I balance all these things and not burn myself out or cause some collateral damage to my family along the way?

Well it came down to these few thoughts...

Do I really believe that God is for real?
Now that may seem like a dof--short for 'dofus' as in unmistakably and plainly stupid--question but speaking for myself, had this been revelation and not simply plain old head knowledge, I would've been more accordant with advancing the Kingdom and way less fussed about me and I, all these years. But for the sake of making a point, let's assume that I do believe this. Then, do I believe that He is calling me to particular purposes? You see if I do... and if I should choose to advance the Kingdom of God and bring glory to Him --no matter where I might find myself at any given moment-- then the Kingdom of God is going to overwhelm and overtake me. It is gonna be like being in the Sahara desert when a huge dust storm comes along and blows you off your feet. The dust kind of gets up ones' nose in a really big way in those kinda circumstances!

So.
Do we prefer our comfort zones and personal spaces or are we willing to choose to suffer and be inconvenienced for Christ? Do we want to retain the option of preferring our reasons and our ways above those of our leaders? Do we want to retain the option of preferring our ways above those of Jesus when the going gets tough?

For me my personal kryptonite does get in the way and causes those regrettable episodes! But if I can just walk in the spirit I can be better than any Superman can be. Yes my flesh may moan and groan and throw a small temper tantrum on the side but my spirit will drag it nonetheless into the storm of violence and yes, advancing the Kingdom of God will get up my nose at times but I would rather endure that... than to discover one day in eternity that the quality of my life when it is tested by fire, resulted in not much more than a pile of ash.

So.
Obedience--grrr!--is the way. Having faith in God is pleasing to Him. And being thankful --not necessarily for things but-- whenever! Bringing glory to God may get up my nose in terms of suffering and inconvenience but in the context of the question of domestic and personal priorities, the balance in these matters is like everything else when discussing God's ways compared to man's ways, actually there is no balance... it's rather an imbalance! I must decrease so that He can increase!

It's not about me after all!
And yet everything God has designed and made, is made with me in mind and when my life is tested on that day, I want to see as little ash as possible frmo that judgement fire and I want to hear God say, "Well done... come in...!" Let me end with another line from that Keith Green song...

I've been lost in a fantasy,
that blinded me, until your love broke through!