Your life is NOT too messed up for Jesus

In the genealogy of Jesus recorded in Matthew we encounter a bunch of very interesting details--let me just highlight one:

Matthew 1:6b -- "David (that is King David) was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah..."

Did you catch that???
Do you recall the story?

If  you don't know it--in short, King David saw a naked woman, thought to himself "I gotta have her" so he did...well she was married, got pregnant, things got messy so King David KILLED her husband and took her as his own.  Her husband was this man "Uriah".  And from his wife that King David took--Solomon was born.  Yikes right!?  Talk about a mess!

What's the point?

Not only did Solomon become the wisest and richest King in Israel's history--but more significantly--out of this mess of sin the line of King David continued down to the birth of JESUS!

Isn't it amazing that God allowed his own Son to be born through such dysfunction and sin?? (and this is just one example from the genealogy)  Even through all the mess that people made--God still accomplished His purpose of sending His Son in order to redeem us and rescue us from the sin and mess that WE created.

So what might this mean to you?

Maybe you've looked at how messed up your life is and you think--"God could never accomplish anything good out of this"... Don't believe that lie!  No matter how much of a mess your life might be--it is right into the middle of that mess that Jesus wants to come to bring healing, restoration and to transform you for His glory and for the benefit of His Kingdom!

Will you let Him?  Will you invite Him into your life--mess and all--and say "Jesus can you work with this?  Can you do something with my mess of a life?"  I promise you His answer will be YES!

How is your breathing?

I've been using an meditation app to help me find more focused meditation and times of quiet.  For 10 minutes it helps me focus my mind and body.  I have found it quite useful as often my "quiet times" lack times of actual listening and quiet.  I read, journal, "pray to" ... but often in the busyness of MY doing, I fail to just stop and let God speak, or simply just be still in His presence.

Today, as I focused on my breathing...and was told to count my breath in and out as I naturally breathe I heard the Spirit begin to speak.  He simply said that He was the breath I breathed in, and every breath I breathed out He was flowing out.

So, I did something silly.
I thought well if the Spirit is the breath I want to just take the deepest breath I possibly can!  So I breathed in and in and in and in....until I couldn't....I sorta felt like I was going to pass out.

It got me thinking about how we treat our "spiritual life", in comparison to how God wants it to be.

Sometimes our spiritual life is a bunch of detached moments of "big gulps" of air....which we then hold in while we go about life and can come up for another big gulp of something spiritual.

But that's not how natural breathing works.  While there was more air for me to gulp in...I could not because I lacked the capacity.  Likewise, holding my breath in is not good either--It causes me to quickly tire and live quite frantically.  (Like the feeling of holding your breath for as long as you can under water...in those last few moments before popping up to the surface your chest is burning and and the body screaming for air!)  I feel like that's how we live life sometimes.

But here is what God wants:  He wants us to breathe naturally.  Every single breath in and out is to be 'spiritual'...so that there is no divide between the "normal" and the "spiritual".  God wants to be constantly filling us, and moving through us in the most natural of ways.  He wants us to experience more than just "big gulps" of His life every so often--He wants to be as natural a part of our lives as breathing is.

So today, I'm going to try be more conscious that the Spirit is breathing in and out of me in the natural rhythms of my life.  I am going to remember that I don't need to frantically live in my strength until the next "big gulp"...because He is breathing in and out with every breath that I take!

An Orchard of Poles

Imagine someone wanted to have an orchard full of delicious fruit; They had a beautiful piece of land with great soil, but rather than planting fruit trees they just hammered metal poles into the ground.  Each day they went out to their orchard and they watered those poles and looked at them with great care...they did this for years, until finally they became so frustrated by their fruitless orchard that they cursed at the ground and abandoned their hope for fruit.

Ridiculous isn't it?  To fill a fertile land with metal poles and expect fruit is about as crazy as you can get.  Agreed?  If so, think about this verse with me:

"They (God's people) have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols."  (Jeremiah 16:18b)

You see, God's people ARE God's inheritance/heritage (See Deut 32:9).  In the New Testament we are told that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit--that the Spirit dwells in us (1 Cor 6:19).  Jesus Himself said that He came to give us "Life Abundant" (Jn 10:10) and that by His Life in us He would bear fruit through us (John 15).  In other words Christians are meant to be a people filled with LIFE by the Spirit of God--and therefore EXPERIENCING life and fruitfulness through the Spirit.

Yet, I'd be a rich man if I had a dollar for every Christian I've spoken with who complains about the "lifelessness" of the Christian faith, and how they don't hear from God nor experience His power.  Think about that---a people meant to be defined by "Life Abundant" and the Spirit of God dwelling in them, complaining about lifelessness!  Have you ever done that?  I know I have.

Jeremiah points to a problem that I think is prevalent among Christians -- "They have filled My inheritance with the lifelessness of their detestable and abhorrent idols."  Now before you reject that about yourself and say "I don't have any idols!" (just because you don't have a literal orchard of metal poles--remember an idol is anything that takes your love and devotion away from God); stop and think about what you fill your life with.  Are you daily seeking to be filled up by the Spirit...or is your life full of things that actually do not give life?  Are you giving yourself to God for His work and His Kingdom---or are you expecting God to aid you in your work for your own "kingdom"?

If we are feeling lifeless--God is not the problem--we are.  He has told us that by His Spirit we can be like a tree that bears fruit always--EVEN DURING DROUGHT!  (Jeremiah 17:8)  Did you catch that?  Even when heat comes, and life gets hard -- we can still bear fruit and enjoy the Life of the Spirit!  But if we fill our lives with lifelessness rather than allowing the Spirit to fill us with His life, we should not expect to experience the life of the Spirit when we give Him no room nor permission to move in our lives.

So the question for us all:  What is keeping you from experiencing the life and fruitfulness of the Spirit within you?  What are the "metal poles" that you have stuck into your life that need to be removed so that the Spirit can have room to work and bear fruit?

Psalm 63:1-2-- Reflection -- w/ 7 tips to hear from God.

My hope is that you can use this small reflection to help you seek the depths of God's Presence!

"God, You are my God;"
           Pause and ask yourself if what you declare by reading this line is true for you?  Is God really YOUR GOD?  In other words, Does He have control of your life?  Is he the one who guides and directs your paths?  Take some time to invite Him to fill you and guide you today!

"I earnestly seek You.  
I thirst for You; 
my body faints for You in a dry and desolate land without water."
           This declaration is what naturally follows the first IF indeed the first is true for us.  If God is really OUR GOD, than what else would we seek besides HIM?  Pause and ask the Spirit to examine the longings of your heart...don't just assume they are for God...If you find your heart divided, and the "natural longing" of your heart right now is NOT for God, then take some prolonged time to do what the next line instructs...(if your heart IS longing for God -- what is next will come more naturally)

"So I gaze on You in the sanctuary to see Your strength and Your glory."
           If God is not the longing of your heart then chances are you have not spent a lot of time doing what this verse says lately.  Maybe you're reading your Bible regularly and praying for people and trying to "do your best" to live a good Christian life.  But when have you last stopped just to GAZE at GOD in order to behold His strength and glory?

The question for most is HOW?  How do I gaze at God? (meditate on Him, be still in His Presence)  It all sounds wonderful--but for any who have tried we all know how easily our minds get distracted by our own thoughts and things around us.  But my friends, don't give up--keep pressing into God's presence--learn to gaze at Him and dwell with Him more and I promise He will speak, and He will surely reveal more and more of His power and glory to you--and more and more of His faithful love and tenderness!

Here are some helpful things that I have used as I continue to learn to "gaze at God" more:

-Invite the Holy Spirit to take over -- submit yourself to Him, ask Him to help you.

-WRITE -- I find writing down my thoughts and what I feel I'm hearing from God incredibly helpful.

-Jot down distracting thoughts --- I also keep a piece of paper near me to jot down "distracting thoughts" that come into my mind so that I can stop thinking about them because I know I can return to them later.  This for me has been incredibly helpful in getting rid of the "noise" of my task oriented mind.

-Use Scripture to focus on God.  Look up a short passage that describes or speaks of God--meditate on that passage to help you focus.

-Surroundings.  Position yourself in a place that is conducive to being still and reflective.  For me it's different at times.  Being in nature is helpful, or at the very least being somewhere quiet where the chances of interruption is minimal.  Find the place that works for YOU.

-PRACTICE --- sometimes your attempts will be frustrating and feel "in vain", but keep "practicing"--"practice gazing at God until it is no longer an exercise but a natural rhythm of your life"

-Share the journey with others --- share the experience in groups, and have people you can talk to about what you are experiencing in your personal times.


Below is a quote from AB Simpson about his experience of seeking God's presence:

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Then came the conflict of thoughts for tomorrow, and its duties and cares; but God said, “Be still.”

And as I listened, and slowly learned to obey, and shut my ears to every sound, I found after a while that when the other voices ceased, or I ceased to hear them, there was a still small voice in the depths of my being that began to speak with an inexpressible tenderness, power and comfort.

As I listened, it became to me the voice of prayer, the voice of wisdom, the voice of duty, and I did not need to think so hard, or pray so hard, or trust so hard; but that “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit in my heart was God’s prayer in my secret soul, was God’s answer to all my questions, was God’s life and strength for soul and body, and became the substance of all knowledge, and all prayer and all blessing: for it was the living GOD Himself as my life, my all.

You can find Simpson's full account of his experience HERE

The Harvester

The above picture is called "the Harvester" by LeMoine FitzGerald of the "Group of Seven".  Today as I sat in my office praying, and was trying to "enter God's presence", God gently reminded me that while I was always welcome "to come to His Throne" -- that in fact He is always right here with me--even right now in my office.

At this reminder I boldly said--"O Lord I want to see and feel You tangibly HERE"...and I waited...soon I started to feel like I had no real idea what I was looking for...but I had a sense that God wanted me to keep waiting with my eyes open -- more time past and I felt less and less confident that I would encounter anything "supernatural"... then my eyes came to this picture which is on my calendar.  It's not the first time I looked at it, nor the first time I read the title of that painting -- but this time when I did my breath caught in my throat and I knew God was pressing in and speaking.

Just the other day I past a couple farmers, drenched in sweat from baling hay all day--and I recalled my teen years when I worked on farms, and among other things had to help with loading and unloading hay during the harvest--it is HARD WORK!  But it is also satisfying work for you get to see the bounty of the harvest pile up in front of you--and the better the harvest, the harder you need to work.

For the past 8 months I have tried every single day to pray the prayer that Jesus told us to pray in Luke 10:2--"The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.  Therefore, PRAY to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."  Right after this Jesus then says to His disciples: "Now go; I am sending you out like lambs among wolves."

(my alarm on my phone has just gone off--10:02am -- to remind me to pray that very prayer again!)

Here is the point I want Christians to hear -- especially my church family of Crossings:

Jesus said the harvest is ABUNDANT.  In fact in Acton, already many years ago we have had people who have seen visions of Acton as a golden wheat field; and other visions of people crying out to Jesus in the streets of Acton!  The Harvest is ready and it is abundant!

But are the workers ready?  Are the workers willing to put in the hard work that the harvest requires?

Remember, the more abundant the harvest the harder the work that is to be done--BUT--don't miss this--the greater the harvest the more abundant the JOY of the work.

God has called us into HIS harvest to be co-labourers with Him!  Dear Christian will you put on your work clothes, walk out into the harvest field and work hard?  Are you willing to sweat and feel the sting of the hard work of harvesting?  Are you willing even to be like a sheep among wolves?

It is time!  The harvest is abundant --- where are the workers?  Where are the ones willing to give themselves to the Mission God is calling us into?  Are you watching from the edge of the field?

There are long hard hours of harvest ahead -- it will not be easy -- BUT -- there will be GREAT JOY at the harvest -- and the Spirit will fill His workers with abundant provision for all that we need!   All the hard work will be more than worth it!

PRACTICAL WAYS TO START:

-Pray -- perhaps you want to join me in setting your alarm for 10:02am every day to remind you to pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send labourers.

-Pray for open doors and opportunity to share the gospel -- and go into each day expectantly

-Join other workers so you can work alongside -- encouraging each other, praying together, strengthening each other and spurring each other on.  (Crossings folks -- in the fall -- join a "Missional Community" to learn with others how to live out the mission in the everyday stuff of life!)

-As Jesus said -- "Now Go..."  --- get out there -- you may not know exactly how to do what you need to do--But once you are in the field, especially along with others, you will quickly learn -- but you need to "GO" -- you cannot harvest from the sidelines!

Exploiting the Vulnerable

Today I was rocked by a couple videos on a couple different subjects.

The first was a video about pornography and the affect it has on the brain and the harm it is causing in our society.  I was deeply troubled by the facts presented about how the sex industry exploits the vulnerable in our society.

The second video is one probably many of you have now seen--or at least have seen trending (and maybe are avoiding!).  It is the latest video exposing some of the practices of Planned Parenthood.  Again, my soul agonized at the ease with which our society discounts the rights of the most vulnerable for the desires of those who have the ability to wield their power over the vulnerable.

Both of these videos, while containing unique and important issues (that I will not address here)  pointed to one common disturbing trend in our society -- the exploitation of the vulnerable.

For a society that gets all up in arms over animal rights -- and is very vocal about our personal rights and freedoms -- it is frightening how quickly those same voices don't seem to grant the same rights and freedoms to those whom they somehow deem as having "less rights than themselves".

This is not new --- history going back thousands of years points to the repeated pattern of "powerful humans" exploiting "vulnerable humans" and using whatever means they needed to justify their actions.

As a Christian this is an especially important trend to pay attention to as God has always been One who sought the care of the "poor, needy and marginalized" --- When Israel was rebuked by their Prophets one of the re-occurring things that was rebuked was the exploitation of the poor!  (**note that "God's people" were not exempt from this shameful exploitation -- repeatedly, right into the Christian Church in the New Testament, God's people at times had to be rebuked and corrected because they started to overlook the vulnerable)

When Jesus walked the earth--He had harsh words for the rich who exploited the poor but extended incredible compassion to the vulnerable.  The Apostles continued this emphasis and one of the marks of the early Christian faith that the world found so intriguing was that "none among them were in need".  And this teaching continued as over and over Paul, Peter, James and others taught Christians to make sure that the poor, the orphaned and the widows (the most vulnerable) received special care.

Perhaps the Church is in need of another reminder of our responsibility to look after the most vulnerable!  Both these cases (Abortion and Pornography) exemplify our societies justification of  "the powerful human" exploiting the "vulnerable human". (The rights of one trump the rights of other)

Simply ask yourself this:  Is the life of an unborn child not of just as great of value as your own? (What about the life of an aborted baby who still has a heartbeat?)  Is the life of a woman sold and exploited for sex not of just as great of value as any other human?  (I watched another documentary a while back on how we get such cheap clothes by exploiting humans in other parts of the world-- Are they of the same inherent value as you?)

The actions of our wider culture say NO.  Somehow the value of one human becomes greater than another.

However, the Gospel says ALL HUMAN LIFE IS OF GREAT VALUE!.   As broken and depraved as humanity is, even at the core of our nature, God determined by His love that we were still worth saving.  The gospel is good news extended to ALL PEOPLE that brings forgiveness and life to all who will come to Jesus. -- The gospel declares that all of humanity is loved and valued by God.  Therefore those who live by the gospel ought to live in a way that sees ALL LIFE of great and equal value.

Dear Christian -- let the gospel change you and cause you to rise up and defend the vulnerable just as Christ rescued you when you were weak and powerless in sin.

Dear friend who does not yet know Jesus --You are loved already, you are valued even if you have no regard at this moment for God -- He does not abandon, and He will not abort the mission of making known His profound love for you through Jesus!

below is the link to the video on the effects of pornography.  The other video I'm sure you can find trending in cyberspace!

The Porn Pandemic

The Documentary on cheap clothing and its true cost can be found here.

Return to MILK!

One of the most misunderstood and misused metaphors used by a lot of well-intentioned Christians is the metaphor of "solid food vs milk".

I am not going to go into the fact that solid food is NOT more complex theological studies--but rather a life changed by the gospel and shaped by obedience (happy to talk in person to anyone about that!)

Rather the focus of this post is to call us back to GOOD MILK!  In the mix of Christians talking about wanting "solid food", "milk" has gotten a bad rap...However listen to what Peter says to a group of Christians:

"DESIRE the unadulterated spiritual MILK..." (1 Peter 2:2)

What is this milk?  It's Jesus Himself!

"...coming to Him, a living stone..."  (1 Peter 2:4)

Peter's point to a people who are already saved, and increasing in knowledge and holy living is that they should never give up their infant like dependency on the pure milk of Jesus...for Peter says it is by this milk that we "may grow by it in salvation" (2:2b)

So what's my point...why I am I bothering posting this?

Somehow, somewhere along the line a lot of Christians (myself included) fall into a peculiar trap--we start to act as if we must do more for God and prove ourselves "mature" and worthy of "solid food", and we view the simple, pure, unadulterated intimacy that we have with Jesus through the gospel as "beneath us"...or at least, in our past as we have moved on to "deeper things"!

Here is the problem -- without ongoing, continual intimacy with Jesus, we cannot and will not accomplish anything worthy of being called glorifying to Him...we will pile up "good works" that are nothing but "filthy rags" in His sight (google "Isaiah filthy rags and good works" if this reference doesn't make sense to you!)

So if you are like me, and all too often have started trying to pull up your boot straps to "do more for God"...I invite you to STOP and come back like an infant who longs for pure milk -- come back and enjoy "your first love" (see Revelation 2:4) ... You are never "too mature" or beyond the pure, unadulterated spiritual milk of intimacy with Jesus -- it is GOOD and we are meant to ALWAYS drink of it (Him) -- for He is Living Water (or milk if you will!) and true life is only found as we drink deep of HIM!

If you struggle to find this kind of intimacy -- you are not alone -- don't over complicate your approach to Jesus -- He is not needing you to prove anything, but only to seek Him!  (I'd love to talk in person to anyone wanting to discover more about what ongoing intimacy with Jesus looks like -- you can walk alongside with me as I discover it more and more for myself!)