The Gospel of the Kingdom

Luke 16:16, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached…”

If I have a calling in life as a minister it is to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God. And yet to the modern church, even though this was Christ message, the good news of the kingdom of God is largely a vague term in modern Christianity. Perhaps it is because understanding the kingdom of God is preceded by the cross, and the cross is nothing less than complete surrender of our life to Christ. All of which sounds painful and full of suffering; and to share that with Christ is completely contrary to everything in us that is human.

I suppose it is natural to want the gospel of the kingdom to be about position, power, influence, and comfort. But it is more about equality, powerless without Christ, being influenced by the Holy Spirit, and peace far and above over comfort of circumstance.

People that enter into the kingdom of God – a part of Christian life here and now – are well acquainted with surrender. They are in constant relationship with Christ and an ever increasing awareness of that. They are increasing in faith daily as they not only understand but live knowing God is in control. Richard Rohr describes these people as possessing a “calm freedom and synchronized playfulness.” Kingdom people live in the moment and the day alert and aware of God moving, hoping to jump or move at His command. These same people have no agenda other than God’s. No plans that He cannot interrupt. Their life may look “normal” or it may look “out there” but for certain when you encounter them they will unconsciously impact your life. They live not for glory, or a pat on the back, but they live for Christ and that relationship. I could continue, but the ultimate summation is that kingdom people look and act more and more like Christ every day.

And so here is the good news of the kingdom of God. It is here and available to you right now. Want to live in the fruit of the Holy Spirit and not just occasionally experience it? The beginning is surrender. Surrender your plans, your dreams, your desires, your will, all of you to Christ. Ask to see His kingdom. Ask to experience His kingdom. Ask to know the truth. Or as many have prayed before, simply “Have your will Lord.” Thy will be done. From that moment on you will be asked, compelled and brought to surrender.

Some might ask, what is going on? Why is my life in this turmoil? It is God requiring your surrender. I asked God to be Lord of my life and now this storm… why? Because He requires that you learn to sleep in the storms before you will ever speak to them and still them. Surrender is total trust in God. TOTAL trust… nothing less. And everywhere you do not trust in God a crisis of faith will occur to show you this place. And with each increase in faith the kingdom becomes clearer and clearer until you reach a point in this surrender through the crisis of faith process that you almost welcome the next crisis because you know behind it is clear spiritual vision, a clearer view of the kingdom of God, and a new closeness to God.

That is the good news of the kingdom of God.  

Paid as Agreed

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the FREE GIFT is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I was watching a video the other day on how a credit score in the US is calculated. No one knows the exact formula except for the Fair Isaac Corporation, but the speaker summarized the scoring processes as a risk assessment tool based on whether or not you pay as agreed. Every time you do not pay as agreed then your score comes down. And among the many things this made me think about one was that “Jesus paid the price for my sin.”

I thought about how cool it was to think that accepting Christ as Savior means I have an 850 spiritual credit score. As I thought further I wondered who He paid, and what did He pay for, and if paid at all do I now owe Him. I thought about the Christian song, Jesus Paid it All. Did Christ purchase my debt like a collection agency might purchase a bad credit card debt?

The truth is that there was no “debt.” There was a sentence of death hanging over me. A convicted murderer sentenced to death cannot buy his way off death row. That same criminal cannot send someone in substitute and walk free. But with God all things are possible.

This sin and death entered humanity by the sin of one man Adam. And life too returned to humanity through one man Christ because He had known no sin. Therefore death could not hold Him or have rights over Him because He had no sin. In other words Christ defeated death, and in doing so offered us the same eternal life as a free gift to believing in Him.

Unlike a balance of payments, Christ delivering us from death is free. This is not a collection that is later paid. This is a wiping of the sin complete off the spiritual credit report as if it never occurred. Or debts were not paid! Our sins were forgiven! There is a big, big difference. The question is, what will we do with this free gift?

Will we use it to approach God and ask for, and engage in relationship? Will we accept this free gift, or go about trying to earn something that cannot be paid for? Will we condemn others for their mistakes when we ourselves have been given the priceless gift of eternal life after and before committing those mistakes ourselves?

In the end Jesus did not pay a thing, but rather did what we could not do… namely live sin free from birth to death on this earth. It was love that from that point the Father allowed us to share in His eternal life as a free gift. A gift opened in believing in Him.

In fact the same song that says Christ paid the price for me also says He washed my sins away. The truth that I read in my bible is He became my sins, and those sins went to the cross, but now I live in Christ. In fact, the washing comes from US not Christ according to Revelation 7:14, “they have washed their robes…” it says. Not Christ.

I will close with this. In Christ your sins, past, present, and future were destroyed on the cross 2000 years ago. Death is a non-event, but eternal life is to those who will believe in Him. The washing of the robes, the becoming godly, holy, or whatever spiritual term you would like to use is nothing more to me than "surrender." This washing is surrender in relationship to God and becoming alive and aware in His kingdom.

Murmuration & Community

Acts 14:27, “When they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all thing that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

For those few who read this blog along with Jim Spivey’s blog you might think that I have “borrowed” from his inspiration. But the truth is that this is actually an incredible example of murmuration and community as God has designed it.

For those who don’t read Jim’s blog daily at rcdailyjournal.blogspot.com let me say that murmuration is a made up word to describe Starlings as they move in syncopation and the sound they make while doing it. But for those of us who are in community with Jim it is that ever present moving of the Holy Spirit in unison with other individuals that creates this dramatic artwork of the presence of God through our individual surrender that manifests as a collective masterpiece. Said simply, it is the confirmation the Holy Spirit is moving individually by seeing the same beautiful movement in others. Murmuration is what happens in the community that is the living church when the individuals are Kingdom minded.

For me community is a collection of individuals that are gathered based on common ground or passion. Neighbors are community because of where they live. The dog club I belong to is a community based on a passion for a specific breed. Church congregations are usually communities based on worship style, pastoral access, teaching style, and ancillary services. “The Church” is community based on Christ, and even within that grand community there as sub-communities of people with specialized passions.

So this idea of community in concert with murmuration becomes a fulfillment of Christ at work in His church as we see in Acts. Gatherings of people reporting of God working in and through them, or as is often the case of Jim Spivey’s Love Machine & Iwo Jima… reporting what God is doing TO them. As a result the “community” and its murmuration supports the individual, it gives some sanity and empathy to the process of surrender. Community and murmuration encourages the journey deeper into the Kingdom of God. And most importantly to me it adds to the experience of being in relationship to the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

When you commit to walk with Christ there are automatically challenges that are ever present testing and perfecting your faith. Belonging to the real “Church,” which is all those in Christ, and sharing the experience of Him; help us to see what God is doing in this beautiful spiritual concert of different instruments finding the same key and rhythm. When you find this community, and when you experience this murmuration you begin to see the Kingdom clearly. You begin to discover those people Richard Rohr wrote about, and whom I count Jim Spivey a living example.

Richard Rohr wrote, "I hope you've met at least one Kingdom person in your life.  They are fully-surrendered people.  You sense that life is more than OK, at their core, under all their surface-level experiences.  They have given control to Another and are at peace, trusting the work He is doing within them vs. whatever they might be doing or enduring on the outside.  A Kingdom person lives for what truly matters, and lives in a mysterious sense of wonder, as the Kingdom keeps showing up all around them, for they live life in its deepest sense and claim the freedom to simply observe it in a state of awe.  There's a kind of gentle absolutism about their lifestyle, a kind of calm freedom and synchronized playfulness.  Kingdom people feel like grounded yet extravagantly spacious people.  Whatever they are after, they already seem to be in the process of enjoying it - seeing it unfolding constantly in the most unlikely places.  Kingdom people make you want to be like them and to be with them.  Kingdom people are anchored in and animated by their awareness of God's Love deep within them."

So here’s to becoming anchored and animated in the awareness of God and His deep love. Here is to complete surrender so that we too can mumurate.

Death

Psalms 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.”

I've been thinking about death a lot lately. My brother in law passing at the untimely age of 50 is instrumental to those thoughts. Then my great uncle Pete passed away this morning (11/26/12) in a very brief battle with cancer.

I didn't know Pete well. In fact, I can’t even tell you how Pete even became short for Joseph Bartholow. But for years he has been a regular fixture at the family holiday gatherings. 

Pete was a staunch liberal. I imagine a card carrying democrat that certainly probably blended in much better in Chicago or the Eastern seaboard than in Houston, Texas. And in spite of our best efforts Pete never lost that Yankee twang. 

I can’t tell you what religion he was, if any at all. Though it is absolutely true that he discovered the Truth today. As we all will when we are face to face with God and His Son.

If I were the judge of Pete’s life, which I am not, I would find him to be a good soul. In fact, I have never seen or heard of any malice in his life. I can tell you that I did see his love of my uncle John and his daughter. He appeared tolerant of polar opposite political views. And so in that I could see and observe on  a limited basis there appeared to be no grotesque character flaw, while simultaneously observing acts of love I would say, that to me… Pete was in his way godly. And therefore his passing today was precious in the sight of the Lord.

Did Pete make heaven? I have no idea. For me, had a believed what Pete seemed to believe I personally would not have expected to make heaven. But for each of us God has to reveal Himself. And it is God who is responsible for our salvation. It is God through His Holy Spirit that is responsible for convicting us, and for shaping us. It is God that has to bring us to the cross. And it is God who hast to make Christ in us.

I don’t know Pete’s eternal fate. But since he never judged me in my overwhelming difference I choose not to judge him. I choose to hope the truth, if even in the final moment, set him free. I choose to believe that God’s love is so great that He made a way for Pete even though the way He has made for me looks completely different.

God’s will be done, and God bless Uncle Pete.

And then in murmuration to this I read this from my favorite Catholic Priest Henri Nouwen. He wrote,"Our mortal bodies, flesh and bones, will return to the earth.  As the writer of Ecclesiastes says:  'Everything goes to the same place, everything comes from  the dust, everything returns to the dust' (Ecclesiastes 3:20).  Still, all that we have lived in our bodies will be honored in the resurrection, when we receive new bodies from God.

What sorts of bodies will we have in the resurrection?  Paul sees our mortal bodies as the seeds for our resurrected bodies:   'What you sow must die before it is given new life; and what you sow is not the body that is to be, but only a bare grain, of wheat I dare say, or some other kind; it is God who gives it the sort of body that he has chosen for it, and for each kind of seed its own kind of body' (1 Corinthians 15:36-38).  We will be as unique in the resurrection as we are in our mortal bodies, because God, who loves each of us in our individuality, will give us bodies in which our most unique relationship with God will gloriously shine."

It's Ok to Hate Me

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me…”

There is a place in this thing called surrender where we have to come to the place that it is ok for people, even those whom we truly love, to hate us. If we walk with Christ long enough, and close enough, our faith and commitment to the cross will be tested. Our confession that we share with Paul of having died with Christ on the cross will come under fire. If we claim to share Christ's cup, then we will face those who appear to “hate” us. Not because they do hate us, but because they hated Christ. For that matter… because we hated Christ.

Christ was nailed to a cross because of hatred. It was our sins He bore there, and it was in many ways also our hatred that hung Him there. And so we will share in that experience. The question is, what will we do with it?

My tendency is to defend myself; and if not defending myself, then to deflect with blame. But Christ never did this. For me if someone wants to hate on me, my natural tendency is to resort to intimidation. How can I mentally, emotionally, or physically intimidate the hater? They don’t have to love me, but by all means they are not allowed to hate me.

But it’s ok to hate me. At least that is what I am telling myself today. It ok to hate me, and I don’t have to eliminate them from my life. Just because they hate does not mean I have to stop loving. Isn't this the example that Christ gave us?

If the hate is directed at the part of me that is imperfect or not Christ like… that’s ok. If the hate is directed at the part of me is Christ like… that’s ok too. Either way the hate is not directed at me because I am neither Christ nor the imperfection.

So if someone wants to hate me, I am here to say, “It’s ok to hate me.” Or at least that is what I am telling myself. 

What a Difference a Year Make

Luke 17:15-16 , “Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him…”

For Thanksgiving 2012 I choose to praise and thank God for all that He has done in the past year.

I thank God that this blog, an act of obedience and the ministry God has given me has reached nearly 13000 in 62 countries.

I thank God for an awesome wife who teaches me about loving on a daily basis, and who is a phenomenal partner and my definition of a soul mate.

I thank God for all my children being healthy and for His clear and ever present pulling and direction in their life. That like me, He is causing all things to work together for them as well.

I thank God for being employed as a year ago I was not.

I thank Him for my Dad’s return to health and surviving a quadruple by-pass.

I thank Him for the strength he has brought to my sister, nephews, and niece in the loss of a husband and a father.

I thank God for my books that He gave me to write and that I now see published.

God thank you for the numerous financial miracles in the past year that are literally too many to name.

Thank you God for opening your Kingdom up further to me.

Thank you God for family, for friends, for the good times, and for the bad. Thank you for teaching me to feast on life as I pursue You. I love you so much and cannot wait to see what good You have planned for me in 2013.

The Bridge Between Obey & Honoring Your Parents

Ephesians 6:1-2, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your Father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise),”

In the Iwo Jima meeting yesterday Jim Spivey made a statement in context of the conversation. He said, “The bridge between obey your parents and honor your parents is rejection.” And this statement is so true. Perhaps not as true with girls as it is boys, but there seems to be the state when a boy transitions to a man that parents by necessity must be rejected.

Of course this rejection comes in various forms. It could be subtle and painless or extreme and painful. But in the end we all transition away from obedient children to hopefully honoring adults. The bridge between may occur seamlessly short or endlessly long. The distance of this bridge is probably dependent upon both parties participation. If only the child rejects and the parents hangs on... then the bridge gets longer and more turbulent.

Think about it. As parents we are here completely imperfect. Never intentionally malicious, using the most of our intellect and emotion to hopefully shape a child to be a productive, self-sufficient member of society that will be “ok” in life. Our primary tool in this sculpting our children are rules created in what we hope is love. But those “rules” are imperfect. They some of the time are created in fear instead of love. Or worse, they carried over in some senseless, unconscious tradition. The rules that when questioned why can only be responded with “because that’s the way it has always been done” or “just because.” Our children being so close to us see the hypocrisy in it all. We lay down rules we have no intention of following ourselves.

Compound this with our children also pick up on our coping mechanisms and short cuts to life. If we yell because we are incapable of reasonable argument then they become yellers. If as men we rely on intimidation to gain control, then we produce little intimidation mirrors. If we are frivolous with money, our children tend to be as well. And so because we duplicate ourselves both intentionally and unintentionally in our children there has to be the tear away.

Spiritually a child is largely a reflection of us, and therefore imperfect. But as a man or woman they have to for themselves begin the process of being conformed into the image of Christ. The child must reject us as supreme authority because we are imperfect. Only after rejecting all that we as parents are can a child transition to a spiritual adult as they seek and come into relation with the Perfect Father, and the Perfect Child/Son. And only after coming into this relationship with God, and seeing how their very best efforts are also failure; does the honoring of parents come into play. When they share our experience, then they can appreciate and honor us as parents.

Until the child can truly be spiritually responsible for themselves having rejected their parents’ responsibility and choices; do they have the opportunity to truly look back and see that what we did, how we raised them was the best we had to offer at the time given our own spiritual condition.

In many ways I wish Christian tradition celebrated this the way Jewish tradition does in the Bar Mitzvah. The Bar Mitzvah is the celebration of this bridge. And we as parents need to come to a place of accepting this transition, recognizing this transition, and participating in this transition by not-participating. There is a time where we as parents have got to let go, stop with the rules, and allow our children to discover for themselves their purpose and their unique relationship to God.

All of which gives new meaning to Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” We as parents teach… then they grow old (crossing the bridge)… until it all comes full circle and they honor us by not departing from the little bit or truth and all the love we poured into them. Aren’t you glad for the bridge? If you’re a parent do you really want your child to grow up and be like you? And not just the you that you want to be, but the real you with all your fears, and worries, and stress? Or do you want your child to grow up and not have all the bad, but have the joy and peace?

Thank you Lord for that bridge!

Selah

Be Used By God

Mark 10:36-40, “And He (Jesus) said to them, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?’ They said to Him, ‘We are able.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on My right or My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for who it has been prepared.”

To me a modern day version of this story might go something like, ‘God use me for Your glory. Use me and let something big come out of it. Use me so I get a high reward.’ The problem with this is that God hears more than the words. He hears the purity of heart and the true reason behind the request. Is the desire the reward, or is the desire to show love in obedience? Do we want to be “used” to travel the world and control a multi-million dollar ministry, or are we content with seeming fruitless obedience to God with no financial rewards? Do we want to be “used” so that men will recognize who WE are, or do we want to be used so that others recognize Jesus?

When we say, God use me, we do not know what we are asking. But it is with certainty that the prayer will be met with His cup and His baptism. Christ’s cup of the cross and His baptism by fire is the answer to the request of being used by God.  We too often mean use us as some kind of manipulation to convince God He should intervene in our life with limitless physical happiness and possessions, but God as love is about eternal blessings, and those are far different from anything that can be purchased or made by human hands. Being used by God does not mean wealth. It does not mean a congregation. Being used by God is not being appointed leader of the group. Being used is being asked to be the servant. Being used is to be constantly put in positions where only faith provides an answer.

Jim Spivey wrote, “we are so wired to ‘perform for results’ of our own desire and understanding. I (we) don’t get to do that. He has made it crystal clear to me that He will ‘pay me to be Jim,’ and that He will ‘use me for my benefit,’ as He carries out His plan… He will grow and mature me, and what He is doing with others is His and their business. I don’t get to do this in an aloof fashion, or act all elevated about it; instead, I am humbled every day by the sheer unpredictability of it all…”

If you think "use me" will get you a place of spiritual or earthly position then you are as mistaken as James and John asking for the position of Christ’s right (and left) hand men.  No, a prayer of use me starts a process of God using you to benefit yourself. You being used is everything ungodly rubbing against everything godly until He has polished you for His pleasure. Even a call to be a minister would be for YOUR benefit far and above any benefit to a congregation. 

I will close with Oswald Chambers on the same subject. His scripture reference was John 21:21-23.  When we come to the place that we think our “being used” is for someone else, or why isn't that person doing what we are Oswald says this, “One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize… that it is interfering with God’s plans for others… and then God says, ‘What is it to you?’… You will possibly find it is because you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. (God use me so I can be the one in control) When you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit. YOUR PART IS TO MAINTAIN THE RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD… “

This is being used by God… to be in constant relationship with Him.

Oswald goes on, “Most of us live only within the level of consciousness – consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. (and disconnected all other times) This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not YET living the REAL Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally SURRENDERED to God that we are not even aware of being used Him… A saint is never consciously  a saint – a saint is consciously dependent on God.”

Want to be used by God, then you will drink Christ’s cup and experience His baptism and the only way to do either of those is surrendered and in constant contact with the Father. He must hold your hand through it all.

Selah

Psalms 4:4, “Tremble, and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon you bed, and be still. Selah

Selah means roughly to stop and listen. So today I am going to practice that, and the song attached is what I am feeling in my spirit. 

Seeing the Future

Jeremiah 29:11, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”

Did you know that there are 16000 + Bible based religions or sects registered with the IRS? And of those 16000 different “denominations” though most consider themselves non-denominational, there is a part that are often referred to as Evangelical or Full Gospel. And within this subset of Christianity there are those that believe in prophesy and the prophetic.

Now before the blog appears to bash that group I will say that I do believe there are “Prophets” alive on the earth today because it is scriptural. I believe in prophecy because the New Testament calls it a spiritual gift. But I do not believe that God intends us to know the future in any great detail other than He “causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him.” (Romans 8:28)

Why do we want to know the future? Would it helps us to trust God more? Would it help us through the challenges of today? And if we knew it, would we continue towards it, particularly if that future included tragedy in any of its many forms?

Why is it when a “prophet” give an individual a “prophecy” it is always something good? Did you know I have several prophecies that I have been given written down and collected? All wonderful about how blessed I will be. (and I am, but not as they predicted) Prophecies of a great ministry. (Which I have, but not any form forecasted). Am I blind to the outcomes? Were the “prophets” wrong? It there still those to be fulfilled?

Truthfully I really don’t care. Because I understand that right here, right now, God is saying today, and every day of my life ‘Trust Me… Have faith in Me.” I cannot see if my next loan will close tomorrow. I cannot see if next month I will have enough money for the bills. I cannot see how long I will live, or what my quality of life will be in the future. I cannot see tomorrow. And I am trying so desperately to stop looking because is always looking at tomorrow I miss the beauty of today.

All my life I have strived. My mantra is work hard, make money, take care of my family… and in so much of that striving I missed so much joy. I have children from the ages of 30 to 8. With each generation my attention I hope improved. And today with my eight year old I am fascinated that he has a taste in music. I marvel at the new things he learns. Not because I love him any more than the others, but because I am learning to enjoy today. Little by little it is becoming more about today and not how can he be educated to go to the best college to get the best job. No today is about what joy can the experience bring to my life. God has all my children’s futures mapped for their good. How can I as a parent join them in that journey, as a witness? How can I draw out and foster their God given talents, and help them not discover God’s plan for their life, but walk daily in His presence?

How can I stop looking for God’s "plan" in my own life? He is not going to tell me it, other than it is good. Isn't that what scripture teaches us, that God knows the plans He has? He did not say, 'let me show you the plans I have,' and yet we keep looking instead of trusting. Today I want to stop looking at tomorrow, because tomorrow is a mystery. Today is the present. Today, though the challenges look like they are going to screw tomorrow up… they are not because God is in control. (Have faith, I tell myself) God is executing His plan perfectly for my good, and as Romans tells us, for all those who love Him. 

Two Worlds

2 Timothy 2:3-5, “Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if one competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”

So much of learning and walking with Christ feels like living in two polar opposite worlds. The physical world of everyday life, and the world of a spiritual soldier suffering hardship in some unseen competition or battle.  Just even trying to understand this can make one’s head swim.

But reality for the person is Christ is that this is completely true, and the longer we walk with Him the more defined and different these two worlds become, and the more pronounced the war between these two worlds become.

In Christ, in submission to His authority and command, life is not about relieving suffering or satisfying a need, but rather obedience under His command through, over, or around the suffering depending on His desires and will for our life. In Christ we do not suffer for suffering sake, but we learn to suffer when those hardships are shared with His experience, or in His design for our life to awaken us to some beautiful spiritual truth or to eternally refine our character. In Christ we are constantly required to ignore the everyday affairs of life in faith. We have to have faith that life is cared for by the Father, and that we must continue to allow Jesus to be revealed in us and through us.

Hear me on this. A minister is not a minister if his GOAL is to make you feel better, or help you overcome a circumstance. A minister is someone who helps you to see Christ in your sufferings or circumstance. And in seeing Christ then we spiritually have peace and joy in spite of circumstances. My friend and coach Jim Spivey helps me, but the help is vision to see what God is doing. And not just vision, but also to articulate what God is doing. Equally I have seen Christ in my physical/monetary needs being met through peoples gifts. Likewise a minister is likely failing if all he/she can do is point out our failings. Sin is not the rule that keeps us from the prize. Not accepting Christ and His mercy and grace keeps us from the prize.

The Rule is Christ. I challenge you to read the whole Chapter of 2 Timothy 2. For example verses 11-13 which says, “… For if we died with Him, we also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” If we will connect to Christ’s world, which is the Kingdom of God we will live, and even if we are faithless, even if we do fail in sin… He remains faithful. The war is not sin v. holiness. The prize is not won my being blameless. The war is to stay focused on Christ and Christ alone. The prize is won in not being entangled in everyday affairs, but in having faith for God to work it all out. In the end, even when we fail, even when we focus on life on earth over spiritual life with Christ… He and He alone is faithful and He will win the war freeing our soul from death and the wages of sin. 

The Next Evolution - Abiding

John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Call it what you may but there is a very real, tangible presence of God. Some experience it in worship. Some experience in other parts of a Christian service. There are songs and song leaders that “invite” the presence of God, and certainly scripture is true when it says, “when two or more are gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”(Matt 18:20)

Some never experience the presence of God outside some religious service. And yet others might experience it from time to time in prayer, or following an act of obedience to God. 

This blog talks about “practicing His presence.” This is the purposeful act of experiencing the presence of God at will. God's presence is there always, but we are not aware of it, so we focus and become aware of it anytime, anywhere. But there is even more. There is abiding in that presence. There is a place of constant connection.

I know this because I feel the Holy Spirit pulling me that direction. I know it because Jesus said so. “He who abides in Me and I in him.” When I read this, the scripture has the sound of ‘he who chooses to abide in Me, and who I choose to in turn abide in.' Jesus seems to be saying there is a constant connection available that I have yet to experience that is not moved by bad traffic, ugly bosses, or ignorant co-workers. There is an abiding presence that is not broken by the trials and tribulations of life. There is an abiding presence that is unbreakable by the euphoric swings of life’s goodness. Somehow, somewhere that abiding presence produces fruit out of what otherwise might be conflict.

It was Christ abiding in the Father and Him in Jesus that led Christ to say, “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” What an unexpected response to a religious mob. It was the abiding that allowed Christ to sleep in the storm, to walk on the water, and to wait 3 days before going to Lazarus. That’s where I want to be. Not for the fruit, but because that is where He is drawing me to. Where is He drawing you?

Grown Ass Man

1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.”

I can often take responsibilities for others behavior, or make excuses for them. My tendency is to want to rescue or advise people in order to help them find peace and happiness. All very noble, but someone that loves me very much caught me the other day in this taking blame and said, “He is making his own decisions. He is a grown ass man, and it is not your fault or responsibility.”

I will add to that… I’m a grown ass man, and am choosing to no longer accept responsibility for someone else’s decisions short of my 8 year old. I will still accept responsibility for him for a few more years.

So to all the men out there above 18 years of age reading this blog… grow up… you’re a grown ass man, and it’s time you own the decisions you make. Your mommy and daddy are not responsible for what you do. The school bully did not make you this way. Circumstances of the past do not dictate the actions of today.

To the women over 18… you’re a grown ass woman, and no one but yourself and your choices are causing you to behave that way. Sorry your childhood was not perfect, but it time to stop allowing the past to hold you hostage today. That boy did not ruin your life. Those girls did not make you insecure. Your choices today shape today, and they are yours and yours alone.

All of which is an epic spiritual journey because in the end those “wrong” choices we make are because we are spiritual children, reasoning with childish reason. But when we become men and women we do away with those childish things. God knew what you were, are, and will go through; and in it all has a plan for your redemption and conformity to Christ. Find that acceptance and move on with Him. 

To the grown ass men and women in my life... I will always love you, but don’t expect me to come running when you want to play in traffic, or jump off buildings, or party like a rock star, or waste your life doing nothing. You are a grown ass man or woman and should know better. I am a grown ass man, and not responsible for your choices. Those are between you and God. Work it out with Him… that’s really what He wants anyway. And trust me... Him and I are working out a lot of bad decisions, and choices I have made, and it is a painful yet wonderful experience. 

Finally I wonder how many of us look spiritually to God like the guy in the photo. It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it. 

Irrelevant

James 4:14, “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

Jim Spivey summed up our Iwo Jima meeting yesterday with a synopsis of our interaction. He said we were “honoring the power of our irrelevance.”

Here we are a nation with ½ of us powerless to elect “our” man. As husbands… powerless to bring true happiness to our wives. As fathers… powerless to bring true protection and provision to our children. As healers… powerless against all manner of physical pain. As ministers… powerless to relief so much emotional pain. As intelligent beings… powerless to convince even a single individual of our perceived truth. And if you dwell on this, on just how powerless you really are, of how much of a vapor you really are; then you can come to a dark place of not only feelings powerless, but insignificant as well.

Some strive against the irrelevance and fight to create their own significance. Building ego and a false sense of security doomed to be a house of glass waiting on one little pebble to shatter it all. Or you can choose an alternative. You can honor the power or your irrelevance. This power of irrelevance is what Paul spoke of in Galatians 2:20. He said, “I have been crucified with Christ; and 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…” Paul came face to face with his powerlessness. He realized his efforts, his plans, his theology, his rules had no power, and promoting his ideas he was irrelevant. Yet in that coming face to face with his own irrelevance he was able to embrace the death of his powerless self, and allow Christ to come alive in him. This is what John the Baptist also experienced when he said, “He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:20)

Our weaknesses become the very things that make us more dependent upon God. Our thorns in the flesh, though very uncomfortable, are there so that we can give credit where credit is due, and allow and observe the power of God moving, in, around, and through us. Our mistakes become a beautiful reminder of Christ perfection. These same mistakes close doors that our ego would have gladly opened leaving Christ behind.

Do you see?

There is no significance in being significant. There is nothing special about you if God answers all your prayers, and likewise there is nothing un-special about you if He answers none of them. Paul would argue that you can have the power to raise the dead, but if you don’t have love then you have nothing anyway. (1 Cor. 13:1) And so honoring the power of our irrelevance becomes love. In this understanding we do not seek our own; we do not become jealous because we know we are a vapor. We can be kind when no kindness is due because we do not have to have relevance. We can be patient and forgiving when we are irrelevant, and that is the power of it. To honor the power of our own irrelevance is really nothing more than to love. 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” (Matt 5:3) “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matt 5:8) Blessed are the irrelevant, and those who know they are irrelevant.

Finally the awareness of our irrelevance also leads to a place of designed obedience. With irrelevance comes openness to His plans, and comes a desperate hope that His instructions actually contain His power because we know our own efforts are powerless. It is in this place of true humility, or irrelevance awareness that God can use us, and where we are unconcerned whether He does or does not. Our only relevance is in Christ. And our only significance is Christ in us. 

Cats and Dogs

2 Peter 2:18, “For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.”

When I went to ministry school years ago are first assignment was to prove the doctrine of once saved – always saved. Our second assignment was to prove the doctrine of salvation can be lost. The point was that the bible can be used to “prove” a lot of things. But are we open to the truth, or are we enslaved by our own corruptions?

This will post 1 day before the 2012 Presidential elections in the US, and this is a year of the 47%. There is 47% of the US population that will absolutely without equivocation vote for Barack Obama. What is not said in on the other side of the coin there is another 47% that will absolutely vote for Mitt Romney. My question is that in a country that is eighty plus percentage Christian how can the vote be divided like that?

The reason is we as a nation our slaves to corruption.

The Republican Party panders to groups like big pharma and banks while it opposes other groups like lawyers and unions. The Democrats pander to unions and lawyers and oppose big pharma and banks. While reality is they are all addicted to power. Republicans claim to support small government, and yet even Reagan did not shrink the size of government. Democrats claim to have a monopoly on supporting civil rights for minorities, and yet spend millions supporting the killing of millions of black babies through abortion. They are all liars. And we with our own individual corruptions vote for what will benefit us the most. We vote for lower taxes, or we vote for more government handouts. All the while the super-rich support both sides, or better yet the winner so that the profit of their interest is not regulated out of existence.

Even worse and more offensive are the people who vote just because they are a cat or a dog. Cats vote for cats and dogs vote for dogs and the two shall never agree. Ridiculousness.

Preachers openly support different candidates. Why? Is it the corruption of a few more butts in their seats, which means a few more dollars in the offering? Just today I saw an article that said, "Jesus was a liberal." First of all, Jesus never "was." Jesus is. Secondly Jesus is neither Liberal, or Conservative. He is not in support of Republican or Democrat. He IS the Son of God and is far above political party. Christ is the King of Liberty. He came to set us free.

The government has not given us additional freedom in my lifetime, but they have promised it. Christ on the other hand has delivered the ultimate in freedom. Freedom from sin and death. This year I am voting for 
Christ. Beyond that, I pray He will show me who to vote from on November 6^th. Take a novel approach. Don’t assume who is best for the country from your own perspective. Ask God to show you who is best from His.

This political ad is paid for by no one and supports no one. I’m Jeff Yuna and I approve this message. 

Vertical and Horizontal

James 2:17, “Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

I had an interesting phone conversation the other night with a gentleman by the name of Marcus. Seems that Marcus has become an avid follower of this blog thanks to my Dad introducing it to him. Not only that, he has met Dave Anderson and subsequently Jim Spivey as well because of information he read here. And in this conversation somehow Marcus made the statement to me that, ‘James’ saying “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26) is nothing more than what the cross symbolized in that we have to have the vertical faith in relationship to God, but also the horizontal faith in relationship to our fellow man.”

And how true a perspective that we should all keep our focus on. There is within faith a balance of natural and supernatural. There is a walking in faith as aliens in a strange land and connecting to the kingdom of heaven simultaneously. I don’t find this paradoxical at all, but rather we as simple minded often focus too much in one direction when faith is at the very least two dimensional.

Likewise I don’t believe there is room for judgment or advice for those that are temporarily focused in one direction or the other. Life does not seem to be a retreat where we spend 24/7 in prayer and meditation, and neither is it a 24/7 effort of feeding the poor, helping the widow and orphan, or praying for the sick. We should accept those that operate primarily in the realm of works just as we should accept those that operate primarily in the area of faith.

But as for us individually I think we need to seek that balance, and until we can operate in perfect obedience, constantly connected to the vertical like Christ was connected to the Father all the while loving those around Him perfectly, then we need to enjoy those times when our faith is all work, and enjoy those time when our faith is all retreat. At the very least we should allow the image of the cross to remind us faith is both horizontal and vertical. 

What Goes In Must Come Out

John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

This passage of scripture has unburdened my need to study and/or memorize scripture. In a large sense it has relieved me of any responsibility to be “prepared” with something in ministry, or even everyday interaction.  This is because Jesus promised us that the Holy Spirit will remind us of what we have been taught. Add to this what He said in Matthew 10:19, “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say.”

The Helper is there in the moment, in every moment if we will allow Him. The only responsibility we have, if at all, is to put into us the word of God. In fact, for me this wanting God to be able to “remind” me of what He has taught led me to reading the bible cover to cover several times; starting at Genesis and going to Revelation. Today most of the Bible I read is from online versions, and instead of random selections I normally read to get the context of scriptures I am “reminded” of. Or I will read passages that some other person presents, even casually, into my life. But every day I read something. 

On my daily reading list is Jim Spivey. He is my friend, my mentor, and fellow compatriot of Christ. His blog is available at http://rcdailyjournal.blogspot.com/ and is usually updated daily.

I also read Oswald Chamber every day. I use Google Chrome, and have him in my today’s links as well. http://utmost.org/

I receive a daily e-mail from the Henry Nouwen Society. Henri was a catholic priest and given that background I am often confounded how his words smash the stereotype of a priest in my mind. http://www.henrinouwen.org/Resources/Meditations_and_Reflection_Emails/Meditations_and_Reflection_Emails.aspx

Finally I read daily something from T. Austin Sparks. All of his works are available on line, and he is my far my favorite Christian author from the past. His daily devotional is available here. http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003429.html

So now if you are a regular follower of the blog, you can see some of the source of what comes out of me. Regardless, what goes in must come out. I hope this helps others practice putting good stuff in.

‎"The longer we live, and the more we know, the more we shall be made aware of how little we do know, and how vast this Christ is." - T. Austin-Sparks