Yesterday at lunchtime I sat outside at work on a bench overlooking the large pond at our office complex. Seven Canada Geese flew in and landed on the water, squawking and flapping their wings and gliding on their webbed feet until they came to rest in the water; then they swam around, climbed out of the water, and waddled around on the land for a bit.
Immediately after, a jet plane on the approach path to the airport flew overhead and let down its wheels. In a few minutes it would land at the airport; it would bounce once or twice on the wheels, which would each send out a puff of white smoke, and then it would taxi to the gate where it would discharge its passengers.
As I watched these airborne vehicles come to earth I thought how the geese's feet and the plane's wheels didn't serve a purpose while they were airborne but functioned fully while on land. Conversely, their wings served no purpose on the ground but enabled them to apply Bernoulli's Principle to keep them aloft in flight.
Even so, we have faculties that serve us well in the earth realm but should give way to those that allow us to function in the realm of the Spirit. We have been given gifts and callings and ministrations that apply in spiritual things and we should develop those abilitiess and employ them when the Spirit calls. The giftings we have in the earth realm may not be appropriate in a spiritual setting; we may have to fold them up, the way a bird tucks its feet up under its body while in flight so they don't impede what God wants to do in the Spirit.
We hear and respond in the realm of the Spirit through spiritual faculties, and we function in the earth realm with natural giftings. All are needed. But once we enter the realm of the Spirit we should release ourselves to God's purpose and employ those giftings that allow us to function in that arena.
May we be like the eagle that can rise up above mountains, catch the thermals, and soar for miles and miles, apprehending the direction and purpose of God for our lives and for His kingdom.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Friday, August 19, 2005
Pleasing God
"Furthermore, then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more." (1 Thess 4:1)
"When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." (Prov 16:7)
How often do people use God to justify their actions when really they only want to please themselves? People have an agenda to carry out to achieve their own ends and invoke God to back them up in it. But who are they seeking to please - themselves or God?
Proponents of homosexual rights invoke Jesus as never having mentioned the subject. Well, if they're going to bring God into the discussion then they have to seriously consider the whole package, not just the part that agrees with their agenda. Who are they trying to please - themselves or God? If you say you want to please yourself, that brands you right off. And as soon as you say you're trying to please God you have no ground at all left to stand on - you have to acknowledge what the Bible says about such things.
When people ask me if I think this or that is wrong I'm going to answer "who are you seeking to please - yourself or God?" I think that if we are seeking to please God, then the rug gets pulled out from under us if we're pushing our own thing.
I have to look at myself and the things I do. I have to ask if I'm trying to please myself or God. There are things God allows me to do but they don't necessarily please Him. I have any number of leisure-time pursuits that are harmless in themselves and which I can justify by saying "I won't go to hell if I do this," or "God knows my heart," or any number of things like that to get my own way. But am I seeking to please God? That's a whole different story.
Jesus did only those things that pleased the Father, never His own will. I want to be like Jesus.
"When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." (Prov 16:7)
How often do people use God to justify their actions when really they only want to please themselves? People have an agenda to carry out to achieve their own ends and invoke God to back them up in it. But who are they seeking to please - themselves or God?
Proponents of homosexual rights invoke Jesus as never having mentioned the subject. Well, if they're going to bring God into the discussion then they have to seriously consider the whole package, not just the part that agrees with their agenda. Who are they trying to please - themselves or God? If you say you want to please yourself, that brands you right off. And as soon as you say you're trying to please God you have no ground at all left to stand on - you have to acknowledge what the Bible says about such things.
When people ask me if I think this or that is wrong I'm going to answer "who are you seeking to please - yourself or God?" I think that if we are seeking to please God, then the rug gets pulled out from under us if we're pushing our own thing.
I have to look at myself and the things I do. I have to ask if I'm trying to please myself or God. There are things God allows me to do but they don't necessarily please Him. I have any number of leisure-time pursuits that are harmless in themselves and which I can justify by saying "I won't go to hell if I do this," or "God knows my heart," or any number of things like that to get my own way. But am I seeking to please God? That's a whole different story.
Jesus did only those things that pleased the Father, never His own will. I want to be like Jesus.
Monday, August 15, 2005
The River of God
Last night in our latino church I preached about the river of God (Isaiah 32, Ez. 47, John 7, Rev. 22).
A river has 2 points - its origin and its destination. At the origin, and along the way, the river receives water. We receive from the Lord through His Spirit, through the Word, through ministry.
The river of God gives life and brings healing wherever it goes. As we are touched by God and our lives intersect with others, we bring life as we share Jesus and what He has done in our lives.
Finally, the river gives of its waters to the world. What a picture of how we are to be about the Father's business. Right around us are needy people hungry for a cup of cold water. Is there something we can do, something we can say, some way to relate to that neighbor, that co-worker, to develop a relationship and begin to impart something of what we have received?
We focus a lot on receiving, and we do need to receive from God because we don't have anything to give and we can only give what we receive from God. But we need to let the water flow out to others around us.
"Let the river flow ..." God, give us a heart for our neighbors, for those around us. Use our hands, our feet, our words, our lives, to touch someone.
A river has 2 points - its origin and its destination. At the origin, and along the way, the river receives water. We receive from the Lord through His Spirit, through the Word, through ministry.
The river of God gives life and brings healing wherever it goes. As we are touched by God and our lives intersect with others, we bring life as we share Jesus and what He has done in our lives.
Finally, the river gives of its waters to the world. What a picture of how we are to be about the Father's business. Right around us are needy people hungry for a cup of cold water. Is there something we can do, something we can say, some way to relate to that neighbor, that co-worker, to develop a relationship and begin to impart something of what we have received?
We focus a lot on receiving, and we do need to receive from God because we don't have anything to give and we can only give what we receive from God. But we need to let the water flow out to others around us.
"Let the river flow ..." God, give us a heart for our neighbors, for those around us. Use our hands, our feet, our words, our lives, to touch someone.
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
South American Anointing?
Alejandro, our latino pastor, just returned from Chile. He said that the pastor there went to Paraguay and returned with a batch of what God was doing there and now they're experiencing revival in Santiago.
The anointing was so strong in Paraguay that I couldn't preach the night I was scheduled to; all I could do was weep and cry out - for the country, the city, the church, the people, for myself, for Charlotte.
I'm trying to figure out why the anointing was so strong there. That's probably a fruitless exercise - God just does what He wants where He can. But I want more of Him, more of His wonderful Presence, more of His Spirit. There is no one like Jesus.
I'm tired of forms and exercises and same old, same old. There is newness and freshness in God, new every day. "Come live in me, all my life take over ..."
In preparing for the Paraguay trip, I tried to write songs in Spanish and to translate my songs, and to write Christian poetry in Spanish. I can do that in English with ease (with His help, of course) but I couldn't squeaze out a word of Spanish rhyme. I'm fluent in Spanish so I thought I could do that. I told the Lord "I have nothing, nothing." And he replied that I was ready to go - He only wanted emptiness so He could fill it.
Maybe God is trying to get us empty, down to nothing. Weak. Helpless. Dependent. Then we can be strong.
The anointing was so strong in Paraguay that I couldn't preach the night I was scheduled to; all I could do was weep and cry out - for the country, the city, the church, the people, for myself, for Charlotte.
I'm trying to figure out why the anointing was so strong there. That's probably a fruitless exercise - God just does what He wants where He can. But I want more of Him, more of His wonderful Presence, more of His Spirit. There is no one like Jesus.
I'm tired of forms and exercises and same old, same old. There is newness and freshness in God, new every day. "Come live in me, all my life take over ..."
In preparing for the Paraguay trip, I tried to write songs in Spanish and to translate my songs, and to write Christian poetry in Spanish. I can do that in English with ease (with His help, of course) but I couldn't squeaze out a word of Spanish rhyme. I'm fluent in Spanish so I thought I could do that. I told the Lord "I have nothing, nothing." And he replied that I was ready to go - He only wanted emptiness so He could fill it.
Maybe God is trying to get us empty, down to nothing. Weak. Helpless. Dependent. Then we can be strong.
Friday, August 05, 2005
The Power Of God
In my lunchtime discussion with Sean we talked about the power of God to take people from different countries with disparate cultures and different languages and make them one, brothers and sisters, through the love of Jesus. Jesus is the answer not only to my problems and my sin, but for the entire world. God bless the Marines and the Army and the U.N and everybody else that's giving their all, all over the world, and motivate us to give it all for Jesus. He's the only One who can change men from within.
And we asked God to take this fabulous sense of mission that comes from leaving it all and going to a distant land, and fill us with that right here in our every day world. We're no less called than we are right now, right where we are, and we have no less work to do right here where we are, every day.
And we asked God to take this fabulous sense of mission that comes from leaving it all and going to a distant land, and fill us with that right here in our every day world. We're no less called than we are right now, right where we are, and we have no less work to do right here where we are, every day.
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Paraguay Pics
Following are some pics of our short-term mission trip to Paraguay, which began on July 22.
The paraguayos were like little kids when we presented them with the two guitars, which my co-workers made available.
We saw unbelievable poverty - the shacks in the picture were right behind the congress building in Asuncion, which is the capitol city. Paraguay doesn't have a middle class - you're either poor, rich, or richer.
The worship meetings were tremendous. God poured out His Spirit like I've never seen before - like a flood, like a deluge, like a roaring river.
We taught 5 sessions on leadership; the need in La Viña (The Vineyard) was to raise up leaders to work with the pastor. I used paper airplanes in my session(doesn't sound very leader-like, does it?)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We stayed in a very nice house and ate all but one of our meals there. Martha, who owns the house, had built a casita (little house) out back for our team; the teen-age girls stayed there while Pat and I had a room with bath. The other guys stayed in a hotel around the corner. Every house is surrounded by a high brick wall with a steel gate in front, due to the high crime rate.
I got to use my Spanish all day, every day. We also learned a little Guarani, which is the second official language of the country. Paraguay is the only country in the world with two official languages.
What I can't show on a picture is the Holy Spirit - if I could take a picture of His beauty, His compassion and His love the way He revealed Himself to us there, it would break your heart. It broke mine.
I can't say I have wonderful memories, because I want to go on with God, to build on what He has done, not to live in the past. We can pray that He will rend the heavens and come down - to our individual lives, to our churches, to our city, our state, our country, and this needy world.
The paraguayos were like little kids when we presented them with the two guitars, which my co-workers made available.
We saw unbelievable poverty - the shacks in the picture were right behind the congress building in Asuncion, which is the capitol city. Paraguay doesn't have a middle class - you're either poor, rich, or richer.
The worship meetings were tremendous. God poured out His Spirit like I've never seen before - like a flood, like a deluge, like a roaring river.
We taught 5 sessions on leadership; the need in La Viña (The Vineyard) was to raise up leaders to work with the pastor. I used paper airplanes in my session(doesn't sound very leader-like, does it?)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We stayed in a very nice house and ate all but one of our meals there. Martha, who owns the house, had built a casita (little house) out back for our team; the teen-age girls stayed there while Pat and I had a room with bath. The other guys stayed in a hotel around the corner. Every house is surrounded by a high brick wall with a steel gate in front, due to the high crime rate.
I got to use my Spanish all day, every day. We also learned a little Guarani, which is the second official language of the country. Paraguay is the only country in the world with two official languages.
What I can't show on a picture is the Holy Spirit - if I could take a picture of His beauty, His compassion and His love the way He revealed Himself to us there, it would break your heart. It broke mine.
I can't say I have wonderful memories, because I want to go on with God, to build on what He has done, not to live in the past. We can pray that He will rend the heavens and come down - to our individual lives, to our churches, to our city, our state, our country, and this needy world.
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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