Four Faces

Ezekiel had a vision in which he saw a magnificent cloud and a fire and four living creatures. Each of the four creatures had four faces - of a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle. All four creatures moved together.

The prophet saw beyond his day to the advent of the God-Man, Christ Jesus, and saw Him in all His glorious aspects. Ezekiel saw Christ as the man who walks with us, the lion king who rules over us, the ox our burden-bearer, and the eagle who takes us into the realm of the Spirit.

We must know Him in all His aspects together (for so it means that the creatures moved together). We can't walk with Him, or ask Him to bear our burdens, if we don't come under His king-ship; nor can we soar with Him in the Spirit if we don't allow Him to cleanse and heal us. We can't fulfill His purposes for our lives if we don't follow Him into the Spirit-realm.

The four gospels echo Ezekiel's vision as they describe the One who came in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Our lives pick up the song as we enter in to this full-orbed life in Christ, allowing His full working in every circumstance to bring us to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Outsourcing

Most everyone these days is familiar with outsourcing, the practice of contracting work to another individual or firm who can do it better, or for less cost, or with less risk, etc. My own company oursources IT operations and development.

Outsourcing is nothing new. It's common in a market-driven economy. The South has recently lost a lot of employment to foreign firms who operate at lower cost, but was itself the outsourcer on those jobs a century ago when lower costs took the jobs from the North.

But outsourcing is still older than that. God is the original outsourcer:

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil. 1:6).

"I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts." (Jer. 31:33)

The essence of the New Testament is that God Himself will do His work in the lives of believers. Often times we think that we have to be really good at this or at that, or that we have to try really hard to do something just right. That is law; the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Basically, God has outsourced to Himself the work of transforming our lives. We try to take it back but find out we can't do it. But when we allow His Spirit to invade our hearts in a particular area, confessing (not admitting) our sins, He can do a complete work.

There's an old saying that says "If you want something done right, do it yourself." That just about sums it up from God's viewpoint - if God does it, it will be done right.

This is one time that outsourcing is OK.

Diamond In The Dust

He created worlds yet he lay as a helpless babe on Mary's breast ... He walked on water yet he asked a Samaritan woman for a drink ... He fed 5,000 people from 5 loaves and 2 fishes yet he hungered and thirsted in the wilderness ... He radiated the glory of God on the Mount of Transfiguration yet no one could recognize him at the river Jordan ... He brought salvation, comfort and healing to countless numbers of people yet he himself underwent humiliation, pain, suffering and death ...

God on the one hand, man on the other. So wonderfully He became us, never losing His deity. The Wonderful One wrapped in swaddling clothes, a diamond in the dust, a pearl set in clay, hidden yet revealed.

We will have innumerable ages to contemplate His wonders, but how will we ever be able to fully comprehend all the great mysteries of God in Christ? Where can we begin? And it will surely never, ever end.

Through The Lattice

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice." (Song of Solomon 2:9)

In this verse I see the Lord revealing Himself to His beloved, albeit a little timidly, hiding, as it were, behind the lattice. Will He be noticed or ignored? Will He be accepted or rejected? He has been rejected so many times before, but His love compels Him to return yet again and seek companionship.

I felt that last night when I was relaxing after dinner, reading a news magazine. I sensed His Presence and I thought "Oh, my, that's wonderful; this feels so good," and I kept on reading the magazine. This morning the Lord showed me how ignorant and uncaring I am - I should have stopped and said "The Lord is here - let's wait on Him." That was the time He revealed Himself, in the middle of something I wanted to do. But He came seeking my heart, my friendship, and I turned Him away.

Oh, Lord, come again. Forgive my frailties and my ignorance. Teach me your ways, oh Lord, and I shall walk in your paths. Give me a contrite and humble spirit, and a hearing ear, that I might sense your coming, even the whisper of your voice that says "Rise up, my love, and come away."

Sowing And Reaping

"Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:7)

This concept of sowing and reaping has been hijacked by profiteering, self-serving ministries that use it to dupe ignorant Christians and garner riches to themselves. If they really believed what they were saying - that God will return ten-fold to those who "sow into" their ministries - then they wouldn't need to make such requests; they themselves would give and wait to receive the increase from God.

The next verse makes it clear that Paul is talking about that which we receive into our own spirits - if it's of the flesh we'll reap corruption, but if it's of the Spirit we'll receive life.

I grew up on country music - Hank Williams (the real one, not Jr.), George Jones, Kitty Wells, Faron Young - the list goes on. I still love the sound of a fiddle and a steel guitar. But if I listen to that tear-stained, beer-stained, whining, wailing, blues-soaked, booze-soaked music, that's what I walk away with. I come away with that self-pitying, lowlife view of things - nothing's working out, poor-poor-pitiful me, I might as well go out and drink.

My soul has an automatic, built-in jukebox, and it has automatic replay. I don't know if yours works that way, but mine sure does. When I take into myself that which is of the world, that's what echoes in my soul. I sowed and I reaped. That's a far cry from where I want to be, on the mountain with the King.

But if I fill my soul with praise music, if I feed my spirit on the songs of Zion, then I reap a harvest of corn, wine, and oil - the good things of the Lord. If I seek His face early in the morning, then His touch is upon my life even in the heat of noonday. I sow, I reap.

I need to walk with Him - if I don't have Him, I die. Even though I'm under grace and free to do all things, all things are not expedient for me. A farmer wouldn't plant onions if he wanted to grow corn; neither should we plant crops we don't want to grow.

We should cry out like baby birds for bread from heaven, living water, hidden manna. If we sow to the the Spirit, we shall reap life.

Crucified With Him

How is it that I can be crucified with Christ? I wasn't there 2,000 years ago and I didn't hang on a cross next to Him, yet this is tremendously important to my spiritual life if I am to decrease and He is to increase. God's plan is not to make me better but to get me out of the way through death, and to make a new me through resurrection. I can't do it on my own, so I must go through the way that God has made for me.

It is linear thinking to see spiritual history in a timeline from then to now. But God is eternal and has a different perspective. If I view this history in a timeline I see it like this:

+ ( the cross) ........................... \o/ (me).

This way, I'm separated from Christ's death on the cross by 2,000 years. But if I view it in God's eternal perspective it looks like this:

+
.
.
.
.
.
.
\o/

So now I can see how it's possible for me to be aligned with Christ's death, even to be a partaker in it; whatever happened to Him happened to me since I am in Him. And that is possible because that's the way God sees things. Thus I can reckon (count/affirm/attest) myself as crucified with Him.

Does that mean that Christ is continually crucified? No - that was once and done. But God sees me as in Christ and Christ as eternal.

Jesus was my substitute - He took my sin upon Himself there. But He did so much more; He took my place, yes - but He also made a place for me on the cross, so I can truthfully say with Paul "I am crucified with Christ." Grasp that - you and I were on the cross because of what Jesus did there; He made a way for us.

Similarly, I can say that through baptism I am buried with Him and I can also say that I am risen and resurrected with Him (Col 2:12), and mean it - it's a reality, not a wishy-washy theological supposition.

This is not reformation of character - this is death and resurrection. Something more happened to me in baptism than getting wet - I was buried! I was in that tomb, in Christ. And when the stone was rolled away and Jesus stepped forth, I came forth with Him. With Him - all the way!

This is not suppressing my desires but allowing the Son of God to vanquish me in every area. This is not living for Jesus, but Jesus living in me. This is not walking the walk, but limping like Jacob and leaning on the arm of my Beloved.

So no longer do we have the option/privilege of living our own lives; instead we are called to usher in the King of Glory in all His beauty and all His splendor, to prepare the way of the Lord, and to participate with Him in the dawning of His Kingdom.

Are you ready for that?

Jesus Is

Jesus is

... the friend you always wanted

... the wish you were afraid to wish for because it seemed too good

... what you always thought life should be like

... the answer to all your questions

... like the sun rising in your heart

... the one who says "I'll take your part when times get rough"

... the place to hide

... the one who watches over you

... a river of clear running water

Wings and Wheels and Webbed Feet

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Buenos amigos - Robert, Bruno, Marta, Javier, and Sergio 

Our team and a few friends. 

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.

Receiving the Guitars 

Poverty in Asuncion 

Teaching (Using Paper Airplanes!) 

Worship Service 

The house we stayed in.