You can get your copy of the Nefarious - Merchant of Souls DVD starting May 1st!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Spring flowers
Springtime is one of my favorite seasons of the year...along with everyone else on the planet probably. This spring is very special as my husband, Paul, and I celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary, and prepare for many years ahead together.
A while back, I wrote a post about knock-out roses and how significant that word, 'knock-out', is to me and to us. As you can see in the pictures above, our knock-out roses are flourishing and present a picture to the world of the Lord's goodness to us and what He thinks of us!
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Walking in Freedom
"There is a way that seems right to a man...."
This morning, I am reminded of my utter and complete dependence upon the Spirit of God. You see, I know the truth about my own heart and that outside of Christ and a living, ongoing connection with the Father through Holy Spirit, I can easily be deceived.
When I was a Young Life leader years ago, I remember a talk a fellow leader gave in which this story was told.
"A mother was trying to drive home a lesson to her teenage son who wanted desperately to go see a very questionable movie. He claimed that everyone was going to see it and that there was only a little bit of questionable material in it, and why did she have to be so strict? His mom decided to make her son and his friends some brownies, and in the process, drive home her point.
The son and his friends came into the kitchen when the smell of the freshly baked brownies filled the house. They waited with eagerness as his mom placed the pan of brownies on the table and began to cut pieces for each of them.
"Before you dig in, I want to let you know that I decided to add an extra ingredient to this batch. I added just a little bit of dog poop that I picked up in the back yard this morning. Oh, don't worry, it's all mixed in, and really, it was just a tiny little bit, and you probably won't even taste it; really, it's no big deal. Enjoy the brownies boys!" she declared as she served up each plate.
The boys fell silent and looked at each other and at the freshly cut, wonderful smelling brownies in front of them, and then proceeded to leave the kitchen, not touching the brownies."
Please don't get me wrong...I am not advocating any sort of legalism or nit-picking...rather, when the Spirit of God points out something that is not right, are we willing to listen to that voice over and above the 'popular' voices around us? Are we willing to take the challenging road, which is sometimes lonely, but is always the road that leads to higher discernment in the Spirit? Are we willing to hold fast to that which is True? To Him Who is Truth?
Food for thought...and no pun intended.
This morning, I am reminded of my utter and complete dependence upon the Spirit of God. You see, I know the truth about my own heart and that outside of Christ and a living, ongoing connection with the Father through Holy Spirit, I can easily be deceived.
When I was a Young Life leader years ago, I remember a talk a fellow leader gave in which this story was told.
"A mother was trying to drive home a lesson to her teenage son who wanted desperately to go see a very questionable movie. He claimed that everyone was going to see it and that there was only a little bit of questionable material in it, and why did she have to be so strict? His mom decided to make her son and his friends some brownies, and in the process, drive home her point.
The son and his friends came into the kitchen when the smell of the freshly baked brownies filled the house. They waited with eagerness as his mom placed the pan of brownies on the table and began to cut pieces for each of them.
"Before you dig in, I want to let you know that I decided to add an extra ingredient to this batch. I added just a little bit of dog poop that I picked up in the back yard this morning. Oh, don't worry, it's all mixed in, and really, it was just a tiny little bit, and you probably won't even taste it; really, it's no big deal. Enjoy the brownies boys!" she declared as she served up each plate.
The boys fell silent and looked at each other and at the freshly cut, wonderful smelling brownies in front of them, and then proceeded to leave the kitchen, not touching the brownies."
Please don't get me wrong...I am not advocating any sort of legalism or nit-picking...rather, when the Spirit of God points out something that is not right, are we willing to listen to that voice over and above the 'popular' voices around us? Are we willing to take the challenging road, which is sometimes lonely, but is always the road that leads to higher discernment in the Spirit? Are we willing to hold fast to that which is True? To Him Who is Truth?
Food for thought...and no pun intended.
Monday, April 23, 2012
"Thou shalt not...." (Continuing Confessions)
Over the course of my 20+ years of teaching, I ran the gamut when it came to how to run a classroom. My first year, I had a list of about 15 rules that I expected the students to follow and obey. Most of them were "thou shalt not" types of rules. Not only did it end up pitting the students against me as they tried to see how far they could push the envelope, but it kept me on my toes continually watching out for infringements and then having to remember to be consistent in punishment for each student. The next year, I reduced the number of rules to about 10. That seemed to ease the load a bit, but there was still the spirit of "thou shalt not" pervasive in my classroom, no matter how much I tried to build positive, life-giving relationships with my students.
Finally, and I don't remember what year this was, I heard a seasoned teacher say that she had one guideline in her classroom: "No one has the right to keep the teacher from teaching or other students from learning." Now some may say that this still sounds like a "thou shalt not", so let's reword it one more time: "The teacher shall be given the privilege of teaching and the students shall be given the privilege of learning." When I adopted this one guideline in my classroom, both teaching and learning sky-rocketed. At any time a student "mis-behaved", the only thing I had to say was, "Do you want to allow me to teach, please?" or "Would you please give Tommy the opportunity to learn?"
My rules and guidelines early on in my classrooms were correct and true. But they set up an atmosphere of mistrust and pressure to 'perform' on everyone's part. Once I adopted and implemented the 'one-rule' guideline in my classroom, everyone could get down to the business at hand: teaching and learning.
I wonder if in some ways, when Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets rest on these two commands," that He was implementing a way to live out the new Covenant, bought with His blood. The Pharisees tried to regulate morality and their understanding of spirituality. Jesus turned it all upside down, but because there tends to be a bit of "pharisee" in each of us, we like to return to that which is comfortable and that which we can control. Instead of living by the Spirit, because where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom, we fall into a new kind of law-giving way of functioning, which ultimately stems from an orphan spirit.
I tried all day long to justify my classroom rules, reminding the students that the spirit behind them was love and care and concern for them; really, though, I was afraid of losing control of the classroom, and the rules were a way to shroud that fear that not even I was aware of at the time.
Don't we do this to each other in the Body of Christ? We place a lot of "thou shalt nots" on one another, stating that the 'spirit behind them' is love, but in reality, there is an orphan grasping for some sort of boundaries within which to work. Jesus Himself knew that the only boundaries we needed were the two greatest commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." Love is at the heartbeat of God for His children, and calling them forth into their full identities in the Father and into their sonship and daughtership in the Holy Spirit.
So often in my classrooms over the years, with my one guideline in place, I was able to say very quickly and concisely to a student who was misbehaving, "Susie, I'm not able to teach right now," and immediately, Susie knew and did not feel condemned or embarrassed because I didn't point out this that or the other in her, but rather what I needed. Similarly, I would state, "Eric, is John able to learn right now?" Again, almost immediately, without me having to state the negative, both Eric and John would come back to 'center' and we could proceed in moving forward toward the goal.
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." "It's for freedom that Christ has set us free." My goal in my classrooms was to create life-long learners; is it our goal in the church to create life-long lovers of God? Then let's allow Holy Spirit to lead and guide and do what He wants to do in our midst to bring revelation of the Father and the Son and create passionate lovers of God and lovers of each other in the family. My goal as a follower of Jesus is to help people walk in freedom in the Spirit by pointing them and connecting them to Jesus.
Finally, and I don't remember what year this was, I heard a seasoned teacher say that she had one guideline in her classroom: "No one has the right to keep the teacher from teaching or other students from learning." Now some may say that this still sounds like a "thou shalt not", so let's reword it one more time: "The teacher shall be given the privilege of teaching and the students shall be given the privilege of learning." When I adopted this one guideline in my classroom, both teaching and learning sky-rocketed. At any time a student "mis-behaved", the only thing I had to say was, "Do you want to allow me to teach, please?" or "Would you please give Tommy the opportunity to learn?"
My rules and guidelines early on in my classrooms were correct and true. But they set up an atmosphere of mistrust and pressure to 'perform' on everyone's part. Once I adopted and implemented the 'one-rule' guideline in my classroom, everyone could get down to the business at hand: teaching and learning.
I wonder if in some ways, when Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets rest on these two commands," that He was implementing a way to live out the new Covenant, bought with His blood. The Pharisees tried to regulate morality and their understanding of spirituality. Jesus turned it all upside down, but because there tends to be a bit of "pharisee" in each of us, we like to return to that which is comfortable and that which we can control. Instead of living by the Spirit, because where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom, we fall into a new kind of law-giving way of functioning, which ultimately stems from an orphan spirit.
I tried all day long to justify my classroom rules, reminding the students that the spirit behind them was love and care and concern for them; really, though, I was afraid of losing control of the classroom, and the rules were a way to shroud that fear that not even I was aware of at the time.
Don't we do this to each other in the Body of Christ? We place a lot of "thou shalt nots" on one another, stating that the 'spirit behind them' is love, but in reality, there is an orphan grasping for some sort of boundaries within which to work. Jesus Himself knew that the only boundaries we needed were the two greatest commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." Love is at the heartbeat of God for His children, and calling them forth into their full identities in the Father and into their sonship and daughtership in the Holy Spirit.
So often in my classrooms over the years, with my one guideline in place, I was able to say very quickly and concisely to a student who was misbehaving, "Susie, I'm not able to teach right now," and immediately, Susie knew and did not feel condemned or embarrassed because I didn't point out this that or the other in her, but rather what I needed. Similarly, I would state, "Eric, is John able to learn right now?" Again, almost immediately, without me having to state the negative, both Eric and John would come back to 'center' and we could proceed in moving forward toward the goal.
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." "It's for freedom that Christ has set us free." My goal in my classrooms was to create life-long learners; is it our goal in the church to create life-long lovers of God? Then let's allow Holy Spirit to lead and guide and do what He wants to do in our midst to bring revelation of the Father and the Son and create passionate lovers of God and lovers of each other in the family. My goal as a follower of Jesus is to help people walk in freedom in the Spirit by pointing them and connecting them to Jesus.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Continuing - Confessions of a Former Cessationist
True confessions: (I have since repented for all of the following)
I judged people who raised their hands during worship. I thought it was overly emotional and unnecessary.
I judged people who shouted things like, "Praise You, Jesus!" "Glory to God!" "Hallelujah!" Shouting was rude, disruptive and not biblical, or so I thought. Then I read: "Let' us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms," in Psalm 95.
I judged people who waved banners or flags during worship services. Then I read Psalm 20:5 where it says, "We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!"
I judged people who danced during worship services...where IS your reverence for our Holy God? Then I read 2 Samuel 6:14 where "David danced before the LORD with all his might."
I even judged those worship services where a woman got up to preach the sermon, thinking that this too was unbiblical. Then I had a precious brother and pastor in Hungary walk me through the scriptures and show me that women can be teachers too, and when properly covered by a man and men in the church, women can bless the body with their teaching gifts.
My judgements were off the scale for those people who supposedly fell over during a service when someone prayed for them...I was sure that the person who put his hand on their head pushed them down, or the person was faking falling down. And even if someone was faking and doing a "cd" (courtesy drop), that was between them and God, and did not change Who God is or what He is doing in people's lives and hearts.
I judged those churches where people clapped their hands and sang loudly...but secretly, in the depths of my being, I wished that we in our church would sing songs through more than one time, and there were times when the desire to clap would begin to well up inside of me, but I worked hard to squelch it, out of supposed reverence.
Indeed, I suppose you could say that I was one of the most judgemental people in the church OF the church. Finally, as I began to explore the Scriptures, I learned much more about not only how judgemental I was, but also how wrong I was on every point above.
Probably the most amazing growth in my life has come in the past 8 years as I have released control to the Lord, watched Him break out of the neat little boxes I tried to put Him in and through it all, pour out His amazing love and grace.
Now, the challenge is not to swing to the other end of the pendulum and judge the place and perspectives that I once held. God is a big God, full of fresh revelation, and He has healed my heart and will continue to show me His Truths!
I judged people who raised their hands during worship. I thought it was overly emotional and unnecessary.
I judged people who shouted things like, "Praise You, Jesus!" "Glory to God!" "Hallelujah!" Shouting was rude, disruptive and not biblical, or so I thought. Then I read: "Let' us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms," in Psalm 95.
I judged people who waved banners or flags during worship services. Then I read Psalm 20:5 where it says, "We will rejoice in your salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners!"
I judged people who danced during worship services...where IS your reverence for our Holy God? Then I read 2 Samuel 6:14 where "David danced before the LORD with all his might."
I even judged those worship services where a woman got up to preach the sermon, thinking that this too was unbiblical. Then I had a precious brother and pastor in Hungary walk me through the scriptures and show me that women can be teachers too, and when properly covered by a man and men in the church, women can bless the body with their teaching gifts.
My judgements were off the scale for those people who supposedly fell over during a service when someone prayed for them...I was sure that the person who put his hand on their head pushed them down, or the person was faking falling down. And even if someone was faking and doing a "cd" (courtesy drop), that was between them and God, and did not change Who God is or what He is doing in people's lives and hearts.
I judged those churches where people clapped their hands and sang loudly...but secretly, in the depths of my being, I wished that we in our church would sing songs through more than one time, and there were times when the desire to clap would begin to well up inside of me, but I worked hard to squelch it, out of supposed reverence.
Indeed, I suppose you could say that I was one of the most judgemental people in the church OF the church. Finally, as I began to explore the Scriptures, I learned much more about not only how judgemental I was, but also how wrong I was on every point above.
Probably the most amazing growth in my life has come in the past 8 years as I have released control to the Lord, watched Him break out of the neat little boxes I tried to put Him in and through it all, pour out His amazing love and grace.
Now, the challenge is not to swing to the other end of the pendulum and judge the place and perspectives that I once held. God is a big God, full of fresh revelation, and He has healed my heart and will continue to show me His Truths!
Friday, April 06, 2012
Confessions of a Former Cessationist (continued)
As I mentioned in the previous blog, I am writing a new book, and parts of it will appear here. This is installment #2:
Growing up in a mainline denominational church, I did not have the opportunity to see these greater things that Jesus speaks about with certainty. (See end of previous blog)
Mind you, I saw and experienced many wonderful things, like excellent teaching of the Word of God, solid discipleship programs, wonderful hearts for missions and reverence and awe of God the Father and God the Son and the Word of God, the Bible. I absolutely love and honor the background from which I have come spiritually and every person who faithfully poured into my life through the years. I received a solid grounding in the Word, for which I am eternally grateful.
One noteworthy thing that continually pricked at my heart, even as a young believer, was how quickly we glossed over the third person of the Trinity--The Holy Spirit. To me, and this is most likely my own fault, Holy Spirit was some sort of ethereal entity, very mysterious and sort of "out there," yes, significant, but somehow, He seemed less important or at least less emphasized than the Father and the Son.
I even remember having a conversation with someone when I was looking for a church home during graduate school. This person said, "That church places more emphasis on the Holy Spirit, whereas this church really emphasizes the Word and Jesus."
I took the bait---the latter was clearly 'better' than the former because it's the written Word of Truth that trumps the 'experience' of the Spirit. Somehow, Jesus' words in John chapter 4 to the Samaritan woman at the well got pushed to the wayside in my mind. "A time is coming when true worshipers will worship in Spirit and in Truth."
It's a both/and---not an either/or; it never has been nor ever will be. In the end, it's God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit revealed by the written word of God and the church, God's people, living out the fullness of everything that God is as recorded in Scripture.
I began by saying that I was on the journey away from cessationism before I even knew I was on the journey, and that's because some things really bothered me. Such things as why we focused on 1 Corinthians 13 but glossed over chapters 12 and 14, and why if the Apostle Paul taught clearly that we are to eagerly desire the gifts, especially that we would prophesy, then how could prophesy no longer exist? At one point I was told by a radical mainline person that speaking in tongues was of the devil, so imagine my surprise when one day I am praying and I am, quite suddenly, speaking a language I don't recognize! It welled up from deep inside of me and came bubbling out, and since that time, my relationship with God has only grown more intimate and even deeper as I pray in tongues. I knew there had to be something to this fullness of Christ dwelling in me via Holy Spirit because my new spirit in me, renewed by God's grace, was communing with Holy Spirit like it never had before.
The other mental challenge I had was reading about the five-fold ministry, but only seeing three of the ministries active. Of course there are teachers, evangelists and pastors, but apostles and prophets are no longer in existence, I was told. This confused me a bit, but I simply accepted it, even though it seemed a bit odd to me, especially since Paul was writing about this regarding the early church and how that church and churches to come would be established until Jesus' second coming. As I began studying much later in my walk with the Lord, and experiencing things in my own life connected to these giftings, I realized that indeed they are gifts for today.
....More to come......
Growing up in a mainline denominational church, I did not have the opportunity to see these greater things that Jesus speaks about with certainty. (See end of previous blog)
Mind you, I saw and experienced many wonderful things, like excellent teaching of the Word of God, solid discipleship programs, wonderful hearts for missions and reverence and awe of God the Father and God the Son and the Word of God, the Bible. I absolutely love and honor the background from which I have come spiritually and every person who faithfully poured into my life through the years. I received a solid grounding in the Word, for which I am eternally grateful.
One noteworthy thing that continually pricked at my heart, even as a young believer, was how quickly we glossed over the third person of the Trinity--The Holy Spirit. To me, and this is most likely my own fault, Holy Spirit was some sort of ethereal entity, very mysterious and sort of "out there," yes, significant, but somehow, He seemed less important or at least less emphasized than the Father and the Son.
I even remember having a conversation with someone when I was looking for a church home during graduate school. This person said, "That church places more emphasis on the Holy Spirit, whereas this church really emphasizes the Word and Jesus."
I took the bait---the latter was clearly 'better' than the former because it's the written Word of Truth that trumps the 'experience' of the Spirit. Somehow, Jesus' words in John chapter 4 to the Samaritan woman at the well got pushed to the wayside in my mind. "A time is coming when true worshipers will worship in Spirit and in Truth."
It's a both/and---not an either/or; it never has been nor ever will be. In the end, it's God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit revealed by the written word of God and the church, God's people, living out the fullness of everything that God is as recorded in Scripture.
I began by saying that I was on the journey away from cessationism before I even knew I was on the journey, and that's because some things really bothered me. Such things as why we focused on 1 Corinthians 13 but glossed over chapters 12 and 14, and why if the Apostle Paul taught clearly that we are to eagerly desire the gifts, especially that we would prophesy, then how could prophesy no longer exist? At one point I was told by a radical mainline person that speaking in tongues was of the devil, so imagine my surprise when one day I am praying and I am, quite suddenly, speaking a language I don't recognize! It welled up from deep inside of me and came bubbling out, and since that time, my relationship with God has only grown more intimate and even deeper as I pray in tongues. I knew there had to be something to this fullness of Christ dwelling in me via Holy Spirit because my new spirit in me, renewed by God's grace, was communing with Holy Spirit like it never had before.
The other mental challenge I had was reading about the five-fold ministry, but only seeing three of the ministries active. Of course there are teachers, evangelists and pastors, but apostles and prophets are no longer in existence, I was told. This confused me a bit, but I simply accepted it, even though it seemed a bit odd to me, especially since Paul was writing about this regarding the early church and how that church and churches to come would be established until Jesus' second coming. As I began studying much later in my walk with the Lord, and experiencing things in my own life connected to these giftings, I realized that indeed they are gifts for today.
....More to come......
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Hope Business Conference
Great speakers...
Times of adoration....
Tools for the journey....
And the reality....going forth!Timely. Spring brings forth hope as we see trees, grass, bushes, flowers blooming and growing.
The Hope Business Conference last week brought great hope to those in the marketplace as they gathered at the Focus building to focus on the goodness of God, the greatness of His being, and His faithfulness in all of life!
Spring in KC
Notice the tiny pink flowers...these are not perennials, but apparently, they never froze this winter and so are blooming again. There's a spiritual lesson and truth in this for sure!
One of our rose bushes and a couple of day lilies just waiting to burst forth and bloom!
We had no idea these could be multi-colored! Beautiful!
This is our neighbor's back yard, and we get to enjoy the view from our deck!
Yesterday, our first rose bud bloomed! I see this as a prophetic picture of passion week...life emerging from the red blood shed.I love spring! The colors bursting forth, new life emerging, dormancy transforming to alertness, and beauty!
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