Something Wonderful I Found In Romans

 Something Wonderful I Found In Romans

Whoever has read through the Bible once has only read through the Bible once. When we are in relationship with Jesus and attentive to the Spirit, the Bible becomes a living thing. Every time you open it, it will speak to where you are in life. It always remains the same but what it addresses in you is where you are today. When you approach it as a living word it will astound you every single time.

I always look for direction from the Spirit when I begin again to read the Bible through, from cover to cover. I want him to tell me what I should be paying attention to. One year he had me look at how the Bible is a slow revealing of who Yahweh is and what his relationship is with us. As I moved through the Bible I witnessed how he slowly revealed himself until Jesus showed us his heart and we realized him as Father. He went from Creator, in Genesis, to Father, in the gospels.

Another year he had me look for the importance of relationships, Father with us, us with Father and then us with each other. I can never look at the Bible the same way again after seeing it in this light. We have failed in relationships ever since Eve. It is the single greatest failure that has disgusted and moved Father to action. All of humanity has suffered because of this ongoing failure, right up to this present day. 

I find that Paul’s letter to the church in Rome has one of the greatest explanations of the cause of and the solution to broken relationships. Paul starts off by explaining the condition of humanity outside of Jesus. It is ugly and disastrous and is the natural state of all human beings. No matter how much we try to fix ourselves we can’t. We can see the problem, even name the problem, but we can’t fix the problem because we are incomplete. We were designed for life with Father and without him we just can’t function properly.

Paul names the problem : selfishness. Every single hurtful thing we ever do to each other is found in this foundation of selfishness. Every act of rebellion toward Father is fruit from this selfish nature. And there is nothing we can do to change it. No matter how hard we try to free ourselves from it, it will just suck us back in. The only path of freedom is found in Jesus. But there is a problem here too.

Too often we want to treat it as a “one and done” kind of event when we give ourselves to Jesus, but do you remember what Jesus said we had to do to follow him? Not accept him but to follow him. “Deny yourself”, or better understood as “say no to yourself”. Jesus was addressing our selfish nature. It is a process to grow into the maturity of Jesus. It is a day by day process where the Spirit helps us develop the habit of saying no to ourselves and yes to him.

Paul does describe what proper relationship with each other looks like but he also stated that the only proper way to do this is to die to ourselves and to live in the Spirit. Too often we go with the flow of our human nature. We act on impulse. We do what comes natural and it gets us in a lot of trouble. To live in and by the Spirit takes an attitude of purposeful living. It requires a relationship with Spirit, where we spend all day having conversation with him. It is where he guides us in living according to Father’s heart and not our selfish desires. Without his input, guidance and power we will do what our selfish nature dictates. We cannot succeed in this life without the Spirit of God empowering us to say no to ourselves.

Today it is possible for us to live in relationship with each other in the way Father created us to. Paul summed it up with a single word when he wrote to the church in Corinth : love. It is not about perfectionism but it is about love empowered by grace where we give each other the freedom to live with repentance and forgiveness in our living together. Because I have chosen to live according to Father’s heart it means I have chosen to love you. So when you offend me, and you will, I say no to my right to be offended, lean into the Spirit, and forgive you empowered by grace. Amazing isn’t it? And this same grace empowers me to admit when I am wrong or have done wrong.

So, if we find ourselves being offended by those who we are bound with in the Spirit, we know we are getting it wrong. If we find ourselves trying to make excuses for our offenses instead of confessing them, we know we are getting it wrong. It is so easy to know when we are wrong but is our relationship with Jesus real enough for us to say no to ourselves and choose the Royal Law? The Kingdom is about relationships and only he can empower us to get it right.

Lessons I Learned From My Mom

Recently I had the privilege of staying with my 90 year old mother while my father was in hospital. Aging well has been my constant theme in the last few years so I paid careful attention to my mother’s daily routine and attitude as I helped care for her needs. I want to share with you a few of the lessons she taught me.

Let me start by saying, my mother is no ordinary woman. Married to a navy sailor who was absent for lengthy periods of time, she had to learn to provide for herself and her children. Back in the day when it was not normal for a woman to work outside of her home, she became a very successful business woman. She was extremely active juggling many different activities. Today I think she would have been diagnosed as ADHD, and reflects this even in her activities at 90 years of age.

My mom was a firecracker until she turned eighty-five. That’s when the signal between her brain and her legs broke down. She struggles to walk to the bathroom and must use a walker or even a wheelchair. She went from 200 km/h to 10 km/h overnight. But my mom is not so easily discouraged.

This is what I observed in my stay with her:

First, don’t stop. You have to keep moving. The easiest thing to do is to sit back. “Hey, we have worked all our lives, we deserve some sofa time.” This attitude won’t get us far into our senior years. As we retire what we do will change but the doing shouldn’t stop. My mom dove into her crafting head first, making incredible things to give away to people. My mom and dad traveled, made new friends, pursued new interests, and learned new things. But people were always at the center of everything and my mom spent her days following up with and checking on her friends from all over North America. Some of this changed when the legs stopped working, but there were lessons for me here too.

Second, when you can’t do everything, do something. When my mom’s legs went, my dad had to take over a lot of things, like the cooking and cleaning. But my mom didn’t focus on what she couldn’t do. She let go of those things, for the most part, and turned to what she could do. She loved her puzzles and the crafts. She enjoyed calling friends and family to check on them and give some encouragement. Birthday cards were her passion. I only speak in the past tense because the lack of physical activity started affecting even these activities, and here again were more lessons for me.

Third, when you can’t do the whole thing, do the part you can. One year when I was visiting with my parents I started to clean up after a meal. My father warned me to leave the dishes alone or I would get scolded by mom. That was her job that she jealously protected. She couldn’t cook or bake any more but she could load the dishwasher and no one was going to take that away from her. She can no longer load the dishwasher but I observed that she has the same attitude with other tasks like laundry. She can't physically do the laundry but she insisted on sorting it into the proper groupings for washing. It took her a long time to do it but she did it. This again led to another lesson.

Fourth, fight for the right to live. People like me have the best of intentions when I come to visit. I want my mom to sit back and relax while I take care of her. Good intentions but wrong attitude. I heard a senior addressing other seniors on this topic and she told them not to allow someone to rob them of the things that they can do and that they enjoy doing. The example given was of an 85 year old man who enjoyed and was capable of mowing his lawn. A well intentioned neighbour ended up robbing him of this pleasure. My mom has limited abilities but she has abilities and those things get her up in the morning. They are things she looks forward to doing. They fill her days with a sense of purpose. And here I want to come in and rob her of that, not even knowing I am doing so.

The easiest thing for a caregiver is to take the fast road. I can get my mom to the bathroom in thirty seconds with the wheelchair. With her walker it takes twenty minutes. But the wheelchair robs her of her independence. It also robs her of exercise and will cause her health and abilities to decline just to convenience how I care for her. But my mom fights for herself. She insists on as much independence as she can manage. She also insists on managing those who are there to support her.

On my last night of my stay with her she insisted that she wanted to go shopping. She didn’t need anything but she had come up with a list of “essential” supplies that she said she was low on. My mom was always an avid shopper. She insisted with me that it had been two years since she had been to a store. The truth was she had gone out shopping a couple of weeks ago. But I was exhausted and just wanted an evening to sit with her. She looked at me square in the face and said, “If you take me shopping you will be my hero.” Tell me, what son can refuse that? I loaded her in the car and the wheelchair in the trunk and off we went. My mom and I had a grand adventure exploring the remote recesses of the department store.

The last thing I will mention is the most important. My mom is a woman of faith. She has never been perfect and failed in many ways. She doesn’t have the greatest knowledge of the Bible but she has the most important things. She has never stopped loving Jesus or trusting him. Her prayers have carried her kids through a lot of things. She has never stopped loving people, never stopped forgiving and believing in what Jesus wants to do in them. This is her motivation in all things, her love for God and her love for people. Jesus promised us abundant life and she takes him at his word every day. She has lived a full and productive life.

If you ask me the secret to aging well it is simple : despite the obstacles in your health and circumstance, don’t stop. And don’t let anyone else make you stop. And don’t let anyone rob you of what you can do when you no longer are able to do all things. Live. Love. Laugh. Don’t let go! Hold on. Fight for every inch of life and live it as large as you can for as long as you can.

It Has Always Been A Matter Of The Heart

Today I was hanging out with James. I think he would have been an interesting man to hang out with in real time. The brother of Jesus, the head of the Church council in Jerusalem and a man who worked hard to balance the gospel of grace with the observance of the Law of Moses. As I hung out with him today I discovered something new, or I should say, I re-discovered something I may have set aside for a time.-

As I read through his letter I was struck with the same thing we are all struck with, how simple he put forward the need to live the scriptures daily in all our coming and going. But just like the Law he wrote about, it is easy to boil his writing down to a bunch of does and don’ts that end up producing nothing of any value. But take note, from James we discover that there is a wealth of very simple and practical living that comes from one single correct position from which we live outwards.

Let’s start with his very famous statements on the tongue. I am sure you and I both have heard many sermons expounding on the need for us to tame our tongue. The fact is, James said the exact opposite. He stated that it was impossible to tame the tongue. It cannot be done, was his argument. He did not write about the dangers of the tongue if we don’t get it under control, but instead that the nature of the untamable tongue is destructive if the source is bitter water. His focus was the source, not our effort.

Take a look at it again and you will realize that everything he wrote about focused on the source. He stated that it was not possible for a spring to produce fresh and bitter water; it is either one or the other. In relation to the Royal Law of “love your neighbour as you love yourself”, he was stating that the tongue cannot both praise God and curse a person because, as we know, if we say we love God and hate a neighbour we are a liar. Bitter and pure water cannot come from the same source. So look deeper.

The real focus of James’ letter is about the purity of the source of all our words and actions. In a portion where he is calling people back to faithfulness, he states that Father longs for our faithfulness and then he tells us how to correct the source of our words and actions:

“Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Cry out in sorrow, mourn, and weep! Let your laughter become mourning and your joy become sadness. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:8-10)

The letter is not about trying harder to be righteous. It is not about our effort at all. It is about relationships. Basically, hang out with Jesus and he will rub off on you. The things of which James writes is as powerless as the Law if the source is not found in our humble relationship with Jesus. Come near to God and he will come near to you. The fact is he is always near but we are not aware of him unless we are looking for him.

Motivation is not the key. You might have the right motive, to do good, but using the methods of the world and not the methods of the Kingdom found in our relationship with Jesus, and all that it will produce is bitter water. Motivation does not change the source. Only an intimate daily relationship with Jesus will make sure that it is pure water that flows from our words and actions. The only one who can do anything about you is you. And the thing you must do is draw near to God.

Are You A Victim Of Fraud?

I was out for my morning walk this morning. It was a beautiful, frosty morning, probably the coldest morning this Fall season. I was dressed in layers with a beautiful new tuque and some great gloves. So, of course my phone rang, somewhere under all those layers.

Normally I don’t answer my phone when I am out for my walk because this time doubles as my conversational time with Father. But this morning I felt compelled to respond because I am waiting for several important phone calls, and besides, it could have been my wife. Unfortunately it was none of these.

After digging down through the layers to find my phone, you can imagine my disappointment when I heard an automated message telling me that VISA had identified two fraudulent charges on my account and I only had to press one to cancel them and speak to their agent. Having had this same message before I promptly hung up. Then I heard the Spirit.

The Spirit loves to use all kinds of occasions to make a point with me. As I put my phone away he asked me, “What if it’s true?”

I chuckled, “I know it’s not true.”

“How do you know it’s not true?”

“Because I know this is not how VISA works.”

“How do you know this is not how VISA works?”

“Because I have read their policies and I have had past experience.”

“So why do you listen to the enemy’s fraud?”

Wait! What?

He left it there for me to consider because I knew what he was talking about right away. The enemy is always committing fraud against God’s children. The Garden is just an example of what he has been doing throughout the history of humanity. He promises to us what we already possess and he tries to trick us into thinking we are opposite of who Father says we are. You know those lies. His great desire is to separate us from Father.

Those lies are those disturbing thoughts that wake you up in the middle of the night. They tell you that there are charges against you on Father’s account. There aren’t. They have all been removed by the blood of Jesus. Yet, those seeds are enough to start a stream of doubt that we allow to become a river that undermines our incredible relationship with Father through Jesus. They convince us Father won’t provide, or forgive, or heal or any of the many things he has promised us.

How do we protect ourselves?

I knew the phone call I received was fraudulent because I knew the company’s policies, how they operate in this matter and also have personal experience. I have received phone calls from VISA to check on charges when I have been traveling in places that were not usual for me. Most of us have. So I know they do not use automated messages that tell me to press a number to get an agent. It is no different with Father.

I shouldn’t be able to fall victim to the enemy’s lies. I know my Father. I know his promises. I know how he operates. When he needs to bring correction he does not do it with disturbing thoughts in the middle of the night. He never calls me out. He always calls me up. When I have taken a misstep he reminds me who I am in Jesus. “Hey encourager, let’s consider this here.” “Hey man of prayer, let’s take a bit of time together this morning.” He always speaks to me by how he sees me, even in correction.

I also know that he never threatens me. He is not against me. When he does need to bring correction it is not to punish but to build up. His desire is to see me grow, to increase, to mature. If there is shame and condemnation it is fraudulent, from the enemy of my soul. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. I should be able to tell the difference and choose to listen to the one I worship and trust.

If you are one who gets disturbed by the frauds of our enemy, do yourself a favour, give it over to Father. Yes, report the fraud to Father and leave it with him. Don’t let it rob you of a single minute of your sleep or of your day. Know Dad. Know his promises. Trust what you have already experienced with him. 

Learning Kingdom Culture To Communicate It

About four years ago the Spirit told me to put more effort into my French studies. This might have seemed strange for people who knew me considering I had spent four years in Belgium and another 19 years in Quebec. But on my return to Canada I ended up in english ministry in Quebec, not requiring much french at all. I could get by In Montreal with my limited french. But here now the Spirit said “study”.

So I have studied, most days three hours a day, and my french has greatly improved. Then the Lord instructed me to join in with an apostle we greatly respected, joining my church in with his. This church operates in three languages but is primarily a french-speaking church. Ah, I get it Lord. He had been preparing me.

Language is key to understanding culture. My french is great now, giving me great comprehension of the spoken and written language. But to understand and to be understood are two different things, and so here is my weakness, being capable of understanding and struggling to express. But this is not about my struggle with french.

The KIngdom of God is a very unique culture, a culture far more powerful and important than any culture on this planet. We are not native to this culture but are instead adopted into it. We have the same challenge as any immigrant coming into our country's culture, they need the language to understand the culture so they can adapt to this new life.

Many a day, as I plugged away at my studies, I wished that my brain could be transformed into a french thinking brain. French is a wonderfully precise language that reveals the unique way of thinking of a french speaking person. To grasp it you have to let go of your own way of thinking which helps you form sentence structure. You have to let go of the old to grasp the new. This describes the Kingdom process as well.

Jesus warned us that the old had to go in order for the new to come. In the Kingdom this is both transformational and also a process. Unlike our differing cultures, the Kingdom makes it possible for our minds to be transformed to grasp and live according to Kingdom culture. It’s called “renewing”. Apostle Yvon Stabili has said that the only thing we need before Jesus is redemption and the thing we need after Jesus is a daily renewed mind. Scripture encourages us:

“Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.” (Romans 12:2)

If we want to understand Kingdom culture we need to bathe ourselves daily in Kingdom language as found in the Word and to grow in our relationship with the Spirit who teaches us this culture. It is a completely foreign way of thinking and living. Love your enemy. Pray for those who persecute you. Honour leaders who may be against you. Give just because someone asks and give more than what is asked for. Pray and the sick will be healed and the dead will be raised. This is crazy talk from the point of view of the cultures of this world. Without the Spirit we could never make the transition.

My struggle with french is that I can live every day without needing to speak it. Almost everyone I know speaks english and when we are not forced to use something we often don’t. I need people in my life who cannot switch to english out of their sense of compassion. I need situations where I am forced to communicate in french. It is the only way I will improve. I need to get past my fear of imperfection, if you know what I mean. The Kingdom is no different.

The only way we will grasp the Kingdom is when we live the Kingdom. If we study it and even memorize it, there is no value to it. Scripture tells us to not just read and know the word but to live it. Do  the Word. Live the culture empowered by the Spirit and you will progress in the process. Do it. Just do it.

The biggest stumbling block to speaking a new language is our fixation on perfection or our fear of mistakes. We must be willing to learn as a child learns, living daily in imperfection until things fall into place. This applies in a big way to  Kingdom culture. Father is not afraid of our imperfections, it is part of our growth. He wants us to listen to his voice and step out to live this culture, being daily renewed and living according to his heart. We have to become like children to see the Kingdom which means we move forward as children, knowing we have a lot to learn and mistakes to learn from.

So, let’s not give up. Let’s encourage each other to press on through our learning and growing so that someday we will be better able to communicate the heart of Father through all that we do.

“But we aren’t the sort of people who timidly draw back and end up being destroyed. We’re the sort of people who have faith so that our whole beings are preserved.” (Hebrews 10:39)

There Has To Be More To It

 Not many of us have faced a lot of “valley of the shadow of death” seasons in our life and yet I dare say we have all faced “valley” moments. I have had my share of these and I have to admit some of them felt like the shadow of death. Life is not always easy or fair.

As followers of Jesus there is an expectation that we will keep these moments to ourselves or just pretend they don't exist. I think this is because too many of us believers don’t want to consider the hard questions about our faith. It’s supposed to be all butterflies and daffodils, isn’t it?

It’s not often a lack of faith that finds us in those valleys. What we have to consider is that life is found in the valleys. The mountain top seasons are fantastic and have a breathtaking view that gives us perspective and breathes new life into these old bones, but growth, real growth is found in the challenges of those valleys. Not that Father has planned those valleys but he has planned for them and he never misses an opportunity to help us grow.

Valleys with road maps are great but most don’t have them. Most of them include loss in one form or another. Some of them are so dark you don’t know which way is up any more. These are those moments that you cling to the Lord and make declarations based on the promises you have experienced in the past. Psalm 91 comes to mind:

“I say to the Lord, ‘You are my refuge, my stronghold! You are my God - the one I trust!” (2)

These are the moments you try to climb into the Word, you surround yourself with worship, you write out your prayers, have long discussions with the Lord or whatever “you are my God - the one I trust” looks like to you. For many of us it is the “moment by moment” clinging to Jesus because everything else is shifting and he is the only thing solid in our life. But that is only the beginning place of the valley. Father has more than this in mind for us.

I was in conversation with Spirit the other day and he was pointing out a few things to me about the valley experience and one of them was that quality of trust matters here. This desperation clinging is an okay beginning point but he has called us to a greater relationship than clinched-eyes clinging. Through another preacher he reminded me of  1 Thessalonians 5:

“Rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (16-18)

Those three activities are not mere valley activities but are relationship growth activities for all seasons. These are what we do because they are the fruit of who we are, and after entering the valley and regaining our senses we can act on who we are.

Rejoice. Not just on the mountaintops but in the valleys as well. We rejoice because of who Jesus is and who we are in him. We rejoice because he has never failed us. We rejoice because he is good and that goodness never changes. It is the reason Paul told the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord always. It was so important that he repeated himself, Rejoice. After the desperate “cling and declaration”, rejoicing is the next step and demonstrates that you are living what you are declaring. We do not rejoice in our circumstances but in the One who has promised never to forsake us in those circumstances and who has said he is the solution. 

Pray continually. This is the ongoing reminder that you are in Jesus and Jesus is in you. It is a reminder that he is involved in every detail of your life. It is great to discuss every detail of your life with him, your opinions, your dreams and desires. It is an open and honest conversation with the one who knows your heart and mind, the one is for you and not against you. It is a conversation throughout the day, a continual conversation.

Give thanks in every situation. That is powerful. That means in everything, always find the reason why you maintain a life of thanksgiving. This is a powerful weapon against the enemy in that valley because he is there to destroy you by discouraging you, to separate you from Father. But when you set your mind on things above, thanksgiving is a natural expression in dark times, Consider what Paul said to the Colossians.

First he told them to look, seek out, the things that are above:

“... look for the things that are above where Christ is sitting at God’s right side.”

And then he tells them, once they can “see” these things to set theirr thoughts on these things:

“Think about the things above and not things on earth.”

The enemy will try to keep our eyes fixed on the things of this earth because they are death to us, depressing, filled with false hope, and promising to give us what we already possess in Jesus. 

Rejoice always, Pray continually, Give thanks in every situation.

Because I can say he is my God and that I trust him in this valley, I can also move past desperation into fruitful relationship. This is very fertile ground, even if it is uncomfortable at times. How much better to go through it laughing, dancing, shouting with joy in the presence of my King.

The Pain Of The Hallway Experience

 There is an interesting phenomena in the Christian experience that happens when the Lord moves you from one ministry to another. If we consider the ministries like rooms, the transition from one to another requires a hallway. It’s when you are in the hallway that you aren’t really attached to anything but the Lord. You aren’t part of what you left but you are also not yet really part of what the Lord is moving you into. It can be a very disorienting experience even for the veterans of such experiences.

The problem arises because of our tendency to take on as our identity the thing that we do. If we are asked to describe who we are we usually start off with what we do : I’m a pastor, doctor, electrician and so on. We may also describe ourselves relationally ; I am a father of two, a son, a grandfather, a husband. But these do not say who we are.

Identity is very important and when we are in a hallway experience we often have time to consider “who am I”. The enemy wants to define us by our sins and mistakes. People want to define us by what we do. Our family wants to define us by our relationship. But who do we say we are? More importantly, who does Father say we are?

Our Father also defines us according to relationship but it is different with him. He calls us his son or his daughter but this has more of an impact on us than our earthly father and mother. To be his children we had to be transformed to be like him. We have been transformed and we are being transformed. So my identity is both relational (I am a child of God) and behavioral (I am kind, I am loving, I am compassionate and so on). Because I am a child of God, what is important to him is important to me, and what he does is also my desire to do.

The hallway experience is an opportunity to be stripped of anything that has claimed itself as our identity and for us to be renewed in our core identity as a child of God. It sounds like a pleasant experience in theory but the reality can feel very different. It really depends on the circumstances of the change we are experiencing. If you are thankful for where you were but knew it was time to go, then you enter the hallway with great expectation so that the time of renewal is filled with excitement. But if what we are leaving behind is something we don’t want to leave behind but we are doing so only because of obedience to Father, then the period of renewal is filled with great mystery and we may tend to cling to the “doing” of our identity.

Regardless of why we are in the hallway, the great benefit of being there is the renewal of our relational identity with Father. It is in these moments that we renew our attitude that what we do does not matter compared to who we are, and the reality in Christ being that who we are defines what we do. We can be who we are despite how the world defines us by what we do in life. I can be the Prime Minister of Canada and still live as a child of God. I can be a stock boy and find great contentment because I am doing that thing as a child of God. As a son, I am renewed in my contentment so that if he needs me to sit for a while I can sit with joy. Being great or little in the eyes of people has no value to us but pleasing Father does.

C. S. Lewis wrote about the purpose of pain in the Kingdom and the hallway can be a painful moment, but it is amazing what he births out of that pain. Sometimes, the longer we are in something the longer it takes us to be renewed in the transitional hallway. He strips us down so that we are clothed only in him and when we are, we are ready for the next room. It is simple, but not always easy.

The Cost Of Intimacy

 I was reading through Daniel this morning. It's always a great time in Daniel. Many people look at his life in amazement and consider key moments like the lion's den for life lessons. But the lion's den was only the fruit of something more incredible.

I am always amazed at his visions and how he moved about and interacted in these key spiritual moments. His visions/dreams were astounding and much was shown to him. His fame was because he was a dream interpreter, but it was the Lord who explained to him the dreams. But this too is only a fruit of something even more incredible.

There are people who wish they had the same ability to interpret dreams and receive such incredible visions. There are others who wish they could have the strength of faith that Daniel demonstrated. People wish for it but are not willing to pay the price.

"Pay the price" isn't really the best way to say this but there is a cost involved with having the intimacy with Yahweh that Daniel had. The cost is time. Friendship requires an investment of time. Daniel spent a lot of time with Yahweh in prayer and this relationship created sensitivity toward Yahweh.

Daniel's experiences were the fruit of his intimacy and intimacy developed with the time he spent "hanging out" with Yahweh. If we want intimacy, sensitivity, openness with Father it will require one of the greatest sacrifices in this age : time.

This is our great challenge because our society has been very good at developing distractions. There are many "minute robbers" throughout the day. Little things of little value that eat up our time so we have the sense of being busy, convincing ourselves us that we do not have time for Father's priorities. These priorities are simple to understand : love him and love each other. It is hard to love the things we do not value enough to give priority to.

I'm talking to the man in the mirror here. It is so easy to give priority to the distractions without knowing we are doing it. If we kept track of a day in our life and figured out where we were using our time, we may discover that what we value does not match up with what Father values. It may match in our thinking but not in our actions and it requires actions to move into the intimacy we desire.

If we really desire the awareness of the "oneness" that Jesus spoke about, we would start with a simple change of blocking out more time to "hang out" with Dad. Start there and see what it leads to.

Moving Through Change Without Bitterness

 The other day I was spending time with the prophet Ezekiel. He was a priest who had been exiled from Jerusalem during the first deportation of Judah. The great siege and destruction of Jerusalem was yet to come. Ezekiel was now without purpose and a job, confused with everyone else in exile. But Yahweh needed prophets for his people in Babylon and he had set Ezekiel aside for this purpose.

We always focus on the great vision of Ezekiel and for good reason. Each prophet brought a different revelation of Yahweh and putting them together gives us a fuller understanding of Yahweh. But this is not a path Ezekiel would have chosen for himself.

People today chase after the office of the prophet because it is different from the Old Testament Prophet. Prophets today are part of the five-fold, the trainers in the Body of Christ. Back in the day before the Holy Spirit was given to all believers, the prophet was the voice of Yahweh, bringing his word and will for that day. This did not give the prophet favour with the leadership or the people because the prophet often had a word of correction to bring, and no one likes correction.

Ezekiel would have known Jeremiah or known of him, so he knew of the bad things that were done to this dear prophet in Jerusalem. And Ezekiel also knew that this was the norm for the prophets of Yahweh. When chosen, that person lost his old life and comfort and now stepped into the privilege of intimacy with Yahweh and a very punishing life of service. So it should not surprise us that after receiving his anointing and commission, when the wind picked him up to carry him to the deportees, we read this:

“Then the wind picked me up and took me away. With the Lord’s power pressing down against me I went away, bitter and deeply angry, and I came to the exiles who lived beside the Chebar River at Tel-abib. I stayed there among them for seven desolate days.”  Ezekiel 3:14-15

So the result of this vision and encounter, of the call and commission : “I went away, bitter and deeply angry.” Ezekiel knew what this was going to look like. Remember, he wasn’t asked if he was willing, he was simply told to go. Too often we put all the emphasis on the benefits of our relationship and so we are unprepared for the cost. There is always a cost.

Several times in my life the Lord called me to something that caused my world to shift. I knew I would have to say good-bye to what I knew and what I was comfortable with, to step into the obedience of Father’s purpose for me. There was great cost. But there was also great benefit, and the benefit far outweighed the cost. But there was a cost.

I could compare it to having a baby. There is great cost to the mom. Her life will never be the same again. There will never be another moment in her life when she won’t be a mom. There is pain in the birth. There is pain in the difficult nights, giving up plans for a sick child, and the tons of work involved in raising a child. But the benefits of having that little person pouring out their love into your life far outweighs any cost.

If we forget his benefits we run the risk of having bitterness and deep anger filling our hearts and clouding our perspective. Change is never easy. Many of us struggle with change. But change is also filled with exciting possibilities. The thing that is important to anchor yourself to is the truth that our Father never changes. Even in the chaos of the change that he is bringing about he is our anchor. We must remind ourselves of his benefits. We need to review our many testimonies of his goodness. We must declare our trust in the darkness. We must hold on to him because he is the only one who makes sense of life and provides the strength we need.

We are given the honest reactions of prophets, psalmist, servants and kings so that we can see that these are normal reactions to unusual times. But we are also given the example of how they confessed these things to the Lord and then confessed their trust in him. This is given so we know that this is how we get through life-shifting changes without bitterness and deep anger taking route.

Called To Serve part 4

This is the final part of this subject as far as this little exercise is concerned but I hope it is not the end of you seeking greater revelation on this subject. What we are exploring is how we can avoid in the Church a similar leadership melt down that Israel experienced. It helps us to realize that everything in the Kingdom is volunteer. I am not forced to submit myself to the Spirit, I volunteer to do so. It is for my best interest but it is still a decision I get to make. This is applied to everything : it is my choice to accept or reject Father’s free gift of salvation ; I volunteer to walk in obedience ; I volunteer to worship ; I volunteer to serve ; I volunteer to love. It’s always a choice even if I am compelled by love.

To go forward we need to understand, accept and apply that all instruction that has been written in the past is for our benefit today:

“Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures.” Romans 15:4

Trust me, the leadership we are considering comes at such a high cost that it is impossible without the hope that comes through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures. This model is uniquely a kingdom model that is impossible to duplicate without Jesus because without him we can do nothing.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice.” 15:5-6

Because that is the end goal, relationships that are matured into unity where we glorify our Father with one voice. This must be the foundational understanding of any form of leadership within the Body of Christ. It is from this perspective, that we renew daily, that we decide to remain focused on our King and his purpose for us:

“So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.” 15:7

Going on 40 years of following Jesus I have yet to see him reject me due to my imperfections, mistakes, blunders, sins. He keeps covering them, keeps lifting me up, keeps perfecting me in my imperfection. So how can I as a leader in the Body do anything other than serve the weak from my position of power. My life is spent for the purpose of seeing them mature in Jesus. I must be like and do like Jesus:

“I’m saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, in order to confirm the promises given to the ancestors, and so that the Gentiles could glorify God for his mercy.” 15:8-9

The servant-leaders in the Body can only avoid the collapse of Israel’s government by refusing to focus on themselves, understand Kingdom leadership and daily renew their submission to the King and their service to the Body. No other form of leadership will benefit the individuals of the Body and no other form of leadership will be rewarded. 

Called To Serve part 3

 I hope you have taken the time to read through part one and part two in order that you may get the most out of part three. We understand that Yahweh had set up a government of checks and balances in Israel which included the High Priest, High Judge, the Prophet and the king. But these offices had failed to retain the understanding that their purpose was the people. Their purpose was to serve the people to maintain a kingdom that was focused on Yahweh and each other. Instead, they put that focus on themselves and everything Yahweh had put in place for a prosperous society could not function due to the improper focus. Now let’s turn the page to where we are today, after the cross.

Jesus came with multiple purposes including the revealing of the depth of Father’s heart. Jesus taught and demonstrated what relationship looks like in the Kingdom, including the servant-leaders, and then he left to send us the Spirit to empower us to live it. In our present age we have the Body of Christ, which we are all part of and the only head is Jesus. He has given us trainers, the five-fold (apostles, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher), to train us in the works that will unite us and grow us into the maturity of Jesus. In this structure we are all part of the royal priesthood, each of us a leader in a broken world. Our focus is on those who Father loves, the lost of this world, not to lord it over them but to serve them so they would be open to Jesus.

The structure of the Body can be scary for those who are looking for a pyramid structure with a boss dictating to everyone else. Instead it is an inverted pyramid. Paul refers to the apostles as being the ones who take the most abuse as they lay it all on the line for the purpose of serving the Body. Paul gives us a wonderful picture of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12 and too often that’s as far as we go. But Paul said that there is a way that allows all the diversity to be united together, functioning together for the same purpose. He follows this with the wonder 1 Corinthians 13. You should pause and refresh yourself on these two chapters.

What Paul is giving us is the manner in which we prevent the failure we see in the government of Israel. The whole Bible is about relationship and Father wants us to understand what right relationship looks like with him and with each other. Understanding this, let’s consider Romans 15. 

Verse one should stop us right in our tracks when we are considering the relationship between the mature and the beginners in the Body:

“We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves.”

This works for relationships in the Body but also with those who have yet to come to Jesus. We can have a terrible attitude toward those who are still controlled by their sins, new believers and pre-believers. We make a mistake when we try to control their sin instead of demonstrating Father’s love, patience and kindness. We are not responsible for conviction, that is the Spirit’s job. We have enough on our hands to stay within our anointing, demonstrating the power of Father’s love to heal and forgive.

When we see this as our primary purpose, to demonstrate Father’s love, they will soon recognize Jesus’ love demonstrated on the cross and love will compel them to forsake sin in the same way it compels us to serve as servants. There is no fast track. Everything takes time to learn and respond to. We love and we make sure we are prepared to give the reason for our hope, to new believers and pre-believers. We are all learning. There will always be those more mature and less mature than us. So we serve with humility. Consider :

“Each of us should please our neighbours for their good in order to build them up. Christ didn’t please himself, but, as it is written, The insults of those who insulted you fell on me.” (Romans 15:2-3)

That’s a pretty powerful picture, absorbing what is intended to destroy your neighbour. How do we do that? The enemy is out to destroy your neighbour but instead we cover those moments by grace. Sounds poetic but when you have been raised in an environment of calling out every sin, every offense, every mistake, it can be hard to shift gears into proper kingdom leadership.

I am going to give you some time to seek Father’s heart on this. If you have questions, take them to him and wait on the answers. I pray that he will show you his heart on the matter. We will come back to finish this off with part 4.

Called To Serve part 2

 I am not going to re-cap part 1. It is available to you to look over quickly. We are going to jump right into this by me asking you to put this aside until you read Jeremiah 23. Don’t pretend you read it. It’s going to take you three minutes and you will get much more out of this by laying the foundation of Scripture.

Okay, I am going to assume you have read it, and I hope you did. It’s pretty heavy in the category of correction. The government that Yahweh had set up for Israel had completely bottomed out and to understand this we need to lean heavily on the first part. Remember what Jesus said about leadership in the Kingdom: not to rule but to serve.

In this chapter, the shepherds that are being referred to are all those who have any role in the four offices of government including those who assisted these offices. These are the officials, the assistants, the clerks who are all in place to help the four offices serve the people so that the people can succeed in life. Remember, the goal is a right relationship with Yahweh and each other because this is the foundation to success in Yahweh. It is from right relationship that all the blessings of Yahweh flow. Now of these officials Yahweh states:

“You are the ones who have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t attended to their needs, so I will take revenge on you for the terrible things you have done to them, declares the LORD.”

He says that he will replace them with shepherds who will fulfill their duties:

“I will place over them shepherds who care for them. Then they will no longer be afraid or dread harm, nor will any be missing, declares the LORD.”

Look how important those leaders are to the welfare of the people : no fear, no dread, no harm, and no one missing. The LORD is placing the current poor condition of the people squarely on the shepherds.

The king has been another failure in this government. The solution is simple : replace him with a righteous king. “The LORD Is Our Righteousness” cannot describe any human representative. No human could be considered righteous outside of Yahweh making it so. It had to be Jesus. Simple enough.

It is the prophet that was the greatest disappointment because the prophet was the most intimate part of the government. The prophet had to have an intimate relationship with Yahweh in order to hear him and repeat the message. He was often in the secret place, having set aside his life to live as Yahweh’s voice to the nations. It was dangerous, difficult and required a complete surrender of will and thought.

“Because the country teems

with adulterers,

because of them,

yes, because their might is not right

and their way is evil,

the land dries up,

and the grazing areas in the wilderness wither.”

The shepherds’ neglect impacted the people but the prophet’s corruption impacted the people and the land. There was no voice of correction. No one was calling the officials to repentance. No one was delivering the truth needed. They were all about sunny days and sunny ways. They spoke from their own desires and not from the intimate position of the prophet. In this mess we hear Yahweh state something very important:

“Let the prophet who has a dream declare it, but let the one who has my word proclaim it faithfully.”

We are a prophetic people and Father communicates with us prophetically. But the measuring rod for this is the word of God. The Spirit will never speak to us outside of this foundation. He will give us revelation but that is simply a deepening of our understanding of what has already been given to us in the word. He will help us understand Kingdom systems but they are all found in the word. Every prophetic word is only viable if it is measured by the word of God. This is for our safety.

Everything Jesus taught us can be found in scriptures except that he brought us to Father’s heart with it. He took the word and he brought us to the place where it was intended to live, in great richness, power and intimacy. He showed us the true depth of relationship, “love your neighbour as you love yourself” went to the deeper place of “love your enemy”.

However, the focus here is on leadership in the Kingdom. In part 3 we are going to consider how this service to others is supposed to look on this side of the cross so that failure of shepherds can be avoided.

Called To Serve part 1

 Leadership is considered a key matter in the Church today. We have hundreds of conferences, online classes and hundreds of books published every year focusing on this subject. It is for this reason that we must insist that leadership in the Church remain biblically based. I am in no way qualified to teach on leadership but I have recently received some revelation for myself that I would like to share with you. We will start in the Hebrew texts and move into the Christian texts.

I enjoy every part of the Bible and appreciate each writer for their distinct purpose and revelation. Some of these writers I feel more partial to than others. Jeremiah is one of these writers. Born in the royal line of David, he comes across as an everyday man, called out from a regular life, into the role of prophet during a very troubling time. The Lord told him that he knew him before he was born and had set him aside at that time to be his prophet.

Let’s remind ourselves of the government that the Lord had set up in Israel. People can be mistaken in thinking that the government is the king and his officials. That is only one part of the government. No, what the Lord had set up can be compared to the government of the United States, with its three parts balancing each other and acting as accountability partners so no one person could become too powerful.

In Israel there was the High Priest who had lots of responsibilities but the big one was maintaining the law and sacrifices, everything that had been set down on paper from Yahweh through Moses. He gave oversight to the priesthood and the Levitical workers.

There was also the High Judge who normally came from the priesthood. We can see that there were periods of Israel’s history when the king would take on this office but it was supposed to be a separate person who would act as the high court, especially in doctrinal matters. He was responsible for oversight of the entire judicial system and was responsible for applying Yahweh’s justice, which was often about responsibility in relationship.

There was also the prophet or prophets. These were a unique group of people who enjoyed a relationship with Yahweh like no other. The High Priest was required to enter into the presence of Yahweh once a year but the prophet experienced him many times over. Prophets were set aside according to Yahweh’s will and came from every walk of life, regardless of position, rank or condition. But once called, everything from the past was canceled and complete obedience was required. These people, male and female, were called upon to do weird and dangerous things. Many were killed. But the prophet was Yahweh’s voice today, for this current situation, giving direction or bringing correction.

The king was the last position to be put in place. He represented Yahweh in terms of power. This power was for protection and provision. It was his responsibility to maintain an army to protect the borders. He was responsible for trade so that God’s people would be equipped to be prosperous. He had his own specific set of rules to prevent him from becoming too powerful and overpowering the other positions of government.

All of these people, including their officials and staff who assisted them were there for the purpose of the people, to build them up, to see them succeed in life. They were not there for their own agenda, to become wealthy off the people, to stack the deck in their favour. They were servants to the people, representing different aspects of Yahweh in their lives. It was a beautiful system, until it wasn’t.

David’s time was probably the best period to look at if you want to see this system at work. David protected the function of the other positions. There was justice in the land because the High Judge was permitted to carry out his role. The sacrifices were maintained and there was constant worship going up because the High Priest carried out his responsibilities. The majority of the land was experiencing peace as the king drove back their enemies and demonstrated the power of Yahweh to protect his own. And when the king thought he could do whatever he wanted, the prophet showed up to tell David that what he did was seen and to bring correction. 

In order for this system to work everything had to be focused on Yahweh. The benefit of the Law needed to be understood. The importance of each position for the prosperity and success of the nation, the people, needed to be held on to. It was not a successful nation when the rich became richer and the poor became poorer. Everyone needed to function within a fear of the Lord, out of utter respect for the instruction and a desire to be faithful to the Lord and his people. But not every king was like David and the system would fail.

In part two we are going to consider Yahweh’s heart when his servant’s failed to serve his people.

The Politics Of Division Is Not Our Way

I hope you are going to celebrate all things Quebec tomorrow. We have the privilege of living in one of the most unique and incredible parts of Canada. It is unfortunate that we often allow the politics of the day to keep hidden the best part of this province, which is the people. La Fête National is not about the government of this land but about its citizens. It's not even about language, we just made language the focus.

Many years ago the French language came to represent the culture of Quebec and became a cornerstone of identity. There are a number of places in the world that are in the same position, but there are also a few unique places that find their identity in things other than language. One of these places is the Netherlands (Holland), and in a parallel fashion, the people of Flanders. I have had the privilege of knowing some great people from this area of the world.

In Holland/Flanders different languages are not seen as a threat but as a means of communicating, which is the purpose of language. They seemed to take on such a love for language that learning as many languages as possible was celebrated. My great grandmother was originally from Passchendaele in west Flanders. From all accounts she spoke six languages but did not teach them to any of her children.

I might consider this just a story passed down about a well loved lady but my own experience told me how true it was. When I moved to Belgium one of the first young people I met was a 14 year old young lady who offered to act as my interpreter. When I asked how many languages she spoke she told me five and was hoping to learn a couple more. She was Flemish.

My point is that these people did not find their identity in language. Their culture was not defined by language. These people were tied together by a shared history and wonderfully expanding traditions. It was relationships, their way of life and their shared values that defined them. They did not feel threatened by new languages but embraced them.

This is very close to the expression of the Kingdom and the Church that represents Jesus. Paul wrote:

“You are all God’s children through faith in Christ Jesus. All of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)

We have made the mistake like Quebec politicians of trying to rob the Body of the diversity that makes us beautiful and strong. What we have in common is that there is only one way to the Father, who is Christ Jesus. We are united under the same Father and we are joined together by the same Spirit. We share in the gifts and fruit of the Spirit. We have the same mission which is to demonstrate the Kingdom to a lost and dying world. Our vocabulary is that of the Kingdom. Our actions are those of our King. But we are not defined by one of the many diverse languages we use to worship nor one of the many traditions of the culture we were born to. Our identity is found in Jesus.

We are wrong to allow any of these things to separate us from each other or to be a source of division. Just as there is nothing that separates us from the love of Christ there should not be anything that separates us from this same expression of his love in each other. Our goal with each other is to love each other with Father’s extravagant love. Together we stand. Je me souviens.