A revelation was given to me this morning. satan's greatest stronghold in the west today is the church itself. God help us. Think about the sense this makes. The world is currently desperate for Christ. They want Him. They desire Him. They are so lost and the world is at such a difficult time right now. In such adversity the lost thirst, hunger, and cry out for God. The field is ripe for harvest. The world, in interviews, even says that if we were to follow the very things that we claim to believe, then they would be able to accept the things that we profess. It is our hypocrisy that keeps them from belief. Is satan himself able to oppose us? No. Christ defeated him on the cross. There is no opposition from satan's forces that he can provide which can withstand the mature and battle-ready Christian. Christ has given us all authority over them. So, who would be the most potent enemy satan could raise against us and against God? Ourselves.
My pastor told me something yesterday that I believe with all of my heart and I will hold before me in all things to guide me. He has seen healings, wonders, signs from many places and the people performing these things have said many things and what God spoke to his heart was that if they were not humble then he shouldn't listen to anything they said. Humility is the mark of someone truly following God. The Lord can give gifts to His children through His Spirit and they can subsequently be led astray... seeking to glorify themselves or even inadvertently serving the enemy. God will not revoke the gifts He has freely given, so the mark of those that truly serve Him is humility.
A testament to the fact that the Church is its greatest opposition is readily apparent in a truth I heard in a sermon last Sunday. First, I should point out a fact I made apparent in an earlier post. As Christians, when we received Christ, we went from sinners to saints. The process of transformation is not one of sinner to less of a sinner to even less of a sinner to still less of a sinner until we die and then we become saints. We were sinners, now we are saints. We aren't reborn when we die, we are reborn the moment we accept Christ as our savior. Therefore, our transformation in the words of Paul is from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. More on the fact that we are no longer in bondage to sin and are able to live completely free from it from this day until we are joined with the Lord can be found in an earlier blog or I can be contacted personally for more guidance in this matter. Back to the point... in the NBA or the NFL, when there are stories of men that were born in the ghetto and moved from a life of adversity and struggle and hardship and rose to make something of themselves and be an amazing athlete, they are glorified and stories are written up about it and people love to read these stories and to hear about these people. Success stories of people in the world where these people are glorified draw attention to these people. Jesus could tell people the hard truth and the people around Him hearing Him would accept it because they were drawn to Him by His Glory. He didn't have to water it down and tell people that they didn't have to listen to the parts of His message that they didn't want to follow. In the church, today, when one of us is lifted up and we become glorified, watchdogs within the church observe every single thing that the person does - watching and waiting for them to make a mistake so that they can then crucify them and pull them down to their level. The church lives in a church culture that is antiglory. The world has people to look up to... leaders... and the church tears apart and tears down its leaders. People are drawn to glory. If we want to make a difference we have to allow people to be glorified. We are supposed to be a people that believe in the power of redemption and forgiveness, so when one of our leaders does stumble, we must be willing to forgive. Christ said that the world would know us because of one thing... only one thing would mark to the world that we are His people.... that we LOVE each other.
I believe my church is actually part of the beginning of this move of God. I believe my church is taking the right approach because we are apologizing to the world for being UNchristian. I am excited by the steps our pastor is leading our church into and I believe the Lord is with us in this. I urge everyone to take heart and use this opportunity to make right your walk with God and to really live the words of the Bible and show to everyone that you live and walk in the very things you profess with your mouth to believe. If you don't know all of what it is that you claim to believe... if the Bible is something you don't know inside and out, then I encourage you to make the first day of your journey into that new frontier. Take a Bible and read it today, and tomorrow, but take it one day at a time. Focus on today and try to read just five chapters and think about them and reflect on them. Then do it again tomorrow. If 5 is too much, do 1. If one chapter is too much, read one verse. Read whatever portion you can handle. The Bible is an addictive substance, the more you feed on it the greater your hunger for it will become. It is one of the few 100% healthy addictive substances. ;) I would also strongly advise reading one of the modern translations... the old King James version was far slower reading for me than the Holman. I read in a week the same material in the Holman that it took me a month to read in my old King James version.
Anyone that is seeking someone to partner with them in learning and reading and prayer can feel free to seek me out. My email is jbaker4@hotmail.com.
God loves all and blesses those that diligently seek Him.
-Jeremy
I believe that God is about to move powerfully through the church here in the west and when He does He will separate the wheat from the chaff and the wheat will be glorified. Gird yourselves for battle because the greatest stronghold is about to be dismantled and it will be painful. I weep for those that will be lost in the battle. Pray that God holds onto all of His chosen ones.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
The Motivation of God’s Wrath….
So often I’ve connected the wrath of God with hatred and punishment. But rather it is His love for us, His compassion, His desire to spare us from pain… and a life half-lived, not that He wants to just wipe us out because of spite.
God is love… if we let that sink in to our core … His wrath then is motivated out of His great love, His fatherly protection. He wants the BEST for us. He says no because of a greater YES!
Jeremiah 7:6b “… and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm…”
Jeremiah 7:19 “But am I the one they are provoking? Declares the Lord, Are they not rather harming themselves, and their own shame.”
Our waywardness, or idolatry not only brings Him so much pain but us so much pain – and that is unbearable to Him.
Perhaps it is better for the people in Jeremiah Chapter 7 to be wiped out than to continue to live such hollow lives apart from God (just my pondering, here…)
Do I believe God is love? Do I trust Him, His love for me? What is He calling me into or away from?
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (C S Lewis, The Weight of Glory)
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. Jeremiah 31:3
Do not operate out of fear...
I hesitate to write… mostly out of fear. Fear that I won’t make sense or the discoveries the Holy Spirit has revealed are so basic that the readers of this blog may laugh. But there it is, fear standing as a roadblock to vulnerability.
May the words written on this blog bring truth and life, honor to God, encouragement… If what I write is basic than rejoice with me that God is maturing my faith. If it speaks to you, rejoice that the Holy Spirit is moving our hearts in tandem.
This fear reminds me of the sermon a few weekends ago, the fear of judgment. Honestly, the past few weeks have been wrenched in homesickness. Why is it that I miss my family so much? Safety and security. They love me no matter what. My parents and my brothers can’t divorce me… we are bound by blood. But wait, there is another family bound in blood.
Bruce spoke about this a few months ago. Our Christian family is even more permanent, more lasting, … deeper than our nuclear family. For me, that is hard to swallow. I LOVE my birth family. But as a believer, God has adopted me into His family. I believe that God intends that there is no distinction between an adopted child and a birth child. I belong to God! He is my Abba! And other believers around me are my brothers and sisters in Christ. We are family. We are united, and bound by the blood of Christ – more powerful than any other blood. The Blood that brings healing and restoration, grace and mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation, laughter and joy… freedom.
As a family member, how am I treating my brothers and sisters? Am I loving them well? Am I respecting and supporting them as I should? Encouraging them, showing grace, being honest and clear?
God is opening my eyes to what it means to be in the family of God, a child of God. I moved to a new house recently. I’m astounded by the generosity, sacrifice and support from those who are not of my birth family, from some who hardly know me. And from so many. Where I come from, we do it ourselves and don’t ask for help. When I’d share with my mom about “so and so helped pack this, then we did that, so and so wrapped picture frames, transported, delivered food, cooked, cleaned, lifted, took the door off, cleaned till the wee hours of the morning,” my mother exclaimed, “Ginger!” Guilt set in. (no sir, devil, get back) “Mom, this is what community and family is all about. This is my family.”
I realized a few Sundays ago a crucial part of why I miss my family so much. It is that safety and security I have with them. A little boy was crying shear terror outside of a service on Sunday. Separated from his mother, he fought a volunteer, tried to climb over the gate, had a fit. His shrieks became louder and louder. My heart went out to his mother. How she must want to run to him.
Why was this boy so distraught?
Because his source of unconditional love - as far as he knows at his age - was gone. His safety and security.
God, I want to cry out to You like that. When was the last time I cried out like that for God- my ultimate safety and security…? Honestly, it’s been awhile.
When God “feels” distant, when circumstances feel lonely, may we cry out to our Abba Father! I’m reminded of the wee girl in the movie The Patriot. Her father never heard her speak until one day as he was going back to battle, she runs after him crying “Papa! Papa! Don’t go! Don’t go!”
What have I run to, clung to instead of my Abba? Instead of calling out Papa!?
Dr. Wayne Cordeiro (pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship) points out that we have to take “it” (every thing) to the Lord -“Sometimes you don’t realize that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you’ve got.”
Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Isaiah 49:15-16
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." Romans 8:15
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 1 John 3:1
We are children of God. Brothers, sisters – let us rejoice!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Celebrate the Pain
What is it to celebrate?
| 1. | to observe (a day) or commemorate (an event) with ceremonies or festivities: |
| 2. | to make known publicly; proclaim: |
| 3. | to praise widely or to present to widespread and favorable public notice, as through newspapers or novels:
|
| 4. | to perform with appropriate rites and ceremonies; solemnize: |
In December I wrote this poem:
I know what it is to be a leper
I know what it is to have once been able to feel crevices and details, but to now not notice intricacies.
I know what it is to forget what soft feels like.
To forget what rough feels like
To forget what pain feels like.
And I don't know which is worse.
And part of me is so angry and I want to clench my fists
but I can't
And part of me is so desperate that I need to stretch out my hands
but I can't
And part of me just needs to hold on
but I can't hold anything
So I sit
with hand resting on knees
Open only as far as they will fall on their own
But my hands are open.
My hands are open to the knowledge that you have healed leperswith nothing more than water
with nothing more than words
My hands are open to the promise that you love me more than I will ever know or understand
and my hands are open to the hope that I will one day be able to open my hands
But until that day
I sit
with hands resting on knees
open to the promise of you.
I've referenced this poem before in trying to figure out what God was teaching me through it. Today I recognize it as a monument to a prayer long prayed being answered. Today I'm choosing to set up another monument to pain.
I don't know that I fully understand all of the ways in which we are to rejoice in our sufferings. What I can say today is not over suffering, but I am rejoicing that I'm suffering. I can say that one thing that pain does is move us and hopefully move us in the right direction. There is no movement if we're not feeling.
Today I recognize that my prayers have been answered and will continue to be. As I sit with pain I will rejoice knowing that I did not feel it 8 months ago but I feel it today, and in feeling I stand confidently knowing that healing will come from it.
1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the LORD,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you."
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it;
it will be for those who walk in that Way;
9 No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 35
Thursday, August 20, 2009
My heart is in Rwanda...
Originally published Wednesday, August 5, 2009 at 2:22pm
I have been asked more than once since I returned.... How was Africa? Often the question is posed in the casual nature of a request about the weather, as if in a few words I could sum up the entire experience. Those that have been there understand, it's not something you can express easily in words of any kind. Most will tell you that the best way to know how it was is to go yourself and experience it for yourself. Obviously, experience is one of the best teachers. However, taking a three week trip to Africa is obviously not something that everyone can do, especially on nothing more than a whim. I will here attempt to put into words an idea of what it was like as best as mere words can describe.
We left on Saturday the 11th at about 10 am. As we drove to Washington, DC to catch our flight, we stopped briefly along the turnpike to get some fluids and to use the restrooms. At our stop, they just happened to be serving Rwandan coffee. While driving down the road, a semi truck passed us with gold lettering emblazoned on its red painted exterior stating clearly, "Jesus is Lord." The seemingly innocuous events reminded me of Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. It felt like the concept that God had gone in advance to prepare the way for us and what we would do. I knew I wouldn't have to worry about our safety or what we would do or where we would stay. It had already been worked out for us.
We arrived in Rwanda's capital of Kigali late in the evening of the next day. At this point, we still were uncertain of where we would be staying or what the cost was. When we arrived, there was no one there to meet us. As it turned out, Jean Paul had somehow thought we were arriving on Tuesday instead of when we did arrive - Sunday. He came as quickly as he could and arranged to have three taxis take us to a hotel in Kigali where we spent the night. If memory serves, it was in the morning of the next day that Bruce, a pastor at Calvary and the leader of our missions project, informed us of our living arrangements for the next three weeks. A group of college students from Florida State University had rented a house in Gitarama and paid for the entire month. They had left a few days before we arrived. We were given the house to stay in free of charge. The money that we had intended to spend on the rental costs could now be given to the boys home in Biyamana as a gift towards one of the projects that money was needed for. This included both a basketball court for them as well as doubling their storage capacity for water.
I believe I was the only member of our team, new to Rwanda, that didn't get a feeling of culture shock when we arrived. Surprisingly, Rwanda felt more comfortable and more like home to me than America had. Not being shocked by the cultural differences did not prevent me from noticing the many differences between our cultures. I believe during our total time in Gitarama and traveling to Biyamana that aside from our group of ten, I only saw about 5 other mazungas (white people). Given my six and a half feet of hairy whiteness, I was often the most watched member of our team. Some Rwandans had never seen a mazunga before. Moreover, as far as mazungas go, I happen to be overly hairy. Often I would find Rwandans walking up to me, or sitting next to me and rubbing their hands up and down my arms to feel the hair that covered them. Children from the village of Byimana would rub my hairy arms and ask me, "What's this?" Barely a single African had hair on their arms. Not only was my being white shocking to them, but possessing hair to keep me warm in the colder climates I hailed from was virtually unheard of.
All of this petting demonstrated one of the most recognizably different traits between the average Rwandan and the average American. They love people... unconditionally and with no pretenses. I do not mean to offend any American reading this that suddenly feels disenfranchised by the suggestion that a group of people in Africa might have a greater capacity to love than they do. It is entirely possible that God has given you, dear reader, an enormous capacity to love others that exceeds that of the average Rwandan. Now, if your ire has cooled, I would ask you to consider this... 15 years ago, Rwanda had a genocide. At the time, they possessed a population of approximately 9 million people. After 100 days, the population was cut down to 8 million people. About 1/8 of the population was mercilessly wiped out. Families were halved. Those that sided with the "race" being wiped out were also murdered. Almost everyone lost someone that they cared about. Currently about 80% of the population is under 30 years old.
Allow me to put this into perspective. Do you remember 9/11? The death toll was approximately 2,752 people. Do you remember how outraged and patriotic we felt? It seemed that our patriotism and shared feelings lasted strongly for about a year after the event had occurred. Now imagine instead that the murders had been done by our own people instead of by people from outside of the country that hated us. It would be far more difficult to hate anyone in particular and far more challenging to decide who to focus our feelings toward. Not only that, but 1 million people were murdered. So take the feelings you had during 9/11 and multiply them by about 363 times. I can't imagine that anyone in the country was not personally effected by such an event. Given the sheer scale of this tragedy, the survivors would certainly be effected in such a way that their perspectives on life would receive a massive fundamental shift. Life and its various respects would suddenly have new meaning. The value of life would be understood and recognized in a way that wasn't possible before. Two outcomes could have occurred from this tragedy. Everyone could have become plagued with fear, hatred, denial and then moved into introversion and hid from the world and its horrors. In Rwanda, quite the opposite seemed to have occurred, an event that can only be attributed to the awesome wonder and redemption of God.
Rwanda learned love. It is hard for me to imagine that a country poised to commit genocide - pregenocidal Rwanda - could have been as filled with love as it is now. God does amazing things. Rwanda seems to be a perfect example of how God can bring about great redemption, healing, and life from horrible tragedy, destruction, and loss. The theme recurs countless times in countless places throughout creation. Forest fires promote growth and new life. The aftermath of a volcanic eruption leaves some of the most fertile soil that can be found on the earth. Following the horrors of the Rwandan genocide the victims forgave the murderers and the country found (and is finding) a way to move on. Christ died to bring life to many. One cannot help but stand in awe of God's love, power, majesty, and glory.
We stood realizing the truth of Rwanda. Their people had less than us... less materialistically, less worldly wealth. However, in the things of God... the things that cannot be seen or measured - the intangibles, they were among the richest people on Earth. Some of us came to Rwanda believing that we would accomplish something for them. After our two and a half weeks just about everyone had realized that we had gained far more from them than we could have done for them. They showed us one of the things that is most important in walking with Christ - love. Without it, everything else is meaningless.
I could tell you about our trip to the genocide memorial in the capital city. I could mention our day trip to Akagera national park where we saw some giraffes, gazelles, hippos, birds, and zebras. I could describe our circular hike over a mountain in the land of a thousand hills. However, for team Rwanda, the most eventful and meaningful experience we had over those two and a half weeks was our almost daily trip to a little village called Byimana where we gave our imperfect love to 30 boys and the village they lived in while they showed us a more perfect love.
Personally, I had two significant experiences during the trip that had a deep and lasting impact on me. The first I can only share in person. The second was a little girl named Godance. She was three years old. This little girl demonstrated love to me in a more godly way than I had known previously. When I first met her, she sang everywhere that she went. This three year old demonstrated to me the kingdom of heaven in the way that I expect Jesus had intended when he compared little ones to it. The first English words I heard her say were, "I love you." She spoke the words in a sort of sing-song. I believe she knew what she was saying. The words were so innocent coming from her mouth. The mental picture conveyed as she sang and said those words was the idea of a heaven where our Father continuously and simply says, "I love you." Surrounding His throne would be the continuous, joyous singing of so many that shared in that love that He expounded upon His children.
Even Godance is an example of God's love and redemption. From what I was told, she was the daughter of a prostitute. This beautiful, sweet, innocent child was born into what would seem to be tragic circumstances. Moreover, a man chose to be her father. He adopted Godance and her brother and took their mother in. When Godance's father had received clothes, boots, and gloves as a generous gift from the church, her mother stole them and left father and children behind. This might sound terrible, but Godance's father continues to care for her and her brother. The man truly loves them. Godance's father works at the boy's home and Godance spends her days playing alongside her family of 30 brothers. Her brother by blood, Jean Paul, loves her dearly and is very protective of his little sister. One might believe that she might be better off elsewhere in a different set of circumstances. If you were to observe her in her environment you would understand that there is nowhere else where she could be that would be as loving of a home as that one.
I miss Rwanda. Were it my calling, I would happily live out the rest of my life there. If there is anything I could bring here that they had, it would be their love. Every day that we went to Biyamana, the village children would see us and run out of their homes and take us by the hand. By the time we reached the boy's home at Umuryango, each of us had a child holding each hand. When we would leave at the end of the day, they would come out and the boys from the home would walk with us to the taxi stand and they would wait with us until we left. They would laugh and play and teach us kinyarwandan words. Their mothers trusted them to be with us. The love and trust displayed was such a vast difference from the typical attitudes displayed in our country. These people didn't know who we were, yet from the moment they saw us they trusted us. There are few things that I have experienced that are as heartwarming as having 15 or more little children running up to me daily for no other reason than to share companionship. Love transcends all things and can be conveyed effortlessly through language barriers and cultural barriers. A part of my heart will forever remain in Rwanda. Let me finish my brief summary of my experiences by asking you, whom have you shown God's love to today?
I have been asked more than once since I returned.... How was Africa? Often the question is posed in the casual nature of a request about the weather, as if in a few words I could sum up the entire experience. Those that have been there understand, it's not something you can express easily in words of any kind. Most will tell you that the best way to know how it was is to go yourself and experience it for yourself. Obviously, experience is one of the best teachers. However, taking a three week trip to Africa is obviously not something that everyone can do, especially on nothing more than a whim. I will here attempt to put into words an idea of what it was like as best as mere words can describe.
We left on Saturday the 11th at about 10 am. As we drove to Washington, DC to catch our flight, we stopped briefly along the turnpike to get some fluids and to use the restrooms. At our stop, they just happened to be serving Rwandan coffee. While driving down the road, a semi truck passed us with gold lettering emblazoned on its red painted exterior stating clearly, "Jesus is Lord." The seemingly innocuous events reminded me of Ephesians 2:10 - For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. It felt like the concept that God had gone in advance to prepare the way for us and what we would do. I knew I wouldn't have to worry about our safety or what we would do or where we would stay. It had already been worked out for us.
We arrived in Rwanda's capital of Kigali late in the evening of the next day. At this point, we still were uncertain of where we would be staying or what the cost was. When we arrived, there was no one there to meet us. As it turned out, Jean Paul had somehow thought we were arriving on Tuesday instead of when we did arrive - Sunday. He came as quickly as he could and arranged to have three taxis take us to a hotel in Kigali where we spent the night. If memory serves, it was in the morning of the next day that Bruce, a pastor at Calvary and the leader of our missions project, informed us of our living arrangements for the next three weeks. A group of college students from Florida State University had rented a house in Gitarama and paid for the entire month. They had left a few days before we arrived. We were given the house to stay in free of charge. The money that we had intended to spend on the rental costs could now be given to the boys home in Biyamana as a gift towards one of the projects that money was needed for. This included both a basketball court for them as well as doubling their storage capacity for water.
I believe I was the only member of our team, new to Rwanda, that didn't get a feeling of culture shock when we arrived. Surprisingly, Rwanda felt more comfortable and more like home to me than America had. Not being shocked by the cultural differences did not prevent me from noticing the many differences between our cultures. I believe during our total time in Gitarama and traveling to Biyamana that aside from our group of ten, I only saw about 5 other mazungas (white people). Given my six and a half feet of hairy whiteness, I was often the most watched member of our team. Some Rwandans had never seen a mazunga before. Moreover, as far as mazungas go, I happen to be overly hairy. Often I would find Rwandans walking up to me, or sitting next to me and rubbing their hands up and down my arms to feel the hair that covered them. Children from the village of Byimana would rub my hairy arms and ask me, "What's this?" Barely a single African had hair on their arms. Not only was my being white shocking to them, but possessing hair to keep me warm in the colder climates I hailed from was virtually unheard of.
All of this petting demonstrated one of the most recognizably different traits between the average Rwandan and the average American. They love people... unconditionally and with no pretenses. I do not mean to offend any American reading this that suddenly feels disenfranchised by the suggestion that a group of people in Africa might have a greater capacity to love than they do. It is entirely possible that God has given you, dear reader, an enormous capacity to love others that exceeds that of the average Rwandan. Now, if your ire has cooled, I would ask you to consider this... 15 years ago, Rwanda had a genocide. At the time, they possessed a population of approximately 9 million people. After 100 days, the population was cut down to 8 million people. About 1/8 of the population was mercilessly wiped out. Families were halved. Those that sided with the "race" being wiped out were also murdered. Almost everyone lost someone that they cared about. Currently about 80% of the population is under 30 years old.
Allow me to put this into perspective. Do you remember 9/11? The death toll was approximately 2,752 people. Do you remember how outraged and patriotic we felt? It seemed that our patriotism and shared feelings lasted strongly for about a year after the event had occurred. Now imagine instead that the murders had been done by our own people instead of by people from outside of the country that hated us. It would be far more difficult to hate anyone in particular and far more challenging to decide who to focus our feelings toward. Not only that, but 1 million people were murdered. So take the feelings you had during 9/11 and multiply them by about 363 times. I can't imagine that anyone in the country was not personally effected by such an event. Given the sheer scale of this tragedy, the survivors would certainly be effected in such a way that their perspectives on life would receive a massive fundamental shift. Life and its various respects would suddenly have new meaning. The value of life would be understood and recognized in a way that wasn't possible before. Two outcomes could have occurred from this tragedy. Everyone could have become plagued with fear, hatred, denial and then moved into introversion and hid from the world and its horrors. In Rwanda, quite the opposite seemed to have occurred, an event that can only be attributed to the awesome wonder and redemption of God.
Rwanda learned love. It is hard for me to imagine that a country poised to commit genocide - pregenocidal Rwanda - could have been as filled with love as it is now. God does amazing things. Rwanda seems to be a perfect example of how God can bring about great redemption, healing, and life from horrible tragedy, destruction, and loss. The theme recurs countless times in countless places throughout creation. Forest fires promote growth and new life. The aftermath of a volcanic eruption leaves some of the most fertile soil that can be found on the earth. Following the horrors of the Rwandan genocide the victims forgave the murderers and the country found (and is finding) a way to move on. Christ died to bring life to many. One cannot help but stand in awe of God's love, power, majesty, and glory.
We stood realizing the truth of Rwanda. Their people had less than us... less materialistically, less worldly wealth. However, in the things of God... the things that cannot be seen or measured - the intangibles, they were among the richest people on Earth. Some of us came to Rwanda believing that we would accomplish something for them. After our two and a half weeks just about everyone had realized that we had gained far more from them than we could have done for them. They showed us one of the things that is most important in walking with Christ - love. Without it, everything else is meaningless.
I could tell you about our trip to the genocide memorial in the capital city. I could mention our day trip to Akagera national park where we saw some giraffes, gazelles, hippos, birds, and zebras. I could describe our circular hike over a mountain in the land of a thousand hills. However, for team Rwanda, the most eventful and meaningful experience we had over those two and a half weeks was our almost daily trip to a little village called Byimana where we gave our imperfect love to 30 boys and the village they lived in while they showed us a more perfect love.
Personally, I had two significant experiences during the trip that had a deep and lasting impact on me. The first I can only share in person. The second was a little girl named Godance. She was three years old. This little girl demonstrated love to me in a more godly way than I had known previously. When I first met her, she sang everywhere that she went. This three year old demonstrated to me the kingdom of heaven in the way that I expect Jesus had intended when he compared little ones to it. The first English words I heard her say were, "I love you." She spoke the words in a sort of sing-song. I believe she knew what she was saying. The words were so innocent coming from her mouth. The mental picture conveyed as she sang and said those words was the idea of a heaven where our Father continuously and simply says, "I love you." Surrounding His throne would be the continuous, joyous singing of so many that shared in that love that He expounded upon His children.
Even Godance is an example of God's love and redemption. From what I was told, she was the daughter of a prostitute. This beautiful, sweet, innocent child was born into what would seem to be tragic circumstances. Moreover, a man chose to be her father. He adopted Godance and her brother and took their mother in. When Godance's father had received clothes, boots, and gloves as a generous gift from the church, her mother stole them and left father and children behind. This might sound terrible, but Godance's father continues to care for her and her brother. The man truly loves them. Godance's father works at the boy's home and Godance spends her days playing alongside her family of 30 brothers. Her brother by blood, Jean Paul, loves her dearly and is very protective of his little sister. One might believe that she might be better off elsewhere in a different set of circumstances. If you were to observe her in her environment you would understand that there is nowhere else where she could be that would be as loving of a home as that one.
I miss Rwanda. Were it my calling, I would happily live out the rest of my life there. If there is anything I could bring here that they had, it would be their love. Every day that we went to Biyamana, the village children would see us and run out of their homes and take us by the hand. By the time we reached the boy's home at Umuryango, each of us had a child holding each hand. When we would leave at the end of the day, they would come out and the boys from the home would walk with us to the taxi stand and they would wait with us until we left. They would laugh and play and teach us kinyarwandan words. Their mothers trusted them to be with us. The love and trust displayed was such a vast difference from the typical attitudes displayed in our country. These people didn't know who we were, yet from the moment they saw us they trusted us. There are few things that I have experienced that are as heartwarming as having 15 or more little children running up to me daily for no other reason than to share companionship. Love transcends all things and can be conveyed effortlessly through language barriers and cultural barriers. A part of my heart will forever remain in Rwanda. Let me finish my brief summary of my experiences by asking you, whom have you shown God's love to today?
Comparisons
Originally posted Monday, August 3, 2009 at 12:39pm
Yesterday, during church, I was contemplating the origin of comparisons. Specifically, I was wondering where the decision to compare oneself with someone else began. You see, I find it hard to believe that the practice, when engaged in, can ever result in any good. If I compare myself to another and come to the belief that I am less capable in some respect to the other person, then I have denigrated myself, which is not healthy. If I compare myself to the other and come to the conclusion that I am more qualified, then I have built up my own pride and now think less of the other person because of their perceived inferiority. I could claim that I am equal to the other person, but truthfully how often are two people exactly alike in any respect?
Therefore, I conclude that we should do away with the poor habit of comparing ourselves to others. If Christians wish to come to some conclusion of who they are, rather than making a judgement of ourselves by trying to measure our abilities through comparing them to the skills of other people, we should instead accept the truths and promises about who we are that are made in the Bible. Through the realization and acceptance of these truths, we will find that we never need to make comparisons of ourselves with others. These truths are far more fulfulling to us than some vague comparisons we try to make with our own imperfect sense of judgement.
A list of these truths and the scripture that reveals them can be found here: http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm
Given these truths, as Christians, there is no need to make any sort of comparison between ourselves and others. With these realizations of who we are, to try to make comparisons is fruitless. In Christ, all of these truths are shared amongst our Christian brothers and sisters. Next to these, trying to determine whether or not we are better at something than someone else holds no meaning. So the next time you feel the urge to compare yourself to someone else in your attributes or the things that you have, stop and consider who you are in Christ and let the frivolous practice end along with the negative impact it will have on your viewpoint of yourself, others, or both.
Yesterday, during church, I was contemplating the origin of comparisons. Specifically, I was wondering where the decision to compare oneself with someone else began. You see, I find it hard to believe that the practice, when engaged in, can ever result in any good. If I compare myself to another and come to the belief that I am less capable in some respect to the other person, then I have denigrated myself, which is not healthy. If I compare myself to the other and come to the conclusion that I am more qualified, then I have built up my own pride and now think less of the other person because of their perceived inferiority. I could claim that I am equal to the other person, but truthfully how often are two people exactly alike in any respect?
Therefore, I conclude that we should do away with the poor habit of comparing ourselves to others. If Christians wish to come to some conclusion of who they are, rather than making a judgement of ourselves by trying to measure our abilities through comparing them to the skills of other people, we should instead accept the truths and promises about who we are that are made in the Bible. Through the realization and acceptance of these truths, we will find that we never need to make comparisons of ourselves with others. These truths are far more fulfulling to us than some vague comparisons we try to make with our own imperfect sense of judgement.
A list of these truths and the scripture that reveals them can be found here: http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm
Given these truths, as Christians, there is no need to make any sort of comparison between ourselves and others. With these realizations of who we are, to try to make comparisons is fruitless. In Christ, all of these truths are shared amongst our Christian brothers and sisters. Next to these, trying to determine whether or not we are better at something than someone else holds no meaning. So the next time you feel the urge to compare yourself to someone else in your attributes or the things that you have, stop and consider who you are in Christ and let the frivolous practice end along with the negative impact it will have on your viewpoint of yourself, others, or both.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Love
Originally wrote Friday, July 10, 2009 at 2:17pm.
Tonight is my final evening in the states. So, if I have any readers, this is a final note for you to perhaps enjoy before I leave to a country which, if it is God's will, I may end up not returning from. ;-P
Growing up as a child, I felt unloved. I can't really put a finger on exactly what it was that caused such a feeling. It may have been that my mother was working all of the time, so I rarely had her around to draw support from. It may have been that my father was emotionally abusive. It could have been the lack of a stable environment to grow up in, since my father was in the Air Force and we regularly moved not long after I had established friends at our new home. Inevitably the continuous moving caused me to stop attempting to establish friends and caused me to be more and more introverted and reclusive. It can certainly be a loveless existence to be alone.
Fortunately, in my continuing walk with God, I have found the warmth of His church and the members of my Christian family. While it is a continuing process of becoming free to feel safe among the members and to learn the nature of socialization which I had never really had the opportunity to learn before, I am slowly and inevitably growing in comfort around these friends, peers, brothers, and sisters. It is a unique experience to have a group of supporters that cry with you when you are sad, exult with you when you are happy, pray for you when you need prayer, and have unending reserves of encouragement and happiness when you meet the challenges and elations that walking a life devoted to Christ provides. While I do not mean to slight my own blood family, my Christian family has shown me more love and support and contact over the past year than I have ever received from my worldly family. I find this to be an awesome testament to Christ's love.
Ginger had an opportunity to see my true self, for but a moment. Just about everyone had left for downtown State College from our fourth of July party and it was just me and Heather out on the front lawn. I dropped my guard and started acting as my silly self tends to act when the defenses are not in place to guard me from the unfamiliarity of trying to act properly in front of other people that might be perplexed at my carefree silliness. To see me in my most natural uninhibited state would be like the realization that squirrels, when people are not looking, pull out tables and sit together in groups to play cards. Ginger, for the brief moment that I thought only Heather could witness my silliness, was able to bear witness to the squirrel in his act of seemingly unnaturalness.
America, at least from a worldy perspective, is judgmental. We have an idea that we call "normal". We expect people to act in a way that conforms to the common perspective of normalcy. When anyone acts in a way that is contrary to the norm, we ridicule, attack, tear down, reprimand, and ostracize them. We use peer pressure to force people to conform to the way we act. The most horrible point of this attitude is that, in sin, we pressure others to join us in our sin. With the social pressures, more and more people attempt to join the norm, which is sinful. We become defeated and fall into the normalcy of the world and its worldliness. Even the Christian writers that I am reading from call others that fully follow Christ and have spoken of his teachings with true faithfulness and belief as being "extremely radical".
In Christ, we need not maintain appearances. In trying to expand my ability to love others and to love as Christ has loved me, I have developed a new way to observe other people. I have been trying to understand how God sees people, and the best analogy I have come up with is to think of individuals not as bodies, but as stars. God sees the spirit, men see the body. I like to think of God's perspective of what we look like as being that of seeing the many stars that are in a galaxy. To Him, we must seem to be varying light sources which differ in magnitude in proportion to how fully our hearts are turned to Him. He looks at the hearts of men instead of their bodies. If we all looked at people as pinpricks of light held in space, rather than looking at "fat" or thin, pretty or "ugly", old or young, or any other physical aspect, how much easier would it be to leave the accompanying condemnation and judgement of another person's looks behind? This analogy also fits well to the concept of being light to the world as Christians. It also makes it quite understandable that, as being lights in the world of varying magnitudes, how Satan might be able to easily perceive those lights at work and move to snuff them out.
I would encourage you to realize that there is no normal. We are all individuals loved for our individuality. God made each one of us. He loves all of us. Surely He also loves our differences.I would like to thank all of the brothers and sisters in Christ that have made me feel welcome in Christ's family. I have tried to tag all of you that have had an impact on my life since I began this journey of transformation.
Pray for us while we are in Rwanda, that God would work through us and that we would be open to the fact that we are more apt to be worked in by God than to accomplish work for God.
Your brother in Christ,
Jeremy
Tonight is my final evening in the states. So, if I have any readers, this is a final note for you to perhaps enjoy before I leave to a country which, if it is God's will, I may end up not returning from. ;-P
Growing up as a child, I felt unloved. I can't really put a finger on exactly what it was that caused such a feeling. It may have been that my mother was working all of the time, so I rarely had her around to draw support from. It may have been that my father was emotionally abusive. It could have been the lack of a stable environment to grow up in, since my father was in the Air Force and we regularly moved not long after I had established friends at our new home. Inevitably the continuous moving caused me to stop attempting to establish friends and caused me to be more and more introverted and reclusive. It can certainly be a loveless existence to be alone.
Fortunately, in my continuing walk with God, I have found the warmth of His church and the members of my Christian family. While it is a continuing process of becoming free to feel safe among the members and to learn the nature of socialization which I had never really had the opportunity to learn before, I am slowly and inevitably growing in comfort around these friends, peers, brothers, and sisters. It is a unique experience to have a group of supporters that cry with you when you are sad, exult with you when you are happy, pray for you when you need prayer, and have unending reserves of encouragement and happiness when you meet the challenges and elations that walking a life devoted to Christ provides. While I do not mean to slight my own blood family, my Christian family has shown me more love and support and contact over the past year than I have ever received from my worldly family. I find this to be an awesome testament to Christ's love.
Ginger had an opportunity to see my true self, for but a moment. Just about everyone had left for downtown State College from our fourth of July party and it was just me and Heather out on the front lawn. I dropped my guard and started acting as my silly self tends to act when the defenses are not in place to guard me from the unfamiliarity of trying to act properly in front of other people that might be perplexed at my carefree silliness. To see me in my most natural uninhibited state would be like the realization that squirrels, when people are not looking, pull out tables and sit together in groups to play cards. Ginger, for the brief moment that I thought only Heather could witness my silliness, was able to bear witness to the squirrel in his act of seemingly unnaturalness.
America, at least from a worldy perspective, is judgmental. We have an idea that we call "normal". We expect people to act in a way that conforms to the common perspective of normalcy. When anyone acts in a way that is contrary to the norm, we ridicule, attack, tear down, reprimand, and ostracize them. We use peer pressure to force people to conform to the way we act. The most horrible point of this attitude is that, in sin, we pressure others to join us in our sin. With the social pressures, more and more people attempt to join the norm, which is sinful. We become defeated and fall into the normalcy of the world and its worldliness. Even the Christian writers that I am reading from call others that fully follow Christ and have spoken of his teachings with true faithfulness and belief as being "extremely radical".
In Christ, we need not maintain appearances. In trying to expand my ability to love others and to love as Christ has loved me, I have developed a new way to observe other people. I have been trying to understand how God sees people, and the best analogy I have come up with is to think of individuals not as bodies, but as stars. God sees the spirit, men see the body. I like to think of God's perspective of what we look like as being that of seeing the many stars that are in a galaxy. To Him, we must seem to be varying light sources which differ in magnitude in proportion to how fully our hearts are turned to Him. He looks at the hearts of men instead of their bodies. If we all looked at people as pinpricks of light held in space, rather than looking at "fat" or thin, pretty or "ugly", old or young, or any other physical aspect, how much easier would it be to leave the accompanying condemnation and judgement of another person's looks behind? This analogy also fits well to the concept of being light to the world as Christians. It also makes it quite understandable that, as being lights in the world of varying magnitudes, how Satan might be able to easily perceive those lights at work and move to snuff them out.
I would encourage you to realize that there is no normal. We are all individuals loved for our individuality. God made each one of us. He loves all of us. Surely He also loves our differences.I would like to thank all of the brothers and sisters in Christ that have made me feel welcome in Christ's family. I have tried to tag all of you that have had an impact on my life since I began this journey of transformation.
Pray for us while we are in Rwanda, that God would work through us and that we would be open to the fact that we are more apt to be worked in by God than to accomplish work for God.
Your brother in Christ,
Jeremy
Monday, August 17, 2009
Wisdom?
I thought I might repost the blogs I have on facebook before writing new here. What follows is the first of a series I have posted there. Feel free to comment on them.
I decided that I might write a couple of notes regarding things the Lord has been educating me about prior to leaving for Africa. Given that I do not know where the Lord might take me while there or what He might do with me, I felt it prudent to write now rather than to put it off to never be done. I here disclaim that the things I write may indeed be without wisdom and blatantly obvious to the most casual observer.
Christians can be perfect.
It's true. We are perfect in Christ. We can walk without sin. I state this, because the Western Church... America... seems to believe that it is impossible to be perfect. Given this belief that they are incapable of walking perfectly before God, they choose to give up on it occurring and willfully partake in sin. It is a defeatist belief that results in... defeat.
Given the boldness of my statement, you might feel inclined to ask, are you perfect Jeremy Baker?
Of course not. Were I to attempt to answer such a question in the affirmative I would thereby demonstrate pride and be in errancy simply by answering. Appearances of pride notwithstanding, I also believe that I have sinful attitudes and thoughts at times which I am still working with God to bring into submission as I have successfully brought my body into submission to Christ.
Now you might wonder, if we can be perfect, why do we need God? My statement was that we are perfect in Christ. A Christian trying to be perfect on his own will not succeed. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I have endured this within my own experiences. When tempted, if I tried to resist the power of temptation on my own willpower and strength, I have failed. Continuously. Yet, when tempted, if I stopped what I was doing and turned my entire focus to God and Christ in prayer, the strength has been given to me to overcome, flee from, resist, or evade temptation and what sin might follow had I not turned to God for freedom.
We cannot, on our own, be perfect; nor can we walk perfectly unerringly until we have first accepted salvation and repented from our sins... turned from who we once were and become new creatures in Christ.
Do not be fooled. Being perfect is not a passive result. We are constantly at odds with Satan and his attempt to devour us. Just as an alcoholic takes one day at a time to continue living without partaking of alcohol, so Christians must walk daily with their guard in place ready to draw upon Christ's strength in order to avoid partaking in sin for that day.
I liked the way a fellow life group member restated my premise. He believes that maturing in Christ is coming to the realization of the promises that God has given to us and accepting them to be true. The Bible states that we are perfect in Christ. Paul admonishes that we should not willingly break the law but should abide by it. I believe it was a book written by Dallas Willard that compares the state of Christians to the state of slaves at the time the Emancipation Proclamation was made law. Many of the slaves were not aware of the fact of their freedom. There were slave owners that prevented them from knowing of their freedom and that convinced them they were still slaves. The concept was that if they were still doing all of the same actions that slaves continued to perform, then they must still be a slave. If you look like a slave and act like a slave, then you must still be a slave. Satan uses the same tactic to convince us that we are not free from sin. It only takes mild observation of the state of the Church here in America to realize the devastation this has wrought.
One of the biggest critiques made regarding Christianity here in America today is that it is not relevant... that Christ and his teachings are irrelevant. Certainly when we as Christians fail to live by the very things that we attempt to profess, we ourselves are giving credit to the validity of such an argument. If we continue to walk in sin, then clearly our beliefs are not working for us and are therefore irrelevant.
When our church leaders sin, we cover it up. More often than not, this is the case. Why would we hide our sin as Christians? There is no condemnation in Christ. We have been washed free of our sins. Guilt is a poor motivator, as one of my pastors once said during his sermon. God sees everything, does he not? Therefore, we are hiding nothing from God which means the only purpose for hiding our sin is to hide it from men. If we as church leaders are hiding our sins from men, then clearly our focus is on men and not God. Sin is anathema to Christians. If we are actively sinning, then we are not confessing it before God and we are unable to serve God. Sin breaks down the communication between us and God and we must repent of it to continue walking with him and serving him.
Now, hiding sin serves Satan's purposes. We can't hide it from God or Satan. Satan is all too happy to reveal when a Christian sins and hides it. He reveals it to the Christians and to the public. Then all the work of the man who had been dwelling in sin has been tainted by that sin. The world witnesses it and mocks the man's belief. The Christians witness it and some believe that it is ok to do the same thing. After all, the church leader is an example... a model to those he serves. To some degree, the followers will be negatively effected.
The proper method to handling this sin is to bring it out before the congregation and the body of believers when it has been committed and realized. Confession. Then repentance before God and the church would restore the leader. Naturally there must be discipline to follow, otherwise we appear to the world to be condoning the sin of the man. The fact that men fail is not enough to shake the faith of believers or to turn away those with the potential to believe. It is the men that believe they can hide it, and continue acting as if they have never done wrong, and then continue, after exposed, in denial and unrepentantly that cause both other Christians and the world to stumble.
I look at the lethargy of our church and sometimes I wish that Christians were persecuted here in America. I do not wish for harm to come to people, far from it. I wish that we would instead turn from our lethargy, get up, and act. Yet, the Bible has demonstrated time and time again that it is during the times when we are put through the fire that we become refined. Persecution refines the church. It has been historically shown that when the church and believers have been persecuted, the church has continued to grow, unimpeded (I would claim that the church actually grows explosively when persecuted). Faith is stronger in those places where believers are persecuted for their faith.
Don't believe me? When was the last time you heard of the sick being healed? When did you last hear of the blind seeing, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, or the dead being resurrected? I have personally sought for God's hand to be evident through miracles to know if He is still working today. There is no reason that He would not be working... after all God is alive. What I found was that the places where it is recorded and known that miracles happen today are very scarce in America... and yet highly prevalent in places where persecution is greatest. There is a place in Africa where the church has regular resurrections. Regular. Resurrections. Yes... people being raised from the dead. Surely there are some of you who doubt, after having read this statement, that it is so. Go to Pemba, Mozambique. Find Heidi Baker. Witness it. Then tell me of your doubt. After all, the very reason for such miracles is to demonstrate to the unbelieving (and even to believers) that God is real and that He loves us.
My desire is that the church in America would wake up and practice relevancy. We can show love to America. If we show love to America... if we show Christ to them and we walk before God then His kingdom will be expanded and the sense of hopelessness that seems to be pervasive throughout this entire country (and even in many Christians) will fade away. Certainly the end times will come, and the prophecies of revelations will come to pass. Only God knows when that time will be, and only the Father is aware of when that time is. We were not ordered to give up in defeat and wait for Christ to return in complacency or lethargy. We were ordered to continue watching, to keep at it, to struggle against Satan and to continue serving until he returned. I have met countless people that have wanted to change things but not known how to go about bringing about that change. We need a movement do we not? Well, movements begin with individuals. It starts with you. Get up, go outside, and serve. You can make a difference. Show love to others. Through love, show Christ to others. Put away judgement and condemnation for your neighbors and instead show them unfathomable love. Do this, and they will want to know what you believe, because who could see the love of God expressed in an individual and not want to be a part of it?
If one person somewhere has read this and found it beneficial, then my words have not been wasted.
God bless.
I decided that I might write a couple of notes regarding things the Lord has been educating me about prior to leaving for Africa. Given that I do not know where the Lord might take me while there or what He might do with me, I felt it prudent to write now rather than to put it off to never be done. I here disclaim that the things I write may indeed be without wisdom and blatantly obvious to the most casual observer.
Christians can be perfect.
It's true. We are perfect in Christ. We can walk without sin. I state this, because the Western Church... America... seems to believe that it is impossible to be perfect. Given this belief that they are incapable of walking perfectly before God, they choose to give up on it occurring and willfully partake in sin. It is a defeatist belief that results in... defeat.
Given the boldness of my statement, you might feel inclined to ask, are you perfect Jeremy Baker?
Of course not. Were I to attempt to answer such a question in the affirmative I would thereby demonstrate pride and be in errancy simply by answering. Appearances of pride notwithstanding, I also believe that I have sinful attitudes and thoughts at times which I am still working with God to bring into submission as I have successfully brought my body into submission to Christ.
Now you might wonder, if we can be perfect, why do we need God? My statement was that we are perfect in Christ. A Christian trying to be perfect on his own will not succeed. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I have endured this within my own experiences. When tempted, if I tried to resist the power of temptation on my own willpower and strength, I have failed. Continuously. Yet, when tempted, if I stopped what I was doing and turned my entire focus to God and Christ in prayer, the strength has been given to me to overcome, flee from, resist, or evade temptation and what sin might follow had I not turned to God for freedom.
We cannot, on our own, be perfect; nor can we walk perfectly unerringly until we have first accepted salvation and repented from our sins... turned from who we once were and become new creatures in Christ.
Do not be fooled. Being perfect is not a passive result. We are constantly at odds with Satan and his attempt to devour us. Just as an alcoholic takes one day at a time to continue living without partaking of alcohol, so Christians must walk daily with their guard in place ready to draw upon Christ's strength in order to avoid partaking in sin for that day.
I liked the way a fellow life group member restated my premise. He believes that maturing in Christ is coming to the realization of the promises that God has given to us and accepting them to be true. The Bible states that we are perfect in Christ. Paul admonishes that we should not willingly break the law but should abide by it. I believe it was a book written by Dallas Willard that compares the state of Christians to the state of slaves at the time the Emancipation Proclamation was made law. Many of the slaves were not aware of the fact of their freedom. There were slave owners that prevented them from knowing of their freedom and that convinced them they were still slaves. The concept was that if they were still doing all of the same actions that slaves continued to perform, then they must still be a slave. If you look like a slave and act like a slave, then you must still be a slave. Satan uses the same tactic to convince us that we are not free from sin. It only takes mild observation of the state of the Church here in America to realize the devastation this has wrought.
One of the biggest critiques made regarding Christianity here in America today is that it is not relevant... that Christ and his teachings are irrelevant. Certainly when we as Christians fail to live by the very things that we attempt to profess, we ourselves are giving credit to the validity of such an argument. If we continue to walk in sin, then clearly our beliefs are not working for us and are therefore irrelevant.
When our church leaders sin, we cover it up. More often than not, this is the case. Why would we hide our sin as Christians? There is no condemnation in Christ. We have been washed free of our sins. Guilt is a poor motivator, as one of my pastors once said during his sermon. God sees everything, does he not? Therefore, we are hiding nothing from God which means the only purpose for hiding our sin is to hide it from men. If we as church leaders are hiding our sins from men, then clearly our focus is on men and not God. Sin is anathema to Christians. If we are actively sinning, then we are not confessing it before God and we are unable to serve God. Sin breaks down the communication between us and God and we must repent of it to continue walking with him and serving him.
Now, hiding sin serves Satan's purposes. We can't hide it from God or Satan. Satan is all too happy to reveal when a Christian sins and hides it. He reveals it to the Christians and to the public. Then all the work of the man who had been dwelling in sin has been tainted by that sin. The world witnesses it and mocks the man's belief. The Christians witness it and some believe that it is ok to do the same thing. After all, the church leader is an example... a model to those he serves. To some degree, the followers will be negatively effected.
The proper method to handling this sin is to bring it out before the congregation and the body of believers when it has been committed and realized. Confession. Then repentance before God and the church would restore the leader. Naturally there must be discipline to follow, otherwise we appear to the world to be condoning the sin of the man. The fact that men fail is not enough to shake the faith of believers or to turn away those with the potential to believe. It is the men that believe they can hide it, and continue acting as if they have never done wrong, and then continue, after exposed, in denial and unrepentantly that cause both other Christians and the world to stumble.
I look at the lethargy of our church and sometimes I wish that Christians were persecuted here in America. I do not wish for harm to come to people, far from it. I wish that we would instead turn from our lethargy, get up, and act. Yet, the Bible has demonstrated time and time again that it is during the times when we are put through the fire that we become refined. Persecution refines the church. It has been historically shown that when the church and believers have been persecuted, the church has continued to grow, unimpeded (I would claim that the church actually grows explosively when persecuted). Faith is stronger in those places where believers are persecuted for their faith.
Don't believe me? When was the last time you heard of the sick being healed? When did you last hear of the blind seeing, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, or the dead being resurrected? I have personally sought for God's hand to be evident through miracles to know if He is still working today. There is no reason that He would not be working... after all God is alive. What I found was that the places where it is recorded and known that miracles happen today are very scarce in America... and yet highly prevalent in places where persecution is greatest. There is a place in Africa where the church has regular resurrections. Regular. Resurrections. Yes... people being raised from the dead. Surely there are some of you who doubt, after having read this statement, that it is so. Go to Pemba, Mozambique. Find Heidi Baker. Witness it. Then tell me of your doubt. After all, the very reason for such miracles is to demonstrate to the unbelieving (and even to believers) that God is real and that He loves us.
My desire is that the church in America would wake up and practice relevancy. We can show love to America. If we show love to America... if we show Christ to them and we walk before God then His kingdom will be expanded and the sense of hopelessness that seems to be pervasive throughout this entire country (and even in many Christians) will fade away. Certainly the end times will come, and the prophecies of revelations will come to pass. Only God knows when that time will be, and only the Father is aware of when that time is. We were not ordered to give up in defeat and wait for Christ to return in complacency or lethargy. We were ordered to continue watching, to keep at it, to struggle against Satan and to continue serving until he returned. I have met countless people that have wanted to change things but not known how to go about bringing about that change. We need a movement do we not? Well, movements begin with individuals. It starts with you. Get up, go outside, and serve. You can make a difference. Show love to others. Through love, show Christ to others. Put away judgement and condemnation for your neighbors and instead show them unfathomable love. Do this, and they will want to know what you believe, because who could see the love of God expressed in an individual and not want to be a part of it?
If one person somewhere has read this and found it beneficial, then my words have not been wasted.
God bless.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Leadership
I was reading an article today about a playground fight in North Philly that ended in one 16 year old killing another 16 year old by accident. Having been away for so long I forget how common death is in the city. When I left the murder rate averaged more than one person per day and I'm sure it's gone up since. The numbers are heart wrenching. In the article I read in the paper today the father of the killer was quoted as saying, "It was another senseless killing. There will probably be another one tomorrow, and you'll be talking to another family."
Reading those words made me want to throw up. There are times that I am heartbroken by the amount of need there is around me. Depravity is everywhere although I am rarely touched by it. In fact I am so rarely touched by it that the majority of the time I am not heartbroken but complacent. One thing I do know is that even if I were to quit my job and devote all of my time to service I wouldn't be able to fill the void. Not even close
I've been realizing this past year how desperate we are for leaders. Not only do we need people to go out into our communities in order to impact the places of great need, but we need people to step up even within our churches to lead all of the programs and ministries. We even need people to lead within our own families and friend circles. So why is it that we don't have enough leaders?
I can only speak for myself on this, but I have a feeling I'm not alone. There are far too many times when I don't feel qualified to lead anything. I let my shame or lack of confidence or inexperience dictate my decisions in this area and never find my way into a leadership role. It's safer, isn't it? I mean, there is so much pressure on a leader to make choices that will satisfy everyone when more often it feels like you haven't satisfied anyone. Not only that, but when in leadership you can only lead people as far as you yourself are willing to go, which means you have to be willing to go. I can assure you that I'm intimate with the reasons not to lead, but I'm far less familiar with the reasons why I have to lead.
As I read this article this morning and thought about all the need that I see all the time I started to wonder, should we all be leading? Doesn't Christ tell us that all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to us? Doesn't he give us the power and strength to do all things? If I as a Christian were really ready to believe that with all of me, I would be leading so much more and I imagine that that is true for more people than just me.
I believe that there is so much more that the church could be doing if its members believed themselves all to be leaders. I think we forget that we are leaders already, so where are we leading people? I think I lead more people to the couch than to the street or to the church and that needs to change.
I don't know how many people read this, but if you do please consider this a challenge and challenge yourself with me. Consider the challenge of asking God where he has you leading that you might not even be aware of. Ask him how you can be a better leader and most of all ask if there are places where you could be leading and you're not. I'm asking you to do this with me because I'm honestly afraid of the answer. My hope is that in asking together that we might hold each other accountable to that which Christ has entrusted us with.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Good Soil
While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." Luke 8:4-8
This reference hit me hard. What does it mean or look like to live in a state of broken soil?
From the parable we know that this broken soil has had it's torn out, it's weeds ripped up and has been tilled so that it is no longer trampled on. It is the perfect place for seeds to fall into and put down their roots.
Am I living in a state of broken soil?
I am incredibly greatful that this weekend was able to be in the presence of people who do live in a state of brokenness. What strikes me about the strong role models I have around me is that they are not afraid. The are no strangers to pain or tradgedy, but they do not live as if they have been crushed by it. They are intimate with the joy and peace that comes from God, but they do not shy away from grief and mourning. They live in this place of confidence in God that allows them to enter into the hard places and to experience all the joy that we have in Christ.
I hope that one day I will recognize how complete my life in Christ both because of what has been ripped out and because of what has been planted. My prayer this weekend has been, and will continue to be, to be brought to this place of brokenness.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
cease striving
Psalm 46:10
The NIV says
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
my NASB says
"Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
This word striving is helpful to me as i try to understand this.
dictionary.com tells me
strive – verb
1. to exert oneself vigorously; try hard
2. to make strenuous efforts toward any goal: to strive for success.
3. to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict; compete.
4. to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance: to strive against fate.
5. to rival; vie.
I play a part in what God is doing, but what He brings about will not come because of my striving. It will come as I trust that He is God and as I submit/yield to His will. This God that I trust - He delights to give us good gifts and He chooses to use us to bless others. I want to know this God more and I want to listen intently to Him, moving according to His grace and love. This won't always look like being still, but I don't imagine it to look like how I envision one who is "striving"... I think of striving as when I'm moving exhaustively according to my own strength and working myself toward the dead-end of burnout. The point that this verse is trying to get across to me is that I am to cease doing that. It doesn't mean that the pendulum swings to the extreme and I now have license for sloth. I am to let go, maintain open hands, and trust God. He says He will be exalted among the nations and in all the earth - I want Him to be exalted in my life.
less of me, more of Him...
The NIV says
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
my NASB says
"Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."
This word striving is helpful to me as i try to understand this.
dictionary.com tells me
strive – verb
1. to exert oneself vigorously; try hard
2. to make strenuous efforts toward any goal: to strive for success.
3. to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict; compete.
4. to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance: to strive against fate.
5. to rival; vie.
I play a part in what God is doing, but what He brings about will not come because of my striving. It will come as I trust that He is God and as I submit/yield to His will. This God that I trust - He delights to give us good gifts and He chooses to use us to bless others. I want to know this God more and I want to listen intently to Him, moving according to His grace and love. This won't always look like being still, but I don't imagine it to look like how I envision one who is "striving"... I think of striving as when I'm moving exhaustively according to my own strength and working myself toward the dead-end of burnout. The point that this verse is trying to get across to me is that I am to cease doing that. It doesn't mean that the pendulum swings to the extreme and I now have license for sloth. I am to let go, maintain open hands, and trust God. He says He will be exalted among the nations and in all the earth - I want Him to be exalted in my life.
less of me, more of Him...
Friday, July 24, 2009
Amazed
Today was my first time to play golf on a golf course. I really didn't know what to expect, but knew that no matter what, I would have a fun time with it -- even if I did hit the ball as hard as I could & it would just roll off the tee. I'm exploring new things I've never tried before & finding it all to be quite an adventure. One thing I didn't expect today was the feeling, seeing, smelling, & experiencing incredible power of God's nature in the way that I experienced it today. It was amazing - I think I'm still in shock that I was within feet of lighting striking a tree. Just as we were running for cover right after a sudden storm came through, the thunder clapped the loudest I've ever heard it. You could feel it run through your body & for a second, everyone who was in the same shelter as us, froze. Right behind our little shelter, you could see a tree that had been split from the lightning striking it. It's hard to believe too that if we wouldn't have left when we did or been in a different place in our game on the hole we were at, we could have been closer than we would have liked to have been to that tree without shelter. There are so many things I'm thankful for after experiencing this today: 1) Being able to experience God's power in this way 2) shelter that was close by 3) that one of our players on our team was familiar with this course & knew where the shelters were 4) the people we had a chance to meet when we were under the shelter that we wouldn't have had the chance to meet 5) being able to enjoy the day, even though I really had no idea what I was doing :)
Not too long after the lighting struck, it rained really hard & even hailed a little bit as well. Within 10-15 minutes it was done & the sun came out & everyone went back to playing their rounds. The rest of the day was beautiful, the sun was out & dried everything up within an hour. It was hard to believe that it even rained earlier that afternoon.
I am just amazed & so grateful that we're safe, but also grateful that I got to experience God's power in this way!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. (Deuteronomy 15:15)
God has used the story of the Israelites being set free from their slavery in Egypt to speak to me at many different points of my journey.
This blog has resonated with me over the past couple weeks http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2009/07/575-refusing-gift-of-desert-road.html
It is about the gift of the desert road based on Exodus 13:17-18
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”
Excerpt from blog “I love the simplicity of that. God knew that if the Israelites took the short way, if they took what probably seemed like the logical route, they'd face a war they weren't ready for and would probably willingly return to slavery. So out of love, out of a deep, big love for His people, he took them on the desert road.”
I've been thinking about the Israelites time out on the desert road that He took them out on...
…and the Lord with that deep, big love would deliver them when the Egyptians came to try to reclaim them as slaves. The Isrealites had just tasted their freedom and very quickly their captors were on their heels trying to bring them back into bondage.
(Exodus 14:13-14) Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
…and the Lord would demonstrate the depth and breadth of that love by having them pass through the Red Sea on dry ground displaying His power and destroying the power that had long oppressed the people.
(Exodus 14:29-31) But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
…and the Lord returned the sea to its shore, closing the way behind them, and setting a boundary between the land of captivity and the land of promise.
The lyrics of a Sara Groves song “Painting Pictures of Egypt” speak to me of His lovingkindness closing the waters behind me, so that I will not return to that place from which I have been delivered.
I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned
Today, I am looking toward the promise and trusting God to fight for me on the desert road, to make a way through the waters though there seems to be no way, and to set the boundaries that will lead me into spacious places.
God has used the story of the Israelites being set free from their slavery in Egypt to speak to me at many different points of my journey.
This blog has resonated with me over the past couple weeks http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2009/07/575-refusing-gift-of-desert-road.html
It is about the gift of the desert road based on Exodus 13:17-18
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”
Excerpt from blog “I love the simplicity of that. God knew that if the Israelites took the short way, if they took what probably seemed like the logical route, they'd face a war they weren't ready for and would probably willingly return to slavery. So out of love, out of a deep, big love for His people, he took them on the desert road.”
I've been thinking about the Israelites time out on the desert road that He took them out on...
…and the Lord with that deep, big love would deliver them when the Egyptians came to try to reclaim them as slaves. The Isrealites had just tasted their freedom and very quickly their captors were on their heels trying to bring them back into bondage.
(Exodus 14:13-14) Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."
…and the Lord would demonstrate the depth and breadth of that love by having them pass through the Red Sea on dry ground displaying His power and destroying the power that had long oppressed the people.
(Exodus 14:29-31) But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
…and the Lord returned the sea to its shore, closing the way behind them, and setting a boundary between the land of captivity and the land of promise.
The lyrics of a Sara Groves song “Painting Pictures of Egypt” speak to me of His lovingkindness closing the waters behind me, so that I will not return to that place from which I have been delivered.
I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned
Today, I am looking toward the promise and trusting God to fight for me on the desert road, to make a way through the waters though there seems to be no way, and to set the boundaries that will lead me into spacious places.
Joy
"Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times." -Romans 12:12
"This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." -Nehemiah 8:9-10
It's hard to know how to put into words all that God is teaching me about his joy. This theme is one that has been persistent over the last few months and I am so glad that it has. I don't know that I've ever been good with changes, but I think that some things about change get easier as we get older. However, there are some changes that get harder as time passes thanks to all the hard things about changes. Thankfully as God teaches me to open my hands to the changes, He's also teaching me about His abundant joy.
This weekend I went back to Philly after being away for about a year. I revisited family and friends and places that hold a lot of memories for me and a lot of unrest. I got in pretty late on Friday so I didn't have time to do much besides sleep, but when I woke up on Saturday morning I was hit with a whole heap of anxiety over what was in store for me. After I went downstairs and had breakfast with my grandma I noticed on her windowsill sad Romans 12:12. I don't know what the translation was but the first line read be glad. I must have read the passage over and over again this weekend and I was constantly struck by that line be glad and prayerful always.
God always defies my expectation by speaking to me in the places where I'm not looking and sending me answers to the questions I don't think I'm asking. Someone pointed out this weekend how God is always joyful. I've been encouraged and convicted to take a step back from my world and step into God's where the victory is already won and where we live in a land of joy over who God is and what He's done.
I slowly learn and relearn this lesson and as I do I see God slowly opening my hands to change and joy and to perseverance.
My hands are open to the knowledge that you have healed lepers with nothing more than water
with nothing more than words
My hands are open to the promise that you love me more than I will ever know or understand
and my hands are open to the hope that I will one day be able to open my hands
But until that day
I sit
with hands resting on knees
open to the promise of you.
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