Keeping it Simple

We all have our beliefs and persuasions, and from my perspective Christianity should not be as complex as many try to make it. I like to follow the KISS principle (keep it simple saint). The longer I have been a Christian, the more I see this as being all about Jesus; relationship with Him and what that results in.

The tenants of faith for me are getting distilled down to three simple points;

1. We need to love and worship the Lord,

2. We need to be encouraging and interacting with our fellow Christians with a free flow of life and love,

3. And we need to be reaching those who are not Christians with a gracious and accepting love.

I have been a local church man most of my life, and I find that many people apply focus and efforts on so many things that the message of the centrality of Christ and the simplicity of the Gospel is lost. I recognize that I can do the same thing that I see many do, and that is to get involved in religion, programs, and position. In Mark 16 Jesus tells us that the signs will follow them who believe, yet so many of us get caught up in the trappings of ministry that there are times that we can seek after and follow the signs instead of Jesus.

I am praying for the day that we will see Christians step up, step into a new reality in Christ. That we will become citizens of a heavenly kingdom (Heb 11:13-16), and that we will follow the example of the first Christians (Acts 2:46, 47). These verses are not about what position you have in a church or ministry, they are not about what it is that you do, or even about how many people follow you. I think these verses are about letting the love and life of Jesus flow in us and through us.

I believe that if we really follow Christ as He followed the Father, that if we really have living and vital relationships with Christ, that we are not going to have to have so many programs and conferences and means to get people into the Church - they'll be knocking the doors down to get in.

Yes, there is more and it's not always easy to be simple, but it’s a good way to focus our faith. Paul was pretty strong in his writings about following Christ and having a real relationship. Let us follow hard after Christ and let us press on in Him.

My heart is for us to have close and personal relationships with Jesus, where we all share Him together. John 15, where He teaches on abiding is a simple and powerful truth. The word abide says a lot, it means to be vitally united and to maintain a living communion – wow!

Let’s all focus on Jesus and on what He is about. Let’s have close and fruitful relationships with Him, ones where it’s all about Him. May we all know this simple, yet deep message, and may we not be caught up in religion or in the activities of Christianity where we miss it. May we all be pressing in to know Him and for Him to know us too. I pray that none of us wind up on the wrong side of the question Jesus poses in Matt 7:21-23.

Let’s keep it simple saints.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God

This note comes from an email that I sent a close friend of mine who has been experiencing tough times. I remembered tough times I had (and have), and got to writing some of my thoughts out. This post is some of my reflections about our relationships with the Lord.

In this note I make reference to Jean Guyon (also known as Madam Guyon) she was a Christian mystic who was seen as a heretic in her time, and was put in prison more than once for her faith and the practice/expression of her faith. She experienced a reality with the Lord that transcended her circumstances, and there are several books that have been written from the collection of her writings.

Here now is the actual start of my note:

There are times that I become more convinced that Jean Guyon had it right, that circumstances and events are not what life is about - rather that life is about relationship with Jesus. That no matter what our circumstances, location, marriage, family, vocation, etc there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Nothing, well, except for our thinking (ouch). I remember vividly her teaching on maturity, how God will work with us in such a way that we learn to depend on Him (she would explain this as turning inside, not to look for our own strength, but to look to the Lord who dwells in our spirit). He wants us to depend on Him, not on feelings, not on memories or past experiences, but to know Him and His reality. To count as fact what He says in His word. How He does says that nothing can separate us from His love, that He is always with us, that is, He is ever available for us, and we can not flee from His presence - even if we make our bed in hell He is there.

Note (Before I continue this discussion, we do need to realize that sin does separate us from God, that if we are abiding in or practicing sin, we need to repent (I John 1:9 and other scriptures help us to see this). The point I am discussing is not about sin separating us from God, rather, or our wrong thinking and religious practices.)

There are times (many, many times) that my brain and my search for "feelings" get right in the way of my relationship with God. I look for evidence, I look for experience (or works), and I look for validation from others to make me "feel" as if I am right with the Lord. When I get in this mode it seems that two things happen; one is that I find "feelings" or some kind of feedback that makes me think that I am in the will of God, or that I have done (or am doing) the will of God. The other thing that happens is that I don't find that "feeling" or get the right kind of feedback that I am looking for, and the result is that I think I have missed God.

I think you can see where I am going with this - because I have put myself as the authority of my life and it is me that evaluates and judges all that I do, or all that I experience. When I distill this thinking down to its base element, it looks like my human thinking, or the human judgment of others is what guides my life.

When the Word tells me that nothing can separate me from the love of God (Rom 8), or that I am grafted into Him (Rom 11), or that I abide in Him (John 15), then I need to change my basis of thinking and get it in alignment with the word. It was this type of thinking that allowed Jean Guyon to refer to her time of imprisonment in France, as the place where the Lord made her prison a palace. It was this type of thinking that allowed Joseph not only to endure, but to grow and mature, for the 13 years from the point he, when at 17 he was sold in to slavery, till he was 30 and elevated to position in Egypt. When things get bad for me, and when I start feeling sorry for myself, I remember that I don't have it as bad as Joseph. If he could press past his circumstances, his thinking, and press past them into a state of real relationship with the Lord, then there is no reason that I can't either. And the truth be known, there are people in this world today that do have it as bad as Joseph, people who are imprisoned and persecuted for their faith, who live in oppressive and violent circumstances.

I say these things not to bring shame or contempt on me or anyone else, but only to raise awareness that God and our relationship with Him, is something that transcends this world. It is something that is greater and deeper and bigger than the world with live in. I think this is some of the thinking that is seen in Heb 11 where we read of all the heroes of faith, not only the times they prospered, but also the hard times they experienced. The reading makes it clear that they are not citizens of this world, but they are citizens of the heavenly realm. The account tells us that they are those of whom the world is not worthy. I think these folks were those that lived in the world, but were not of the world.

Having said all of this I know goes back to where I started in this writing, which talked about relationship with the Lord being more that feelings. If we are going to believe His word that nothing can separate us from the love of God, than we can learn how to press past the pain and disappointment of our circumstances, and press right into Him. If I go back to some of what Jean Guyon wrote, she described these difficult times of life as the maturing process that the Lord works in us, so that we can learn that He is greater than the circumstances.

I look for, even long for the day that we can understand and embrace the reality and depth of our relationship with the Lord. I really want all of us to have a relationship with the Lord that is not dependant on our circumstances, but one that is truly and entirely dependant on Him.

When we repent and receive salvation, we have eternal life. We get it now, not when we die. God wants us to have life now, He wants us to live and grow and have our being in Him. He wants all us to be able to know the reality of John 10:10 - He can to bring us life and life more abundantly.

Thank you Lord that we have life in you! Thank you that there is nothing that can separate us from your love! Thank you that our relationship with you is not dependant on anything we do, nor is it dependant on our circumstances! Thank you that it's all about You, and the wonderful reality of our relationship with You.

We don't go to Church, we are the Church

The word for Church in the New Testament (Greek) is ekklesia, which means the called out ones.

A more complete definition is a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both). It also means an assembly of people, a gathering, or a meeting.

The key to this word is that it speaks of the Church being the people who gather and assemble; it does not refer to the physical building that is used for the meeting. The Church, the body of Christ, the Saints, the beloved; these and many other titles and references speak about the people of God and not about structure or meeting place.

In the Old Testament God dwelt in the Tabernacle (tent of meeting) and in the Temple. However, in the New Testament, with the coming of Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection, the Holy Spirit was given to all believers to dwell with them and in them.

In John 14 Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would be sent to be with His followers, that He would not leave them alone. In Acts 2 we read of the account of Pentecost, where the Lord did send the Holy Spirit upon His people, and now the people of God have the Holy Spirit in them.

Paul told us in 1 Cor 3:16 that we are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in us.

As Christians we are Church, we are the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. This is why, in Matt 18:19-20, Jesus tells us that when two or more are gathered together that He is there in the midst. He also told us in Matt 28:20 that He was with us always.

We need to gather together, we are called to assemble and meet together as Christians, this post is not saying we don't assemble together or meet together. The point her is that we don't go to the church building to find the Lord, we bring Him with us when we go to the church building.

This is why we can say, we don't go to church, we are the church.

Prayerwalking in the Christmas Season

This season is one of the only times of the year that many people come to church. While we know that Christianty is not just going to Church, the point is that there is an openess to the Lord in many hearts around Christmas. Whether this comes from religous traditions and obligations people have grown up with, people come to church services at this time of year.

As Christians we have the opportunity and the privilege to reach out to these people, so that they can discover that this is about Jesus and not traditions or rituals. This is about helping people to discover, to see, God's love in the person of Jesus, so that they too can have a personal relationship with Christ. This is what Christianity is about, it's about coming out of the world, out of the darkness; and coming into His Kingdom and His glorious light. It's not about coming to Church, it's about relationship (new birth, conversion, repentence, adoption) with Jesus. It's about becoming part of the Church, after all, we are the Church we don't go to Church - but that is the topic of another blog.

In 2 Cor 5 Paul tells us when we are in Chirst we a new creatures, that the old has passed away and we have become new. This passage also describes the process of reconcilation, where God sent His Son to bring us into relationship with Him. This is being reconciled to God. And it does not stop there, not only are we reconciled (brought into relationship with Him) we are also given the ministry of reconcilation. This is where we become part of the solution and where we are given the power and authority to be God's representatives. We become His ambassadors, we are comissioned to represent Him in the world today.

This is where prayer and prayer walking come into the picture. As we pray the Holy Spirit will help to draw people to the Lord, help to open their eyes to the reality of the existence of Jesus Christ. So many people just can not see or can not understand that Jesus came to set them free and to deliver them from the curse of sin and death and hell.

We need to pray for people all the time and be reaching out with the love of God all year long. Yet, we do need to recognize that more people will be coming to Churches and will be hearing about the Christmas story. They will hear the account of the birth of Jesus and how He can to the world to save us from our sins.

So we pray not only for people to come to Church services, we pray that they will learn about God's love in the person of Christ and become born again in Him. We need to pray for those leading Christmas eve and Christmas day services that they will preach Christ, and not just have a religious expereince. Pray for the message to go out and pray for the message to be received.

As I began with, this is not just about coming to Church, it's about coming to Christ. Let's join together in prayer along these lines, and just maybe we can see not only people coming to Christ, but a revival in the Church that makes it a place of life - and not just a religious tradition.

Praying together for God's mighty work in this Christmas season.

Thanks for the Women of God

For years women have been faithfully praying and making a difference. We always hear of the mothers, grandmothers, wives, and others who labor in prayer for their family members and for their Pastors and leaders. I have heard many testimonies from so many about how they have been carried in prayer by the women in their lives. One account I heard was from a former pimp and drug lord, who was shot and dying in the emergency room, all the doctors and people gave up and counted him as dead. Well, all but his praying mother who would not let go of the promise of God that her son was called to be a preacher - she travailed and stood strong in prayer until God brought forth a miracle and this man came back from the dead.

In recent years I am seeing more men attend prayer confereances and participate in prayer events. Yet, for years when ever I would be a some kind of meeting or gathereing for prayer, the overwhelming majority of the participants were women. I am so thankful for all the women who have faithfully served as intercessors and prayer warriors, and for those who still do. If you look at the history of revivals and moves of God you will find that many have their roots in a group of praying women, who chose to believe that God was greater than the present circumstances.

As we are in these days of the growth of the prayer movement, I want to remember all the women who labored in prayer as forerunners and trailblazers - we owe them a debt of thanks (and I know they hold a place of honor with the Lord).

Thank God for the faithful women of prayer.

What if..

What if the things in our thoughts and our prayers really happened? What if those things we saw prophetically really came to pass? What if the people of God really believed that the Lord moved in them and that they were His agents of change in the world today? What if the people of God let a passion for Jesus burn in their hearts and lives so much that it made them live differently, and even show forth the power of the Gospel?

What makes us think that these things don't happen? Just imagine how much could happen if we stopped wondering and thinking about possibilities, and actually started doing them. It is my persuasion that if we would just say yes to Jesus and all that He wants to open up to us that our lives would start changing. If Christians started putting faith into action, then maybe we won't need Church programs to work things up - maybe there will be so much life and vitality in the people of God that those in the world would see and start wanting to come to the Lord?

I do know that the Lord wants us to dream and to see possibilities and not to stop there, but start letting the dreams become a part of our reality. Eph 3:20 says, Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Exceedinly abundantly about all that we ask, and above all that we think - and He does this by the power that is in us, the mighty force of God that raised Christ from the dead, the mighty force that worked in the first Church in the book of Acts.

Wow - just think of the possibilities if the people of God really got into Him. Got into Him so much that it started something happening that was bigger and greater than the things around us in the world! This would be putting into action some of that resurection power that God has invested in us who believe. What if....

Being a Friend

There are some close friends I know who are in the midst of some tough times; issues with health, problems on the job; a few have cancer and are in some process of treatment and therapy; several have some problems with depression; and there is at least one who is undergoing attacks and static from the enemy.

As a praying man I often look to the Word for help in praying. Additionally, I look to the Word for something fresh and applicable that I can share with them for encouragement, to give hope, some guidedance. I try to treat needs seriously and don't handle prayer requests lightly. I feel honored that my friends come to me with their needs and often open up with some deep things from their hearts and lives. I handle these requests as sacred trusts (keeping them confidential), not taking them lightly, and staying away from trying to give advice or "correction." The last thing I want to do is be like one of the "friends" of Job who came to him in his time of need. Even though Job's friends shared a lot of wonderful insight, they also told Job he brought some of his problems on himself, and there was implications that Job was in sin and God was judging for him for it.

Lord, help me, help all of us, to be true and loving friends. Ones who will stand with our friends, support them in tough times, and believe the best in them (looking for the benifit of the doubt instead of being critical). 1 Cor 13 comes to mind, the love chapter. Verses 4 - 8 say. ⁴ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never fails.

Let us walk in love and understanding. Yes, there is a place for "tough love", but for the issues that my friends are going through (and that others go through), it just doesn't seem right to think I know best, when I really have no idea the pain and depth of problems and pain they are in.

Lord Jesus, help us all to be friends, to be friends to them like you are to us. You are accepting, supportive, forgiving, and you are always there for us. Thank you Jesus for being such a good friend, that you for being such a great example on how to be a friend.

Beginnings

This blog has been created as a place to share life from the Word (Bible), including various notes, insights, and applications. God has given us His Word to lead us and teach us, but it doesn't stop there, He reveals Himself to us through the Word. It is a source of guidance, and also a means to learn about Him and grow in relationship with Him.