Souljourn

Talented people

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What Naomi saw

When Naomi was in Phoenix she took a quick trip out to the Grand Canyon.  As they were driving there they noticed some cars pulled off the road and people gathered.  They stopped as well and this is what they saw.  

Currently listening to...

I love this new worship CD from Bethel Church.  We are already singing two of the songs in church (Deep Cries Out and I Exalt Thee) and I would expect a few more will be added to the mix.

 

 

The vision of the pickle

This one is a little out of the ordinary for me but there was (is) no way I’m not going to respond to it.  Over the last few weeks in church we have been talking about being committed to Holy Spirit instead of just open to Him (there is a BIG difference) and last weekend we looked at Mark 6 where the full intentions of Jesus were limited because of an unwillingness to move in response to His leading. 

On Friday night I was in a worship service just enjoying the presence of Jesus when I clearly had two images flash back and forth in my mind.  The first image was a cucumber and the second was a pickle.  These images flashed back and forth twice between the two and although it came out of the blue I immediately knew what God was saying to me*.  It was an invitation to more intentionally soak in God’s presence, and to be changed through soaking.

I’ve never made pickles, so this may be an oversimplification, but a cucumber becomes a pickle simply through soaking.  And as it soaks, it takes on the flavour of what it is soaking in until it is entirely changed.  No one considers a pickle to be a ‘slightly modified’ cucumber, it is something entirely different.

So as those images flashed through my mind, along with the understanding I just shared, I spent some more time worshiping just receiving from God.  Then on Saturday I put on some worship music and just lay on the floor (in my bedroom, with the door closed) receiving from Jesus.  I didn’t do a lot of praying I just lay there and by faith received from the presence of Jesus.

Although I felt peace and adoration during this time, there was nothing dramatic that occurred and I wasn’t expecting there would be.  Once again, from my understanding of the pickling process, there isn’t a moment when the cucumber suddenly becomes the pickle, it is simply a subtle process over time.

Then I went to church for our Saturday evening service and my Mom came in and handed me a bag with three cucumbers in it.  I would like to tell you that being the man of faith and power I am that I immediately made the connection and rejoiced in the confirmation (and humour) of God.  Unfortunately, it didn’t even register on my radar until after the service when we were driving home.  My youngest son asked what was in the bag and when I said, “some cucumbers”, he replied, “oh did someone give you those because of what you shared?” (I had mentioned the images in worship).   His simple question caused the light to come on for me and I laughed at God’s prompting. 

So that is the invitation that God presented me with.  I believe it is for me, and our church family, but it can be yours too.

 

*According to Joel 2:28 seeing a vision puts me in the ‘young men’s’ camp which I also felt pretty good about seeing I just turned 41.

 

I'll explain tomorrow

Quotes from our house

Naomi has been away in sunny Phoenix for the last eight days.  Here are a couple quotes heard around our house in her absence.

During a Skype conversation between Naomi and the kids:

Naomi - "How are you guys doing?"  

Response -  "We are barely surviving."

A compliment (I think) from one of our kids:

"Way to go house Dad!"

The truth comes out:

Me - "Do you want to go here for lunch?"  

Child - "Sure."  

While eating lunch -  "Mom says this place is a rip-off."

 

I think we are all very glad she'll be home Sunday night.

Presence driven

Over the last few weeks we have been talking about being a people who are passionately committed to the presence of Jesus.  I have found preparing and preaching these sermons to be at the same time, the most enjoyable and provoking, experience I have had in quite some time.

It has been enjoyable because stripping away everything else and focussing on Jesus has brought an increased peace and adoration in my life that has been very refreshing.  

It has been provoking because I know there is so much that Jesus has for me to experience.  I don't want to walk on the fringe of His presence, or experience His presence in measure, I want to know the fullness of His presence.  And thankfully, Jesus sent Holy Spirit to lead me into that very place!!

Here is a very brief outline of the ground we have covered:

1.  Are we open to His presence or committed to His presence?  We will seldom sacrifice, or be known for, things we are simply 'open' to.  It is those qualities, experiences and skills that we are committed to that define us.  And Moses declares in Exodus 33:16 that the presence of God was to be the defining quality of our lives.

2. Welcoming His presence.  King David teaches us how to welcome the presence of God (the 2nd time around) into the centre of our lives.  In 2 Samuel 6 (and 1 Chronicles 15) David models obedience, sacrifice, passion and humility in pursuing the presence of God.

3. The fullness of His presence.  Jesus set an incredible standard -- He healed and delivered everyone who encountered Him.  And if that wasn't noteworthy enough, He went on to say that we would do the same as He did (John 14:12).  When someone sets a world record, it usually isn't expected to be matched, and whomever might do it is usually in pretty elite company.  But Jesus set a never before seen standard, and then declared that it was the new norm for His followers.

4. A hindered presence.  Mark 6 records for us an incident that seems to stand in marked contrast to the pattern Jesus set.  Immediately after raising a young girl from the dead and healing a woman who had been sick for 12 years (Mark 5) Jesus went into a region and was unable to heal and deliver as many people as He intended to.  The Bible records in a disappointing light that, "...He could heal only a few...".  What would cause most of us to rejoice, the Bible mentions it almost regrettably.  Not for those that got healed, but because Jesus wanted to do so much more.

5.  And this week....well you'll just have to come to church and find out.

 

We can't go any further

I'm reading through John in my devotions, paying particular attention to the miracles of Jesus.  He clearly set a standard that He intends us all to continue in (John 14:12).  Other than the pages of scripture I have not seen this standard realized (albeit some are much closer than I am) but that does not give me the legitimacy to lower the standard to make myself feel comfortable. (or to create excuses that lead me to an incorrect view of God, others and myself)

I came across a statement that some followers of Jesus made in John 6 and it struck me how well it seemed to sum up a lot of human tendencies in response to following Jesus and the example He set.  In response to Jesus' teaching people began to say, "This is very hard to understand.  How can we accept it?" (v.60)  And because they couldn't understand what Jesus was asking of them, they chose to reject Jesus.  

They held their understanding above their obedience.  And they quickly came to a point of not being able to go any farther with Jesus.  I'm very thankful for the minds that God has given us, and I'm not for one moment suggesting that we 'check our brains at the door', but there must be a place for faith in our pursuit of Jesus.  If I have to have all of my questions answered, if I have to understand everything, then I am going to have a very limited journey with Jesus.

To be honest, I don't understand why some are healed and some aren't.  I don't understand why people I have prayed for are still in wheelchairs, or have passed away.  But I can not allow those experiences to stop my pursuit of Jesus and the fullness of His presence.  

That is why it's called faith.  And I never want to get to a point in my journey with Jesus where I determine we can't go any further because I don't understand something.  

I like the response of Peter in this situation when he was asked if he was also going to leave.  "Lord, to whom would we go?"   Peter knew that Jesus was the answer -- yes, he did make some mistakes along the way but that just gives me confidence that there's a place for me -- and Jesus is still the answer.  

A honest assessment

Last weekend we discussed that it is very possible for all of us to be deceived as to our true spiritual condition.  We looked at the Laodicean church in Revelations 3, and saw that believers who were once passionately pursuing Jesus (see Colossians 2:1-2; 4:13-16) could over time find themselves in a place of being 'lukewarm' and having a totally incorrect assessment of the condition of their hearts.  

This week I came across some questions that John Wesley created to help people avoid this trap  and maintain a soft, responsive and growing heart before Jesus.  He penned these questions over 200 years ago, and urged that they would be considered daily.  I invite you to look over these questions and then just imagine what might transpire in your spiritual life if you took up this challenge to honestly pose them to yourself everyday.

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am? In other words, am I a hypocrite?
2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?
3. Do I confidentially pass on to another what was told to me in confidence?
4. Can I be trusted?
5. Am I a slave to dress, friends, work, or habits?
6. Am I self-conscious, self-pitying, or self-justifying?
7. Did the Bible live in me today?
8. Do I give it time to speak to me everyday?
9. Am I enjoying prayer?
10. When did I last speak to someone else about my faith?
11. Do I pray about the money I spend?
12. Do I get to bed on time and get up on time?
13. Do I disobey God in anything?
14. Do I insist upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy?
15. Am I defeated in any part of my life?
16. Am I jealous, impure, critical, irritable, touchy, or distrustful?
17. How do I spend my spare time?
18. Am I proud?
19. Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?
20. Is there anyone whom I fear, dislike, disown, criticize, hold a resentment toward or disregard? If so, what am I doing about it?
21. Do I grumble or complain constantly?
22. Is Christ real to me?

 

The need for firewood

I've been thinking about firewood lately.  Not the inanimate kind that is stacked neatly in a woodshed waiting to be used.  The kind that has two legs and a mind of its own.  The kind that decides for itself if it will be placed on the altar and used to maintain, and increase, the warmth and light of the fire.

We are that firewood.  We must make that decision.

Here are some of the nuggets that have contributed to this train of thought. 

• "It is useless to pray for the fire of heaven to descend when the altar is not built and the sacrifice unprepared."   Evan Roberts - Welsh Revivalist 

 

• In Leviticus, the priests are instructed that it is their responsibility to keep the fire going.
• Leviticus 6:12,13 "The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it.  The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out."
• God would light the fire (Leviticus 9:23,24) but the responsibility of keeping it going was given to man.

 

• Nehemiah 13:31 "I also made sure that the supply of wood for the altar... was brought at the proper time."
• This is one of the last recorded actions of Nehemiah, to make sure there was wood for the fire on the altar.

The point seems pretty clear for me.  I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.  Without pushing the point too much, if I see you at prayer I'll have a pretty good idea as to the conclusion you've reached.