I'm so busy!

I am so busy. If I even attempted to explain how busy I was, it would take me the length of this article to explain all the things I have to do in order to accomplish my goals on a daily basis. Now, if truth be told, the fact that I am too busy to articulate my schedule may in fact be an indication that something is severely wrong with my life right now. I was asked to write an article on the Sabbath and rest seems to be the very thing I need right now. Carl Gustav Jung is quoted as saying “Busyness is not just FROM the Devil, it IS the Devil.” This way of thinking seems foreign to my current life. The fact that I am American speaks volumes to the current state of my day. It seems like it is conventional wisdom to think that if you are going to be successful in the United States, then you must always be busy. I don’t know if busyness is the Devil or not, but I am sure that the busier I get the less chance I have to develop intimate relationships in my life. Again, I look at my life and I think, what is this success that I am striving for? Is this type of success worth it if it pulls me away from genuine relationships that matter? In order to understand the spiritual significance of the Sabbath we must look at this as a command, then as an invitation. Jesus said, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.' (Mark 2:27, 28) Here we see that Jesus is verifying his authority with the religious leaders of his day, but he also makes a periphery point that is essential for our understanding of God’s intent of the Sabbath. Jesus declares that this command was given to ‘benefit man.’ The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had it wrong. Mankind did not exist to obey the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created to benefit man. How is this so? Let’s look at the next Scripture of importance. The Lord said through the prophet Ezekiel, “I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I, Jehovah, sanctify them” (Eze 20:12). The prophet says clearly that the Sabbath was given that the people of God may know him! How is this so? The Sabbath restricted the movements and work load of the Jewish people. The only thing a Jewish person could do was to spend that time developing his or her relationship with God and his or her family. The fact is many people looked at the Sabbath as simply another command instead of seeing the reality that God’s heart was that his children would use the Sabbath as an opportunity to build on their relationship with him and their families. Hebrews 4:9 says “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.” Thus for the believer observing the Sabbath is getting a glimpse at a profound spiritual truth that has been revealed by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Jesus’ amazing sacrifice has opened the door for all those who believe to enter the ultimate Sabbath. His death opened the door for an unending and an uninterrupted intimate relationship with God. So, we wait on the day that this web of rest, busyness and relationship, that can best be observed in the lives of the great patriarchs in the Scriptures will become a habit of our own. And, our hope is that the fruit of this habit will develop a greater hope for the Ultimate rest that will be ours because of the busyness of Christ.

Meekness is not weakness

In the New Testament language of “Koine” Greek, the word “praus” was a military term, used to describe the training of horses. The Grecian army would capture the wildest horses roaming in the mountains and train them for use in the army.

Some horses were broken and made useful for ordinary duty and a few became war horses. When a horse passed the conditioning required to become a war horse, its state was described as “praus”. No longer wild and unmanageable, he was now trained to be under the control of his master.

The war horse hadn’t lost any of his power or strength, it was just harnessed and under the control of his master. It gave up being wild, unruly, out of control and rebellious; and, instead, learned to be submissive and responsive to the slightest touch of the rider.

A war horse was trained to stand in the face of combat, thunder into battle and then stop when his master tugged on the reins. It was now considered to be “meek.”

Retrieved from: http://www.lifetv.org/Web_HTML/html/Commentary%20folder/Meekness.htm

Lions from God in my dreams… Part 1

I remember about eight years ago having a dream were I was walking up a grassy hill at night. At the top of the hill was the beginning of a dark forest. As I was walking up the hill, I saw two very large male lions running out of it toward me. And, they were running fast. However, there was something unique about these lions; they had bright light coming out from their eyes that illuminated everything they looked at. It reminded me of headlights on a car. In the dream, I assumed they were coming to eat me so I did a funny thing. I started to fly up in the air. I assumed that if I was flying they would not eat me. However, interestingly enough I was only able to stay in the air briefly. So as I began plummeting toward the earth I had another idea. I will go under the ground. There is no way they can get me there—I thought. Unfortunately, just as I was not able to stay in the air long neither was I able to stay under the ground. And, as I began to ascend from up under the earth toward the two powerful creatures I awakened from my slumber.
Last week I had another dream. That’s eight years later. In it I was walking up a hill in the daytime toward what looked like an unfinished house. While heading toward it I looked back down the hill. And, what did I see running toward me? Two large male lions! As I reached the unfinished house I looked back and the Lions had caught up with me. However, an interesting thing happened. They did not run to me to eat me but they both ran to the opposite corners of the house from where I was standing. The side of the house I was on had no visible entrance. And, even though I could not see entrances where the lions stood, it seemed as though they were blocking the way in the house. It looked like they had strategically aligned themselves to keep me from entering the house. So I did what I normally do when I see lions in my dreams. I fly! I faked to one entrance. And, one of the lions on the far side of the house ran around it to join up with the other one to prevent me from entering it. Then I ran to the area where the lion had vacated and I started flying away. As I did in the previous dream I woke up. However, the interesting thing about this dream is I am currently staying with a Pastor in Minnesota until I can get on my feet and ready for the church plant. In this room where I am sleeping they have posted on the wall two Narnia posters. And, on both of the posters are pictures of Aslan the creator of Narnia. The lions are here…
Interpretations to come!

“there are two ways to grow, either through pain or through prayer!?”

Once again what has impacted me the most this season in my life is the theme of character development. I am convinced that this is a teaching that will become a prevalent topic the rest of my life. Now, I am not saying that this theme is more important than Salvation. But, just as Francis Schaffer said, “becoming a Christian is just the beginning.”
I am beginning to understand that from that beginning God uses the situations of our lives to develop the character of Christ in us. I don’t think that this process is easy. Yet, interestingly, my spiritual formation teacher stated, “there are two ways to grow, either through pain or through prayer!?” Regardless the method the principle is poignant and profound. After salvation we are asked to grow.
I have been adamant about my growth up to this point; however, now my convictions have deepened. I now believe my calling is what God is using to conform my character to Christ's. I now understand why we rejoice when we are persecuted. I understand why tribulations must come. They come because I need to formed into the image of Christ. I used to be like the unbelieving Israelites. When trouble came I would do the very opposite of what God required of me. But, now I have been enlightened. This suffering simply puts me on my knees and drives me closer to God.
I can honestly say that I did not want to embrace this truth. And, the only time I was able to see its truthfulness is when I made the biggest sacrifice in my life in leaving my kids in Virginia to follow the call of God. After that step of faith God has been clearly moving in my life. I cannot deny that his presence in my life has been manifested to a greater degree since I took that step of obedience. Yet, it was extremely difficult. Yet, it is my responsibility like Christ to hold on in obedience even in the face of pain, suffering, and even death. I now know that through my obedience I will become more like him.
Praying for suffering is not a request for this life. It will come. Now my question is can it be quantified. Can this process be codified? Can it be measured so that others can see its validity? If it can be, what a great benefit this would be for many who have been following Christ, yet who have been discouraged by the outcome of their lives. No, it may not look like the winning message that everyone wants, but the truth is He is the potter, and he has the responsibility to mold us into whatever shape he desires.
So what is it that is impacting me now? What is impacting me is the knowledge that God is working on me. Now, I understand how all things are working together for my good. Now I am certain that regardless of the context, regardless of the struggle, God is working in me. He relentlessly is working in me to mold me into his son. Only he knows what areas of my character demand immediate attention. Only he knows what areas are effective in this season of my life. God is the all wise one. Ultimately, I have been moved into a greater level of trust. And, now I know I need him more than ever. My only responsibility is to remain obedient to Him and to allow Him to work in me until I finally look like him.

What will the church look like in 10 years.

I had a great time at the Start conference. I was able to meet Leonard Sweet @lensweet , who happened to be from West Virginia. And, I was fortunate to meet with Pastor Choco @PastorChoco again who is the Shepard of the largest church in the Assemblies of God. Choco always makes this one point that may be controversial but I wholeheartedly agree with it: He says, “I can’t sacrifice the mission to buy a building!” Interestingly, he has the money to buy a building in Humboldt Park, which is located in Downtown Chicago. But, he argues that when you have an urban church you need to build campuses to help people rather than investing in a single church building. What is more amazing was the day before Lenard Sweet basically said the same thing. Both men come from different sides of the “railroad tracks” so to speak, but it seemed that God was speaking the same thing through both men even though they expressed what he was saying to them in different ways. What they both agreed upon was that the future church would be the church of the community and not a church on an island. Pastor Choco called it being a Pastor of the community. He believes that a Pastor is the shepherd of the community whether the people in that community goes to their church or not. Lenard Sweet called this concept the Artisan church. He referenced the term Swiss cheese. He added whether people know it or not in Switzerland there are specific types of cheese for each town. The cheese itself, in his words, “represent the manifestation of the town itself,” he believes the church that is effective in the future will do the same. They also agreed in the empowerment of the body of believers. For instance, Pastor Choco has a ministry where members of the church can have their own ministry as long as it is summited to the training and instruction of the church there exists 400 some ministries in his church. Lenard Sweet likewise argued that the future church will have people in it who have a ministry to the church and a ministry to the world. Great stuff. This was just a tidbit of what was shared. It was awesome and I was encouraged. Check out @MacDwyer http://twitpic.com/76m252