from "Prayer" by Richard Foster

Transformation and intimacy both cry out for ministry.

We are led through the furnace of God's purity not just for our own sake but also for the sake of others.

We are drawn up into the bosom of God's love not merely to experience acceptance but also so we can give His love to others. The world writhes under the pain of its arrogance and self-sufficiency.

We can make a difference if we will.

In earlier days we tried to serve out of our spiritual bankruptcy, and we failed. We now know that ministry must flow out of abundance.

Bernard of Clairvaux writes,

"If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. For a canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus communicates, without loss to itself, its superabundant water.
In the Church at the present day, we have many canals, few reservoirs. "

We have determined to be reservoirs.

drawn from "Prayer, Finding the Heart's True Home"
Richard J. Foster, p168

Don’t Let ‘Em Fool Ya…

…The REAL Training at EBC
a tribute to my sessionmates
at the USA Southern Territory School for Officer Training

It has come to my attention that there is something going on in our midst that we simply MUST be made aware of- though I warn you, the truth may shock you!  There is an agenda for us, Friends of Christ, that follows a completely different schedule (as if we need anything else on our plate), a rubrick that’s as many as 800 pages long and that involves BOTH individual and group work (and you know you’re gonna end up with the group of people that most drives you crazy, right?). Assignments include: 

·         How to not always get your own way – and be okay with it

·         Eating Humble Pie without spitting it out

·         Running the Race – hurdles, hills, potholes and all

·         Complaining vs. Counting your blessings

·         Spreading beauty, not misery

·         How to get along – even if the other person is the one with the problem (!)

And we’ve all been working on these assignments, because whether we recognize it or not this is the stuff that God is doing in us when we’re not looking. We’re already not the people we were when we arrived – Proverbs 27:17 says:
“You use steel to sharpen steel, and so one friend sharpens another”

Haha…you’d think that by now we’d all be razor sharp and ready to go!

You see, He’s been transforming us by the renewing of our minds, and as we worship Him in Chapel or in our Brigade Corps or in our prayer closet and we plead for Him to get rid of this nasty habit or that crummy behavior and grow in us the fruits of Holy Spirit, and make us more like Jesus, well,
He Does.
He refines us as we go through the details and interactions of our day to day living in community with one another. We learn grace, patience, gentleness, to prefer one another above ourselves, to love – especially when it hurts and a hundred other heavenly things just by choosing to live here and choosing to follow Jesus.  Maybe we didn’t learn it the first time, the second time or the 364^th time the lesson came around, but we’re getting it.

So Friends of Christ, don’t let anyone fool you about what we’re supposed to be learning here…I know our paperwork indicates that Majors Hofer are in charge, but indeed it’s the Holy One who is directing and drawing us through this training experience so that we are made into the sort of officers (and disciples) that He needs out in the field, and even the whole wide world. “…joyous sacrifice, to be chosen, named and known as Friends of Christ…”

Is it just me or...

Does something stink around here? I don’t know about you but that’s a question that comes up an awful lot around our house (sorry honey).
And yet…can I be real here?
If I’m going to be honest, in examining my daily living – I can apply the same question back to my own spiritual life. It it just me, or does something stink around here?

One of the strongest images from Scripture to ever lodge itself in my memory is from Romans 7, where after a long emotional confession Paul concludes:

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

Many scholars agree that the above verse was referring to one of the most severe punishments under Roman law wherein a dead body was literally chained to its murderer -- face to face, hand to hand, toe to toe. The condemned man was sentenced to go through the remainder of his life chained to this decaying corpse. The murderer could not avoid breathing in the stench of this decaying body which was his constant companion. Like I said – it’s some strong imagery.

There is also an old argument regarding this passage – whether or not the Apostle was referring to the state of his soul before his Christ encounter or after, and I’m sure we all have our own opinions on that. However, after some careful thought I’ve decided that this question really is irrelevant, because Paul is articulating the wrestle that exists for anyone who tries to get through this life purely in their own strength.

In fact, that could describe any of us who are trying our hardest and best to be good and holy through just working harder, praying longer, doing greater good works, implementing harsher self-disciplines and even ‘faking it till we make it’ and yet are still defeated every time by the desires of our sinful nature.

I agree with Matthew Henry, who says:

“Paul speaks like one that was sick of his flesh and would give any thing to be rid of it.”
That’s how I feel – perhaps you can relate? Does something stink around here?

It’s as though I cannot avoid breathing in the stench of my sinful nature – and I hate it. Now, it’s not a 24/7 thing, but more of an ebb and flow – some days are better than others. More often than not, reflecting on my thought life, words that I’ve spoken carelessly (or with the careful precision of a poisonous dart), and immature behaviors I say to myself “wow – Heather – you stink” and then I spend some time in a Romans 7 mindset myself, ending in a piteous cry of “WHO WILL SAVE ME FROM THIS BODY OF DEATH? Jesus, will I ever really be like You?”

On a good day, that inner angst flows over into verse 25:

 

“Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

 

How does this deliverance come? Supernaturally. It’s an act of grace – when we receive Him, and then His Holy Spirit, Romans 8:2 promises that we have been freed from the power of sin that leads to death. In Galatians 5: 16 Paul teaches that we must:

 

“let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature.”

So let’s try this. Just for a time, let’s turn our noses inward – and forgetting about all of them stanky people all around us, vexin’ us and polluting our air with their spiritual junk, we can choose to make some room for Holy Spirit to check us. To reveal our own sinful nature – anyplace it may be alive and kicking and then – the key – is that one whiff of the putrid stench of our sinful nature would pierce our hearts and trouble us to such a degree that we would find ourselves drawn into godly sorrow - the Spirit led kind that always ends up in repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10).

And I know that God can really do something supernatural when our hearts are in that posture.

Don’t we want to kick this funky season we’re in and start experiencing serious spiritual victory? How about greater measures of Holy Spirit, of friendship (not just tolerance), unity and love?

Well, it’s going to take asking ourselves “Does something stink around here? And then, is it me?”

Are we as a body speaking like “one that is sick of his flesh and would give anything to be rid of
it?” Even if that means more brokenness and sorrow? It’s an agonizing and ill-fitting place to camp out – until we can give God room to move in us, so that our prayer ends like this:

“Going through the motions doesn't please You;
a flawless performance is nothing to You.
I learned God-worship when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love don't for a moment escape God's notice.
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don't fail to breathe holiness in me.
Make me as joyful as You did when You saved me;

Amen.”
(excerpts from Psalm 51, MSG)

ThrowBack Blogs - from August 2006

Counting the cost..it's a big deal, eh?

Back in the summer, I went to be a part of the Old Orchard Beach evangelical outreach brigade. It was a good time. It was good to be with close friends and to be 'dusted off' (encouraged through Scripture and prayer).

One of the words of wisdom that was shared with me, was on that very subject...counting the cost. I was in a place where I felt like God was stretching me just too thin and I wasn't okay with it - and I'm not talking about being 'out of my comfort zone' but more like, God, I've always trusted you, but right now, it's all just a bit too much.
...Slow down please,
......I need a break.
.........I need to pause and catch my breath and check out my surroundings and get some perspective.

The word was just this...it's okay to be in that place of pause. It's not letting go of God, it's not turning my back on Him, disagreeing with Him or backsliding...its saying hold on a sec please! that was very reassuring to me...because I didn't feel as though I was being disobedient, but my legalistic self, my logical mind got me going, saying that I didn't love God enough, and didn't trust Him enough. blahblah.

If this whole Christian life is about relationship, not just works and blind obedience alone, then why would I think that my God, as a responsible Father, would grab me by the hand and begin to drag me along, lecturing me and chewing me out the whole way because I'm not 'good' enough or 'quick' enough or 'instantaneously obedient' enough?

If what I preach to others is true, than God can't be like that. So I'm learning to allow myself to withdraw to a quiet place of retreat with Jesus and let myself believe that He'll love me just as much if I quit all of this and went to work at McDonalds (not that there is anything wrong with that...but i think it's safe to say that it's not my calling) for the rest of my life. He would. Wouldn't He? :-)

Therefore, I wil not let my fear not control me...but think on Love. There is no fear in love does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment...if what's holding me back from going deeper is the fear that I won't measure up and why bother asking for a second blessing if I'm never going to be able to maintain it (for example) then I'm missing the love factor.

Fear wants me to be afraid of God's punishment when I mess up, but I shouldn't be afraid in that place, because even there, it's all about love. To not lose courage and give up and faint when I am reproved or corrected by Him; For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.

That's a pretty special place to be, eh?

Welcomed into His heart? Cherished?

Wow. When you have a disciple, you want to keep them on a narrow track of discipline so that they can be trained in the Lord's ways. You will be quick to rebuke anger, hate, racism, gossip, self-deprecation, cursing, lewd comments and so on, right?
Over and over until they get out of those old habits and into new ones.

In the same way, God the Holy Spirit will be all over me to convict me of old habits over and over and over so that He can usher in new ones. The end result is GREAT!

When I look around me at other disciples, it's apparent that everyone gets the same process. So I take heart in that. And then I look forward and set my face like flint knowing that I will not be put to shame...