Prodigal Returns

Worship with a Capital “T”

According to John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, worship is the one thing that Christians can do hedonistically (Desiring God). We can indulge and overindulge ourselves in worship. I do this at every opportunity and can be seen on Twitter and Facebook every week night at 9pm Eastern leading Tworship. Why? I know God’s in it because I cannot NOT do it, it’s not in me to stop. I surround myself with worshipful YouTube videos and some of my favorite worshiping friends and we listen together to the same video started at the same time. All participants comment online to the lyrics of the song as inspired and sometimes just make comments like “I love this song.”

Tworship began by accident. I had a habit of rallying tweeps to pray for people in crisis, nothing unusual there, but I would synchronize the prayers by telling them to begin their prayer at a certain time. One night I was discussing worship music with fellow worship music-lover Marie Wikle @SpreadingJoy and she suggested that I listen to How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin. I suggested that we could listen to it together by beginning it at exactly 9pm Eastern. There was a flood of comments and retweets due to the popularity of the song and the idea that we could worship together by synchronizing the start time. Marie continues to co-lead this with me; we are joined each night by 75-100 worshipful spirits from Facebook and Twitter for each of the two songs.

I not surprised that God would use Twitter, Facebook and Tworship in this way. God appears to be completely comfortable with technology. He’s waiting for us to catch up.

Richard Mayhan
Tworship
Pastoral Counsel, The Potter’s Workshop
http://twitter.com/mcProdigal
http://facebook.com/mcProdigal
http://ProdigalReturns.com

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Life in the Fast Lane

Not long ago my sister in the Lord and homie (we’re both from Arkansas) Meg (@girlnamedmeg) sent me into a happy dance when she announced that she and her ex-husband were to be reunited and remarried. I was happy for them but mostly I was happy for their young daughter. I am a child of divorce and know the price that is paid over and over throughout your life. I loved the thought that this beautiful little girl would be spared that hazardous journey.

Recently this very young Jesus’ lover was diagnosed with stage 2 endometrian cancer and she’s just begun treatment for it. She and her husband, Lucas, hope to have more children and so fear for her, for their daughter and also for their future children.

Please pray for this family and follow Meg’s journey on her blog: Meg Fights Cancer.

In addition to prayer, as God leads, please consider fasting as well in petitioning God for a full healing. I welcome your comments in support of Meg and her family. This is what I will claim on their behalf:

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke? Isaiah 58:6

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Derek Loux Memorial/Josiah Fund

On December 23, 2009, the Reece’s Rainbow family and the whole world lost a true Christian champion for orphans with special needs. Derek Loux, who together with his wife Renee adopted three of our children from Ukraine, was killed in a tragic car accident during a snowstorm in Nebraska.

Derek was my friend. I never met him in person, nor Renee, but I grieve his loss so deeply and so personally. The idea that he is no longer on this Earth is so hard to bear. He was so full of life, energy, and love for the Lord….truly an inspiration to so many. But he leaves a true LEGACY, a torch that has been lit and must be carried, for the advocacy and rescue of orphans with Down syndrome and other special needs around the world. Reece’s Rainbow as a ministry and a *family* fully intends to continue his work.

Derek was a talented and famous Christian musician and singer, as well as a worship minister, orphan advocate, adoptive father, brother, husband, and friend. He traveled the world many times over to reach out to those in need, and to advocate for these children. You can follow their family’s ministry at www.louxfamilyblog.com As I sit and listen to his CD “Paper Religion, 2007″, the depth of his love for the Lord is astonishing and so obvious in his music. Grief for my own loss of Derek Loux is so self-serving…if you listen to his words, you will know he spent every minute wishing for a meeting with Jesus. And now he has it.

Derek and Renee lost a biological son to spina bifida when he was only 2 years old. They have two biological teen daughters, four adopted teen daughters, one adopted younger daughter with special needs, and our three angel boys, Sasha, Ethan, and Silas. The change and growth in these boys, now that they are home can only be explained as God-thing. They are a true testament to what love and adequate care can mean for a child with special needs. But they never even got to spend their first Christmas with the loving father they had waited for so long to save them.

The Loux family began the Josiah Fund, their own ministry to purchase land and build a huge home to adopt and restore 30 orphans with special needs from around the world. From Renee on January 1, 2010: “All I’ve been doing besides grieving Derek’s death is praying that Reece’s Rainbow and Josiah Fund would have great platforms to spread the word on behalf of adoption. Derek’s death will not be in vain. The torch that’s been lit will not go to the grave with his earthly body. It’s going to keep burning and we will be sure that it gets passed from family to family. This is the beginning, sister of mine! We’re going to continue to link arms together and save the children.”

Even in this time of great loss, Renee displays a strength and grace that I could not even begin to measure up to.

Your gift to our own Derek Loux Memorial Fund will be presented as one large gift to the Loux family’s Josiah Fund on February 1, 2010. Please share this opportunity with others you know! Join me in letting the Loux family know that they are very much a part of our OUR family here at Reece’s Rainbow.

Tax deductible donations can be made via check to:

Reece’s Rainbow
PO Box 4024
Gaithersburg, MD 20885

Please specify in PayPal Special Instructions that the donation is for the Derek Loux Memorial Fund.

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Hope Floats

I recently visited the house that I grew up in and was surprised to find it in good shape and part of a nice neighborhood. Why was I surprised? There was well-manicured green grass in the front yard, supplanting the barren brownness we left behind. The fences were upright in the back yard, no longer nearly doubled over from the many times we jumped it in pursuit of an errant baseball. The many dents  were now removed from the aluminum siding of the house. I was easing into the idea that it had been us, my family, that gave the neighborhood it’s grisly exterior back then.

My brothers and I were also the ones seated in the front pews at church, the ones whose mom had to constantly “shush” them. We drew stick figures and played tic tac toe to push away the boredom of the service. Did we stain our local church services the way we had stained our block?

We were raised by a single working mom, all of us heartbroken by the abandonment of the man of the house. We spoke of nothing, rarely engaged one another in any fashion and lived lives of quiet avoidance. We tip toed around the thousand-pound gorilla of abandonment — we would have at least complained about the smell and the lack of space but we didn’t speak at all.

This was the story of a house full of children gone wrong. The casual observer could see this in the stains we trailed behind us, crying out on our behalf that something was amiss.

And then it was Christmas Eve, excitement abounded and sleep was unattainable. We shouted from our back bedroom, desperately pleading for our mom to update us on the status of Santa’s sleigh, now appearing on the radar of our local television channel. Tomorrow would be Christmas and that meant new, unstained clothes and toys and baseballs, so different than us. They represented hope of who we might one day be, hope of renewal, a chance for a clean start, a reboot.

People were different at Christmas, too, more vigorous, more optimistic and friendlier. These unstained attitudes also represented hope, hope of escape, hope of a better way than the ways we knew.

As you shopped, when you distributed presents, when you gathered up the Christmas paper, tags and ribbons, was someone watching you? Did they see hope in you and your actions? Did their wounded hearts quicken to the images and actions you displayed?

If you were impatient when searching for a parking spot and standing in line, did you see a group of young children watching you, no parent in sight? Did they see hope in you?

Jesus gave His life to redeem us, to give us hope. Will you give a leg up and a smile to someone who needs it? Would you be aware that the neighbor you are to love might live in the downtrodden house right next to you or be in a long line right next to you?

Shake a hand, wish someone “Merry Christmas!”, smile … give a child hope.

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Eagles Soar

This series on the Biblical metaphor of the eagle resulted from my most retweeted series ever. This is the fifth post inspired by the success of that series. In the first, we discussed how eagles wait upon thermal winds that lift them high above other birds and carry them along. This is the picture portrayed in Isaiah 40:31 where we are told to “wait upon the Lord” and we will “mount up with wings like eagles”. The winds that would topple us, if we accept them and turn into them become the winds that allow us to lift off. In the second, we considered the patience of eagles as hunters as compared to the Biblical view of “patience”. An environment that is peaceful includes people with patience. Thirdly, we noted that eagles are conspicuously marked; Christians are exhorted to be conspicuous in order to draw others, ultimately to God, as His work is displayed in our lives — we are to be “light” to the world. Last time we explored the idea that eagles are also majestic, they are pleasing to our senses and also powerful. We are built to understand majesty because we will one day see all majesty.

What does it feel like to soar like an eagle? When God created us to see the majesty of a soaring eagle, did He intend for us to draw something more from it. Would you like to soar? Let’s explore the Biblical evidence that “soaring” is being filled with the Spirit. Separately, we’ll consider two different Greek words used for “filled”, unveiling hard evidence for the two meanings of  filled with the Spirit and how it leads to soaring.

Let’s start with what we do know.

Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you … (John 16: 5-7a)

We know what it feels like to be filled with grief, it is consuming. Sometimes we can’t get out of bed, it feels like weighty sadness. It’s tangible and well known, so much so that there are agreed upon stages of grief. Jesus’ responds to the disciples’ grief by pointing out that the Counselor will come to them, so their grief was recognized and acknowledged.

But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today. (Luke 5:24-26)

Like being filled with grief, we know the experience of being filled with awe. I recently went on an Alaskan cruise where the sights of Glacier Bay filled me with awe. I was also filled with awe when I got off the ship and spotted a bald eagle on top of a light post.  This feeling is tangible, it can be recognized, it is known. I would expect being filled with the Spirit to tangible, recognizable and known, because the same word is used.

And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.

Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born?” (Acts 2:2-8)

This was an historic moment marking the transition to the time of the Holy Spirit enabling Christians to reach out to every nation under heaven. How? They were filled with the Spirit and supernaturally enabled to speak in the various languages spoken by this large and diverse group. This was recognizable, in fact, the observers were amazed and astonished (as in filled with awe). The experience was unknown tangible (mighty wind) and the reactions were known.

On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?”
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead–by this name this man stands here before you in good health.” (Acts 4:5-10)

This is a historic opportunity. Not only is Peter being directly threatened the religious elite, he also has an opportunity to share Christ with them. He is filled with the Holy Spirit to empower him to speak boldly (Acts 4:31) despite the size of the threat and the opportunity. This is the context but what about the results?

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13)

Once again the results are obvious, they were amazing and they were observed. In fact, later they prayed filled with the Spirit and the ground “was shaken” (Acts 4:31). That would be hard to miss. Paul (Acts 13:9-10) later is “filled with the Holy Spirit” in order to discern an evil spirit of sorcery.

Do these kinds of experiences happen today? It is undeniable that they do not, I’ve heard no reports of tongues of fire descending into a room nor of a gathering that included every nation where the Spirit spoke through emissaries to an entire crowd and it was knowingly received by the entire audience as its own language. There’s an element of the occurences of Acts that is historic, it was a time of transition, of big change, and God made His plan unmistakeably clear.

We are clearly in the time period now between Jesus’ first and second coming, the time of the Gentiles. What does still happen today? My interest was piqued a few months ago when I shared my testimony at Fellowship Cross Creek in Branson, Missouri. Pastor Joe Cross, both a college and seminary buddy, invited me to share my prodigal returned testimony with his congregation. God ran to me a couple of years before that but I had only just returned to church a few months before.

Pastor Cross reasoned that his congregation was full of returned prodigals and had recently committed to total honesty in their spiritual journey together. The stage was set, no traditional church in their right mind would let someone speak with my background at that time — no church has done so since.

I drove to Branson on Friday and Joe and I, along with his wife Rhonda, sat around and discussed our spiritual journeys. Joe was the last Christian I spoke to before beginning my 27-year prodigal run, now he was marking my return as well. We talked at one stretch for 20 consecutive hours, rejoicing in God’s handiwork in each of our lives and rejoicing in each other.

I was already prepared to speak on Sunday, but late on Saturday Joe suggested that I use a rope or similar prop to demonstrate the stages of my prodigal journey — I would tie knots to mark each segment. We made the short drive to Fellowship Cross Creek to find a prop. When we located a rope, he picked it up and asked me to talk him through the stages as he demonstrated his idea for the use of the rope. I couldn’t remember any of them, I froze with nervousness. The time was now near enough that stage fright was hijacking my heart and mind.

I awoke early on Sunday, as was my custom when I spoke, and began to turn my thoughts to the task at hand. I had two friends send me encouraging words on Facebook and I started to let go. I lay back down, now communing with God and ignoring my speaking ritual of going over ideas over and over and over. I felt the anxiety drain out of me and peace settle in.

I arrived at the church building where Joe set about doing whatever pastors do on Sunday mornings, so I was alone in a group that had no idea who I was. No one approached me. I desperately wanted the time to be recorded so I could share it with my family and online friends but soon discovered that the equipment was not working, something that would normally have bothered me. Instead I got a sense that what I shared was for this crowd and this day only or least not for the extended crowd I imagined.

I sat in a front seat where I was again approached by no one. I sat alone, something that would normally make me uneasy. The music started; Christian music makes me teary. I had requested “Raise Me Up“, my favorite song at the time and Rhonda volunteered to sing. Joe had “warned” me that she sang like an angel and she did. As the beautiful notes sprang from her lips I beg to sob uncontrollably in gratitude that God had called me back. I lost it so bad that they had to get me an entire box of tissues. Joe had his face on the floor praying. The song ended and it was time to speak.

My eyes bloodshot, my spirit drained of everything but gratitude, we took the floor. Joe had agreed to interview me to take the pressure off, so we sat on stools and he asked me the first question. That’s the last thing I remember, I don’t even remember the question. Joe told me later that I stood and spoke for 50 minutes. I stood amazed at what had just happened; I was possessed by the Spirit, I was aware that I was speaking but was not aware of what I was saying. I have foggy memories of picking up the rope to demonstrate the stages of my prodigal run and return but very foggy. I heard sobbing from the congregation, from more than one location, but it sounded like it was far off in the distance, I felt like I was observing my body from the outside. At one point I turned to see Joe, still on the stool beside the one I vacated, also sobbing.

As with the examples above of being filled with the Spirit, both the speaker and the audience knew what was happening, knew that it was an unknown occurrence but that the effect was known. After the service, people waited to speak with me for about a half hour. The first couple desperately pleaded for advice on how to approach their prodigal son. A second man wanted to compare notes with me on his own lengthy prodigal journey. A third thanked me for “putting the mystery back in Christianity”. One week later, in church-wide email, Pastor Cross described the day as “spiritual open-heart surgery”.

Kenneth Wuest, in Word Studies in the New Testament (Volume III), describes the meaning of this word pimplemi as the Spirit “possessing the mind and heart of the believer” (p. 103). “Pleroo”, the other Greek word sometimes translated “filled” (Ephesians 5:18) is more properly translated “controlled” (p. 104) but the former implies that the whole being is possessed by the Spirit. Wuest goes on to point out that this is not an experience to seek, the verb is “passive” in every case in the original language — the Spirit moves when God wills, not when we will.

Like the earlier Biblical examples, I can say that this filling of the Spirit still occurs, I experienced it myself and it fits the description of the text both in tone and effect. I can only guess why the Spirit moved that day, it’s fun to try and I think it plays to God’s sense of humor. However, there’s no experience to seek in any of these examples, we are passive, we can only seek to abide in Him, to live and breathe Him. I’ve described my role in this but it’s best described in a phrase I would utter a couple of weeks later that became my most successful single tweet ever (measured by retweets):

He works in ways we don’t expect toward an end we don’t imagine using tools we did not forge.

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Eagles are Majestic

This series on the Biblical metaphor of the eagle resulted from a scheduled tweet series that was my most retweeted ever. This is the fourth post inspired by the success of that series. In the first, we discussed how eagles must soar rather than flap their wings to fly. To do this, they wait upon thermal winds that lift them high above other birds and carry them along. This is the picture portrayed in Isaiah 40:31 where we are told to “wait upon the Lord” and we will “mount up with wings like eagles”. The winds that would topple us, if we accept them and turn into them become the winds that allow us to truly soar. In the second, we considered the patience of eagles as hunters as compared to the Biblical view of “patience”. An environment that is peaceful includes people with patience. Last time we noted that eagles are conspicuously marked; Christians are exhorted to be conspicuous in order to draw others, ultimately to God, as His work is displayed in our lives — we are to be “light” to the world.

Eagles are also majestic. “Majestic” is a word that communicates well, because we all know what it means; however, it is hard to define. Here’s a definition from Dictionary.com

Ma-jes-tic [muh-jes-tik]

– adjective characterized by or possessing majesty; of lofty dignity or imposing aspect; stately; grand: the majestic Alps.

Please notice that even its own definition uses “majesty”, proving how self-evident yet difficult to explain is the meaning. We see the word in 2 Peter 1:16-18:

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

In the original language, the word for “majestic” is “megaloprepous”. We’re going to deconstruct this word to glean its full meaning. The word includes the root words “megaloi” and “prepo”. “Megaloi” translates well into English, we see it in a a word like “megastar”.  It’s not enough to be a star, Angela Lansbury is a star (Murder She Wrote, Beauty and the Beast), it’s better to be a “megastar” like George Clooney. Notice that I didn’t need to put movie credits after his name, everyone knows who he is, he’s a big star.

“Megaloi” is more than that though, we see it in the English word “megalomaniac”. An “egomaniac” is someone who is self-obsessed, someone who thinks very highly of themselves, but a megalomaniac is much more extreme; it’s someone who is very, very self-obsessed, to the point of viewing themselves as God-like. Adolph Hitler was a megalomaniac. Now if we extract “megaloi” from these examples, it stands alone as
Really, Really, Really … [fill in the blank]

The word is used twice in Luke 21:11 …

There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

Here Luke uses the word to describe the end times as a period of …

Really, Really, Really … big earthquakes

Really, Really, Really … big signs from heaven

The meaning of “prepo” is not as obvious, because it is translated into English in various ways. It is “became” in Hebrews 2:10 …

For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation pefect through sufferings.

It is “appropriate” or “fitting” in 1 Timothy 2:9-10 …

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God.

The easier part of the meaning of this word is “attractive” or “pleasing” or “becoming”. We know what these words mean, but there’s a missing piece of the puzzle. “Fitting” or “appropriate” implies some standard against which a measurement is taken. What is the standard?

Really, Really, Really … big attractiveness

Really, Really, Really … big fit

Mountains can be majestic (Psalms 68:15):

The mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains; rugged are the mountains of Bashan.

A military procession with flags can be majestic (Solomon 6:4):

You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as troops with banners.

A world power like Egypt can be majestic (Ezekial 31:2):

Who can be compared with you in majesty?

In each of these examples we get beauty (becoming) and power, but threateningly so. In each case the majesty is communicated through our eyes and through our instinct both to appreciate power and its implied threat. Therefore, the meaning of majesty is as follows:

Really, Really, Really … attractive to the eye

Really, Really, Really … perfect fit for our eyes and our instincts

We are perfectly built by God to appreciate both beauty and power. Our eyes and instincts are perfectly fitted to appreciate majesty in God, in man and in nature. Our eyes and instincts are the implied standard, the missing piece to complete the puzzle of the meaning of majesty.

When are you observing majesty? When you see a beautiful eagle, mountain or army procession, you are feeling their majesty. When will you feel every sense and every instinct fully observing and feeling majesty? Your sense of majesty will finally be fulfilled when seeing and feeling Jesus in His resurrected (transfigured) body (2 Peter 1:16-18). You are built to be filled with a sense of complete majesty at that moment.

The next time you worship or pray, will you yield to this idea? Yielding to a vision of Jesus in all His glory on His throne surrounded by His creation is surrendering to your own God-given senses and sense. It’s what you were perfectly created to do.

Just do it.

Please contribute to our understanding of “majestic” by commenting.

Recording: Eagles are Majestic

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Law of Attraction: Eagles are Conspicuously Marked

This series on the Biblical metaphor of the eagle resulted from a scheduled tweet series that was my most retweeted ever. This is the third post inspired by the success of that series. In the first, we discussed how eagles must soar rather than flap their wings to fly. To do this, they wait upon thermal winds that lift them high above other birds and carry them along. This is the picture portrayed in Isaiah 40:31 where we are told to “wait upon the Lord” and we will “mount up with wings like eagles”. The winds that would topple us, if we accept them and turn become the winds that allow us to truly soar. In the second, we considered the patience of eagles as hunters as compared that to the Biblical view of “patience”. There is more to mine from this Biblical metaphor though, much more.

Eagles are conspicuously marked; Christians are exhorted to be conspicuous in order to draw others to us and ultimately to God as His work is displayed in our lives — we are to be “light” to the world.

1 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.

2 See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the LORD rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.

3 Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you:
All assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar,
and your daughters are carried on the arm.
(Isaiah 60)

When and where is this more evident than on Twitter. We need only look about to see who is drawn to us, who follows us. If we Google our name now, most of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) are loaded with results from Facebook and Twitter. We have never been so transparently visible, there’s nowhere to hide. This is exactly how God wants it.

14 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5)

John the Baptist, who frequented the wilderness, is given as an example of the right kind of “light”. He stood out and drew people to him in spite of his environment.

35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light. (John 5)

John the Baptist lived it but notice that here we see a measurable result of John’s light. This is God’s Law of Attraction. This is made more clear in Ephesians 5:

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light

9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)

10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

There is fruit from giving off this light, there are results. They include “goodness, righteousness and truth” as well as exposing deeds that are “fruitless”. If we want to go detective and find lights for God, we would look for these characteristics. Are there others?

14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,

15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. (Philippians 2)

We can also expect people who are lights for God to be “blameless and pure” against the backdrop of “complaining” and “arguing”. Are there any activities that would define these people?

18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,

20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5)

They don’t indulge themselves with alcohol but rather with God’s Word and music. In fact, according to Pastor John Piper, author of Desiring God: Confessions of a Christian Hedonist, this is one thing Christians can do without reserve and without moderation. Christians can be hedonistic, that is, seek their own pleasure at will and often when worshiping God, He desires it to be so.

Eagles are conspicuously marked, they stand out in all of nature. We should also stand out both by characteristic and by activity. We will exhibit a qualitative difference relative to those who live in darkness and we are marked by what we chose to do. The world chooses pleasure, we choose pleasure in worship; the former’s object is self, the latter is God. Pleasure in self-indulgence deplenishes the human spirit, pleasure in God replenishes the spirit. It is in this cycle of worship and walk that we draw from an unending energy source to empower our conspicuous light, enabling us, like the eagle, to stand out against our environment.

Recording: Eagles are Conspicuous

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When God Shouts

I recently was tweeting with a friend when, out of nowhere, it hit me that she had been a victim of sexual abuse. I’m aware such victims have lived with false shame under a cloak of privacy for many years in some cases and do not want their privacy violated, so I approached cautiously. I asked general questions about her past and slowly got more specific, then she knew that I knew.

This is not a new experience for me and it’s no experience that I would seek, but it happens regularly anyway, about once per month, but this time was entirely different.

First, a counselor became the next person that God pointed out and she responded with the usual outburst of joy when she realized I knew before she told me. This was no sign though. Since she is a trained counselor or because she’s very intuitive, she was able to recount the phases she had passed through when dealing with abuse with great precision and insight. The light bulb went on for me when she said: “If you’ve been abused by a male, at some point you have to confront that by choosing to trust a male again, a man who knows your past.” Now I know, God points me to abuse victims who are ready to trust a male again. This is the common thread that ties them together.

Secondly, my response to the idea that my ministry was primarily to women who had been abused was a faithless but, nevertheless, enthusiastic talk with two close friends that went something like this: “No, no, no, no way, I’m male! I’ll have no credibility! Why me? No, NO WAY!”. Picture me shaking my head and talking over everyone, holding my hand up as if to ward off the obvious truth. The Spirit kept reflecting that I was talking nonsense like Moses, as if God had made a poor choice. God normally gives me three things though, I thought, to confirm direction.

Thirdly, I was listening to Hosanna (IBC) and one up-tempo part kept leaping out at me, I felt moved when it played. I couldn’t understand the words though, so it made no sense.  God DOES have a sense of humor.  God’s third confirming message was in the words I couldn’t understand. When I looked up the lyrics, here’s what I found:

Heal my heart and make it clean,
Open up my eyes to the things unseen,
Show me how to love like You have loved me,
Break my heart with what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom cause

The lyrics illuminate the path of someone with a broken heart that ministers to broken hearts.

Why would God give me the gift of discernment, the supernatural ability to determine, in my case, if someone has been an abuse victim? I believe that the Spirit directs this process for three reasons:

1. I am a reluctant participant.

2. I have information about a person I am unlikely to perceive on my own, information that is later confirmed as true 100% of the time.

3. The result of this exchange is that the abuse victim feels great joy and connection to God. They are freed from the burden of telling someone and simultaneously see that I do not reject them because of the abuse.

Why would God shout so obviously to me? The problem of abuse is epidemic and workers must be raised up, even reluctant workers. Roughly 1 in 3 women are victims of some kind of abuse at some time in their life and 1 in 5 men.

For more on determining God’s will beyond reasonable doubt, see Good Will Hunting.
Do you know that you’re doing exactly what God wants you to do? Are you seeing supernatural results? Tell me your story.

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Interview with a Savante

Last night I interview my personal friend and longtime go-to prayer warrior Debbie @buffaloPine. I’ve known Debbie long enough to know that her difficult and brave journey to recovery from multiple personality disorder (MPD) while closely embracing her Lord, resulted in a very unique individual with very distinct characteristics, she is a prayer savante. I’ve long thought that those with difficult journeys through physical and/or sexual and/or emotional abuse know God in a way that others cannot. Debbie is proof of that, proof of God’s divine mercy amidst the worst that man can offer. Listen to this interview and hear a voice once silenced by abuse speak freely and publicly. You’ll embrace her journey like so many others. You can also follow Debbie’s journey through her blog.

Debbie Shares at Evening Twivotions on November 17, 2009 (a flash video).

The following are excerpts from the “chat” from the group of 18 who watched the interview live with my notes to set context for the remarks:

During the discussion of early abuse and you feeling God’s presence at 3 years old:

koala4christ : The need for Him draws you closer to Him
koala4christ : Because you drew closer to Him you found Him as the scriptures promise…

In response to my observation that you don’t always see yourself accurately, you said you feel unworthy when you hear compliments:

charwalt : I think unworthy is key word
Marie (spreadingJOY) : many of us feel unworthy
charwalt : Yes!
koala4christ : ok thanks
Marie (spreadingJOY) : growing&talking about this has got to be so very difficult
koala4christ : Thank you Debbie for the courage you had to speak up!
charwalt : She helps me to understand my step daughter who went thru some of same things.
koala4christ : Thank you for sharing from your heart with us!

During our discussion of your prayer prowess and closeness to God:

Marie (spreadingJOY) : she is an amazing prayer warrior!!
soundsblue : love you Deb
yeah amen!!! i agree!!
_Joyful_J : :))
koala4christ : You are a beautiful creation and I am so happy to have heard your testimony!

During our discussion of your blog, your journey and your remarkable writing skills:

charwalt : Wonderful writer
Marie (spreadingJOY) : yes!
charwalt : Holy Spirit written
Onassignment : Amen on the blog. It is awesome and very touching & beautiful!

After my final “thank you” for sharing:

@GodsWordisTruth : Thank You!
hospiceRN1 : broken and definit ely BEAUTIFUL!!!!!
charwalt : God bless Debbie!!
Marie (spreadingJOY) : yippie
koala4christ : Amen!
Marie (spreadingJOY) : amen!!
charwalt : Amen!!
hospiceRN1 : thank you so VERY much!!!!!
ckkohnle : Amen!
hospiceRN1 : Much to admire!!!!!!!
Marie (spreadingJOY) : Debbie - I LOVE YOU
koala4christ : Amen!
MrsMcProdigal : Thank You Debbie!!
Onassignment : Thanks, Debbie!
Marie (spreadingJOY) : yep
Marie (spreadingJOY) : thanks Richard for this idea
MrsMcProdigal : :))
hospiceRN1 : am honored….
sharritiner : Thhanks Debbie
DavidBean777 : Thank you so much for sharing your heart and soul.
revelation4dumy : thanks Debbie
Onassignment : BuffaloPine Coffee someday?
koala4christ : Yes I did not know!
Marie (spreadingJOY) : coffe?? whahoo
hospiceRN1 : yes…broken and DEFINITELY BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!
Marie (spreadingJOY) : yeppers
Onassignment : YES!
MrsMcProdigal : I’m having some now!
Marie (spreadingJOY) : bring it on!!
DavidBean777 : Remember God did not make a mistake when he made you. He loves you just the way you are.

Selah

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Eagles are Patient Hunters

This series on the Biblical metaphor of the eagle resulted from a scheduled tweet series that was my most retweeted ever. This is the second post inspired by the success of that series. In the first, we discussed how eagles must soar rather than flap their wings to fly. To do this, they wait upon thermal winds that lift them high above other birds and carry them along. This is the picture portrayed in Isaiah 40:31 where we are told to “wait upon the Lord” and we will “mount up with wings like eagles”. The winds that would topple us, if we accept them and turn become the winds that allow us to truly soar. There is more to mine from this Biblical metaphor though, much more.

Eagles are also patient, whether waiting for a thermal wind or hunting, they wait. Do you wait or do you rush? Let’s step back and reconsider our path.

Is your environment, that is, your home, your work, your ministry, warlike or not?

Better a patient man than a warrior,
a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city. Proverbs 16:32

Is your environment calm or contentious?

A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,
but a patient man calms a quarrel. Proverbs 15:18

When trouble comes, how do you react?

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Romans 12:12

Do others learn from your suffering? Do you first learn and then share with others who have similar trials in a way that there is a tangible benefit to them? Does your patience bear fruit in others as patience?

If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 2 Corinthians 1:6

Do you know how, when patience is required, to recognize the sign posts that you are on the right track?

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. James 5:7

What is it that you value enough to wait for patiently? This is your cheatsheet to what you and those around you truly value; what will you/they patiently pursue?

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:25

Paul tells us that love is most worthy of patience and is characterized by it.

Love is patient … And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4,13

Patience is evidence that the Spirit is working in us, it is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22) and is a key component of love. The eagle waits for its prey patiently to feed itself and to feed its own; it must be patient to survive. When you see an eagle soar above all birds or swoop down and grab a fish, remember that beautiful moment requires a patient wait.

Next week’s eagle post will pick up here, with the beauty of the markings of an eagle. Eagles are conspicuous not camouflaged.

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