Fighting for Unity in the Body

   I find myself weary today, it has become increasingly alarming at the divides that are being produced in the modern church era. It seems that more and more we as Christians are becoming more concerned with a political agenda than the people around us. A fire for the Word and connecting people with Jesus is being replaced with a fire for idealism, politics and social problems. I heard Tony Evans say recently that "the White House has divided God's house." This divide that has occurred does nothing to solve social problems, fix government issues or reach the lost, but it has drawn the battle lines through the Body of Christ and wrecked havoc on the message of who Jesus is.

   When I say the battle lines have been drawn it is because the pride of our position has caused us to draw away from the saints with a different position and launch attacks at their values, even using the Bible and "God's will" as ammunition against the very people Jesus died for. When a new Christian arrives at a church they have a few groups to choose from; the liberal group, the conservative group, the conservative homeschool group, the conservative public school group, the professionals, the lower class, the educated, the uneducated, those who love guns, those who think guns should be controlled. We have placed so many boundaries on what a Christian does socially that we have missed the primary issue, who a Christian is spiritually. We stand in our camp, edify each other, not in Christ but affirming our social ideals, and pop shots at anyone who dares have another position.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. ~ Hebrews 10:24

   I believe the primary cause for concern is by taking our stance on these issues and proclaiming them to those around us we cause ourselves and others to take our eyes off Jesus. In this sense we have allowed the enemy to accomplish his task, breaking our locked gaze with Jesus and turning them to the things of this world. Once he has our eyes on the world he can slowly manipulate our cares and affections into things that lead further and further away from Jesus. And woe to us if we become the tool that removes the gaze of others from Jesus! Social issues are the stumbling block of this age, they are some of the dissension Paul so fervently fought against in the early church. I believe this is worse, Paul mostly attacked dissension in doctrine, we choose dissension in government ideals and social hot topics.

For it has been reported to me that there is quarreling among you my brothers, what I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas" or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? ~ 1st Corinthians 1:11-13

But I brothers could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still carnal. For while there is envy, strife and divisions among you are you not still carnal and behaving like mere men? ~ 1st Corinthians 3:3

   Do I have opinions and thoughts about what is right and good in our country and homes? Yes! But for the sake of other believers I restrain my social opinions in hope to present the glory of Jesus to all who will hear. By stating my personal convictions boldly on political topics or social problems I will immediately lose a percentage of people who will no longer hear truth about Jesus from me, and worse possibly cause bitterness and strife between us. By restraining my convictions I remain free to edify and encourage a wider range of believers, pushing them towards Christ, which is far more important than convincing them of good ideals.

   In all of this I do not want to minimize those God has called to impact government, or to alter society for His purpose, but our primary concern will always be leading other to Jesus and if that means I can no longer have a verbal political stance so be it. Pushing others to Christ is the greater work and I want to remove everything that hinders the message of the beauty, majesty and love of this Man. 

   I think it is interesting the time period Jesus came to earth, the Jews were oppressed by a Roman rule, they were occupied by the army of an enemy and yet Jesus did nothing to resist the authority, or start a movement against the governing force. Instead He preached the kingdom of God, healed the sick and cared for people regardless of nationality, belief system or allegiance. He was unlike anything the believers in God thought He would be, He encouraged people to submit to the evil rule physically but submit to God spiritually. In fact they tried to trap Him with social issues such as taxes but He said submit to them and give to God what is His. 

   A few questions I ask myself before I publicly declare personal convictions on social topics:

- Could this remove the gaze of others from Jesus?

- In the scope of eternity is this really important?

- Will this topic block people from hearing Jesus from me in the future?

- Is this where I want to stake my ground?

   I want what I say to encourage people into knowing Jesus, not convincing them of my social opinions. I want to see people of every government party, family values and financial status unified in the pursuit of Christ. I long for the day when every tribe, tongue and nation declares boldly and proudly our love and affection for Jesus, this is what I want to produce in others.

Mourning for our Bridegroom

     Recently I have had a groaning within my soul in ways I have not ever experienced. As I continue to encounter my own weakness, the injustice on the earth and most of all the physical absence of the One my soul loves, my internal chemistry has been altered. I have found myself daydreaming about His nature and eternal attributes, fascinated with His Word and longing for nearness. I feel as though I have become a stranger within this frame; the internal reality deep within me has taken control of my mind and made me live as one in a dream. His presence has invaded every aspect of my thought life and I find myself yearning for something indescribable. I have entered into this strange paradox of joy with weeping, happiness and suffering, contentment with a starving desire for something beyond my control. I can only hope that I have begun to encounter exactly what Jesus was describing in
Matthew 9:15

And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast."

   I have seen a few couples in which the husband is in the military and he is sent on deployment, I have become fascinated with this reality as I see the truths between Christ and His Bride. The absence of a woman's husband has disrupted her existence. She is no longer emotionally stable, each day that passes is a painful encounter with a persistant reality; "He's not here!" There is no consolation for her torment, she can only find short lived activities to occupy her mind, but once the excitement of an activity ceases, the wound is back. This is not the kind of wound that clots and scars over, it is a wound that never heals, it becomes infected and shoots pain with every movement of the body. This wound demands attention and does not subside, each moment of every day it throbs in agony. The bride is able to talk to her husband occasionally, which is joyous and much sought after, but it does nothing to cease the pain the next day, in fact it only serves as a reminder of the pressing truth; "He's not here!" The loneliness of the bride invites darkness as the light of her life is far away. Her brief encounters with him brings a much need light and joy to keep the darkness at bay, but the darkness persists and will not be eradicated until his return.

   The husband may be able to fulfill some of his roles from a distance such as providing for the family, giving leadership advice and sending affirmation but his bride truly desires his embrace, to feel his presence and to rest under his protection. The bride is not longing for a partner or companion but her completion, only by his side does her soul encounter freedom and joy. 

   While her husband is delayed the bride feels vulnerable, exposed and weak. His absence tears at her assurance of his affection and her faith is tested with the flames of uncertainty. Her life has become a false reality and the duties she has been left to manage are overwhelming. She does not have the strength to carry on, yet hope drives her, it compels her to excel and she finds his absence unbearable, but one thing strengthens her inner being, hope. This hope has become the anchor in her soul; one day he shall return and all the wrongs will be made right, every wound will be healed and every tear wiped away. The core of her existence will find rest within his presence. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

   

Psalm 27:4, David's threefold mission statement

The more I study David's life the more I long to be like this guy. He is really so right on so many crucial things. I would like to address David's faults first because this topic comes up often when I engage people in conversation about David. So I would like to vindicate the "man after God's own heart" before I begin on His mission statement.

The biggest accusation I encounter when bringing up the topic of King David is his grievous sin of murder and adultery. The enemy has done a swell job in discrediting David's life, and often he uses our own sin as an idea of disqualification for our lives. But what we find in David's life is the glory of our own life. David's sin did not disqualify him from being the man after God's own heart. If sin ever disqualified us the cross of Christ was in vain. What we see so clearly in David's life was that he did in fact sin, yet his desire and longing was not to dwell in sin, and not to be separated from God by sin. Psalm 51 describes in great detail David's repentance and desperate hope for forgiveness. The introduction to Psalm 51 tells us "A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba." So we know this is David's heart after His fall. David did not allow his shortcomings and previous failure to knock him out of his pursuit of God. Because David understands the heart of God, "Have mercies on me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitudes of Your tender mercies." Psalm 51:1," he is able to repent and resume the pursuit of God.

The second thing we must remember is that we are all equally guilty of murder and adultery. Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 6:21-26 that murder begins in the heart, and also in vs 27-28 adultery begins in the heart. Humanity acts on wicked thoughts according to the amount of power we have. In other words, if we have little power to control the physical repercussions of our actions our murder is expressed through slander, manipulation and the attempt to destroy any character, image or reputation of another person. King David had unlimited power according to the minds of men, and simply acted on his wickedness according to his power. We also act on our wickedness based on what we can realistically get away with in the physical realm. We fear the punishment of prison so we would not commit murder but we will launch attacks by any means possible that will not damage our reputation or status. With this in mind, knowing that God is looking at this heart reality, not the full growth of our sin, we know that we like David have also murdered, committed adultery and done all other forms of wickedness within the confines of our thoughts.

This leads us to the question; How could David be a man after God's own heart?

The answer I believer lies in Psalm 27:4, I think of it as David's threefold life mission statement

One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.

This really is a statement of what David wants to do with his life in three expressions. He says;

- I want to be close to You

- I want to gaze upon Your beauty 

- I want to hear from You

Could it be that this is the basis of why we exist at the very core of our being? What if in our attempt to maintain the activity of Christianity we have discarded the breath of our existence? God did not call David the man after His heart because of his works, leadership, or moral standing, it was based solely on the internal desire of David to be with God, to gaze on His beauty, and to hear from God. David was so dead on with God's intended purpose for Humanity,( See Our Created Purpose) he was desperate for these three things. And in his desperation to be close to the Lord, God blew his mind with revelation and prophetic knowledge of who He is. God brought David into the depths of His heart and unveiled His love to David because of His desire to know God personally and deeply. The Psalms are littered with David's cry to know God and the expression of what he found in the encounter. 

O God You are my God; Early I will seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your love is better than life, my lips will praise you. -Psalm 63:1-3

I want my life to center around this theme of being close to God, gazing on His beauty, and hearing from Him. It is the source of life, and the only thing that will sustain the human heart.

The government upon His shoulders

Isaiah 9 gives us a beautiful picture of the coming Savior. It is the prophecy of hope and redemption, the promise of the coming Man who will rectify the chasm between God and His people. Until Christ became the propitiation for sin God could not in His holiness come to us as He desired, and we had no ability to come to Him.

In verse 6 Isaiah prophecies that the government will be upon His shoulders. The Christ would bear the weight of ruling the nations and in return the nations would call Him "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. The fullness of Jesus' name is released to the hearts of those under His leadership. In awestruck wonder we will declare His worth and might for all of eternity.

When examining this verse the correlation is drawn to the priestly temple duties. In Exodus 28:9-10 the shoulder pads of the priestly garments are described. On each shoulder there is to be a stone with the name of six tribes inscribed upon it. Once a year the priest would enter the holy of holies before God. This symbolizes the priest carrying the nation of Israel upon his shoulders into the presence of God. The whole nation was dependent on one man to intercede for them, and to meet with God on behalf of them. Because the holiness of God would kill any man who entered the holy place God instructed the priestly ministry to represent all of Israel. 

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,  and since we have a Great Priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10

Jesus became our High Priest, bearing the weight of our sin upon His body and carried us into the holy place. We can now come boldly before God through the veil of His flesh. To those that have been baptized into the body of Christ, we have literally been clothed in Christ. God no longer sees us as the sinful flesh that we are but as His Son! The beauty of the cross wasn't just in forgiveness of sin, but that we now become our own priest in Christ, representing ourselves before God through the veil of Jesus. Now at anytime we are able to access the throne of God. Thanks be to God who has given us the victory in Christ Jesus. Thanks be to the beautiful One who carries us upon His shoulders into the presence of God.

Ministry of the Temple Guards

  When God created man He put Adam in a garden and told him to "tend and keep" the place where God would encounter him. God created the garden perfectly but left the maintenance and care in the hands of a priest, Adam. Adam stood between God and creation, fully able to commune with God and yet fully identifying with creation. Adam was the intercessor between heaven and earth, the connecting point, the vessel through which  God's kingdom was established on earth. When Adam fell creation was thrown into disarray as the connecting point was destroyed. Humanity could no longer represent themselves before God, and the connecting point between God and man became one man, once a year.

  The same language used to instruct Adam to "tend and keep" the garden is the same used when God established the temple ministry. The Levites were set apart to minister before the Lord Numbers 3:12 Numbers 8:13-19. They were in charge of tending the Holy Place, ensuring the beauty and luster of the tabernacle or temple was maintained. The Levites tended to the only place where God and man would meet. The reward for the Levites was the Lord. Numbers 18:20.

  Through the blood of Jesus God has washed and restored humanity so that now we can return to our created purpose, being the very vessels of God Himself. The holy of holies has been placed inside of us, we now house the living God. The entire work we strive for should be centered around ministry unto the Lord, bringing our temple into agreement with the Being that dwells there. Through the act of tending the holy place we encounter the Holy. When our desire becomes a longing to make the temple pure and beautiful the Cloud settles in. And there is nothing better than living with the burning fire of His presence on the inside.

  The issues God has been raising inside my spirit has centered around the concept of protecting the place God dwells, making it as hospitable as possible, fighting with every breath the live in agreement with His holiness and beauty. When God established the temple ministry He assigned a portion of Levites to guarding the holy place. Their duties were to kill anything unclean that would approach the tent of meeting or temple. And in this season of my life I feel the Holy Spirit asking "Where are the temple guards?" "Where are the ones willing to do whatever it takes to encounter Me?"

 The primary gates we should be guarding are our eyes and ears.

  Jesus makes it clear in Luke 11:34, that what our eyes rest upon either fills us with light or darkness. In my own life God has made it obvious; I have allowed all manner of evil to come through the gates of my eyes and defile the holy place. We have dulled our spirits in such a manner that we don't notice the sexual innuendos in the TV shows we watch, we don't blink at adulterous acts, or homosexual hints. We have become washed out in the name of PG-13. The spirit of prophecy and revelation is being drown out by the spirit of Jezebel. If my four year old son cannot watch a movie, why should I? Is my defense "I can handle it?" Because that is the indictment to my dull spirit. We try so hard to protect the innocence of children yet let our own innocence become trampled. A tender spirit towards God is an undefiled spirit before Him. What we turn our gaze upon comes and takes root in our hearts. Images we willingly place before our eyes will rest in our minds long after it is removed. The joy and pleasure of meditating on the Word has been replaced with an empty defaming lie from entertainment. And what I feel God is calling a generation to is tearing down the idol of entertainment and finding what true pleasure is; gazing into the eternity of the compassionate and merciful God found in the face of Jesus.

  The gates of our ears is another issue we have compromised long enough. We have found enjoyment in entertainment that uses the beautiful, glorious, majestic Son of God as an expletive. The One we say is so precious and dear to us is being defamed in what we find pleasure in! We would not stand for anyone degrading and slandering our spouse, yet we feel nothing when the precious name of our Savior is used as a curse word to express violence and anger. We have idols in our living rooms above our fireplaces and in the corners that speak! They speak of immorality, blasphemy, self-promotion and murder. All of those themes are easily found in a PG movie. It is not about the degree of sin, rather the spirit of sin which is slowly lullabying us into a spiritual slumber then death.

The other issue we face regarding our ears is; the entertainment of slander. We have embraced a culture of media, talk shows, sports programs and all other manner of entertainment (and friendships) that degrades human beings. The message we hear is one that looks for any fault and blows it up astronomically. And this spirit has not remained on the outside, it has entered and wrecked havoc on the body of Christ. It has made us so critical and negative towards the Bride of Christ that we can't function as edifying members. We have begun to live in such a state of fear of opinion and slander that it has crippled our progress into Christ. Because of this spirit we live in the easy lane of not being noticed, or we want to be noticed but only in socially accepted arenas. The difficult things of Jesus are pushed aside for fear of man. We have developed lifestyles and a doctrine that couldn't possibly offend anyone. In our attempts to be unoffensive we no longer receive the necessary rebuke and disciplines of Jesus! Revelation 3:19 I need to be rebuked! I need discipline! I need to be sharpened! Iron cannot sharpen iron that flees from the pain of grinding out the imperfections. And iron cannot sharpen itself, I need others to chastise me into who God wants me to be. A slanderous critical spirit has disabled our ability to sharpen each other as we are all constantly guarded against one another. Everyone is entirely suspicious of each ones motives, because we submerse ourselves in a spirit of condemnation and slander through our entertainment. We don't know what it means to rebuke with the intent of bringing forth perfection.

God restore the ministry of temple guards! The ones who will fight off anything that approaches the gates and seeks to defile the holy place. Raise up a generation after Your heart, those who love what You love and hate what You hate. Make us quick to eradicate darkness we have tolerated in our midst, shine Your light into our hearts and make known Your Son.

Learning How To Be Pruned

  This year has been a year of trials, a year of feeling the fire of the Potter working in me a deeper level of commitment and love. A year of pruning, as we know in John 15 those whom the Father loves He prunes. And the only way to bear more fruit is through the pain of the pruning process, through the suffering or loss of many things we hold dear.

I feel as though I have suffered on so many levels: 

  -The first week of January I began to experience low back pain, being the optimist that I am I naturally figured it would sort itself out. It did not, it progressively worsened and by the 3rd week of January my left leg became useless as my sciatic nerve morphed into a spasmatic nuisance. I continued working under the presumption that it would work itself out. I could no longer put my socks on, I would wake up my wife to help me get dressed before work every morning. Some mornings the pain would be so bad I would lay on the floor and cry. Sleep was minimal, sitting was impossible and every shift of position sent a screaming pain down my leg with 30 seconds of spasms. I went to work every day under the thought that this would pass shortly, all the while receiving chiropractic care. Finally one morning (February 26th) I went into emergency after a sleepless night and waking up unsure if I could even get to the car and to emergency. This was a saturday (also my last day of work), monday I went to my Doctor who arraigned an MRI and gave me an IBUPROFEN prescription. The MRI showed a herniated disc lodged against my nerve. I saw a neurosurgeon two weeks later who prescribed me Vicodin. I am strongly opposed to narcotic medicine but the pain was so severe I crumbled into a desire for anything that would relieve my misery.  Long story short I eventually had back surgery on April 20th. By the time I had the surgery I was taking three vicodin every 4-6 hours to get some relief. In this time I felt like a miserable dad (we have 4 kids under 4 at this time) and husband as I was virtually a mass to be cared for within my home. After the surgery my pain was gone but replace with the pain from the surgery. I immediately stopped taking the vicodins and suffered withdraw for about a week. During this time I could not sleep longer than three hours and my mood's were awful. I also could not hardly move, (I didn't realize how crucial the low back is when it comes to movement) due to pain. Slow recovery but by the third week I started feeling ok. As of June 25th I am still not pain-free but I am much more mobile and live with more of an discomfort than a searing pain.

  -I stopped working February 26th, at this time I went onto disability insurance and trusted God to be the provision for my family. I recognize that I am not the provider, God chooses to use my employment as the vessel for our provision. Disability pay quickly dropped to 70% of my normal pay, and is now at 60%. Tight would be a good descriptive word for the budgeting. 

  -About the second week of January I contracted bronchitis. I coughed continuously for four weeks. Night and day, and every time I coughed my back would shoot pain. Not a great add on to the already persistent problem.

  -Year to date our van has had two fairly major problems requiring time, effort and money to fix. Currently a rubber band ensures the ability to shift out of park. 

  -Also God arraigned many difficult people into my path during this time requiring an extra exertion of love to be displayed in the middle of my darkest hour. Funny how He does that.

  In all of this my prayer was, "God keep my heart in you" I was longing for Him to bring me through this time of trials but more than that desperately asking Him not to waste what I was enduring. He seemed to be testing my resolve to love Him in whatever season I was facing. He has been testing me with fire to see what really stands. A verse that has really struck me recently is:

When Christ who is our life appears, then you will also appear with Him in glory.

Colossians 3:4

  When the fire comes to separate the chaff from the wheat all that will remain in my life is that which I have buried in Christ. I can only learn to bury myself in Christ in difficult times, in the times when I have nothing else going for me. Wealth, notoriety and all manner of worldly recognition of success only promotes the carnal nature in me to become independent instead of leaning on my Beloved. For this reason, I keep asking that Christ would display His greatness through my praise in physical torment. The eternal joy is from the encounter of Light on the inside, not from the gain of physical splendor around me. My prayer has been and will continue to be "God grind me into the ground that I might become like you." Worldly success can only divert this goal, I know that pain produces Christ in ways nothing else can. Considering trials as joy means we recognize the eternal value of afflictions. I want to live with constant affliction, that I would always have a Jacob limp, or some other means of discomfort that forces me to press in daily. I know the weakness of my own flesh and apart from my flesh living in some form of torment I would surely not need God at the level I desire. I need God to keep my physical foundation shaken so I must lean into Him.

  We are well financially and I am returning to work shortly. Please don't interpret this as a request for help, I only wish to share my suffering so that others may take heart when they suffer loss. God's greatest plan for us is that we would become molded into the bride His Son deserves. I want to send that desire right back to Him. Whatever it takes Lord, make me a man after your own heart.

  

  

Issue of Consumption; Loving God on Purpose

  A causal approach to my relationship with God leaves me comfortable, once I have settled into comfort a self righteousness arises, and all manner of spiritual apathy. The first warning to know I have wandered from a correct position is a loss of spiritual appetite. As God is inexhaustibly pleasurable, encountering Him ravishes the heart and leaves us longing for more. To encounter Him is to live in want, a constant hunger for more. We crave food naturally, the longing to consume isn't bad, we were made to consume, but the object of consumption determines the outcome of our fruit, eternity, calling and families.

  One of the first things God addressed in my life once I decided to live for Him was the object (or objects) of my consumption. He made me keenly aware of what my heart was attached to due to my intentionally indulgence. I had a habit of calling things I was consumed with my ministry, or saying I could love God in everything. (Which is absolutely true) But in my case the Holy Spirit highlighted that my motives for all of my activities and entertainment was based in a desire to find enjoyment apart from Him. I had made my life so busy doing things in the name of Him that I didn't commune with Him in an ever growing depth. I found that I could no longer justify hours of fun filled events saying "I am ministering to the people here" when I truly just wanted to have a good time. And in the end I never actually spoke about Jesus, making character just another form of works. There is one gospel, the gospel of Jesus, my good character isn't even close to the gospel. My character cannot change hearts, the heart maker needs introduction to truly impact people. We live the gospel so that our testimony is valid. What God was calling me into was a season of radical re-orientation of the heart. To truly live for "one thing," and abolish every other lover that was hindering true love. The pain of withdrawing from worldly relationships and events and focusing in on Jesus is hard, but the reward is so good. I long to live Kingdom minded and not culturally or even Christian minded.

 What we consume becomes evident by our likes and dislikes. Consumption of Jesus always leads to love for God and others. When we fill up on Him continually He consumes us, we can't stop talking about Him, daydreaming about Him and finding joy in the relationship with Him. It's the endless fountain of eating and drinking pleasure forever. We will converse and pursue that which we love. What I have come to realize is that my desires will eventually lead me into continual consumption of something, but what will it be? And what I desire will overrun my life, so the issue of becoming filled with the Spirit is critical because I will be filled with something.

"It is not a matter of time but desire, you will make time for what you want to do."
 - David Wilkerson

 The spiritual disciplines are not necessarily reading the Bible and praying, however it is extremely important to do this daily, it is working every day to keep our first love in first place. It is fighting to consume Him in everything so to love Him more. A spiritual discipline to me means there is a bedrock in my heart that keeps me coming back to loving Jesus, and I will fight to keep it that way.

  I have found this fight to keep loving and keeping my heart tender towards Him requires that I intentionally encounter Him on a daily basis. A determination that no matter what I will take even a few moments out of my day to sit before Him and ask for Him to light the fire again. To ask Him to burn in me, consuming me. I am finding that more and more it is less of a casual relationship and more of a diligent searching continually. As in any relationship, to keep the fire of loving burning and the communication lines open requires constant work. Coming back to Him may seem awkward to have that first conversation again, but He so longs for it.