God Speaks From Storms

"If you think you're going through hell, keep going." -Winston Churchill 

On a cork board in our office at home, we have this quote tacked so that every time we walk in we will see it. It is the constant reminder that all of us, regardless of background, will at some point feel as though we are experiencing "hell on earth." It is also a reminder that regardless of how hellish it may get, we have to keep moving. 

Never become stagnant. 

The mission Christ has given us as his followers mandates that we keep moving. Even if we stay in one place, we are meant to bloom. We are meant to affect the world around us with the glory of the Lord. 

That's the beauty of the Gospel of Christ. That's why I love Him. 

God takes broken, messy, damaged people and heals them so that He can use them as a testimony, a showcase of you will, of how good and beautiful our God truly is. 

If we look at Job, we see a man who at the beginning and the end of the story is righteous before God. We see, if we only read the first and last of the story, that Job was a man who God blessed plentifully and used to show his goodness through. But what do we miss with the skewed perspective?

We miss the storm. We miss the picture of a man, just like us, who loses everything he holds dear. He lost everything that we today would use to identity him. He loses so much, that now that loss of everything and the following conversation he had with God become his identifiers. 

It's shocking at moments to read Job's words when he is in the center of the storm: "“May the day of my birth perish, and the night that said, ‘A boy is conceived!’ That day—may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine on it." (‭Job‬ ‭3‬:‭3-4‬ NIV)

Talk about depression in the storm! But we sound exactly the same at moments. Let me modernize this for you:
"I wish I'd never been born. I wish I could die. Things couldn't get any worse. My life is over." 

Sound familiar? 

Then, a real physical storm comes (after over 30 chapters of Job and his friends going back and forth) and God sets the record straight. In short, God takes Job back to size, helping him realize that God is so much greater than the trouble Job had faced.  Once Job gets his perspective back, God blesses him and after the storm Job's life is better than it was before. 

In Matthew 8 we see Jesus perform more miracles than we can count. Seriously, the writer actually uses the word "many" instead of listing each one. We're talking healing of leaprosy, sickness, casting out of demons and at least two people who were close to death being brought back to the land of the living. After all this we see the picture of a would be follower: one to whom Christ makes it clear that if he wants to follow Christ he has to leave everything behind. 

Finally we get to the storm in this story. After all the miracles and the short conversation with the follower, Christ and His disciples get on a boat. Christ goes to sleep. Such a good sleep that when a storm that makes the disciples think they are going to die, Jesus doesn't even wake up. 

As I envision this storm I imagine Jesus not so much as wiping the sleep from His eyes as He stands and rebukes the storm. Everything becomes calm. Jesus made it clear to them that with faith there is no reason to fear any storm. 

Remember what Joseph said, "What you meant for evil, God has made it good"?

That's what God does through the storms of our lives. 

There is no such thing as a pointless storm. 

Every trial that we face is a step toward something. 

We may no feel like we're moving intentionally. It may feel as though we are being thrown about by life, but it is to propel us to something. Whether it be to a lesson learned or a place we need to go or even a place we need to get away from. 

Every storm has its purpose.  

Always know, in every storm that God is a refuge and the One who speaks from the storm.

Blessings. 

To Hell With Expectations: The God Who Came as a Servant

When we consider the idea of a Savior what do we think of?

I'm sure the Hebrew people imagined the Lion of Judah, the Jealous God. They imagined a King of Kings, coming to rescue them from oppression under the Roman Empire. A King coming to bring them into a new era where they would never again have to be subject to a third party system. They imagined no more heavy taxes which took over half of their salary. They saw a Jerusalem rising up to be the capital of the world as this new King took the throne.

They never imagined a child born in a food troth in a barn during tax season. They never would have dreamed that their "King" would be beaten, flogged, mocked and ultimately crucified by the Roman Empire they thought he would destroy.

They never thought their Savior would usher in a Kingdom of God where "the first shall be last." They certainly wouldn't have guessed he would tell them "love your enemy" and teach forgiveness like it was going out of style.

It wouldn't have even crossed their mind that their King would be the image of God come as a servant to save them, not from Rome, but from their sins. It would seem impossible to them that the King of Kings would kneel like a servant to wash His disciples feet and tell them that His body would be broken and His blood spilt for them.

And after all that, there's no way He would resurrect Himself and usher in a new covenant of love, forgiveness and the freedom from sin.

So when He came in such fashion, John 1, tells us that they didn't even know Him. In fact, they did not want the sort of King He was.

But God never intended to place the borders of His Kingdom around one specific nation. Instead He opens it to everyone. He welcomes the reject, the broken, the oppressed, the angry, the depressed, the sick, the lame, the poor and every other kind of undesirable this world has ever seen and despised. But why? Why would God make a place at the table of salvation and grace for the "worst of the worst"?

The answer is simple: Love.

The work of Christ (his crucifixion, death and resurrection) opened the door so that when God looks at us He sees what we were always meant to be. The salvation and grace that Christ bestows on us makes us not only the best versions of ourselves, but the best representation of Christ and the very image of God which we were made to reflect.

But wait! He didn't stop there.

The work of Christ was the definitive "God wins" on every principality, spirit of darkness, evil power, etc. So that the "war" we imagine is going on, has already had its' day of bloody ravaging of the innocent. The blood which wins this battle which we live in has already been won.

Now we are left, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, to spread the Gospel of Christ. The gospel that the One and Only King has come, conquered and rallied. So we embark, not on a mission hell-bent on spilling more blood, but on a mission of reconciliation. A mission of bringing the people around us to the altar of God. The altar where the spirits of oppression and injustice are futile. The altar where we leave having laid down burdens and picked up grace.

The moral of the story?

Don't spend so much time planning and building expectations.

Whatever it may be: your calling, ministry, a job or a trial you're going through we must be ready to set aside our own expectations. Because when the Real King came, He was missed due to foolish expectations. While we are busy building up our own expectations, God has already set His plan in motion. This is why I firmly believe that God often times smiles gently and whispers: "To Hell with Expectations" when we try to plan for Him.

Those Who Have Gone Before Us

In John 16 and verse 33, Jesus gives us a promise.

He says, "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

If we read the whole chapter we see that Jesus is telling them that He will leave soon, that He is returning to the Father. He talks about the work of the Holy Spirit. He tells them they will be scattered. (When He is crucified.)

In every season that I will be discussing in this series there is some kind of "trouble."

In the wilderness we come face to face with our doubts. We question whether God is still present? And yes, we wonder if He even exists.

But, if we walk in the wilderness with even a mustard seed sized faith, even in the face of these questions, we will trust that God is present.

Sometimes it means reminding ourselves of what He has done before. Reminding ourselves that we serve a good and beautiful God who loves us dearly and sent His Son to die for us.

So yes, of course, He is always present in the desert.

Even if He is sometimes silently working in the background on a plan that we do not yet understand.

We have heard of the Israelites in the desert. How many of them perished because of their unfaithfulness to God.

We have heard of Aaron and Moses, being led into the wilderness by God.

We have heard of John the Baptist who lived and ministered in the wilderness.

And we know that Jesus spent His fair amount of time in the wilderness. Whether it be due to the Spirit prompting Him or Him seeking shelter or even being baptized.

Many have gone before us through the wilderness.

There may be days when the only comfort we have is knowing that Jesus promises He would never leave or forsake us. Believing against the circumstances surrounding us that God is still at work in our lives, even when we do not see Him center stage.

Blessings.

A Good Place to Live

Finding a place where we belong can be truly challenging.

 

For the past few weeks my husband and I have been “church shopping.” Meaning, we’re visiting various churches in our area to find one right for us. One where the spirit of the community mirrors our own. This is the first time in my adult life that I’ve ever been on such a venture. Let me tell you, it’s got me thinking.

 

With each chapter of our lives there seems to come a new season. Here in Asheville, NC we are sort of experts at seasons. Just a few weeks ago I’m pretty sure we got a taste of all four within 7 days. No joke.

 

For a very long time I felt myself in a spiritual wilderness and I couldn’t understand why. I spent time with God. Whispering, listening, weeping and at times, even yelling. At the beginning of this month we made what for us was a huge life change.

 

We left our home church.

 

I had been at this church since I was saved. (Almost 9 years.) My husband had been there since we met and had equally fallen in love with the people and the spirit of God’s love which seemed to emanate from the place. But times and circumstance can change a place. They can even change people. Circumstances and people, often affect the spirit of any given place.

 

That’s what happened at this particular church. It became everything we never thought it would. Everything about American Church which causes people to turn from Christ and despise the Church at large. So we left, and it was the best decision we have ever made.

 

In the past weeks I have realized why it had to become unbearable for us to stay. God wanted us elsewhere. There is a whole different kind of ministry I never imagined outside those four walls. Ministry that really matters.

 

Please, don’t hear what I’m not saying. I believe in the Church. I LOVE the Bride of Christ. But the Church is not, and never will be contained within four walls. The Ekklesia (Greek for Church) is the people. It is the community of believers.

 

Sometimes God turns the luscious farmland around us to wilderness so that He can let us know it is time to move on to a new place. A good place to live which He has prepared and we must trust Him to lead us to.

 

 

From Organization to Organism

About a month ago I met with my mentor for coffee. We had recently gone through some big changes at the church I was attending at the time (and had been a member of for over 8 years) which had caused us to go from a small, unconventional congregation to a big, conservative mass. 

Just so we are clear, folks, I am not conservative. 

My mentor, for whom I hold the utmost respect, cautioned me that day concerning the way I speak. He said that I may need to be careful concerning what I said and with whom I said it to. At first I did not think anything of it. After all, I know sometimes I get in touch with my inner sailor and some not so choice words come out that may offend some. Also, in spite of my education, I am still twenty something and my age tends to show when I speak. 

As the days started to pass something began to bother me. Before you jump the gun, no it was not my mentor, or anything he had said. It was an observation I have made in the past. 

Often times, we "not so conservative" are asked to bite our tongues (especially women) and walk on eggshells so we do no "offend" our conservative brother. 

Pause for a second. 

Now, I am all about not being a stumbling block for other believers, so yes sometimes I sensor myself out of respect and a touch of wisdom. However, I get the feeling we take this out of proportion sometimes. I feel that we use this teaching to justify putting others in a corner to bully so we can feel better about our own shortcomings. 

Such as "No, you can't talk about your views on (fill in the subject) because it might hurt my feelings. Cause let's be honest, I haven't taken the time to research, study and determine what Scripture and the heart of God really say on the subject anyway. I'm just restating what others have told me to say because it "sounds" Christian."

Really? 

I realized soon after that meeting, and I had been slowly coming to the realization for months: as a Christian, and especially as a woman who feels called to ministry, I cannot and will not be effective if I am hiding while I minister. 

The best pastors, speakers, teachers, etc. that I have heard have been transparent. Anytime we as ministers try to live a life of hiding, someday what we've been hiding comes to light. Trust me, it's better to be real up front, than apologize for the skeletons in your closet later on. 

With all of this stirring in my spirit, and after confirming with my husband, we decided it was time to leave our home church. 

In the most recent days I've realized something else: We have taken the beautiful, powerful, organic gospel and made it into an advertisement from which we can make a profit. 

Lord, forgive us for when we lose sight of what is truly important and set our hearts on worldly gain. 

My dear friends, it is high time that the organization that we have made the church (singular, "a church building") be torn down and that we be brought back to our roots. The Church (universal), has to wake up and recognize that it is not about how much money we can make at the next fundraiser. It is about breaking down the outdated idea of church being a building, and realizing that the Church is the people. All the time. Not just on Sunday morning. 

It's time for the organism to come back. For us to realize, it's not about things, it's about people. 

I love you all. You have value. I pray grace, mercy and peace over each of you.