Worship - "forms" or "wineskins" - "Potatoe" or "French Fries"

All forms go out the window when we worship in spirit and in truth.  More often than not the Spirit whispers to me that I am worshipping the Lamb while doing the most mundane things.  Mowing the lawn, washing clothes, changing oil, cleaning the shed, changing my sons clothes, making a bed, cooking food, taking a shower.  And then more often than not the Spirit whispers to me on Sunday morning at church, "What are you doing?"

"When Spirit touches spirit the issue of forms is wholly secondary." - 159
"If Jesus is our leader, miracles should be expected to occur in worship." - 165

If Jesus is our leader, Crucifixion should be expected!
If Jesus is our leader, false accusations should be expected! 
If Jesus is our leader, total abandonment of friends and family should be expected!
If Jesus is our leader, being thrown out of church should be expected!
If Jesus is our leader, blind followership should be expected

If Jesus is our leader, slavery to all man kind IS EXPECTED!

"Jesus understands being God not as something to take advantage of, but as taking the form of a bond servant and emptying Himself for others and because He does and because He acts on it to the full extent He is granted the name above every name - the doulos  (slave)is called Kyrios (Lord), the servant is called Yahweh (God), because being Kyrios (Lord) means being doulos (Slave) because being Yahweh (God) means being servant.    If being God does not mean something to take advantage of but emptying Himself,

CAN BEING HUMAN MEAN ANYTHING LESS?"          - Darrell Johnson

Honesty Leads to confession

"Honesty leads to confession and confession leads to change" - 157

I have had the incredible opportunity to facilitate the trainee float experience for the past 6 years.  Every year is a little different but every year has one constant......confession!  I have witnessed the powerful spirit of God at work in the lives of the trainees setting them free through the act of confession. 

"The Discipline of confession brings an end to pretense.  God is calling into being a church that can openly confess its frail humanity and know the forgiving and empowering graces of Christ."

I am reminded to be an authentic IDENTITY!  Be one who embraces integrity while chasing away roles.

- This can happen through confession! 

I am reminded to be a wounded PERFORMANCE! Be one who embraces brokenness while chasing away "perfection".

This can only happen through radical honesty with God, myself, and the world around me.  If Loving God is central and everything flows from there - honesty in confession to God looks like confession to my brothers and sisters in Christ. When I fail to embrace my own brokenness through confession I involuntarily demand everyone around me to change....be more like me! I embrace everyone elses brokenness by controlling them and trying to fix their brokenness so I don't have to deal with mine! 

I am reminded to be in an aware ROLE! Be one who embraces humanness while chasing away self-delusion (misdirected worship).

ALL have sinned and fallen short.....I am one of the ALL!  And everyone I deal with is one of the ALL - but the temptation to remove myself from one of the ALL and judge everyone else is misdirected worship! Confession as a life style rescues and reminds me to be aware! 

I am reminded to be a weak PERSON! Be one who embraces Christ while chasing away personal strength.

Confession returns me to Christ's embrace. 

- "The authentic, wounded, aware, and weak Disciple of Jesus Christ seems to experiences the gospel of Jesus Christ in a full and personal way that is deeply Christian. (Darrell Johnson & Rod Wilson)


-REID

Sweet Quotes from the Guidance Chapter

I loved these quotes from the Guidance Chapter --

I was touched by his teaching on Israel wanting a king and rejecting the prophet. Because of this action of rejecting the prophet for the king he writes, "He (the prophet) was a lonely voice crying in the wilderness." (176) Revelation says that prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. I am convicted that when I sin and want a "king" of my own control and my own sovereignty I reject pure GUIDANCE which is submitting to the testimony of Jesus. When I sin, I send the prophet to the wilderness or worse yet as Christ proclaimed I murder the prophet. I murder the prophet by killing the testimony of Jesus within me by sin. OUCH! Thank you Jesus for the righteousness you reveal in my sin.

"Spiritual direction takes up the concrete daily experiences of our lives and gives them sacramental significance." - (186) This line captures the incredible mystery we step into when we allow "kairos" time - (Christ filling all things with meaning/logos time (John, Ephesians, Revelation, Bible)) to invade our "chronos" time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, etc., etc.)

"Scripture must pervade and penetrate our thinking and acting." (188) Another mysterious step into the Word of God invading chronos time. Love it.

Guidance - Liquid Fire for Your Deathly Hallows

FYI - I've never seen or read any Harry Potter stuff so if the title throws you off that's my ignorance.

"All of creation watches expectantly for the springing up of a disciplined, freely gathered, martyr people" - When I read this line I immediately thought of the song by David Crowder "Here is Our King." I know this song is about a massive martyr (probably wrong word here -martyr- sorry* - see footnote) of humanity by creation (approximately 200,000 soon after the tsunami.) I searched google for the story about the song and the fist words in the article written by Mr. Crowder were a quote by St. Francis - "What you are looking for is what is looking."

At the end of the article he writes, "In other words, our king comes to us from the same place springtime does. Whatever the source of spring and newness. He comes from the same place that put this thing in our chests that makes it necessary for us to search for him and the fact that we are compelled to search for him gives a hint as to the goodness of him who we search for."

In summary - Spring is springing in Lodi. Foster is springing with an expectant creation. Crowder is springing up with hope and newness.

Christ is springing up right here, right now in sorrow, frustration, futility, decay, death, judgment. He literally springs forth from an open grave. Seriously, a tomb?!?

A LIVING HOPE.
SPARKLING WINE.
A BANQUET.
AN ENDLESS DANCE OF JOY.
AN ENDLESS SONG OF GRACE.


Romans 8:20 - 21 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that[h] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

So cheers to fiery wine of Christ that enters the deathly hollows of sin, condemnation, death, and decay and burns them away with fiery, white hot mercy.

All creation is groaning, HELP! WE NEED A SAVIOR! Perhaps every morning Christ by the work of the Spirit and the miracle of Pentecost says, READY OR NOT! HERE I COME!

WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS WHAT IS LOOKING!

Footnote - Yeah, maybe the word martyr isn't the best word. Not for me to say one way or the other. Martyr does mean witness. Death is a powerful testimony/witness that we cannot save ourselves. I think God uses massive tragedies to wake us up to that witness. To wake us up to . . . . . HOPE (Romans 8:20-21.) When we exhale this world and inhale the next perhaps we are with highest authenticity forced to relinquish control and declare -- "into your hands I commit my spirit." So again, maybe not the right word. To quote a cultural "GUIDE" for modernity, "no one know what it means. But its provocative." - Ron Burgundy.

Submission, Surrender

This morning a bible study I'm a part of went through submission, and one of the guys mentioned the word "surrender" as almost synonymous with submission, with an emphasis on the finality of surrendering our will to Christ's.

The term "surrender" triggered in my mind the song "Moment of Surrender" by U2.  Check it out:

I tied myself with wire

To let the horses roam free

Playing with the fire

Until the fire played with me

The stone was semi precious

We were barely conscious

Two souls too smart to be

In the realm of certainty

Even on our wedding day

We set ourselves on fire

Oh God, do not deny her

Its not if I believe in love

(But) If love believes in me

Oh believe in me

At the moment of surrender

I folded to my knees

I did not notice the passers by 

And they did not notice me

I’ve been in every black hole

At the alter of the Dark star

My body's now a begging bowl

That's begging to get back

Begging to get back 

To my heart

To the rhythm of my soul

To the rhythm of my consciousness

To the rhythm that yearns

To be released from control

I was punching in the numbers at the ATM machine

I could see in the reflection 

A face staring back at me

At the moment of surrender

Of vision over visibility

I did not notice the passers by

And they did not notice me

I was speeding off the subway

Through the stations of the cross

Every eye looking every other way

Counting down till the pain will stop

At the moment of surrender

Of vision over visibility 

I did not notice the passers by

And they did not notice me

So much good stuff in here!  That one line, right in the middle, about begging to get back to rythme of my heart, my soul, that yearns to be released from control.  It's hitting me hard this morning.  That is part of our rythme for wholeness, to be fully human is to be fully submitted.  In small matters, large matters, public matters and private matters.

And then lastly, "the moment of surrender of vision over visibility" brought me back to I AM #31, I am not moved by what I see.

Set my eyes on Your Kingdom vision and free me from the slavery of control.

Worship Practice

Yep, I am currently playing catch up on last weeks discipline of worship.  However, my day of practicing worship yesterday was so exciting and full of joy, yes that's right, joy-FULL!  After a morning full of dancing out of the response to the blessing of life, I meet a new friend in a science lab class that I had introduced myself to in an earlier lecture.  To make a very long story short, this brave and loving woman (who is curious and wants to know more about Jesus) began sharing her whole life story with me.  How she moved to So. Cal., her relationship with her brother, how her parents both passed away when she was a kid, the questions she has about life, and how God has sequential moved in and out of her life through those major life events she experienced.  Then, in my humility of this stranger ultimately sharing with me very big parts of herself, I felt that my spiritual act of worship was to then suck up my pride, allow my outer image to be crucified, and follow in the foot steps she had just modeled to me by telling her mine.  For the visual image, please image this conversation starting as we stood outside on the grass during an emergency response drill and continuing on as we were riding stationary exercise bikes experimenting with raising our heart beats to complete a lab for my exercise Physiology class.  Boo-BAM!  (or I should say jingle-bam now...)  Jesus is aworkin' and how humbling it is to have a first hand experience in his work.  Overall, my experience with practicing the posture of worship encouraged me through the entirety of my day and gave me a new lens to view the world with more clarity and joy.

Totally jumping back in time to the reading this week, page 169 leveled me by directly connecting me to my passion for dance as a form of praise and worship as well as the idea of worship being "the body, mind, spirit, and emotions should all be laid on the alter."  Honestly, dance is a very foreign concept to many people, and trust me I can totally sympathize as the extreme physicality of the whole art form can freak people out or quite frankly seem offensive.  But Foster has so beautiful put into words what I experience through dancing in the second paragraph.  The old testament idea of the sacrificial system is fresh on my mind as I have been traveling through the first few books of the OT in the past months so I was surprised to hear this concept of worshiping by my life lived out as the sacrificial meat on the alter.  That my worshiping my God, our God, THE GOD, first stems from laying my flesh open, bleeding, cut, slaughtered on the alter before God.  I know that I have heard it so much, but for some reason I had never made the connection between worshiping from this place.  This concept had a significant impact on the way I  practiced worship yesterday.

I am still trying to comprehend Foster's meaning in this phrase on page 172, 'Lord, I don't feel like worshiping you, but I desire to give you this time.  It belongs to you.  I will waste my time for you.'  What gets under my skin is the word waste referred to time spent in worship.  My take on this phrase is the perspective being taken here is from the point of the person not "feeling" like worshiping at that particular point in time, making it then seem like "their own time" being wasted in worship.  Rather than the person truly wasting their time by choosing to worship when they don't feel like it.  Maybe?  Clarity?  Help?  I would love some feedback here so please hit me with your best shot!

I loved spending last weekend with you all, and left the training feeling so encouraged to keep moving toward the summer and excited to be a part of God's plan on the water!  Thank you for opening choosing to serve God with your lives, I feel honored and so blessed by each one of you to know you all.

Sabotaging the Kingdom with . . . . . my QUIET TIME

Scripture urges us to "offer the sarifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving htanks to his name. (Heb. 13:15 KJV). The Old Covenant required the sacrifice of bulls and goats (and a lot of birds too interestingly :)). The new covenant requires the sacrifice of praise. Peter tells us that as Christ's new royal priesthood we are to offer "spiritual sacrifices" which means to "declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (Note: Declaring praises is just one of many, many amazing priest privileges that Peter inspires us with in 1 Peter 2.) Peter and John left the Sanhedrin with bleeding backs and praising lips (Acts 5:41). Paul and Silas filled the Philippian jail with their songs of praise (Acts 16:25). In each case they were offering the sacrifice of praise. - Foster 168. I was challenged and inspired by this paragraph.

I'm not too prescriptive with worship "how to's" because as Brennan Manning I believe once said, (I paraphrase) it would be easier to catch a hurricane in a shrimp net than to capture and express the furious, passionate love of God." In other words, how do you "how to list" the heaving heart of God? I have no clue.

I DID LOVE THIS piece of advice though -- "Absorb distractions with gratitude." Reading these words brought this to mind:

Christ's cousin, friend, baptizer, and prophet that spoke Christ's own testimony (all prophets speak Christ's testimony) was beheaded. Jesus retreats. His retreat is broken. A fussing, needy crowd invades his quiet time. Jesus embraces them. In His embrace, the only other recorded event in all four gospels besides the resurrection takes place. Passover with broken people (broken bread) becomes Pentecost - an incredible harvest feast.

I'm left considering - is Christ's miracle feeding archetypal? In other words, is there a Pentecost feast waiting to erupt in glory with every broken quiet time?

What if demanding my boundaries and quiet time actually impedes the kingdom?

Confession and Car repair

At CPC we are going through "The Reason for God" by Tim Kellar and today the sermon was on Hyprocrisy, there are so many ways that Foster, Kellar and one of the pastors spoke to me this week.

On page 145 of Foster, " Confession is a difficult Discipline for us because we all too often the believing community as a fellowship fo saints before we see it as a fellowship of sinners. We feel that everyone else has advanced so far into holiness that we are isolated and alone in our sin. We cannot bear to reveal our failures and shortcomings to others. We imagine that we are the only ones who have not stepped onto the high road to heaven. Therefore, we hide ourselves from one anothe and live in veiled lies and hypocrisy."

Page 150, "....freedom begets freedom"

The people pleaser in me wants to hide any failure. As the pastor said today, "Instead of deeply connecting with God we perform for people." I am in that, it is easier to push God away and avoid confession and spin my outside life for others instead of cleaning the inside of my life. This brought me back to one of the first trainee sessions I was a part of where I came to the reality of my life as a plate spinner.

Confession creates relationships. Connecting with others in vulnerability allows Christ to move not only in your own life but your relationships. This is a discipline that I need to work on. I need to remember that the gospel is an invitation to be honest with who I am and the freedom in that becomes contagious.

The analogy was used in church today that Churches need to be more like repair shops than show rooms. All of us need some repair work done and when we give the perception that the church is a show room we are not allowing people the freedom to be who they really are. I am going to try to live more like a repair shop.

A Posture in a Sacred Place

I have truly struggled with how to respond to the discipline of confession this past week.  After reading the chapter days ago, I have been attempting to decide what I wanted to post and share.  The reason I have been struggling with how to respond through a blog post is because the majority of the chapter pierced my heart so deeply and challenged me on such an intimate level that I am still only beginning to process and comprehend the truths stated in the chapter. 

"We do not have to make God willing to forgive.  In fact, it is God who is working to make us willing to seek his forgiveness." (153)  In the past 6 months I have been learning what forgiveness looks like.  As the coarse of my life has been shifting and molding into different and unexpected turns I have been abruptly faced with decisions and events in my past that have placed the concept of forgiveness on the forefront of my time spent with Jesus.  To say "the haunting sorrows and hurts of the past have not been healed" (147) would be only an introductory statement into what I have been discovering.  I have spent an obscene amount of time in St. Alphonsus Liguori's 3 necessary requirements of confession (examination of conscience, sorrow, and a determination to avoid sin).  I will admit the majority of my time has been overwhelmed with sorrow. I believe glorious days in these past months have been wholly consumed by allowing myself the freedom to be "sorrowful in the emotions without a godly sorrow." (152)  Even after spending time in this statement I still struggle with how to wrap my noggin around it.  However, Foster's words (as Pearly mention earlier) have truly given me a shove in the direction of the cross.  "Confession begins in sorrow, but it ends in joy.  There is celebration in the forgiveness of sins because it results in a genuinely changed life." (153) "Honestly leads to confession, and confession leads to change." (157)  "Freedom begets freedom." (150) 

As for the practice of confession this week, I have begun the baby steps.  I will say with confidence and honest joy the process is well underway and yet has so much more to go.  "The bible views salvation as both an event and a process." (145)  As I baby step toward confession and the life altering freedom offered by Christ's sacrificial death as the lamb on the cross for me, I am reminded of Staff Culture Point #7,

"If you are tired and disenchanted you are in a very sacred place.  Christ is pushing you to eat from the tree of life.  He's leading you to the cross.  He's building you up in love.  He's helping you discover that your relationship with Him is not cream puff ideas of how to have a better day but instead an intense love affair that demands your body, heart, mind, and strength."

So in this sacred place full of sorrow contemplating confession and forgiveness I think of the practice of the discipline of confession simply as a posture.  Assuming the posture of falling face first, arms outstretched offering myself at the foot of the cross.  My body dirtied by the dust, blood, fluid, and words of the crowd as God in the flesh washes me white as snow as the Creator of the Universe romances me from the cross.  Returning back to chapter 1, "The disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us." (7)

Continue to break my legs God.  Romance me to the foot of the cross where I may begin to understand the unconditional, inconceivable love you have for me.  Give me strength to continue to fall to my knees placing myself at your will so that you may transform my heart.  Amen.

Profession and Confession

The Bonhoeffer references are very powerful and convicting. Interesting that a man who was executed after suffering in prison would have such insightful, piercing words to describe our hearts, Christ's heart, and community.

One of the quotes of Bonhoeffer that Foster uses is as follows: "Anybody who lives beneath the cross and who has discerned in the Cross of Jesus the utter wickedness of all men AND of his OWN HEART will find that there is NO SIN that can ever be ALIEN to HIM. Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother."

Bonhoeffer in so many ways lived and died literally in the midst of hell, chaos, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. In the midst of gas chambers, disease, demonic cruelty, torture emerged a heart and mind that spoke with incredible clarity and spiritual authority about Christ and ministry.

I copied this quote from Wikipedia -- The camp doctor who witnessed the execution (of Bonhoeffer) wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”

I'm convinced that God works in all circumstance but as I'm confronted this morning with the life and writings of Bonhoeffer I'm left wondering,

"God, can I genuinely be made in the image of your son without a cross? Without a prison? Without a sharp, metal wire tearing my throat as I'm strangled in the gallows?"

"God, how can I pray, in Jesus' name without a cross strapped to my back?"

I hear God say, "with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible."

I need that assurance God.

Thank you; however, I am challenged by your reminder through confession, through Foster, and through Bonhoeffer that you Jesus, the Word, becomes flesh in me and that Word in me has a natural impulse to flesh out FAITH, to experience FAITH, by going outside the camp, to the outer darkness, to shine YOUR LIGHT, and DIE for your ENEMIES by FAITH in LOVE.

Perhaps killing me is an enemy's purist confession.
Perhaps dying in love is your Kingdom's purist profession.

Whether or not killing and dying in love is pure confession or pure profession, I can at least acknowledge that the two of them together (killing and dying) are an interesting dance of love that consumes body broken and blood shed in mercy. Hmmm. body broken and blood shed sounds a lot like the communion table. It also sounds like the marriage supper of the lamb which is the ultimate CELEBRATION of the ultimate DISCPLINE/DISCIPLING such that it fills an entire new creation with PRAISE, GLORY, and HONOR at your REVELATION.

Hello Team!

First off I want to say thank you to everyone who has posted so far. I am somewhat behind in reading along with you all but I have been checking the blog on a daily basis since being asked to be apart of it. I'm sorry I have yet to post and one is to be expected soon. This book has taught me about disciplines that I have never been educated on at the church I go to. I have appreciated the historical background and standpoint that Foster comes from.

It is also a huge encouragement to see the future staffers post about how excited they are to serve Jesus and camp this summer.

Again sorry for being tardy to the blog party, truly as jokey as that sounds I do apologize for not participating sooner! I love you all and am daily encouraged by the discipline that you have modeled to me! I am honored to be considered apart of this blog and this group!

PS- just checked out the Sonshine website and it is looking killer from the Mac nice work guys, and love the new testimonial!

Submission and service

Sometimes I think that Foster is in my head......

Page 136-137, " There is the service of being served. When Jesus began to wash the feet of those he loved, Peter refused. He would never let his Master stoop to such a menial service on his behalf. It sounds like a statement of humility; in reality it was an act of veiled pride. Jesus' service was an affront to Peter's concept of authority. If Peter had been the master, he would not have washed feet.
It is an act if submission and service to allow others to serve us. It recognizes their "kingdom authority" over us. We graciously receive the service rendered, never feeling we must repay it. Those who, out of pride, refuse to be served are failing to submit to the divinely appointed leadership in the kingdom on God."

Guilty, guilty as charged. I have never felt more connected to Peter than I did in this statement. I am struggling with even how to approach this without sounding prideful or arrogant. Who am I to think that I do not need Jesus to wash my feet when in reality I need him to wash all of me! There are 2 things that struck a cord with me in this 1) was the refusal by Peter to allow Jesus to serve him and how that resonated with my life and 2) The feeling that I must always repay those who I do, in the rare occasion, let serve me. The constant need to make sure I am not in debt to anyone forgetting that not only has my debt been paid but has been washed away from record.

Needless to say I am going to continue to process this.

"Sheer Obedience"

The reading on confession really convicted me this week. I'll admit that I really haven't made a regular practice out of confession over the years. There have definitely been isolated instances, and I have experienced the freedom that results from that discipline, but my pride has kept me from making a habit out of it.

And so this paragraph resonated deeply with me:

"We have prayed, even begged, for forgiveness, and though we hope we have been forgiven, we sense no release. We doubt our forgiveness and despair at our confession. We fear that perhaps we have made confession only to ourselves and not to God. The haunting sorrows and hurts of the past have not been healed. We try to convince ourselves that God forgives only the sin; he does not heal the memory. But deep within our being we know there must be something more. People have told us to take our forgiveness by faith and not to call God a liar. Not wanting to call God a liar, we do our best to take it by faith. But because misery and bitterness remain in our lives, we again despair. Eventually we begin to believe either that forgiveness is only a ticket to heaven and not meant to affect our lives now, or else that we are not worthy of the forgiving grace of God." (p. 147)

But, because I'm living in the reality of that paragraph, I didn't find much hope or assurance from reading it except to know that I'm not alone in that struggle. Other than that, forgiveness still just feels incomplete and unreal.

So when I got to the part about making confession 'too complicated', I almost wanted to cry when I read this:

"Remember the heart of the Father; he is like a shepherd who will risk anything to find that one lost sheep. We do not have to make God willing to forgive. [...] Confession begins in sorrow, but it ends in joy." (p. 153)

I only just finished reading so I haven't "practiced" confession yet, but I know exactly what I need to do, and who I need to talk to, and I'm hoping I'll have the opportunity to do so soon (maybe even tonight). If you felt like holding me accountable to that one, I wouldn't mind it.

Looking forward to hearing from you all soon, and to SEEING you soon too! :)

Foster Speaks for Me

I am struggling with how to communicate my response to Foster's chapter on the dicsipline of servanthood. I am having difficulty streeming my thoughts together to articulate clearly what I want to say so I have decided to let Foster speak for me! I have decided to share the major quotes that really hit home with me and redefined the way I viewed/view servant hood in my life.

"It is one things to act like a servant; it is quite another to be a servant." (134)

"When we chose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable." (132)

"It is an act of submission and service to allow others to serve us. It recognizes their 'kingdom authority' over us. We graciously receive the service rendered, never feeling we must repay it. Those who, out of pride, refuse to be served are failing to submit to the divinely appointed leadership in the kingdom of God." (137)

"Even more than the transformation that is occurring within us. We are aware of a deeper love and joy in God. Our days are punctuated with spontaneous breathings of praise and adoration. Joyous hidden service to others is an acted prayer of thanksgiving. We seem to be directed by a new control Center-and so we are." (132)

"Lord Jesus, as it would please you bring me someone today whom I can serve." (140)
Amen.

Simplicity revisted

I know that simplicity was a couple of weeks ago but I was reading in "My Utmost for His Highest" today and it brought me back to that chapter and was really great and wanted to share with you guys so here it is:

January 26,
"A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we will not be simple. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him?By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple. Jesus asks us to consider that "if God so clothes the grass of the field...."How "much more" will He clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him?Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed 'the cares of the world" to enter in (Matthew 13:22), while forgetting the "much more" of our heavenly Father.
"Look at the birds of the air......." (6:26). Their function is to obey the instincts God placed within them, and God watches over them. Jesus said that if you have the right relationship with Him and will obey His Spirit within you, then God will care for your "feathers" too.
'Consider the lilies of the field......" (6:28). They grow where they are planted. Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us. Therefore, we don't take root anywhere. Jesus said if we would obey the life of God within us, he would look after all others things. Did Jesus Christ lie to us? Are we experiencing the "much more" He promised? If we are not, it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us and cluttered our minds with confusing thoughts and worries. How much more time have we wasted asking God senseless questions while we should be absolutely free to concentrate on our service to Him? Consecration is the act of continually separating myself from everything except that which God has appointed me to do. It is not a one-time experience but an ongoing process. Am I continually separating myself and looking to God every day in my life?" by Oswald Chambers.

I have been challenged again to live simply and to continually be in the process of consecrating my life so that I am all eyes and all in with Christ. Although most of this is easier said than done, I love that it is as simple as trusting and loving Christ and the place he has brought you. I was encouraged by this today and maybe it will encourage you too.

:)

Hide and Go Seek (The Kingdom of God)

"Self-righteous service requires external rewards.  It needs to know that people see and appreciate the effort…  True service rests content in hiddenness." (p. 128)

My service often quickly turns from humility to seeking the approval of others.  In order to obtain the approval of others, I need these "others" to witness my acts of service.

I've shared this before (probably on one of the earlier blogs), but I've gotten very good at playing this "recognition game."  The church is just too darn good at thanking people for acts of service, it is easy to fall in a cycle of seeking and obtaining the next "fix" of recognition in a congregation or fellowship.

"[The flesh] strains and pulls for honor and recognition.  It will devise subtle, religiously acceptable means to call attention to the service rendered." (p. 130)

Hiddenness is the antithesis to my "recognition addiction."  It will quickly reveal the source of my service (desire for recognition), and if I allow the hiddenness to continue and "stoutly refuse to give in to this lust of the flesh, [I] crucify it.  Every time we crucify the flesh, we crucify our pride and arrogance" (p. 130)

"Hiddenness is a rebuke of the flesh and can deal a fatal blow to pride." (p. 134)

Lord, keep me hidden, and kill my pride.

-Mike

Serving vs. Servanthood

"Right here we must see the difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When we choose to serve, we are still in charge. We decide whom we will serve and when we will serve. And if we are in change, we will worry a great deal about anyone stepping on us, that is, taking charge over us."

"But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in change. There is great freedom in this. If we voluntarily choose to be taken advantage of, then we cannot be manipulated. When we choose to be a servant, we surrender the right to decide who and when we will serve. We become available and vulnerable." (p. 132)

Bleeding Isn't Just a Discipline, It's a Death style. Whoops. Its a LIFE STYLE! YES!! LIFESTYLE!!!!!!

In a conversation with Reid the other day, I said,
“you know it sounds a little off to say ‘fasting isn’t just a discipline, it’s a lifestyle.’
It also sounds a little off to say ‘study isn’t just a discipline, it’s a lifestyle;’ however,
it sounds spot on to say, ‘submission isn’t just a discipline, it’s a lifestyle.’”

Today, I would like to add to that comment “it sounds spot on to say, ‘service isn’t just a discipline, it’s a lifestyle.’”

The suggestions for service at the end of the chapter remind me of Ultra Packet Staff Culture, Ultra Packet Situational Leadership, Group Development, Ultra Packet Special Topics, and many, many training weekend topics, focus points, and examples. Here are the highlights of what I would call “To live is Christ and to die is . . .

1. Having people walk over me.
2. Surrendering our rights.
3. Being taken advantage of.
4. Invisibility.
5. Discipline with small things, insignificant tasks.
6. Silent serving.
7. Loyalty to others.
8. Vulnerability.
9. Kindness in all things.
10. Asking questions and listening.
11. Compassion.
12. Serving the last and the least.
13. Aspiring to slavery.

I feel reminded by the chapter of this truth – Only one substance can change any heart. Only one. And that substance is the mercy-filled blood of Christ poured out through His body. And when I think of His body, I say to myself, “hey, that’s me.” And then I say, "wait a minute that’s you too.” And then I think “well, gee at this point in time, within the organization of Sonshine. That’s us together.”

After I have that conversation with myself, I hear us singing that song “Jesus lead on and I will follow” but we’ve changed the lyrics to – “Jesus BLEED on and I will follow. Jesus BLEED on let you LOVE LIGHT the WAY.”

Jesus, please allow your blood to infuse this body with light, love, and compassion. Grow your seed of faith in me such that I trust you to let your blood define, enlighten, and fill my heart and mind. May the activity of my life be the activity of Your Life because your kingdom has displaced the shadows of self-possession and pride in my old heart with service and humility. May the fruit of this new heart in you be blood spilled from your free will which

burns freely in me and
gives freely from me

in spite of me.

Submission= Becoming like the Lamb

The submission chapter was perhaps one of my favorite chapters. Foster's depiction of submission reminded me a lot of Philippians 2. This verse has been pretty impactful for me in the last year (we also discussed it a lot on Barney floats...and if I'm honest it might be a popular theme again). The overall passage is stating: You must imitate Christ and take on the very character of God by becoming a servant. By submitting to God and others we are becoming much more of who we were created to be. Obviously this is easier said then done, but by looking at Christ as the example of submission it reminds me that if our Almighty King finds submission & servanthood to be of the upmost importance, than its worth it for me (even if I will most often fall short).

This chapter also reminded me a lot of where I was last year at this time. We were reading the Revelation study and the one concept that impacted my whole season was viewing Christ as the Lamb and realizing there is power in becoming like the sacrificial servant Lamb. In Revelation 5, John is waiting for the Lion to appear to open the scroll, and he turns and finds a little lamb as if slain opening the scroll. He was the only one able to open it, and the elders and living creatures fell down and worshiped Him (The lamb is Christ). Through the reading, the passage, and the admin retreat we talked about how the honest power was not found in the dominate Lion, but in the sacrificial lamb. "The Lamb wins by being slaughtered. The Lamb overcomes by being sacrificed, by sacrificing himself!" "The secret of history, which no one could have discovered on his or her own, is that the Lion gets to the throne by being the Lamb. The Lion wins by being slaughtered"(Revelation: DOTE by Johnson, p.156-157).

So whats my point?: The Lord keeps revealing to me (and to us) that there is something powerful, holy, and supremely spiritual about being submissive, denying self, pursuing others interests, sacrificing for one another, suffering for the kingdom and becoming a sacrifice. "The Lion wins by being slaughtered"! I am convinced that we claim more of the Kingdom's power and prevalence on earth when we become like lambs to the slaughter. Victory comes not in the form of dominate followers, but sacrificial ones.

I am completely convinced that there is no coincidence that this theme is being taught again at the exact same time as last year. As Foster says "Leadership is found in becoming the servant of all. Power is discovered in submission" (p.115). God is teaching us how to lead, by submitting, becoming a servant, and being sacrificial.

Wow...big lesson, but a good place to be! Lord, may we follow your lead and become the least, to serve others, and to submit to your will and direction in our lives. Let us live out, proclaim, and rejoice in the restoration and freedom given out of your own sacrifice on the cross! Let us follow in your foot steps, embrace sacrifice, and become lambs. Love you, Amen!

Service vs. Servanthood

Choosing to serve vs. choosing to be a servant! Jingle-Bam! That kicked me right between the eyes.  How easy it is to serve - how incredibly life transforming it is to be a servant!

"Lord bring me someone today whom I can serve......whom I can be their servant!

JINGLE-BAM!