LOVE | ACCEPT | FORGIVE – Page 39 – Revival in Christ's Church

We’ve Had an Epiphany!

The changing of liturgical colors from White to Green signals a change in the seasons in the Church, just as it will in a few months as the snow melts and spring makes its first appearance. Epiphany is a season of new hope and new growth enabled only by the light emanating from the Savior. We can mark the first day of the season by allowing this light to invade our being, revealing that which needs to come to the surface and filling the spaces with illumination that can only come from a personal epiphany. The divine manifestation is more than a historical event for us to mark, it is a complete shift in the relationship between heaven and earth.

Psalm 97 1-9
The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
All who worship images are put to shame,
those who boast in idols—
worship him, all you gods!
Zion hears and rejoices
and the villages of Judah are glad
because of your judgments, O LORD.
For you, O LORD, are the Most High over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.

The celebration of Epiphany commemorates two events in the life of the Lord, the recognition by the Magi that the Lord had come and their subsequent worship (Mt 2:9-12) and Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan and the voice of the Father commending Him as His son. In both Christ manifest as humanity is revealed to a world desperately in need of salvation. As this season leads up to Lent and Easter, we shall focus our worship on the incarnation of God as man. Our Savior put aside his crown for our benefit though He would have been justified in allowing us to continue on in our own desires.

The perfect expression of love was manifest.

Vision Casting in Hindsight

The end of one year and the initial days of a new one often find churchgoers hearing a new vision for the church over the coming year. Some pastors will place the imprimatur of God on their statements, saying “God has directed us in this direction” while others will be less humble in their choice of pronouns, suggesting ‘I’ or ‘We’ view this direction as the way forward for the body. All well and good, whichever attribution is selected. Charisma or at least enthusiasm in the voice can deliver the message effectively.

As long as no one looks back.

If the pastor is delivering an annual vision for the upcoming year shouldn’t it be preceded by a review of the results of the previous vision. How did it turn out? Have we arrived at the destination you pointed us toward? What went wrong? If I am hiking through the forest on a trail that was previously mapped out for me and someone comes up to tell me he sees a new way to reach our destination, shouldn’t I ask how he arrived at my location? God is consistent. He has set things in motion and the story has remained the same as far back as we have kept track. Looking back to see where we’ve been should be the first action before a step is taken.

Vision casting is risky. Vision casting in the Church is riskier. To say that the Lord has given a new vision for this year or this pastor or this incarnation of His church should always be more than an impression. To say that He has forgotten the old vision in favor of the new should always cause us to stop and ask if we were faithful to the last one.

Day 17 in the School of Prayer : Harmony!

“Father, I thank you that have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here., that they may believe that you sent me.” ( John 11:41b-42 )

I will proclaim the decree of the Lord:

He said to me, “You are my Son, today I have become your Father.”

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. ( Psalm 2:7-8 )

Many Christians struggle with the seeming dichotomy between the eternal decrees of God and their effect upon our individuals lives and the notion of liberty in prayer. In other words, if God has determined the course of history corporate and individual of what effect are our prayers? Many will prefer to allow this question to linger unanswered. Some will allow themselves the conclusion that prayer is fruitless yet continue in a sort of stoic legalism. Still others will see this as an impassable roadblock and give up the discipline altogether.

Were God one person, closed up within himself the latter conclusion would be appropriate. We could never hope to be close to him nor hope to influence him. God is not one, however. He is Three-In-One, and in the Son and Holy Spirit we have the bond of unity and fellowship with the whole of the Trinity. Through this brotherhood we have an opened door to ear of the Father. We have assurance that our prayers are heard and in the Trinity, eternal as it is, we see that Jesus’ commands to pray form an active part of the eternal design.

We pray because we were commanded to.

We pray because we are heard.

We pray because our petitions are a crucial part of the great plan of history.

Psalm 60 You Have Been My Refuge

Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. (v1)

It seems appropriate that the first post of this new year returns our attention to the psalms. This brief entry in the psalter reminds us in the simplest fashion of the consistency and permanence of the God in which we have faith. He was not like the arbitrary and capricious gods of the peoples who surrounded Israel whose demands and favor changed from day to day depending on their mood. Yahweh is today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow.

From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint;

lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. (vv 2-3)

In three couplets (2-3,4-5,6-7) the psalmist professes his confidence in the strength and protection of the God he longs to make his abode with. He states his mortal weakness and contrasts it with the eternal strength of God. In his weak state, David asks only that he be allowed a small place at the edge of the shadow of God’s outstretched wings. For this privilege he will respond in eternal praise.

Then will I ever sing praise to your name and fulfill my vows day after day. (v8)

Amen.

Day 16 in the School of Prayer : Persevere!

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’ ”

And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1-8)

Persevering in prayer is one of our most common struggles in our life of communion and petition. Though our spirit may be strong, our flesh is weak and we are easily dissuaded from continuing in prayer by the delay that we perceive in receiving our answer. We grow quickly tired and discouraged when God does not immediately address our petitions. We even begin to doubt that our prayers are heard; our faith grows soft around the edges.

It is faith alone, however, that overcomes our doubt and weakness. Faith reminds our hearts that we trust completely in God’s promise that he will answer our prayer. The parable that Jesus offered does not show the widow giving up. She believes in the righteousness of her petition and will continue to bring it before the judge until she can no longer make the journey to the bench. At that point she will likely enlist her neighbors and friends to carry her petition. She will not give up because she believes her cause to be right. Is our prayer aligned with God’s will? If so, it will be answered, even if we must be made to wait.

The farmer does not expect a harvest from a single seed. He does not prepare the ground and then drop a single kernel into the earth expecting an immediate harvest. The farmer plants hundreds or thousands of seeds in anticipation of their maturity. He is long suffering, knowing that must receive a full season of sun and rain before that harvest comes. There are no shortcuts.

And so it is with prayer.

Reclaiming Christianity

Like Ravenhill, Bridges, Stedman and other contemporary prophets, A.W. Tozer never in his lifetime stopped calling the Church back to her first love, holiness and purity in Jesus Christ. Tozer was never one to tiptoe around the need for the Church and her individual members to stand apart from the world, to walk and talk as those called out to be God’s people. His criticism could be brash but it was always rooted in a no-nonsense biblical faith that he drew directly from the scriptures. To read Tozer is face the man as he points out the many areas in which you have compromised with the world and in which you risk becoming lukewarm, or worse.

Reclaiming Christianity is a collection of essays that are just this year seeing the light of publication day. In each, Tozer issues the same call for restoration from what he saw as a weak and ineffective Church. He saw her drifting toward entertainment rather than solemnity, modeling her activities on big business rather than community, and drawing her members toward a lukewarm faith rather than holiness.

Remember, brother Tozer went home in 1963. Can you imagine what he would see in today’s church?

This is an excellent collection of short reads that will confront you on every page. Even if you have convinced yourself that you have no areas of compromise, the author’s words will penetrate the thick blanket of justification and ignite the Spirit of conviction within. Let the words sink in, open your Bible and fall to your knees before the Lord. He will quicken your passion and you can do the same favor for your brother.

Go Tell It On the Mountain

Day Fifteen in the School of Prayer : Unite!

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (Matthew 18:19-20)

When we think of the prayer meetings we have been a part of, many stand out as a group of individual Christians together in one room lifting their individual petitions to Heaven but without leadership that directed the group in a single voice. Christians gather for more than comfort and edification, we gather to lift corporate concerns to the single Father of all. As the Lord teaches, we are assured of answer when our collective voices speak of the same concern for kingdom and will.

Murray reminds us of “what an unspeakable privilege this of united prayer is, and what power it might be. If the believing husband and wife knew that they were joined together in the Name of Jesus to experience His presence and power in united power (1 Peter); if friends believed what mighty help two or three praying in concert could give each other; if in every prayer meeting the coming together in the Name, the faith in the Presence, and the expectation of the answer, stood in the foreground;…O who can say what blessing might come to, and through, those who thus agreed to prove God in the fulfillment of His promise.”

Go and Do Likewise…

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.

His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”

Luke 1:45 – 55

A Primal Faith Restored

A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity

A subtitle like that should cause you to stop and ask a very important question before proceeding; has Christianity lost its soul? Has it become so complicated by manmade adornments and requirements that we who adhere to the faith have lost sight of the core of our faith? I struggled with responding to this challenge until I began to draw the distinction between religion and faith. Religious complexities are legion with our innumerable denominations, the theological structures that gather and divide us, and even the wide variety of Bible ‘flavors’. These things divide us and draw our attention away until the core of our faith is lost. The Shema of Jesus, the Great Commandment, gets clouded by the machinations forced by the scaffoldings we erect meant to protect it. We become great practitioners of religion while losing the glow of our faith. Pastor Mark Batterson calls us back to the simplicity of belief and practice that Jesus taught; love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul and then that love out in the world.

In Primal, Batterson attempts to push aside all of the complexity and help us return to the four corners of our faith. He organizes the book around four primal elements that he identifies in the Great Commandment:

The heart of Christianity is primal compassion,
The soul of Christianity is primal wonder,
The mind of Christianity is primal curiosity,
And the strength of Christianity is primal energy.

Each of these elements is explored in a series of chapters that further devolve the idea, hoping to drill down to the pure essence of each facet.

I was disappointed when this expectation wasn’t met. I’ll tell you up front, I wanted to love this book. Batterson’s first book In a Pit with a Lion on a Sunny Day is one of my favorite books bringing Benaiah to life as he did. I wanted to love this book, but ended up only liking it. The size of the collage of stories, biographical accounts, and inspiring words does just what Mark had set out to erase as his points get lost in the avalanche. The majority of the vignettes are inspiring and will give you pause to reflect but as far as leading us to a primal core, we could use a better map.

For more information about this book, click for the Waterbrook web site.

This was book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah.