Examination vs. Adoration

I have again been moved by the words of A.W. Tozer...As usual, his words have rocked me to the core...

Tozer makes the point in "The Pursuit of God", page. 73-74, that during his day and certainly in ours, we live in a secular age. As a result, our thought habits are most similiar to "those of a scientist, not those of a worshipper."

A scientist. Does that describe me? What about you? Do we approach God, this God whom we as Christians say we have a 'personal relationship' with, seeking to examine and find proofs about God in an effort to have an authentic faith. Or do we approach God as people who fall to their knees and "whisper '"God'". Are willing to admit that we are going to have to wait until heaven before we are able to explain God? Is God unknowable? Certainly not, Is He unexplainable? Yes, in a limited manner. We can explain God based upon what we 1). Know of Him from the Word and 2). What nature reveals to us about God? For the worshipper, Knowledge of God revealed in the Scriptures and the Glory of God revealed in nature are enough to spur wonder and awe. To the scientist, more is needed.

Maybe you can see it, there is a large difference between the two.

Truthfully, most scientists find it difficult if not impossible to have much "faith" in anything besides their "science". If science cannot explain, it must not be true and real, and therefore, cannot be a valid, authentic option.

A true worshipper on the other hand has very little need for explanation of their faith. They take faith for what it is, faith. "The certainty of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Too bad, in our secular age, scientists are not the ones leading the charge in providing evidences to the church about our God that would spur us on in our pursuit of the Almighty. Instead, they are apparently enemies.

Tozer went further with his words and stated that as a result of this scientific mindset, "we are more likely to explain than to adore." Again Tozer is right on the money.

We are not called to explain God or to even necessarily demand an explanation from God, rather, we are called to come to his feet and adore.

May I be found at His feet in wonder and awe, not standing in the midst of His glory demanding more proof...
SDG
JW

The night that changed it all..!!!

It has become only recently apparent to me why there was only one 'book on tape" that would remotely interest me that night at the Hastings in Russellville about this time last year...

I was just looking for a little company via a 'book on tape' for the 90 minute ride home...Little did I know that the lack of consumer choice that night would change my life...

After listening to this book in its entirety 3 times, I called a couple of God chasing buddies and discussed the issues contained within...We all agreed that this book would be perfect for us and for our group at church, which was in desperate need of a fresh infusion of spiritual meat to chew on...

The book was Waking the Dead by John Elderdge...I had passed over this book many times in bookstores, but that night in the Hastings, it really was my only choice...NOTE: (I do not include any Word of Faith/Health & Wealth books as spiritual choices to pick from)....

The encounter I had with God through our true exposition of this book I thought would have lasting effects on our group as a whole and only in part for me as it dealt with my involvement with the group: Fighting for one another, building a "redemptive powerhouse" from within our group, guarding and protecting our hearts....We have done a lot of talking and reminding, but it has sort of fissiled a little, as we thought it may...But we have made the effort and fought many battles...

However, little did I know that I was reading that book for me, for this night, as I sit at this computer...My heart is being torn apart at current...Some of the issues that weigh on my heart have been previously discussed in this blog.....People who are making decisions at my church have my heart in their hands and I pray that it is handled well...But past history with church people and my heart have very seldom turned out well...

I do not want to get caught in the middle of the frenzy but I do want the desires that God has placed within me to soar...I also have competing desires within that do not want to go through the pain of my heart ignored, mistreated, misunderstood (as is usual most of the time for me) or broken...And I find myself upon that precipice that brings all of the aforementioned into play and possibility...

Truth is my heart has broken in this manner too many time before and I am not, at this time, willing to take the risk again...May the Lord grant me His peace and wisdom that surpasses all human understanding...May He speak to the deepest parts of my heart has He has done so many times this year...

In recent days, I have drawn from the words of Waking the Dead many times...I have been encouraged, confronted and haunted by them...I fear that I may lose heart...I fear that I will lose heart...I fear that my talent is fading fast...I fear that I have been on a different ride than many of the people within my church...It seems I am hearing a lot of fear right now...

The passions within my heart have been shared by me to whoever would listen this year...Those passions call me to pursue God with all that I am and I want others to come along with me...And I know more than anything that music alone cannot do it...Much more has to be brought to the table, but it seems that music is the only way in the door...

And after 12 months, it hits me, all that has been on my heart these last days, and after all that I have endured in 2008 and after all that we have fought for, who would have known, the book was meant for me the whole time...

SDG

JW

Thirst that leads to Aching

I have been struck this week by a quote I read in John Eldredge's book, The Journey of Desire. Eldredge's basic thesis of this book is that God has placed within each one of us a specific set of desires that are unique to us and therefore compel us. Some of us pursue these desires; others pull a Jonah and try to run from them, but find that they cannot because these desires are the basic fabric of who they are...And it results in several troubles.

In Chapter 11, Eldredge is talking about recovering and living with thrist and hunger as the M.O. of our lives. He makes this statement that I understood immediately when I read it for the first time. He said "To live thirsty is to live with an ache." Let those words sink in for a moment. Eldredge makes direct application of this statement in both physical and spiritual contexts. I will comment on it from the spiritual context. I have read similar statements from many others including, Augustine, Tozer, Gary Thomas, Pascal, Piper, to name a few. But Eldredge's combining of thirsting and aching are spot on.

As a man efforting to live a life that authenticly pursues the glory of God in my life, thirsting should be the hallmark of my life and the cry of my heart. And having my thirst quenched by an eternal being leaves my heart aching for eternity itself. My heart will ache because it knows that it was meant for another place and another time and because of Jesus, my heart knows it is going to be made whole and complete some day, which is satisfying and dehydrating at the same time.

The point is that Jesus has promised (Matt. 5) that those who "hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled." Our thirst and hunger must be at the forefront of our lives. We must pursue satisfaction from eternal sources and not from sources that this temporal world offers. Jesus has promised to hear us and fill us.

Therefore, we are to live our lives in constant pursuit of the fulfiller of our hunger and thirst. We are to live being: Always Hungry. Always Satisfied.

SDG

JW

Maybe Plato was right afterall ?!?!?!

I have a quote from Plato on my desk at work that reads, "Old age has a great sense of calm and freedom when the passions have relaxed their hold and you have escaped, not from one master, but from many."

Are Plato's words as much of a description of your Christian life as they are mine??? How I long for the calm and freedom of having only one passion that masters my life...

I have recently been struck by this song, Reign in Us, by Starfield...The musical aspects of the song are nice and catchy, but as is always important with me, the words always mean more than the tune...The words in this song that are compelling are as follows: "O Great and Mighty One, with one desire we have come: that You would reign, You would reign in us." Notice this over-used phrase in churchianity today, "ONE DESIRE WE HAVE COME"... Come on, really??? One, single, solitary desire. Sounds easier than it lives.

I have become convinced of many things over the years, but there is one thing I have become convinced of out of mere frustrated experience. It is the idea that living the Christian life would theoretically be easier to live if I could indeed reduce all of my passions and desires down ONE thing. Whether it be the Lord reigning in me, or that I would "know and follow hard after " Him, or that I would "come and die"; having one single minded passion would be a much better barometer for me to use to evaluate where I am when compared to this kaleidoscope of perspective I usually draw from. But the focus needed....

Without a doubt, I want to have ONE "pure and Holy passion". I would love to have ONE "magnificent obsession", one "glorious ambition" for my life, but honestly, what a struggle that is. Seems like it takes too much time and effort to narrow down all desires into one. But, I am convinced that it is a noble and worthy road for us travel. It is narrow, lonely, confusing, and difficult, but worth every step and stride.

May God help in this pursuit. May He make it clear what ONE passion He has laid on our hearts and may we pursue His passion for our lives with all that we are.

SDG
JW

Evidence of Transformation and the Assurance Thereof

It is safe to say that for the last few days I have been 'haunted' by a statement that I heard posed by Dr. Ravi Zacharias during one his podcasts that I had recently downloaded. His statement went something like this. He said that there is one apologetic question that he is asked from time to time and that he asks himself in return that he has not been able to reconcile and/or provide much of an answer to in his years of defending the Christian faith. The question pertained to the possibility of someone claiming to have had a supernatural transformation resulting from an encounter with God and yet show so little evidence of the transformation in their lives...

His following point was well made before he made it. If our lives do not show the evidence of this transformation or change, then what is it that we claim to have??? Paul Washer separately comments that this claim to redemption by many would be comparable to someone's being hit by a 130-ton log truck while walking across a street and not showing any ill-effects to the impact of the log truck on their bodies. Washer comments that this is a near impossibility.

The overarching schematic to this concern is that the implications are staggering. Although the way we live our lives may certainly affect the way the gospel radiates from our lives, we should not be surprised that we may know many that would fall into the area that Zacharias and Washer illustrate. Maybe even we fall into this...

Jesus said very plainly in Matthew 7, that the road that leads to life is narrow and only a FEW would find it. I think there is a strong possibility that we should not expect to see a bunch of goats walking on this narrow road. The narrow road is reserved for the sheep that can hear his voice and follow his voice.

The transformation that is necessary to make a goat into sheep is supernatural and can only be done by the Holy Spirit Himself...Maybe it is time to start separating the sheep from the goats.

As I write this, I have paused a song that was playing. It is on Hillsong's new album "This is our God"...I paused it in the chorus which says, "The same power that conquered the grave lives in me. Lives in me." Wow! That power is transforming. If I have been transformed by the power of God, that power lives in me. The power should produce some effects.

So what about those of us who have church roots in our blood...Do I display this power in my life? After all, I cannot offer (nor do I wish I could offer) a testimony similar to Paul's Damascus Road or Mary Magdalene. However, these questions/doubts about our conversions do come and thankfully are readily answerable by the Holy Spirit to help those like me KNOW that we have eternal life...

Maybe it does all boil down to simply asking, where do my passions lie? What am I pursuing? Do I look forward to heaven or am I striving to Live my best life now? Am I being conformed into the image of Christ? Or is the answer to all of these questions, No.! God save me if the answer is no.

Resolved to live, believe and radiate "The same power that conquered the grave" that lives in me!!!!

Soli Deo Gloria

JW

Worship is making much of Christ

Well, I have just done something that I thought I would never do...That is to say, never do again...I have submitted my name for consideration to my church...We are soon to have a need for a 2nd service (contemporary) worship leader/pastor...

It has been almost 5 years since my last gig/shot at this "worship" leading. But as I look over the last 10 years of my life, especially spiritually, I can see that "worship" is a topic that I have passionately pursued and studied for a decade now...Thanks be to God that I have stopped short of "worshipping worship". The first time I heard the phrase - "worshipping worship" - I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever heard, now I get it...But...

In my circles and in my life, I can say that I have been a part of, in some form, the "worship" movement that has taken place since 1997 or so...It did not take long, however, before "worship" ceased to be a verb and turned into a noun and almost a proper noun at that...And the moment worship became a noun, it became an idol...And it turns my stomach...

The mistake that has been routinely made is leaders thinking that "worship" can be done the same way everything else is - man-made and manufactured....The problem is that God does not work that way and He never has. The fallacies in our thinking are many but a couple of large ones that cripple our worship and quench the Spirit of God would include:
1). Man is the audience
2). God needs our help
3). God is required to 'show up' at our whim and on our time
4). Worship should be entertaining and friendly

Again these are just a few of the fallacies that have run rough-shod over the church the last, who knows how many years...

Simply put, worship is showing people Jesus and letting the Holy Spirit work from there...We are to make much of Jesus Christ and we are to plead with the Holy Spirit and let Him know that we want Him and need Him in our meetings and services...

May we make much of Christ. May the Holy Spirit allow "worship" to flow freely amongst us. We rebuke man-made performances that are sold to us as true, authentic worship...

Seeking the Light that has been shown in our hearts, revealed to us by the Father in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).

Soli Deo Gloria

JW

Thoreau's words apply to us today

The World Net Dictionary defines "desperate" in part as : "showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire."

It was Henry David Thoreau who said: "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

I know most folks do not carry Thoreau's works with them to the woods, but I think Thoreau's words are applicable to us as children of God and believers in Jesus Christ. His words help to define for us the type of life we should live in our pursuit of the glory of Christ….

Although Thoreau was an agnostic, he spoke volumes about the struggle and fight that life can be and the resulting mental challenges that are raised from the issues that we battle….

For Thoreau, he believed that most men quietly struggled to sing the song of life that they had been given…The song of life that desperately needs to be sung, but for many, for some reason, is not able to be sung….

For us as believers, there is also a quiet struggle that we fight, not to simply sing our life songs, but to sing the songs that come from an intimate relationship with God…Our stated belief in Jesus Christ should help to free us from all the sin and struggles that hinder us or to quote James 1: Jesus enables us to be free from the sin that so easily entangles…

Folks, we are called by Christ to live desperately…Not as people who are lost, but as men who have been found and are thirsty and hungry for God…We are called to follow hard after God…We are to drink deeply of God….King David can be used as an example of a life that was lived in spiritual desperation for God…

May we be people that are desperate for God alone not because we are hopeless but because we are hopeful….May we live lives that fulfill this call and may we follow hard after God and may he reward our efforts…

Soli Deo Gloria,
JW

Waiting in a Dependant State

In Gary Thomas' Authentic Faith he makes a statement that is reality shattering for any American Christian...He says "In spite of our obsession with instant results, we serve a God whose calendar moves by millennia not minutes, and who thinks in terms of generations, not seasons. Unless we understand this about God - that he moves in millennia, not minutes - we will never understand his ways."


To illustrate the above point, Thomas notes that it took God 25 years to deliver on His promise to Abraham by providing Isaac…see Genesis 12…Thomas also uses Psalm 130: 5-6 to illustrate that God's blessings do not always come with the speed of a bullet, but rather with the slow, steady approach of a glacier…See also, Lamentations 3:24,26…

Thomas notes that one clear fact remains: God will not be rushed…

However, honestly, "this 'discipline' of waiting on God can be debilitating and suck our souls dry - unless it is marked by hope in God. Waiting, for the believer, is not the futile and desperate act of those who have no other options, but rather a confident trust that eventually God will set things right" - even if he is operating outside of our time frame (Isaiah 40:31)...


It is true that without a willingness to wait on the Lord, we will become "regularly frustrated" with God and we can, as a result, become disillusioned with our faith…Sometimes, we will have to wait until the present becomes the past before we can make sense of what is happening at present….

We must remember that this "discipline" of waiting on God is the single place that belongs to us as children of the Living God...As Andrew Murray pointed out, this place of utter and sole dependence on God is the only place or state in our lives that God has promised to bless and commune with us...

May we seek this place of dependence...May the "waiting" that is required of us so that we grow in maturity and faith be a place of worship not whining...

JW

I want some of whatever Tozer was Drinking!!!

It never ceases to amaze me (and honestly make me a tad bit jealous) when I read or hear Christian folk who, by what I am reading or hearing, are or were at such a deeper level with God than I am. So much so that it makes my heart and brain hurt at the same time. Talk about a paradox. It begs comparison of my life to theirs almost without thinking about it.

To many, A.W. Tozer would fall into this category of foregone folks. Although Tozer's last words were spoken in 1963, his words live on and speak almost prophetically to the American church in 2008. I will give one such of his quotes from the "preface" of his "The Pursuit of God", originally "The Divine Conquest"...Again this is from the "preface"...

"Within the fold of conservative Christianity there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself...They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep from the Fountain of Living Water..."

When I read this recently, it knocked me back like a high-n-tight fastball...It spoke deeply to my heart. Why? Because there are many days that go by that I feel a little lonely in this pursuit. Not so much lonely in my relationship with the Lord, but lonely in relation to my fellowships and shared experiences with the brethern. It is hard to find someone who have even heard of guys Tozer, much less talk about what Tozer commented on 60 years ago...Kind of like a lone ranger or Elijah...But Tozer went further.



"...this hunger must be recognized by our religious leaders. Current evangelicalism has laid the altar and divided the sacrifice into parts, but now seems satisfied to count the stones and rearrange the pieces with never a care that there is not a sign of fire upon the top of lofty Mount Carmel...But God be thanked there are a few who care...They are those who, while they love the altar and sacrifice, are yet unable to reconcile themselves to the continues absence of fire. They desire God above all..."

Wow!!! How much time do I spend worried about the forms and external pressures that drive my worship and our worship as a people? Do I notice that there is a lack of fire coming from our sacrifice of praise? Do our "religious leaders" give a rip about feeding this hunger and fanning the flame or are they more worried about numbers and offerings?? I like to think that I desire God above all things. But to desire God above all things means that I have to be concerned about and look for fire in my worship. May we seek the "fire" and may we kick anything that does not help stoke the fire to the curb! SDG. JW

Out of the gate

In honor of always trying to get a quick start out of the blocks, this little blog is the first of my life. The purpose of this blog will be to always seek to help us to look up in our pursuit of Christ.


I, like the Reformers, am of the opinion, that although it may be difficult to flesh out, the single greatest pursuit you and I can and should have is for the Glory of God to be pursued, captured (relatively speaking) and displayed in our lives. "As the deer pants for the water, so my soul thirsts for you..." David -



May the Lord help us in our pursuit. Seeking the Glory of God as revealed in the face of Christ.


JW