Not of This World Relationships

1John 2:12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name. 13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome he evil one. I write to you, dear children, because you have known the Father. 14 I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

1John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Rembrandt has it right; life is all about relationships, and not just our relationship with one another, our relationship with respect to the holy light, the individual relationship to God as we relate to one another in this world. The art of art and the heart of art is the mastery of the medium linked to powerfully communicate the layers and great depths of the moment it portrays. A portrait is so immensely more than capturing the moment, it should resonate and expose manifold layers of truth and insight to those who choose to ponder the imagery. We must learn to sit with the work and ponder the revelation just as the artist sat and pondered the detail of the portrait he was about to paint, and once complete in mind, begin the process of unleashing the vision.

My pastor, Brian Craig has it right too, as he preached yesterday's Easter sermon about this painting and the scripture from

Luke 15:1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Yes, Jesus went to those who would hear him, and for some of us, who claim to be followers of God, we may have lost our way, on the way, just as the Pharisees had. My pastor spoke of the parable of the "Prodigal Son" as not about the son, but rather about the father...calling it the parable of the compassionate father, ultimately calling us to move from being the rebellious son toward living as the compassionate father. For both the son who walked away from the father, taking and squandered his inheritance as well as the son who while faithful to the father, stood in bitterness as his father poured out compassion on the wayward son were errant, but God's light was available to each. No matter our place, God will pour out compassion if we choose to remain in His light.

God's fingerprints of faith pressed masterfully upon Rembrandt and Rembrandt faithfully impressed his own fingerprints upon the canvas, which now press faithfully upon this life unleashing truth, challenging this heart to pursue the depth of fully living as the artist, my pastor and my Lord inspires. The fingerprints of faith press gently on my heart, connecting me powerfully with relationship, to God, people and family.

Life is truly about relationships. Just a few days ago, my dad and I were talking about the selfish, self-serving nature of many in our world and the irritation it adds to our lives; people in a hurry, many racing drivers (especially those with fish or NOTW stickers on their cars). Just yesterday too, my wife and I were talking about a person who yelled at her because as she backed out of our driveway she didn't see the car coming in the distance (he was speeding incidentally) and wait for her to pull out and head off. You see, we are and would be just like these people if it weren't for grace pouring into our lives, our recognition of it and the living out of grace. When someone cuts me off on the road, I can either seethe or extend grace toward them thinking that they just didn't see me. It can't be that they want to get into an accident with me. It's all about relationships and how I choose to view them.

My desire is to be like the compassionate father, towards both sons. To build the right relationships with others including my family. I choose to come to the light, and realize that if we all did, the world would be filled with grace rather than selfishness, forgiveness rather than judgment and healing rather than feeling wronged. It is time for many more who claim to live for God and Jesus to actually live like those who serve as Jesus did. May we all serve with compassion as the father of the wayward son and faithful son did then and does now. It's time to live like we are not of this world.

Focusing Not on Avenues of Worship, but the God of Worship

It has be a while since posting here, and yet God's fingerprints continue to press more of Himself onto and into me. What I find interesting is, that as I press on with greater regularity to prayer, and listening to God, I find it easier to ease away from the things of this world. Its as if the song writer (Helen Howarth Lemmel) of "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" really had it right in the chorus of her song, so powerful that most people don't even remember the rest of song that sings of the importance of understanding life and sharing Jesus with others.

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus by Hellen Howarth Lemmel

1. O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
* Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
2. Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conqu’rors we are!
3. His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

I remember singing the whole hymn as a young man, in our Baptist Church...and using the chorus alone in leading musical worship in our high school and college groups. Yet the whole song speaks of more, and the importance of not just looking to Jesus, but why and how He will help us and help us help others!

In a recent conversation with my brother, their synagogue (no he isn't Jewish but now finds himself leading a messianic congregation) finds themselves reexamining their vision, for it seems, to put it succinctly, that many have slipped into the worship of Israel and Jewishness rather than the full correlation of Jesus and Jewishness. It is true, that if we were to more fully understand the history and people of Christianity (the Jews) and their culture, new avenues of understanding of our God would be opened to us, the avenues themselves should not be the object of worship, nor the learnings and understandings, but simply the fullness of knowing more of the character and nature of our God!

So, I stand here, linking all these fingerprints upon my life as another important piece of the message. I should not worship the avenues that move me towards Jesus and our God, but only God Himself. Prayer, reading His word, listening for His voice, waiting and doing are not the objects of worship, they are the avenues of worship. Him more fully and worship of the only one who can redeem me, complete me and drive me to my knees in reverence to Him is. He alone is and should remain, the object and recipient of my/our worship.

In Jesus' prayer for believers and those who would become believers in John 17 He says:

24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

It is that simple and becoming fuller and more apparent that what I seek is not more prayer time, or more reading of scripture time, or even to learn more about being Jewish to understand the heritage of faith, but rather more knowledge of Him, living like and as if Jesus is in me. Yes, indeed, it requires prayer and reading, yes indeed, I should learn more about the heritage of my faith, but these are not the objects of worship, rather the avenues of worship. It is not these tasks themselves that are worship, rather the means toward deeper and fuller worship.

The bottom line is still there though, as I turn my eyes and fix them upon Jesus, I can rest confident that He in me and I in Him will form the reality of worship, the daily living and doing as He leads for His glory. I want the things of earth that need to grow dim to fade away, and the things of Him that need to rise in my soul to burn brightly as the testimony of His work and life in me to grow into me.

The apostle Paul had it right (of course, it is recorded in God's word) when he speaks about worship saying:

Roman 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Pastor Brian Craig of our church also has it right when he speaks of our lives lived as slaves to Christ and God. If I am to be a living sacrifice, I surely must sacrifice my own personal gain and worldly interest for the sake of greater things, the greater things that Jesus wants to do through me, with me and in me.

God alone is my 'object' of worship. I desire to worship Him more fully, and with greater understanding as I walk through this life. The avenues of worship are praise, adoration, learning and listening; praying, looking and living as His slave. May the sweetness of the presence of Jesus Christ rise in and from our hearts into this broken and shattered world as we worship, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Not Easy to Remain Supple

Revisiting my previous blog written a month ago, I find myself, today, more steeped in it than even then. God is at work in us, and His fingers press against the hopefully supple clay, our lives in response. We choose to remain soft and available, or firmer and resistant. It is our responsibility to adjust our attitude and hearts in a manner that we can be gently pressed into His will, or face the blows of His hammer and chisel to be conformed into His likeness.

It isn't easy, I must confess, to remain supple. The world, the struggles of life, real life where we live it, can easily harden our hearts. It is one way we can 'protect' ourselves. Yet protecting ourselves may be, in fact, counter that of what God wants to forge in us. Maybe our plight is part of His endeavor to steep in us an understanding. How can we understand another's struggle, unless we ourselves endure similar situations? Is it not that as we face and overcome the valleys, the joys, and even the regularity of life that we can come alongside another who is facing that which we, with God figured out how to get through?

Is it not time for a new accountability? Is it not time to come alongside another? Is it not also time to be real, sharing our triumphs and the mistakes we made while trying to figure out our times of distress and angst?

Romans 9:18-24 says this:
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? 22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

It is a difficult process, this living of life, this enduring ordeals, facing day after day, new struggles and victories while still wrestling with old ones. It isn't easy, no, actually impossible to remain supple in this world without some means of connection to The One who will help us remain so. Those who know me at length can speak of this man's heart being transformed from one with an oft pessimism, to one of frequent hope and encouragement. It comes not from myself and me forging the change within, but because I have allowed this heart to be softened, desiring a suppleness that allows it to be transformed and pressed with greater ease by my Master, the God who owns me and loves to lead me in ways of righteousness for His name's sake. It isn't easy to remain supple, but it is much easier if I frequent the presence of the one who is pressing on me, for then, He can shape me back into His desire and I don't require dynamic, forceful reshaping, just gentle pressing and massage as a response to His leading.

Everywhere The Good Shepherd Leads.

I see hills and mountains everywhere!

"Some are for you to climb, and many are for you to come alongside sharing the climb with others. Do this, knowing that I will give you all, the strength, guidance and provision on your way. And as your good shepherd, I will lead you and the flocks I call you to lead, to cool, calm, refreshing waters when you need it most". -God

Life these days seem filled with angst and challenge for me, many of my friends and loved ones. I find myself at times overwhelmed with tears of sadness, other times with tears of joy, and all the while wondering if The Good Shepherd is trying to gather His sheep, get our attention and demonstrate His power to rescue, protect, and lead us as we wrestle for position, seek our own way, and just aimlessly go about our sheep business. Often the nearby bleating seemingly overpowers the voice of our shepherd in our ears, and could rise to an overwhelming cacophany if we let it. But other shepherds get their instruction from Him, leading us scattered flocks in the way of The Good Shepherd.

It has become my soul desire to listen to The Good Shepherd, and clearly He seems to be asking me to come alongside others to help them hear the voice of The Good Shepherd. Nothing in my life has brought more comfort in angst, more joy in beauty and more strength in my weakness. When I feel lost, He comes to find and lead me. When the seeming power of death pressed against me, He came to heal me. When I need encouragement, He shares His through His people or directly Himself. When I frequently fail, He gently picks my head up, tells me to sin no more, and dusts off or washes my clothes clean. I frequently require bathing, renewal, forgiveness, healing, and every time, He has provided and restored. Forged in this heart is the call to humility, to honor, to let God glorify Himself, in and through me.

I am overwhelmed, but desire nothing less than His best, His call, His leading, His provision, His passion to move into and through this ever growing heart. I long to be His inspiration in the lives of others to desire the same and find the joy of serving, advancing from sheep, to shepherd, formally or in. We can all choose to either just look at the ground before us, eat the grass and drink the water as we 'wander', or discover, together that the greater peace comes from knowing and being close to The Good Shepherd, discovering that we aren't just aimlessly wandering, there is a point, a reason, a purpose in everywhere The Good Shepherd leads.

Rising to the Rigors of His Revelations

Nearly four years ago I asked God to help other men become men of prayer, finding myself being asked by Him to become more of one first. The transformation has taken this long, and I now find myself doing, thinking and walking in prayer more often than ever in my life; His fingerprints pressing on my soul, then reaching out to press on others. Having seen the power of prayer, the miraculous, the magnificent, and monumental response of God to both mine and the intercession of others, this form of communication has moved from casual to imperative.

The imperative nature of prayer has been unleashed upon my soul as the penultimate form of change and transformation for nations, people and friends; not engaging the act, but engaging The Only One who can complete the act of transformation, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, now at the right hand of the Father, and the Holy Spirit; the act being also completing in me.

Rising this morning, I found myself inspired by this question: If prayer is so powerful and truly changes lives, living and circumstances, why is it that we do not spend far more time in prayer than any other activity? The truth being, that we spend the most time doing what we believe to be the most important, and it isn't prayer!

So this morning, I found myself rising to the rigors of revelation; God asking me to become a man of prayer and now coming full face to the quandary of the position and importance of the act. What does it truly mean to be a man of prayer? Five hours a day? Six? Twelve? Twenty-four? Ah, yes, available twenty-four hours a day, nothing less, nothing more (as if more were an option?). Rather than telling people I will pray for them, why not stop immediately and do it now, with them! Rather than relegate it to my 'closet' Jesus time, why not in public? Why not in the moment? Why not any time, any where? For how long? As long as it takes. For what purpose? The purpose of seeing God's glory. For what reason? Because it is and has been what He has asked of me, and may be asking of you.

With the millions upon millions of Blogs out there, all vying for readers, all competing for readership and time, I am humbled that anyone would take the time to read these musings of mine. Yet, even if none read, here stands a tribute to the only wise God, the only God who can change and has changed the world, and is willing to let me be a part of that change, not that I can get puffed up and boast in myself, but rather that I can know that I stand with The Almighty and Glorious King, The Only One who can and has created and continues to create, and The Only God who responds to the prayers of this minuscule servant in The Kingdom of God, rising to the rigors of His revelations.

Hearts Poured Out with Thanksgiving

Look hard at the lives of others and in many you will see the fingerprints of faith, a God who is working wildly worthwhile works for His glorious kingdom through His ever mindful children. Ebbing and flowing from moments miraculous, to a singular, seemingly simplistic smile placed at just the right moment. Maybe it is just sitting silently with a friend in angst, or praying, unnoticed by any other in the world, in the corner of a room.

Life seems complex, but should rather be complexly intertwined with the heart of our glorious Lord, moving in and out of steeped interaction with His call and leading in our lives. Once again, rising in my heart is His call to greater things, greater works, the manifold power of Christ, rising through our lives. Yet it is balance, and must be so, in such a way that we see, in God's economy, that even the apparently unglorious (in man's eyes), such things that no one else may see, but God Himself calls us to, is a part of that greater thing.

It is the complete balance, forged with tenacity and thanksgiving that presses upon us, pressing us into a life of greater things. As we celebrate around tables this Thanksgiving, let's share the gamut of His stories from small to large, in celebration of His fingerprints upon us. Like the widow's mite, we should also understand that the smallest, given with fullness of heart and faith, stand head and shoulders above the acts that have even a twinge of self serving. May our hearts pour out with thankfulness to our God this season.

Moments of Fame, Monuments of Faith

Having completed the project for my mother-in-law successfully, and, making myself available to the other opportunities around me during that time(leading music in worship on Sundays for a month at the local church in Rogers City, engaging in rich conversations with many people), I found myself in two interesting, but similar positions as I left one place and returned back home. You see, as I left my mother-in-law's and Rogers City, she, and many of the people there told me that I would be sincerely missed, and while returning home, many friends spoke to me of deeply missing me for the month I was absent. Could I have, in both places, been building relationships in such a way that my presence with and absence from them for only a month, forged and had forged deep and considerable magnitudes of care into their lives, while for those at home, regularly rose within them a hole that I usually filled for them? As I walked through my days there and here, was I leaving God's fingerprints upon the lives of those I lived with and encountered? Is that why my presence will be and was, missed? How is it that my life could have such an impact in such a short time? Why is it that my presence was so greatly missed at home?

As I press towards my earthly demise,the permanent absence from this planet, I have come to realize that I have a choice, I can choose to leave my fingerprints upon the planet as I touch things and people around me, or leave His, you know, God's fingerprints upon their lives. I have found that if I choose to leave mine, the result is one of lackluster results and nondescript or minuscule accomplishments. However, if I manage to let God leave His fingerprints upon those I encounter, something much larger, more significant results from our presence (Jesus' and mine together). There is a key to making a difference and it isn't dependent upon money or any other gift into or out to others. It isn't based upon a pure heart of benevolence and good doing. It is dependent upon His work, His leading, His words, and in fact, His presence, pressing onto the lives of others. Sure, there are things for me to do, like building a car ramp up to the living level of my mother-in-law's home so she can move in and out of her home easily with her walker, or the daily stuff that needs accomplishing at home, but even these kinds of things must be moved ahead, in faith, led by Jesus. It is just that simple.

As I returned, a host of my friends told me that they rejoiced at my return for many reasons and that I was really missed. While it would be easy for me to become big headed and prideful about it all, I have come to realize that what they were saying and truly missed was the spirit of God that moves through me as I walk and do in obedience to Him. They missed 'our presence'. Not that it gets accomplished with high frequency, but it seems to be happening more and more as I give my life over to His leading more and more. Of course my wife missed me, as I did her, for she is a part of God's presence in my life and her absence left a huge God/Carrie size hole in my life! Sure, talking on the phone and via emails helped cross the time, but nothing takes the place of presence. I found myself missing them, the wonderful inputters and infusers of God's grace into my days apart from them, all the while in the presence of others pressing into me while away in Michigan.

You see, as we mature in Christ, there should be this God sized revelation that it isn't only our own doings that forge meaningful memories and life events into others, but our doings that are joined with God's doings, His leadings, His forging that accomplish powerful and eternally meaningful events into the lives of those around us. I have started asking the question of God, why shouldn't I have the same kind of impact as Paul or any of the disciples in the Bible? You see, they are still impacting our lives today! The widow and her minuscule offering speaks volumes of loving God (Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4). Seemingly insignificant life events, transformed by the understanding and obedience of following our leader, knowing His heart.

Could it be that our nation stands as heathen, because we have offered so little as His followers? Have we, in doing what we think is God's will, offered to them tainted goodness? Do people who look at Christians really see a genuine heart that leaves a God sized impression upon their lives, or are we really no different that anybody else?

My desire is to be like the widow who gave everything she had to God monetarily, because she understood where it all came from and that more would be coming. Many gave more in the tills of offering that day, but they were not lauded. She not only gave the tenth, not only gave of her first fruits, she gave it all and Jesus recognized her faith! I desire my moments of fame to be monuments of faith, in such a way, that for eternity, God's glory will be recognizable and His presence, forged within me, will be missed when away, and appreciated when present. The fingerprints of faith, given me by God, once again, for eternity, will remain indelible.