Friday, October 26, 2007

Abiding

How do we live free from the identity which we may find in what we do or what we’re passionate about? How do we move beyond strife, envy, and ambition in the pursuit of our dreams to a more narrow and satisfying gate? For it’s senseless to live from one man approved mountain to the next, trudging through a valley of self-abasement or delusion until we come to the next peak of our great and arduous journey. I, for one, do not want to depend on their words, their measurements, their chains of manipulation to pull me out of a world which is slowly losing its enchantment, slowly transforming from a golden maid to a haggard witch whose control is to make us believe we need her in order to leave our mark. So how do we find that place of contentment in the Father, where His approval, His promotion, His timing is all that we know and desire? As John writes, “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” First of all, shame seems to be the antithesis of confidence, the root of our shrinking away. Why would we have shame? Simple, because we are not abiding in Him, because we don’t know Him. I believe abiding is key to our maintaining a steady spirit in the Lord through which we receive our approval, and even through which God receives His. It’s not as though He needs it, but I think He longs to have it all the same, as a father might long to have his son ask for a blessing upon his marriage. When we abide in God, we put to death every voice that says we ought to be doing something; we ought to be running hard after our dreams. To be still and know that He is, that He is fully aware of what we need, of what pressures exist in our lives, of what things we long to achieve, and that He is more than able to accomplish those things. If the process seems to stall, seems to last a little longer than forty years in the desert, we must return to our place of abiding, to entrust ourselves in a secret fold of the Father’s robe where time stops, and the presence of I AM can filter through our decaying mindsets of failure and abandonment. That’s all we need to comprehend, that He is I AM, able to raise the dead because death is nothing more than the talon of the witch’s frustrated finger, weaving fervently her last, desperate spell. But the light of His abiding self, which He chooses to rest on and in us, damages that spell, cuts the talon off even if it’s to grow once more. One day, she will be toothless, fingerless, and mute. And out of her dispossessed body will rise a new earth, one which our full authority and life will be revealed from the seeds of our abiding.

Monday, October 22, 2007

From Grasshoppers to Warriors

I was reading this morning and wondering how the transition happened in Nehemiah when the Jews went from fearful, uncommitted men to builders who carried a sword in one hand and their load in the other. Get the picture, their city is in ruins, burning; they're outcasts returning to a land where they're despised by the provinces that surround them, and Nehemiah calls together a ragtag bunch of ordinary people to rebuild the temple. Talk about insurmountable odds...they get their supplies from the land around them, at one point Nehemiah can't travel any further because the debris is so high that he has to climb over on foot. So they start rebuilding the wall that will enclose the temple and immediately encounter opposition. It starts off as mockery and slander to their work but then it moves into actual death intentions. Those who didn't want the temple rebuilt planned to sneak in and kill the workers. Nehemiah gets revelation about this, prays, and God tells him to set up watchmen along the wall with swords and spears and bows, day and night. This is a picture of the tabernacle of David already; they didn't need a building. Day and night worship, intercession, and warfare. They could've run away but instead they went aggressively for the plans of God. Still, fear creeps in and is a bigger enemy than the actual people who wish to disrupt the plans. Nehemiah "sees" this and tells them: "Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses." This is where you see the transition. They begin to carry their weapons with them as they work. God has made warriors out of them, casting fear out of their lives so that they can keep moving forward. They're to receive revelation about who God is and to act on it. Nehemiah is very good at connecting worship with action. Fear was the thing making them seem small and insignificant but God had a plan that needed accomplishing.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Pumpkin Festivities

My precious and sometimes precocious nephew, Noah.
Picking the lucky few who'll face a fate worse than death...carving by children's hands.
He's a regular pioneer. We ran into my cousin, Evelyn and my aunt.

Living up to his namesake, Noah cares for animals of all sizes.
Heeeeeeellllllllllllllllllllooooooooooooooo down there...