Whirlwind

It has been a sort-of whirlwind week. First, we discover a large hornet’s nest under the eaves of the house. How do you get rid of it without getting yourself or anyone else stung?

Then, a bat got into the house. My wife and kids are scared. There is a possibility of some really serious diseases. I have yet found a way to catch a flying bat, so I whacked it with a badminton racket. This always leaves me a little depressed. Even bats has their place in God’s world. And it would probably have preferred to not be in my house either.

Then, my wife bought a new refrigerator. There was a circus getting it home. (We bought it on clearance, so the store would not deliver it, even if we paid for delivery. Figure that out.) The circus continued getting it into the house. House doorways were too narrow, so we had to take the frig doors off. Swapping food. Getting the old one out. It still worked, so we found a home for it.

Finally, a couple we know and love are thinking of calling it quits. And that is really, really sad. So, we talked, listened and prayed. There was no abuse or infidelity. There were no habits or practices that either had that were bad. No money issues. No children issues. No issues that one usually hears about.

The husband is really sad and really dissatisfied with life. Life and his marriage relationship wasn’t what he expected. It doesn’t seem worth carrying on in a limbo status for 20-30 years.

And people say, “Good relationships require work. You work through the problems. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” And he says, “Yea, I know. But in between the negatives, there should be some positives.”

He wasn’t very good at explaining anything, except life and marriage wasn’t as expected. The things he needed\wanted\expected were not being met.

(NOTE: No decision has been made. They are going to try and get some help. I know we would appreciate prayer for them, even if they don’t know what they want.)

Of course, all the things people say to fix the problem are said. Some of them are clichés. The reason they are cliché is not because they are not true. It is because they have been so often they lose impact. I don’t know what this says about me. I don’t know if it is good\bad. (I do know and accept that this is the way God designed me. If fills a place in his purposes. And, therefore, it is good. And I also know and accept that I am broken. I don’t work or react the way I should. And this is not good.) But I start wondering about those things.

“Only God can meet your needs.”

Only too true. Only God can meet the deepest needs for joy, significance, love, place and others I can’t remember at the moment. So, why are people miserable? Why are people, who have a relationship with the Father, miserable? There is an underlying feeling that if one knows God, one should not be miserable. So does that mean: 

• People don’t read\prayer\meditate enough? 
• People don’t worship enough?
• People don’t have enough faith?
• People put other things first?
• People don’t understand the way this is supposed to work correctly? 
• People are tied to other things and other people?

“Happiness comes from our circumstances. Joy comes from our relationship with God.”

Only too true. When we depend on our circumstances or our situation to fulfill us, we will be forever caught on a roller coaster. And our time at the top will be all too short, before we go roaring into the bottom. But joy certainly seems to be in short supply. We should be living above and beyond our circumstances. All too often, our circumstances drag us around by the nose. A love relationship with our Father should hold us up. It should give us courage and power to continue. It should give us identity, place and worth. So, why is there so little joy? Because we don’t know our Father well enough? (And we don’t, because of that list above.)

I’m sure part of the reason is because we have an enemy. Any one of us could be the next “Peter” or the next “Paul.” So, he works to keep us guessing, to keep us miserable. If our hearts are focused on our misery, we can’t pursue those things we were designed for.

Maybe, part of it is that we developed into a time and people where knowing is what is important, and doing not so much. We know we should be close to God. We know we should live a life of joy, faith and love. Yet, how do we get there?

We hear in the news too many examples of bad fathers. How did they become bad fathers. “Fathering” is not taught; it is caught. If the father is absent, negligent or aloof, that’s what sons learn. That’s the sort of fathers they become.

Jesus walked with his disciples, so they caught who he was, and how he lived. Maybe people don’t know how to live in faith, joy and love, because we haven’t walked with anyone who showed us how.

Maybe, Jesus walked with his disciples because knowing our Father, being a father, being a husband, living in any relationship, and dealing with life’s messes cannot be taught. They can only be caught.

Rejoice

There is a story about Jesus sending his disciples out on a short-term mission. He gave them authority to proclaim the message of his kingdom, to heal and to cast out demons. And they had tremendous success.

 

When they returned they told about all they had accomplished. And they really had done some wonderful and tremendous things. And Jesus agreed they had dealt a major blow to the enemy’s kingdom.

 

Today, people would spend the next twenty years, discussing, telling and re-telling, and celebrating those events. Yet Jesus encouraged a different focus. These events may be great, but the fact that people have an intimate love relationship with the Creator of the universe is the greatest.

 

So, I find myself asking a question. How should this affect our attitudes, our time, our priorities, and our actions? Which should we be more psyched about: a quiet hour of prayer and meditation, or a conference filled with celebrities, miracles and a rock concert atmosphere?

Gardening

Jesus told a story about a farmer planting seed. Some of the seed fell on the path and the birds ate it. Some fell on the rocks, and it could not take root, so it died. Some fell on thorns, and it couldn’t compete for resources, so it died. Some fell on good soil, so it was placed to bear lot of fruit. But what if it were never cared for? What if it were never watered, weeded or fertilized? There would not be as much fruit. The plant would not grow as well, or as healthy. Its ability to provide for itself would be diminished.

The story is, of course, about people responding to the gospel. Prepared hearts, open and ready to respond are vital. But care of the hearts is equally vital. How much of the church’s dysfunction could be averted by proper guidance? Loving, not overbearing, oversight? Personal attention by mature brothers and sisters?

There is not such oversight because there are wrong views about what spiritual guidance comprises, who is qualified to do it, and how people get qualified.

Family Life

We are called to relationship with God.  We are called to become part of his family. And if we accept this invitation,  we are charged to keep the family rules.

All families have rules.  They affect relationships within the family.  (How family members are supposed to treat each other.) They affect relationships between members of the family and those not in the family.  (How do members represent the family. How do members treat those not in the family. ) They affect responsibilities. (Family life needs to be maintained.  Members get "chores" and "roles.")  And each member is supposed to be involved in all of these. Each member maintains relationships with the Father and other family members. Each member is a "commercial" for the family. (They explain and demonstrate what the Father is like,  and what family life is all about.) And each member is a janitor and an ambassador.

But each member's janitor\ambassador duties might be different. One might mop the floors and work in an inner city soup kitchen. One might help prepare meals and provide hospitality (meals, rides, interpretation) for international students. And a large part of all of it is training. One needs to prepare members to use mops and potato peelers, share Jesus' message with an infinitely diverse audience, connect with the Father, hear\understand him directly, and give healing to hearts, minds and bodies.

And things change. Rules and responsibilities morph. I have gone from doing everything (some involvement in every meeting and every project) to very little involvement.

Sometimes, I think the drastic change with what I was doing with what I am doing is due to burn out. A human being can only burn the candle at both ends for so long. Eventually, you run out of candle. Sometimes, I think I am being lazy. And sometimes, I think the expectations and mind-set of those providing the training and direction do not challenge the rest of the family enough. Expectations are that only some of the family do the work. In some local families, the leaders expect to do all the work. In some, the leaders pioneer all the work and do encourage others to join. But there is no the right timing, motivation or preparation for others to participate. And in some projects, there is not enough roles. And in other projects, there is need for millions of workers, but only for a short intense period.

The family grows and flourishes as each member performs his part. There is blessing as each member performs his part. If some are working hard, some doing nothing and some doing a little, there will be little growth. Does each person need to search long and hard about where his\her place is? Do we need spiritual career counseling? 

Relationship

God knows all about us. The good, the bad and the trivial. He still seeks us. He still wants to know us.

After he created the world, God would walk in the garden in the cool of the day and talk to Adam. What did they talk about?

It wasn’t a Bible study, because there was no Bible. It wasn’t preaching about repentance and faith, because there was no sin. It wasn’t encouragement about obedience, because they was no law. What did they talk about?

“You know God, I’ve been trying to train the monkey to clean up after they eat. It’s like herding cats!’

“The gazelles want me to organize a soccer league.”

“I don’t know what it’s called, but that purplish-red fruit is really good!”

Maybe they just shared what was on their hearts. God talks about how the world and people were designed. How cool it all was. How he envisioned it all developing. Adam talks about what he knows. Different ways the animals act. A new plant he found and what it could be used for.

Maybe the purpose and design of mankind is to know God, to open our hearts to him, and to receive what is on his heart for us.

Maybe sharing what is on our hearts is what prayer is all about. I know the world has changed. At the very least, it has gotten a whole lot more serious since the age of innocence before the Fall. The stakes are high. People’s lives hang in the balance. The world is in a shambles. And God wants to be involved, and wants us to be involved, in all the pain and the loss. But maybe God also wants to hear your heart about:

•  Your favorite team trading your favorite player;
• Your family vacation; 
•  Your golf game … and that wicked slice; 
• How you wish you were better; 
•  How you are afraid of change, taking initiative and failure.

He already know the good, the bad and the trivial. You might as well talk him about all of it.

Assumptions

People make assumptions about life. We all do it. Assumptions are basic rules that are always true. We hear a fact. This fact is similar to other facts. So, we assume its ramifications are like those other facts.

Your mother loves you. So, she provides good things for you. She provides things that you like, like pecan pie. She wants the best for you, so she guides you toward the things that comprise the best. She doesn't want you to get hurt, so she protects you as best she can. But she is limited.

God loves you. So, he provides good things for you. He provides things that you like. He wants the best for you, so he guides you toward the things that comprise the best. He doesn't want you to get hurt, so he protects. And he is not limited.

So, why do followers of Jesus get hurt?

Maybe God really doesn't love us. Maybe God really is limited. Maybe there are other factors and our assumptions are wrong.  Maybe.  Maybe.  Maybe.

It is very complex question. Lots of people, a lot smarter than I am, have tried to answer it. I couldn't get close in the post; I couldn't get close in a series of posts.

Like habits,  human beings make assumptions.  Assumptions are built subconsciously, unconsciously. They affect our behavior, our expectations,  our responses and our relationships. They are built from past experiences,  cultural norms and ideals. And they are often wrong.

I assume God loves me. My assumption is based in large part from God's declarations in the Bible. Its proclamation that the Father sent Jesus into the world,  to die on a cross, to raise from the dead, to restore our relationship with him, and to satisfy God's justice regarding sin.

I also assume God wants to restore the reign over his kingdom.  There was a rebellion,  and as a result,  life is not as God wishes.  We are all experiencing the effects of that rebellion.

I also assume the rebels are resisting God's efforts. And like certain terrorists, who blow up city buses to create fear and stop any momentum towards positive living, they don't care who they hurt or what damage they cause.  God's enemies are only interested in causing pain,  fear and misery.

I also assume God could crush the rebellion with a wave of his hand.  And I also assume that God's love extends to the rebels,  and his desire for relationship with all peoples, includes them as well.

And. And. And.

People make assumptions to make life simpler and easier.  Decision making is greatly reduced in complexity.  Of course,  decision making can miss necessary factors and be wrong. So, assumptions need to be challenged periodically.

Or maybe we need to approach life differently. Maybe life is too complex for us to analyze.  Maybe we need to trust our relationship with God,  and the "fact" that God is eternally present with us, has all the time in the world for us and wants to speak to us and guide us. So, we need to cultivate the practice and skill of tuning into his presence and hearing him speak to us.

God's Family

I often describe God's people as God's family. Scripture bears this out. God calls himself our Father. (Though he often acts our Mother.) Scripture refers to fellow-Christians as brothers and sisters.

We became a family by being born of the same Father. We are then knit together with an indissoluble bond.

Why is the fact that the body of Christ is a family? Family is one of the foundation stones of humanity. It gives the under girding for the definition of being human.

Families:

● provide values. We learn what is important, what is necessary and what is not.

● gives instruction and modelling. Numerous areas in life are caught, rather than taught. We learn these areas by watching and being with others as they are examples.

      - We learn steps and methods in problem solving.

      - We learn how to respond in failure and negative circumstances.

      - We learn ways and attitudes around resolving conflict.

● work together to achieve goals. In the family of God, this includes:

      - demonstrating God's nature.

      - proclaiming his message of restoration.

      - instilling his character in members of the family.

● growing together in wholeness.

● depending on and including God in life.

● nurturing and giving identity to his children.

Many are pushing to redefine family. In part, this is rebellion against the God who created family. In part, this is a reaction against a church that has not fully lived out God's word.

Church has moved away from being family, and has moved toward being a volunteer organization, like club. One chooses to belong based on personal preference. Don't like the music, the decor, the speakers, then change. Keep shopping until you find one you like, that you feel comfortable with.

But a person cannot opt out of his family. God designed people and he designed family. And he gave each person a mother and a father. God designed men and women differently, so God designed mothers and fathers differently. Each parent contributes uniquely to the development, health and well-being of each child.

Similarly, God puts each person into a place and enables him to contribute to the health and well-being of his spiritual family.  The family of God grows and flourishes as each member contributes his part. (Jumping to a different metaphor ... how well would your body work if your right hand decided to quit? Or decided that doing the work of God was entirely the province of the mouth?)

Eternally Present - II

There is another aspect of God's eternal presence. There are places in Scripture where it describes God's intimate knowledge of us.

He knows our thoughts, our intentions and our motivations. He counts the hairs on our heads, the steps we take and the tears we cry. He knows our ways, our actions, and our patterns of life.

Scripture says he has uncountable thoughts toward us. Imagine ... he is thinking about, totally consumed with, seven billion people at the same time. Right now, he is giving each one his complete, undivided attention.

So, what is he thinking about?

Many people immediately think, "He's thinking about my sin." We'll, if there is one thing I'm sure he's not thinking about it is our sin. I know this, because there is (at least) one place in Scripture where God says he is the one who wipes out our sin. And not only does he wipe them out, but he won't remember them. And if he won't remember them, how can he think about them?

I'm sure he will be aware of our needs, weaknesses, failures and areas of growth. But I am equally sure he will consider our strengths, our destiny and the places/conditions where we are assets.

We are designed by God. He is eternally present with each of us. So, he gave infinite, all-consuming care to each of our designs. These designs are now marred by sin, but we are still intricate, beautiful and marvelous mechanisms. And we are more than mechanisms. We are dearly loved. God considers each one of us as a wonder and a miracle. God only makes wonders and miracles!

Eternally Present

Someone told me once that they thought it was inappropriate for people to ask God for mundane things. She felt God was too concerned with the important issues in life (like hunger, poverty, cruelty and injustice.) So, eventually, I found myself asking the question: is God concerned about all of life, or just the heavy issues?

My answer to this question has made God's omnipresence one of my favorite attributes of his nature. Because it doesn't only mean that God is present everywhere, but it also means that God is eternally present with each person.

So, God is the only one who is in a position to pay focused attention on world hunger and each child's empty stomach. He cares deeply about human trafficking and each person sold into slavery of any sort. He cares about war, disease, pollution and poverty. And he is eternally present with people who are worried about tests, parking places, being late to work, as well as loneliness, inferiority and loss of hope. God is eternally present, so he can fully enter into what is on each person's heart.

Tendency toward Religion

Part of the nature of human beings is the tendency to move toward systems that make life simpler and easier. (I am, by no means, against simple and easy. I am a human being after all.) So, when there is a problem, one develops a policy and a procedure. That way, when one encounters this problem, one automatically knows what to do and how to do it. There is no thinking, no evaluation, no fuss, no muss, no bother.

Also, there are no nuances. No consideration of mitigating factors. No need for grace or wisdom.

In the world of spirituality, this is the process of moving from relationship to religion. Religion can be characterized as a systematic, formalized way to interact with God.

Some churches are obvious in this. What happens at each meeting is intended to be the same .. with almost clock-like precision.

Some churches claim to be led by the Spirit in all that they do. If that's the case, how come the Spirit never says "Look! This issue is really important, so I want you to scratch the normal agenda and spend the entire meeting in prayer." I doubt that this have ever happened.

We do need to realize that God created the human nature to form habits. God designed people this way, so the habit making process is good. (Do not confuse this all habits are good ... because that's not the case.) Groups of people make habits too. Group habits are called customs or traditions. If the process of making individual habits is good, then, maybe, the process of making group habits is good. But if individuals can make bad habits, then groups can make bad habits too.

Part of being led by the Spirit is knowing when to change from what is normally done to something different, and accepting that with enthusiastic, good will.

Part of being led by the Spirit is knowing this tendency toward formality, knowing God's desire to walk in relationship, and knowing that God-ordained stuff will happen will happen to shake things up and move his family further into relationship.

NOTE: God periodically enters into life with God-ordained stuff (some of which are called revivals, renewals, or awakenings) in a special way. Heaven seems close. God's presence is tangible. Life is wonderful. People are growing, getting saved, and everyone seems extremely excited for thew things of God. Then, it all kinda fades away. One would think that this is what God wants, so why does it fade.

• Maybe people are not designed for such intense, sustained emotional outpouring. There comes a point where it cannot be sustained. There comes a point where it becomes detrimental.
• Maybe God has achieved everything he is intending. Any further pursuit in this direction will not have the effect he is seeking.
• Maybe people are no longer moving where God is leading. God wants his family to go to point "F". They have progressed from "A" to "B" to "C" ... and they are enjoying "C" so much they stop there and don't move on.
• Maybe people have begun the process of formalizing this new experience in God, and it has turned into religion. So, it loses power and becomes just another activity.

"Market Share"

After discussing “market share” Christianity a little while ago, I bumped into a couple of “ideas.”

First: Willow Creek (WC), a mega-church outside of Chicago, gave a church-wide survey in 2004. The leadership believed WC was growing, that the attenders of WC were growing. (They defined growth as increasing love for God and increasing love for people.) The survey was intended to show them what methods and tools were working to promote growth. They were shocked to find that all their assumptions were wrong. They assumed, like many churches, that increasing church participation (attending worship, small groups, Bible studies, work groups or short-term missions) meant growth. When the data was analyzed, they found that increased “numbers” to not mean growth.

Second: With “market share” Christianity, the primary assumption is “bigger is better.” There are “economies of scale” gains in impact, effectiveness and efficiency. But, there has also been push-back about mass production, cookie cutter methodologies. The reasoning is as follows: if each person is unique, has a personal place and function in the body of Christ, then such methodologies will not work. The church needs craftsmen and not assembly lines. So, there is a growing movement of people who espouse a “smaller is better” philosophy. Smaller allow for more personal attention and greater craftsmanship-like concern. So, there is a call for house or cell church models. (And I confess a personal draw in this direction.)

The second “bump,” however, is not that mega is bad and micro is good. It is that, maybe. Churches have their attention in the wrong place, on the wrong things. Jesus’ marching orders are to make disciples, who are obedient to all his commands … including the command to make disciples, who themselves make disciples.

The Bible says that God gave leaders to the church, who will prepare his family to do his work. And, as each part does its work, the body grows … increase in love for God and people. Since, Scripture equates loving God and loving people with keeping his commands, doing God’s work is, in part, keeping his marching orders.

The second “bump” is that churches need to adjust their thinking to provide better methods of equipping and preparation. It could be possible this preparation can only be done in micro settings. But size does not ultimately define the quality or focus of the preparation.

Work Vs. Rest

The Bible says that God loves his children with unfailing, everlasting love. He values, loves and accepts them as a father does his infant child, when he has done nothing to deserve it. It also says nothing can separate us from God's love ... maybe, even, ourselves.

The Bible also says that God has given gifted men to prepare his family for significant work. He has given marching orders to make disciples of all peoples, all over the world. And he says that his body will grow when each part does its work properly.

On one hand,  there is no need for us to do anything.  We need only accept this rest. On the other hand,  there is clearly an expectation that God's children will take action.

Like so many things, the answer lies in the heart. God has poured out his love into our hearts. He changes our motivations. He changes our want-to's.

Love gives birth to love; love gives birth to loving action. God loves us. So, we love him in return. And we give love to others. And we act in love to God and others.

Following Jesus

The Father invites us to follow Jesus. This means we take his character. And it means we serve people the way he served people.

 

How did Jesus serve people? It seems to me that he was a healer. There was spiritual healer (salvation and the restoration of God’s image), physical healing, inner healing (emotional and psychological) and social-cultural healing (families, cities, tribes and countries).

 

How did Jesus heal? He got personal. He got close. He engaged people at their point of need. He showed people the Father’s love, and let them experience it. The lame walked. The blind could see. Sinners were forgiven. The broken hearted were comforted.

 

One thing struck me in a new way this morning. Jesus went small to grow big. He did serve large crowds, sometimes 20,000 people. If he made an impact in such a setting, that was good. But he wasn’t aiming at huge crowds. He was aiming at a small group of men. He was training a group of men to be healers, like he was a healer. And he was training these healers to train healers.

 

It seems like the common model today is to gather a large group around one person, creating an organization and using economies of scale to carve out a space in the “market”.

 

Many people are sincerely trying to follow Jesus through this “market share” mode. It is what they have seen and experienced throughout their lives. But are they really following Jesus?

God's Purposes

When God created the world, he created it perfectly. And he created it with two purposes in mind.

One: To create a family. People would be created. They would bond together in one family. They would have intimate, ongoing relationship with the Father. The Father would have intimate, ongoing relationship with the family as a whole, and with each member individually and personally.

Two: To demonstrate his nature\character through his creation. He would pour out his love on all people. The people would all experience it fully. Creation would be whole and harmonious. The family would be whole and harmonious. No pain, death or loss. Nature was gracious and giving.

Then sin entered the world. It corrupted. It disrupted. And everything broke.

But did God’s purposes change? No, they did not. The purposes are the same. The mechanisms for achieving those purposes needed to change; the end results did not.

God still wants to make a family. God still wants to have intimate, ongoing relationship with the family as a whole and with each individual. But, before sin, when someone was born, he would have automatically been included in the family. Now, with sin, each person is separated from God and from the family. So, God has set up an adoption process. Each person is placed in the family by the process. And God considers each “reclaimed” person as if they were born into the family, instead of being adopted into the family.

But each person has freedom to choose to be a part of the family or not. So, there needs to be an “invitation mechanism.”  And each person is fundamentally broke. They do not know how to live in the family. The do not know how to live as a son\daughter of the Father. So, there needs to be a “restoration mechanism.”

And the family itself is involved with these mechanisms. The family demonstrates the truth of its relationship with the Father. The family demonstrates the extent of its restoration. The family participates in extending invitations. And the family participates in restoring one another to health and wholeness. The family teaches one another how to live in the family. The family teaches one another how to connect with the Father.

And it is this connection with the Father that changes who a person is at his\her core.

And God still wants to demonstrate his character through his creation. Scripture says all of creation declares God’s character. But sin blocks the view. It should be seen most clearly through his family. Which is why the “restoration mechanism” becomes vital.

Jesus came and formally re-established God’s family. He set up the invitation mechanism and the restoration mechanism. But, he prioritized the restoration mechanism. Both are important, but it is the restoration mechanism that gives power to the invitation mechanism.

And restoration covers wherever God’s kingdom should reign: individuals, families, neighborhoods, cities, societies, cultures, institutions, fields, forests, mountains, factories, industries, stores, offices, universities, parking lots, highways and bi-ways. In whatever place, in whatever condition, in whatever situation God’s presence is, God’s restoration should come and prevail.

Vines and Braches: Why is Relationship Important?

We wrote, quite a while ago, about how people need “fuels” to live. Food, water and air are examples of physical fuels. Love, beauty and freedom are examples of other fuels – emotional, psychological and spiritual. The foundational fuel source is our relationship with our Father.

Our relationship with God is important, because it is the source of life. And there is more to life than just living. (Read: surviving.) As we relate, he floods our hearts and spirits with his love. It is this love which powers our lives. It is this live which he uses to recreate, restore and redeem us. It is this love which transforms our heart – and therefore, our motivations, thoughts, words and actions.

Churches all over the world reconstruct the law. Attend church, tithe, serve and witness are new laws put out by churches for people to live by. But sin still abides in us. It rebels against any law. It uses the power of any law to generate rebellion.

God’s family does not live by the law any more. It lives by the power of love and grace. Love fulfills the law – in deed, it is the better fulfillment. People follow the law out of fear. They seek to avoid the stigma and any negative results.

God’s family pursues what the law commands, but not because the law commands it. The recognize these things as an outflow of love – of God’s love through them. They recognize these things as an expression of love to God and to people.

Imagine wanting to share the gospel with people, because: 

• it is best for them to know the Father, God and Creator of All; 
• it is best for them to have God’s love flood their hearts; 
• knowing and experiencing God’s love is so wonderful, that you can’t help yourself.

Vine and Branches: What Does Relationship Look Like?

I have been floundering around trying to grasp what a relationship with God looks like, if it is not based on religion. And I realized today that there is not just one picture. That’s because it is a personal relationship.

Some of us had bad fathers. Some of us had good fathers. Some fathers were extroverts; some were introverts. Some were emotional, intellectual, quiet, noisy, aloof and  touchy-feely. Some dads took the whole neighborhood top play ball. Some worked on the yard. Some read the paper. It is true: we understand our Father based on the character and relationship we had with our fathers. And because our fathers were all different, we have different expectations, issues and hot buttons – which includes things that make us angry, sad, happy encouraged and discouraged. We have different preferences, patterns and codes – personal ways we learn and understand best.

Some of us will work better if we have set times, places, durations and practices. Some of us can be more flexible. God did make people to have habits. So, no matter how spontaneous a person is, there will still be some routines. Spiritual disciplines are practices that were identified, defined and refined over years as ways for people to connect with our Father. But they can be adapted to fit our time and lace.

However, the primary arena for our relationship with our Father is the heart, the mind and the attitude. We speak to him with them. We listen to him with them. We expect him to respond there. We expect him to act. We expect to receive and experience his love. We expect our concepts of “father” to be corrected and altered, so our ways of responding to our Father will be perfected.

As I said before, because people change, relationships change. Therefore, the ways of communication, the common areas and the grounds for concern will change. So, if our choice of practice\discipline lead to understanding, transformation and intimacy, continue to practice them. But hold them loosely. Be prepared to adjust, to surrender old practices and be open to new ones. Hear his voice. Feel his presence. Know his heart, embrace it and follow it.

**

Jesus did not die on the cross, so people could go to heaven for eternity.

Jesus died on the cross, so people could have a relationship with the God-head, know and experience his love, be part of his family, and demonstrate his new life in us. (Which is the same life as he originally intended and designed.)

Eternity in heaven is just a lucky strike extra.

Vines and Branches - VIII

I have read (or am reading) three books this year that have wrestled with this religion vs. relationship issue. ("After God's Own Heart" - Mike Bickle; "Sonship" - James Jordan; "Grace Walk" - Steve McVey.)

The writers started from different places, with different problems, with different perspectives and different aspects of God's truth impacting them. It is amazing how similar their solutions are and how similar the language is. (Ie. The examples, the sub-topics, and the analsis sound alike.)

They mention the strident calls for maturity, and how the church defines that. They mention the demand for victorious living, and what is expected in that. They mention common practices/disciplines and how often they are more characteristic of religion than relationship.

Christians commonly follow a practice of personal devotions/quiet time. Imagine a marriage where the wife comes home at night (illustration courtesy of Steve McVey) and haas a practice of spending time with her husband. She begins by praising or complimenting him. She outlines several jobs she wishes he would complete. She expresses concern for her family, coworkers,  and, possibly, a situation in the world. And then she's done until the next day ... same time, same place.

I don't know about you,  but my marriage doesn't seem to work that way. I do get my to-do list. I do hear about problems and concerns.  It is rarely in a compact, neatly scheduled container. We don't always lay out precise, well defined sentences. We don't always communicate with words. My wife can lay her hand on mine and it can mean: "Excuse me. I have a complicated situation I need to discuss", "I really like being married to you", or "Be careful of what you are going to say next. You are close to getting youself in trouble." (And it may not necessarily be with her.)

Or there doesn't have to be any communication at all. We can sit quietly watching football or golf together. Or taking a nap with said programs playing in the background.

Relationship is not neat and tied up with a bow. The Bible says we can pray continuously.  The Bible says we don't need words. The emotions of our heart directed at God are enough. He is capable of interpretting our needs, desires and intents from that.