Discipline – Running After Papa

Fear. Mistrust. Judgement. Anger. Pride.

I’m considering a month long experiment – this morning in my quiet time I so enjoyed my extended time on the back porch with just a cup of coffee and the scripture, that I became disgusted with myself.

I realized that I am so lazy and waste so much time. I remember a time – and not too long ago – when I passionately pursued my relationship with the Lord. Where did that go? How did I get to here?

Through some recent experiences and observations that have been placed before me, I have spent a bit of time reflecting and getting really honest with myself… Frankly, that can be a really scary place. In that introspection, I didn’t like what I saw. When I peel off the sanguine exterior and the professional demeanor, I have come to realize just how true the old saying “… you are what you eat…” is in my life. Ha ha… not because I’ve become a cup of coffee or anything, but because of what my life has become… self absorbed, stressful, angry, and negative. Those characteristics are NOT what I am nor what I want to be. As a result of them, I’ve found myself more distanced from my family and friends and find myself a little lonely.

Those who know me, may not yet see it because mostly it stays on the inside, just simmering like a big pot of chili on low heat on the back eye of the stove. But I know it’s there. I know it wouldn’t take much for the pot to boil over and splatter that hot chili all over my kitchen and potentially on my family and friends.

How did it I get here? Fear. Mistrust. Judgement. Anger. Pride. These are my demons I battle regularly. They seem to have the most impact when my life is hectic and God get’s pushed out of my schedule so I can watch TV. There.. how’s that for being real? The idiot box is the prime source of everything negative, fearful, judgmental and self absorbing. The other biggest source other people. So many people are fearful, mistrusting, judgmental, angry, and self-absorbed… just like me.

This morning, I honestly and actually turned my own stomach.

So in my time with Daddy this morning, this little idea sprouted in my head… (I’m fairly sure I know where it came from… see James 1:17)

I’ve been captivated for the last several weeks on

Philippians 4:8 (The Message) Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

What would it look like if for 30 days, I intentionally chose to eliminate every form of extraneous, non-best, input and influence from my life? What if (where I have control) I replace every worldly noise clamoring for my attention with something that kept my attention and focus on the Lord? What would that look like?

What if I renewed my mind with the God’s word in every way, shape, and form I could find?

Romans 12:2 (New King James Version) 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

What if I bathed myself in that which was true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, and praiseworthy?

What if I was intentional about not wasting any time and for 30 days specifically focused on ONE THING… SOMETHING SPECIFIC… – be it passion for Him, creativity, patience, wisdom, humility, mercy, etc. – for the next 30 days?

What if I consumed everything I could get from God with every spare moment?

I don’t know what it will look like, but I’m pretty excited about the journey. Our pastor this morning quoted that God’s word is a “lamp unto my feet” (Psalms 119:105) and is meant to reveal the next step.

I wonder where my next step will be?

I will keep you posted on the journey…. It starts soon….

…Running After Papa

Sacred Perfume

The Altar of Incense

In the set of instructions the Lord is giving Moses and the children of Israel for the Tabernacle, The Lord has them make an altar of incense. This altar is to be used ONLY for incense, twice a day, perpetually (Ex 30:7-8). He also is specific about only HIS incense will be burned on it, and only incense is burned on it. No sacrifices… no other offerings. (Ex 30:9). Of the Altar of Incense…

Exodus 30:10 “… It is most holy to the Lord.”

I did a search and discovered that this phrase, “most holy” is in the NKJV only 3 times before this verse. Twice it references that place in the tabernacle where God will reside – the Most Holy (Ex 26:33, 34) – and the only other reference is to the Altar of Burnt Offering where the offerings of atonement are made (Ex 29:37).

This is the first reference I found to the “most holy to the Lord,” and to me it implies that this burning of the incense is very special to God, thus He wants to keep it sacred, set apart, and undiluted and continual… remember twice a day… perpetually…

So what’s the significance of incense?

Interestingly enough, the word “incense” is only in two books of the New Testament – at least in the New King James Version – Luke and Revelation. Three references in Luke all refer to the act, time or place of burning incense in the temple under the Law. (Luke 1:9, 10, 11)

The next four references are in the book of Revelation. In three of the four references, incense is associated with and equated with the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 5:8 “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints“

Revelation 8:3-5 “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. ⁴ And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. ⁵ Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. “

Just in case it hasn’t hit you yet, you and I – if we are in Christ – are the saints who are praying…

I think God established early- as he was establishing the Tabernacle, His dwelling place – that our prayers, our earnest and honest communication and communion with Him; our multiple times a day interaction and relationship with Him is sacred, set apart, and special to Him. I’m not talking about religious dronings and chants and repeated phrases over and over. I’m talking about sitting down and having coffee with your best friend conversation… real, authentic, genuine talking and listening. He doesn’t want it polluted with other relationships or polluted by the religious machine. He is our Daddy and he wants to spend time with his children. The very first commandment:

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. “

Exodus 20:5 “… For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, …”

Deuteronomy 4:24 “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

Doesn’t that excite you just a little bit, that the God of the Universe is anxiously awaiting some time with you? That He deems is sacred? He thinks it is special? He keeps it holy? Frankly, it overwhelms me a little bit.

Thank you Daddy that you cherish spending time with me. I’m am so sorry to have let the worries of today cloud and crowd my time with you. I give you this day, this time to just sit and be with you. I ask for your grace to strengthen me to make time for this most important relationship, this son with his Daddy.

Running After Papa…

Counting the Cost (Luke 14:26)

Luke 14:26 NLT “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” (emphasis mine)

Whoa! I must hate everyone else by comparison? I thought God is Love; Jesus is Love. Jesus loved everyone!

“… otherwise you cannot be my disciple.”

Those are some pretty heavy words. I don’t ever want to be told I cannot be His disciple. There are no half-hearted attempts that count. This discipleship thing is significant, it is real, and it has costs. Verse 28 begins with “But don’t begin until you count the cost…” It costs to follow Him. It is very expensive. It costs a lot. It costs everything.

There are costs in putting Jesus so far first that – in comparison – you hate everything else. I remember in high school being on the volunteer fire department. I went to a training class one Saturday in the middle of the summer in Texas. It must have been 112 in the shade. By any standards, it was HOT! It didn’t matter if it was a humid heat or a dry heat. It was HOT!

During these training exercises, the facility had a two story house structure built out of cynder blocks. They would put flamable furniture and hay bales in the house and ignite them and we would don our fireproof coats and protective gear and go into the structure and learn the right ways to put out fires.

The point of this story is that when I came out from putting out the fire on the second story, I took off all my fire gear. It was so hot inside that house that when I removed my gear, I literally got chills I was so cold in the 112 degree summer heat.

While it’s not a perfect comparison, it does give some context to this verse. I love my wife more than any human being on earth and I love my kids almost as much. You could say that my love for them is HOT by anyone’s measure. But Jesus is saying that my love for Him should be so much “hotter” that all my other relationships should feel cold, like that Texas heat after coming out of a burning building.

So what could it cost me? For those around us who don’t understand, it could cost friendships. We could be ridiculed. We could be inconvenienced. We could suffer loss financially, physically, emotionally. Some could die – literally – for the sake of Jesus. Some of us could have to turn our backs on everything we knew, every comfort we have, everything we enjoy to follow Him to some dark and hard place. It could cost A LOT.

Luke 14:33 NLT “So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.“

Our cars, our Juicy Couture purses, our sports, our cheerleader competitions, our friends, our bank accounts, our investments, our security, our grades. Whatever those things are that bring us the most pleasure in life, Jesus says we have to give them up to be his disciple. Our appearance, our shoes, our jerseys, our clothes, our guitars, our pianos, our jobs, our positions, our hobbies, our status, our children’s hobbies, our houses, our kids schools, our location, our foods, our wines… whatever it is, it all has to be emotionally given up.

And it’s not just the physical “stuff” of life. Jesus asks us to give up our rights, our expectations, our will, our wants, our needs, our desires, our duties, our ownership, our rules, our way of doing things, our rituals, our habits, our clubs, our associations… you get the point. We’ve got to give it ALL up.

When we’ve emotionally given up all that we have and everything we are, it’s no big deal if Jesus asks us to give it up or give it away physically.

This is counting the cost. All or nothing. Following Jesus isn’t a $0.00 down, $199/month lease for two years. It’s all or nothing.

Galatians 2:20 ESV “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

If you’ve been reading my posts for long, you know this is my life verse. It always seems to come back to this verse for me. I am dead. Jesus is alive.

Running After Papa…

The God Express Button

We have a very complex microwave. There are tons of different settings to cook almost anything you can imagine. It has the ability to brown and bake using light while cooking the inside with microwaves. It can cook a batch of chocolate chip cookies in 7 minutes. That 3-5 whole minutes faster than the oven! It can cook biscuit in 6 minute. Whatever you want to cook, it can cook and it can do it faster than the convection oven (which is faster than a conventional oven).

However, our microwave has two buttons that are used the most… far beyond any other buttons. THE single most used button on the microwave is the “Microwave Express” button. This button turns the microwave on for 30 seconds. If you touch it while the microwave is on, it adds another 30 seconds. So, if I want to cook something for 1 and 1/2 minutes, it’s 3 touches of the button.

The second most used button is the one just above it that turns the light on in the microwave, so I can see my food being nuclearized, because I just HAVE to see my coffee get reheated!

I’ve noticed that I’m just that same way with Father. I want to push the “God Express” button in various areas of my life:

Prayer

How many times have I sent up A SINGLE prayer… a.k.a. the “flare prayer” to God? “OK Lord, I’ve pushed my God Express button, answer this prayer please…”

Ezra 10:1 Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly.

Neh 1:4 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

When Jesus went to Gethsemane to pray… (Matt 26:36-46) Jesus prayed for an hour the first time…

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

He went on to pray for two more sessions.

Col 1:3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

1 Thess 5:18 Pray without ceasing

I’m not advocating that there are not appropriate times for quick prayers to the Lord for wisdom, for an immediate situation, whatever… but if that’s the ONLY kind of prayer I’m offering and I’m expecting immediate results, then I’m treating God more like a Genie in a Bottle than I am the Creator of the Universe.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, immediately after pushing my God Express button, I push the ‘light’ button, because I want to “see” what He’s going to do about it and how He’s going to handle it.

Transformation

To often I find myself with this same attitude in my own personal growth and transformation. “Gee, that was a great lesson Dad! I’m so glad I journaled that,” never to look at it again or continue working on, studying, or chewing on it.

Phil 2:12-13 (NKJV)
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure

“Work out” my salvation? “Work out?” That would imply that when I stop, I get weaker and less “in shape.” Wow. Great picture and application. My spiritual walk needs to be exercised and strengthened daily. There is no express button for instant muscles or instant fitness. It is a daily, continual, diligent exercise and regiment. So is my transformation. Again, I’m not advocating a religious formula or legalistic “do & don’t” list. It’s an attitude of the heart. It’s a process of discipleship based in a real, living, vibrant relationship with Jesus.

Guess what? The God Express Button and the Light button aren’t connected… in fact, they don’t even exist. They are stickers that I have put on and a deception that I have believed.

Yes, Father lets us “see” our own progress sometimes. He is a good dad. He encourages us along the way. But He wants me to grow. He wants me to learn patience.

Prov 19:11 A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

Prov 25:15 Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

Eccles 7:8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

Isa 7:13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also?

Rom 2:4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

Rom 9:22 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?

2 Cor 6:6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love;

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Col 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully

Col 3:12 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully

1 Tim 1:16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

Also see 2 Tim 3:10, 2 Tim 4:2, Heb 6:12, James 5:10, 2 Pet 3:15

Papa, I repent of believing the lie that there is a “God Express” button that I can push to make you respond in the time frame of MY choosing. How selfish and prideful I was. I ask your forgiveness and know that according to 1 John 1:9 You are faithful to forgive me because I have confessed. Help me to be patient. I ask for that fruit of your Spirit to manifest and find good soil to grow in my life. Continue your work in my heart and in my life. I want to be extinct so that You are all others see, hear and feel. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Running After Papa…

The Command Center

Continuing the the thought of the last post is where Paul picks up in Romans 8.

Remember, I posed the question of why Jesus added the “mind” to the greatest commandment (Mark 12:30), when God himself gave the command (Deut 6:5) without the identification of the “mind”. Read what Paul has to say about it…

Romans 8:5-6 (NLT) “5 Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. 6 So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.”

No wonder Jesus thought it was important. The mind is the command center of the spiritual battlefront between our spirit (controlled by the Holy Spirit) and our flesh (controlled by the enemy). Wikipedia defines the command center as:

A command center is a central place for carrying out orders and for supervising tasks, also known as a headquarters, or HQ.

Whoever controls the mind, controls the battle. Note: We can lose a battle, but we’ve already won the war. (Thank you God!) No wonder Paul writes a few chapters later in Romans: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2 NIV).

So the question becomes, if the mind is the command center and the key to victory, how do I send in reinforcements (to continue the war metaphor)? Verse 6 says by “… letting the Spirit control our mind…,” but what does that look like?

How does one renew the mind? Is it back to what God’s been saying to me over the last several, seemingly unrelated, journal entries? Thus the beauty of journaling… to be able to go back and see how God is speaking in themes… then BAM! He ties it all together. Cool. Very cool.

Is it back to the spiritual disciplines? Are Romans 12:2 and 1 Cor 9:24-47 related in this way?

Running After Papa…

Battleground of the soul

I have known for some time that we are made up of three “parts”: the spirit, the soul, and the flesh. Additionally, the soul appears to be further divided into three parts: the mind, the will, and the emotions.

The spirit-man is what gets saved when we surrender our will to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The spirit IS saved. The soul IS BEING saved and the flesh is NOT being saved. The Word tells us we will get new bodies (Rom 8:23, 2 Cor :1-5) It’s like the good guys vs. the bad guys (spiritually) all the time in our lives. Jesus has our spirit, the devil has our flesh and they are battling for the soul – the mind, the will, the emotions.

Romans 7 makes it very clear that the remnant of sin from our sin nature is very alive an well in our flesh (Romans 7:18).

Romans 7:22-25 (ESV) 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

It’s like the soul is Hell’s Gate (Lord of the Rings reference). The spirit man is Gandalf, Aragorn and the Fellowship, while the flesh is Sauron and his army of Orc’s. The assault is non-stop. The attack is relentless. Legions and legions of orcs and darkness continually bombard the soul. The mind wants to do one thing, but the flesh wants to do another. (Romans 7:14-20)

I find it interesting that Paul says, “… I myself serve the law of God with my mind…” How does one do that? It the mind – that part of the soul – more closely aligned with the spirit?

The Greek word used for mind, nous, in this passage means “1b reason in the narrower sense, as the capacity for spiritual truth, the higher powers of the soul, the faculty of perceiving divine things, of recognizing goodness and of hating evil.“

Jesus said (Mark 12:30) “30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” It’s interesting that Jesus inserted the word “mind.” The original version (Deut 6:5) only has “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.“

Why does Jesus add “mind” to the list? I think it’s important. I think it goes back to spiritual discipline. Practicing and exercising those spiritual disciplines to have my spirit (and my mind?) stronger than my flesh (and my emotions?). All the spiritual disciplines involve the mind and exercise the will. Pretty soon, I’ll have my flesh outnumbered!

Running After Papa…

Remaining IN (John 15:1-17)

John 15:1-2 (NIV) “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful”

In the first 17 verses of John 15 (NIV Version) the words “remain in” is said eleven (11) times. Eleven times! “Remain”, Jesus says. He doesn’t say to “get into” or “move in” or “jump in”. He says to remain in the vine – which verse 1 says is Jesus himself. Verse 3 tells us that when we are in Christ, we have to choose to remain there.

The American Heritage Dictionary defines “remain” as:
1. To continue in the same state or condition:
2. To continue to be in the same place; stay or stay behind:
3. To be left after the removal, loss, passage, or destruction of others: Only a few trees remain.
4. To be left as still to be dealt with: A cure remains to be found.
5. To endure or persist.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

What I find interesting is that remaining in the Vine it is our choice. Unlike a physical plant, such as a grapevine, on our world, we have the choice to stay plugged into Jesus and by staying plugged in we are choosing to bear fruit.

Notice, God never gives us an option of just hanging around on the vine without growth. God, the Master gardener clearly gives us ONLY 2 choices (verse 2). We choose to be pruned or we choose to be cut off. WHAT??? Read v2 again, “He [God] cuts off every branch in me [Jesus] that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (emphasis added). A branch either bears fruit or doesn’t bear fruit. THATS IT. We either get cut off (for not bearing fruit) or we get pruned (for bearing fruit). When this soaks in, this should shake us to the very core of our being. There is no other option. We will either bear fruit or be cut off. There is no choice to be set in the Vine and NOT bear fruit. We only bear fruit by remaining in Him.

v4 (NIV) “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

OK. Here’s the deal. It is impossible for us to bear fruit if we are not plugged in to the Vine; if we are not remaining in the vine – remaining in Jesus. Remember our definition? Our definition (#5) says that we are enduring and persisting in our bearing of fruit.

Let me take you back to John 15:2. Here’s the other cool part of this. If we are bearing fruit, we WILL BE PRUNED, not that being pruned is always so cool when its happening. Yes… often pruning is painful and we often will not realize what or why certain things happened, but remaining is enduring, persisting… another word for persisting is persevering. James 1:3-4 (NIV) tells us “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

When we persevere, we become mature and complete according to James 1:4. At the end of John 15:2, God says that through this pruning, through this testing of our faith (to develop pereseverance), we “…will be even more fruitful.” So, God is promising to us, that if we remain in the vine, we will become even more fruitful.

OK… So what does that mean? What does it mean to be more fruitful? What is the “fruit” that I WILL BEAR if I am in the Vine? Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are the very fruits of the Spirit of God (which is also Christ’s spirit). I don’t know about you, but when I think of Jesus, these traits ALL come to mind. This means when I bear fruit, I am becoming more and more like Christ in my heart… I am being transformed…

v7 (NIV) “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be given you.”

So… Is becoming more Christlike a license to get what I want? Does this verse make God a “genie” whose bottle we can rub for 3 wishes? I think not. Let’s look at it and break it down… What do we know? We know that we HAVE to bear fruit if we are in Christ or we will be cut off. We know that being more fruitful is becoming more like Christ, more Christlike in our thoughts, our words, our attitudes, and our actions.

Let me ask this… When Christ was on earth, did he ever ask for anything that glorified his own personhood? I know this is a difficult question for the believer because we know that Jesus and God are the same, ultimately… but hang with me here. As a human, did Christ ever ask or seek to glorify his own humanity? Absolutely Not. Jesus never asked for one self-serving, self-gratifying, self-centered thing OVER God’s will. Even when he was praying so intently over the crucifixion that was imminant, over the very existance of his life on earth, his core desire was to glorify God and have God’s will be done, regardless of his own suffering and pain. As a human on earth, every request Jesus ever prayed was ONLY to do God the Fathers will and to glorify HIM…

I encourage you to read the entire passage of John 15:1-17. It is RICH!!!

So here are my personal take aways from today’s reading:

So if I endure, persevere and remain in Christ, I have no choice but to bear more and more fruit in my life. God promises it. This fruit is the transformation of my old, self-centered, wicked man into a man more and more of Christ’s likeness. At a minimum, I will (notice I didn’t say “should”) see growth in the fruits of the Spirit in my own life. (v5)
If I am in Christ and His words are in me (i.e. memorize scripture) then v7 says God will give me whatever I wish.
If I am becoming more Christlike (#1) then what I wish for will not be for selfish, me-centered, trinkets and selfish ambitions. I will “wish” for those things that Christ wanted, namely that God the Father be lifted up and glorified in all the earth. I will want God to be glorified in all I do. I will NOT want me to be exalted or the center of my world, as that would take my mind’s attention and my heart’s affection off of God.

So my prayer today, Father God,
is that you would keep me plugged into the Vine. Help me to endure and persevere in such a way that You and You alone are glorified and lifted up in all I do today. Help me bear fruit today, Lord Jesus. Amen.

Running after Papa…