"Lord, Make Me Peace..."

I was driving home from work after a long day of dealing with corporate visitors, straightening clothes, and absolute boredom! I was exhausted and my mind was heavy with the many aspects of life that are difficult, troubling, and heavy on my heart. Thought after thought rolled through my mind and then I finally rested on the relieving reality that in merely a week I will be with my friends spending a week in Savannah, GA! I was filled with excitement over the soon coming vacation!

As I was thinking about the trip, my thoughts turned to my friends' newly born son, Edmund and I thought of the crying baby and, for some reason, I welcomed the idea of being kept awake because of a little crying baby. Weird right?! As I daydreamed of this possible event, I imagined that I was able to calm the weeping lad and that was the point of contact for the Spirit to plant a renewed desire in my heart! Peace: to have peace, to give peace, and to be made into peace!

My mind was immediately filled with the words of St. Francis and longed to be a wellspring of peace.

The world isn't full of peace these days. we are surrounded with discussions of war and revolt. Chaos fills our work spaces, family encounters, and our troubled psyches. Something that we lack, and severely need, is peace. In Christ, I should be striving to be an instrument of peace in the world. We are called to be peacemakers; centers of calm in the storms of life. It is sad that, even though we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we are not often very peace-giving or peace-making.

I recognize the horrible truth that I myself am often a bringer of chaos; I often let my mind fall into chaos in the midst of undesirable situations rather than yielding myself to the Spirit's work in me. Instead of disciplining my mind I let my heart grow impatient and even cold towards others, rather than stepping in with the strength and wisdom of God to put an end to the wars raging around me. This is not a holy way to live and is not honoring to God.

Sin dwells within our hearts. It is the cancer of our souls; the broken aspect of our humanity. It is my sin that separates me from God and it is my tainted human nature that stirs my heart to malice, selfishness, and unholistic living and thinking. I am on this journey of redemption and healing, but I have a long way to go before I reach before I get to where God really wants me to be. He is walking with me through this and as He and I engage in this divine romance I am being made more and more like Him. That is what I experienced today in my car. A moment of with God in which He spoke softly to me and told me that He wanted me to be something different; revealing a part of me that has all but evaded my sight. In the midst of this revelation all I could say was, "Lord, make me peace..."

In this Lenten season, let us seek to be men and women of peace. Let us become instruments of peace for the world, and let's start where it often the most difficult-right in our own homes and relationships.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

"Oh, Logic, Where Hath Thou Gone?"

Allow me to tell you a story of a woman. Not just anyone mind you, but an odd and reclusive woman who only ever comes out of her apartment to walk her two medium-sized, brown-furred dogs. If you lived in the same apartment complex as I, you would find that it would hold true that you will see her, day in and day out, being dragged by her two dogs who appear desperate to escape their leash-bearing dictator.

Recently, however, the woman has been seen out and about with two little girls of shockingly similar hair color to that of the fur on the previously mentioned dogs. Additionally, the two girls (as it has been noted by many) have been rather fearful little creatures and seem quite bent on keeping their distance from their overseer. Finally…it all makes sense.

Now that it is known that the woman is not merely odd but is, in fact, a witch, we other tenants are striving to stay away from her as much as possible to avoid offending the transmutilator as best as possible. Sadly, we have not the sufficient evidence to present to the police so as to have her arrested, nor to the Vatican to have her burned…instead we must endure with hideous fear for our beings and watch with curiosity as to whether the two poor girls are turned back into dogs…

Wasn’t that a delightful tale? I know it warmed MY heart! Let’s talk about it…

The moral of the story is…use logic! Think before you speak. Everyone fails at this from time to time (myself doubly included), but some excel at being illogical! There are a whole slew of reasons as to why people do this, including (but not limited to) laziness, ignorance, pride, selfish and/or manipulative intent, fear, boredom, etc.

The logic of the narrator and the “other tenants” was that A) the woman was odd and had two brown-furred dogs and B) the woman suddenly had two little girls with brown hair running around and no dogs, therefore C) the woman is a witch and has transformed her dogs into girls (further speculation might lead one to ask if the origin of the dogs were originally human or if they started as dogs…or perhaps they were 60 ft purple platypus-bears. Who knows?!). The line of logic here is absurd! But isn’t that something we do with theology and scripture all the time?

I recently had a discussion online with a man I used to go to church with quite a few years ago. He and I have not spoken in nearly 7 or 8 years, but it came to my attention (as I was scrolling through Facebook) that he had posted a status of questionable, theological teaching. The statement was that he was woken up that morning by a voice that “sounded as if someone was in [his] house saying ‘GABRIEL’S LIPS ARE ON THE TRUMPET’”.

 I shrugged and moved on, figuring it was nothing more than a passing thought and wouldn't be something to concern myself about; just another status about “hearing something in the Spirit” that led one to cry and pray. I believe that the Holy Spirit still speaks to His people and I’m not against crying and praying, but later that day I saw a second status from the same person that pushed the issue further and I felt the need to say something. His second status stated that “it is believed that in the last days the Archangel Gabriel will blow the trumpet” and then he stated the verse from I Thessalonians that refers to Christ’s return. After that he stated that many have falsely interpreted it as Michael the Archangel (the only one in the Bible to actually be entitled as such, by the way) and referenced Jude 9.

Upon reading this I jumped in and asked if there was a scripture verse that stated that Gabriel was the one to blow the trumpet…to which I was met with a load of responses, some I found unpleasant, and a couple even heretical. While it was confirmed that there wasn't a verse stating such a thing as Gabriel being a trumpeter, I was asked “why not?”

Before I answer the “why not”, I will first discuss the reasoning displayed by a couple of the people who responded to my questioning. I’ll condense the conversation a little bit and hit the main points in the line of logic presented to me: A) Gabriel was most common of the angelic beings mentioned in the Bible and B) Gabriel is seen as a messenger. C) Michael is an angel of war. D) There are no other angels whose names are mentioned, therefore E) it must be Gabriel because that’s who God would choose and also F) this random guy from North Georgia woke up to hear the “Holy Spirit” say it so it must be true.

Give me a second. *takes in 3 slow, deep breaths and counts to 10* Ok, hopefully if you are reading this you are understanding a bit of my frustration in this issue. I cannot blame them (not fully at least) for their conclusions. Most of what they believe came from being taught by others that they respect as spiritual leaders and the responsibility falls to the pastors and teachers who did not check their teachings before they led people astray. They are however, responsible for not studying themselves and for not testing what they hear.

I’m not going to go into a lot of detail with the “why not” since that would be another post entirely, but I will throw out the points that stand out the most. 1) Scripture is our authority for testing spirits, for doctrine, and for right teaching, 2) the Holy Spirit in all of His divine, infinite wisdom and understanding is going to sync up with the words that He inspired the Biblical authors to write, 3) Gabriel is never…NEVER called an archangel in the entirety of the Bible (this is a teaching that was brought about by the writing of Pseudo-Dionysius who wrote the unbiblical angelical hierarchy commonly recognized throughout much of Christendom today), 4) Michael being of War makes more sense in light of the fact that the event of Christ coming back is as the conquering King, and 5) the verse that was mentioned in the status implies that it is Christ that holds the trumpet and does the shouting.

If you are going to be so bold as to say “Thus saith the Lord…” then you must be ready to give a defense or call down fire, otherwise you might some verbal stoning will be the adequate response. The Christian community has to be ready to hold each other accountable to be held accountable, especially to those whom God have placed in authority over us. Anyone who refuses to be tested or attacks those who lovingly question one's words are worthy of being labeled a "wolf in sheep's' clothing". Especially if they begin calling those questioners divisive and confrontational or accusing them of weaving doubt about one's ability to hear the Holy Spirit. That's a pride-filled answer and only raises more red-flags.

To avoid questioning, I was asked “why does it matter who blows the trumpet?” It doesn't. What matters is that a man publicly stated the God spoke to him, putting him in a place of spiritual authority and that God told him something that was not supportable by scripture. If the Holy Spirit were to take the time to speak audibly to someone, I believe that He would have a lot more to say than one sentence that brings undue attention to angels, but I do believe crying would definitely be the correct response.

Peace be with you,
Stephen.

Having a Moment...

Have you ever thought of the phrase "I just had a moment"? It's such a strange phrase. It makes very little sense if you think about it. Had...a...moment. And yet I find myself thinking of how just thirty minutes ago I had an experience that I can describe with no other words than "had a moment". I do not mean it in terms of psychological breakdown...but instead of a sudden and brief period of time where everything in life seemed to shift and life became a blur. It was a moment in which I felt a deep and unyielding desire that I have not felt in some time.

I was on my way from the laundry room to my apartment, listening to music, and reflecting on life as it is and how much things have changed in the last year alone. In the midst of my thoughts and emotions there rose this sudden desire to sing a song called "Moving Forward" by Israel Houghton that I haven't heard (or sung) in a very long time. It then passed a desire for God overwhelmed me. I got into my apartment as quickly as possible and put my clothes in my room as the emotions and the intense feeling of desire kept increasing...and before I knew it I was standing in the dark, right in the center of my living room and letting my emotions and desires rush over me and I began to pray.

Intimacy...this was my prayer. A closeness and a unity with God. For a long while I have been seeking to understand who I am, and then to apply what I learn to real life. I have definitely been seeking God before this moment, but nothing as strong or as relentless as this moment in time that came like a sudden wind...not knowing from where it came or to where it ever went or even still to where it will soon be. It is a beautiful and wonderful experience that touches the heart, the mind, and the soul...

This I hold as evidence...dear sweet truth of the Holy Spirit dwelling within me and I wish I felt it so strongly more often.

“His Presence Matters”

           Recently, I had the privilege of hearing Pastor Francis Chan speak on the topic of "God's Presence Matters". Pastor Chan has always been one of my favorite speakers. I love how real he is and how he is able to really connect with his audience. During his preparation for talking about the subject, he found himself left with the question “does anything else matter?’ That IS the real question here. Chan then asked “If the God of heaven came down and made His presence known, wouldn’t that be the only thing that mattered?”

We have to have God’s presence. It is true that God is everywhere…but is His “presence” everywhere? What I mean by this is, is the awareness of His presence there and/or is there a difference between God being here with us and God being “present” here with us? Could it be that, yes He is everywhere and therefore He is in the room, but that He is not “present” with us in that we are not in a place of intimacy with Him and are in a way disconnected from His heat? That He is not “with us” in that He is not involved in our thoughts or actions because He desires us to seek Him and be intimate with Him on our own effort rather than He impose His sovereign right to make us be intimate with Him? I believe so.

 What does this mean for ministry? Ministry is God’s heart…and for us to be truly effective we are going to have to get humble, seek God, and get into His presence. I’m not talking about the manifestations and feelings that my Pentecostal brethren and I so often prioritize, but instead the real time spent in dedication to building our relationship with our Father and with our Husband, that we might not work alone or in vain…but instead work alongside our God, who so very much wants to be “present” with us. This is significant to the lives of all believers everywhere, and not just to those who are "in ministry", because missionaries and pastors are not the only ones who do the work of God or build the kingdom. Pastor and missionaries are leaders of the church, teachers, men and women dedicated seeking God and keeping His church structured in the way that is most biblical and God honoring, but they are not the only "ministers" in the world.

For the Christian laity...God's presence matters, because there may be moments in which God desires us to act and to do great things, but we are to weak and shaky from fulfill the action to perfection, because we are not relying on God or listening to his instruction. We can live lives full of joy and abundance, but not because we have money, or nice things. Only the presence of God can truly satisfy us and bring us life.