Living From the Inside Out

Every once in a while I run across a quote that really speaks volumes to me. On my last trip overseas I was reading a book titled: “Dealing With the Crazy Makers In Your Life” and one chapter had this quote as the heading …

“Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.” Margaret Young.

“First be who you really are…” and therein lies the problem. Few take the time to really find out who they are. They are afraid of looking inside as they might not like what they see - and most likely they won’t. The Bible states that our hearts are deceitfully wicked. We no longer know how to be still and thus we don’t know God - and not really knowing God means we have yet to discover our true selves as it is found only “in Him”. We are afraid of silence because the lack of noise is deafening - so we keep music playing at work, in the car, at home, in the family room … so we don’t have to listen to the emptiness and discover how much of a void is really there - how much emptiness is within. We don’t like to be alone - maybe because solitude is frightening or even terrifying as then we would need to talk to ourselves and come to know the true “me”. Could be deadly. But then again it could lead to real life. And, we don’t listen to the Spirit of God who lives in us if we are truly born again and so we are not receiving fresh revelation and life on a daily basis.

If we would take time to be still, be silent, be alone (solitude) and be in touch with the Spirit of God then we would discover the true person on the inside. We would come to know ourselves - the good, the bad, and the ugly - as well as come to realize that God loves us, accepts us and forgives us regardless and unconditionally. Then, because He loves us we can come to love and understand ourselves. In the midst of that we would also come to know the real person inside - who we really are - and what it is God has wired us to do … what we really want to do with our lives. We would discover the unique song that He has given us to sing - like no other song ever heard. We would hear the words and the melody and begin to hum it knowing it is really who we are and what we were called to accomplish for Him.

Grabbing hold of this we can then move out to do what we were literally created to do - and do it so well that one day people will actually pay us for doing it. This is not a job - it is a way of life, a vocation, a calling - your calling, your unique song. This then allows you to purchase the few things you really need to make your life and your life’s work easier and more productive.

Then we have things in the right order - with God, with our own hearts, with those we love, those we serve and those whose lives we touch. And, we can even have some of the things we want because God will honor what we are doing for Him and out of our relationship with Him … and He has created all things for our pleasure and so he will allow us to have more than the basic necessities of life.

Then things are in the right order …. or as our quote today states: “Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.”

Your life will be ordered correctly and you will know the real you and be expressing who you really are in what you do for a living, what you acccomplish and what you leave behind as a lasting legacy, and what you are eventually remembered for.

And, by the way, this has absolutely nothing to do with the topic or content of the book - which is also good.

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Headlines: Idea of Personal Relationship With God Discounted

Another wounded leader and another horror story of a person’s Christian faith on the rocks and deception taking the lead in their life.

The Leader-Post newspaper, Saturday the 28th of November, 2009 page H10 .. Karen Armstrong - a former nun - has decided that a personal relationship with God is not only impossible but unnecessary and simply something designed and created by religion to make people feel good and make access to God “easy and accessible”. Her book - The Case for God - states such “truths” as “God is not a being at all” and “God is not a divine ‘Personality’”. She seems to be against any set of doctrine or set of beliefs and into experiencing some sense of the “divine” through rituals and “having a high level of compassion for our fellow being”. She is all for “seeking spiritual transcendence”.

What is more incredible than the utter garbage she writes is that people - a lot of people - are buying this last in a series of over 20 books written by the author. Wow! There is no end for the demand for man’s philosophy and religion. Yes, religion. Although her book is saying that religion has created these sets of doctrines and other things that hinder people transcending and finding the divine …. she has created simply another “religion” of her own.

Religion is simply man’s attempt to reach out and find God. That is what she is doing. Reaching out in a humanly designed way to find “god”. She will, of course find her ‘god’ - well, really she will find a demon and another religious format but not the one true God.

The Christian faith on the other hand is God reaching out to find man who is lost and on the way to Hell for all of eternity. Totally different. It is this faith that this former nun has rejected in favor of a system of beliefs and teachings of her own creation. Sad!

But no different than many people today - some of them declaring that they are born again Christians - who have taken what they like in the Christian faith, added in what they think or feel is right for them, sprinkled in a few loosely held beliefs and thoughts (opinions) of others and called it their ‘Christian’ faith. And, they are actually building their life on this faulty foundation.

Jesus spoke of these people over 2,000 years ago when He commented on building your life (house) either on the rock or on the sand. The rock is His Word and the sand is anything that becomes a substitute for His Word (the Bible). When will we learn? This former nun ihas built her house upon the sand and is encouraging others to do likewise. Careful Christian - you may be doing the same and not even know it - yet!

The Bible states: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Still a good idea even today - especially today.

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Apostolic Roundtable

Last year I was invited to attend an apostolic rountable discussion in Indiana and to visit with one of the senior apostles of the network which was sponsoring this event. So, I flew to Ohio and met for a day with the leader and attended worship in one of their network’s church plants that he was overseeing. Then off we went to Indiana where, for three days, senior apostles and their disciples (26 in total) met in a hotel boardroom to worship, pray, learn together, and minister to the Lord and to one another. Then, back in Ohio I had a day with three of the leaders to fellowship, ask questions, learn how they do things, and genreally build relationally before flying back home on the late flight. It was a very powerful time for me and a real encouragement. (Pictured above - a time of powerful prophetic ministry over one of those in attendance).

At the end of March I will be heading to Ohio and then to Indiana for the second time. Again, the apostolic roundtable is meeting and I have been invited to attend. This time I will be going with another apostolic man from our network of churches with whom I work very closely both here and overseas. A great man of God who is a real encouragement to me and I want him to be blessed and to benefit from being with these senior statesmen of the Kingdom and being part of this experience with me. Shared experiences are always the most beneficial.

It is really good for apostles from different networks and different branches of the Christian Church to come together and to seek the Lord and His heart for His Church in unity with one another. No agendas, no superstars, no leader other than the Holy Spirit, nothing to prove and hearts open to whatever the Lord may be saying and doing. Powerful.

I would appreciate your prayers for Bob and myself as we prepare our hearts and accomplish what needs to be done in our offices and studies to free this time up so that we are not taking “work” with us to this special time set aside for fellowship with the Holy Spirit and with some key men in the Kingdom.

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Buildings - Budgets - Bodies

There is an established fact. People look at churches and they determine whether it is successful by the buildings they own and the number of people (bodies) attending. Pastors do the same - get two together on a Monday for coffee and you will inevitably hear one ask the other how they are are doing. Instead of answering on a personal level they will tell you how Sunday went. The answer is always includes how many people were in attendance.

People and pastors determine if a church is a success by the size of their physical plant and the number of people attending. Pastors are also concened with a third “b” and that is the size of the budgets by which the church operates.

I recently worked twice for a local church - once in August and once in February - giving them my best. Each time it was a 15 hour Sunday with services, teaching, ministering prophetically, meeting personally with the pastors, meeting with their leadership group and generally working myself into exhaustion. I received nothing in the form of a love offering or even a small amount to help cover the costs of the day - travel, meals, Diet Coke and so on. When asked about it later on they commented that the budget (one of three “b”) barely allowed them to pay the mortgage and they were unable to give me anything.

Here’s a thought - a workman is worthy of his hire and so maybe you should not invite someone to minister who you cannot then honor in some way for the work he did among your people and for you. There was a full house at all events on both days (bodies) and they have a wonderful and beautiful building (the second “b”) but their budget (the third ‘B’) was so tight that were unable to pay something towards the expenses incurred.

Reading late last night - a copy of Christianity Today for February 2010 who had an interesting “Go Figure” statistic. It was on “giving” or budgets …
$900,000 Amont that Rick Warren asked Saddleback Church to give in 48 hours to meet an end-of-year deficit, in a December 30, email.
$2.4 million - amount church members gave by the end of December 31. Nearly all the donations were less than $1,000 each.

Impressive, right? Well, of course it is! See “bodies” giving “budgets” to help pay for the “buildings” and programs of the local church.

I wonder what God thinks? How does He judge whether a church is successful or not? I wonder if He is as interested in budgets, buildings and bodies as we are? Is He looking for quantity or quality or both? Do numbers and size matter to him? What is He impressed with? What does He deem to be important?

We should take this line of inquiry a step further. Christians here in North America (and its true in Eastern Europe as well) seem to focus on externals - for guys…how long is the hair? For ladies - in some churches the hair must be done up in a bun and long dress to your ankles are the key to acceptance. Tattoos and piercings are frowned upon, style and type of music you listen to (let’s not even go there), attend twice on Sunday (morning and evening) and mid-week on a Wednesday, live by a long list of ‘do’s and don’ts’, tithe and give an offering each time you come, belong to a cell group or home fellowship, don’t go to movie theatres, play cards, buy a lottery ticket, drink, smoke or run around with those who do. On and on the list goes - and if you love the right way -their way - then you are in good standing with God and the local church leadership.

Add or subtract whatever you want from the list - each local church and their leadership have their own list of acceptable and unacceptable behavior - a holiness code designed to help you to be right with God and His Church.

Amazing - like buildings, bodies and budgets we are determining the success of a Church or a Christian by external things - appearances, actions, behaviour, and life-style. Yet, I believe the Bible states that God does not look at the outward appearance but at the heart and, if the heart is right, then the Lord is pleased.

King David sinned with Bathsheba and then killed her husband to cover it up, lied to a prophet, deceived a nation… but he was a “man after God’s own heart”, considered a friend of God’s, and God honored him and prospered him. God did not look at the outward appearance and actions but at the heart - and David repented with godly sorrow before the Lord (Psalm 51) and so his heart was right and God was pleased.

Maybe it is time in this “success driven” society and Church we currently have to take a look at how we measure success and what standards we use to “judge” people. Maybe, just maybe, it is time to move away from worldly standards that we use to measure “success” and look towards things that God looks for - faithfulness among others. The bragging about bodies, buildings and budgets would stop. And we could then be about our Father’s business of loving, accepting and forgiving people so that they can experience God’s love.

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