Faith & Works

After reading in James 2 today, I was reminded of my teenage years back when a family friend suggested we combine with them to share the song "Screen Door" by Rich Mullins with the local congregation.  With it's bluesy melody, fun rhythm, and convincing lyrics, the song basically stated that faith without works is indeed dead, it's pointless, it's "like a screen door on a submarine".  I know we had a good time practicing to share that song, but I'm pretty sure at that time I didn't understand the heart and the truth behind the lyrics.

So many times recently, I've asked the Lord... "but what do You want me to do?"  As if my doing something is going to make all the difference.  I've been trying to search left and right to figure out what "works" I have to do to show evidence of what the Lord has shared with me, to prove my faith.
I came back from a conference recently that's theme was "Occupying for the Lord" and to me that seemed to mean some sort of action.
After the conference, however, and all this revelation and encouragement all I got was "wait and pray".  Everything in me wanted to cry out "but what do I do?!"  Ugh.  I'm so impatient.....but thank the Lord that He knows us.  He needed to show me His sovereignty and that the work was indeed His and not my own. He started to show me that whether it was me doing the physical work or just praying behind the scenes... the ultimate point is that He should be getting all the Glory and all is for His Name's sake.    

It says in James that Abraham offering up Isaac was the work in response to the faith.  ... So here came this simple, yet profound, answer from the Lord.  Isn't works just obedience to Me?  

I've found that sometimes works can be nothing but being still and praying.  Oftentimes this is the hardest work of them all: to know that the Lord is in control and working and that He has asked you to be still and work through prayer only.  For me, it is so hard.  As humans, we love what is tangible.  We love things we can see or taste or touch.  But the Lord so delights in obedience over works and over sacrifice and sometimes it means that we don't see the fruit of our prayers at first or maybe ever, but if the Lord has asked it of us and we are obedient to it, it will bear fruit.
"Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fats of rams." -1 Samuel 15:22


Sometimes, however, the Lord does ask us to take physical action.  Maybe as small as speaking a word to someone, or teaching Sunday School or maybe even in something that seems bigger, like becoming a missionary in another country.
The problem that arises is that I could frequently use "I'm waiting for the voice of the Lord" to account for my laziness or unwillingness to give up my own comfort.
"I'm pretty sure that there is someone more qualified to talk to Suzy about that."
or "God, I Just don't feel up for prayer meeting this week.  I know you must want me to catch up on my rest.  I just need an evening off to relax."
"God wouldn't send me Uganda, away from my family, in a place that could be considered dangerous, would He?"

We tend to convince ourselves that our own feelings are the voice of God.  It's comforting to our selfish soul, but it just leads to more death of our spirit and essentially leads to disconnect from God.  I'm not saying that God is calling us all to be missionaries or to do seemingly grand things for Him.  What I'm saying is that He, often times, will ask us to do things that are not within our comfort zone; they're not within what we think is logical or rational or enjoyable or even within this box of who we know God to be.  Because of our feeling of inability or lack of knowledge or just lack of desire, we often times ignore or push away opportunities that God has placed in front of us for service or "action" to be His hands and feet in this world of need.

---
I oftentimes think that having some leading to go serve in another country would be amazing, and I feel like even if I could do some sort of outreach locally or evangelize in the community I would have some sense of obvious meaning in my service.  I could maybe feel that I had done something great for the Lord.
But for me, I have found, that the most challenging thing is exactly what the Lord has called me to.  And that (for now) is to encourage, to minister to, to comfort, to challenge, and to pray for/with those who are closest to me: my coworkers, friends, the fellow believers that I meet with, my family, etc.  It seems like it would almost be easier to just go somewhere else and preach the Gospel to strangers.  But the Lord is teaching me that in these "small" things, He receives just as much glory.

The thing with connecting with people that are already close to you is, they know your failures, they will probably challenge you as much as you do them, and it seems to carry this extra weight -- sometimes it means extra hurt for us, or extra difficulties in relationships, or just learning to be more vulnerable than we ever really wanted to be.  But this is what the cross is, and it is ours to carry, that we might under its weight learn the character of Christ and be changed by it.  Not only are we changed more into His likeness, but in being more like Him, we let more of God into our lives and through our lives that He might be Lord over every situation and be able to minister through us.

--
The Lord has kept me in the dark about so many things... and I think this is the reason why: when I get a piece of His intention or His heart, I tend to run with it on my own strength.  I become as the "foolish Galations" and try to finish with my own two hands what the Spirit has started.  But thank the Lord that He is patient and I am learning.  What I find is that it's not just the end result in a matter that pleases the Lord, but more that we are willing to follow Him, obey Him, and step with Him as He steps.  And this affects a more eternal "end result".
God's heart in making man was always related to His desire for fellowship.  If our works and our plans and our ideas are outside of our fellowship with God, then we have stepped out of His purpose in creating us.  He longs to be with us, to walk with us, to lead us, to encourage us, to talk with us, and to bring us into His glorious plans.   Our God's heart is FOR US.  May we not miss this in our day to day run around the mill.

So back to this faith and works business.  Faith without action is not faith.  Faith knows the heart of God and therefore moves forward walking in it.  But action without faith or knowledge of who God is or what He is doing is the same if not worse.  It's just burning a lot of time and energy and maybe getting a few gold stars added to your portfolio or your Sunday School chart, but in God's eyes it is meaningless.

It just comes back to the simplicity of getting to know our Lord, walking with Him, learning of Him in His word, trusting Him, and obeying Him... even when He nudges us into unfamiliar or uncomfortable territory.  Our God loves us with an unimaginable love, and His heart is always for our good.  Simple faith and obedience is what brings Him the most glory.  Just look at the life of Christ.  

Shaking.

oh man.  what a summer.   I can't believe it's coming to a close.  What a roller coaster of traveling, lessons, emotions, unexpected circumstances, life, blessings, but so full of the unbelievable and amazing grace of God.  Full of light shining on my own life and the life of the Church.  Amazed by the incredible and horrific stories in the news.  Learning to sit and listen and read and listen and sit and wait and pray and listen.

What it comes down to is a whole lot of shaking.

Shaking in the world in ways we have never seen before.  Evil so clearly at work... massacres, plagues, famines, earthquakes, division, corruption, nations fighting nations, families fighting families, and the line between right and wrong almost completely removed.

Shaking in the Church... literally churches that seemingly stood for truth falling to pieces.  Corruption and pride in the hearts of men and the working of the enemy equals division, dissension, and a structure that was supposed to represent God falling like a sandcastle washed away by the waves.    But also a good shaking in that people are starting to question the reason we're doing things the way we do them.  There's some shaking that opens eyes and hearts and helps us to see the Church in light of God.  What are we doing?  Oh, may we have such an honest and vulnerable heart before God!  Are we walking in light of Him?  Is what we're doing unto Him or unto our own idea of what His work is?  Are we just doing what we've always done? Are we that living sacrifice before Him?  If not... WHAT is it that we're doing?!  For if it's not by faith and it's not in His light and if it's not led by His spirit, It is VANITY!

Shaking in my own heart.  So much light and revelation...the Lord patiently showing me who I really am in light of Him.  Oh man...so much junk; pride, insecurity, self-centeredness, fear, unbelief, worry, and a whole lot of stubbornness.  This list could go on and on.  But I've just seen how the Lord meets me in each and every one of these things.  After supplying light though, His grace just floods in like a dam breaking.  Followed by freedom :).  Hallelujah!  Oh how precious is the blood of the Lamb.

And He has caused me to start to understand the importance of heeding His voice above any other.     I've gotten a lot of hard questions asked of me this summer.  Questions that at the time I had a hard time answering.  Questions I realized I had a hard time answering because I wasn't walking fully in the Lord's light and in the purpose that the Lord had called me into.  I wasn't so honest with the Lord about my life and struggles and my inability to do all of the tasks at hand, never mind deal with my own issues before the Lord.

I feel like I've been called to lay a lot of things down again and re-evaluate them before the Lord and see what His Word is for each of them.  It seems for myself and so many brothers and sisters in the body, and for Church service and with stuff going on in this nation and in the world, it feels like everything's shifting and changing.  What it's gonna look like in the future... I have not the slightest clue.  But I feel like the Lord is saying to His Church...WAKE UP!  Hallelujah, has this not been our prayer?  That the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened?

May the Lord be our Vision in the time we have... for who knows what tomorrow brings.  May we redeem the time and Love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.  He, the God on the Universe and beyond who knows our greatest sin and the depravity of humankind, desires still to dwell with us and abide in us!!  Does this amazing truth not stir within us a great desire to bow, surrender, and love the Lord our God?!

Hallelujah!  Our Lord lives and is working and His love never fails!  

And to show His grace even more... He painted the sky tonight with soft pastels.  Our God is good. :)

    "Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love." - 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Eternity in View

First quiet evening at home in a while.  Thought, or should I say thoughts, on my heart tonight: Eternity.
I was given this one line "Open my eyes to eternity" ... thought maybe it was the beginning of a song.  But no.  The Lord prompted it more as a plea on my heart.  Even in the last hour, I've been thinking about different events, my spin on them, and what God's spin on them must be... seeing partially, but never with complete revelation.  So many different circumstances in so many lives of family, friends, acquaintances, etc... and wondering how this jumble of events all fits together in God's glorious purpose... the good, the bad, the ugly.  All of them are somehow working together for His glorification in the end, and eternity in view.

It all makes me feel so small, so amazed at how I can remain so selfish so much of the time.  Realizing that all the things the Lord brings me through are not all just about me.  It may not be about me at all.  Of course the Lord uses every opportunity to shape us and mold us and conform us more to the likeness of the image of Christ.  But it is all soo soo much bigger than that.  The things he leads us into, the Way that he leads us... the people that we encounter, the friendships we make, the person we marry, the church we attend,  the place we live, the job that He leads us into... I ask myself, what is their eternal weight? What is the meaning in light of eternity?
When I truly start to think on eternity, how humbled I instantly become.  Who am I, that I have been invited to partake in this? To partake in the One who defines Eternal Life.  So incredibly precious, and yet mind-blowing at the same time.

Am I living my life in light of Eternity?
...Or... Is it based on the rush of the world, the desires of the flesh, the hunger of knowledge, or the expectation of man?

There is this concept of eternity that we have in the back of our minds, one that probably seems more fantasy than anything else.  And it's easier to live with it back there, where we can store it away for a good spiritual discussion or some "deep fellowship", or even bring it out to meditate on every Sunday when we have communion and sing "When we've been there ten thousand years...".

But what's really hard is letting eternity live at the very forefront of our minds, and letting the Lord etch it on our hearts.  That, however, is exactly what God has called us to do.  But how?  I think it has all to do with learning to live in the Eternal Life that has already been given to us.  Abiding in Christ, in His rest, in His joy, in His righteousness and holiness.  Living through him and unto Him.  Casting aside our own eyes, and seeing with His.  Casting aside our own ideas, and letting Christ rules in our minds.  Laying down our deepest desires, and letting Him have His way in us, knowing that we see in part, but He sees the whole picture.

There is so much more going on in this world and in our own lives, and in the Church that is beyond what we can see and understand.  We can let it make us frustrated and upset because we don't have control, or we can choose to live in the peace of God, trusting Him, and knowing that there is eternity in the balance.  Our all-knowing heavenly Father who loves us much more than we can even imagine is indeed sovereign over all of these things, from the smallest desire or struggle that we face, to the biggest events going on universally.  He is SOVEREIGN & He loves us. This is the truth!  May we live in light of this reality: He's not an amateur, He knows what He's doing.  May we learn to enjoy the presence of the Lord, for it is all the sweeter when we don't know all the details of His plan.  But may we learn to STAY in the presence of the Lord, discovering each day who He is, and learning to live for Him and for the eternal desires on His heart.

"So we do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." -Ecclesiastes 3:11

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press own toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 3:13-14