I'm reading a book called, "The Essentials of Christian Living from The Life Model: Living from the heart Jesus Gave you." It's written by a whole list of people who are connected to a Ministry called, "Shepherd's House." I'm not sure I can yet explain much about the book, but one sentence caught my eye, " And while you are on that pathway (the pathway to maturity), try to avoid isolation. You cannot overcome life's obstacles alone. As your maturity progresses, you will be able to help others discover how to live from their hearts, too. That is a fulfilling experience. You can be incredibly proud of those you have helped in making progress with maturity, and that will give you increased confidence that your own journey is on its proper course. You will find that others are growing as your are growing." (italics mine)
Sometimes life can be isolating. I have health issues. I am reactive to perfume, cleaning products, paint, and traffic. I have bounced from one state to another for the last three years. My children are grown and gone (it's funny how much my children have defined who I connected with) Isolation is almost a given for me. How do you remain connected in the midst of such circumstances? As I ponder that my mind wanders to others more isolated than I am. (oops -- had to stop here and call my 85 year old friend and see if she is feeling isolated today) Sometimes isolation is not a choice. It is the season that you are in. But on the flip side I believe it is also some kind of silent enemy that needs to be fought and conquered. Sometimes we need to fight against our isolation, sometimes we need to fight against the isolation of others.
I'm thinking that isolation is a sign of the times too. In all my recent travels I have noticed that people now spend much more time on their ipods, computers and tablets and much less time talking to the guy sitting next to them. It's awkward to strike up a conversation with a stranger and much easier to simply tune them out.
Isolation doesn't always mean you are alone. You can be in a crowd and be just as isolated. The trick is to engage, to be relational, to make significant moments out of every moment.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Lost
Matthew 24:21-25 "For
then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the
beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand."
How do we lose ourselves? I am wondering, if we have a personal relationship with Jesus, how could we be deceived? Ah, but then it says, "If possible" Yeah, but it does say, "Unless the days were shortened, no flesh would be saved." hmmm. Does that mean that we would all kill ourselves or be killed? Or does that mean that we would all walk away from God? Which is more frightening?
I heard many explanations about this passage, "It's happening now", "It happened during Roman rule", "It was just a metaphor", "It is something that is in the future yet". Ok, I'll buy that, perhaps all these explanations have truth in them. The thing is, it lets me know that I can get lost. I can be deceived. I'm not talking about salvation here. That's a discussion for another day. I want to talk about the level of pain that would set us up to grasp for an unfamiliar christ. Jesus says, "and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:3b-5. What would it take for a sheep to follow a stranger?
I'm thinking of a chicken I had once (ok, so you relate to sheep, I relate to chickens!) I bought this chicken at a wild game bird swap meet. She cost me a quarter because her owners just wanted to get rid of her. I'm quite sure she was too tough to eat. She was a free range chicken that had had too much freedom. I could not tame her. She hid her eggs all over the yard. grabbed a bite of scratch when I wasn't in range and she never darkened the door of the coop where all my other chickens took refuge at night. She slept alone in a tree outside. So imagine my surprise when she came up to us one winter. There was snow on the ground. She was hungry, sick, her leg withered and curled up underneath her. My husband, being a man of mercy scooped her up (something she allowed without any hint of a fight) and nursed her back to health. Within a few weeks she the same wild hen as before. In her desperation, she was willing to trust. The question is, would she have trusted anyone at that point?
More and more I believe that though the Bible is clear, it isn't intuitive to us. In Christ the last shall be first, it is the weak that are strong, the blind that can see, the lesser that is the greater. Everything is the opposite of what we think it. what is natural in this world. We keep looking for signs of great suffering as if it is physical suffering that is the hardest to survive. I'm not convinced. What about other forms of suffering? I believe suffering can drive us to follow a different shepherd... or perhaps simply shy away from the shepherd that we have.
But tell me, what is suffering? Is it limited to our flesh (hunger, physical pain, or thirst?) I'm thinking of Job 19:2 where he says to his friends, "“How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words?" Job was a man who had everything, money, a great family, prestige. He wasn't tormented with hunger or whips. He was tormented with accusations, false prophesy and emotional cruelty. Is the wealthy man's form of suffering less horrible?
I have been tormented with words before. I can relate to Job's description of being broken into pieces with words. Perhaps I still feel broken. I know that today, I feel lost almost like the shepherd's voice is too far away to distinguish? I think there is a place in all suffering where we give up, quit fighting, settle and learn to believe, "this is my new normal" Perhaps, "this is all I've ever known" or "This is what I deserve" Perhaps we just kind of wander off... perhaps the pain shuts up our ears so that we do not hear the call of our shepherd. But this I know, even if I can not hear Him... he hears me.
How do we lose ourselves? I am wondering, if we have a personal relationship with Jesus, how could we be deceived? Ah, but then it says, "If possible" Yeah, but it does say, "Unless the days were shortened, no flesh would be saved." hmmm. Does that mean that we would all kill ourselves or be killed? Or does that mean that we would all walk away from God? Which is more frightening?
I heard many explanations about this passage, "It's happening now", "It happened during Roman rule", "It was just a metaphor", "It is something that is in the future yet". Ok, I'll buy that, perhaps all these explanations have truth in them. The thing is, it lets me know that I can get lost. I can be deceived. I'm not talking about salvation here. That's a discussion for another day. I want to talk about the level of pain that would set us up to grasp for an unfamiliar christ. Jesus says, "and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” John 10:3b-5. What would it take for a sheep to follow a stranger?
I'm thinking of a chicken I had once (ok, so you relate to sheep, I relate to chickens!) I bought this chicken at a wild game bird swap meet. She cost me a quarter because her owners just wanted to get rid of her. I'm quite sure she was too tough to eat. She was a free range chicken that had had too much freedom. I could not tame her. She hid her eggs all over the yard. grabbed a bite of scratch when I wasn't in range and she never darkened the door of the coop where all my other chickens took refuge at night. She slept alone in a tree outside. So imagine my surprise when she came up to us one winter. There was snow on the ground. She was hungry, sick, her leg withered and curled up underneath her. My husband, being a man of mercy scooped her up (something she allowed without any hint of a fight) and nursed her back to health. Within a few weeks she the same wild hen as before. In her desperation, she was willing to trust. The question is, would she have trusted anyone at that point?
More and more I believe that though the Bible is clear, it isn't intuitive to us. In Christ the last shall be first, it is the weak that are strong, the blind that can see, the lesser that is the greater. Everything is the opposite of what we think it. what is natural in this world. We keep looking for signs of great suffering as if it is physical suffering that is the hardest to survive. I'm not convinced. What about other forms of suffering? I believe suffering can drive us to follow a different shepherd... or perhaps simply shy away from the shepherd that we have.
But tell me, what is suffering? Is it limited to our flesh (hunger, physical pain, or thirst?) I'm thinking of Job 19:2 where he says to his friends, "“How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words?" Job was a man who had everything, money, a great family, prestige. He wasn't tormented with hunger or whips. He was tormented with accusations, false prophesy and emotional cruelty. Is the wealthy man's form of suffering less horrible?
I have been tormented with words before. I can relate to Job's description of being broken into pieces with words. Perhaps I still feel broken. I know that today, I feel lost almost like the shepherd's voice is too far away to distinguish? I think there is a place in all suffering where we give up, quit fighting, settle and learn to believe, "this is my new normal" Perhaps, "this is all I've ever known" or "This is what I deserve" Perhaps we just kind of wander off... perhaps the pain shuts up our ears so that we do not hear the call of our shepherd. But this I know, even if I can not hear Him... he hears me.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Questions
I live in the north where the complaint is usually about rain. No one waters their lawns here, there is no need--usually. But this year green has withered into brown and lifeless and I can't help wondering what is next. I guess I never expected drought here where drinking water wells are dug down to only 60 feet. But it is a huge reminder how little (if anything) we actually control. On many levels, that awareness frightens me.
I spent several years in a rural ranching town where drought continued for more than seven years. I enjoyed a small community church there. On some Sundays during that time I saw big, burly ranchers openly weep as one by one they lost their herds, some lost their homes and their livelihoods with them. We prayed, wept, and sought the LORD for relief. But relief was slow in coming.
I'm thinking of Deuteronomy 11:13-17 "And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.“Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
And Isaiah 42:24 "Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord,
He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, Nor were they obedient to His law."
After raising a crop of children of my own, these passages have taken on new meaning. I don't believe these are punishment passages (If you don't do what I tell you I will squash you like a bug aargh!") but rather an explanation of boundaries and consequence. What exactly happens when we serve other gods? Who pays the price? There is no other "good god" you either follow the LORD or you turn your face towards evil and evil is dark, vicious and cruel. It creates horrible consequences!
I told my children, "If you walk into the middle of the street without looking both ways, you could be hit by a car and killed" There was a point where I expected them to obey without my constant reminder. I trusted them to walk down the street safely outside of my view. If they didn't, being hit by a car was not something I did to them but something that happened in consequence.
If my child were using a toy to pound the heads of their siblings. I would be angry in defense of the innocent and take that toy away until the heart of the child was repentant and he was safe with it around the others. Does that make me a vengeful, mean, overbearing parent or a loving one? God will protect the disadvantaged. He will defend the fatherless and the widow. On the flip side, not only will he allow consequence but He will not force His protection on anyone. Without crossing boundaries and being controlling, (which is not kind) He can not protect those who reject His protection. My protection for my children from being killed by a car was not to remove all the cars from the road but to teach them how to navigate a road full of cars safely. It was then their choice to obey or not.
This year in the North, nothing has been "In it's season" There were many warm days when it should have been snowing, Then there was frost when it should have been warm. The fruit trees lost their buds, pickers lost their summer jobs, towns lost summer season renters and the tax revenue connected to it. Was that punishment, consequence or coincidence?
In the Northern plains half of the land meant to grow wheat is left fallow every year. It is given a whole season to rest. It's left fallow because years of research has proven that God's commandments about letting fields rest is sound land management. Our dust bowl of the 1930s was a consequence of poor land management including the lack of crop rotation. In other words drought and disobedience are linked like streets and cars. Many of God's commandments, which used to sound like meaningless rituals now make scientific sense like the ones that command people to wash their hands before they eat. What you do or don't ...matters!
As I write all that I then feel a little powerless, powerless because so many around me are choosing to dash out in the street and get hit. My country no longer seeks to walk humbly before the LORD. What can one person do? Does it matter really? Prophets cried in the streets, "Thus says the LORD, "Consider your ways" but few did. What was the point? The end result frightens me. But then again there were people like Daniel, Rahab, and David. They listened to the prophets and were protected in miraculous ways because they walked in integrity in terrible times. God help me do the same.
I spent several years in a rural ranching town where drought continued for more than seven years. I enjoyed a small community church there. On some Sundays during that time I saw big, burly ranchers openly weep as one by one they lost their herds, some lost their homes and their livelihoods with them. We prayed, wept, and sought the LORD for relief. But relief was slow in coming.
I'm thinking of Deuteronomy 11:13-17 "And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil. And I will send grass in your fields for your livestock, that you may eat and be filled.“Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.
And Isaiah 42:24 "Who gave Jacob for plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord,
He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, Nor were they obedient to His law."
After raising a crop of children of my own, these passages have taken on new meaning. I don't believe these are punishment passages (If you don't do what I tell you I will squash you like a bug aargh!") but rather an explanation of boundaries and consequence. What exactly happens when we serve other gods? Who pays the price? There is no other "good god" you either follow the LORD or you turn your face towards evil and evil is dark, vicious and cruel. It creates horrible consequences!
I told my children, "If you walk into the middle of the street without looking both ways, you could be hit by a car and killed" There was a point where I expected them to obey without my constant reminder. I trusted them to walk down the street safely outside of my view. If they didn't, being hit by a car was not something I did to them but something that happened in consequence.
If my child were using a toy to pound the heads of their siblings. I would be angry in defense of the innocent and take that toy away until the heart of the child was repentant and he was safe with it around the others. Does that make me a vengeful, mean, overbearing parent or a loving one? God will protect the disadvantaged. He will defend the fatherless and the widow. On the flip side, not only will he allow consequence but He will not force His protection on anyone. Without crossing boundaries and being controlling, (which is not kind) He can not protect those who reject His protection. My protection for my children from being killed by a car was not to remove all the cars from the road but to teach them how to navigate a road full of cars safely. It was then their choice to obey or not.
This year in the North, nothing has been "In it's season" There were many warm days when it should have been snowing, Then there was frost when it should have been warm. The fruit trees lost their buds, pickers lost their summer jobs, towns lost summer season renters and the tax revenue connected to it. Was that punishment, consequence or coincidence?
In the Northern plains half of the land meant to grow wheat is left fallow every year. It is given a whole season to rest. It's left fallow because years of research has proven that God's commandments about letting fields rest is sound land management. Our dust bowl of the 1930s was a consequence of poor land management including the lack of crop rotation. In other words drought and disobedience are linked like streets and cars. Many of God's commandments, which used to sound like meaningless rituals now make scientific sense like the ones that command people to wash their hands before they eat. What you do or don't ...matters!
As I write all that I then feel a little powerless, powerless because so many around me are choosing to dash out in the street and get hit. My country no longer seeks to walk humbly before the LORD. What can one person do? Does it matter really? Prophets cried in the streets, "Thus says the LORD, "Consider your ways" but few did. What was the point? The end result frightens me. But then again there were people like Daniel, Rahab, and David. They listened to the prophets and were protected in miraculous ways because they walked in integrity in terrible times. God help me do the same.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Chickens and God's intervention
I have too many Chickens, really I do. But just same 5 baby chicks jumped into my car when I was at the feed store this week. I succumbed to the cries of the fuzzy little peeps because I had four broody hens at home that just would not leave their nest (yes singular nest, four hens, one pile, one nest!). Broody hens are hens that have stopped laying eggs (the only reason to have chickens in the city) and have started trying to hatch their eggs instead. I have four very dedicated brooders that will sit on invisible eggs for many days even after you have taken the real eggs away from them. I have tried many times to deter them from their quest to produce baby chicks out of thin air but to no avail.
When I brought my babies home and in the dark of night replaced my invisible eggs with 5 cute little chicks one hen in particular decided that these were her chicks. She knew all along that if she sat on her invisible eggs long enough something would come of it. And low and behold... she was right! Hmmmm
I wonder how many times God intervenes when we are caught in a similar loop, dutifully working at a fatally flawed task doomed to futility and yet... walah! Success! We have accomplished the impossible... Chicks out of thin air! (smile) I think it thrills God to no end when we finally understand the source of our success.(smile)
When I brought my babies home and in the dark of night replaced my invisible eggs with 5 cute little chicks one hen in particular decided that these were her chicks. She knew all along that if she sat on her invisible eggs long enough something would come of it. And low and behold... she was right! Hmmmm
I wonder how many times God intervenes when we are caught in a similar loop, dutifully working at a fatally flawed task doomed to futility and yet... walah! Success! We have accomplished the impossible... Chicks out of thin air! (smile) I think it thrills God to no end when we finally understand the source of our success.(smile)
Monday, June 4, 2012
Kindness
Kindness, I don't know of anything that touches my soul deeper than a true kindness. It still marvels me when someone chooses to be kind to me. I'm sure sometimes I don't notice. I'm sure sometimes I'm too busy to see. But still, kindness is a gift beyond words to me.
Sometimes kindness isn't what we think. It's not always kind to give people what they are demanding. Is it ever a kindness to give in to a demand?... sometimes. I'm thinking of a desperate father demanding aid for his mortally wounded son... sure sometimes kindness looks past the delivery of a request to the need behind it. But sometimes I feel strangled when people feel entitled to my kindness... I think that is when I'm the farthest away from a kind response... hmmm. But sometimes kindness can only say, "No." Sometimes it is a great kindness to leave people in the hands of a loving God and get out of the way.
I want to be kind. I want to think kindly. I want to walk in love... and Jesus says, "Love is kind". Kindness isn't easy... somehow it has to be wise. Some attempts at kindness can turn out to be cruel at best. Yesterday I watched as a man tried desperately to be kind to a disabled man who was not in need of his actions. The end result only made the disabled man feel more awkward and... well disabled... sad...
I'm thinking that kindness is not as easy as it might seem. It takes intentionality. It takes watching, learning, listening and feeling. Somehow one becomes kind, you aren't really born that way. Perhaps we can't truly be kind without guidance. 1 Corinthians 13 gives a list of the attributes of love, one being kindness.
" Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. It is not rude. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people's wrongs.
Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up."
I think that 1 Corinthians 13 isn't a list of how we are to behave but a list of attributes we will pick up as we listen to the LORD and walk in that listening. God help me to be kind.
Sometimes kindness isn't what we think. It's not always kind to give people what they are demanding. Is it ever a kindness to give in to a demand?... sometimes. I'm thinking of a desperate father demanding aid for his mortally wounded son... sure sometimes kindness looks past the delivery of a request to the need behind it. But sometimes I feel strangled when people feel entitled to my kindness... I think that is when I'm the farthest away from a kind response... hmmm. But sometimes kindness can only say, "No." Sometimes it is a great kindness to leave people in the hands of a loving God and get out of the way.
I want to be kind. I want to think kindly. I want to walk in love... and Jesus says, "Love is kind". Kindness isn't easy... somehow it has to be wise. Some attempts at kindness can turn out to be cruel at best. Yesterday I watched as a man tried desperately to be kind to a disabled man who was not in need of his actions. The end result only made the disabled man feel more awkward and... well disabled... sad...
I'm thinking that kindness is not as easy as it might seem. It takes intentionality. It takes watching, learning, listening and feeling. Somehow one becomes kind, you aren't really born that way. Perhaps we can't truly be kind without guidance. 1 Corinthians 13 gives a list of the attributes of love, one being kindness.
" Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. It is not rude. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people's wrongs.
Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up."
I think that 1 Corinthians 13 isn't a list of how we are to behave but a list of attributes we will pick up as we listen to the LORD and walk in that listening. God help me to be kind.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The preacher and the mute
I have been intrigued by two contrasting stories in Mark chapter 5 In the first story Jesus heals a man who was possessed. He heals him by casting the demons out of him and into a herd of swine that then run into the sea and drown. This man was nuts! He ran around naked (Luke Chapter 8) in the graveyard and in the mountains cutting himself with stones and screaming. He was so strong not even chains could hold him. Mark says that no one was able to tame him. Wow, he was a monster that no one wanted anything to do with. Jesus cast a whole pack of demons out of him and in his gratitude the man begged Jesus to allow him to travel with him. Jesus refused and told him to go and proclaim what the LORD had done for him.
What an unlikely preacher! Here's a guy that everyone is afraid of. He wore no clothes. He must have had scars up and down his body from the times that he cut himself. He was the outcast big time. Sound familiar? But Jesus sent him out to preach. He had his work cut out for him too because after the people saw what Jesus did for the man and what happened to the pigs they were so afraid that they begged Jesus to leave!
Now jump to the next story. Here Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, came and asked Jesus to save his terminally ill daughter. While Jesus was on his way to Jairus' house people came to tell him it was too late. His daughter was already dead. Jesus told him not to fear but to believe. Once at the house Jesus took the girls mom and dad and three of his disciples into her room and raised her up from the dead. To her parents Jesus cautioned them not to say a word about what happened. Can you imagine keeping your mouth shut?
More than that, here is a man on great influence. One who knows all the right people and could validate Jesus' ministry. Jairus was the perfect preacher but it says, "He commanded them strictly that no one should know it" What is the difference? Why did God give one man the hard task of preaching to a terrified audience and another man the hard task of keeping his joy to himself?
Just wondering... Then I wonder what hard task is He entrusting me with?
What an unlikely preacher! Here's a guy that everyone is afraid of. He wore no clothes. He must have had scars up and down his body from the times that he cut himself. He was the outcast big time. Sound familiar? But Jesus sent him out to preach. He had his work cut out for him too because after the people saw what Jesus did for the man and what happened to the pigs they were so afraid that they begged Jesus to leave!
Now jump to the next story. Here Jairus, one of the rulers of the synagogue, came and asked Jesus to save his terminally ill daughter. While Jesus was on his way to Jairus' house people came to tell him it was too late. His daughter was already dead. Jesus told him not to fear but to believe. Once at the house Jesus took the girls mom and dad and three of his disciples into her room and raised her up from the dead. To her parents Jesus cautioned them not to say a word about what happened. Can you imagine keeping your mouth shut?
More than that, here is a man on great influence. One who knows all the right people and could validate Jesus' ministry. Jairus was the perfect preacher but it says, "He commanded them strictly that no one should know it" What is the difference? Why did God give one man the hard task of preaching to a terrified audience and another man the hard task of keeping his joy to himself?
Just wondering... Then I wonder what hard task is He entrusting me with?
Friday, April 20, 2012
Prophetic gifting: Being truth based
I am at odds with the label "Prophetic". It has been twisted for me to mean, "False Prophetic" which isn't cool! I'm thinking of 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 Which says, "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil."
The truth is, every spiritual gift is powerful. Which means it is very dangerous and destructive when placed in the wrong hands. That's where we come in. If we choose to use our gifting for our purposes, no matter how noble they may seem, we do a lot of damage! Spiritual gifts are meant to be guided by the Holy Spirit... and when they are... awesome things happen. Lives are changed. Huge mountains are moved! It's the difference between a gifted surgeon with a scalpel and a careless, angry child with a butcher knife.
The damage goes both ways. If we use our gifting uninspired it's like an atom bomb, no one close to the detonation point is spared damage, especially the one holding the bomb! I have learned that lesson perhaps too well. Sometimes I am afraid to open my mouth for fear of the potential for damage. That doesn't work either.
Going back to the label, "Prophetic", I like to use "Truth based" instead. I believe prophetic people are only comfortable when people are being truthful, open and honest. They are not very good at small talk because it often contradicts what they "see". It's hard to explain, but speaking honestly especially about the huge ignored elephant in the room is the best gift you could offer someone who is prophetic. Prophetic people are called to bring what is out of order into order. They are called to tell the truth.
Children who are created to be prophetic are often labeled precocious, disrespectful, perfectionists, haughty, too black and white, too judgmental, too serious or hot tempered. As adults, sometimes when we wield our gifts uninspired we become what we are accused of, too black and white, perfectionistic and judgmental. It's easy to become angry when things are out of order and we seem powerless to put them back as they should be. It all boils down to who is in control. Relinquishing control into the hands of our only wise God is vital for everyone and every gift. But perhaps it is hardest for the prophetic who see so much that is out of order but who aren't given the go ahead from the Holy Spirit to respond.
Romans 12:5-6 says, " so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
It is an adventure to live life as God intended. It's a dance of listening and moving as led. It is dangerous, but also amazing.
The truth is, every spiritual gift is powerful. Which means it is very dangerous and destructive when placed in the wrong hands. That's where we come in. If we choose to use our gifting for our purposes, no matter how noble they may seem, we do a lot of damage! Spiritual gifts are meant to be guided by the Holy Spirit... and when they are... awesome things happen. Lives are changed. Huge mountains are moved! It's the difference between a gifted surgeon with a scalpel and a careless, angry child with a butcher knife.
The damage goes both ways. If we use our gifting uninspired it's like an atom bomb, no one close to the detonation point is spared damage, especially the one holding the bomb! I have learned that lesson perhaps too well. Sometimes I am afraid to open my mouth for fear of the potential for damage. That doesn't work either.
Going back to the label, "Prophetic", I like to use "Truth based" instead. I believe prophetic people are only comfortable when people are being truthful, open and honest. They are not very good at small talk because it often contradicts what they "see". It's hard to explain, but speaking honestly especially about the huge ignored elephant in the room is the best gift you could offer someone who is prophetic. Prophetic people are called to bring what is out of order into order. They are called to tell the truth.
Children who are created to be prophetic are often labeled precocious, disrespectful, perfectionists, haughty, too black and white, too judgmental, too serious or hot tempered. As adults, sometimes when we wield our gifts uninspired we become what we are accused of, too black and white, perfectionistic and judgmental. It's easy to become angry when things are out of order and we seem powerless to put them back as they should be. It all boils down to who is in control. Relinquishing control into the hands of our only wise God is vital for everyone and every gift. But perhaps it is hardest for the prophetic who see so much that is out of order but who aren't given the go ahead from the Holy Spirit to respond.
Romans 12:5-6 says, " so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;
It is an adventure to live life as God intended. It's a dance of listening and moving as led. It is dangerous, but also amazing.
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