I love to express what I feel called to say. Writing helps me to open up my heart and do that. I hope that what I write helps you in some way. I hope it makes you think, encourages you, or inspires you. If it challenges you or if you disagree, I hope you know that I respect your right to have a different point of view.
The First Spirit-Led, Christ-Centered Town Hall Meeting (Ekklesia) Was Windy!
The sound of mighty rushing wind Spread visible spiritual fire To all of Jesus’ gathered disciples Opening their mouths With supernatural words And giving them boldness To hit the streets Rejoicing with The living Jesus So that people From around the world Could hear and see The marvelous liberty Of Christ in you The hope of glory!
That wind continues to blow But too few actually know And surrender to The mind-blowing Power and presence Of the Holy Spirit.
Instead, we let the walls Of institutionalism And pride Cause us to hide As we substitute religious formalism For Spirit-led freedom.
Now is the time For Christ-followers To go beyond dry dock And set sail In the wind Of the Spirit. Launch out!
Christianity is supposed To be windy, Not trendy. Set your sails To align with God!
Constantine dressed up Christianity by putting the Emperor’s new (institutional) clothes on it. However, like Saul’s armor on young David as he prepared to fight Goliath, rigid institutionalism hasn’t been a very effective way to demonstrate the power and presence of the risen Jesus.
Prior to Constantine Christianity had been illegal in the Roman Empire for almost 300 years. Because it was illegal and often persecuted, it wasn’t able to establish a high level of institutionalism. Organizational structure and public buildings made it vulnerable to being targeted for even more intense persecution.
Constantine, however, changed all that. Not only did he legalize Christianity, but he also favored it and took active leadership in it. He called Christian leaders together from around the Empire for “church counsels” and even personally attended and oversaw some of those counsels himself. The church institutionalism that had been slowly developing over centuries in the illegal church, suddenly hardened and became rigid as the Emperor encouraged it and made it safe to develop strong organizational structure which was modeled after the Roman government with the Bishop of Rome as its head (replacing the living Jesus as the Head).
Having the Emperor’s favor politicized and compromised Christianity. It caused many people to want to convert out of political and social reasons, rather than from a desire to follow and obey the risen Jesus. Only 67 years after Constantine legalized Christianity it was made the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Some Christians resisted the Romanization of Christianity. Donatists wanted to maintain the purity of the faith and not to declare nominal (and lapsed) Christians to be a part of the assembly of believers. The Donatist were then persecuted by the institutional church until they disappeared into history.
The Monastic movement was another attempt to maintain heart-felt Christianity. Many passionate Christ-followers fled to the Egyptian desert to escape the rigidity of the Romanized church and to have the freedom to pursue a deep, personal relationship with the living Jesus. Many lived as solitaries. Some started Christianity communities that became known as monasteries.
Martin Luther set in motion a centuries-long process of fracturing and very slowly dismantling the authoritarian control of Christendom. It continues to this day and is clearing the way for Spirit-led Christianity.
When presentation and pretense are prioritized above the spontaneity of Christ’s presence, religious organization overrides the Holy Spirit.History reveals that when revival (a mighty move of God) starts, established churches work to curtail, coral, and control it.
So many pastors are falling off their pedestals. Perhaps it would be better if we followed and obeyed the living Jesus instead.
Membership in Christ’s body is spiritual, not organizational. It is being connected to Jesus, not to a religious institution. In the 21st century thousands of disagreeing institutions self-identify as church. Putting a label on a religious organization doesn’t mean that it is aligned with the living Jesus. Many of the organizations that are called church today are do it yourself, one man in control structures that are not affiliated with any historic church.
People who experience the risen Jesus encounter much more than a subjective experience. The objectivity of their inner experience amazingly matches Scripture and the experience of multitudes of people from various cultures around the world. They have an internal kinship.
The goal of Christianity is ongoing intimacy with the risen Jesus (not church attendance).When individuals are being led by the Spirit to experience and follow the living Jesus, they experience instant spiritual kinship.When we surrender to follow and obey the risen Jesus, He overrides our individual tastes, desires, and preferences.
Jesus said, “Feed My sheep,” not anesthetize them with lethargic sermons, lazy liturgy, or contemporary Christian entertainment. Even when church is beautifully programmed with inspiring music, art, and oratory, it can’t compare with one moment of direct revelation from the risen Jesus.Perhaps God sees programmed worship the way you would see someone who follows a detailed program to tell you they love you.The Bible shows us the difference between God’s inner promptings and our personal whims.
Religious hierarchies tend to keep Christianity subservient to institutionalism, human control, and politics. Spiritual baby food is good for a season, but not for a lifetime!When we don’t want to wait for Jesus to show up, it’s easy to rely on sermon hearing, liturgy, and church programs. Church attendance can easily become a substitute for “Christ in you.”
Because Christians are taught that we have to physically die to live in Heaven, we settle for outward religious ceremonies and activities that can easily turn into pretense (mere outward form void of life-changing inward reality), and we tend to overlook the actuality of the invisible presence of Heaven in our midst. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray for God to manifest Heaven on earth, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” He didn’t ask God to take us to Heaven as just a retirement place for us to be when we die.
A place has been prepared for the members of the body of Christ. Our place is under the direct Headship of the living, resurrected Jesus Christ (in the world, but not of the world)–being led from within by God’s Spirit–living in the kingdom of God (focusing on and obeying His inner promptings), experiencing Heaven here and now!
Instead of writer’s block, I often experience writer’s flood–ideas coming so fast I can hardly keep up with them.
Program?
Jesus said,
"I am the way."
Sermon?
Jesus is
The truth.
Liturgy?
Let Jesus be
Our life.Being religiously
Institutionalized
Can close
Our spiritual eyes
So that we don't realize
And rely on
The daily presence of Jesus.
Many of the good things In my life I owe to closed doors That kept me From walking away From them.
Closed doors Aren’t just a disappointment, They’re also an appointment With God For comfort and guidance.
Camping at a closed door Can cause you to miss out On many open doors.
Sometimes It’s time To let go Of the doorknob.
A closed door Often means Keep going, But in a different Direction.
Don’t let a closed door Distract you From the rest Of reality And the opportunities Around you.
When life gives you A closed door, There are often A lot of lemons Behind it.
When a door closes, You don’t know What was behind it That you’ve been Kept safe from.
When a door Is closed for good, Just maybe, It’s for your good.
If God closes a door And doesn’t open a window, Maybe He’s trying To get your attention.
Closed doors Make us humble And eventually patient And cause us To look to God.
Closed doors Can keep us Out of the abyss Of feeling amiss Where we don’t belong.
Breaking down A closed door Often causes more Harm than good.
Let closed doors Open your heart to God And your mind To His creativity.
(The harmful Closed doors Are the ones you use To shut God Out of your heart.)
Closed doors Often open the way For you to stay In God’s will.
Closed doors Are frequently God’s protection And direction.
Pride gets mad At closed doors Humility embraces Christ’s invitation To inner peace.
Closed doors Can direct us to sanity By interrupting our tendency To do the same things Over and over again.
My definition of sanity: Letting closed doors Cause you to Continually improve What you’re doing, Saying, and thinking So that you expect Better results in the future.
Unquench the Holy Spirit and moving beyond selfie-anity . . .
My passion is to see Members of the Jesus team Frequently gathering To function all together In one place According to 1 Corinthians 14:26 As the Holy Spirit Inwardly prompts and directs Each person present To proclaim or testify, Confess or sing, Pray or prophesy, Manifest a spiritual gift, Or read from the Bible, Everyone together revealing The presence and power Of the risen Jesus For all to behold, Obey and adore.
If you refuse to quench the Spirit, you won’t be welcome in very many churches. Try it and see!
Quenching the Spirit is a systemic sin. It’s built into the church system and programmed into its attendees.
Centuries of church history have shown that without Spirit-led teamwork, Jesus’ team doesn’t work very well together. It’s not been very effective at consistently demonstrating the presence and power of the living Jesus.If we make Christianity about church, we limit it to an hour or so a week. If we make it about following and obeying the living Jesus, it’s 24/7/365!
Physically the human body requires sleep. However, the human spirit, once awakened by the living Jesus and born again as a new creature in Christ needs no sleep. Its source of life and power isn’t human biology or physical energy, but the indwelling presence of the risen Jesus. God-given night dreams show that our spirit can remain conscious of and communing with God, even when our body is physically sleeping.
When I was a new Christian, some church people told me that my passion for and excitement about Jesus wouldn’t last. But that wasn’t true. It has been more than 50 years and I’m more excited about Him than ever! The growth-in-Jesus-graft should be an ever-increasing slope (from glory to glory and mounting up with wings like eagles) not the up and down of awake awhile then sleep awhile. (Our relationship with Jesus shouldn’t have an “on and off switch.”)
For a great awakening of Christianity, individuals who awaken need to stay awake and spread their individual awakening so that it becomes a community awakening. “This is why it is said: ‘Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” (Ephesians 5:14.) Once we wake up and spiritually arise from the dead, let’s stay awake and alert to Jesus, day and night!
It’s time for reality Christianity where ordinary people follow and obey the living Jesus with honesty, humility, and holiness.Reality Christianity is the risen Jesus living inside and through ordinary people who follow and obey His inner promptings.
Reality Christianity looks at life with TV (True Vision). It can’t be automated and made to follow a program or a calendar. When people encounter reality Christianity it has an unforgettable impact.
Reality Christianity isn’t scripted or staged. It comes straight and unfiltered thru rivers of living water flowing from the heart.You can’t have reality Christianity without ongoing interaction with and submission to the risen Jesus.
Reality Christianity demonstrates the power, character, and presence of the risen Jesus. It doesn’t just talk about Him.Sometimes there’s very little overlap between church and reality Christianity.
Reality Christianity makes the complacent uncomfortable. Ceremonial Christianity caters to their comfort zone. Spectator Christianity is often substituted for reality Christianity.
True faith longs for reality Christianity. A religious program won’t satisfy it.
Reality Christianity opens up to God’s light It makes no room for hypocrisy. It has no pretense.
Reality Christianity is rare. Sometimes you have to read the writings of the earliest Christians (the New Testament) to find it.
Revival happens when reality Christianity begins to break through the fog of human controlled Christianity.Genuine revival requires freedom. If God’s Spirit is shut down by religious control, programs and tradition, we can’t experience it.
The more you Think, do, and speak Things that are bad (Even if you sneak) The harder it is To be glad.
Make your thoughts Gladwrap for your mind; Your words and deeds Gladwrap for sad people
Make yourself glad again. Remember what you’re grateful for! Take the time to make choices that you’ll be glad to remember!
Think, speak, and do what makes you glad, not just in the moment, but also makes you look back from tomorrow and the future with gladness.
Unregulated thoughts, feelings, and desires disrupt the human psyche and hinder much gladness.Make inner peace the blueprint for your life. If something doesn’t align with the blueprint, don’t think, speak, or do it!
Self-focus is self-imprisonment. Self-forgetfulness is freedom from self-torment.
Through thick and thin, No matter the condition I’m in, The risen Jesus makes me glad To be alive.
The gap between Religious information And inner reformation Is huge. God’s grace Will close that gap If with humility and repentance You begin to practice Ongoing obedience To the living Jesus, Now present through the Holy Spirit. Let Him reside And endlessly abide In you And powerfully be your guide As you continually confide In Him.
Close the gap! The Bible says that God is working in you. It’s good to pay attention to what He’s doing in you. Religion talks about Jesus like He’s not in the room, but He is if we gather in His name.
Human hearts Are made to radiate Love and peace, Not to shut down And suffocate.
Hard hearts Build walls That block the way When peace calls.
Making peace In your own heart Is a lost art. Today many people Are falling apart.
Modern media distracts people with noise and entertainment, but it rarely creates inner peace.However, you can learn to make inner peace and calm the storm within you.
When hearts aren’t peaceful, neither will society be. The first place to make peace is in your own heart.If you don’t train yourself to make and maintain peace in your own heart, you won’t be a very good peacemaker for anyone else.
When peace flees from my heart, I need peacemakers who will listen, comfort, and pray with me. Kind words are peace talk. Angry words make the heart hostile.
I look for peacemakers who make my heart calm and serene. I try to avoid people & things that disturb my inner peaceful scene.Every time I find a peacemaker who listens to me with kindness and encourages me with hope, I’m grateful for the peace I feel because spending time with such a peacemaker makes my heart peaceful.
Any society that feasts on endless hype, anxiety, and anger won’t be peaceful. True peacemaking is heart-connection, not just mental negotiation.
Peacemakers don’t just make peace between people. They touch the heart and make peace within people. Anxious or angry people can’t spread peace. Only calm, peaceful people can do that.
Inner peace is not outdated! (Search: Elephants INspiring The Room.)
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Short Reflections, Lasting Encouragement 