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.
Many people live and act like there is no alternative. They’re stuck in a pattern of dull repetition — each day following the routine of the day before. This is especially true for Sunday religious services. Week after week, year after year, church is basically the same format endlessly repeating itself. However, God has an alternative (although it’s very difficult to find people who are willing to put His alternative into practice).
When Christians meet together to allow and to encourage each person present to literally meet with and obey the inner promptings of God the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:26) — to encounter His presence, (James 4:8) to hear His voice, (Revelation 3:22) to say and do what He tells them to, (Romans 8:14) and to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24) — they experience rivers of living water flowing from within them (John 7:38-39) and demonstrations of the Spirit’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:4) Then their faith is built on nothing less than the power of God instead of on the religious routines of human wisdom. (1 Corinthians 2:5) Then they receive supernatural power to be Christ’s witnesses. (Acts 1:8)
Now is the time for Christ-followers to move beyond mere religious motions and sentimental emotions (2 Timothy 3:5) into gathering together to let God the Holy Spirit personally conduct worship gatherings the way a symphony conductor leads and directs his orchestra. My soul is thirsty for that! Where can I go to find people who are willing to meet with the risen Jesus and to actually allow and encourage people to obey the inner nudgings God’s Spirit? (Psalm 42:2) Google: Beyond Church Ekklesia.
The best food and wine are free. “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” (Isaiah 55:1) “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good.” (Psalm 34:8) Feed on faith like baseball.
Follow Jesus out to the ball field!
* Going to church is like showing up in the spectator stands at the ballpark. * Opening your heart up to Jesus is like getting up to bat. * Letting Jesus tell you what He wants you to do is like making it to first base. * Beginning to faithfully do what Jesus tells you to do is like being on second base. * Staying focused on hearing and obeying the Lord Jesus throughout each day and night is like making it to third base. * Consistently overflowing with the presence of Jesus (“presencing” Him) and persistently manifesting the fruit of the Spirit — “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” — is to run the bases to home plate.
“Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.” – Leo Ernest Durocher
“If the people don’t wanna come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop ’em.” – Yogi Berra
“If my uniform doesn’t get dirty, I haven’t done anything in the baseball game.” – Rickey Henderson
“Never allow the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” – Babe Ruth
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” – Bullet Bob Feller
I found this in the news. On August 2nd thousands of Costa Ricans come together in one of the country’s most heartfelt traditions — a walk to the Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels in the city of Cartago. “The Virgin of the Angels” has been the country’s patron saint ever since 1824.
This annual pilgrimage, known as the “Romería” is a national holiday in Costa Rica. It attracts as many as 2 1/2 million people, almost half of the country’s population. They walk from various parts of the country, “fulfilling promises, asking for miracles, or simply giving thanks.” The journey has become a symbol of national unity.
This tradition began in 1635, when Juana Pereira, a young indigenous girl, found a small statue of the Virgin Mary on a rock near a stream in Cartago. Tradition says that every time Juana took the small, dark-skinned virgin and child home, it mysteriously returned to the rock. (The statue is known as “La Negrita” because of its dark complexion.) Ever since then, August 2nd has been a time for church services, prayers, and a collective walk of religious devotion. Many of the pilgrims are seeking healings, miracles, and blessings. For more information click here.
When I learned about this pilgrimage it touched my heart, and I wrote this: May a vibrant faith in the living and risen Jesus Christ arise in the hearts of Costa Ricans and overflow in powerful expressions of faith, gratitude, and hope throughout Costa Rica!
Once that kind of faith arouse in me and it has never faded away. Now every day of my life is a spiritual pilgrimage. However, I’m not walking with a crowd to a particular church to see a statue of Christ’s mother and baby Jesus. I’m journeying within my heart and laying down my desires so that I can surrender my life more and more fully to the resurrected and ever-present Jesus. (Matthew 28:20) I’m seeking to obey what Mother Mary said: “Do whatever He (Jesus) tells you.” (John 2:5)
What you know With your mind Won’t make you grow. Without God’s life It’s just info You remember. When your heart knows That Jesus rose God’s life will rise From within you. (John 7:38-39)
Happiness comes from within. It can’t be found merely in things or circumstances. True happiness has a spiritual component.
Keeping in mind that God the Holy Spirit won’t contradict what He has revealed throughout the Scriptures, (Matthew 22:29) it’s never inappropriate to obey the leading of God the Holy Spirit. It’s inappropriate to let the fear of what people think cause you to quench the inner promptings of the Spirit. Jesus beckons many to give their all to follow Him, but few accept His call. (Matthew 22:14)
Christianity’s about having a never-ending life-changing experience with Jesus. Refuse to settle for less. (Philippians 3:10) A spiritual awakening happens when Christians reduce the amount of their ignoring and quenching the Holy Spirit.
It’s not enough to make Jesus your coach or your copilot. He wants to be your mission control. (Philippians 2:9-11) To overcome the frustrated floundering of our desire-driven, feeling-focused, opinion-obsessed self-direction we need to let the living Jesus be our constant mission control. (Luke 9:23) If the risen Jesus isn’t your command and control, you’re a spacecraft out of control. (Isaiah 53:6)
Christianity is like space flight. To be successful astronauts must surrender their feelings, desires, and opinions to mission control. You can’t live for Jesus if you’re unwilling to allow Him to command and control your daily life as your living Lord and Master. (John 20:28) True discipleship is to live your life under Christ’s command and control. (Luke 14:27)
You’ll never be whole till Christ is your mission control. (John 15:5) If Jesus isn’t your mission control, you’ve got a problem. You’re quenching God the Holy Spirit. (Ephesians 4:30) Learn to hear Jesus in your thoughts. (John 10:27) Let Him lead you from within. (Romans 8:14)
The world needs more people who are eternally energized and empowered by the risen Jesus Christ. Will you be one? (Colossians 1:27) Gene Kranz, legendary NASA Flight Director, said: “Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity, and neglect.” Christians also should settle for nothing less than total commitment to persistently follow and obey the risen Christ.
I have a habit that fills me with peace, contentment, and joy. It’s a simple habit — a habit of mental and emotional focus. I try to notice nature throughout each day — the trees, bushes, flowers, birds, animals, and even the insects that I come across. I ponder their magnificence and let them make me aware of the reality, presence, and majesty of the living God.
That marvelous habit fills me with an intense awe, reverence, and adoration of God (that some Bibles translate as the “fear of God”) that comes from an intimate, ongoing awareness of His presence and glory. It empowers me to live in Christ’s presence and walk day by day in the freedom (2 Corinthians 5:17) of being led by God the Holy Spirit. (Romans 8:14)
You can regularly listen to sermons about the glory of God and all the while be overlooking it or ignoring it. You can read and even study what the Bible says about Jesus while you are overlooking or ignoring Him and are completely unaware of His present-day reality and glory. Try not to do that. Unfortunately, it’s much more common for us humans to ignore the glory of God (Romans 1:22-22) than it is for us to experience it (1 Corinthians 2:10) and regularly partake of it. (2 Peter 1:4)
The glory of God isn’t far away from those who make the risen Jesus welcome in their heart and continually surrender their life to the Him — “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) John, one of Christ’s original 12 disciples said this about Jesus: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
The glory of God isn’t hard to see. Look up at the sky. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” (Psalm 19:1) This world that God has created makes His existence obvious. (Romans 1:19-20) Let’s use some logic. Since nothing comes from nothing it’s plain to see that Someone or something started the process that made the nature that surrounds us.
Look at nature and absorb its beauty with a humble open heart and you will see that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. (Isaiah 6:3) If you focus your attention on and stay aware of the glory of God, it will change your heart and your lifestyle (2 Corinthians 3:18) and you won’t be able to stop talking about it. (Acts 4:20) “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.” (1 Chronicles 16: 33-35)
If God has shined in your heart, He did it to make you aware of His glory “in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) Now He invites you to look unto Jesus, (Hebrews 12:2) and to “Behold the Lamb of God.” (John 1:29) Jesus Christ is the radiance and the brightness of God’s glory. (Hebrews 1:3)
Moses asked God, “Show me Your glory,” and it changed the world. (Exodus 33:18-19) Are you courageous enough to do the same? If the Ten Commandments came with such glory, “the ministry of the Spirit” is even more glorious. “If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!” (1 Corinthians 3:7-18)
Don’t lose your marvels! When people lose sight of their marvels (the things that cause them to marvel at being alive) life becomes boring and routine.
Before you allow your curiosity to nudge you to pursue something, it’s best to use mental caution. Innocent curiosity if not monitored and guided by wisdom can lead down dangerous paths. A person (or a cat) who is overly curious about the wires in an electric box can die with a sudden shock. How often we allow curiosity to lead us into anxiety, trouble, pain, addiction, and other dangerous traps of evil.
I strive to keep my curiosity focused on things that are good, wholesome, helpful, and filled with life-enhancing excitement. I use mental caution to protect myself from the mentally, emotionally, and physically dangerous, “cat killing” types of curiosity. (After all, “Curiosity killed the cat.” What has curiosity killed in you?)
When I begin to be curious about something I ask myself, “Is pursuing this going to help me, distract me, or harm me (or other people)?” I intentionally resist and avoid harmful (and even distracting) curiosity by forcefully and consistently keeping it out of my mind. I persistently and passionately pursue curiosity that will help make my life better, more peaceful, and more content.
Curiosity unmonitored and uncontrolled by wisdom is very dangerous. Curiosity causes many people to fill their mind with nonsense and even worse — to fill it with harmful thoughts, words, and images. Curiosity continually encourages people to ignore (and even to arrogantly deny the existence of) warning signs.
Unchecked curiosity wants to know too many things that aren’t worth knowing. Set your curiosity on the things that have great value and meaning in your life.
There is always something good to be discovered. Why waste your curiosity on what’s purposeless, wrongful, or ruinous? People seem to have relatively little curiosity about the purpose and meaning of life? How about you?
Curiosity can be good or bad. It all depends on how you use it. Choose your curiosity wisely. Focus on what is wonderful not on what is wicked.
Curiosity about Jesus has kept me pursuing Him. I stay inwardly driven to purse the presence of Christ through the Bible, through prayer, through brokenness, through repentance, through kindness, through radical honesty with myself, through humility, through faith, and through the direct nudgings and revelations of God the Holy Spirit within my innermost being. (John 9:37-39)
Every single moment that’s a continuation of your life is a miracle. Most of those miracles pass by unnoticed and unappreciated. Now that’s something to be curious about!
There’s something deep inside of me that compels me to speak what I profoundly believe to be the truth, with humility and kindness, even when people are offended by my point of view. The truth that I believe with all my heart radically changed my life many years ago and rescued me from self-destruction and misery. I have never been the same. I try to spread that truth like randomly sowing seeds as an act of kindness. The Bible calls it, “speaking the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15)
Meditate on Christ the living Word. Don’t just listen to a lecture about Him or merely study and analyze Him. Humbly savor, absorb, and obey His presence. Keep your attention steadfastly focused on His glorious present-day reality until you can no longer stay quiet about Him.
People talk about what they’re interested in. Few talk about Jesus. If you’re uncomfortable with people talking about Jesus, Heaven will be outside of your comfort zone.
If you don’t have much to say about Jesus, perhaps you’ve never met Him. A woman who met Him at a well went and told her whole town about Jesus. (John 4:28-29) When two of Christ’s disciples were told to keep quiet about Him, they said this: “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20) An angel told them to “Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life.” (Acts 5:20)
If you are someone who has personally encountered the risen Jesus, you need to be testifying about Him. (Acts 10:39-43) If you have been given the spiritual insight of God’s direct revelation to your heart, (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) then say with the sightless man who Jesus healed, “I was blind but now I see.” (John 9:25) Your testimony about the living Jesus will help you overcome the devil in your life (Revelation 12:11) the way it did for the early Christ-followers.
Jesus Himself said: “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) Let “Christ in you” fill your heart and freely overflow from your innermost being as God the Holy Spirt. (John 7:38-39) Then you will find yourself spontaneously witnessing about Jesus. (Acts 1:8) “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” (Psalm 107:2) Jesus said to “speak in the daylight” and to “proclaim from the roofs.” (Matthew 10:26-27)
Jesus wants all His disciples to share the good news about Him in all the world (Mark 16:15) and to teach other people the things that He has taught them. (Matthew 18:20) The Lord spoke to Paul and said: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.” (Acts 18:9) Ask God to fully open your eyes so that you can truly “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29)
I like light. I always have. Some people like dark places, but not me. I like to be able to see my surroundings and enjoy the beauty around me — in nature, in art, in smiles, in acts of kindness and in so many other places and ways.
To be in Christ is to have your heart, your actions, and your lips caught in and swept along by the current and light of the Holy Spirit. (John 7:38-39) To be in Christ is to seek first the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) by seeking to live continually in sync with Christ the King. (2 Corinthians 5:17) That requires being led by God the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14) instead of by your thoughts, feelings, desires, and opinions. (Mark 8:34)
To be in Christ is to stay in sync with Christ by living on God’s “lampstand” and letting the light of “Christ in you” — the fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:1) of walking “by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16) — freely and brightly shine wherever you go.
God doesn’t shine His light inside of you (2 Corinthians 4:6) so you can hide it as a passive member of a religious organization and a spectator for a Sunday morning service. Jesus put it this way: “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” (Luke 8:16)
Mental concepts about Christ should never replace heart-to-heart community with Jesus. God is working in, thru, and around people but religion trains them to quietly sit by and overlook or hide what He is doing and has done in and thru them. (Matthew 5:15)
I believe that when Christians gather (Hebrews 10:25) as the body of Christ that we all need to be in sync with Christ by listening to and aligning with God the Holy Spirit and then each one saying and doing whatever He tells us to. (1 Corinthians 14:26) That way we can “encourage one another,” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) “serve one another,” (Galatians 5:13) “confess” our sins to one another, (James 5:16) “bear one another’s burdens,” (Galatians 6:2) and obey the rest of the 50+ “one another” commands in the New Testament.
Speaking the Word is a powerful tool. Some Christians like to quote preachers, but it’s much more effective to quote the Bible. (Joshua 1:8) Read the Bible aloud. When a verse burns in your heart, quote it to other people throughout the day. Ask God the Holy Spirit to remind you of Scriptures. (John 14:26) When He does, find people to quote those Spirit-prompted Bible verses to. Then those Scriptures will bless them as much as they are blessing you and soon you will find yourself not only speaking the word but doing it. (James 1:22)
Exchange your self-focus and religion for a Spirit-led relationship with Christ. Powerful results come from ongoing obedient surrender to God the Holy Spirit. (Acts 1:8 and Galatians 5:22-23) Weak results come from religious self-effort.
The Bible is God’s lens. It will focus your attention on the risen Jesus if you read it with an open humble heart, talk about it, and ponder it day and night. (Joshua 1:8) In the Bible Christianity is presented as a Spirit-led lifestyle. (Romans 8:14) Christians are called followers of the Way. (Acts 9:2)
Jesus is the Way. (John 14:6) To seek the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33) fight to make your every thought obey King Jesus. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Forcefully expel from your mind every thought that’s disobedient to Christ.
“Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27) (God the Holy Spirit) can’t be trapped by religious tradition. He can’t be captured by, contained by, or controlled by any organization. For genuine spiritual growth, it’s essential that you quit trying to do things your way. (Luke 9:23) Instead learn to personally listen to and obey “Christ in you” and follow His Way throughout each day.
Western culture has been body slammed by an obsessive focus on the body while abandoning the whole concept of caring for the soul. Physical appearance is presented as more important than inner healing; an alcohol induced buzz as more relaxing than genuine peace of mind; bodily comfort as better than character; quick sexual relief as more fulfilling than life-long commitment; entertainment as greater than inspiration, church attendance as more important than true repentance; tattoos on the body as more descriptive of a person than what is written on the heart; earthly possessions and financial security as more essential than being led by Christ’s presence. (Does that sound like your typical day?)
The truth is, we won’t ever be whole until we experience the restoration of our soul. If we would focus on our soul instead of on physical appearance, our concept of success would be radically different. “Work out your salvation with fear (reverence and awe) and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Philippians 2:12-13)
“Be strong and courageous.” (Joshua 1:6) We’re surrounded by a famine of soul strength and soul courage.
Escape the riptide Of the soul-hide ride That wraps you with pride Until you’re hog-tied And wholly blind-eyed To eternal hope.
When you push away God the Holy Spirit You will surely stray. (1 Thessalonians 5:19)
