Choosing to be Thankful for Others!

I believe in choosing to be thankful for others.  I don't think we realize how much we have missed over the course of the last year and a half with this pandemic in relationship wealth.  It all got so easily stripped away and so many of us were forced to do life devoid of significant face to face relationships. 

 Brenee Brown writes,

We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honour the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness and affection.  Love is not something that we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists in each one of them.

This is the journey that I have been on and have been so thankful for the mentors in my life walking this out with me right now. 

Relationships are gold and never lose their value as long as we invest in them and not measure them for what they do for us.   What I mean is this...if we are also waiting for others to reach out to us or keeping score of who is initiating the call or conversation,  then we are missing the point.

Also, when I'm with someone and hear their story,  can I genuinely be happy for them despite my situation?  Being thankful for others also means I stop comparing myself to them. We can allow ourselves to be consumed by what others are doing or we can choose to focus on what Jesus and Holy Spirit is doing in us and be truly thankful for what is happening with them.

Thankfulness also makes me fully embody this truth, "but for the grace of God, go I."  We are so often quick to judge or make judgements on others especially when we think they are making poor choices.

Often our own brokenness is on display when we point out the flaws of others.   We are all dealing with our own inadequacies and failures and were trapped at one moment or another...BUT, just at the right time when we were powerless, Jesus showed up!

Romans 5:6-8

When others really irittate you just be thankful and please remember our real enemy is never another person.  It is often the spirit of fear, anxiety or confusion that often wreaks havoc in relationships.   Whenever we get into groups whether through politics, worldviews or values that we choose to keep people "in" or "out", we create division and conflict.   

Oswald Chambers writes, 

The joy Jesus experienced was from His absolute surrender and self sacrifice to the Father. Joy doesn't come from perfect circumstances,  but from a perfect understanding of God and trust in Him.

Let's trust God in this season and remember that we are called to be thankful for others .

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.  Colossians 3:15-17

The Wounded Healer

I had the opportunity to go away camping the other week with my good friend, Spencer.  It was a time to just recharge and also time get into the secret place allow God to speak to me.  One little book that I had with me was entitled,  The Wounded Healer by Henri Nouwen.  Most of what I'll be sharing comes from the truth I learned as I read this book.  One area of my life that I have been focussed on is learning to have conversations that create a deep human encounter. I'm learning what it means to be vulnerable  through my own light and darkness.  It's is the pathway to understand real compassion and to bring hope for forgiveness.   Here's one real moment of revelation I experienced through my reading.   

The wounded minister is the healing minister. Jesus' own broken body is way to healing. My own wounds can be a major source of healing power. Wounds like alienation, separation, loneliness and isolation.  Learning to feel these words help me to understand my own brokenness.  We all long for intimacy and belonging. Often though we do everything possible to avoid the painful confrontation of our own basic loneliness. We tend to be more prone to playing games with fantasy than to face our true existence. 

I need to go to the place of obedience to understand the calling sounds of my wounds

Henri Nouwen 

The place of obedience is found in the secret place of prayer.  I need to go to wherever I won't be distracted and where my heartbeat accelerates for the living God.  Oswald Chambers writes,

When we swing the door of our life fully open and pray to the Father in the secret place every public thing will be with the lasting imprint of God. 

So,  then what keeps us from praying? Pete Grieg,  head of the 24/7 prayer rooms says  often is a limited worldview and low self esteem.   We honestly forget just how much authority we have in Jesus' name.  

The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.  Romans 8:11

As long as I think I'm self sufficient, I won't really ask God for anything significant.   It really isn't till we're desperate and in a corner that we truly discover the power of prayer.   As for me, I'll wave a white towel of surrender and keep being real in His presence.   I'll also keep keep trusting Him for the life changing encounters that have His fingerprints all over them.   

How Salty Are You?

I have literally had some impressive mountain top experiences lately thanks to our trip to Alberta recently at the beginning of this month.  I have to admit that living in that moment was an incredible experience.  However, it’s quite another thing to come back down to the valley and learn to do life well.

It’s especially challenging when your life experience leaves you feeling salty.

When it comes to being  ‘salty’ in today’s world,  the slang definition has been described as

‘“bitterness or anger tinged with a little extra spice, usually a mocking or self-deprecating note of sourness.”   Arianna Jeret

It often comes as a result of being made fun of or when you fight back after being slighted.  I think in today’s current culture, it is now easier than ever to take offense and be salty especially when your view clashes with another person.  We call it ‘cancel culture’ now and I see it more prevalent on social media after taking an extended break.  There appears to be less and less willingness to engage with people who have a different view than us.  It has also been the cause of a great deal of anxiety for many who are trying to navigate and learn the delicate balance of doing life in our world filled with fear of more variants, more outbreaks and heaven forbid, more lockdowns. 

I just listened to an amazing message by Pastor Craig Groeschel on dealing with this very issue.  He spoke on the life of Elijah just after he had experienced the most incredible moment of victory, a mountaintop experience in I Kings 18.  In I Kings 19, he comes against the threat of Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife who hates him so much wants him dead, the ultimate of cancelling him.  So, how does he respond?  He doesn’t respond well, in fact he hides and runs for his life.  He’s so afraid of dying at her hands that he asks God to take his life.  Craig points out four things that created Elijah’s quick downfall and also will spell our defeat.

1.        HeWe run ourselves into the ground 

2.       We shut people out of our lives

3.       We focus on the negative only

4.       We forget God

He then took time to remind us of what Elijah’s name means.

El  - stands for God

I – stands for  my

Jah – breath

My God is my breath, My God is my source, My God is my strength!

God powerfully reminds Elijah just how close He is.

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

 

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

 

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

The earth shook, the winds howled and the fire raged and the LORD wasn’t in any of these powerful displays. 

The LORD was in the whisper.  God was not in the remarkable, He was in the ordinary.

God whispers to us because He’s close.

My experience + God’s presence is enough

Craig Groeschel

My God is my breath. 

So when I feel overwhelmed and that somehow I’m enough or the situation is too much to overcome, may I always remember He’s closer than I think.

Augustine wrote, “put salt on my lips that I would thirst for you”

It’s time to learn to be a nice kind of “salty”!

Rediscovering Our Joy!

For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may endure for a night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5

The brain's joy center is located in the right orbital prefrontal cortex. It is the only section of the brain that never loses its capacity to grow.

It grows in response to real, joy-filled relationships. People need to know who they are and be frequently reminded of who they are by those who love them. 

Maturity demands the people honestly face their traumas, even when it is painful. When I do not deal with sin in my life or how sinful acts have been done against me,  it will trigger and produce disaster.

The joy region of our brain is also the bonding region as well. When you discover weakness in this area of the brain, you will often discover conditions like anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder, eating disorders, narcissism and compulsive behaviours.

I have been meeting virtually with a really amazing counselor and I'm learning that whenI go back and deal with past traumas, there is a strength to feeling those feelings and negative emotions, even to be overwhelmed by them.

It's been said that when there are tears you know the Holy Spirit is at work.  

Learn to understand and experience the spirit of heaviness. There is a depth of the soul to go to in conviction, repentance and agony that can bring about a blessing and realization of the overwhelming baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

Dr. Martin-Lloyd Jones

Personally, I've had to work through feelings that I'm not enough and that I am a failure.  I know that I have is very memorable laugh but beneath that, there has been a lot of hurt and things that I have tried to stuff down inside of me unsuccessfully.   It rears it's ugly head in moments where I become very defensive and when I allow myself to live in resentment and choose self-sabotage.

The place where we need to go is found in the strength to feel feelings while knowing the path back to joy.

I have a mentor as well who I take walks with. He has reminded me that God is even there in the moment of my despondency and sin as well. He has challenged me to enter into the prayer of examen.  

Knowing the path back to joy builds resilience, hope, strength and confidence.  We don't allow ourselves to become stuck, but we don't just avoid unpleasant feelings either.

There is a desperate need for people to find loving arms, words of affirmation and sometimes, just simple presence.   We don't need to have arrived to be those people, we just need to be honest, vulnerable and be on the journey to joy!

You Can't Always Get What You Want!

This was a classic rock song  by The Rolling Stones over 50 years ago. It really expresses the truth that often our goals can outstrip our reach.   I think many of us have felt this over the course of this pandemic.  There have been so many unknowns in the midst of it all and it has kept us all off balance and it has been a very difficult time to navigate and seek the truth.   

The Father's prayer for us is that we would be one with him, with Jesus and with the Holy Spirit. It is not for the purpose of 'having my prayers answered,' but that through prayer I may come to discern his mind and his purpose for me and that together we would experience unity. I think it's easier for us to find ways to be divided and we need to seek what really brings us together.

John 17:11

"Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one"

If we're able to learn what it means to experience oneness then the tightening grip of self absortion needs to be lost on us.   We have to learn what it means to put others first and steer towards kindness.  We must be  guided by his grace and strengthened in our resolve together to follow him. We need to keep our heart pure, keep ourselves from being distracted by what polarizes us and learn what it means to stay in tune with him together. This is especially true when it has everything to do with the gospel, God's love and the incredible sacrifice of Jesus paying for our forgiveness on the cross. This message is more important than any issue we face.

Moving forward with the gospel, we need to learn what reliance looks like on the resurrection life of Jesus. The prayer is, Father, allow me to be in complete oneness with your purposes. Teach me that reliance means often moving away from what is common sense to intuition that comes from the Holy Spirit!

For the song goes on to say but if you try sometimes, you just might get what you need.  This is a huge trust factor that in the midst of all this uncertainty the Jesus can you give us exactly what we need.  It is His tangible presence in us through the whole mess. 

When we learn to joyfully waive our rights to the Lord, God can use us incredibly well.   We can serve from a place of freedom that we have in Christ.  This freedom is that I learn simply not to take offense. It is especially difficult when you are challenged in a negative way. The deeper question needs to be, "where is this coming from?"  It is often not the person, but more so from a spirit of fear and anxiety.   When I know this,  I have more patience and understanding and I can bless and serve others in spite of it. 

When I have took time to listen to the Lord I sense God saying Jack, my son, keep training yourself in My gym! Continue to pursue godliness, be strong in the Lord,  pursue unity, harmony, love and faithfulness. Continue to break free from selfish thoughts and ways so that my righteousness can breakthrough like the noonday sun.  "By your patience,  you will possess your soul." Luke 21:16-19 really displays how difficult relationships can be when you make the decision to follow Jesus.  In essence,  He is saying to us,  make My relationship the dominating focus of your life. 

I believe it starts as we start slowing down and start noticing what He is already doing.  The question always is whether we are paying enough attention to see it,  it is an acute awareness and we absolutely need the Holy Spirit. It's time to end the lockdown of our souls and break free!

Faith That Can Move Mountains

 

It has been said that the Dutch must have the most faith because there isn’t a mountain to be found in the entire country.  Well, in fact they are so confident, they say God created the world and they created Holland. They pretty much built land on water…forget about walking on it, they live on it lol. 

Jesus in His ministry was always challenging his followers to expect more, to believe for more, to trust Him for more and He reminded us all that it doesn’t take much!   He used the illustration of the mustard seed to make his point.

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”  Matthew 17:20

I know right now it sometimes feels like we are up against this mountain called Covid and all its menacing variants.  We continue to wait patiently for the curve of cases here in Ontario to finally move downward. The constant tracking of case counts can be exhausting to watch for all of us. I know it’s been an incredible strain on relationships, families and work situations. 

I believe that God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit are calling us right now to pray for more faith.  He is the God of the breakthrough!  It’s always right to ask for more, be hungry for change.  They that hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled!

We also need to really take the opportunities we are given right now to put our faith in action. We need to put in uncomfortable situations to force us to really depend on Him and we are right smack in the middle of it right now.

Something that really stood out to me in Jesus’ ministry was that 1/3 of it was all about deliverance.  Many stories that were recorded in the Gospels referred to Jesus’ dealing with spirits.  It was these very spirits that were tormenting people.  I believe now more than ever that the spiritual battle with anxiety and fear is like it’s never been before.  In Matthew 17, Jesus was dealing with a specific situation related to demon possession in a young boy. 

We need to really believe our prayers when dealing with the enemy.  Jesus is teaching us on the mustard seed so that we realize this isn’t an unsurmountable task.  We will take this hill, this mountain of fear and anxiety in our current situation and throw it in the deepest sea. 

WE NEED TO BELIEVE OUR PRAYERS! 

Prayer is more than just words.  Jesus was simply saying, “keep praying, don’t give up!”  

Some challenges are not so simple.  They are spiritual battles where we are actually the ones tested.  Battles reveal what we have revelation for.  Steve Long  in “The Faith Zone”

We need the Father to teach us as we press in and believe Him for the change we are longing to see.   I am longing for God to show up powerfully and He is masterful at healing, restoration, deliverance.  Let’s learn to trust Him for more!

I remember the day so vividly when I hit a wall of a mountain in ministry!  It was the fall of 2013.  I had just spent three weeks in Lesotho, Africa.  I was on the missions trip of a lifetime. It was a dream to go to this continent and it was full of amazing experiences. I had the opportunity to worship dance in conga-like fashion in a revival tent meeting.  I spoke on living water and saw people come to faith In Jesus.  I had seen healing take place. I slept on a concrete floor with youth at a camp and ate 'papa and beans' with them.  I saw a graduation celebration of a young woman, Purlacio, the first child from a Bracelet of Hope foster home to graduate.  She shouted out,"I Was Born to Fight The Darkness!" It was such a moving time, not to mention the African sunsets, mountaintop experiences literally and going on a safari!

 I was on cloud 9.

Sharon and I arrived home on Thanksgiving Monday with so much to be thankful for.  It was a short week in terms of preparation for Sunday's message as I was back in the church I was pastoring.   I knew the message was going to be all about my experiences  in Africa. Sunday came and I had other members of the team share about their experience and time escaped us. I shared a video and knew I had no time to preach so I shared, "I'll get to my message next week." 

There was no next week.

Monday came and I sat down with the pastor's to review our vision for the church and next steps. We had a lot to catch up on and it was a positive meeting. I noticed I received an email from the chairman of the board requesting a meeting with him along with another member. Then there was a second email and a phone message to speak with the chairman of the board. I remember joking with the pastors that I would see them that night unless I got fired… I actually joked with them about that. Well, that afternoon I came home and I thought about the meeting and in my spirit I knew I was going to be released.  I arrived at the church at 6:30pm and saw the two board members waiting for me. We made our way up the stairs to my office and there we sat. A file folder was placed on the coffee table. The chairman shared briefly with me that the leadership had made the decision to release me. He shared that I did not have the skill set for what they needed for the church at this time. He shared that they needed more executive leadership and it just wasn't working out. He then said I watched you in Africa and I saw you create something out of nothing.   He went on to say,"I see a pioneering spirit in you". The meeting followed on with the presentation of my severance package and I was to be done and keys handed in by Friday.

This was my wall, this was my mountain.

When I shared this with Sharon she then proceeded to tell me about a prayer gathering where a lady had a vision of us in pioneer clothes in a wagon waving goodbye to the pastors of the church we were in.  It had happened a month before and she forgot to mention it to me  lol….  However, in that moment, right there, I knew we had the confirmation in my spirit that we were beginning a new chapter in our lives in Ministry that would lead us to starting Church at the Manor.  We certainly didn’t know that at the time.

Today, as I write this, Sharon and I are on the very cusp of another new chapter.  Plans are literally in the works and as the old worship song goes…”no turning back”!  I'm excited for what is ahead of us, not knowing what to expect but ready to continue the adventure of following the Lord as he leads us.

Stay tuned for more details coming soon!

Go Home!

Do not pass go, do not collect $200- go directly to jail!...well, that it was it felt like at the beginning of this month when it was confirmed that my daughter Addi had tested positive for Covid19.  She caught the virus through the daycare that she was working at.  It was time to leave the roof immediately I was working on, make an appointment and go get a covid screening test.  Thankfully Jordan was able to complete the job.  However, it really is quite another life lesson to take it up a notch from lockdown to locked in… lol  Rylan was locked in what I like to call, “the barn cave” as our pool house has been transformed into a really nice living space.  He learned all the ins and outs of ubereats and doordash because he had to isolate from us as well.  Thankfully Rylan, Sharon and I all tested negative for the virus and that was after two tests, the initial one and then another at day 10.  I have to admit it was hardest on Addi no doubt as she was basically locked down in her own room during that time period.  She struggled with her appetite and sense of smell along with a lot of body aches and pains; however we have all come through it, but there were lessons for sure to discover in the midst of all of it for me.

For starters my backyard became my playground and I did creative runs back there doing multiple kms… and then when the weather was incredibly nice, I opened up the pool.  I know, crazy, right, but there I was on March 20^th making it happen two months earlier than normal.

More importantly, this time was learning about salvation.  For me, it is discovering what Jesus has always longed for me to be set free from.  The biblical definition of salvation is to be saved by God from the consequences of our sin and it is brought about by faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross.  It is the very reason we celebrate Easter or Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday!

"He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed."  1 Peter 2:24

During my time in isolation, I took another step in discovering what it meant for salvation.  I am learning to be delivered from myself.  It is a lesson I have learned and I continue to learn.  I am learning in my union with Jesus to embrace Him more, to become so thrilled with all that He is to me.  It was also a time to of learning to be delivered from work in that my work and completing another roofing job can so easily define me.  Sharon also challenged me to take my Garmin watch off and be free from the buzz notifications on my wrist.  All this to say that returning to that kind of simplicity to be still was actually quite hard for me, in fact it was difficult.  I think it is so easy to be defined by all that we do instead of simply knowing that we are loved by the Father’s embrace.

1 John 4:15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

It takes an incredible amount of effort to live this way and not just be easily swept away by everything else around you.  I’m learning that being here is the place where it needs to start, the place where I need to discover my purpose, my meaning and my direction for each and every day that he gives me.

When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness.  But salvation is so much more!  It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself.  And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.

Oswald Chambers

I have also been forced during this time to really look deeper at my emotions and feelings thanks to the Junto Institute…see the image of the feelings wheel.  I’m learning to uncover why I can get triggered, what are the root issues and letting the Holy Spirit work specifically where there is resentment, agitation, frustration etc… 

It is remembering that salvation is not only being saved from something it is also being saved to someone.  The Father is continually leading me closer to Him, to His heart, to His will and there it is in the Garden where Jesus prayed through all His pain, saying,

"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."  Luke 22:42

As we come to this weekend, may we learn that His will, although not easy, and often difficult, is the place where we will come to know His presence like no other.