Too Much Bad News...
“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34 “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 Amplified
Yesterday I shared how the flow from your heart determines in large part the boundaries or borders or limits of the territory you will be able to possess. Be that financial, real estate, spiritual, etc. The flow from our heart consists primarily of the words we speak and the actions we take.
If the abundance of our heart produces words leading to action resulting in a life experience defined by boundaries, and if we find those boundaries or limitations very uncomfortable or constrained, it could be a clue to us to examine what we’ve been letting in our heart.
If you want to change your circumstances, you will need to change your actions. You will also need to change your words and that means changing what you feed upon or allow in your heart. Maybe this is just for me, but I realized that I feed too much upon news, both the mainstream, censored, unfair and imbalanced news and the alternative, somewhat angry, on the fringe, out of the norm kind of news you don’t see on the TV networks. Regardless of the source, none of it inspires hope or life or faith for me.
I don’t want the news media or the entertainment world to so fill my heart that my borders are defined by them. A little goes a long way! So I have cut way back and in its place begun deliberately at a much higher volume, filling my heart with exactly what I want to come out of my mouth and see lived out in my actions and reactions in life. More to the point, I want to enlarge my borders and I know they won’t be enlarged as long as I keep putting in the same information that got me where I am now. I am consciously choosing to deposit much more good into my heart and far less of the negative input that I have grown so addicted to. Does anyone relate to this?
And if you do, you might consider watching a full day seminar with 11 leaders who were asked to pass on their most important lessons learned for business as if we were their only heir and this was their last time to speak. It was called Taking Back The Gates and you will get the entire event in both CD and DVD format for a total of $39. I keep mentioning this offer because it is the best value offer we have ever made and so many of you keep ordering it for yourself of for Christmas presents. Click here to watch a short video and if you haven’t ordered this yet, think of it as an investment in your heart and your future boundaries. (While quantities last)
Friday, November 14, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
2 for 1 deal
I know it may not make lot of sense to read only one side of a conversation but I'm trying to only post my own thoughts and lately I haven't had much time to turn my correspondence into essay form.
RE: Mentorship
In my experience the person who has spoken the most truth into my life is my friend Rick. He's only about 6 months older than myself. When I look at the nature of things in a healthy culture, part of learning something is turning to the next person and teaching it. So I'd say that a seven year old has something to teach a six year old, and should be encouraged to do so. I've learned a lot from a peer mentor group, mainly because my idea of accountability is to empower the people in my life to hold me accountable to the projects God is working on in me. (As apposed to them all trying to guide me in the fashion their experience tells them is right.) So like Brian said, get that group of men around whom you can be transperent. The main quality you all must have is a commitment to implementing the victory Christ is working in your life even if it causes emberasment sometimes.
The other model I see in a healthy culture (our own culture has some good things but has lost some other good things) is how they treat the sages amongst them. I think Brian is right on here. Seek out a trustworthy mentor. Even if you just have lunch together every two weeks. We neglect the wisdom of those who've been walking with God for a long time at our own detriment.
RE:Peter Pan Syndrome/Adultascents
I think there's a couple things going on there as well, but I do agree that some of it is Peter Pan Syndrome. I know one of those guys too.
But in defense of a lot of guys, the economy is in the toilette. The business guy on fox news the other day was recommending things you could do before closing up shop on your small business; one of which was moving back in with your parents. He was indicating paying them rent, not mooching, but the idea was sound. They get a little doe for a house they've probably paid for, and you get cheaper rent in exchange for grabbing things down from a top shelf for your mother. In itself moving home is not a sign that you aren't growing up.
There are some articles on the phenomenon sociologists are now calling adultascent, which is men and women over 21 that live at home with mom and dad. There is some indication that the issue is cultural on two levels. One the first level they are not growing up. They are not being initiated by parents and having that reinforced by society. I think that's a legitimate concern and probably what you are referring to.
One the second level, young people these days are not receiving the opportunities that there parents and grand parents did. A college degree doesn't guarantee what it used to. Fewer jobs have internship opportunities. Employment is less steady, as is the home buying market. It takes more training at greater expense to get a job that pays a living wage. etc. The peter pan syndrome is just scratching the surface of the issue, and I don't know if we can say its a cause or merely another symptom of the same disease.
RE: Mentorship
In my experience the person who has spoken the most truth into my life is my friend Rick. He's only about 6 months older than myself. When I look at the nature of things in a healthy culture, part of learning something is turning to the next person and teaching it. So I'd say that a seven year old has something to teach a six year old, and should be encouraged to do so. I've learned a lot from a peer mentor group, mainly because my idea of accountability is to empower the people in my life to hold me accountable to the projects God is working on in me. (As apposed to them all trying to guide me in the fashion their experience tells them is right.) So like Brian said, get that group of men around whom you can be transperent. The main quality you all must have is a commitment to implementing the victory Christ is working in your life even if it causes emberasment sometimes.
The other model I see in a healthy culture (our own culture has some good things but has lost some other good things) is how they treat the sages amongst them. I think Brian is right on here. Seek out a trustworthy mentor. Even if you just have lunch together every two weeks. We neglect the wisdom of those who've been walking with God for a long time at our own detriment.
RE:Peter Pan Syndrome/Adultascents
I think there's a couple things going on there as well, but I do agree that some of it is Peter Pan Syndrome. I know one of those guys too.
But in defense of a lot of guys, the economy is in the toilette. The business guy on fox news the other day was recommending things you could do before closing up shop on your small business; one of which was moving back in with your parents. He was indicating paying them rent, not mooching, but the idea was sound. They get a little doe for a house they've probably paid for, and you get cheaper rent in exchange for grabbing things down from a top shelf for your mother. In itself moving home is not a sign that you aren't growing up.
There are some articles on the phenomenon sociologists are now calling adultascent, which is men and women over 21 that live at home with mom and dad. There is some indication that the issue is cultural on two levels. One the first level they are not growing up. They are not being initiated by parents and having that reinforced by society. I think that's a legitimate concern and probably what you are referring to.
One the second level, young people these days are not receiving the opportunities that there parents and grand parents did. A college degree doesn't guarantee what it used to. Fewer jobs have internship opportunities. Employment is less steady, as is the home buying market. It takes more training at greater expense to get a job that pays a living wage. etc. The peter pan syndrome is just scratching the surface of the issue, and I don't know if we can say its a cause or merely another symptom of the same disease.
Another Response to an online Group
I wrote this in response to a statement I made about faith and obedience.
I admit that obedience can't be completely throne out. It's hard to discount it, for its certainly pleasing to God. But if we think about the kinds of things we can do to please God we get a clearer picture of obedience, which in turn can shine a light on verse like the ones you quoted.
For example: Loving one another, giving, loving your neighbor as yourself, extending grace and forgiveness, sharing the Gospel, healing the sick, taking in the homeless, etc. All these things please God. All these things trace back to loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself, which I'd point out was what Jesus said all the commandments hinged upon. Hence, John 14:21 in context should read, "He who understands loves God utterly and completely, as well as loving others and himself; it is he who loves me."
The gentlest way I can put this is to say that it seems clear to me that God is more interested in our faith than our obedience. But God is working with me to get over my fear of offending people so let me dive into a stronger way of putting it.
There is an obvious connection between the law and our modern understanding of obedience, which is misunderstood and therefore the cause of many disagreements among Christians. Are we talking about being obedient to the law or obedient to God.
If I asked most Christians which is true:
A) you can obey God and not the law, or
B) you can obey the law and not obey God.
Most Christians today would answer B. After all, how can you obey the law of God and disobey God? It's easy. We call these people pharisees. Conversely, it is also possible to obey God and disobey his law. That's why we have Grace in Jesus Christ. Simply put, the entire old testament proves that people suck at obedience. Therefore God used a better way, a new covenant.
I would say that obedience to the law is worshiping what was created instead of the creator. In this way it is no different than worshiping a tree, which is made by God but is not God in itself. We call this idolatry. It doesn't matter what you elevate above God a tree or the principals of Christianity, its still idolatry. Actually to make matters worse what most Christians seek to obey isn't the commandments of God at all but really there own denominations recompilations of the law, which is the same as obeying that which is made by man. That's what Paul was talking about on Mars hill when he said that God doesn't need things made by man to be worshiped, for "in Him we move and breath and have our being."
If it sounds like I'm making too much of this concider listening to "Room of Grace" by John Lynch. I've already mentioned that obedience is connected to pleasing God. Striving to Please God is a dangerous thing to do. Its like imagining God on the other side of a grand canyon called, "your sins and failings," and you decide to try to reach God by feverously knocking dirt into the canyon from your edge. You just get further and further from God. The other option is enter grace and find out that Jesus is standing nect to you, saying, "you sure do have a pile of things to work on, can I help?" If you want to believe option B you will need faith.
And that's why faith is better than obedience.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
A Sound Word About Friendship
In Genesis we have the story of God speaking all things into being. This passage is receiving a lot of attention lately because of a new understanding God is releasing to some of his friends. The new understanding is about sound. If you search youtube.com for sound you'll find some pretty cool videos about the patterns certain things make when sound is introduced. For example sand thrown on a plate forms patterns when tones are introduced.
There is another aspect to the Genesis story that was recently brought up by Kim Clement.
"Genesis 3:1, "NOW THE SERPENT WAS MORE CUNNING THAN ANY BEAST OF THE FIELD. AND HE SAID TO THE WOMAN, 'HAS GOD INDEED SAID, YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN?'"
She answered the serpent correctly, which meant that she knew exactly what God meant. At that point, the serpent used words that created all kinds of doubts. The word for devil is diablo, which literally means, to speak (breathe out) to divide, or to whisper in order to cause division."
In other words, God speaks and Satan whispers. God creates with sound and words, but Satan destroys by a related force. He introduces lies, obviously, but what do those lies do? They rot the bonds that hold things together. Satan drove a wedge between Adam and Eve so that he could ultimately drive a wedge between God and man.
Everything exists in relation ship because in part God chose it to be so, but that's too simple. Think about it. Atoms are held, bonded in relationship. The tiny pieces of matter that comprise us are not touching, they exist in relationship. In fact the type of matter and the nature of the bond very greatly.
So to come out of alignment with the vibration of God is to fly apart like a solar system with eroded gravity.
I just wanted to point that out.
There is another aspect to the Genesis story that was recently brought up by Kim Clement.
"Genesis 3:1, "NOW THE SERPENT WAS MORE CUNNING THAN ANY BEAST OF THE FIELD. AND HE SAID TO THE WOMAN, 'HAS GOD INDEED SAID, YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN?'"
She answered the serpent correctly, which meant that she knew exactly what God meant. At that point, the serpent used words that created all kinds of doubts. The word for devil is diablo, which literally means, to speak (breathe out) to divide, or to whisper in order to cause division."
In other words, God speaks and Satan whispers. God creates with sound and words, but Satan destroys by a related force. He introduces lies, obviously, but what do those lies do? They rot the bonds that hold things together. Satan drove a wedge between Adam and Eve so that he could ultimately drive a wedge between God and man.
Everything exists in relation ship because in part God chose it to be so, but that's too simple. Think about it. Atoms are held, bonded in relationship. The tiny pieces of matter that comprise us are not touching, they exist in relationship. In fact the type of matter and the nature of the bond very greatly.
So to come out of alignment with the vibration of God is to fly apart like a solar system with eroded gravity.
I just wanted to point that out.
Friday, September 5, 2008
What's Missing
Today’s Thoughts
When I read or think about the opening chapters of Genesis, the line that sticks out to me is, “it is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen. 2:18-20)
In this perfect new world, created by God, where Adam walks intimately with God and has a duty to do there is still something missing. So God puts him asleep and takes something from him to form Eve. The term for Eve in Hebrew is “ezer kenegdo,” often poorly translated into “help mate.” Everywhere else the term appears it’s in reference to God, and is better translated as inspirational companion.
So, Eve was technically there from the start, at least to my way of thinking. In all that God was directly supplying, and in all that Adam was in and of himself, it just wasn’t quite right. God took something from Adam in order to supply it through another human being.
Here we have the very first relationship and we see what is inherent to relationship whether in a perfect world or a fallen one: Interdependence, bonding, attraction. In one sense God split the Adam—pun intended—and created the first human to human bond. I know I’m laboring a point but think about it. God chose to supply something indirectly. He felt it was better, needed, to work through another human to bless a man. The pinnacle of Creation is relationship.
It is Not Good for Man to be Alone:
The questions that leap to my mind are these:
A) What is God removing from us that he is going to supply even better through relationship?
B) What has God made me with so that I will supply it to others?
C) What would this world look like if we were all supplying each other with the things God made us to be?
Fun Extras We Don’t Often Think About:
So in addition to every living thing, during creation God makes:
Light (energy)
Sun, moon, and stars (time, motion, place and direction)
The earth (matter)
Rest
Relationship
God used a specific order to do everything. By creating Adam, naming him, placing him in the garden, telling him to name the animals, telling him not to eat of the one tree, then creating Eve, God is establishing a certain way or order that is best. Man is born, has an identity bestowed upon him, adventures while being mentored by God, becomes responsible for certain things, then discovers woman and learns what’s been missing.
It fascinates me that God designed us in this way. That even in a perfect world we would notice a lack before receiving. What I’m trying to say is that it we aren’t born in love with someone. We develop as individuals first and along the way a desire is initiated, deepened and then supplied. It’s all right there in the beginning.
When I read or think about the opening chapters of Genesis, the line that sticks out to me is, “it is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen. 2:18-20)
In this perfect new world, created by God, where Adam walks intimately with God and has a duty to do there is still something missing. So God puts him asleep and takes something from him to form Eve. The term for Eve in Hebrew is “ezer kenegdo,” often poorly translated into “help mate.” Everywhere else the term appears it’s in reference to God, and is better translated as inspirational companion.
So, Eve was technically there from the start, at least to my way of thinking. In all that God was directly supplying, and in all that Adam was in and of himself, it just wasn’t quite right. God took something from Adam in order to supply it through another human being.
Here we have the very first relationship and we see what is inherent to relationship whether in a perfect world or a fallen one: Interdependence, bonding, attraction. In one sense God split the Adam—pun intended—and created the first human to human bond. I know I’m laboring a point but think about it. God chose to supply something indirectly. He felt it was better, needed, to work through another human to bless a man. The pinnacle of Creation is relationship.
It is Not Good for Man to be Alone:
The questions that leap to my mind are these:
A) What is God removing from us that he is going to supply even better through relationship?
B) What has God made me with so that I will supply it to others?
C) What would this world look like if we were all supplying each other with the things God made us to be?
Fun Extras We Don’t Often Think About:
So in addition to every living thing, during creation God makes:
Light (energy)
Sun, moon, and stars (time, motion, place and direction)
The earth (matter)
Rest
Relationship
God used a specific order to do everything. By creating Adam, naming him, placing him in the garden, telling him to name the animals, telling him not to eat of the one tree, then creating Eve, God is establishing a certain way or order that is best. Man is born, has an identity bestowed upon him, adventures while being mentored by God, becomes responsible for certain things, then discovers woman and learns what’s been missing.
It fascinates me that God designed us in this way. That even in a perfect world we would notice a lack before receiving. What I’m trying to say is that it we aren’t born in love with someone. We develop as individuals first and along the way a desire is initiated, deepened and then supplied. It’s all right there in the beginning.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Today's Thoughts
Today’s Thoughts:
It occurred to me, while I was getting ready this morning that I needed to reread what Paul said in his address at Mars Hill.
Acts 17
22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
This is very nearly the mission statement of my life. I ask the reader, “What is the difference between a graven image and an intellectual idea?”
A Moment on Idolatry:
Idolatry is to hope, worship, trust or fear of anything other than God. An easy example would be money. Not just the love of money but the feeling of dependence on it. I hear Christians all the time say that they can’t start this or that ministry, even though they feel called to it, because they don’t have the money. As though the fact that God called them to do it doesn’t also intone his anointing and provision.
Even our earthly parents wouldn’t ask us to mow the lawn and then not provide a lawn mower. Why would we expect that behavior of God? Then again God often asks us to do things we dream of doing so a better example might be—even earthly parents wouldn’t offer to take their kids Disneyland and make them pay their own airfare.
So if we think that God expects us to make our ministries happen then we are thinking of something that we can do in our own strength, just as we might carve a graven image. The goal of the 2nd commandment is to stop worshipping man-made things.
Now the Revolutionary Stuff:
I believe, beyond any doubt, that all religions are man-made; even Christianity. Religions are intellectual structures created by men. They are a way of going about spiritual things without engaging the spirit. They encourage living from the head not the heart.
What was once accomplished through relationship is now accomplished through program. Instead of mentorship we have public education. Instead of apprenticeship we have colleges and trade schools. Instead of coming together for supper we have crackers and grape juice four times a year. Instead of worship we have three songs before a sermon. We publish a freaking program for church. Instead of giving a home to a homeless person, we have a program for the homeless. Instead of talking with a friend about God we have an evangelistic series. I could go on forever.
Those who love the Lord worship him in spirit and in truth—not on special days, on sacred ground, in approved ceremonies, lead by elite people.
My Mission Statement:
"Men of America! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I grew up among your objects of worship; I even found a ‘house of God.’ Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all men; and he determined where and when they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and find him, though he is closer to us than our clothes are to our skin. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his children.'
"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think the divine being is like non-profit institutions, programs, rituals, or tips and techniques—the ideas of man's mind or imagination. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For a day comes when he will judge all humans by their friendship with Christ Jesus through whom he made and redeemed all things."
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Crisis of Faith
To the Yahoo Group...in response to an honest question about questioning God.
________________________________
Generally when I reach a crisis of faith its because I'm living in expectation instead of expectancy. Not to be cute or trite about it, I have come to believe that God will always come through for me, and that it will often look nothing like I think it should. In fact God has shown an interest in destroying some of the good things He placed in my life earlier, as a way of moving me into things he wants for me next.
This is universally true with me. God leads me into tight corners, prunes away perfectly good things, sours my milk, even cuts a wound in me from time to time. It's all to move me into what is next. Yesterday's weapons don't work against tomorrows demons. I don't get my new shield when I see an enemy draw back his bow. I get my new shield when the arrows are descending upon me.
I need to KNOW that I'm provisioned to stand in the spot I'm called to stand in. I'm called to be a man, I'm called to be a husband and a father. God did this to me, He didn't even ask if I wanted it. He made me to want it, he awakened the desires so I would beg him to give it to me, then he gave it to me and most of the time I don't feel at all prepared for it, lol. After 37 years as a single man God is giving me a wife and three daughters. I'm so far outside my comfort zone I don't know which way is up. Yet I KNOW God has prepared and provisioned me.
By his stripes we are healed. To me that means a perfectly good tree had to be wounded so that the orphaned branches could be bound into that spot and live. As an orphaned branch that is restored to the vine I give God full authority to prune my life that it may bare good fruit.
But as you say, their are days when the fog sets in so thick I can't remember the promises God made me. On those days its hard to believe that their even is a God. I think that Dan's question has come across the minds of every true believer at some time or another. That's when we must lean on each other.
A. R. Bunch
________________________________
Generally when I reach a crisis of faith its because I'm living in expectation instead of expectancy. Not to be cute or trite about it, I have come to believe that God will always come through for me, and that it will often look nothing like I think it should. In fact God has shown an interest in destroying some of the good things He placed in my life earlier, as a way of moving me into things he wants for me next.
This is universally true with me. God leads me into tight corners, prunes away perfectly good things, sours my milk, even cuts a wound in me from time to time. It's all to move me into what is next. Yesterday's weapons don't work against tomorrows demons. I don't get my new shield when I see an enemy draw back his bow. I get my new shield when the arrows are descending upon me.
I need to KNOW that I'm provisioned to stand in the spot I'm called to stand in. I'm called to be a man, I'm called to be a husband and a father. God did this to me, He didn't even ask if I wanted it. He made me to want it, he awakened the desires so I would beg him to give it to me, then he gave it to me and most of the time I don't feel at all prepared for it, lol. After 37 years as a single man God is giving me a wife and three daughters. I'm so far outside my comfort zone I don't know which way is up. Yet I KNOW God has prepared and provisioned me.
By his stripes we are healed. To me that means a perfectly good tree had to be wounded so that the orphaned branches could be bound into that spot and live. As an orphaned branch that is restored to the vine I give God full authority to prune my life that it may bare good fruit.
But as you say, their are days when the fog sets in so thick I can't remember the promises God made me. On those days its hard to believe that their even is a God. I think that Dan's question has come across the minds of every true believer at some time or another. That's when we must lean on each other.
A. R. Bunch
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