Jesus Customer

I thought I'd include another quote from another book I'm reading, because it made me stop and think for a while, and really I'm still thinking about it even now. It comes from the book In God's Underground, by Richard Wurmbrand. He's a pastor that was tortured in Romania during communist rule around the 1950's. He writes about how two guys, Daianu and Ghinda readily gave up their faith so that life would be easier for them and they could leave the prison. A man in the cell with Wurmbrand comments, "Strange that men who wrote with what seemed deep Christian faith should turn traitor so easily!" Wurmbrand's response is, "Perhaps the answer was that in their writings Daianu and Ghinda praised Christ for the gifts. He gives us--peace, love, salvation. A real disciple does not seek gifts, but Christ himself, and so is ready for self-sacrifice to the end. They were not followers of Jesus, but customers; when the Communists opened a shop next door with goods at lower prices, they took their custom there."
Am I just a customer of Jesus, seeking the gifts He has to offer or am I seeking after him? If at a given time all He has to offer me is suffering, will I still cling to Him, still trust in Him, still praise Him? Lord teach me to be your bride, not your customer.

In Jesus' Name

I am currently reading a book called Deep Wounds, Deep Healing by Charles Kraft (it has been very good). I wanted to share one thought that I had been learning about over the last couple months that I think he puts into words well. "I once had a discussion with a friend who was discouraged in her prayer life. It seems that she had prayed for several things 'in Jesus' name' but was not receiving what she prayed for. We discussed some of the possible reasons. Praying in Jesus' name, I told her, is not so much about how you pray or what words you use in prayer, but more about who you are in prayer.
"Many Christians take Scriptures like praying 'in Jesus name' and use them like magic incantations. They think that if they get the phrasing right, then the desired answer will follow. My friend needed to understand, though, that praying 'in Jesus' name' meant living in Jesus' name so that the desires of her heart would be more closely associated with the desires of that 'name.' Her desires would be more in tune with God's desires. Powerful prayers are initiated by those who live and pray in Jesus' name.
"Such intimacy doesn't have to be a mysterious thing for us however. I don't think it was for Jesus. We need to spend time in the kind of give and take that cultivates a close relationship. When we talk with God, we usually call it 'praying.' This term, however, obscures the fact that talking and listening to God are to be natural and constant, not an occastional ritual. We are prepared for ministry if we try to practice intimacy with the Father in Jesus all day, every day. (p81)"
Mr Kraft challanges me to live a life in line with the name of Jesus, the character of Jesus, and pray out of that, rather than just adding the words, 'in Jesus name' to end of all my prayers. The more I listen to God, really take time and listen, the more I get to know His heart and how it beats and longs for every person to experience the love that He offers, and the better I am able to pray in His will and thus see answered prayer.

christ-ianity

what would christianity look like if we took away the "ianity" and were left with Christ? Following Jesus, it goes beyond cultures and beyond rituals and rules. What if we strip away all that we humans have added to the raw good news of Jesus? How would our lives be lived differently? What would the church look like? How would the spread of the Good News of Jesus be affected?

Song lessons II: even Obama will bow before Him

I kept forgetting to finish my song lesson series, well, more like a mini-series I guess, since this might be the last, though maybe not. This is from another song we sang at a church in Uganda. "We bow before You God, We bow before you Jesus, even the presidents, they bow before you, even Obama will bow before you." When I think about this, I am reminded that no matter how powerful we think certain humans have become, Jesus is still more powerful. Even I have the capacity, the capability to be more powerful than the president because I have the Holy Spirit and have authority by the blood of Jesus. It is weird to think about, but true. As followers of Jesus, the King of the entire universe invites us to ask of Him things, to approach His throne with confidence, tells us the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us. How responsible have I been with that power? Have I even done anything with that power, have a I realized it's potential yet, have I even scratched the surface? As I am here training to go to Soroti, Uganda, I hear of the powerful work of Christ around the world. I realize I need to be more sensitive to Him, to His direction, to His calling in day to day, moment by moment, and more open to what He calls me to now. I need to have a perspective of people out of love, always through the lense of the love of Christ.
So I didn't talk too much about the song, it got me thinking to say the least.

Hezekiah, embracing the love

Hezekiah also reinstated the passover. Passover is normally celebrated in the first month of the Jewish calendar, but because of all that went down in the last years it had not been properly celebrated in a long time. Any in Hezekiah's reign they weren't quite ready to celebrate it in the first month as the repairs were being done, so did they decide to wait until the next year? No. They talked about it and decided they had to celebrate it as soon as they could. So they did in the second month. God's chosen people had been split into two areas a while back, and were actually just at war with each other during the last king's reign. But this did not matter to Hezekiah, he invited all of Isreal and Judah to come to Jerusalem to once again celebrate this important holy feast. Embracing the love means seeing with eyes of God, seeing how He loves beyond our own conflicts, beyond enemy lines, beyond religious lines, oh that every man and woman might come to Him through Jesus. No one is more deserving the other. And because they were so out of practice concerning coming to the temple to worship many came that had not cleansed themselves yet. They should not be included, but they are. Hezekiah knows the heart of God because he prays, "May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness." and the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people. God recognizes the hearts that are seeking Him. Hey, we may not have it altogether, we may even be afraid to go inside the building because of our "dirtiness", but God sees the glimpses of faithfulness in our hearts, and He meets us where we are. Set your heart to seek Him. See how He meets you, and even though you are dirty, provides a way through Jesus to come to Him. He's not concerned as much with so many rules and regulations, mainly that you set your heart to seek Him. One glance of your eye, it takes His breath away. Embrace His love, and know He's embracing yours.

Hezekiah, Kingdom man

Hezekiah seems to get it. As soon as he's named king he takes seriously the job before him. And his first order of business isn't killing off potential coup leaders or securing anything for himself, he's mainly concerned with God and repairing His house. "In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them." 2 chron 29:3 After many, many years of war and evil kings neglecting and destroying the house of God Hezekiah embraces the love of God and acts. He calls everyone to return worshipping the Lord in the temple, and reinstates levites and priests (those who could lead the worship). He doesn't have the people bring him taxes and gifts, but rather has the people bring what they have to God. When things are going crazy and life seems to be falling apart, it's so easy to focus on ourselves and be overwhelemed and throw ourselves a pity party. Look at Hezekiah and learn. There's no pity party there even though he comes to reign in a beaten and broken down kingdom torn apart by faithless leaders and foreign countries. Pray that you will be courageous in the ways of the Lord. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness (that is Jesus). It's so easy to get stuck in our kingdoms (oh poor me), but try hard to worship even in the midst of your defeat and seek to repair the kingdom of God and your own kingdom won't seem to matter too much anymore. God will open your eyes to what is important, He will draw you near to Himself.

song lessons I: Jesus is a Fat, Fat God...

One sunday morning at a church plant just outside of Soroti, Uganda, a few Americans (myself and four others) attended a worship service with our Ugandan brothers and sisters. In the Ugandan church that we went to we sang some songs in english and some in ateso. Most the time it even took a while to realize that we were indeed singing in English. One of those times when I figured out we were singing in english I realized that we were singing, "We serve a Big, Big God," I was glad to realize we were singing english and started to join in and then the next phrase was, "We serve a Fat, Fat, God, We serve a Tall, Tall God." It caught me off guard, woah, did I just call God fat? and is that ok? Us americans all just kinda looked at each other and laughed and just kept on singing. I started thinking about it and it's true. We do serve a fat, fat God. In Africa in the majority of settings it is looked upon as good to be called fat and even to be fat as it means you have abundance of wealth and health, and joy. And, well, my God, He does have an abundance of wealth and health and joy, which He shares with His children. So in the end, I decided it was good to call God fat...not lazy and stuffing himself with food kind of fat, but full of wealth and life and joy kind of fat.