The Walls Have Come Down

Several times in recent months I've noted in this blog that I have written so much less this year than previously.  Only a small handful of people seem to have noticed.  I think there have been one or two who have said they miss what I have, in the past, written here frequently.  This past weekend a friend said that he still checks daily to see if I've written anything.  Thanks, Bob, for the encouragement.

Yesterday afternoon I drove to Glencoe to see someone in long term care and then headed into the cities to visit my parents and my aunt Audrey who is here in Minnesota for a week or so.  As I was walking down the hallway to my parents condominium the words came to me: The Walls Have Come Down.

Immediately I posted those words to facebook using twitter.  I then  remembered how, back in 2010, that after a prayer conference one of the participants heard the sound of a great wall crumbling and tumbling and rumbling down.  I wasn't at that prayer conference and don't even know if I remember correctly what I was told, but the spiritual image has stayed with me, though I don't think I've ever written anything about it.

Spiritual walls have fallen in many ways over the past few years.  It's still a work in progress.  I am convinced it is God's work, however, and it cannot be stopped.

God is in the business of setting people free.  We see this as God takes down the dividing wall between himself and us through what Jesus did.  We see this as God turns the hearts of parents to their children.  We see this as people who have hurt one another give one another the most excellent gift: forgiveness in Jesus' name.

God is also in the business of setting people free from fortifications that, at one time, served a good purpose.  Last Sunday evening I shared a message at our community worship service that was, in part, a celebration of how God pulls down our denominational walls at these community worship services.  We looked at scriptures from John 8, First Corinthians 3 and Galatians 3, scriptures that show how religious loyalties get in the way of God's Work.  (You can download my written message, more or less how I preached it on Sunday evening by clicking here or contact me and ask for a copy.)

Here's how this relates to why I haven't been blogging much for the past few months.  Some of my personal walls have come down in a very big way over the past few years.  I would need to write a book to tell the story.  Suffice it to say that in 1980 God called me into the fortress of the American Lutheran Church.  I served in that institution and its successor until 2010.  Two months after I heard about what someone had "heard" at the prayer conference (a wall falling down) there was a major change, and, in some ways, I've been learning where I am now ever since.

I am no longer serving the Lord in a local church that is affiliated with any particular Christian denomination.  Our local church here in Cokato is closely connected with a network of churches that share a Lutheran heritage but are not bound to or confined by it.  The flagship church of the network describes itself as "Sacramental, Spirit-Filled and Evangelical."

from the North Heights website - http://www.nhlc.org/more-info

That pretty much describes us at Crossroads too, though we're still working out what it all means.

The walls have come down.  We are free in Christ.  Some of us at Crossroads would consider us to be Lutheran, others would not.  For me personally, being Lutheran has never been a top priority but I've appreciated and benefited by many things in the Lutheran church.

• I am thankful for the Lutheran theological tradition because Lutherans have a very high view of the Bible.  The Bible is our foundation for knowing God and God's purpose for our lives. 

• I appreciate and understand the Biblical foundation of Baptism and Communion from a Lutheran perspective, not that the Lutheran way is the ONLY way of understanding what we have called "sacraments" but truly being thankful for the way a tremendously respectful view of God's Word and God's Power is entailed in those Lutheran teachings.  

• I'm grateful for the particular form of Lutheranism that embraces the charismatic movement.   This open and fearless form of Lutheranism led ALC president David W. Preus to go to the International Lutheran Conference on the Holy Spirit in 1980 to proclaim that spiritual gifts were welcome and needed in his denomination.

Because the walls have come down there are many things that are open for discussion and review.  Issues that had been settled long ago by denominational authority are now open to question.  We're open to evangelical and charismatic/pentecostal understandings alongside those that have been traditionally Lutheran. 

It's an exciting spiritual place to be in!  We're called to grow more mature in our faith, to learn to stand, in some ways on our own... not alone... but together with other believers we know personally, and together with God.

So I haven't written much recently.  I haven't written much because I knew I needed to get all of this laid out and I knew it would take some time.  I haven't written much because there is always more to do than there is time available.  I haven't written much because, more and more, I'm in need of the personal conversations that will help us gain confidence here in our local church.  And I haven't written much because there is SO much to write about!  When walls come down you can see so much further!  Wow--the possibilities--in Christ--they are endless!

If you appreciate hearing from me in this way, please let me know.  Then I'll probably write more.

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Fresh Fishing

At Crossroads this Sunday (July 15) we're beginning a short series of messages based on the days Jesus spent, in scripture, at the Sea of Galilee.*  There Jesus called his first disciples, calmed the storm and revealed himself after he rose from the dead.

Wouldn't it be great to spend a day at the lake with Jesus?  What would happen?  How would that day transform you?

When Jesus first meets his future disciples there he invites them and challenges them.  "Come," he says.  This reminds me of when Jesus says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens.  I will give you rest."  Then he says "Follow me."

Invitation is always followed by challenge.  Jesus doesn't invite us to hang out at the lake for relaxation alone.  When we spend time with Him we will be challenged.  At the lake Jesus said "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."  In another location he said "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me."  A yoke is a mechanism for doing work.  Jesus wants us to get so connected with him that his peace is our peace, and his work is ours too.

The cool thing is that the work we are challenged to do by Jesus never takes away our rest.

When Jesus says "I will make you fishers of men" he does does not "make us" in the sense of pushing us or forcing us to do anything.  And when Jesus says "take my yoke upon you" he says he will teach us (learn from me) and that he will be with us every step of the way.  The "yoke," the task we do, it still belongs to Jesus and is still inhabited by him.  It is his yoke, his task, his job.  We're just there to follow his lead.

Those words "I will make you fishers of men" can be misunderstood to mean I will "make you" as in "I will force you to go out and fish for people."  A better word for "make" in English (for the original Greek ποιήσω) would perhaps be "I will re-make you" or "I will re-create" you, making or creating you to have a new identity, a new self, a new "you."

This new you created by Jesus in your flesh will now be interested in saving people, "fishing them" out of chaos and destruction.  We get a new heart and a new mind.

We WANT to do this.  It is no burden.  "I will do the work of remaking you," says Jesus.  When we come to Jesus, he now does work in us to change us.

Have you been remade?  Where do you find your joy?  Is it in fishing for men and women and all who are lost?  If not, come to Jesus today to receive a new identity today.

-----------------------------------

* The Sea of Galilee is a large freshwater lake, about 1/3 the size of Mille Lacs.

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Home Again

I'm back in Cokato after about a week at my in-law's place in Wisconsin.  I made the long drive from Durphee Lake beginning just after 6 and made a few stops including at my aunt and uncle's home (their birthdays were last week) and a quick drop-in at my parents', arriving here around midnight.

I'll be heading out to the Crossroads church building soon.  Time to check in with our administrative assistant (Kristine) and do what needs to be done.  I'm thankful for those who led worship last Sunday and who watched over our house when we were gone, including those who watered the gardens and flowers.  Thank you!

While up at the cabin I continued the "quiet study" about women and men that I wrote about last week, now about half way through the big book I mentioned then.  The other big "work related" topic I studied, thinking about and talking about with others up there, is the question of church organizations, such as denominations, and how they relate to the Holy Spirit.  I'll try to share some of what the Lord has been teaching me on that subject soon.

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Quiet Study

I'm enjoying some quiet time at the moment.  The rest of the crowd went to fireworks; and I've gone every other year I think but this year, in keeping with what I wrote yesterday, I've just decided to take this time to be alone.

I'm reading a book that I borrowed from my son in law: Discovering Biblical Equality.  There's a section there that talks about how an active, practical equality of men and women among evangelical and charismatic Christians in the USA was overshadowed in the mid 20th century.  Janette Hassey writes:

What can account for the gradual decline of public ministry opportunities for evangelical women between the world wars?  First, fundamentalist separatist subcultures emerged which tended to harden on the women's issue.  Second, as fundamentalism institutionalized, women were squeezed out of leadership roles.  Third, the conservative Protestant backlash against changing social values resulted in restrictions on women in ministry.  Finally, a more literalist view of Scripture among fundamentalists meant less flexibility in interpreting the subject of women in ministry.

The subtitle of the book is Complementarity without Hierarchy.  I do believe God created men and women to be different but I have never been able to buy into the idea that men are somehow automatically to rule over women.  I've been blessed so many times by the teaching of women who know and respect the Word of God as it is recorded in the Holy Scriptures.  So I am on a search for what the Bible really has to say about men and women in the church.  Please pray that I would not be swayed by anything other than the Word of God.

My position, up to now, is that it is possible to be Biblically conservative and hold to a more egalitarian perspective on men and women's roles than is common among many evangelicals.  The Bible is not 100% clear on this subject, just like it isn't 100% clear on other things (like, for example, questions about baptism).  When there is a diversity of perspectives shown in scripture, it's just something that needs a careful look.  I'll do some of that while I'm up north.

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Going North Today

Later today I'm headed for a family cabin, a cabin that's been in my wife's family for 50 years.  For my wife the cabin is "home" in a way that no where else is.  She has already gone up there and I'll follow after I've done a few more chores and have gotten my things together.  I'll stop at the airport in the Twin Cities to pick up my sister-in-law and then we'll drive north.

After worship yesterday a dear friend wished me well about this and then I found myself sharing some ambivalent feelings about "cabin time."   As I prepare to go I'm feeling it would be good to get those feelings down in writing.  I share these things with the world because I think there are many of us who have a variety of feelings when it comes to spending time with those we love.

I dearly love all of the people at the cabin.  I dearly love them all as individuals and as a group.  There is absolutely nothing personal about my conflicted feelings about being up north.  If I had to pick some people to be with in a confined space for a week or more there are few others that I would choose to be "stuck with" for a week than the Dahlins.  We share the same Christian faith.  We have similar opinions on issues and have similar values and morals.  Pleasant personalities, tremendous talents, interesting  group conversations, great games and songs abound.  The various generations care deeply about each other.

The cabin is situated on the shore of a very sweet little lake.  It's a great place for swimming and canoeing and sailing (the family has a little sailboat which I particularly enjoy), there is shade for sitting and sun for sunning.  There is no air conditioning but a person can take a dip in the lake to cool off as often as he or she wishes.  There is no lack of food and not much work.  My wife's parents are servants of God and servants of us.  They do so much for us and love us in ways that can hardly be described.

It's wonderful!  It's like being away at a family Bible camp.  It's a huge blessing straight from God.

Even with all of that, I'm still feeling conflicted.  How can that be?  Part of it is my task orientation toward life.  I just know there are so many things that need to be done here in Cokato.  Part of me would love to spend unscheduled time here to putter away at the many things that need to be done at the house we purchased last year.

The other part of my ambivalence is the sense of being "confined" or "contained" in the space and in a particular way of relating to one another that is hard to describe.  The cabin is a busy place, even though it's a relaxing place.  There are ways that a person can get away by him or herself, there are hammocks and chairs where a person can get settled into a book, and, as my friend mentioned after church yesterday, being at the cabin hasn't stopped me from blogging.  But the fact is that with a dozen or more people eating meals together, playing together, talking together, all in a small cabin, there isn't sometimes the chance to go very "deep" in any way, not in our relationships with one another and not one-on-one with God.  And, for me, going "deep" is one of he chief pleasures in life.

I've always been an "odd duck" at the cabin, preferring often to remain quieter than others and not really wanting to spend all my time with everyone else.  I also choose to eat differently than some and that is noticed by the crowd. I don't think I'm unpleasant but I do sometimes escape.  I'm not the only one who does that, but I think I do it more than others.  I get weary of the constant group conversations.  When I'm up there, I think I act somewhat introverted... maybe my true personality comes out?  Who knows.

Anyway, a goal I'm going to set this week when I'm up there is to try to spend some one on one or one on two time with some of the people.  I don't know if that will work, but I'll try.  I'll take quiet time this year too as I always have, but this year I think I'll try to take it more intentionally, so I can get my "deep thinking" time in and, by means of this blog, to share deeply with you all as well.

Now that I've gotten all this out, I'm more positive about going up north.  Lots to do though before that, and since I've been up since 4 a.m. I'm going to need a nap too.

Thanks for listening.

www.equalsharing.com

Out of Religion

Our Lord has been breaking us out of "religion" and bringing us closer to Himself.  It is such a good thing and I can't wait to see what He will do next.  I am praying that I will let God be God, that I will trust Him enough to get out of the way and let Him work.  I cannot put a script together and expect God will follow it, whether it's a scripted worship hour or a planned day or night.  God is calling me to step out in faith beyond what I can understand, beyond what I can control.

Let's walk together.  Let's step into the future God has prepared.  Let God tear down the man-made walls and allow Him to build as He desires.  When we do we will be amazed.  We will experience His power, His healing, His cleansing and renewal.  Let's open the doors and let Him do as He desires.  Let's do it now.

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Exposing Strongholds

When we are in need, when we are in trouble, when we are in pain, when we sin, when we are under attack in any way--God's desire always is that we rely upon Him, turning to Him in prayer, calling upon other believers to pray for us, asking for help in practical and spiritual ways, speaking out against injustice, being bold.

Our "normal" reaction, sad to say, is to do what the first man and woman did in the Garden of Eden.  We hide.  And, having hidden, when the Lord seeks us out, we lie.  God immediately and continuously confronts us in our lie.  He pushed Adam and Eve out of the Garden.  He exposed Cain.  He brings truth and light.  This is an opportunity to be free and joyful once more.

Will you allow God to see you as you are?  Or will you retreat even further into lies and coverups?  if that is your choice you lock yourself into a "stronghold," a fortress of deceit and death.  God still does not give up on you, he "stands at the door and knocks."  He continues to offer his grace and forgiveness.  He offers opportunities to repent every day.  He says, "Come Out!  Be Open!  Live!  Be Real!"

How can you recognize a stronghold in your life?  Defensiveness is one clue.  When you are challenged do you consider whether your challenger is speaking the truth, or do you immediately reject it?  Immediate rejection of criticism is one sign of a stronghold.  Addictions and unhelpful habits are another.  If you are repeatedly doing something that harms you or others in any way, whether the harm is physical, financial, emotional--when you hurt yourself or your future--or when you lash out against others, that could point you toward some aspect of your life that you are guarding.

One spiritual stronghold that has only recently been revealed to me consists in how quick people try to make themselves feel better by spending money on things they do not need.  People impoverish themselves in this way.  Truly this is the devil's work.  It needs to be exposed for what it is.

O my people, come to the light!  Do not hide.  Come out and be free!  Come and call for experienced Christian friends or neighbors to pray for you.  Confessing your sins you will receive the forgiveness bought for us by our Lord Jesus Christ.  Speaking the truth about how you have been injured you will receive healing.  And the Holy Spirit will give you new life.

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The Worthy Goal

God's call for us is to be like Jesus.

You can see this deep desire in the normal human desire to do well, to excel, to become strong, to be wise, to see our children do the same.

When Christ enters our life, we are then given a new goal, that is, to attain the "full stature of Christ."  God gives us this goal together with the means needed to attain it.

Open your Bible to these verses and let them sink into your heart -

• Romans 8:29 - "be conformed to the image" of Jesus.  
• First Corinthians 15:49 - "bear the image of the man of heaven." 
• Second Corinthians 3:18 - we see the glory of the Lord with "unveiled faces" and "are being transformed into the same image."
• Philippians 3:21 - the Lord promises to "transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of His glory by the power that enables him to make all things subject to himself."
• Colossians 3:10 - we have a "new self which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator."
• Second Peter 1:4 - God has given us "precious and very great promises so that" we "may become participants of the divine nature."
• First John 3:2 - "We are God's offspring now" and "we will be like Him."

God's standards are so good, so high, so sweet!

Here's more from Second Peter 1 -

     ³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
     ⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
     ⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

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Imitating Jesus

The following has been written in preparation for preaching on June 17 at Crossroads.  On June 24 we are planning a special service of healing and prayer.  I hope you will be able, and willing to join us on those days.

Christians understand that God sent Jesus into the world to save it.  Do we also understand that God sends human beings to this world for the same purpose?  Certainly there is at least one thing "ordinary" human beings cannot do - we cannot die to save sinners.  That has already been done once for all.  But otherwise we are sent like Jesus.  "As the Father as sent me," he commissioned us, "so I send you."

Human being(s), a.k.a. "mankind" ("man") was created to represent God in a world that had already experienced brokenness and corruption and sin.  We human beings were created with work to do!  "Subdue the earth" God commanded.  "Rule over" the other living creatures.

This shows us that man was not a rebel from the first, nor was he the first rebel.  It was the devil who rejected God's authority "from the beginning" (see John 8:44).  All was not right in the universe when human beings came on the scene.  (See Genesis 3 - the first lies did not come from Adam and Eve.)

We do not know the details, but we know that a battle has been going on in creation since the first day.  When God said "let there be light" in Genesis, He did so in when darkness and chaos were present.  The Genesis 1 account of creation seems to be one of imposing order upon a creation that had become chaotic.  Perhaps this chaos came about because of the rebellion of the devil and his angels.  We do not know.

In any case, it is clear that we human beings were never just here for our own sakes.  We were sent to this earth with a mission, a mission summarized in those words "subdue" and "have dominion."*

Sadly, we human beings rebelled against our creator.  We have done so since shortly after we were created.  In this way man has become an agent of evil.

God, however, is great and full of love.  God is so good!  From the beginning God started on a long term plan, a divine plan, a holy plan, a spiritual rescue mission.  God intended from the beginning to redeem us, to rescue us from our own sin and to wrench us out of the hands of the Devil.  God's plan was revealed through Abraham and Sarah, through Moses and Joshua, through David--until finally the time had come for Jesus.  God was always working to restore us to the position we had as his representatives and ambassadors on earth.

This work of restoration was made possible, once and for all, through Jesus and his obedient self-sacrifice.  We remember this Unique Work on Sunday as we share the Lord's Supper together.  We are to always remember Him and be thankful for what He has done!  Jesus is our One Lord and Savior.  All Glory to His Name Alone!

There is, however, so much more to what Jesus did.  Last Sunday at Crossroads we looked at Matthew 4 where Jesus went out to teach, preach and heal "every disease and sickness among the people."  This was wonderful and it drew people to Him like flies!

Jesus preached "the good news of God's Kingdom" and made practical application of that good news.  Just like God had originally sent human beings into the world to "subdue" it, to bring good order back to it, so he sent his Son to do the same.  The task was God sized because God's original representatives had become rebels.  But through Jesus, God did not wait until he had completed his saving work to recruit some of the rebels to his cause.  That's why so much of the Gospel story involves followers, men and women like you and me.

We see this in Matthew 4:18-22.  Right after Jesus received God's power through the Holy Spirit, he started gathering his disciples.  He first called Peter, Andrew, James and John.  He announced his plan.  He would make them to be "fishers of men."  Like Jesus, they would "fish" (think of net fishing) human beings out of chaos and, through the power of God, they would be involved in the process of remaking men and women into new creatures.  Through God's Word and Holy Spirit active in their lives, they would be filled God's passionate desire.  Jesus reassigned them to their original purpose -- to be God's representatives in this broken world.

How did Jesus do this?  Immediately after recruiting his first disciples, Jesus began a ministry tour of the area that he and those first followers knew best (Galilee).  With the disciples in attendance, Jesus preached and taught and healed.  The people of all the surrounding areas brought to Jesus "all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them."  He did this with the disciples watching everything that he did.  He did this so they would learn to do the same.

Read Matthew 10.  Notice how Jesus equips his disciples and then tells them that they will be like him.  He “gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness” (verse 1).  He told them to do what he had done previously, saying “preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” (vss. 7-8).  He warned them not to expect a great reception everywhere, but assured them that they would never be alone.  Then he said this: “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.” (vss. 24-25).

You and I are to be LIKE JESUS!  We are to IMITATE him!  Not to the extent that I am to die for the sins of the world, of course.  That was done "once for all" by Jesus.  But other than that I do not see any sense that we are to be "unlike" Jesus.  Can you?

All my life, ever since I was a child, I've been taught to learn from Jesus, and, in a limited way, I've been told that, we, as Christians, can be like Jesus.  All my life I've believe that, like Jesus, I am to love God with all my heart and soul and mind and strength.  Like Jesus I am to love my neighbor as myself.  Like Jesus I am to forgive and tell the good news of God.  Like Jesus God wants me to go out and preach the good news.  Like Jesus I am to spend time with my Father God and I am to call God my "Abba," my "daddy."  And all of this is very good.

But, for some reason, I was never taught that Christians could, or should, imitate what Jesus did in his earthly ministry, other than, as I mentioned, loving others, promoting goodness, working against injustice, forgiving and declaring forgiveness, etc.   I don't think there was a total rejection of the other things Jesus and other "miracle workers" did in the Bible.  I can't remember anyone ever teaching me, in so many words, that "Bible miracles didn't happen."  The Biblical studies circles that I was connected with just relegated those things to the distant past.

I think, among some of my teachers and Christian mentors, there was a general understanding or presupposition that "enlightened" or "intelligent" or "modern" people would not see or experience miracles in the same way that the "ignorant" or "superstitious" would.  Perhaps, they would speculate, that if you and I were at the scene of Jesus' feeding of the 5,000, we would see people sharing their lunches with one another.  Or if we had been present at a healing or the driving out of a demon we would see that Jesus possessed a deep intuitive sense that certain people just needed encouragement or love to regain their senses or get up and walk.  That was the liberal perspective.  I'm sure some of my college and seminary professors would be in that camp, together with some pastors I have known who have been faithful to their duties for many years.

I never was able to buy into that liberal line.  Christianity is a miraculous thing, based on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  To deny miracles is to deny God.  I have done spiritual battle about this over the years.  The liberal judgment that "God can't do miracles" removes such people from the faith.  You cannot be a Christian and eliminate the supernatural.  It is horrible lie when some people call themselves "believers" or "Christians" and just believe, more or less, that Jesus was just a good teacher, a good man, an example to follow.  No.  That is NOT the Christian faith.  Christian leaders who do not accept the miraculous are liars.  And the devil is the father of lies.  (See John 8:44 once again.)

But though I've never gone that far, I think I have been, together with many "Bible believing people," more or less in the camp of the "cessationists."  I recently read a quote from Jonathan Edwards in which he said that once the Bible was completed, and once the Christian church was "fully founded and established" that "these extraordinary gifts have ceased."

History would say that is true for many within the church.  Many church people would never dream of truly calling on God for a miracle.  In all my years of preparation to be a pastor I never once had a class in "how to pray for a miracle."  The denominations I served as a pastor did not sponsor continuing education events where we could learn how to cast out demons, heal the sick or raise the dead.   And I was tempted, usually, to look on "faith healers" as fake-healers.  There was always a degree of scoffing that went along with names like Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Kenneth Copeland, Pat Robertson, and Benny Hinn.

As for myself, I could never dismiss present day miracles entirely.  Over the years I have experienced God's supernatural intervention and protection.  And I have known people who have experienced healing that could not be explained by medical means.  In recent years I've been amazed at the faith of young people, including particularly my son Daniel, who step out in faith and seem to get remarkable results.  There was even a testimony given by a young woman I talked with in May who was given a 4 carat diamond as a gift from God.  I have a picture of it on my phone if you are interested in seeing it.

It seems to me that God is on the move in remarkable ways and I am ready to receive and give more of what God has to offer.  I have seen God's work as I have prayed for people who have needed healing.  There was one woman, several years ago, before I came here to the Cokato area, who God chose to rescue from the very brink of death as we gathered to pray for her by her bed.  And there was a man who felt inhabited by a demon--a demon that left his body after he had repented of his sin and received the prayer of faithful men.  And there have been others, many here in the D-C area, who can testify to supernatural healings.  O Lord, let me trust you for more.

Mindy Bak, a pastor at North Heights Lutheran Church in Arden Hills and Roseville, wrote something like this recently as she was preparing to preach there on June 3.

We are not cessationists.  We do not believe that the power of God was only for a particular time and place.  We do not believe that God's gifts stopped being given.  Instead, we know that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit have been available for use by the church ever since Pentecost.  True, gifts do cease in churches and among Christians who do not use those gifts.  Not because of God, but because we have been unable or unwilling to receive those gifts.  It's like having keys to the car but never taking it out of the driveway.  The tires get dry rot, oil clogs the cylinders, rust corrodes the steel and iron, locking them down.  The fact is, however, that we have the keys!  It's time to get in and drive!

Yes, it's time for us to confidently trust God, ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit, and imitate Jesus.  It's time for us to start trusting and cease our doubting and our human ways of putting limits on what God can do.  That's what needs to stop.  That's what needs to cease.  It's time to release control and step up boldly in prayer, asking God to do what only He can do.  It's time for us to share faith-building testimonies to the supernatural power of God in our lives.  It's time for us to step out in faith.

Imagine if the first disciples would not have trusted Jesus command to "preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."  Imagine if they had said, "O Jesus, we're not you, we can't do those things."  What would we have called that?  Faithlessness.  Rebellion.  Rejection of God?

And what is there in scripture that says things have changed?  We have just the opposite:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

We were told, in the great commission, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20).  Do you read a limit to that, as if the "everything" we have commanded does not include steps of supernatural faith?  Or are we just making excuses and being unwilling to truly imitate our Lord.

God is calling us to do what we can.  And what we can do is to call on him in prayer, in praise, in thanksgiving.  Let us pray for one another and trust God for the results.  Let us come to the Lord asking for healing, asking for peace, asking for love and joy.  Let us confess our sins and call for experienced Christians to pray for us, so that we may be healed.

When we do this, we will be blessed beyond anything we could ever imagine.

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* I encourage you to read the book When Heaven Invades Earth by Bill Johnson.  The statement above marked with an asterisk is amplified in that book... see page 30.

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So You Will Know

On Sunday at Crossroads we'll begin a short series of messages, worship and prayer focused on the subject of healing.  We'll be following our partners at North Heights in this.  They have a long tradition of healing and healing prayer.  We have been walking step by step into this in our area for many years too, but we have not had consistent teaching in this area of Christian life.  We'll begin this starting Sunday.

My first message on healing tomorrow will restore the connection between the physical and the spiritual.  I've been meditating this morning on the story of the paralyzed man who was healed that we find in Matthew 9, Mark 2 and Luke 5.  Up to this point Jesus has been healing people without a lot of explanation.  But in these verses Jesus speaks to religious people who are watching and says "So you will know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." and then he turns to the paralyzed man and says "Get up...!"  The man does just that.  He got up, picked up the mat he had been lying on, and went home as Jesus had instructed.  Then we have this verse in Matthew 9:8

When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.

Though we pray for people to be healed every day, and though so many have experienced God's healing touch, it's good for us to gain confidence in this so we don't artificially separate the spiritual from the physical.  That's what Jesus was teaching the religious people and the crowds.  You can't put God in a spiritual box, nor can you put limits on what God can do through those who trust him and who are empowered by the Holy Spirit.  The truth Jesus wants to demonstrate is that God's heaven has invaded our broken world and God desires that we trust Him not only spiritually but also in every other way.

As of now I'm planning that we'll do some teaching on this subject, share some stories of healing, and then practice praying for those who are in need of healing in any way.  God has, amazingly, given such authority, through the Holy Spirit, to men and women who trust in him.

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Off the Road Again

Toni and I are home now after our road trip to and from Dallas.  We left last Tuesday, enjoyed excellent tent camping spots (especially in the Winterset Iowa city park and at "Big Bay" on Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri), stayed with friends of friends in Texas, enjoyed helping our Berthelsen friends before and after their daughter's wedding reception (and attended the wedding of course), and drove 2,500 miles.  It was a great time, but I'm glad to be home.

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All the People

One advantage of traveling is that a person gets a more realistic picture of one's place in this world, and, also, how big God must be to care personally for the few thousand Toni and I have seen on our travels, and, even more, for every one of the billions on this massive planet.  There are so many people!  The amazing thing to me is that God has put it in my heart to want to know all of them.  But even if I were to live to an extremely ripe old age, I'd only be able to even meet the tiniest faction of them all, much less get to know them.  I've often thought about all the people I still don't know at all in the small town we live in.  But traveling brings that truth into sharper focus.  There are so many.  And I am very small.

What a great God we have to make each one and to love them just as they are.  What a wonderful Father we have that he desires to have a personal relationship with each.  And what a great and wondrous gift it is that you and I can get to know even a few of all the people God has made.  Praise God for his incomparable gift!

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