Imagine two young people, been in church their whole lives, one a pastor's daughter and the other a deacon's son who pursue each other and finally get married who now have four children and fifteen grandchildren. What would you say about that couple and their beginning? Super couple with a great background and off to a solid start? No chance of divorce with those two? Perfect example of how Christian families should begin and will work out if done right? Well, Norm Wakefield from Spirit of Elijah Ministries described his relationship with his wife (and her relationship with him) as idolatrous, and testified to the first 10 years being a "train wreck". I suspect this is the case far more often than most believers will even admit, for fear of letting out the awful truth that we who profess Christ as our Savior mess things up sometimes too.
Do we really think about Love in terms of Christ's love for us? I mean really think about it that way. A brief review of scripture shows with certainty that He loved us BEFORE we did anything to deserve it. Do we really love people before they do things we want, or give us things we desire? How about it husbands, do we love our wives, serve them, bring them flowers, write them little love text messages throughout the day, buy them gifts for no reason, without any expectation of physical intimacy later on? How about it fathers, do we spend time with our children, read books, play sports, work projects, have devotions, without any expectation of obedience or verbal approval of our parenting as a result? Do we love our families, giving of all we are, without any expectation of something in return - or do we love them like a football team, spending time and cheering them on as long as they are winning for the entertainment we derive from the investment? Sobering to think we are all creating for ourselves idols and carving them with precision every day.
Go to Spirit of Elijah Ministries website and look into the book "Equipped to Love" by Norm Wakefield. The man is gifted by God to speak to relationships in real terms, identifying real loving relationships from idolatrous ones. It will open your eyes, as his talk did mine, to the correct way to think and pray for help in experiencing God's love for us in a deeper and more intimate way, and how we can be successful in loving others and ourselves in the way God loves us.
We don't have relationship issues, or communication problems, or repressions of this or that from past situations by and large. We have a sin problem in that we are experts in habitual creation and formation of idols from which we derive our fulfillment. We need all the resources we can to identify ways in which we can rely completely on our God and Savior to bring fulfillment in every area of our lives. Norm's book is a good one to add to your collection.
Showing posts with label Spirit of Elijah Ministries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spirit of Elijah Ministries. Show all posts
Monday, November 14, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Real Relationships
We met again on the afternoon of November 12 to hear from Norm Wakefield of Spirit of Elijah Ministries on the topic of relationships. Again the presentation was tremendous, and was a fresh way to look at interpersonal relationships (via the interaction between Jesus and Peter {a.k.a. Simon).
Mr. Wakefield brought out the idea that Peter wrote his letters (1 Peter and 2 Peter) from his life experience, most especially the last few weeks he spent time with Jesus before His crucifixion. From those experiences he was able to write to the early church members in difficult situations they were experiencing - see specifically 1 Peter chapter 2 and 3.
In a nutshell (so as not to repeat material that is available through the website link above, which I would strongly recommend) Peter's concept of relationship changed when he stopped seeing Jesus as Lord consummated by power and law and began to see Jesus as Lord consummated by love and experience. In other words, not King and ruler by political rule but Shephard who saved His sheep by laying down His own life.
My mind has been all around this concept for weeks now and to be frank what has bothered me most is the issue of obedience and devotion to the commandments of God if all is love an experience. I mean, if every relationship is all about love then won't that make Christians pushovers, ready to be bowled over since we can't really stand up to people we are supposed to love, right? I mean if love dominates all relationships then we couldn't tell people they are doing something wrong, engaging in wrong behavior, etc. We'd have to just let everyone do our own thing without making them feel bad by telling them they are living wrongly, right? Actually, no. If we really love our Lord and love other people then we will be compelled to live rightly ourselves, constantly aware of our actions so that we never behave (in thought, word or deed) in a way that would shame the Gospel or cause any other believer to stumble [in other words live an example]. We will also love others enought to point out wrongdoing, and here's the key, only from a motivation of desiring them to know the love of Christ in their lives and only as their lives do not align with clearly commanded and modeled biblical principles. It is out of our love for our Lord that we identify and point out behavior inconsistent with biblical principles, so that we can share the message of love with others so they might be able to know the love of God in their own lives.
It's a different perspective, and I believe the correct one. The key is motivation. We as believers have probably not done ourselves any favors as we tried to take the short road and just proclaim that others are living wrong and on their way to Hell out of an attitude of pride and arrogance. How much more effective would it be if we just thought constantly of what Christ Jesus has done for us, how much we love our Lord, and as a result live a life dedicated to showing how much we love Christ and love others by sharing the love of Christ and those same areas where their lives do not align with biblical principles because we want them to know the freedom, hope and joy that comes from looking for our fulfillment in Christ alone. I have a feeling we would have some real and close relationships that honor the Lord. And that is our purpose in life anyway, glorifying the Lord. He is worth the effort.
Mr. Wakefield brought out the idea that Peter wrote his letters (1 Peter and 2 Peter) from his life experience, most especially the last few weeks he spent time with Jesus before His crucifixion. From those experiences he was able to write to the early church members in difficult situations they were experiencing - see specifically 1 Peter chapter 2 and 3.
In a nutshell (so as not to repeat material that is available through the website link above, which I would strongly recommend) Peter's concept of relationship changed when he stopped seeing Jesus as Lord consummated by power and law and began to see Jesus as Lord consummated by love and experience. In other words, not King and ruler by political rule but Shephard who saved His sheep by laying down His own life.
My mind has been all around this concept for weeks now and to be frank what has bothered me most is the issue of obedience and devotion to the commandments of God if all is love an experience. I mean, if every relationship is all about love then won't that make Christians pushovers, ready to be bowled over since we can't really stand up to people we are supposed to love, right? I mean if love dominates all relationships then we couldn't tell people they are doing something wrong, engaging in wrong behavior, etc. We'd have to just let everyone do our own thing without making them feel bad by telling them they are living wrongly, right? Actually, no. If we really love our Lord and love other people then we will be compelled to live rightly ourselves, constantly aware of our actions so that we never behave (in thought, word or deed) in a way that would shame the Gospel or cause any other believer to stumble [in other words live an example]. We will also love others enought to point out wrongdoing, and here's the key, only from a motivation of desiring them to know the love of Christ in their lives and only as their lives do not align with clearly commanded and modeled biblical principles. It is out of our love for our Lord that we identify and point out behavior inconsistent with biblical principles, so that we can share the message of love with others so they might be able to know the love of God in their own lives.
It's a different perspective, and I believe the correct one. The key is motivation. We as believers have probably not done ourselves any favors as we tried to take the short road and just proclaim that others are living wrong and on their way to Hell out of an attitude of pride and arrogance. How much more effective would it be if we just thought constantly of what Christ Jesus has done for us, how much we love our Lord, and as a result live a life dedicated to showing how much we love Christ and love others by sharing the love of Christ and those same areas where their lives do not align with biblical principles because we want them to know the freedom, hope and joy that comes from looking for our fulfillment in Christ alone. I have a feeling we would have some real and close relationships that honor the Lord. And that is our purpose in life anyway, glorifying the Lord. He is worth the effort.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Seeing Clearly
November 11-13 is a special time at Antioch Community Chrurch, as we have the privledge to welcome Norm Wakefield from Spirit of Elijah Ministries presenting a series of talks to encourage and challenge all comers. Spirit of Elijah Ministries focuses on relationships and especially on relationships in families between parents and their children. They have some excellent resource material available and Mr. Wakefield does a wonderful job as speaker and personal testimony with his own children and fifteen grandchildren.
The first session, on the evening of the 11th, was on eternal perspective. Background information for the talk included a basic review of systematic theology from creation through the fall of man, Jesus' arrival on earth as the promised sacrifice, His death, burial, resurrection, appearance to many witnesses and return to Heaven as our advocate, the entry of the Holy Spirit and the promise of an eternity with God in perfect relationship. The three main points, which followed and stemmed from the introduction was as follows: Teach your children that (1) they always live in God's presence; (2) they only see clearly from an eternal perspective; (3) if they believe they may continually go to (live with) Jesus every day here on earth.
My thoughts following the talk were on two things. First, about how marvellous it is that God created us of His own volition, in His image so that we can bring Him glory through relationship. Even more amazing that even now that we have disobeyed (yes we - Adam sinned originally but each one of, given the choice would have done the same {chosen to play God ourselves in lieu of being obediant} See also Romans 5:12-21) God wants to be near to us. He also provided the means for that to happen by way of Jesus' shed blood, burial and resurrection. God is always near, not looking on with a huge stick and a sinister grin standing in anticipation that we will slip up so that He can bring down the thunder. Rather it is analagous to how badly I want to be at home with my children, because I love them. I have loved them since before they were born and I want to be near them, hold them, read to them, talk to them, instruct them in the way they should go. Discipline is necessary as a part of love in a fallen world, but is not the primary reason for being close. Relationships is primary.
Secondly is the idea of seeing clearly on when looking at things "from above and not from below." If we look "horizontally" and attempt to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong then we will always be managing special situations and working individually within our own mind, justifying our own behavior and choices with good reasons why what we did wasn't really wrong in our case. The problem is that the law is written on all our hearts. We hear and read of situations exactly like the case at Penn State and are hit with it directly in the face. None of us know every specific detail of everything that occurred over a 20-year timespan. However, every single one of us knows (not guesses, or suspects, or feels) that what that man did to that boy in the shower was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Nothing subjective, nothing left to the situation or condition of either individual. Just plain wrong. Always the case, no exceptions. Absolutely, objectively wrong. Why is that the case if everything came from nothing, no ultimate purpose or meaning, no personal Creator determining right and wrong, good and bad, based on His own nature, without being ultimately arbitrary and capricious? Right and wrong can be known and has been recorded and clearly modeled. It is true that we can only see situations clearly, see our own faults and sins clearly, see our own needs clearly, see situations and relationships clearly if we look at them through the perspective of the One Creator who is Righteous and Holy. We can and will continue to look "horizontally" to analyze all the previous and will continue to see muddled and make mistakes and misjudgements that will continue to do harm to one another and ourselves, until we decide to look "vertically" to see things clearly. We can know things by what is written and clearly modeled in Scripture, our personal experiences that demand perception of those absolute and objective truths, and the Spirit testifying with our spirit.
It is our responsibility to understand we were Created by a Holy and Righteous and Gracious and Merciful God and live our lives in light of that. Constantly forgiven and constantly cognizant to desperately fight for the Truth and not to grieve the Spirit or place stumbling blocks before others who we should be encouraging in the assurance of their own ability, through the Spirit, to see things clearly.
The first session, on the evening of the 11th, was on eternal perspective. Background information for the talk included a basic review of systematic theology from creation through the fall of man, Jesus' arrival on earth as the promised sacrifice, His death, burial, resurrection, appearance to many witnesses and return to Heaven as our advocate, the entry of the Holy Spirit and the promise of an eternity with God in perfect relationship. The three main points, which followed and stemmed from the introduction was as follows: Teach your children that (1) they always live in God's presence; (2) they only see clearly from an eternal perspective; (3) if they believe they may continually go to (live with) Jesus every day here on earth.
My thoughts following the talk were on two things. First, about how marvellous it is that God created us of His own volition, in His image so that we can bring Him glory through relationship. Even more amazing that even now that we have disobeyed (yes we - Adam sinned originally but each one of, given the choice would have done the same {chosen to play God ourselves in lieu of being obediant} See also Romans 5:12-21) God wants to be near to us. He also provided the means for that to happen by way of Jesus' shed blood, burial and resurrection. God is always near, not looking on with a huge stick and a sinister grin standing in anticipation that we will slip up so that He can bring down the thunder. Rather it is analagous to how badly I want to be at home with my children, because I love them. I have loved them since before they were born and I want to be near them, hold them, read to them, talk to them, instruct them in the way they should go. Discipline is necessary as a part of love in a fallen world, but is not the primary reason for being close. Relationships is primary.
Secondly is the idea of seeing clearly on when looking at things "from above and not from below." If we look "horizontally" and attempt to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong then we will always be managing special situations and working individually within our own mind, justifying our own behavior and choices with good reasons why what we did wasn't really wrong in our case. The problem is that the law is written on all our hearts. We hear and read of situations exactly like the case at Penn State and are hit with it directly in the face. None of us know every specific detail of everything that occurred over a 20-year timespan. However, every single one of us knows (not guesses, or suspects, or feels) that what that man did to that boy in the shower was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Nothing subjective, nothing left to the situation or condition of either individual. Just plain wrong. Always the case, no exceptions. Absolutely, objectively wrong. Why is that the case if everything came from nothing, no ultimate purpose or meaning, no personal Creator determining right and wrong, good and bad, based on His own nature, without being ultimately arbitrary and capricious? Right and wrong can be known and has been recorded and clearly modeled. It is true that we can only see situations clearly, see our own faults and sins clearly, see our own needs clearly, see situations and relationships clearly if we look at them through the perspective of the One Creator who is Righteous and Holy. We can and will continue to look "horizontally" to analyze all the previous and will continue to see muddled and make mistakes and misjudgements that will continue to do harm to one another and ourselves, until we decide to look "vertically" to see things clearly. We can know things by what is written and clearly modeled in Scripture, our personal experiences that demand perception of those absolute and objective truths, and the Spirit testifying with our spirit.
It is our responsibility to understand we were Created by a Holy and Righteous and Gracious and Merciful God and live our lives in light of that. Constantly forgiven and constantly cognizant to desperately fight for the Truth and not to grieve the Spirit or place stumbling blocks before others who we should be encouraging in the assurance of their own ability, through the Spirit, to see things clearly.
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