The Pain of the Prophet: True Prophets vs. False Prophets

The Pain of the Prophet: True Prophets vs. False Prophets

There is so much that is tossed around in
the name of the prophetic today. That which
is truly prophetic is in a class by itself.
It is called total identification with
the heart of God.

The true prophet is birthed for a season of
calamity and lives set apart unto God.
His or her life is watermarked with pain,
for a prophet sees what will happen
if people cannot hear and obey God.

A prophet lives alone upon a hill, looking
for danger, for the first wisps of smoke
that spell only one thing: "Fire!" He
calls first for the fire of God to enliven
and purify through repentance. Unheeded, his
calls for fire will bring warning of the
fire of God that will burn in judgment.
The prophet, therefore, carries a message
that few would want to hear unless
they care for the state of their souls,
even their eternal lives.

One can ignore the cry of "Fire!" but
that does not make the fire cease its
burning or enable the prophet to cease
his commission. Indeed, for a prophet
to be proved right, a certain judgment
must fall, a sure chastisement administered,
a corrective work applied. If this is
not painful to the prophet then he is
not a true prophet and lacks the heart
of God for true restoration.

There are myriads of prophets who like
to pronounce gloom and doom, but which
of them has the heart to bear the pain
of interceding for a genuine repentance?
A true prophet must desire, above all,
that his or her clarion call will bring a
genuine return to God. It is easy to rail,
it is agony to stand and watch and call
people who are not listening back to
the Father.

It is a fearsome and holy task to enter
into the very heart of God as He calls
His people back to Himself. The
heart of the prophet must echo forth the
eternal love of God. There can be no
joy at the idea of judgment coming, even
when it appears inevitable, even when
the prophet himself is harmed or stoned
or even killed in the process.

God does not wish to punish. He takes
no pleasure in judgment. He does not
wait and watch for wrongdoing in
order to find pleasure in chastising
waywardness. A prophet MUST have this
tenor of heart or he does not stand
for God.

Consider Jonah. He understood God,
he understood the prophetic role,
but he did not have the heart of God.
He understood quite well that for God
to reap a family of restored hearts,
that he would have to be proved wrong.
And if the people of Nineveh did not turn to
God, Jonah should find no pleasure
in their chastisement.

Job failed on both points: he was not
willing to be proved wrong for the
sake of another. He was unwilling to
bear a message of judgment unless it
ended in judgment. He did not want mercy
to intervene for it would make him
appear lesser in the eyes of others.
He did not have the heart of God.
One gets the impression that he preferred
that the people be judged so he could
be proved "right." With "right" like that
I would hate to see what wrong might look
like.

How many prophets have this kind of
heart? How many prophets are unwilling
to bear the pain of their calling
because they are not able to identify
with God as He ever so patiently waits
for His people to return to Him?

God does not ask of a prophet something
He does not endure Himself. People
constantly accuse God of allowing evil
and not putting an end to suffering.
God waits and waits for us to return
to Him. If He was a God who delighted
in meting out punishment, the earth
would be devoid of human life for
all of us would have been destroyed.

That which the prophet speaks should
call people back to God. What becomes
of the prophet, what his reputation
is, what accolades or resistances
are thrown upon him, should matter
not one whit to him: it comes with the
territory of being a prophet.

The words of a prophet are born and
spearheaded out of his or her own
repentance, they are to be ministered in
humility. The true prophet takes no
pleasure in being right. For "being right"
is about words and reputations and
and pride. A true prophet must
bear great pain in a hidden place.
He must live and die for the
kind of reconcilation that Jesus
lived and died for. It is not
for the fainthearted.

The true prophet must be a deaf
and blind servant of the Lord.
The prophet who truly sees must
be blind to all that would
stop him from his mission.
The prophet who truly hears must
be deaf to the reasonings of man,
to the hurtful taunts that will fall
upon his ears, and the painful rejections
that will fall upon his life. He must
be able to accept the pain inflicted
on his heart by those who do not see,
or worse yet, do not want to see.

He must have one prayer:
"Father, forgive them, for they
do not know what they are doing."

This kind of pain is part and parcel
of the prophetic call. That is the
hard part. The glorious part is that
those prophets who identify with
the heart of God, get the heart
of God planted forever within
them. The medium becomes the
message. The prophet becomes
the priest. A heart of stone
is replaced with a heart of
flesh, and that heart is
a redeemed heart, made in
the image of the heart of
Jesus. That would make it all
worthwhile, wouldn't it?

So to all those true prophets
who happen upon this article,
to everyone who thinks
they have a prophetic message,
search deeply to see whether
you are able to administer
it with the heart of God.
You will know the answer
by the amount of pain that
surrounds its delivery. Let us
trust that you will share the
joy of watching the Lamb
receive the fruits of His
labor. Anything less is just not
good enough.

On Compassion, Tammy Faye Baker, & A Mouth Full of Razorblades

On Compassion, Tammy Faye Bakker, and A Mouth Full of Razorblades

The other night I had a very
interesting dream. I dreamt I had
returned to a church conference
arena that I had been to the
previous year.

I came into the reception area
and there were people milling
around. I suddenly felt something
sharp in my mouth and spit
out some sharp shards of razorblades.

They were just little bits and
pieces but they startled me as
I thought to myself "I thought
I had all the razorblades removed
from my mouth" :). I looked into
a folder and sure enough there
were large razor blades that had
been removed from me, but the ends
were broken off and the little
shards seemed to match these
ends.

I spit them all out and looked up
to see Tammy Faye Bakker, very
small and emaciated, dying from
cancer in the room. My heart went
out to her and I felt great compassion
rise up as soon as I had spit out
the last razor shard.

I went to her and she was so small,
like a child, and I patted my lap, and
said, “You poor dear, please come and
sit on my lap.” She came over and sat
on my lap and I tried to comfort her.

I could see people talking about what
was happening. There were two groups
of people, one group was glad that I
was comforting her and the other
group was very disapproving. All I could
feel was great compassion for her.

I could feel that I was sitting on
a swing with her and I began to
rock her like a baby. The feeling
of great comfort came upon us. And
I knew that my ability to do this
had come at the moment that I had
spit out the last razor shard.

The mouth is the hardest member
to tame, but it is also an
indicator of how soft our heart is.

We need to take an inventory
of our speech to see if it
contains any remaining razor
sharp pieces that are not
preventing an outpouring
of compassion.

It is so easy to judge others,
and easier still to talk about
them. Why is it not so easy to
instead show compassion and
to cover the shortcomings of
others with mercy?

When we speak hard things about
others, what is that saying
about the state of our heart?

I am out of the country as I
write this and am amazed to
find out that, unbeknownst to
me, Tammy Faye Baker died the
day I had this dream. How
eerie is that?

I have seen how much ridicule
is appearing around the news
of her death. I hope in some
small way my dream helped her.
I know it helped me think
about the fact that I want
God to remove any sharp shards
out of my mouth, and in doing
so, shower me with compassion
and comfort for people who
everyone else has thrown away as
undesirable.

We have to let God go deep
to change some things in us.
Its either that or remain the
same dangerous-mouthed and
hard-hearted kind of people that
Jesus takes issue with.

Lord, continue your work of mercy
and compassion in my heart and in
my mouth!

Christian dream interpretation
Tammy Faye Baker
mercy
compassion
television evangelists
the least of My brothers
the Christian life
the power of the tongue
gentle living

Have You Heard the Voice of God?

I just read John Piper's post
The Morning I Heard the
Voice of God at Adrian Warnock's blog.

I love John Piper. But this post kind
of bothered me. I've been thinking
about it for two days and it still
is bothering me. It is the same feeling
I had as an undergraduate when a
well known speaker was going to lead
a retreat for the faculty of the large
Christian university (then college)
I attended.

I managed to get myself invited to
the retreat despite the fact that
I was a student, an undergrad to boot.
I loved the retreat but was absolutely
discouraged by the behind the scenes
glimpse I had at where the faculty was
spiritually. I guess what was lacking was
robust encounter with the Living God.
People did not seem to know how
to listen for God or expect Him
to speak to them personally.

I kind of felt this way reading Piper's
article. I thought that Piper's encounter
with God was wonderful, but I also thought,
"Why does he seem surprised that somehow
God speaking to him in this way was out
of the ordinary?"

Then I felt another twinge of discouragement
when he referenced the article
in Christianity Today about
the Christian college professor who
felt that he had actually heard God speak
to Him personally for the first time. Piper
said he felt "sad" when he read it. I
felt sad too, but for this reason:
How could this Christian college
professor live so long and not feel
God had spoken to Him personally
until this event?

Now I don't think that its just college
professors who are having this hard time
hearing God. It just made me think again
that in our endeavor to keep within God's
guidelines for hearing Him, the very
guidelines themselves may cause us to
miss hearing Him by being unnecessarily
restrictive.

Perhaps we become so afraid that
we will be deceived that we reject the
simple willingness of God to speak to
us as His children.

Jesus seems to reiterate this idea when
He is dealing with the religious leaders
of His day. Somehow the very things
that were meant to lead us to God end up
being a barrier to real encounter with God.
When He tells Nicodemus he must be born
again, and Nicodemus is clueless, Jesus
says, "Are you a teacher of Israel and
yet do not understand?" (John 3:10).


Now, granted, there are some people who
think that God is always conversing with
them, 24/7, and others who think that God only
speaks through the Bible. If we put them
on a continuum, we would have our well
worn picture: cessationists on one side (we
won't say the right side :)), and those
who think that God speaks through His Word
but also by personal means at various
points along the line, and I suppose
at the far end would be people who
don't see any difference between
God's Written Word and prophetic or
inspired words from God outside of the
Bible.

Let me say that I am not a cessationist
and I do think that God continues to
speak to us personally but that the
written Word of God is our defining
rule and all words that we think we
receive from God must be measured
against what God has already revealed
to us in the Bible. But we should
not throw out the proverbial baby
with the bath water, this baby being
the very real idea that God continues
to teach and communicate with us by
means of the Holy Spirit, and this
process is not always through the
Bible alone.

That being said, It is difficult for
me to comprehend that God, as a Living
Person, would want to only communicate
through the Bible. If a human author
wrote a book explaining, perhaps, his
life, and then I were to call up this
author and want to talk further with
him about what he wrote, I would think
it very bizarre if the author only
answered me with quotes from his book,
never saying anything else, but finding
little snippets to reply to me from the
published work. It would be very awkward
and not very personal. I would wonder
about the author and how much he really
wanted to interact with me.

I don't believe that God is only wanting
to reply to us, to speak with us,
using this "closed" book, meaning that
what is contained in the Bible is all
that God has to or is willing
to say.

I remember when some Russian
believers emigrated to our neighborhood
from the old Soviet Union where they
were persecuted. We "adopted" them but
when we first met we had no means of
communicating with each other. The only
way we figured out to communicate was
to use each other's bibles (theirs in
Russian and ours in English) to point
out our general intents and feelings.
It was well-meaning, but limited. (We
put a scripture citation on their
birthday cake and they read it and
cried!)

I can see how our ability to communicate
with God is much like that and that
is why He gave us something to check
ourselves against. Paul tells us that
we see "through a glass, darkly" so
thank God for the Bible, but it is
through those same dark glasses that
we INTERPRET the bible (another whole
can of worms, I know!)

But, Jesus, became and now is, the Word
of God--God's best and truest Word,
not abolishing the written Word, but
fulfilling it and fleshing it out because
God is a personal God and living persons
communicate through diverse means.
He wants to communicate with us.

When Jesus told His disciples in that
wonderful farewell discourse in John,
"I have many things to tell you now, but
you cannot bear them. When the Holy Spirit
comes He will teach you all things" (John
16: 12-14).

Do we think that our cluelessness to
understand God's mind and ways went away at
the close of the apostolic age? Me thinks
we need Him more than ever, especially
the farther away we get from the days
that Jesus walked on earth. Things get
garbled. Doctrines mutate.

I remember that old Star Trek episode
where the crew lands on some far planet
and finds the inhabitants with an
American flag intoning garbled words
reverentially. The garbled words turn
out to be the words of the pledge of
allegiance. We need the Holy Spirit to
keep the garbled out of our pledge of
allegiance to God, can somebody say, amen?

So, all that to say, that I am glad
that John Piper feels strong reassurance
that God speaks personally, but still
basically through the Bible, but I
would ask if that is playing things
a bit safer then what God is expecting
and offering to us?

The Book of Acts does not find the
newly filled-with-the-Holy-Spirit
disciples finding their way only by
the Bible. They expected God to speak
to them personally because they knew
Him as a Person, and not as an infallible
system. Well, He is infallible, but
definitely not a system.

I am inspired, however, by this article
to keep saturating myself in the Scriptures,
memorizing them, poring over them, so that
I can feel more and more relaxed that when
God does speak to me, the testimony of
the Scriptures is so strongly embedded
in my inner man that anything false will
show itself right away. We have to strike
a healthy balance, built on faith, that
we can hear from God and not be deceived.

God is speaking more than we know.
We just need to make our ability to
discern His Voice as sharp as possible.
Read the Word. Listen for God to speak.

cessationism
hearing God
John Piper
prayer
Biblical Inerrancy
the Christian walk

Harald Bredesen: The Passing of the Torch?

I just heard that Harald Bredesen went to be
with his Lord. I know the news reached me a
bit late, (he died December 29th) but I had
to write this entry in his honor. For those of
you who are unfamiliar with who Harald was,
here are a few sites worth looking at CBN.com,
and Harald's 85th Birthday.

For those of us who were baptized in the Holy Spirit in
the early days of the Charismatic Renewal, the name
Harald Bredesen was widely known because Harald was,
and is, a legend! I am sure that heaven is enriched for
his being there and we, here, are suffering the loss
of a spiritual,for lack of no better term, giant.

There are times and seasons in God. In God sovereignty
He chose to pour out His Holy Spirit in a substantial way
in what came to be known as the Charismatic Renewal,
primarily during the 1960's and early 1970's. Many of
our lives where changed at that point as we entered
into a deep dimension of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Harald Bredesen spiritually fathered so many people
into this work of the Spirit that months of time would
not permit the telling of the stories. The lives he has
touched is a testimony to the grace and mercy of God.
And now he has gone to be with the Lord.

My own recollection of Harald comes from my time
spent working, during my grad school years, as
the evening telephone operator for the Christian
Broadcasting Network. I would be, most likely,
the person you would have talked with if you
called CBN Network between 6 and 11 p.m. in
the mid 1980's. From that experience I should
have written a book, but that is another story.
Harald, on the Board of CBN's Directors, used
to call in late at night to make phone calls.

We used to, in general, get some mighty strange
calls at that time of the day and I always had to
pause and listen when I would answer the phone
because there would often be an extended silence
on the other end of the line.

Experience taught me that many times it would not
be a bad connection or wrong number, or some
raving lunatic, but dear Harald calling in.
"Harald, is that you?" Harald?" I would
say into the phone. Sooner or later would
come his cheery voice, "Praise the Lord! God bless
you!..." and a happy chuckle. If I didn't know better
I would be tempted to think that Harald was a bit
scatterbrained, and maybe this was partly true,
but Harald also exuded an immense sense of the
Presence of God everywhere he went. He was also
not afraid to speak in tongues wherever and
whenever he felt like it!

I'm thinking that by learned obedience and a
listening heart he could hear God better than
just about anyone I know. I was always impressed
with his childlike ability to obey God and delight
in Him. God, I gather, was also pretty impressed!

For this reason his passing, along with
Judson Cornwall's somewhat recent passing,
makes me fully aware that the work
of these fathers is now being passed onto the
next generation.

God only plants so many seeds in each generation.
On top of this, He only plants so many seeds of a
certain species. The seeds then go, biblically
speaking, to four destinies: along the roadside,
fallen on rock, strangled by thorns and on good
ground. So again, biblically speaking, three out
of four seeds are lost to the challenges and
difficulties of life. The last seed that falls on
and grows in good ground is left to carry the
burden of bearing fruit for the kingdom of God
in its chosen generation.

So now, as I sit here thinking about this, I
feel the heavy sense of calling and destiny
coming to rest on my generation, passed to
me by the likes of the Harald Bredesens and
Judson Cornwalls of the last one. I wonder
if we are made of the same Christlike stuff,
wonder if we are up to the call, wonder if
our crop of kingdom fruit will please God as
much as the previous crop did.

I am sitting here, on a snowy winter's day,
asking God what it will take to make us fit
vessels for His use. Mostly I am sitting here
crying. I know each generation
expresses His glory with a slightly different
nuance. I just wonder if my generation's nuance
is mostly without brilliance and sadly in need
of cleaning, pruning, and discipline.

May God give my spiritual generation the desire
to obey Him completely and to follow Him without
reserve. Thank God for the inspiration of men like
Harald Bredesen. They hold the banner high for us.
They make us climb to reach it, and take hold of
it, so when it comes our time to pass it to the
next generation, the standard of the Gospel will
still be the standard of God's Holiness and Truth.

Dear Harald, thank you! and enjoy Jesus, even
more then you ever have!

Harald Bredesen
Christian Broadcasting Network,
Charismatic Renewal
speaking in tongues
spiritual fathers
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Judson Cornwall

True Worship & False Worship: Part 1-- Singing the Truth

Does the worship we give God honor Him in the
light of His Holiness? The word worship is
defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as
"the feeling or expression of reverence and
adoration for a deity. 2 religious rites and
ceremonies. 3 great admiration or devotion."
The problem with this definition is that it does
not tell us what we really need to know, namely,
"Am I worshipping the Lord of Glory in a way
that pleases Him?"

I've been thinking a lot about worship lately as
I participate in worship services. The term
"worship service" has become such a generic
term that it really does not tell me anything
specific, just as the dictionary definition did not.

Of course, just like everyone else, dictionary
writers don't want to be politically incorrect.
After all, they choose not to have subcategories
in their definition that say: true worship and false
worship along with those definitions. Or, can you
imagine if they defined true and false religion?
They would need combat pay for the ensuing riot
control. But really, we need to look to God and
not man to find out what true worship really is.

Although I have been hesitant to mention it, I
have been having quite the startling experiences
during the time when we are singing to the Lord.
Over the last two months, during times of
corporate worship, I keep hearing the Lord say,
at certain moments, in a loud and definitive
Voice in my heart, "Please stop singing."

The first time it happened it startled me but I
could tell that Lord meant it so I stopped
singing. Standing there silently, the next song
came around and, unsure about what to do, I start
singing cautiously but with spiritual ears wide
open. I hear nothing. A few songs later I again
hear, "Stop singing. I don't want to hear any
waltzes and I don't want to hear any slow songs
that go nowhere."

"What are you saying, Lord,?" I ask. Here is
what I heard for an answer: "People
sing to Me but they go into something of
a trance, and their mind often becomes
filled with sentimental but untrue ideas about Me.
Often the words convey man's thinking about Me:
falsehoods, trivialities and conveniences.

Furthermore, people sing words but they
often do not obey Me or put into
practice what they sing. There is
no passion. Just romantic fluff.
Sweet nothings. No passion. No
radical obedience. These songs lull
people to sleep and, in human
terms, put Me to sleep. Many people
are singing to feel good and not to offer
themselves to Me. They mistake the
warm feelings they feel for My approval.

I don't want a song that you can control
and that originates in man.
I don't want a dance where you lead.
I want to lead you. I want to lead you
passionately. I want you to follow My
lead passionately and with complete
surrender. I want the flame of totally
surrendered devotion in your hearts
when you sing. I want your love to be
freely given in absolute abandon. My
people are caught up in quagmire of cheap,
sentimental choruses. This are not
what I want to hear. Judge what you
will sing to me. See if it passes the
test."

Now I probably would not have had the
courage to write this except for the fact
that someone else, as godly and sane as
they come, without knowledge of what
had happened to me, sought me
out and told me that she had been
singing along in a service and the Lord
said to her, "I can't hear anything."
Her reaction was the same as mine but
she knew what the Lord was saying,
"Words are coming out of your mouths,
but they are not reaching My ears" (and I
would venture to say, His heart.)

The Lord does not speak to us to have
us not listen. He speaks to teach and to
draw us to the Truth. What is true
worship? Well, a small part of it is
judging how and what we sing to the Lord.
"Out of the mouth the heart speaks" or in
this case "sings." We need to sing
words of truth, but we need to surrender
completely to have these words permeate
our spirit, soul and body.

We oft forget that singing is not for us,
but for Him. It is not to make us feel
good, but is an outward way, a banner to
wave so to speak, to present to the Lord
the deepest commitment of our heart to
Him.

God knows if your heart matches your song.
Just like in school, don't raise your hand
(or your voice) til you have the right answer
or you will be corrected. When you
raise your hands and voice to God, have a
right life behind it, or fall on your knees
first.

(First in a series of posts on True & False Worship)


Christianity,
faith,
true worship
church

Dorothy, Toto, Poppies and The American Dream

(A prophetic vision)

Dorothy was holding her little dog, Toto, in a scene similar to the one found in the field of poppies in the Wizard of Oz. She was looking at a field of poppies with a look of dismay on her face. The poppies surrounded a typical American-style suburb. There was no one in sight as everyone had fallen asleep just like Dorothy had in the movie.

I asked, "What caused them to go to sleep?" I saw four causes: I saw a television with its sound on.... the sound from the television had caused people to go to sleep. Next, I saw a preacher in the pulpit, it was kind of a stereotypical preacher, his words also had lulled people to sleep. I saw a supermarket and saw that people had overeaten and fallen asleep on their couches. I saw a swimming pool, and people in their backyards with motorcycles and sports gear, etc. I thought, "What is wrong with a swimming pool?" I heard a voice say, "People are spiritually asleep because they have pursued 'the American Dream" and have not pursued first the Kingdom of God. "

my commentary:

I believe the television represents the effects of television, and the larger effects of our culture on our spiritual lives. It steals our time, negatively effects our perception, dulls our sensitivities and offers a world view that is often not in line with God's ways.

It was disconcerting to see the preacher as a cause of people's going to sleep. Yet, in our pulpits what is being preached? How much of it is just psycho-babble, or the theology and reasoning's of men, or sweet nothings lacking power and truth? How much is all wrapping, and no content? Even in evangelical churches the very idea of what the atonement means is being re-worked to better suit our modern sensibilities.

And what of our sinful excesses of the flesh? We overeat to cover our emptiness. We try to quiet the still, small voice of God by swallowing enormous portions of french fries and ice cream and cake far in excess of what is necessary or healthful either physically or spiritually?

And what of the very basis of our society? How many of us worship at the alter of "the American Dream?" I don't think God has a problem with us living in a house and enjoying things, including our swimming pools. But if we put pursuing those material things first (and although we say we don't, we do by the way we use our time and resources) there is a problem. On any given summer Sunday are more suburban folk at their children's soccer games or at church? watching football or serving the poor?

The other part of this vision concerns the poppies. We say we are fighting the war on terror, but the largest cash crop in Afghanistan is poppies (opium) harvested for drugs to be sold largely to the suburbs and cities of the western world in the form of heroin. Don't tell me that a lot of that money does not end up in the hands of the very people who are seeking to destroy us. Through illicit drug use we are opening the door to our own destruction and the destruction of our children and bankrolling our enemies while we are at it. Of course if they were the defenders of God that they claim to be they wouldn't be doing this, but that is another story.

In the original Wizard of Oz, The Cowardly Lion says this, "If we leave her here she will die," said the Lion. 'The smell of the flowers is killing us all. I myself can scarcely keep my eyes open, and the dog is asleep already.'

It was true; Toto had fallen down beside his little mistress. But the Scarecrow
and the Tin Woodman, not being made of flesh, were not troubled by the scent of the flowers."

Not made of flesh. Ah, but we are, and the ungodly but alluring smells and influences are killing us. Toto, representing the younger and smaller of us, even our CHILDREN, are already asleep. Jesus tells us, "Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26:41).

Put some spiritual coffee on and wake up. Turn the tv off and pray with your kids. Live the way you know you should. Honor God. Watch and pray.

What Happens When God Pings Us?

I am new to all this computer language, but I am really liking the idea of the "ping". There are some interesting parallels between "pinging" and what happens between a Christian and God on a moment to moment basis. I'm better at Christian language than at computer language, so I'm translating this for anyone out there in the same boat!

Basic to Christian theology is the idea that each Christian is given the Holy Spirit as a way to connect with God on a continual basis. So often I think that when life gets hard I have to "find God" when all the time God is continually "finding me" and knows my exact address. I searched Google for a definition of "Ping" and its opened up a great checklist of questions for us as Christians. Follow with me below:


Ping definitions:

#1) A utility that forwards data packets to check the quality of a link or verify the connection of a machine to the Internet.
webmaster.lycos.co.uk/glossary/P/

TRANSLATION: God sends me the information I need, He also checks to see if I am receiving it or if anything is blocking its path. Is anything deliberately blocking it?



#2) a program and UNIX command that helps testing and debugging network and/or Internet connections. An 'Echo' command is sent to a specified computer and then waits for a response. The result is a report that displays the success or failure, usually a report back of a timed response in seconds, of the intended action.
www.education-world.com/help/glossary.shtml

TRANSLATION: Am I obeying what God has asked of me immediately, and how long does it take me to do what He says?


#3) is used to test the availability of a host on a network or on the Internet. ... If you get replies the server is up. If not, it may be down or there may be a problem between you and the server (such as a downed phone line). ...
www.loadbalancing.net/glossary.html

TRANSLATION: Have I taken the phone that connects to heaven off the hook?



#4) a utility to determine whether a specific IP address is accessible. It works by sending a packet to the specified address and waiting for a reply. PING is used primarily to troubleshoot Internet connections.
members.tripod.com/businessedu/CET_1/107CET_NetworkingTerms.htm
TRANSLATION: What is breaking my connection with God? God already is sending me information on how to fix it.


#5) Ping is a basic Internet program that lets you verify that a particular Internet address exists and can accept requests. The verb ping means the act of using the ping utility or command. Ping is used diagnostically to ensure that a host computer you are trying to reach is actually operating.
www.planetech.co.uk/glossary.htm

TRANSLATION: Can God trust me to do what He asks of me? Am I listening?



#6) A diagnostic utility program that indicates whether a remote host is actually connected to the network.
www.cxr.com/aj/glossary.html

TRANSLATION: Am I connected to the Body of Christ or am I a lone-ranger Christian?


#7) A way to test the communication to another computer on the Internet Data is sent to the other computer & if the communication is successful then a reply is received - the speed of the connection can also be tested.
www.satx.rr.com/wireless/glossary.htm

TRANSLATION: Do I run to do the will of God, or just do it as it suits me?



#8) A basic program used to verify that a particular IP address can be seen from another.
www.smoothwall.net/support/glossary.html

TRANSLATION: Am I available to God and to people who He sends to me?


#9) Ping can be used to see if another server is running or to measure the distance to another servers.
www.intensedevelopment.net/website-design-P.html

TRANSLATION: If someone needs help, am I the closest person that God will send to respond to that need?


#10) A program used to test whether an Internet host is currently online.
www.virtual-voice.com/FAQS/diction.html

TRANSLATION: Am I praying or watching tv?


#11) A command that sends an echo request to a host with the expectation of a reply.
www.solimarsystems.com/Support_Glossary.php
TRANSLATION: Does God find me reliable in obeying Him?



#12) To check if a host is up and running on a network. Ping is a command that sends out a packet of data and tests to see if the other host replies back. Often used to check the integrity of a network or internetwork.
dedicated.sbcis.sbc.com/NDWS/faq/terms.jsp

TRANSLATION: There will be tests. Will I pass the integrity one?



#13) A command that provides a check that a particular host is available and reachable.
www.pcai.com/web/glossary/pcai_internet_glossary.html

TRANSLATION: Is my heart hardened?


#14) is a DOS command installed as a part of Windows used to test connections over a TCP/IP network. One computer sends a "ping" to another, and either receives a series of three replies or (if the connection fails) a "connection timed out" message
itd.utc.edu/misc/glossary.shtml

TRANSLATION: Do I take too long to reply to God? Are my prayer times too short and spread too far apart? *Special Question for charismatic/pentecostal folk: Have I prayed in my native language and "in tongues" and/or both, to give the reply the highest possibility of being received in the Command center and to cause my system to work more efficiently? :)


#15) ping is a simple program that attempts to make a very basic kind of connection to a target machine. If the target machine responds ping alerts you that it is "alive", otherwise ping returns a message that the machine is unreachable. Note that the ability to ping a machine does not mean that the machine is fully functional, but it does indicate that the network path to that machine (including all routers between you and the machine) are up and functioning. ...
its.ucsc.edu/services/network/trouble_glossary.php

TRANSLATION: Do I belong to God or am I still "dead in my sins"?



#16) A command that can be used to determine the connectivity and speed of connectivity of a remote host. On UNIX, the ping command is used by network administrators to determine the status of host on their network.
adultchamber.com/members/glossary.htm

TRANSLATION: Am I ok or does God have to ping other nearby folks to come to help me?



#17) Every time your computer connects to a P2P network, it sends out a “ping” request to other nodes so that other computers on the network are aware of your connection. Nodes that receive a ping return a “pong” back to your computer to confirm the ping request.
http://www.peer-to-peer.arollo.com/glossary.html

TRANSLATION: Am I a team player on God's team? When I pray and say, "Yes, Lord" that is a reply back, a pong.



#18) An Internet utility used to varify a connection with another site. It repeatedly bounces a signal off the remote site, showing you how long it took to complete the round trip each time. If nothing bounces back, the site is either down or unreachable.
www.cem.uvm.edu/util/html/definitions.php

TRANSLATION: Have I crashed and burned spiritually? God knows already and is going to send help.

Its great to know that God can reach us everywhere. At any given moment He knows where ALL His children are and what they need. David said, "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your Presence? If I rise on the wings of the dawn,...PING! if I settle on the far side of the sea,PING! even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139: 7, 9-10, 23-24) All these are the pings of God: not a mechanical machine, but a Living Person, in love, seeking us out.

God is always searching for us? Are His "pings" getting a strong pong from us?

(And special thanks to Rich Tatum of BlogRodent for helping this neophyte blogger with patient, helpful suggestions. Thanks, Rich!)

To Live a Life of Faith

I am just sitting here. It is a lovely day, and suddenly I just see the truth of it all. If we are to know God with any depth, if we are to have anything that we can really call a "life," we are going to have to batter through, in spirit, soul and body, those things which terrify us and mezmerize us and trick us into thinking that we are not totally loved by God. What demons of hesitancy lure me away from so great a Creator? What lies keep the Lover of my soul waiting to receive my whole heart? What excuses waste my time waiting for my head to feel certain about what my heart already know to be true?

To live a life of faith sets the world on fire with the Glory of God!. Or perhaps the world is already so set on fire and we just need to put on our 3-dimensional, no, 1000-dimensional glasses to see it. Hear O Israel,... thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, (Deut 6: 4a & 5.) This kind of love shall not just come to us. We must go after it. We must row out into the deep. We must row until the waves splash over our little boats and sink them, leaving us alone with the Almighty One in the depths. There is nothing to fear. There is no life until we let go of our own puny ones. A great and glorious banquet with our Beloved awaits us if we but dare give our hearts completely to Him Ah, may we all have the courage and resolve of the Magi, to go forth on a journey looking for He who is King of the Universe. Surely a star will lead us to Him. The Morningstar rising in our hearts: Christ Jesus.

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Let Go of the Weights

Last night I was thinking of that kind of ongoing spiritual malaise that sometimes lingers in our lives or in the lives of our loved ones. The picture of the Peanuts character "Pig Pen," with dust clouds swirling around him, comes to mind. How many folks do we know with ever present spiritual dust clouds hanging overhead? How many lives seem lived in some sort of fogged and murky dimness? How many have let the clear light of God in their lives wax into darkness?

God often gives me pictures as I pray. Yesterday, as I was praying, I saw a hot air balloon being filled with air. It started to rise from the ground but went only so far up and seemed stuck in a bank of thick and ominous clouds. The balloon remained there, obscured in mid-air, and the person in the balloon seemed to not know what to do to rise above the clouds. They were not aware that just above them was the brilliant unobscured sunshine. They seemed confused and complacent in their plight.

A voice cried out to them: "Let go of the weights!" Inside of the basket of the balloon were sandbagged weights used to control the balloon's ability to rise. The person inside began dropping these weights overboard and the balloon began to rise into the sunlight.

Many times we might say, "My life has been so dark, and my problems so entrenched that there are no simple answers. I will not be able to free myself from so long a slavery. I shall not know joy." I am not saying that life is not challenging and that it does not deal us some difficult blows. But if I were a betting woman, (and for the record I am not) I would bet that the world's way of thinking has overtaken us. When we think that we shall never know joy again, that our sun will never shine again, that our enslavement to our problems is perpetual, we are not taking seriously what God says when He promises His rest and joy to those who obey Him.

A voice calls out in our wilderness. It is the simple and direct Voice of God: Let go of the weights! Let go of that which is holding you in a dark place! Our response should be one of simple obedience. We will not be helped by cursing the weather, by sitting and waiting for someone to rescue us, or by jumping overboard. We will be helped by deciding to let go of the things we should not be hanging on to. How many of us hold onto unforgiveness, hold onto grudges, hold onto "our" rights? All that God asks is that we "let go." Or even begin to will to let go. That is within our power. Our willingness to let go is what will draw the Lord near to us. Salvation is closer than we know. The race is not won by the strong, but by the obedient! Hebrews 12:1 says, "let us lay aside every weight." May we do that and so rise into the great and everlasting Light of God.

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Whatever happened to the Holy Ghost?

When I was younger He was called the "Holy Ghost." Modern times or translations have somehow renamed Him the "Holy Spirit." I hope its not one of those politically correct things. I really hope no-one's trying to take Him out of the fall-on-your-face-at-the-sawdust-revival genre and rework Him to, well, you know, Business Class, complete with a briefcase, Blackberry, and a glass of well-aged Merlot.

When this name transition first seemed to be occuring I, myself, was more interested in being at the altar rail then at the library. I was in my late teens. Still, I remember people saying, "Well, you know, the whole idea of "ghost" has such a scary kind of feel to it. I guess I don't see a whole lot wrong with a "scary kind of feel." Biblically, its called "fear of the Lord." I don't think too many people thought God was a ghost like Caspar. He never seemed flimsy and wispy to me. Solid, not see-through, not unlike meeting a 350 pound defensive tackle on the football team. You weren't getting by Him and you had a really good chance of getting knocked over. You know, I still pretty much see Him that way, although I have known a lot more sides to Him in my life as a believer.

It just seems that now that He is the "Holy Spirit" in most circles, something is missing. My first bible was the incomparable King James Version :). Every bible verse I have ever memorized I know in the KJV. So now I am thinking of some really good ones, "Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? (Acts 5:3). "And you shall be baptized in the Holy Ghost (Acts 1:5). "And the Holy Ghost fell on all of them" (Acts 10:44).

The Azusa Street Revival, as did all the great revivals, had a LOT of the Holy Ghost. He rocked the house. The New England Revivals, the First and Second Great Awakenings, found bars closed and people praying at noon instead of drinking. Upstate New York was called the "Burned Over District" because revival blazed from town to town. Paris Reidheid, in his noteworthy sermon, "Ten Shekels and a Shirt" relates the story of John Wesley Redfield, a preacher who lived near Yale University during the 1800's: A man by the name of John Wesley Redfield had continuous ministry for three years in and around New Haven. Culminating in the great meetings in the Yale Ball, the first of the Yale Balls' back in the 18th century. The policemen were accustomed during those days, if they saw someone lying on the ground, to go up and smell his breath. Because if he had alcohol on his breath they'd lock him up, but if he didn't, he had Redfield's disease. And all you needed to do if anyone had Redfield's disease was just take him into a quiet place and leave him until he came too. Because if they were drunkards, they'd stop drinking, and if they were cruel, they'd stop being cruel, and if they were immoral, they gave up their immorality. If they were thieves, they returned what they had. For as they had seen the holiness of God, and seen the enormity of their sin, the Spirit of God had DRIVEN THEM DOWN INTO UNCONSCIOUSNESS because of the weight of their guilt! And somehow in the overspreading of the power of God, sinners repented of their sin and came savingly to Christ." (www.firesofrevival.com)

Now was that the Holy Ghost or what?

C.S.Lewis's famous line about Aslan the Lion applies equally to the Holy Ghost, "He's not a tame Lion, you know."

You need to know that I really don't mind if you call Him the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit. What I do mind is you thinking He's just going to send a few shivers up your spine and then call it a night. Thinking that, in my humble opinion, means something is seriously the matter. The Holy Ghost's job is not to hover like Glade Mist sprayed in the church--covering a bad situation with a pleasant scent. If anything, He is more like Mr.Clean, who, ironically, I haven't seen a whole lot of lately, either.

I need to ask, "Where are the days when you didn't need to wonder if you had received the Holy Ghost because when He arrived in your life you could cross doubting that He was real right off your list of things that could be doubted. Is it just me or does everything seem kind of safe and mundane lately? Whatever happened to the old fashioned idea of "tarrying" til the Holy Ghost comes? Whatever happened to the kind of conviction of sin that those people who lay in the streets of New Haven felt?

I worry about what we call a "normative" experience of the Holy Spirit. God is God and I know that He acts uniquely with each of us. Yet as sure as sure can be, the Holy Spirit was sent to accomplish this: He will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11); He will guide the believer into all truth (John 16:13) and He will glorify God (John 16:14).

Jesus said to His disciples, "I have many things to say to you but you cannot now bear them" (John 16:12). What He was saying was that to bear them they needed the Holy Ghost. Those folks had an excuse for the Holy Ghost had not yet come. Yet I wonder how often Jesus says to the modern believer, "I have much to say to you but you cannot now bear it"?

I wonder if He's just really saying we need the Holy Ghost.

The Spirit of Christ is our pre-eminent and indwelling Teacher, Comforter, Convictor, and Guide. He is the Pledge of God within us. May He cause us to unreservedly offer Jesus His rightful place in our hearts and lives.

Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest, and in our hearts take up Thy Rest.

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The Music of God

Don't get me wrong. I love worship music. I love singing soft, sweet songs to Jesus. It is one of life's highest honors. Last night, however, as I listened to the soft, sweet choruses waft in the background of our prayer time, it suddenly seemed the inner music I was hearing was strangely and strongly at odds with the outer.

I did not want to hear comfortable flowing strains when my persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ were uncomfortable and oppressed.

I did not want to feel comfortable in the Lord's House when it was not all that the Lord wanted it to be, whether locally or globally.

I guess I did not want to rest when the Lord needed me to watch with Him.

I remember being in the old Soviet Union and visiting a Russian military cemetary. One could buy candy and flowers to leave at the graves of the war dead. Over the loud speakers wafted the most haunting of Russian funeral dirges played on violins. Nearby, old Ukrainian women sobbed for their dead sons.

That day, I cried and cried, too. Me, an American, crying for the enemy's sons. Crying for a homeland that was not mine. Crying for the beloved mother country. That day changed my perspective on the world. Sin and hatred hurt us all. Entering into the wounds of our enemies can bring healing.

We must cry for those who have not yet found their heavenly homeland. Cry for those who may never make it there. Cry for those who are being lost to a spiritual war that very few see. Cry for the heart of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. Cry for Jerusalem itself.

Let us not just sit in our house, or even in our church, and listen with our ears alone to pretty music that makes us feel better but isn't allowed to change us. We need to listen with our hearts and allow the real music of God, whether it be soft or hard, played in silence or trumpeted loudly, to conform us to the image of God's dear Son. Do we know how to listen that closely?

Jesus said, "To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplace calling to their companions and saying, "We played the flute but you didn't want to dance. We sung a funeral dirge but you didn't want to beat your breast in mourning " (Matthew 11:16,17).

Indeed.

God comes to us in mercy and we feel we don't need to listen to Him. He comes to us in judgment and we hold Him as an enemy. Sometimes we need the comfort of our worship songs, but those times are for us. Other times we need to shut the music off and go and do battle with all that is in our hearts that keeps our Father's Kingdom from coming. That is for God. Sometimes the Lord brings us peace through His prophetic minstrels. Other times, not so. Sometimes the music is sweet. Sometimes, it is not meant to be.

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The Blessed Boundaries of God

Today as I was out walking the dog, I found myself standing on the place where "my boundary" was. I grew up in a somewhat idyllic small New England farming town in a time when things were not quite so dangerous. I remember my first bike, it was red, and had a bell and speedometer and lots of stickers on it. I was six. I was able to ride the bike about 1/3 of a mile to where my parents had designated a boundary (the red tobacco barn). It was there that I was to go no farther by myself. So happily I would ride to that point, turn around and ride back, and if I still had energy, I could keep making that route over and over. Ironically, that red barn sometimes still appears in my dreams, always as a happy idyllic place. I had no sense of being held back, no feeling that I wanted to go past the boundary. All was right with the world: the boundary was just there.

I am thinking, today, about the boundaries that God sets for our lives, and how we view them. Do they seem as a horrible cage, or a liberating parameter that keeps me where I am created to be? As we grow into adulthood there are usually many times that we "test our boundaries" which usually means lots of excess and throwing caution to the wind, to put it nicely. It often means deliberately disobeying concepts that may have been set down for our best interest. Of course, when we are younger, our ability to discern what might be "in our best interest" might need some work.

God is not an anarchist. He took a world that was without form and void and created it to be a place of order and beauty beyond compare. He created a place for each creature, including you and me. He did this out of love, and proclaimed it to be good. The birds of the air were ok with it. The fish of the sea were ok with it. The animals of the field were ok with it. But not us. Lured into thinking there was more to be gotten over the next green hill, we soon turned our back on the One who had set us in the greenest of pastures made specifically for us. And so to this day it is often just more of the same. We all know that story.

What I want to say is that as we return to God, our Father, that this story has a different slant and a different ending: a happy one. As we belong to God and come to know Him, we WANT to stay closer and closer to Him and not run away. We want His protective boundary around our lives. We want Him to say, "thus far, and no farther." Within His boundaries for us we find our true selves and our true vocation. His boundaries give us our allotted share of the work of our Father to do, it is our garden to plant and water. It is in owning and observing the boundaries that God gives us that, as C.S. Lewis says, "our face" before God emerges.

God has a perfect environment for me to grow in. In that place, His burden is light. It is neither too much nor too little. Its blessings show me the goodness of God, its appointed trials and lessons form His character in me. It is "my" place. It is where God meets me and perfects me.

If we think of God's boundaries as anything but the good and loving choices of a Father who loves us beyond our wildest imagination, then perhaps it is not the boundaries that bother us so much as our concept of who God is. So many of our earthly fathers have not reflected the nature of our Heavenly father. Sometimes things get broken. And yet "God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us "(Romans 5:5). In knowing that love, all the mistakes that have been made to us and by us fall into the ocean of His grace and forgiveness. Draw near to Him. Climb up onto His lap and ask, "Lord, do I love your boundaries in my life? Do I trust you completely as my Father?" The outpouring of love you will, no doubt, experience in return should answer all your doubts. Our God is an awesome God.

"When the Most High gave the nations their nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples...." Deut. 32:8

"And his banner over me is love."--Song of Solomon 2:4

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Prepare the way for the Master!

Today I am happy to be alive. Very happy.

The sun is shining and I have been to church. A very sweet man from India speaks, his face shining. He has that Indian way about him, a way too often born of suffering. From him emanated an ability to know a simple, unmediated connection with his Lord. His faith was, indeed is, not just in his head, but in his heart and hands and feet and face.

I, too, could feel my faith. It was not just in my head but in my heart, in my skin, in my soul, in the deepest part of me. Deep calls unto deep: "All Thy waves have rolled over me."

Today, my Lord, I am happy to be alive!

He told us that we should prepare a way for the Master! He shouted in that same direct and immediate way. It was a gentle shout, but powerful. I felt it resonate deep within. I could feel the Master standing there in front of me. Or was it behind me? Or yes, yes, that was it-- living and breathing WITHIN me: beckoning, smiling, calling in that same solid and stable way.

Oh my Lord, today I am happy to be alive!

Today I am thankful for unhindered, direct faith, glistening with a million nuances in glorius simplicity. Faith shining like the sun.

Today, O Lord, I am happy to be alive. Very happy.
Prepare a way for the Master!