for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.
2Tim. 2:9
Chained -- it means to “to chain, shackle, put in fetters, or imprison.”
Paul speaks of his own imprisonment and yet he reflects on his hardship and suffering as being treated like a common criminal. Mostly likely both his hands and feet were chained in some sort of irons. It was probably the worst type of confinement that you can imagine. And yet he burst forth joyfully: “I am suffering as though I were a criminal, but the Word of God is not bound.”
Inspite of circumstances that seem to restrict, bind, or limit us; His promises can never be limited. Isaiah tells us, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” His word is never chained.
The world seems to be living in “chronic crisis.” Crisis is all around us, in fact it appears to control every one I meet. We must recover Paul’s understanding of the challenges or shall I say the “crisis’s” of our lives. We are called to live in “chronic Christ” not “crisis.”
No matter what Paul faced he is able to rejoice in the fact that even though he sat in chained in a dark, dismal cell, the Word of God was still moving all over Asia Minor and many people were hearing the Gospel.
“Though I am limited in what I am able to do and where I am able to go,” Paul says. “But the promises of God know no limitations. He is still sending His Word and healing people everywhere (Ps. 107:20).
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The Sleeping Beauty
The church is alive, contrary to what “some say”; alive with the essence and the energy of God. However, like “sleeping beauty", she lies under a spell concocted by a culture who has not recognized her beauty.
The voices of institutionalism and individualism have conspired, perhaps unknowingly, to keep her safely hidden from those in need of her goodness, truth, and beauty. But on lonely walks through the woods of my soul, I have caught glimpses of her beauty, waiting to be kissed, waiting to be received, this bride appears to be ready to awaken.
Covered with layers of institutionalism and self centered individualism, the body of Christ, the church, the results of the resurrection of Christ, remains unseen by most of humanity.
Individualism seeks to deconstruct or discredit institutionalism, while the institution that struggles to survive fights back. People, becoming weary of the struggle over the baby, seemingly are satisfied to have the child “cut in two,” much as Solomon offered. Alas one or the other will let go and yet neither have found the truth.
Into the forest we must forge! Into the shadows of the stories told of the beauty of this bride. This is the journey that I have found myself on.... traveling over stones covered with moss, slippery with the dew of early morn. Light breaking through the trees reveals a turn in the path that is so easily unnoticed. My heart is pounding for a glimpse of this “sleeping beauty.” Moments of vision pierce through the shadows, rays of understanding, snippets of revelation, my spirit soars in anticipation....
She is here, she is alive, the church, the people of God, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit..... the continuation of the Christ, the community of pardoned humanity, the new creation!
Exhausted I fall into the leaves, under the canopy of the oaks, serenaded by the sounds of nature, sleep overtakes. There she is .... her beauty is beyond anything I have ever seen. Not only do I see, but I feel it, somewhere deep within comes this flood of fulfillment, warmth, an embrace that seems to lift me into the heavens.
A kiss that awakens every fabric of my being. There she is, in His embrace.
But wait she is “us.” We are, you and I together, united in Him and each other We are “sleeping beauty.”
We sleep under the power of separation from each other. Either by institutional dispute or individual demand, we allow ourselves to become separated from each other in the forest of this culture.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “He who looks upon his brother should know that he will be eternally united with him in Jesus Christ...in Jesus Christ we have been chosen and united for eternity.”
“United for eternity.” These words have captured my imagination and have awakened my spirit. The two most important things that the church does is “worship and witness.” Our unity is both our worship and our witness.
The world longs to see the truth, the goodness and the beauty of the body of Christ. All the while the voices of this culture continue to separate rather than unite, deconstruct rather than build.
It is too easily forgotten that the communion of the brethren is a gift of grace. Paul says, “He is our peace,” (Eph. 2:14). Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man.
The beauty, the goodness, the truth that each of us seek is found in the unity, the communion of Christians. This is the church. A communion of the pardoned that gather “to remember", “to give thanks” for the One who lived and died and lives again. As we gather to lay down our individuality and be united to Him and to one another, “Sleeping Beauty” awakens and the future reality of eternity breaks into the present.
My continual prayer is that you would join me on this journey. To walk into the woods arm in arm, to agree to share this path together. This path of forgiveness, of love and grace. To awaken in His embrace with His breathe on our lips, to be together with Him that is my desire.
For I am convinced that as we gather in faith to worship He is present. And our unity, our gathering plus His Presence is our witness. And that witness is our mission.
The voices of institutionalism and individualism have conspired, perhaps unknowingly, to keep her safely hidden from those in need of her goodness, truth, and beauty. But on lonely walks through the woods of my soul, I have caught glimpses of her beauty, waiting to be kissed, waiting to be received, this bride appears to be ready to awaken.
Covered with layers of institutionalism and self centered individualism, the body of Christ, the church, the results of the resurrection of Christ, remains unseen by most of humanity.
Individualism seeks to deconstruct or discredit institutionalism, while the institution that struggles to survive fights back. People, becoming weary of the struggle over the baby, seemingly are satisfied to have the child “cut in two,” much as Solomon offered. Alas one or the other will let go and yet neither have found the truth.
Into the forest we must forge! Into the shadows of the stories told of the beauty of this bride. This is the journey that I have found myself on.... traveling over stones covered with moss, slippery with the dew of early morn. Light breaking through the trees reveals a turn in the path that is so easily unnoticed. My heart is pounding for a glimpse of this “sleeping beauty.” Moments of vision pierce through the shadows, rays of understanding, snippets of revelation, my spirit soars in anticipation....
She is here, she is alive, the church, the people of God, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit..... the continuation of the Christ, the community of pardoned humanity, the new creation!
Exhausted I fall into the leaves, under the canopy of the oaks, serenaded by the sounds of nature, sleep overtakes. There she is .... her beauty is beyond anything I have ever seen. Not only do I see, but I feel it, somewhere deep within comes this flood of fulfillment, warmth, an embrace that seems to lift me into the heavens.
A kiss that awakens every fabric of my being. There she is, in His embrace.
But wait she is “us.” We are, you and I together, united in Him and each other We are “sleeping beauty.”
We sleep under the power of separation from each other. Either by institutional dispute or individual demand, we allow ourselves to become separated from each other in the forest of this culture.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer says, “He who looks upon his brother should know that he will be eternally united with him in Jesus Christ...in Jesus Christ we have been chosen and united for eternity.”
“United for eternity.” These words have captured my imagination and have awakened my spirit. The two most important things that the church does is “worship and witness.” Our unity is both our worship and our witness.
The world longs to see the truth, the goodness and the beauty of the body of Christ. All the while the voices of this culture continue to separate rather than unite, deconstruct rather than build.
It is too easily forgotten that the communion of the brethren is a gift of grace. Paul says, “He is our peace,” (Eph. 2:14). Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man.
The beauty, the goodness, the truth that each of us seek is found in the unity, the communion of Christians. This is the church. A communion of the pardoned that gather “to remember", “to give thanks” for the One who lived and died and lives again. As we gather to lay down our individuality and be united to Him and to one another, “Sleeping Beauty” awakens and the future reality of eternity breaks into the present.
My continual prayer is that you would join me on this journey. To walk into the woods arm in arm, to agree to share this path together. This path of forgiveness, of love and grace. To awaken in His embrace with His breathe on our lips, to be together with Him that is my desire.
For I am convinced that as we gather in faith to worship He is present. And our unity, our gathering plus His Presence is our witness. And that witness is our mission.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Special Miracles
...God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. (Acts 19:11)
A miracle is always special, so what does Luke mean here when he speaks of special miracles? Other versions of the Bible translate this word as “unusual,” “extraordinary,” or “uncommon.” Since by definition a miracle is always something unusual, extraordinary, or uncommon, this verse is almost a play on words: “God wrought ‘special special’s’ ‘extraordinary extraordinaries,’ unusual unusuals’ by the hands of Paul.”
the thing that made these particular miracles so “special” was the geographic location in which Paul was ministering when they were performed. In New Testament days, the two cities most widely known for their total degeneracy and depravity were Corinth and Ephesus. Biblical scholars tell us that these two towns were open sewers of dissolution and debauchery. Yet they were the very areas God chose in which to perform the greatest miracles recorded in the book of Acts. Why?
There is a spiritual tense that says..... where sin abounded grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20). Paul could well have been speaking of these two cities when he made that statement. The greater the presence of darkness, the greater the provision --- and power --- of God’s redemptive light.
That should encourage us today. Perhaps none of our modern-day cities compares in wickedness with Corinth and Ephesus, but God still has “special” miracles for each of them. Claim the “special” miracles of divine deliverance the Lord has for you and your hometown.
A miracle is always special, so what does Luke mean here when he speaks of special miracles? Other versions of the Bible translate this word as “unusual,” “extraordinary,” or “uncommon.” Since by definition a miracle is always something unusual, extraordinary, or uncommon, this verse is almost a play on words: “God wrought ‘special special’s’ ‘extraordinary extraordinaries,’ unusual unusuals’ by the hands of Paul.”
the thing that made these particular miracles so “special” was the geographic location in which Paul was ministering when they were performed. In New Testament days, the two cities most widely known for their total degeneracy and depravity were Corinth and Ephesus. Biblical scholars tell us that these two towns were open sewers of dissolution and debauchery. Yet they were the very areas God chose in which to perform the greatest miracles recorded in the book of Acts. Why?
There is a spiritual tense that says..... where sin abounded grace did much more abound (Rom. 5:20). Paul could well have been speaking of these two cities when he made that statement. The greater the presence of darkness, the greater the provision --- and power --- of God’s redemptive light.
That should encourage us today. Perhaps none of our modern-day cities compares in wickedness with Corinth and Ephesus, but God still has “special” miracles for each of them. Claim the “special” miracles of divine deliverance the Lord has for you and your hometown.
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