Now this is serious, no satire or funny stuff. Way too commonly, i meet believers who “put on a face” just to get along, but underneath, it’s simply not what’s really going on. By saying “put on a face” i mean they offer us one face of smiling, sweet words, saying all the right Christian sounding words, but underneath, they are wrestling within themselves with struggling with seemingly unshakeable bad attitudes, grumbling, wrong judgement, woundedness, and feelings of pointlessness and being unworthy … unheard, unseen, and unimportant. Often, what’s going on with others is typically not at all what we think. As a result, listen. This is important. i want to hear the victory stories from the “Real life of a True Believer”. Are you that overcomer?

Find your courage my family, you, as Byron would say, the people who keep company with God, find your courage. i’d like you to practice restraint, of course, but also be willing to stand on what you believe and what is true, not just the facts, but what is true according to God. Be willing to sort out what is going on with you to see Jesus. Find your courage to gently but firmly, say what’s on your heart. You don’t have to yell, or scream, and it can be said with an unscowling face. Often, it’s not “what” we say but “how” we say it. You’ll be surprised what comes out of your mouth, sometimes right, sometimes not, either way, you found your courage to talk about what’s really on in your heart. What you’ve got to say concerning what’s going on with you may not make others happy, they may even slight or minimize you in some way from here on out, but we’ve got to stop pretending everything is just wonderful, and everyone is just “so amazing”, when really we don’t think that at all. i realize some of what we’ve got to say isn’t nice nor is it necessary to be said, that’s where discernment and restraint comes into play. But if we’re always “making a face”, which is the definition of being an actor and a poser, we are destined to become our facade, which would be “making a face” on top of “making a face”. Remember, the longer we wear our facade, the greater our chances are of becoming our facade. Oh, and don’t i know well what it’s like digging out from under my many acquired false faces.

Ask the Lord to give you discernment and make that call, talk to the person there’s conflict with. We don’t have to be mean and pointed about it, instead of blasting them, why not start, kindly and gently, with a heart to resolve the conflict rather than inflame the conflict. Ask them if they wouldn’t mind a couple questions. If they agree, let the scowl leave your face, using your best “let’s figure this out” voice, ask them what they meant when they said “such n such” or did “thus n so”. Give them a chance to answer. First: listen. Second: listen intentionally. Third: really listen. If you need to pause, breath, think, and find your composure. Take a moment to find your balance. Even if you’re trembling inside when it comes to being honest and about as transparent as you can stand, find your courage to state yourself. Think about what you’re going to say before you get there. Think about what outcome you want before you get there.

Realize, you might be wrong. You may not know it until the words escape your lips and your ears hear what your heart is saying. But if we keep all our thinking, all our feeling, and all our breathing to ourselves, telling ourselves we’ll only tell it to the Lord, but never really get around to telling Him our heart in a detailed conversation, it is as good as being severely constipated.

When we are spiritually and emotionally constipated, we end up with some spiritual problems which are highly likely to manifest themselves in our physical person. Our skin becomes so thin we are put-upon and wounded by anything others say, maybe even just the way they look at us hurts our feelings, and we’re steadfastly sure it is a slight aimed at us. Either that or we become so callous we become very uncompassionate to a dying world. Someone with too many secrets, unspoken doubts, and unresolved conflicts carries a very heavy burden which will bow them to the ground, weaken their knees, and float them away on a wave of suspicion while operating under clouded thinking. They easily become swayed by confusion or “contrary winds”, which is a Hebrew idiom meaning a wind which pops the ships sails back and forth, whipping forward and backward. It’s truly is literally a picture of confusion. We become so thin skinned, everything hurts, like a broken tooth with the root hanging out. Eventually, everything hurts.

Find your courage. In my distant past, i had unspoken doubts that our system of Christianity actually worked. From the pulpit, from the stage at conferences, all the “easy 5 steps to freedom” books, and especially on TV. All of those people seemed so sure of everything. They said, “believe this and you’ll be filled with peace, hope, love and purpose.” “Trust God and it’ll all just be OK.” “If you’d just tithe more God would bless you.” The pastor at the front was so believable until he went tooth gritting, raging angry at his kids and wife in the hallway of the church. Add to that my having gotten slammed around at home, not measuring up at school, and generally falling short in life. i had so much stuff hidden in my heart and head. Unspoken, unresolved, not daring to speak it to anyone lest i look different than my peers, it all began to morph into indifference to God’s preferences and standards. My careless alienation was soon to give way to anything which gave power to my flesh over my spirit, and that was not good.

One day, when i was down in the ring, caught in a headlock by sin, i thought i was done, down for the count, then Jesus tagged in. He got the devil in a headlock, then picked him up over His head in a spin, slammed him to the mat, and took him down for the pin.

Jesus said, “…come unto to me all you who are burdened and heavy laden, and i will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Neighbors, find your courage. There are things we, the church, simply must begin to talk about, and speaking sweetly and “making a face” while the truth is we’re just churning inside isn’t helping. Let’s talk about what you do after you believe.

What do you think?

When i was a boy, more than a few times, in frustration, i would hear my dad say, “Boy, i tell you what, when i get to Heaven, i’ve got some questions for God. My entire life all i’ve heard is what He could have but wouldn’t, might have but didn’t… and He never explains anything.” Although my father never went to church, never read his Bible, never went to any meetings having to do with the Lord at all, nor did he read any books about him, he seemed continually disappointed and bitter towards all things God. i grew up with no knowledge of the Kingdom of God other than messing with the King of Kings was a waste of time unless you wanted to be frustratingly mystified and always disappointed. There was always the implication of “just don’t look to God to help you out. You’ll only be disappointed.” Churches looked to me like rules on top of rules which no one could keep, nor would they want to, in hopes of relating to someone impossible to know or understand. Rule keeping doesn’t gain us a relationship with God who is the very person we need to know above everyone and anything in the universe.

You know, i’ve met Jesus, personally, up close, eye to eye, and all that i learned about God as a boy totally isn’t true. At all. i suppose for my dad’s entire life, the sum total of what he’d been told was how “God is going to get you”, “watch out boy, God will strike you down”, and “you’re just a sinner, boy, and you’ll never be anything more than a poor old nobody, barely scraping into Heaven.”

Well, i have been reading my Bible, and i do go to church, and i avidly read books about the Great I AM. i’m astounded at all the promises of hope, health, healing, connection, and relational redemption the Lord makes. i have not found a world of won’t, don’t, can’t, and shall not’s like many rule keepers keep at their fingertips. Jesus, the Son of God, came to us, in the flesh, and got eye to eye with mankind for the first time ever, and in John 16 all by itself, He gave us a list of “I will”, “I have”, and then explanations of “because”. So much for the idea that God never explains anything, because He does. Anytime Jesus said, “I will”, “I have”, and “that you might have”, it strikes a mood of possibility and potential for us to be involved with the Lord and possess all God promises. The key words are “be involved”, not just keep rules. Remember, it’s not rules to keep but more someone to be. When Jesus said, “because” He was explaining intentions and actions. God is interested in the conversation and He wants us to understand, and because we may NOT understand doesn’t mean His explanation isn’t real. Keep it simple. i really believe we totally over think much of what God said and says, often trying to make it say more than it says. Jesus said “might have” four significant times. That you might have life, that you might have life more abundantly, that you might have peace, and that you might have joy. If we could not possess it, the Lord would not have struck a mood of possibility and potential for us to know we can own and walk in all He says.

We need to know that the Lord works within the amazing boundaries of righteousness, considering He, Himself, is the standard and personification of righteousness, and will not violate Himself to give us evil desires. Jesus said straight away in John 16:1, “I have spoken these things”, then He explains saying “because” or “for the reason of”. He’s saying “i have spoken these things” in the sense of “take note” “pay attention”, and “hear this and don’t miss it.” He admits in vs25 that it’s true, in the past He had spoken in perplexing parables and metaphors, but then He promises, saying, “From here on out, i’m going to be plain with you.” In other words, He really wants us to get what He’s saying, but He also wants us to be interested enough to pursue Him for the understanding of it all, not being lazy children who wait on the parent to just tell them everything, with the children putting no personal investment into their own knowledge and well being. When i was young, occasionally i would ask my mother the meaning of a word. She would tell me “Look it up.” i thought she was being mean, but in her wisdom she was inspiring me to take action and pursue the answer for myself rather than depend on someone else to inform me because i was too lazy.

In John 16 Jesus said “i will”, “i have”, “he will”, and “because”. He leaves us with His personal promise by saying “I will”, and He’s letting us know what is already set in motion with “I have”. He promises us the Holy Spirit who will teach us, and He said, not “IF” He comes, but “when” He comes the Holy Spirit will do this and that. AND….Jesus says why, using “because”, again, meaning, “for the reason of”.

God is not required to explain Himself to anyone at anytime, but He does so as a courtesy, for the reason that He is interested in a dialogical exchange with us and He wants us to grasp what He’s saying. He does, indeed, talk to men, and He truely does regularly offer explanations. Are we interested to listen? There are more far reaching promises of “yes and amen” than the rule keeper’s mindset of “do not”, yet so many people see God as the God of “watch out, be careful, and don’t”, and that’s not His heart at all. Of course, God has boundaries and warns us of potential problems, but we, ourselves, are the ones who often look like the law on two legs to the world around us because we’re always talking about what we don’t, won’t, and all that we’re against. Well, friends, what are you in favor of within the bounds of righteousness, right morality, and Godly ethics? After you have believed Jesus is the Lord, then what are you gonna do? It’s more than fire insurance, and God has an entire world of amazing possibilities and potentials for us, but we do have to be interested in Him enough to pursue His goodness towards us.

What do you think?

i realize this is a story previously spoken of, but the Lord has illuminated to me the value of it again. A little definition is necessary to set the stage here. A moral is “concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and the goodness or badness of human character.” And ethics are “that which governs a person’s behavior.” So, in light of that, we’re supposed to be modeling to the world the character of Christ. Jesus was honest and transparent and calls to us to be as He is. We can’t be how ever we want to be, tag God’s name on the end, and honestly call it “being like Jesus”. Our greatest strength against darkness is to come into the likeness of the Son.

i was at jail, church to be exact. Tony and i were in charge of the meeting that Thursday evening, in a room of 8-15 inmates who were taking a break from their exciting evening of doing nothing in order to attend. We prayed to open as we always do, then i got “the nod” to begin. Somewhere in the story of myself as the “True Life of a Real Believer”, there arose the idea of living with a loose belt of truth, a poorly cinched breastplate of righteousness, and a propped up helmet of salvation, all of it pretty much just hung in place, making sure it all didn’t fit too snugly, thereby making room for my own personal agenda to arise under the guise of being a Christian.

i love taking little surveys, simply because it is a nice cross-sectional view of where people are, that is if you ask the right questions and they are honest. Yea, asking a good question and getting an honest response is absolutely key as to the value of any survey. i asked the inmates a question: If there was a nickel on the table, would you put it in your pocket, knowing no one saw? The inmates almost unanimously answered, sure. Second question: If there was a $10 bill on the table, would you put it in your pocket, knowing no one saw? Some hesitated but most said, “No, what do you think? i may be a drug addict with poor morals, but do you think i’m a liar and a thief?” Laughter and silence followed but i knew they weren’t just making a joke. The room paused as the silence hung, and i said, “Yes. We’ve already established there is a morals and ethics issue concerning stealing the nickel, we’re just finding your boundaries, and where your line is pertaining to how far is too far and how much is too much.” Oh.

i went on to say, “Regardless of if it’s a nickel or a 10 spot, the problem is mankind has issues at the basic platform of faith, at the heart level, our ground zero place. At first we tell ourselves it’s ok to steal the nickel. It’s highly likely that shortly the boundary will expand to be a dime. Then we graduate it up to a dollar and beyond, rethinking each time how far is too far and how much is too much. Being in jail is almost always indicative of undealt with conflict and poor choosing. It’s not that God isn’t working in our lives, but more we’re choosing other things to be more important, and the more we ebb away from the Lord, the harder it is to hear Him when He calls. By the time you get rolled up and hauled off to jail or prison, you’ve long had a morals and ethics issue which started with being willing to steal a nickel.”

About that time, one fellow said loudly, in all seriousness with the straight face of revelation, he said, “Well, i’ll tell you, i’ve got pockets full of nickels.” We all laughed, but it was nervous laughter, as in, “Oh my gosh! i’ve got pockets full of nickels too!”

Friends, think about this. The difficulty isn’t the nickel or the 10 spot, but the fact that we’re willing to allow our own belt of truth to be a little lose. i hold that if we confess our sins, as in lip service, without the conviction of sin from the Holy Spirit, we’re just going through the motions to be part of a club. We press people who have offended us to be honest and transparent, and when they are honest and transparent we use it against them to punish them. When someone is humble, honest, and transparent about their transgression, it isn’t an opportunity to beat them up and make them bleed, it’s an opportunity for us to be honest and transparent also and stop the bleeding. It isn’t an opportunity to cut them deeper so we can feel smugly justified in our moral superiority, but put a tourniquet on the wound and stop the bleeding.

Take heed here, i didn’t say anything about not dealing with the moral and ethical issues because deal with them we must, but i am encouraging us all to be responsible for ourselves and our own actions. Get the log out of your own eye before you take it upon yourself to start digging around in someone else’s eye looking for a splinter. Whoa to the man who tries to control someone else when he cannot control himself. i have left craters man, craters in other people’s lives because i thought i saw a speck in their personality, then went and got serious excavating equipment to extract the flaw in them. i was stealing a nickel, manipulating on how i could get the owner to give me the $10 bill so i wouldn’t have to own my personal moral and ethical issues. If i could get them to give me the $10, then i couldn’t be, exactly, accused of stealing. Hear what i’m saying here, those who have ears to hear.

Approximately 5 times in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus said, “Follow me”, which means do as i do, say as i say, and be as i am. His use of the phrase “Follow me” literally means “accompany I AM.” The closer the Lord gets to all things, the more all things become like Him.

Neighbor, how many nickels do you have in your pockets? Undealt with issues which drive you rather than lead you?

What do you think?

After reading a Charisma Magazine article about how many pastors leave the church every month, which is approximately 1500, I think I’m beginning to realize, from what I can hear and have read, that they’re leaving probably because they had the illusion of some possible personal benefit somehow. i’m confident there was also a dream that they would be benefiting people and the community, which is indeed a noble thing, but somehow the dream seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of life.

i need to mention that i found a few pastors here and there who left the church and i interviewed them as much as they’d allow, so this isn’t a lot of conjecture and assumption on my part but their actual words. They said that, aside from hoping to impact the community and the world for Kingdom purposes, they also hoped people would love them, endorse them, and (my summary of their words) “pat them on the back”. Upon graduating seminary and then subsequently being hired by a church body somewhere, by having a title and position they would be more effective and there would be hopes for a future serving a church body, but at the core of it all, the magazine article reported they were likely looking for some kind of self-benefit.

i think you and I know something that we have learned the hard way: if we’re waiting on people to congratulate us, pat us on the back, give us a hand clap, or even slide a dollar or two across the table, we will be waiting a really long time. If we are not doing ministry exclusively for Kingdom purposes we will be crushed under the weight of broken expectations and disappointment. You and I know people rarely respond, they just don’t; we know, factually speaking by looking at the weekly donations, that 10% or less actually, monetarily, support 100% of the work of most churches. We know sheep bites hurt and indeed, they bite a lot. For myself, i’ve had several published articles that were popular, for a moment, and a couple went over a million engagements, likes and comments and shares.  But truly, i found out the hard way, if I was waiting for kudos or some monetary increase in order for me to be encouraged and feel ok about myself, I would have long ago died. Out of all of the people who read, follow, and listen, in all this time, less than a handful have actually written to encourage or have given one thin dime. Good thing i’m not holding my breath. I’m not saying that begrudgingly, absolutely not, but what I am saying is, again, if we are holding our breath, waiting from some payoff of some sort for our efforts other than the blessings of God, or hoping for some kind of payoff besides the goodness of God in our lives, then we will be crushed under the weight of disappointment and broken expectations. Jesus is our reward and He indeed is beyond the beyond of any self-benefits hoped for. In light of that …

From Colossians 3 there are four things which are imperative and four persistence’s that are necessary. It is a command (imperative) that we seek, set, reckon, and know:

We need to:

1. Seek what is above, Colossians 3:1.
2. Set our affections. Colossians 3:2
3. Reckon ourselves dead, and that we will stay dead. Romans 6:11, Colossians 3:3.
4. Know we are hidden in Christ, Colossians 3:3, and at no time do we stop being hidden. In the verb “know”, there is an “on and on” motion, implying we don’t stop the process once we know we are hidden. It’s not a “one and done”. Also, as a side note, the Hebrew word for “knowledge and to know” there are 6 investigative words attached to it: what, where, how, which, when, and why, and all six point to the process in the concept of “to know, knowing, and shall know”.

There are four persistences we need to press towards regardless if we get a pat on the back or gain something for ourselves:

5. Persist putting to death, not just desires but what kind of desires but evil desires.
6. Persist to putting off the old man
7. Persist in wearing the new man
8. Persist to not lie

Do you see it? Persist, persist, persist!

Let us, diligently, every day, yield to God and allow his words to persuade us that we would cease being “sons of disobedience” or “being disobedient”, meaning:

stop being obstinate, unpersuadable, and contrary with a heart full of “lip curling don’t want to”.

With every step and every breath, we honor the Lamb, that the Lamb would have the reward of his suffering regardless if those around us endorse us or not. Our focus is Jesus. We do the intricate dance of inductive, exegetical Bible study in order to give/get a right and more clear view of the Christ, in honor of the Lamb. We lay hands on and pray for the sick, maimed, and blind that the Lamb would have the reward of his suffering, for He is worthy of all glory and honor and Power, which means He gets it all and we get none, yet we are included because the Father honors the Son and the Son includes us by the blood. The greater includes the lesser … that the Lamb would have the reward of His suffering, thus we persist and honor the Lamb with every step and every breath. We sing to God in the night hours in honor of the Lamb. We persist and present ourselves to the Lord, like Moses did, early in the morning in honor of the Lamb. We persist and pray our consistent prayers in honor of the Lamb. The Father honors the Son for His sacrifice and He requires all honor and glory and power and dominion be given to the Son, in honor of the Lamb. No other deserves the honor but the Lamb. We persist and give our lives for our wives as Christ gave his life for the church in honor of the Lamb with every step and every breath, that the Lamb would have the reward of his suffering. We persist and breathe His name in honor of the Lamb, we strike out for unknown places with God in honor of the Lamb, our purpose is not to know our purpose but our purpose is to know Jesus in honor of the Lamb, that the Lamb would have the reward of His suffering, with every step and every breath, “omni gradus omni spiritus”, “all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present.”.  All our thinking all our breathing, all our power, and all our forward momentum, that the Lamb would have the reward of His suffering, in honor of the Lamb with every step and every breath. Persist, persist, persist.

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries

Now, i’m not going to go down the longest list you ever heard concerning examples of heroes, the list would go around the earth several times. But what i do want to convey is that you, yes you, are a hero and a champion if you are in Christ. And yes, i do stipulate the “if you are in Christ” part simply because being a hero is about more than just an action. In God’s book it starts with the heart, after all, terrible people can do really good stuff, but doing a really good thing, a hero does not make. It is when our heart, mind, and soul surrender all in the moment and abandon ourselves, we throw ourselves into accomplishing the task in front of us.

At that, let it be known, God doesn’t ask us to do anything we can do on our own, He only uses broken things. So not only do we do what we cannot do, but we are, in Christ, who we never could be without Him, and through Jesus we can now see the unseeable and hear the unheard.

God is the true preliminary model of a hero and champion from which all other forms of heroes and champions are developed and copied. This is the foundation for 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” There is a precedent set in 1 John 4:19 which is Jesus is first in all things righteous. Jesus was the first to fulfill Matthew 22:38 concerning the first and greatest commandment. Jesus was the first to fulfill Mark 9:35 in that He made Himself as the servant of all, thereby setting the precedent of how we should conduct ourselves. He was the example of Proverbs 18:12 in that humility comes before honor and Jesus was the most humble and therefore gets the highest honor. Jesus is the personification of wisdom and James 3:17 testifies that the wisdom from above is first pure. Jesus is first in wisdom, first in honor, first in strength, first in courage, first in humility, first in power, first in resurrection, and first in authority. Always and every time. And if we are born again and Christ lives in us, we have our fingers on the pulse of infinity who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Revelation 1:17-18, speaking of Christ, it says, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

You, yes you believer in Christ Jesus, you are a hero and a champion because Christ lives in you. Don’t misunderstand, your circumstances don’t represent your standing with God. You don’t just survive, you prosper. You are not just “any person”, you are “that person”, specific and named by God Himself. You are not one to conform to the world but one who stands with your arms raised, with hands full of stories of overcoming and becoming. Your roots run deep, in fact, all the way to Heaven, first born blood relative to the Son of God. You’re not a conformer, you are a transformer, and when the fire is at your feet, remember how God promised that when you walk through the fire you will not be burned, nor will the smell of smoke cling to you. When you think you are just done, that you’ve really bought the farm this time and the vultures are circling, declaring doom over you, telling you, you’ve run as far as you can … i say get to your feet and stand up! Friend, you are no mistake or accident, there are no extra or left-over people in the Kingdom of God. When the enemy thinks they’ve finally got you pinned down, reduced to a scrap of crumpled waste paper, you’ll find your Holy Spirit second wind to rise up in the face of insurmountable odds, because that’s what heroes and champions do, and baby, that’s you, yes you.

Victory is in your veins with every pump of your heart. We are the people who stay conscious and present in the room when chaos swirls and contrary winds blow.

There are violent fires burning in our society. Drug wars, AIDS, child abuse, murders, corporate stealing, homeless people, and oh so much more. Just like God is on the move, so darkness is marching too. But just like in Judges, chapters 6 thru 8, during the Midian oppression, God called a mighty man of valor to be a deliverer. Judges 6 declares his call and his commission. The name “Gideon” means “to cut down.” He was called to cut down the oppression caused by the Midianites. Isn’t this what Jesus came to do as the ultimate conflict revolutionist? To do justice and to cut down oppression? According to Acts10:38, He came “healing all who were oppressed by the devil”, don’t we have a similar call of God upon us also? God has not called us and made us heroes and champions for nothing. Friends, we are not conformers, we are called to be transformers because that, THAT is what heroes and champions do.

i certainly hope you take these words to heart, roll them around in your head and let the word of God persuade your heart and mind.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.

When i first met Jesus and went to church, i remember the story of Israel crossing the Red Sea and spending 40 years in the wilderness more than most other stories from the Bible. It’s a story of great deliverance, great rebellion, incessant complaining, God’s rich and miraculous provision, and the miles and miles and day after day life in the wilderness. i was taught to dread the wilderness, after all, look what happened to Israel. Older Christians would tell me, “Oh, you don’t want to be like Israel, camping in the wilderness for 40 years!” Over time there began to grow in me a subtle dread of spiritually being swept off into the desert to probably die from thirst for God only to befound one day as just a dry husk, slack jawed, stiff and with empty eye sockets, and no one will remember me. Or to be like Elisha in 1 Kings 19 and get driven into the wilderness only to lay under a tree, whining and pining about “where is God” and saying “i’m the only one left”. Boo-hoo, just lost and sad in the wilderness.

In light of that, lo these many years later, i’ve concluded that probably all Christians, at one time or another, will spend time in a spiritual wilderness of some sort. We will likely battle with even the most subtle of things. We’ll struggle to pray, fight off indifference, we’ll likely work to connect with others and feel like we’re just getting nowhere fast, and maybe even just quit church for a while. We’ll probably feel the press of darkness, our fears will haunt us, and suddenly God will want us to do more than simply confess our faults one to another but He’ll want us to dig into the root of our conflicts. Oh and we’ll have to dig into all our “why”, with “why” being one of the most dreaded words in America today. Anyone knowing what dumb stuff we’ve been party to drives us into hiding, we discover secret sins lurking around in the back of our closets, encountering persistent bad attitudes, incognizant biases which persuade us so subtly, and unresolved old wounds that still whisper to us. Oh, yes, those pesky undelt with old wounds that have a way of surfacing at all the most inconvenient moments, dragging us back to the shadows of twisted thinking. The wilderness has a way of whittling us down to our most basic bits of faith making it so we know that we know exactly what is real and what is fluff. Gosh, we’ll probably even doubt we ever had any faith sometimes and then, yes then, we’ll feel ashamed of our shame and feel stupid about our doubts and we may even get good at running away.

But, let’s also see the amazing things that will happen while we’re in the desert or in the wilderness. We will stride forward with a new-found confidence and a more sure faith that God is all He said He is. We’ll learn how to overcome our tendency to panic when we don’t know what to do, and how to keep our head when the storm is howling. And what is most important, we will be spending close, one-on-one time with God, real personal time and conversation. He will teach us to pray, one of the most basic things all believers must learn to do considering it is an essential learned language all it’s own from the moment we were born again. We’ll become resilient and will find ourselves stronger with a new rhythm in the momentum of Grace. Yes, grace has momentum, like saying the more we live in grace the more we live in grace, and the closer we get to God the closer we get to God. Do you see it?

Here’s another insight. Although we’ll have to face ourselves and resolve the differences between our conscience and our character, which is a big deal, our fears and concerns about what other people think of us will begin to lose its power over us, not for us to be indifferent, but for us to re-prioritize within ourselves what is actually important. God has not and will not leave us to perish in a terrible place as we fear. Deuteronomy 32:10  “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

The wilderness and the desert are not terrible places as we’ve been led to believe. Sure there are storms, wild winds, pounding sun and heat, but, they are their own environment, designed by God to serve His purposes. Not to mention that the Lord goes with us and where ever Jesus is, that’s the best place we can be. i think my dread of those places is largely what makes them seem so awful, but maybe it’s more that they just don’t look like our comfortable home, we know where everything is and it’s all arranged to be ever so convenient. Not dreaded, they are simply different, and as you know, most of us don’t do “different” very well, at all.

My fears and failures don’t scare or frighten me much anymore. God’s grace overwhelms us in the flood. Having been caused to face those “shadows of death” I’ve realized all of the things I feared concerning myself were actually pretty true after all. And even in that, God’s grace overwhelms Us in the flood of unkind circumstances and dire events, and we are not swallowed up by our fear in the valley of the “shadow of death”. Having been in a position where I had no choice but to camp for a while, off and on, “in the valley of the Shadow”, eventually I saw it was just a shade, and I grew to not be gripped by paralysis due to my fears and failures. They are what they are, they are memories of fears and failures, and more importantly stories of God’s deliverance when my mourning was turned into dancing. Jesus is who He is and He lives in me. He is stronger than the shadow, He is better than the valley. Camping in the valley of the shadow of death I learned to make a warm campfire and build shelter and even find water. He prepared a table for me in the presence of my enemies. He forgives and heals all of our iniquities and transgressions and wounds, and God’s grace overwhelms Us in the flood. My fears and failures don’t scare me anymore.

Isaiah 35:1-2, “Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days. The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses. Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon. There the LORD will display his glory, the splendor of our God.”

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name.

Synthesis of Nine Fruits of the Spirit

At about program number 52 i began to notice a phenomenon within myself…it was the growing realization that i didn’t know what i thought i knew. You’ve heard the phrase, “Out on a limb”? Well, i was far beyond the end of the limb and standing on the breath of God… i realized everything was over my head.

Long before the Lord gave me the idea to do a radio program, i had been praying that He would show me what He meant when He said what He did, because i really didn’t understand it. Don’t get me wrong, i read scripture and grasped the English translation, but i believed the Lord meant something much larger than what the translators often portrayed.

i wanted something that was mine, what He gave to me… not something someone else said or wrote. i would rather have a revelation God gave to me that was only a quarter inch wide and a half inch deep… that was mine all mine… than to always be quoting someone else and the amazing things “they” had to say. Honestly, i wonder a little about believers who are always quoting someone else and seem to have no real thoughts of their own. What is the value of quoting amazing things others say and not really grasping the Lord’s larger meaning and putting it in motion?

Don’t get me wrong, there are many profound writers and speakers out there whom the Lord reveals amazing things to, for sure, they have beautiful words within themselves and are completely worth quoting… they seem to have LOTS of words which just poetically flow from their lips. But i would like to encourage everyone who listens to pursue the Lord to have your own experiences, our own revelations, our own God-views so we can speak from our own experience and insight, as well as quoting other well-known people. It’s good to be well read, but what would you think of that scripture you just read if you’d never read anyone’s commentary or never heard anyone expound on it?

In developing the Fruit of the Spirit programs, #113-122, i thought i knew at least a little something about it all… only to discover… not really. Honestly, it’s embarrassing and quite humbling to realize this. In my mind, by this time in life, i figure i should know something about scripture and have better insight… well, i didn’t… but… things are getting clearer, thank you Jesus. My eyes began to recognize the Lord more clearly when i realized i didn’t have what it took and He began to give me insight and foresight….so in consideration of what i thought i knew,  i cut the anchors from the ship named “i know”, left them in the sea, and sailed with the flow of His presence, like Paul did in Acts 27:40… go with the wind of God and just let her ride.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation.

This evenings content is a summary of the nine programs representing the nine fruits of the Spirit… the Holy Spirit is likened to a dove in Luke 3:22, and on each wing of the dove are nine primary feathers, each one of the nine feathers representing a fruit of the Spirit, as listed in Gal 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit is on one wing, and the gifts, manifestations or ministries of the Spirit on the other. i believe the gifts of the Spirit are represented by bells, and the fruits of the spirit represented by pomegranates, both of which were embroidered on the hem of the priest robe as seen in Exodus 28:33-34. Without the nine primary feathers on each wing the dove couldn’t fly correctly, just like if we aren’t operating in the nine fruits and the nine gifts, we are not operating at our full potential either.  That maybe a little complex, so bear with me here if you would.

i hope you enjoy what’s ahead. Dream, believe, and imagine as we set sail to a new harbor.

           i heard somewhere that the first fruit of the Spirit, love and the last one, self-control are like bookends which hold together the remaining seven. The last shall be first, so let’s start with Self-control…

The word “discipline” is the English transliteration of the Hebrew idea of “self-control”. The O.T. uses that Hebrew word 50 times, and the English translators called it reproof, chastisement, or instruction… but in the sense of self-control, it is seen as discipline, correction, or personal restraint. In the New Testament, the word often used is “sober”, “moderate”, “temperance”, and even “discreet”, meaning to be of sound mind, self-controlled and sane… or as i like to see it… thinking on level ground. The picture is one of fenced in passions and purposeful restraint.

The word for “self-control” reveals God’s intent that we use it as one of our methods to enter into the “returning light of God” which will wash over us like a wave, empowering us to be even more disciplined; the implication of the word means we are to explore our real motivations, in order to stand in the revealed truth of the Lord, knowing the Lord is our support to lean upon in order to conquer the passions of our flesh… and so much, if not all the battle for self-control is in our head. In the belly of a man are the passions which need to be in subjection.

One method to bring those passions into subjection is honesty, rigorous honesty, understanding why we do what we do… getting God’s instruction and correction is called education… something we, as a nation, desperately need… not education in the ways of the world and men, but of the Lord and His values. The Lord IS our method for our feet to be on a level path, or exercising self-control.

Gentleness – is portrayed as something with a much larger implication in the Hebrew and Greek than in English… in the case of Galatians 5:23, the translators used single words like “gentleness” or “meekness”, but the larger picture is “to have the attitude of a little lamb”… not, as many interpret “gentleness” as groveling, slavish, or pandering. What the Lord means is far from that. Gentleness is so very not cowardice or weakness, by any means, according to God’s values.

Ecclesiastes 8:1, “There’s nothing better than being wise, knowing how to interpret the meaning of life. Wisdom puts light in the eyes, and gives gentleness to words and manners.”

Those who go with God and endure the “educational institution of unhappy situations” have their sharp edges rounded off by circumstances, with the character of Jesus slowly being revealed in them like gold sticking out of the ground. Gentleness is a grace all believers possess… mildness of disposition, a natural inclination to kindness above violence and doesn’t spring out of, nor rest upon a sense of worthlessness. Ever. A gentle heart is not a victim’s heart.

In 2Cor10:1, Paul included the words meekness and lowly in conjunction with gentleness. These three words support each other and easily go together… gentleness requires humility, and humility is accompanied by meekness…. in contrast, with pride and feelings of superiority come rough reactions, stubbornness, and know-it-all answers. Gentleness isn’t just an external attribute like a washed face, instead, it is, what i call, an “inner worked grace of the soul”, born from the inside out… not ignoring our wrongness of character, nor being distracted from it, pretending it isn’t there, but by accepting with a receptive heart Christ who is able to save us altogether. Gentleness is a pattern of grace only found in Christ Jesus.

           These days, in a world of moveable boundaries, flexible morals, and the changing colors of loose principals and ethics, depending on the back drop, i believe faithfulness, is one of our most excellent testimonies to the greatness of our God. Faithfulness is related to that of fidelity and several times the original Bible translators interchanged “faithful” with “fidelity”. Anytime we see the words, “Hi-fidelity” on a stereo or an album cover, it means it is considered “faithful” to its source… as believers, it is the fruit of righteousness to be “faithful” to our source. Fidelity and faithfulness is the character of one who can be relied on.

An attribute of God is His faithfulness and, if we are His children, first born in the Kingdom of God, then we reflect this quality also. We are faithful in friendship, faithful in marriage, faithful in keeping His values, we practice “hi-fidelity” – meaning dependable, reliable, consistent and repeatable. Faithfulness is the concept of unfailingly remaining loyal to someone or something and putting that loyalty into consistent practice, regardless of extenuating circumstances.

We wear our faithfulness as a ring or bracelet, it adorns us like jewels for all to see as a reflection of Jesus in our hearts. Faithfulness isn’t just how you act, it’s more than what you do… it’s our dependable, consistent, and repeatable lifestyle.

We get to know “goodness” by being involved with the personification of “goodness”… Jesus, and the better we know Him and His details, the more of a sharpened gold standard of goodness we can live by. Goodness is both hidden and revealed, it is seen in the idea of “the greater includes the lesser” like a mother carries a child in her womb. Goodness has a way of bringing potential things into becoming a reality. By the blood of Jesus and through faith, goodness is imparted to us….it is there, intrinsic to our character because Jesus is alive in us. Everywhere we go, everything we touch, everywhere we set our feet, the oil of anointing of God’s goodness leaves its mark. In every kind word and every good deed, His goodness is infused in it and passed on to the world around us. Goodness subdues and coerces… subduing by way of God being so good to us we can’t help but love Him, and coercive in that when God’s goodness is poured out, even on the unbelieving, they are driven to their knees in honor of the King. God’s goodness will never be restrained, not chained, nor managed by man… it does what the Lord says and follows His will… like the wind or the sea, it cannot be directed by man, and is exclusively controlled by God. Man cannot alter it, and cannot change it; goodness goes before and after us like a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy are with me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.”

God’s goodness is never still, like the wind… day and night it is always moving. When the sun shines it is moving up and down the hills, across oceans and deserts… goodness is never still. The moon shines and the stars light up, and still it moves on. Even in darkness, when our eyes see nothing, goodness is still moving like the ocean waves; it is like when we are asleep, the forests and fields are still growing, we may not notice but His goodness is always marching on. A.W. Tozer said, “His goodness is the axle and we are the wheel, it is central to all that happens with the wheel, whether or not the wheel understands or appreciates the axle”… that is a picture of God’s goodness and it is alive in us… amen

           Kindness is not only what we do, but how we are and why we do what we do. It is a kindness to listen; it is a kindness to bury the dead; it is a virtue which affects everyone and was considered part of the Knight’s Code of Chivalry. Ruth kept her word and went with Naomi out of love. Boaz recognized her action as goodness in Ruth 2:11-12 and calls it kindness in Ruth 3:10. Kindness is the power to lift up the fallen ones and those who are near to fainting in the heat of battle… it is having grace in the palm of your hands to pass out like candy from your pockets… an action where we extend our hands of grace to others. From the Hebrew words for kindness and compassion, they are, amazingly, words of grace which are linked by grace. Within kindness is written the Names of God, which are powerful to break down strongholds and overcome darkness in high places… within compassion there is the action of God for the sake of the Son, Jesus. In the middle of kindness is “goodness” which is an inspiration for repentance. That the Lord accepts our repentance is a kindness, after all, His kindness leads us to repentance. When we practice kindness and compassion… goodness, the goodness of God is enlarged in the spiritual eyes of the world. Kindness and compassion always end up pointing to the King of Kings, are always inclined to teach others of the Lord’s purposes, and are never random.

Longsuffering – patiently enduring while diligently clinging to the promise that God will do what He said He would do, and when He does, it will be a testimony to all who see. In the mean time, we develop an understanding of the Lord, coming to a better perception of what is in our hearts along with knowing God’s details. Longsuffering is that quality of self-restraint in the face of offense and personal challenge which does not hastily retaliate or run swiftly to chastisement; it is the opposite of anger, is associated with mercy, and is used of God in Ex. 34:6.

Getting wisdom and grace are often acquired through trials and difficulties… typically through situations rife with unfortunate circumstances and not something we would wish on anyone, but truly, it is wisdom and grace possessed in no other way except to “go through” deep water with the Lord. In the Old Testament, patience can be used where the translators used longsuffering. If we set sail with longsuffering, patience insists on being at the helm also. Patience says i will abide in Christ while we wait, and longsuffering says i refuse to budge from my place of forbearance while patience does her work. It is easy to find fault with other believers, but it is God in us to be longsuffering and patient.

Peace, real shalom peace is only gotten one place in the universe. Many search for fulfillment, happiness and contentment in material possessions, money, sex, entertainment, etc. But those things do nothing to fill “the hole in our soul” which only GOD can fill. God’s peace, shalom peace, is dependent on trust, doesn’t need to be seen to be believed, makes room for trouble, trusts God to manage everything, and always endures… it doesn’t mean there is an absence of violence. Shalom peace brings all things into alignment, draws everything into it’s proper God-context; it sets the correct horizon and focal point and is the only vanishing point based on God’s Che’sed, which is never vanishing… peace is part of God’s mercy and grace… beyond the vanishing point. God’s peace is defined as God Himself, He is the pivot and pinion, and peace is part of the Fountain of His heart on which we hang our lives in confidence and assurance, never failing and always in shalom peace by the blood of Jesus. Peace, God’s peace, is one of the elements of the platform on which we plant our feet and live our lives….it is one of the ways we know we are in the fellowship of the saints. Everybody wants it, but in the world today, it would appear not many have it. God’s idea of peace, shalom peace, has “Ha’Shem – The Name” built into it. Looking at the root Hebrew word for peace… it represents Yeshua and the names of God, it is about learning and teaching, in that we can’t teach others about peace unless we, ourselves, have first learned about peace. In peace is hope, denoting direction, goal, and purpose, three key elements of hope. In peace is an underground stream and completeness, Our God-peace is hidden in our hearts and revealed in our character and actions, and glorifies the Kingdom of the Almighty.

           Joy is associated with gladness, which can be a wonderful habit-forming inclination of the heart… much more than being “happy”. From God’s perspective, joy doesn’t have sharp rises and falls, like a sine wave, but it’s always on the slow steady rise, and it persists. Joy, as a fruit of the Spirit, is the melody of an illuminated heart, a brilliant gladness with a shout in the middle of our fundamental make up. With joy, comes light, and the root Hebrew word for “light”, as used in Esther 8:16 is an action verb meaning, “to be illuminated”. The picture is one of head and heart being connected by our purposeful choice, which to me means choosing Jesus… when that happens, there is illumination, making us to be bright. Rejoicing is the root word of joy…those with joy have an illuminated heart, God-light at their center. Joy is tied to gladness in Esther 8:16, expressing a shout in gladness… not just being happy but more, exhilarating brightness, and the dancing fire of rejoicing… the opposite of hard breathing conflict and sighing grief, struggle, and trouble. With wind and fire we have joy and gladness in the Holy Spirit, who comes to us with a melody in His glad heart, making us passionate to rejoice, regardless of our circumstances… even when the sky is dark, those in the fellowship of the saints have a naturally occurring brightness and singing which always finds a way to rise in their heart.

As self control is one book end to the fruit of the Spirit, Love is the other, the God-glue that sticks it all together.

The love of God, as demonstrated by Jesus, is the crown of everything and has everything to do with everything. His love is universe changing, demon defeating, earth re-polarizing, disease healing, and relationship repairing, Jesus is love and love is the answer of all answers, both noun and verb altogether. Love healed the sick and lame, love raised the dead, love was kind to the desperate and the leprous, and gave His face to mankind… looking us right in the eyes for the first time ever. The Father (aleph) sent His Son (beit), and by means of the Holy Spirit (gimel), makes appeal to the poor and needy to receive the Love of God.

Love literally is not bound by law, but is free to walk in and out, filled to running over with divine grace and holiness… and right in the middle, in the belly of the word, is a prayerful rainbow. Love girds us with the sword of the Spirit and decides it is fitting to be generous to run after the poor; it is uninterrupted and thrives in perpetual faithfulness.  As a fruit of the Spirit, love is about character and action, as is the heart of the Father about character and action… loves’ intent of grace makes opportunity for those who have wandered off… to come home. It is the motivation of Love to lift the burden of those who hoist the white flag of surrender, and persuade those who have not yet abdicated their fortifications to come home singing the songs of returning to God.

So ends the review of the nine fruits of the Spirit, each one have it’s own branches which represent the righteous character of the Lord, who is most extraordinary, the One and Only, savior of mankind.

           When our Savior is on the throne of our heart, what is in our heart makes us more than a conqueror by the blood of Jesus… like the persistence of leaven in dough. As a result, His qualities of righteousness become qualities of ourselves to shine in the dark world around us, offering salvation to those who are chained in darkness… imprisoned in chaos.

Isaiah 49:9, “That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.‘”

Here is a reconstruction of Gal5:22-23 by extending single words into their identities…. “But the fruit, the action and consequence of the Holy Spirit is

love – free roaming and overflowing with divine grace, a noun and verb altogether; joy – an effervescent melody of an illuminated heart; peace – a heart that is settled and still comprised of direction, goals, and purpose; longsuffering – that fierce determination to not be moved while we wait; kindness – grace in the palm of your hands to give away; goodness – the axle and hub of our heart; faithfulness –dependable, reliable, consistent, and repeatable; gentleness – an inner worked grace of the soul as in the manner of a lamb; and self-control – thinking on level ground with purposeful fenced in passions.” This is the beauty of the Lord.

From where i’m sitting, i don’t believe we should function in merely an either/or employment of the fruits and gifts… i believe we, who are mature in Christ, should be hitting on all cylinders, operating in all fruits and all gifts at the same time, being instant in season and out. Sure, the Lord has made some to have more of one gift, ministry, or practice than the other, but….

The Fruits of the Spirit are the governance and foundation of the beautiful manifestations of the Spirit of God… they are more than just something we do, but are governing policies by which our lives are lived. Not a “to do” but a “to be”.

We are to be pastoral with love as is needed, evangelical with joy and gladness, practice tongues and interpretations with diligence and peace at all times, and being prophetic to the benefit of the whole church with love, and self-control…they all function together as a whole, not separately while wearing a suit standing up to be noticed on a platform somewhere. Like the dove who needs both wings and all nine primary feathers on each wing to fly, we too, fly above a fallen world to glorify the Lord and all He represents. To function in both gifts and fruits is a calling of the Lord.

The fruits of the Spirit aren’t attributes we go and get somewhere, they aren’t book learned, won as a prize, or some sort of mental ascension, but are overarching policies of our lives… They are all works of the Lord, attributes of Himself that He shares with us.

Be strong and courageous… remember, our God is a consuming fire, the closer He gets to all things, the more all things become like Him, which, to me, is a wonderful thing, indeed. Drive carefully, mind the gap, and i’ll talk to you next time. Amen!