There, at the end of my pencil point were letters and words, notes to myself and pictures of visions i had made to remind myself of what the Lord was saying or showing me. It was a very small intersection… there… where the point of the pencil met the paper, it was such a very small intersection yet it was the visible manifestation of what was happening in my head and heart, in all its rightness or wrongness, for better or worse. Sometimes it was just me being glad “out loud”, complaining “out loud”, being sad “out loud”, praying “out loud”… believe it or not, that little point on the end of the pencil has volume, time, and even rhythm.

At the point of my pencil was me making history, and highly likely it was only the Lord and myself who could see, forever… probably being the ONLY ones to see, but it was there, on the page never the less.

As the ideas unfolded, page after page, my eyes begin to see patterns to what God was getting at. But what, i often posed to myself, what exactly was the Lord getting at?

i loved the pictures i drew of a house as seen from the street… all neat with its clipped hedges, trimmed yard, manicured flower beds, swept driveway, freshly Windex’d storm door glass, and front porch chairs posed to look inviting… the fence line was even and the gate latched with pristine precision so as to not be too high or low, not too lose and not too tight. It was all just right. The lamps, as seen from the street through the windows were perfectly posed to give the appearance of home, peace, and tranquility.

That… vision… is how most of us hope or wish our houses look and it’s also how we hope and wish our calling was. i’m pretty sure everyone desires that when anyone drives by, looking at the front of our house, they’ll get the impression that the people who live there are as together as the outside of the house. It’s how most of us would like very much to appear to the world around us. As i thought about all that, the Lord posed me a question: “It’s a pretty picture, but is that really where you live and who you are?”

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts. Right before the Stone Bridge, take a left, past the long fields of grace, you’ll see the river on the right and big trees beyond the river banks… at the end is a cafe’, beautiful for situation whose patrons are often shining lights full of righteous character.

What is in your backyard, and noooooo, i don’t mean your physical one necessarily, well, maybe a little, but the one which is unseen and unspoken of? God is interested in our entire life, including what grows in our hearts where no one can see but Him.

i believe everyone has the potential for a beautiful backyard, even the worst of us. i say let us allow people in our backyards to see the green shoots of grace which grow there, not being afraid any longer of what might be seen or what others might think when they do see what’s back there….it is a call to everyone who is a believer.

Over many years of trying to think of “Who am i in the Kingdom of God and what do i do,” after personally interviewing many, many people, i’ve come to the conclusion that most of us really don’t know how to describe ourselves, nor do we know much about what we do.

It was mentioned in the last program that because most of us can’t quite place ourselves in a “church-recognized and religiously sanctioned” function, somehow we think we are less….do you know what i mean? It bears saying again, just because you have a different calling doesn’t mean you have a lesser calling.

One day about 6 years ago, i was sitting with a friend, both being between appointments, eating our lunch and revelating a bit. He asked me, “Who do you think you are in the Kingdom of God?” Instantly, through my mind went a string of rebukes, commands to don’t even go there, “stop thinking these things”, and a strong sense that if i answered in a positive manner i would be proud and arrogant, and you know, “pride goes before a fall”… watch out! Be careful! Just – Don’t! My heart was filled with such conflict i couldn’t hardly answer. He noticed my sputtering and halting so he encouraged me again, “Ok, all possibilities of pride and arrogance aside, ‘cause i know your heart, just put it out there come hell or high water. Who do you think you are in the Kingdom and what do you do?” Ugh! Man, this was hard. i continued to sputter and pop and really avoid any sort of coherent reply. He asked, “Well, do you think you’re an apostle?” i nearly hissed at him that he would even suggest such an elevated position! i said, while staring at the floor saying in a pitiful voice, “‘The Lord has used me to plant more than a few things which are still going, but no, i don’t think i’m that person.” In my head were visions of overly large heroes of the faith with a little bitty stick figure of myself standing next to them… nope, i didn’t measure up. He asked, “Do you think you’re a prophet?” i sputtered and popped, terrified to answer… now turning my head completely away from him to stare out the window, but said, again saying in a most pitious voice, “The Lord has given me a prophetic gift that works when i wish it wouldn’t and doesn’t work when i wish it would, but i… but… well, ‘er, ummm… you know…” In my mind loomed other large heroes of the faith and an even smaller, itty bitty, three fingered, googley eyed stick figure of myself next to them… nope, didn’t measure up again. This went on and on, we were obviously not getting anywhere because i didn’t see myself fitting any of the “church-sanctioned” commonly accepted titles or recognized “Kingdom models” of identity….in my vision i only saw myself as a little, three-fingered, googley eyed, toothy grinning stick figure.

Then he said, mercifully, “Let’s turn it around then, who do you think you’re NOT?” Immediately, i had my hands on stacks of data i had gathered, and out of my mouth i heard myself say, “Oh, that’s easy, i know a lot about who i’m not.” BAM! In the brilliant NOW of the moment that i said those words, the Lord posed me a very piercing question, He said, “How is it you know so much about what you don’t, and can’t, and won’t, and so little about what you do, and can, and will… how is it you know so little about who I say you are?”

 i was so afraid of believing who God said i was. i was afraid others might not agree with what i saw of myself and publicly embarrass me. i was afraid of failing to actually live up to someone’s expectation of who i presented myself to be. i was afraid of appearing arrogant. i was afraid that what i saw of myself was just a lie i’d told myself because i needed to be “somebody” really bad. i was afraid i didn’t fit the church-sanctioned role of what a spiritual gift was, making who i saw myself as, invalid… again. i was afraid i wouldn’t be squeaky clean enough, therefore i wouldn’t be seen as actually sanctified by the “powers of authority” in my church family. Afraid is the common word in all of that, therefore i did nothing and saw myself as nothing, doing nothing, and going nowhere, that was the safest place it seemed… yet somehow i still had a burning desire to be used of the Lord and to know Jesus. Can you say “cognitive dissonance”?

Over time, i’ve asked people those same questions which my friend offered to me… and do you know?… i have gotten the same sort of replies from men and women from one side of this country to the other. We are not sure how to think of or describe ourselves, and it feels like a real identity crisis… it’s as if we’ve been taught to be afraid to think well of ourselves but to also regret our negative internal narrative, creating, yet another cognitive dissonance. We want to step up and out as the Lord would ask but we are truly terrified someone will see all the junk we keep hidden in our backyard; we fear they’ll see that the pristine front yard doesn’t match the shipwrecks hidden in the back yard…

In true Dr. Seuss-style,

Others might see the ships which had crashed at night on the rocks of ignorant or stupid;

Oh dread that they might see the old sagging boxes of ideas that didn’t work right;

strings and strings of old burned-out Christmas tree lights which shined for the wrong reason;

they might see the never replied-to well-wishing cards,

just burned-up ground, just char going near and far,

they may see the old hope-a-lumps which moved in from the dumps,

the 3-legged hashlets,

4-eyed tagets,

and a line of dirty old dancing rats…

and let’s not forget the aging broken cars which never went far,

all hidden in the backyard…and if people go into our secret spaces, we believe that somehow… somehow… everyone will know, we are not who they thought we were.

Friends, God has another view entirely. Just because we have a different calling doesn’t mean we have a lesser calling. When we hide and build fences, it hinders our forward movement and our being able to come into the destiny God has for us. Secrets build fences, and confession builds bridges.

          Now, don’t you know, we can count on the truth that in Christ, everyone has a calling. Ephesians 4:1-3, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

That is how you do your calling. Not with big-chested declarations but with all humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. Let me encourage us all, just because we don’t know what our calling is by name, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It is highly likely Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians while he was in prison in Rome, but while the man was in prison for the faith, he was still talking to other believers about their calling and how to do it.

i knew of a fellow, who, after many years, came to the conclusion that his calling was to be, as he said, “a little brown piece of paper that goes where ever the wind blows, and every now and again, someone picks it up to see what is written on it.”

i know another guy who says his calling is to be like a tow truck, ‘cause he’s got a real knack for showing up when people need a tow.

Many of us, so many ask, “What is my ministry? Please pray for me.” i want to say it again, from the moment you step out your door, every day, you are IN your ministry. Every day you have the opportunity to be gentle with people. Every day you have the opportunity to be kind and patient. i don’t know what to call that, but it is a calling to be the person who does such things. You may not believe all that goes far, but i think you’d be so surprised to learn that even a phone call to tell someone you were thinking of them and wondered if they needed anything, lifts the hearts of someone you may not know is feeling tired and downtrodden. Every day is an opportunity to exercise God’s values… there’s a calling right there. Visit with people, it is the gospel in motion to bring a little peace and sanity to the lives of others.

Letting others into your backyard is brave to many folks. When we hear the testimony of someone at an alcoholics anonymous meeting, we may think they are being brave to tell about the things in their lives which were hidden from sight… and many times their rigorous honesty makes others uncomfortable. But in all their tragedy, they have learned that secrets build fences and confession builds bridges.

When i’ve told my testimony, it is surprising the people who come afterward and tell me what a brave person i am to reveal those things of myself. Oddly, i don’t consider it brave, i consider it a testimony of God’s grace and redemption, it is glorious, but for them to reveal those sorts of things of themselves is truly terrifying. i want people to see the green shoots of grace growing in my backyard. I want people to see the catastrophes which the Lord has turned into beautiful flowers, i want them to see the cataclysmic calamity of my life which the Lord has turned into the blooming trees which smell like God’s cologne growing in my backyard. It is one way we give people hope. Our testimony of God’s greatness is born from our mess in the backyard, not the pristine presentation of the front of the house. It’s not about our badness but about God’s goodness. Our testimony is a praise and God inhabits the praises of His people. (Psalm 22:3). It’s amazing to think that God, in all his fullness, inhabits and dwells in our praises of Him.

Everyone has a backyard, and everyone has stuff hidden away. Everyone has a few secrets, and the older you get the more potential secrets there may be. Until we deal with our hidden things, which cause us such conflict, we can go get deliverance and Sozo until the cows come home, but at some point, we’re going to have to deal with the things which constrain us, that which brought us to needing deliverance in the first place.

Merriam-Webster defines a “calling” as: “… a strong inner impulse toward a particular course of action especially when accompanied by conviction of divine influence.”

i believe entering into my calling in Christ is directly connected to how i tend what’s not easily seen in my backyard. Learning to participate with God in my own restoration, redemption, calling, and salvation is not something that happens overnight. We must be brave to go there. Do #4 of the 12 steps, do a “fearless and moral inventory of yourself”, not your neighbor, but yourself. Playing “Holy Ghost Jr.” on your neighbor, eventually, only causes people to become emotionally unavailable and not transparent. If THEY bring it to the table to investigate is light years apart from taking it upon ourselves to investigate our neighbor. If we think about it, the Lord has been speaking to us about our backyard L-O-N-G before someone decided to do a deep dive, univited, into our backyard. Why were we satisfied to listen to someone aiming their finger at us and ignoring the Lord before hand? Chances are very good God has been long ago talking to us about our mess. Jesus said “Follow Me”, not those who say they follow Jesus. (Matthew 4:19) The Lord desires we participate with Him in what He’s doing. One wonderful point Henry Blackabby makes in “Experiencing God” is that we should ask the Lord to show us where He’s working, and join Him there.

What is behind our house, where we really live in our hearts is far more what defines us than the facade we pose for others to see.

For me and millions of others, how we see ourselves, for real, is somehow reflected in how we see the Lord. The question, “Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us?” is not an easy question to answer, not because the answers are hard to find, but because it requires rigorous honesty that most seem unwilling to practice.

We want very much to come into our calling, but what if our calling starts with us resolving our internal conflicts, or at least walking in that direction? What if it starts with us embracing our shadows and learning to let people into our lives enough where we can not only laugh with joyful hearts together but weep with broken hearts together?

To begin cleaning up our backyard, let your mouth tell the story of your bruised conscience, the loss of love for righteous things, and how your flesh has given power over your spirit. Open your mouth and let it out. Let us move in the direction of restoration by unshackling ourselves from our shame and disappointment. Open your mouth and tell it. Do you want to know more clearly what your calling is? The more we clean up our hidden things, the more obvious the green shoots of grace will be, and the more obvious the green shoots of grace and flowers of mercy are in us, the more clarity we will have… day by day, the vision of where we’re going will become more apparent.

James 5:16, “Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with.”

In Gen3 a sequence of events took place which changed the course of mankind forever. In the opening scene, the serpent tries to put words in Eve’s mouth by asking her if it was true that God said they couldn’t eat of ANY tree in the garden. Eve replied that God did not say that, but she did add to what the Lord said, saying, they could eat of any tree except the one in the middle, and, here’s the part she added…. that they couldn’t even TOUCH it because they would die. The serpent throws doubt at the woman saying, “Oh, you won’t die! Tsk! He just doesn’t want you to be like Him, almighty, and all-powerful” The serpent implied to the woman that somehow, God was holding out on her, and evidently, she was game to hear it. When the Lord asked Adam why they did what they did, Adam blamed Eve saying it was the woman’s fault, you know, the one YOU gave me. Then the Lord asked Eve a similar question, Eve said, “Oh, the snake deceived me, wasn’t me, wasn’t me!” And the rest is history. But here’s what i’m getting at: Adam and Eve became convinced their way was better than God’s, AND, a big AND there, not only did they not take responsibility for their actions, but they blamed someone else… in the midst of it all they became so self-conscious, that they hid themselves, and then tried to justify and defend their position. Are we any different today? Interview inmates at prison… you’ll hear basically the same premise over and over… interview folks in churches, yes churches, and even there you’ll hear the same idea… wasn’t me, wasn’t me, and “If so-n-so hadn’t done thus and such then i wouldn’t have done this and that.” Still hiding, still afraid someone will discover we are not all we declare, all the while, missing the part that God has a greater destiny for us than we’ve imagined and He is truly good, all the time.

In Genesis 3:9, when God asked, “Where are you?”, He didn’t necessarily mean a geographical location, more likely He meant where are you in your heart, like saying, “What’s with you man?! Who’s side are you on!” The emphasis in the question likely wasn’t a pleasant, even tone. God didn’t need to know where they were in their hearts, as if He was perplexed, He wanted Adam and Eve to search their own heart so THEY would know where they stood and to comprehend the repercussions of their actions. It was not a good day in paradise, but God already had a plan to redeem things, and restore the Kingdom.

i believe many in the church today are so self-conscious and feel so ineffective, they try to present a good face in order to get along, but in the place where they really live, about 3” below the surface of their presentation face, the picture of themselves is similar to how i saw myself all those years ago… like a little stick man, with a round head, eight stick fingers, six stick toes, and a toothy, goofy grin.

God says if we’ll repent, if we’ll be responsible for our actions, if we’ll let our secrets out of the backyard and allow the planting of the Lord to bloom, our calling will come into view, and we will have the fellowship with the Lord as we have dreamed was possible… but as long as we’re still keeping secrets and building fences, coming into your calling is inhibited and restrained… eventually, hiding makes going forward a near impossibility. Consider: What is it that constrains you? Think about it.

           1 John 1:3, “that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

In our fellowship with Christ, the Son of God, our role in Kingdom events will gain clarity. You may think that facilitating worship in music and song for a little home group somewhere is, in your mind, “less than”… i can assure you that is not true. Just because you have a different calling doesn’t mean it is a lesser calling.  Maybe your heart was to make records and hit the road, or maybe the dream was that everyone would want you to come to their church to lead them in glorious worship music and go on “world tour” (with “world tour” said with a big echoing voice). Is, hidden in your backyard, a desire to be fabulous, amazing, recognized and great? Is it possible, this thing hidden in the back, this secret desire, could it be something that restrains your entire life? i cannot begin to recount to you the number of very talented young people who come to Christian music producers (as told to me by a producer for Sparrow Records), not always but often not saying, “i want to share Jesus with the world and have a burning passion for the gospel,” but instead from their mouths comes “How soon can i make a record”, “How much does it pay”, and “How soon can i go on the road.”

Let us do what is in front of us. God is using us to be like the point of a pencil on paper. Each of us is writing our story every day in the world around us through our honesty, our kindness, our extension of grace… through our hope, and… when we let people in our backyard, no longer fearing that they will see our shipwrecks and old junk, more importantly, they will also see the green shoots of grace which tell the story of our redemption and restoration.

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts.

If we don’t deal with the stuff hidden behind our metaphorical houses, the world will probably never see the green shoots of grace growing there because we are too self-conscious to allow them up close to us. Let the hidden things go and instead of seeing them as an embarrassment, see them as testimonies of God’s great deliverance, mercy, and power. What if Adam and Eve had acted responsibly, owned their actions and repented? How do you think that would have changed things today?

But that’s not what happened, and here we are. Let people see what God has done in your life, be a bright light with all power. Philippians 2:14-15, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,” Let your light shine up close and personal into the eyes of a world which desperately needs Jesus.

Our lives are like the point of a pencil, making letters and words which represent the heart of God, making history. Our lives paint pictures for others to see, make sounds of music and write God-words on our windows where people can look into who we are. You, who are believers, are writing and the world is watching and reading. Invite them up close and personal to observe God’s salvation in your life. Let them in.

Be strong and courageous. Friends, it’s time to get down to business with God. Until we meet again…Amen, and amen.

i thought i would come to the cafe a little prevenient this evening, considering it’s getting dark earlier, i wanted to enjoy the fading light of the day with all the colors of the setting sun.

i’m Social Porter and welcome to Outposts.

Revival is messy! Some folks run to it, others run away. Some stand in the midst and don’t see it, as if their eyes have misted over and they’ve fallen into a dream. Some folks immediately go into emotional overload and just go home, like the pastor upon who’s church the Holy Spirit visited, and it all contradicted so many of his pet doctrines he just clicked out… rounded up his family and left all the people to it telling them to turn out the lights and lock up when they were done. Yes, that really happened.

Then, yes, then, there are the leaders who feel they must control it all, still trying to orchestrate things, managing the time schedule, don’t do or say anything which challenges our mission statement or by laws, keep everyone within the rules, especially the women…no kidding, it happens… sort of like asking the worship team to go up and do something spontaneous for a just a few minutes. Hmmmm….that would be scripted spontaneity… how do you do that? It’s in the same absurd vain as “a suggested required donation”…  it’s an oxymoron, meaning they are contradictory terms appearing in conjunction.

There’s a lot of material out there, really good material, addressing the issue of the coming outpouring of the Lord, so this is nothing new to hear about. Even so, it is always worth talking about. Why? Because when it happens in your heart, in your house, in your church, in your town, all that great reading material will be at home on the night stand, you’ll be the one in the middle of it all, and it will be unique to you and yours, specifically where you are at the time, and the predictable outcome and calculatable results won’t be as were expected. The idea is to flow with the Spirit in the season, not get lost in a well-meaning revival model some very smart person mapped out.

When revival blossoms like fragrant, well-watered flowers, and then turns into a raging, Holy Ghost wild fire, there is no room for the 3P’s… power, position, and prestige… you know, pride and arrogance will cause us to slit our eyes to only see what we want, will narrow our ears to only hear what we want, and will turn the song in our mouth into the braying of a donkey. Our self-importance and image management programs will be like a headstone tied around our neck, dragging us down to the depths of the ocean floor. God requires us to come in by the narrow gate in Luke 13:24, but pride and arrogance, self-important title lovers will be too big to get through. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines….position yourselves for what God is about to do. Prayer is not about pulling God down, but putting ourselves in position for what He’s about to do.

When the Lord makes His move, it will truly be… beyond all our predictions and expectations. He will exceed our ideas of who should be in charge, who is anointed, how and where it will happen. We can’t “make” it happen, nor can we extract revival from God to happen before He is ready… but, we certainly can prepare by positioning ourselves, physically, emotionally, and spiritually… prayer is the starting place, as usual, and everything else builds from there.

Proverbs 14:4, “Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.” If the barn is clean, there’s not much going on.

i don’t know it, but i seriously doubt the next outpouring of the Lord will be gotten by following the guide lines of an old paradigm or a nifty church model which worked once upon a time. In Joshua 6 they marched around Jericho seven times and the seventh time all the people shouted with a great shout and the walls fell down. Never again has taking a city happened that way.

In 1Samuel 17 David defeated the champion of the Philistines with a rock and a sling. 1 Samuel 17:49-50, “And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David.”

What? NO SWORD? Scripture specifically points this out in nine little words making an incredible point. Yep, No SWORD! Ha! He threw a rock at the guy, the rock made its mark, and the battle was all over except the crying from the enemy.

It had never happened that way before. There are no reports of anyone ever defeating an enemy with a sling and a stone again. Sure, i reckon it’s possible there may have cropped up training centers for future rock slingers, and there may have been people selling slings and some “special giant killer” stones as if they were at a carnival somewhere, but never was it reported that God took out an enemy the same way… ever again.

The method with which revival is arrived at is by following God’s lead. In Acts 2the Holy Spirit came while believers were praying in an upper room… after that i bet there were people who decided that in order for all that wonderment to happen again, they had to find an upper room somewhere, fast and pray, all because some bright person figured that’s how revival happens. (BUZZER)

Another time in June of 1800 at the Red River Meeting House, a small rural Presbyterian congregation was holding a church service which began as a Scottish sacrament service… the communion service started on a Thursday, which was a day of fasting, Friday as a day to ask questions and have discussions, Saturday was preparation day, Sunday they met and had communion, and Monday was a day of giving thanks. But in the middle of it all there began amazing Holy Spirit manifestations with increasing intensity and burning passion for the Lord. The congregants gathered at the church, other sat nearby campsites for singing, worship, and prayer in the morning… there were reports that many continued on for three days and nights, weeping, singing loudly, repenting, and praising God… the passion and zeal would seem to die down and suddenly a shout would come out of the camp and the fire would rise again, continuing for hours and days… as God released one group to rest, He brought in others to carry on, day and night… that is extreme, even in my opinion. It was all so intense it spread from Branch County Kentucky to the surrounding Cumberland region into Tennessee, Ohio, and Western North Carolina. The Holy Ghost fire lasted for almost a year and included other denominations like the Methodists, Quakers and even some stiff Presbyterian leadership. People came from great distances to be a part of what God was doing. One newspaper reporter wrote, as he watched the crowds from a hill, that as they sang and worshipped tirelessly day and night in the valley below him, he could see the Holy Spirit sweeping over the immense crowd of people saying it looked like wind blowing in waves across fields of wheat. From the Cane River Revival an important innovation of continuous church services emerged which they called camp meetings. The revival came to a close around May of 1801.

i grew up in the southeast Bible belt, and even to this day, there are many preachers who still put up a tent and hold camp meetings. Of course, the pattern of camp ground meetings the Lord used in 1800 isn’t how He did it in other revivals. The Scottish sacrament service was tradition which had carried over from Europe, but what the Lord did was unique to the necessities and identities of the people in the culture of the area. If we try to work up revival based on what happened before, what once was the method of connecting with God will become the very method of our hindrance, if we don’t transition to the new, we will be constrained by the old.

Praying and pursuing the Lord for breakthrough and revival is necessary and sounds pretty spiritual and lofty, but honestly, it isn’t exactly a glamorous adventure. It’s bigger than that, there’s more to it than just thinking someone will take a picture of you walking on the water and posting it on Instagram somewhere. In the midst of God’s moving many will feel broken and messy… of course we all want to feel bold, courageous and fearless, but instead what we’ve really got is just how much we desperately needed Jesus every step of the way… some thing just feels right about that. The Lord will get all up in people’s lives. Right now, we may think, Praise God! This is what we came for. But when you’re all laid out on the floor, weeping, broken, and your nose is running in puddles on the floor, it’s not the predictable scene many previously imagined, which was hands raised in the air, everything nice and neatly folded. We live in a world full of broken people in desperate need of a Savior. There will be people showing up in all their brokenness, chaos and all, crying out for Jesus. i can tell you from experience, you may have your composure at the back of the room, but the more intense God’s presence becomes, the less important how you look and act will be.

i think i’m realizing that the world wants us to look at pain, disappointment, loss and injustice as defeat, and it’s not… it’s the reality of life and the truth of ourselves.

In the year 2000, i had an encounter with the Lord that lasted almost a month, with the first 2 weeks being so extreme i can’t hardly talk about it, even now, without being reduced to a puddle. i was in the middle of remodeling a really old house…there was stuff i simply HAD to get done. i hadn’t been doing anything too out of the ordinary for me. It is normal for me to pray in the morning and at night, it is normal for me to fast sometimes, and it is normal for me to read my Bible and study every opportunity i’ve got. So it’s not like i was intentionally pressing in to get something from God. One morning in April about 10am i had just laid some plywood underlayment and while i was down on the floor, i had the thought, “Hey, while you’re down here on your knees, why don’t you pray for a while?” Seemed reasonable, so i did.

Suddenly, the room filled with the presence of the Lord….there was pressure, a wonderful pressing in upon me to the point i was sobbing, not just crying but sobbing…it felt like water pressing through a sponge. Every time i’d try and squeeze the tears out of my eyes so i could see, involuntarily bowed down before Him and the water from my face poured even more… He pressed so close and hard in upon me i couldn’t talk, worship, praise or make any sounds other than sobbing. The one bit of will i had was that i was determined to NOT beg Him to stop but for the Lord to pour all He would pour on me. i was pushed to all my limits, everything in me was pegging the meter. This went on all day and into the night. My family thought i was crazy but it was God, God was in the house and i couldn’t help but be overwhelmed…even my overwhelmed was overwhelmed. A week went by, i couldn’t hardly drive a nail for weeping joy. i profusely and urgently wrote praise and worship, page after page… i even wrote in tongues (it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe it, well, there it is. And it’s not something i contrived or dreamed up. There it is, so, what would you do? Just because someone doesn’t believe God does stuff like that doesn’t mean he doesn’t do those things just because they don’t believe it. It only means, they don’t believe it, and that is all), can you believe that? i made up a written language and wrote in tongues, as totally bizarre as that sounds, all because i could only sob. The world around me was in colors i’d never seen, everything vibrated, visibly vibrated according to it’s resonant frequency… i heard every detail from the breathing of the trees to the spider building a web… i heard the brilliance of all His hand had made. There were dreams… oh my gosh, the dreams… there were God dreams and i’d wake up praying and sobbing. i didn’t wake up and then get blown away, i woke up blown away. This all went on for 2 weeks, day and night. By week three no one would hardly speak to me, they just stared and i knew i was worrying them and driving them crazy. i openly wept at the lumber store, at church, in the feed and seed store… i couldn’t help it due to the press of the incredible presence of the Lord. By week 4 His overwhelming presence was beginning to fade and i began to find my voice, singing praise and worship loud and long, all day long. At the end of the 4th week, i could converse with people without sobbing. It was the Lord and i knew it. Something had been planted in me and i would never be the same.

You’ll not leave here as you came in Jesus Name. Bound, demented, depressed, sick or lame. For the Holy Ghost of Acts is still the same… you’ll not leave here as you came in Jesus Name.

Many years after my encounter with the Lord, a fellow asked me why i didn’t fast and pray to get back to that place of living in the press of His presence. You know, i did try, but it was like trying to light a lighter that was just out of butane…it would spark with a weak flame for a moment and then go out, eventually my efforts only drew a spark, and then it wouldn’t even spark anymore.

i want you to know, when God is in the house and it’s time for revival, no one has to tell you God is in the house. You can’t make it happen, you can’t beat the drums enough to make Him come down. God arrives when He arrives, never early, never late, but always right on time.

There are three rains in Joel 2:23, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.”

There are four rains mentioned there, two are spelled the same but the other two are spelled differently, so there are three different rains which the Lord mentions. Now that’s a discussion for another time, but the point is HE sends the rain, we position ourselves to receive the rain, but we don’t go get the rain nor can we squeeze it out of His hand… He gives it, we receive it.

i went to a major meeting of a well-known international evangelist and speaker many years ago. They beat the drums and played the music for three hours straight… the people were worked up into a lather. Then a man in the employ of the evangelist, right when it seemed the people were at a peak frenzy, got up and started yelling that “God is in the house! GOD is in the house!” Every time he said, “God is in the house!” the people went crazy. Then he started yelling, “Who wants to live under an open Heaven? Who will be the first to give $1000?” i was exasperated with the exploitation of the peoples hot emotion and high atmosphere. After 10 minutes of yelling “God is in the house!” i thought to myself, “You know, if God was really in the house in the sense he means “God is in the house”, he probably wouldn’t have to tell us. We would all more than likely be on the floor, under chairs, weeping, sobbing, repenting, and call out for mercy. i doubt we would need to be told God was in the house though, because when He’s in the house, oh baby, let me tell you, you’ll know it is the Lord and you best be getting low!”

i’ll say it again, no one will have to tell you the Lord is present, we can’t drive Him off for God isn’t as brittle as we might imagine, nor can we make Him stay longer than He’ll stay because the Lord doesn’t manipulate and isn’t subject to coercion, nor is He for sale and is persuaded by someone waving money at Him.

The Lord pours out when He pours out, sometimes at the seemingly smallest things. For example, in 1904, while churches were packed for prayer, during a prayer meeting for young people, Pastor Joseph Jenkins asked for testimonies. A young girl named Florrie Evans, who had only been a believer a few days, rose and with a trembling voice said simply, “I love Jesus with all my heart.” Suddenly, the other young people’s hearts were melted. A powerful spiritual awakening called the Welsh Revival that brought 100,000 people to Christ was under way. The London Times pointed out that entire congregations were on their knees in fervent prayer and “for the first time there was not a single case of drunkenness at the Swansea Petty Sessions.    At the same time in another location, David Lloyd-George, who later became the British Prime Minister, was impressed as a young girl prayed in the presence of 2,000 people. He said, in one town, the tavern sold only 9 cents worth of drinks on Saturday night!

The whole population had been suddenly stirred by a common impulse… Jesus had become the overwhelming, absorbing interest of their lives. People gathered at crowded services for six and eight hours and more at a time. Political meetings were canceled, football games were postponed…even quarrels between trade-union workmen and non-unionists were resolved. The Salvation Army set apart January 19th for a day of confession, humbling themselves, and prayer throughout four countries… England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Did you get that? Throughout four countries! All day prayer meetings were held in many of the principal cities of the British Isles, according to the London Times. The meeting was marked by “fervent prayer and anyone who felt called upon to pray.” The Holy Spirit fires of spiritual revival and moral recovery were spreading.
Coal miners crowded into prayer meetings that lasted till 3:00 a.m. and then they washed up, ate breakfast and returned to work. The fire of revival was even taken underground into the long dark coal mines…and the company managers were good with that. In many cities, newspapers reported that many abandoned gambling and their habits of ill repute to the point that gambling and prostitution businesses closed down for lack of patronage.

Employers noticed a great improvement in the work produced by their employees. A week of united prayer meetings in an English town called Nuneaton led to a “glorious revival”. The Prince’s Theatre was packed each Sunday night after church with 1500 praying believers and many unsaved seekers….the meetings often went on into the night and into the next day. In the Bedfordshire villages, whole nights devoted to prayer prepared for powerful evangelism.

Long lines of people lined up to be baptized, old and young alike. This was more than just a single church having an evening of high emotion and hot atmosphere, more than just banging on drums and playing music wishing things would change…it was happening right in front of them, and each person was in the thick of it. The Welsh Revivals aren’t even the biggest and best known. When the Lord shows up, everything and everyone bows down and declares Him as God.

That is just a glimpse of what it looks like when the Holy Spirit pours out upon us and there springs forth revival in our midst. Probably the largest current revival going on today is in China with about 30,000 people coming to Christ every day.

When the Christ of God came, when Jesus walked the streets, speaking the word of the Lord, healing the sick and lame, raising the dead, and just straight out challenged the religious regime of the day, i think it was the biggest revival ever started. There were always crowds, lots of people, lots of decisions, lots of debating over who He was. It was a jumble as people were pressed in their hearts to decide the most important decision of their lives. There were times when He healed them all, and other times scripture records He only healed one that we know of. The Son of God was the talk of everywhere and was the overwhelming impulse of people’s lives. i can’t think of anyone anywhere more important to spend my time with and to dream about.

The closer the Lord gets to all things, the more all things become like Him. Our God is a consuming fire and draws all things to Himself. Let us pursue the Lord for revival, the breakout of the Holy Spirit for ourselves and our nation. Think about it.

           Oswald Chambers wrote: “We are nowhere told to preach salvation or sanctification or divine healing; we are told to lift up Jesus who is the Redeemer, and He will produce His redemptive results in the souls of men. If I preach only the effects of the redemption, describe in persuasive speech what God has done for me, nothing will happen. It is only when I am humble enough and stupid enough to preach the Cross that the miracle of God takes place.”

Where then do we start with all this? i think Oswald Chambers hit the nail on the head. When we lift up Jesus… there is the starting place. John 12:32, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

All out pouring of the Holy Spirit are preceded by prayer in one form or another. Maybe it’s just a few consistently gathering in a home with the burden of prayer, and then the Lord inspires others to do the same at church, but little by little, the transition to being in position for revival is achieved. Another facet of revival seems to be repentance and the deep knowledge of the need for Jesus by anyone and everyone in the flow of His presence, believer or not.

All in all, it is about Jesus, declaring Jesus, acknowledging Jesus who is our hope and our strength, our resurrected savior who died and rose again for our sins. i do believe it’s safe to say, revival begins on our knees.

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts.

The Lord is preparing us for a great outpouring as we’ve never experienced. Position yourself by prayer, knowing who He is and understanding His heart. What will you do on your day of visitation. i don’t know about you, but i don’t want just a visitation, i want a habitation. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen.

          The following is a compilation from The Message Bible:

Did you know God is a safe house? The moment you arrive, you relax, and you’re never sorry you knocked on God’s door. When God speaks to victims, real victims, their faint pulse picks up and the hearts of the hopeless are lifted when He whispers in their ears. The rule of the gang lords is nearly done and the days of Pharaoh are almost finished. Our God and King made sky-jewelry for us and let’s us write in His book of wonders! How wonderous He is, He is God, our God. When God is around mischief backfires, violence boomerangs, and the people who have mouthfuls of curses turn into windbags, they are flat-earth people who can’t think beyond today. Without Jesus, the Christ of God, man drinks from a canteen filled with hot desert wind, they hang out at Sin-Saloon, they wander down Dead-End Road, those who despise righteousness are what God calls, Hot air boasters!  Bilious and bloated they gas out, they say, “God is gone”….but look at their lives, haven’t you noticed….thistles are their cash crop. They are like sheep which take turns pretending to be the shepherd, but in the end, without God they are just a string of zero’s, treating people like a fast food meal over which they’re too busy to even pray.

Me? i’ll never treat God’s name like a brand name. i’m going to be like turned-around Jacob skipping rope. God’s wise counsel is confirmed in me and is obvious by my resting heart. He cancelled my ticket to hell, and tore up my sin-paycheck. When i had so many secrets which i kept hidden by fences that ran every which way, God was kind and didn’t tear them down, but instead He wrote grace-graffiti all over my fences. Before i knew Jesus, the devil’s water rushed in on me all the time, hell’s ropes clinched tight on my wrists, there were death traps everywhere, and the hangman’s noose was tight around my neck! But then God!! That’s right, But then my God showed up! The earth wobbled, mountains shook, nostril’s flared, mouths spit fire, there were bright cloud bursts, hailstones and fireballs sprayed, oceans were exposed, lightening was hurled, and my God came against the enemy of Heaven like hurricane-anger that is loosed…. and He made me to stand, liberated, on a wide open field. i was, and am, so surprised by His love! He gave me a fresh start. He opened the book of my heart so all His glorious works He had done in me could be reviewed. The text of my life was written, i tasted His goodness, His health and His Truth: my life became God’s floodlight! How can it be, how can it be, that God is so good to a man like me?

Jesus came to me, i could see Him coming down the road from a far, far off, as if i had telescopic vision! There was glory blazing, high fences were vaulted, His enemies were caught and the upstarts were smashed; dead men got nailed! Wham! Wham! i’m telling you, i saw Jesus do it! He was amazingly fearless! What confidence! His presence was so overwhelming that the haters were wiped out, devils gave up and left their hideouts. The Rock is a blessing, He is free and freeing and sets things right. Jesus is Glory on tour, He is God-craft exhibited. At His command Madame Day holds classes, and Professor Night lectures, and unspoken truth is spoken everywhere. There is a new husband for the sun and daybreak races for the tape, there are songs of songs sung, and His Name is beautiful rhyme as hearts are warmed to faith.

Thanks for joining me, i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.

Having set through more than a few sessions of listening to someone attempt to resolve a conflict with someone else, one significant thing i have noticed more often than not, was both people displayed an amazingly distinct lack of listening. We seem to be so involved with ourselves, what we’re going to say and do, that we can’t hear the other person.  In fact, it is a pleasant rarity to meet someone who not only listens, but can actually summarize back to you what you said. You know, it’s very hard to hear your neighbor, when you’re always moving your mouth.

i believe part of the general world anxiety level, which i think is very, very high, is that most folks don’t feel heard, we feel small, invisible, invalidated, and unnecessary, suffering from a generalized feeling of abandonment. i really do believe much of our anxiety could actually be impacted if most of us just put some effort into learning to listen. But, in the middle of conflict, our attitude is, “Who wants to listen to them, especially when THEY are so wrong?”, all said with capital letters, highlighted punctuation, and a little too loud and emphatic.

Maybe it would help if we had a better understanding of what it means to listen, which means  >> to “broaden the ear, hear intelligently, to prick up your ears and pay attention”. Do you see it? It’s more than just perceiving words, but about making an effort to understand the other person and what they mean. Don’t just hear words, but listen for the heart in it all.

At that, i thought i’d cover four basic points of how and where to begin in becoming a good listener.

#1 – Listen in an active manner. Pay attention. Be in the room. Nobody wants to talk to a corpse, so learn to do these three things: Paraphrase, clarify, and give feedback. That’s really important, so hear it is again: paraphrase, clarify, and give feedback. Paraphrasing helps you understand correctly. Clarifying is asking questions until you fully understand what the other person means. Feedback is sharing your own thoughts and feelings in a nonjudgmental way…and, looky here man, you can’t add “you’re such an idiot” at the end and still hope for a positive outcome. Yes, i know, maybe it’s true, but it simply doesn’t need to be said, that is if you really do want to resolve the conflict… you’ll have to search your own heart to know that.

#2 – Listen with empathy. Try to imagine yourself in the other person’s shoes… Understand your neighbor’s problem without joining them in their conflict. Did you get that? Without joining them in their conflict. You may not like what’s being said, but often, as you listen, you may realize that if you were in their shoes you might feel that way too. Rom12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep”. Remember, no one said we have to agree, but consider, God listens to us in all our madness, true, but it doesn’t mean He agrees.

#3 – Listen with openness. Selective listening, defensive listening, and filtered listening are not open listening. Listen as though you were an anthropologist and the person were from another planet; their customs, beliefs and way of thinking are different from yours, and you’re trying to understand them. Again, by no means do we have to go along with their perspective, but we certainly can hear about their dilemma without joining them in it.

(4) Listen with awareness. Does what they are saying line up with the facts? Meaning we, as the listener must have done our homework to at least have an idea of the facts, and consider… just because you have the facts is that the truth. Facts are not always the complete story. If you’ve listened actively, empathetically and openly, and still don’t understand their point of view, you don’t have to attack. Go after the problem not the person! Ridiculing, humiliating, and deliberately provoking the other person does not resolve the conflict, but more embeds the conflict… those actions don’t win anything, it just makes you look like you only want to win and who cares what is right. Take a breath, relax, wait, and gather more information.

The idea is be engaging instead of off-putting. Instead of violently rejecting the other person, possibly you could ask, “Could you tell me a bit more?” or “Could you give me a specific example?” Or you might say, “Thank you for letting me know your perspective. I’ll think about it.” Or, “That’s interesting, I hadn’t considered it in that light.”

God listens to us and hears us, and let us practice to be like the Lord. The art of listening is a Christ-like skill we must develop! Many hear, but few really listen, and that can be changed.

Thank you for reading, i’m social porter with Living in His Name Ministries.

When we see Jesus face to face His presence will govern and light Heaven the same way the sun illuminates the sky, the glory of the Lord allows no shadows in all of Heaven. In my imagination, i can see myself talking to Jesus, hearing His words, and being within reach of the person who has been the all-encompassing focus of all my affections. We’ll get to talk to Him, and hear His words. My dad used to say when he got to Heaven he had some serious questions for God, and i remember thinking, “i doubt it. i’m pretty sure when we see Him all our questions will be answered.” Imagine hearing His voice! In Rev14:2, it says His voice is “like the voice of many waters”, and like “the voice of loud thunder.” Imagine the stories we’ll tell and hear. There will be no contention, competition, or conflict, no one looking over your shoulder waiting for you to make a mistake, no mis-communicated words, and no disappointment. The sparks of struggle will be over and done with… no more friction from the intersection of life and death in us. We will have transitioned beyond our earthly place to the Heavenly home with Jesus.

Sounds a little too good to be true, but it is true non-the-less. Jesus said it’s true, my Bible tells me so! In a world where so much of everything that is said, seen, and heard leaves us wondering how much of it all was true, God is the one consistently reliable person alive. When i look at the milling crowds in the stores and on the street, i wonder to myself, “Why do we have such a hard time letting God be good to us?” i think i know why i do, but maybe it’s not such a bad question for yourself either. Sorting out the “why” of that question is all part of transition which often looks like the sparks of struggle flying into the sky on warm air currents from a campfire that’s just been stirred. The transition to maturity is… uncomfortable.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the deck of a rural cafe overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River. Hopefully, you’ll be inspired to think on the goodness of God beyond just what is encountered in your work-a-day world. i’ll say it again, i think most folks have a lot of Bible in their heads, but somehow they’ve missed the Father’s heart… this evenings topic is part of an effort to offer some things to contemplate in hopes of broadening our horizons to know who it is that loves us, what He means when He says what He says, and why we do the things we do. Do you know what i mean?

i’ve been thinking lately that the only thing worse than people who don’t believe anything, are people who are colorless and believe anything and everything, sort of like carp, just swallowing anything and everything presented to them and are generally ok with most things that happen, as long as it doesn’t happen to them. Colorless.

Friends, we are the people of God and we are supposed to be loyal to God’s values, but i do suppose it would be good to know what those values are.

This evening’s topic is “Friction”, meaning the sparks of transition and how we conduct ourselves in the middle of it all.

When the Lord moves us from where we are to where we will be, either, mentally, physically, spiritually… or maybe all three at one time, it is called transition and with it comes friction. i can’t say for certain, but i’m pretty sure most all of us have endured transitionary periods.

In the Lords’ doing of a new thing, the habits, patterns, and rhythms we’ve developed over time may take a while to unravel as He creates new ones… from our perspective it’s a season of discomfort, we may even experience a season of “lack” or, what we think is not having enough… enough food, money, support, inspiration, passion, insight, or vision….whatever it is, we just feel a lack. i’ve learned over the years to stop arguing with my lack. Some may call it all a season of testing, in the sense of seeing if we can pass some imaginary measure of performance to go to an imaginary “next level” as if we’re in a video game somehow, but the truth is, more than likely, in the end it is to draw our character to the surface. All very trying to say the least. Most transition seems to bring out our sighing deep breaths, complaints, worrying, and agonizing over even the smallest things.

Watching the transition of an unhatched chick is probably one of the most exhausting and agonizing transitions i can think of. While getting free of the shell, the little bird must also learn to breath… it is astounding it even lives long enough to mature… in it’s transition from egg to maturity, it seems all odds are against it surviving from the start. The egg shell was once it’s protection, but what was once a protection from harm has now become it’s potential death, just like what once was a blessing to us has now become a curse, if we don’t transition to the new place we will be constrained by the old.

Colossians 1:28-29, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling, using all God’s working that He powerfully works within me.”

In Colossians1:29 and 2:1, where the English word “struggling” and “struggle”, or “strive” and “striving” is used… it is derived from the Greek word “agon”, which is where we get our English word for “agony”. Striving and struggling is not always linked to hard breathing and sighing, but in the sense of becoming mature and wrestling with life, yes, it is.

It is not the happiest of places. Transition is a place where our flesh contends with the direction and will of the Lord… and in that place of contending, there is friction, pressure, heat, and sparks… there are even dangers of finding solace in the things of the world which are easier and seem more peaceable at the time, but in the long run are hurtful for us and may even diminish us. But as all things come to a head there are two facts that remain which we must consider.

One fact is… we may not want to go thru the deep waters of change, but like it or not, God is going there. We may have our certificates of achievements, titles granted by men, approvals, and endorsements of participation, but none of those things are fire proof. Our mindset of seeing ourselves as having value based on who we sat under or mentored under is not fireproof. How we value God, ourselves and others must change. Moving forward is necessary, and if we’re not willing for the transition, we’ll never know the greater anointing.

The second is… we can’t solve problems with the same mindset which created the problems. When i came to the Lord, i learned all the things i should NOT do, say, or think. i learned by heart all the can NOTS, will NOTS, do NOTS….and consequently i was always in a KNOT and learned very little about grace. As time moved on, the Lord, repetitively took me through transition to learn about how the law could bring me out, but only grace could bring me in. By law everyone is disqualified, but only grace gave me rest, which means i had to learn to rest in His strength. In transition we rarely are 100% sure what we’re doing is the Lord, but i think it prudent to add that by the time we’re 100% sure, our opportunity is probably long passed us by.

i knew a man many years ago who had a large enough pasture to split into 4 sections of 20+ acres each, all fenced with gates leading from one pasture to the other. In one pasture, he put cattle. As the cattle grew and ate one pasture down, he would move them to a new and richer field where the grass was lush, giving the other pastures time to recuperate, be fertilized, tilled, and watered. Do you know, every time he moved them to a better place, all the cattle would bellow and moan for 2-3 days and nights, all because they had moved to a new place. The stress of having been moved was far more devastating to them than the excellence of the place they had moved to. Eventually, they would resign themselves to being in the new place, creating new routines with new places to stand and whatever else cattle do, learning to re-group as they got bigger and more mature. There will be times of exasperation.

i tend to see myself like that. As the Lord takes me through a season of transition, even though He leads me beside still waters and restores my soul, i low and bellow about my discomfort while the friction of change reshapes my passions and vision. The stress and discomfort of the new development and growth is far more gripping than the excellent place He’s brought me into. As usual though, i learn to make new friends, find the courage to venture out to explore, new routines are created, fresh experiences and wisdom are gained, and it’s not too long before i realize the new place He has brought me to is better than the old place i left.

There will be times of exasperation… expect it. Haven’t we all said with finality things like, “If you’re going to use me, then use me! And if not, then let me go!!” Things will conclude and settling down will come around. Trust God even when where you’re going isn’t apparent.

i know a man whom built a house for himself in a remote location. He was burned out with church, most people had become an irritation, and he was just tired of religiousness, self-important preachers, and dead works. The house was beautiful, just the right size to be manageable with enough property to keep some livestock and grow a garden. As time went on God healed his heart of the wounds of the past, and the season of being brought aside with the Lord was coming to a close… a new transition was in the wind. What was once a solitary place of healing and solace had now become a secluded prison of his own making, and the Lord was leading him to greener pastures. It was uncomfortable, all his familiar things seemed to be becoming something else… the struggle of “becoming someone he didn’t know how to be” was lonely and uncomfortable. He knew the idea was to go with God not get what you want, but the surface resistance to forward momentum can be difficult to overcome. i believe God allows aloneness to mature us to rely on Him & Him alone. Though we feel so alone, let us be determined to depend on God until we know we are not alone.

Often in transition we focus just on the things that have changed. Remember, you are more than the change and your life is broader than your circumstances. Invest yourself in church, clubs, the gym, service to God, family, and friends. If you have moved, find a new church, find a gym, ask people where the best local walks are, go visiting the shut in and afflicted… there is no need to stop doing the things you used to do to stay balanced and bright.

Be patient. This is only a transition, it is not entrenched pain. Did you get that? This is the Lord leading you through a transition to higher ground, and it is not entrenched pain. Change is wearisome and this may well be a tough time… but you can do this. Pray that God wouldn’t take away the pain of the transition, but that He would draw you closer to Himself that you would be comforted by His presence. Allow the Holy Spirit to minister to you as you watch the past fade away and embrace what lies ahead.

The church must change. We cannot continue to do things the way we did in 1968 anymore. The old way of church seems more like the 1968 religious paradigm that smells like a dead body in the back… God is moving on and we may not be going there, but God is going there, whether we like it or not. Position yourself and make ready. There is a major repolarization on the horizon and we need to be ready.

Put your dog tags of where you go to church back in your pocket and learn to identify with Jesus Christ, not the club… the question is “Do you know Jesus?” not “Where do you go to church?”. We need to become more flexible and adopt some spiritual adaptability. i don’t mean be more lenient about sin, poor doctrine, and unrighteous living, i mean to be more flexible when it comes to following the Lord. If we put God in a box He will kick over chairs, overturn tables, scatter the money on the floor, and maybe even anoint people whom you would never have thought possible.   Luke 11:33 speaks of hiding a lit candle under a bushel basket… i’d like you to know that if you do that one of two things is going to happen… the candle will go out, or it will burn the basket down, and seeing as how the light of God does not extinguish, your hiding place (the bushel basket) will likely go up in flames at some point. We need to be more flexible. If the Lord takes you through a transitional season to prepare you to move to another country, don’t draw a hard line saying you won’t go there. i know this may seem hard to hear, but if we will not bend, He may simply pass us by and pick someone else. He did it to Israel, why not you?

As we learn flexibility and some spiritual adaptability, it doesn’t happen all at once. Three words come to mind: little by little.

In Deuteronomy7 the Lord told Israel in the days of change that were coming, He would drive out the nations before them, little by little, for if they did it too quickly, the wild things around them would multiply. i believe Israel thought this a wonderful promise at first, but when they were in the middle of all that transition, the friction of constantly following God’s lead and the daily choosing to be obedient to subdue nations larger and stronger than themselves, it was nerve wracking, and a fearsome thing. i bet they were all very, very uncomfortable.

They probably wondered if they were capable of winning against such odds, and i’m sure we all think the same things to ourselves, “What if i’m a failure the first day at my new job?”, “What if no one likes me?” “I don’t know that i can remember all the processes.” “What if i can’t find a good church?” “I don’t know how to be the Christian i’m supposed to be.” “What if i can’t find a job or a house?” What if no one loves me and i never get married and have children?” Yea, well… “what if” a lot of things.

Just like Moses knew that God’s heart was for Israel to triumph over their formidable enemies, and that God had a strategy for victory and deliverance, we need to believe God will not leave us in the middle of our transitional season to go off doing something else. And what do you think God’s plan was? Here is what i think: Basically, it was one step at a time, little by little. Inch by inch life is a cinch, yard by yard it’s very hard. The Lord could have easily just cleared a path to the promised land, but in His wisdom, He knew Israel needed some skin in the game and they needed to fight for what God had given them….they had to know God was with them and that they could overcome with strength and confidence…. that the Lord meant all He said, and would do all He promised.

We have a better promise than Israel did in the desert under the law. Hebrews 8:5-6, “… Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle,for the Lord said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.” But now Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.”

I absolutely believe God has a place for you which has been providentially orchestrated. He has put dreams, vision and desires in your heart, and i bet if you listen closely in your inmost person you can hear His destiny calling.

Just like Israel, you are on a journey toward the full possession of His promises to you, and also like them, you can rest assured you will face opposition as you go. But God has the same strategy for victory in your life as He had for Israel all those years ago: little by little. You will get where He wants you to go one step at a time, one day at a time, one trial at a time, one victory at a time. You can do this, so don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed in the in-between place, hallway between appointments, your time of transition. In order to be more than conqueror’s, as Paul wrote in Roman8:13, there needs to be some overcoming, some trust in God-building, faith stretching, rigorous honesty preferring times in our lives… there needs to be some standing for the truth regardless of how life looks… that is called exercise, and spiritual muscle building… others would call it maturity.

i don’t believe the Lord will eliminate all the opposition against you at one time, nor will He set you in your quote-unquote “land of promise” without taking you through the experiences necessary to learn the lessons and develop the character you will need in the new place where your transition is taking you. He will take out your enemies, eliminating them one by one, and that will take time… all of which He expects us to participate with Him in accomplishing our own path of growing up and being overcomers in His Name.

Instead of quickly eliminating the opposition, God wants to get out the old and bring in the new. He will start with the posture of our heart… our attitudes and mind-sets, He’ll file off our sharp edges with circumstances, challenging relationships and anything else that would keep us from being fully prepared and equipped to possess the promises He has given us. If you are afraid, just watch the Lord… He’ll setup and coordinate situations that will help us overcome fear and replace it with faith.

If no matter how we try, we can’t seem to get a grip on our finances… watch the Lord and see how He may send you additional work so that your bondage to your bills can be replaced with financial freedom… and when the extra work comes we can’t be lazy whiners preferring to lay on the couch.

And yes, we all typically moan and bellow because we’re so uncomfortable, but i’m offering these views in hopes that if we understand the heart of the Lord a little more closely, transition may not be so uncomfortable or painful as we imagined.

i believe it is highly likely, that the things which eventually break up marriages had all the signals revealed during the courting phase, we simply weren’t paying attention. Maybe we were busy looking at the great grill work, or that amazing engine, or the beautiful interior, but we never got around to doing the work of opening the trunk… the tell-tale signs of trouble were there we just didn’t pay attention. If there is someone in your life who would be a liability to you in the future, God may remove that person and lead you to develop a relationship with someone who has the heart and ability to be a blessing upon arriving at the new appointment.

Making the choices to follow the Lord in all those examples are places of friction, where what we want and dream about comes into better alignment with the Heart of the Lord. Important and compelling changes in our live’s require time and patience, so try not to get frustrated in the process. Yea, i know, easier said than done. Too often today’s Christian mentality sees life as no more than one big long trial, and the true goal can only be reached by those who have “worked themselves up towards God” by their own holiness, by conquering all fleshly desires. Life is NOT one big long trial, nor are we powerless to do anything other than what we actually do. Friends, as long as there is a devil and we wear flesh, it’s going to be a struggle, not that we should stop fencing in our passions, but also familiarizing ourselves more exactly with God’s grace and be kind to ourselves.

Remember, as God removes the things that would hinder you and replaces them with things that will help you, He is developing you into a strong, wise, well-equipped warrior who is able to emerge from every difficulty victoriously. Let the Lord do what He does best… just Let… Him… Do… It.

So many are in transition, and i hope this is a little insight to encourage us all to not get down about it. Travel well, follow the Lord, let go of those heavy loads, and let your heart rise, the Lord is with you. Think about it.

Psalm 27:14, “Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!”

When the Lord is involved, even the longest wait has meaning and purpose. He redeems time and restores the years the locusts have eaten.

According to Rom8:28 we can have confidence that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose“. Not one minute of your seemingly uncomfortable and lengthy journey is a waste of time. God does not waste an inkling of His breath, His time, or yours… instead of being grieved or made heavy which may occur in your season of transition, look at it as a priceless opportunity for learning and growth.

There is friction in transition, tension and release, resistance and liberation. It is uncomfortable and messy, like revival, uncomfortable and messy, but God is in the middle and knows exactly what He’s doing. Transition always leads to transformation.

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts for Living In His Name Ministries, hoping to inspire listeners to think about what you spend your time thinking about. If God is not in your picture, it is time to reconsider your position. Consider carefully, time is of the essence, it is not the time to give up.

When we see Jesus, there will be no controversy, or rivalry, nor calamity, or discouragement. The sparks and friction of transition will be over and done with.

But, in the meantime, take it easy, little by little…enjoy the adventure, relax and breath, it’s all part of growing up. Pray for your neighbors, and be careful. Hopefully we’ll meet again next time, amen.

          John 17:17-19 “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”

As long as believers live in the world, they will be going against the flow of this present world system, one way or another. It is inevitable. We will experience pressures, adversity, problems, opportunities to sin, temptations, and struggles. But in all these things, because Jesus overcame the world and, by faith, lives in us, we too are as he is … overcomers. If Jesus had not overcome the world, we would not overcome the world. Because He did, we can, which is always the case. Because Jesus did, we do and we can. Because Jesus knelt (Luke 22:41), we can kneel in righteousness. John 14:18, Jesus said, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” That means God will NOT allow this to happen to us, He will not allow us to be made orphans, and if God said something will not be allowed, we must trust Him that He means whatsoever He says. God does not jest. Jesus was a straight shooter and was not vague. That is an example of good boundaries. Because Jesus had good boundaries, we can have good boundaries.

Because Jesus denied the world in all its’ attractions, rumoring, murmuring, judgment, condemnation, and lust, we can deny the world entrance into our lives also.  Jesus set the precedence for us, to the uttermost, without fail. Because Jesus loved us, we are able to love Him. Because He was free, we can be free also. No one MUST remain a slave to bad character, and death.

Here’s a very good discussion topic: Do you think God will allow into Heaven those who do not love Him? Do we love Jesus and really, truly desire to possess Him who died and rose again for us? What does your conscience say? The unvarnished truth please.

Often believers in Christ are shocked when a prominent Christian or well known minister is caught in some sin. Even people who “know” The Truth can fall into disrepute if they have not allowed the love of God to take root in their lives and have lost their appetite for Jesus. If we are not careful, we can compartmentalized the truth and not allow God’s authenticity and veracity to penetrate us at the core of our being. We can have “head knowledge” of the Word and not “heart knowledge”. Sanctification is when the burning reality of God’s cleansing truth is allowed into every single room and compartment of our lives. In other words, we do not have any secret rooms where we have shut out the Lord. Afterall, it isn’t as though the Lord does not see, for there is nothing God’s eyes have somehow missed. We do not serve a partially blind King, or a King who has some sort of macular degeneration. He is all seeing, so open your doors, tell Him what is really on your mind. Ask Him the hard questions, rest assured He’ll welcome the discussion. A silent doubt never gets answered. Put a voice to it … sometimes our ears need to hear what our mouth says, so speak up … God’s ears are open. Because Jesus was an overcomer, we can be overcomers too! Actually, the Lord said we are MORE than conquerors in Rom6:37, we just have to put it in motion.

Inner freedom is often only a conversation with God away.

“Just have a little talk with Jesus, tell him all about your troubles
He’ll hear your faintest cry, and answer by and by
Feel a little prayer wheel turning, and know a little fire is burning
Have a little talk with Jesus makes it right.”

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

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!