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.

On a side note and then a fore note, we should be ever so careful what we profess. Palms up – confession, palms out – profession. Are you a typical promise maker and promise breaker? If you tend to break your promises, let me suggest you do more and promise less. Better to pledge 2 things and do two things, than to pledge 10 things and do none. If someone is disappointed that you didn’t make a promise, let them be disappointed… it’s better than making a promise you knew you couldn’t keep merely to acquire their approval in the short run. In fact, if we get right down to it, James 5:12 says, “Above all, my brothers, do not swear–not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. Let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” be no, or you will be condemned.” Consider this: the more you do NOT keep your promises, the easier it gets to NOT keep your word. The inverse is true also in that the more you DO keep your word, the easier it gets to keep your word.

It’s a matter of character. Remember, it is your personal honor i’m speaking of, additionally you’re representing the Kingdom of God in the eyes of the world. If you tell someone you’re going to call, then call, even if it’s to say you’re not going to call. We can’t live our lives on, what i call, momentary promises. For many, what is true today may not be true tomorrow… that just won’t work. Good old Dan Clay used to say, “If you do, you do, and if you don’t, you don’t.” That may not make much sense to some folks, but think about it… it’s good sound wisdom. i didn’t get it for years, but i think i do now, it means “If you say “yes”, then do “yes”, and if you say “no” then do “no”, and have the grace to say “yes” when it’s appropriate, and how to say “no” when it’s necessary. Think carefully before you commit. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.

The last word in James 5:12 is the word “condemned”, which is the Greek word for “hypocrite”, which implies deceit, and if anyone in this world needs to be known as honest and reliable, it is the people of God, people of outstanding character.

Our topic is “Pledges and Affirmations”, where it came from and how do our pledges and affirmations impact society today.

           i suppose it could be said, most people live at a slightly erratic tempo, of course some more than others, and most of us might even be slightly out of tune, some more than others. Even at that, everyone wants to be believed and validated in some fashion or another. What lengths are we willing to go to in order to have people believe us? Some folks want others to believe them for criminal reasons, others with the hopes of being validated, and then there are those who tell the truth for the sake of the Lord and it doesn’t matter if any person endorses or validates them because the truth, who is Christ is sufficient for them.

An oath is a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear an oath is to make a solemn vow and i fully believe the Lord takes the promises we make to others seriously, that means we should too.

There are those in our society who object to making an oath or a vow, even in court, asserting that their word is their bond, and if they say “yes” or “no” you can bank on it. That, my friends, is righteous and very brave.

When people make an oath or vow, most of the time they also imply that if they fail in the accomplishing of their oath, it somehow invokes some sort of divine displeasure. The ancient Hebrews were really big on oaths and vows, even to the point of it becoming down right ridiculous.

The most usual oath or vow is the explicit “I swear,” meaning to promise something to someone, or to solemnly charge, but any statement or promise that includes “as my witness” or “so help me”, that also is an oath. Many people take an oath by holding in their hand or placing over their head a book of scripture or a sacred object, thus indicating the sacred witness through their action.

When we take an oath or “swear” something, it’s like we have taken on two masters, the Lord AND the oath. In fact, the implication of the Hebrew word “oath” could literally be taken to mean, “to fence yourself in, to limit yourself”, and the root word means, “a boundary line”. So, we’re down to a boundary line being an oath of sorts… which means the property deed you possess which defines what is yours and what is your neighbors is a type of an oath, a sworn agreement; the title to your car is a sworn agreement, an oath and vow. In light of James 5:12, do you think it’s really about a rigorous legality or is it about your character and keeping your word?

We could take James 5:12 to the point of being legalistic and never even say things which would require us to keep our word, but honestly, that makes for some very odd conversation. i knew a man who was so careful about committing himself to anything he would almost never say “yes” or “no”. Instead he said, “probably”, “more than likely”, “pretty much”, or “I think so”. That isn’t someone being careful about their oaths and vows, that’s someone who fears committing to anything. And yes, his life reflected his lack of commitment you couldn’t count on him for anything.

Oaths and vows… very tricky stuff, and our society is rife with them.

“But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King” (Matt. 5:34–35).

Is taking an oath the same as giving your word? Some say yes, some say no. To me, giving your word, as in, “Yes, i will be here every Tuesday to teach the class” isn’t in the same context as taking an oath, but it certainly qualifies as a vow and giving your word to do something. We must rightly divide the truth here without becoming legalistic in the process. Does God mean we should never agree to anything because it is a form of taking an oath? i think, “no”. If you pledged to open your doors on a certain day of the week to hold a home group meeting, i doubt Matt 5:34-35 means for us to not give our word or pledge to open our home. How would anyone follow us in ministry if we only used the phrases, “probably”, or “more than likely”? 1 Corinthians 14:8, “Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” There is much to be said about giving and keeping your word.

It is sad to say that in the days in which we live, many people fail to keep their word and get downright hostile if we challenge them to do what they say. If you promised you’d show up, then show up, and if you can’t then don’t promise you will. You may mean well, but good intentions don’t count for not showing up. What’d that old saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” More and more often, people routinely break the promises they have made with little fear of repercussion. High divorce rates and political corruption testify that many are pretty unconcerned with keeping their vows, like a pledge of office, or even the covenant pledge of marriage. i believe it is apparent, that the solemnity of our sworn promises, simply, is often not taken seriously. Are all vows and oaths a bad idea though? James5:12 says one thing, but what do we do with Deuteronomy 10:20, “You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name.” Should we throw away making declarations in the name of Jesus just to conform to the law? Everyone, at some point or the other, has made promises they didn’t intend to keep. If your honest about that, you know it’s true. Many of us make vows all the while knowing that we have a way out if we want out.

However, such actions take lightly the word of the Lord. God looks upon the heart and knows whether our intentions conform to the promises that we make. 1 Samuel 16:7, “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

If you have made a promise that you did not intend to keep, think about it, why did you make it in the first place if you never meant to keep it? Say what you do, and do what you say, if you give your word then keep your word, and if you can’t keep your word, go to the person and explain the difficulty. Friend, work the problem, don’t let the problem work you.

It is unkind and disrespectful to give someone your word and then just let them hang. You know what i mean? You know, telling someone you’ll meet them at such-an-such a time, and on a whim, you decide to just not go… just letting them hang, no phone call or anything to let them know you won’t be coming. Do you believe agreeing to meet someone, although very simple, is an oath of sorts? We are acting ambassadors for the Kingdom of God, and doing what we say and keeping our word is foundational, don’t you think?

 There are so many businesses today which if they find out you are a believer, they don’t want to do business with you. They say Christians aren’t trustworthy, lie, and don’t keep their word. Friends, that is sad to me, because if there is anyone on earth who should be reliable, trustworthy, and honest it is the children of God. We do our God and family a great disservice when we don’t keep our word.

An amazing number of waiters and waitresses actually loath working at their place of employment on Sunday. Why? They say it is when the “church people” come in, and for them, the crowd is often so stingy, condescending, and dishonest, a lot of wait staff won’t work on Sunday. Don’t you think there’s something wrong with that?

i knew a young man who was a waiter at a nice restaurant, he said that one Sunday he had a group of 20 come in, fresh from church. He hustled, was very polite and personable, listened, took their orders correctly, you know, all the things good wait staff should do. They on the other hand, were cold and sneering, and when they got their orders and decided they didn’t want what they ordered, they blamed him and said either he got it wrong or he had purposely switched it just to spite them. One person even asked him why he wasn’t in church that morning. Little did they know he was a believer and had gone to an early service at his church. When the crowd left, they left him a tip of a quarter paper clipped to a salvation track. It was heart breaking.

Since i heard that story, and many other stories since then, i have thought to myself, we are believers, we are supposed to represent the kindness and grace of God, it’s part of our oath to follow Jesus; we are supposed to be generous – listening to others is generous; helping others is generous; kind truth is generous; not exploiting the exploitable is generous; being generous is part of our pledge to follow and live like Jesus; we agree and have sworn to live like Jesus by not being condescending and self-seeking but to be patient and longsuffering. We pray to the Lord to open the eyes of our heart to see Jesus that we would be more like Jesus, but then to treat people like many of us do… c’mon, where is our character? i asked one man, who was especially harsh and tight fisted towards a waitress why he wasn’t more kind towards someone who was working hard to make ends meet, and he told me, “If that woman is stupid enough to work for $5/hour and whatever pitiful tips she gets, she deserves her life.” You know, i cried and thought to myself it’s no wonder some people don’t want to be involved with church people. Do you keep your word?

When we ask God for mercy, do we think He extends it to us because we deserve it so much, because we are sooo worthy? No. He extends it to us because, in His Love, He is committed to us and all mankind, that if anyone will call on His Name asking for forgiveness and help, they shall be saved. God gave mankind an oath and vow of love that is binding, and God keeps His word … He will do it.  The Lord is Faithful. He is faithful and we have pledged to be faithful too.

           The Jews of old, when they were ever so serious about an oath or a vow, they did something called, “Seven Yourself”. Evidently, it wasn’t enough for your “yes” and “no” to be sufficient. What was meant by “seven yourself” was to bind yourself by seven things, to swear by seven planets, seven sacred items, seven sacrifices, or seven oaths – meaning you would swear your oath seven times. Abraham gave seven lambs to Abimelech at the well of Beer-Sheba, or the “well of seven oaths”; the name Bath-sheba means “daughter of an oath”, seven days of creation, seven flames on the menorah, etc, etc… i don’t know what it was, i’m sure it’s a great discussion for another time, but there was really something about the number seven. Anyway.

Doing all that swearing and oath taking and vow making, all that adjuring and charging others with pledges and affirmations really didn’t stop anyone from doing what they wanted to do anyway. And as a result, when we read James 5:12, or Matt5:34-35, the Lord is saying, making a pledge and an affirmation is a serious thing, and if you don’t have to, don’t. Let your “yes” be “yes” and show yourself reliable to do what you agreed to, well representing the honor and righteousness of Heaven lest you be found to have an empty profession of faith. Let your “no” be “no”, having the character to have good solid boundaries, and to keep those boundaries because you are a person of your word, not because you’ve gone to great lengths to make a bunch of oaths swearing on this and that. Let your word, be your word, giving people the opportunity to see that there really are Christians who do what they say in this world. James 2:14-17, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

When we give our pledge, we need to do what we say, it is not enough to profess to have faith… even in small things, like keeping your word and exercising good boundaries. That’s exactly what keeping your word is, it is the works of your faith.

As Christians, our word is to be trustworthy so that we need not swear oaths every time we make commitments and promises to one another. God calls each of us to be the kind of people that if we say we’ll do something, we’ll do it and we don’t have to swear an oath in order for the other person to be assured we will do what we say. Our word is our bond, and if we don’t keep our word, why should we be surprised if people don’t particularly believe us. If our speech is untrustworthy so that we feel the need to swear our truthfulness in all of our conversations, then perhaps we have not truly embraced the Gospel. Think about it.

John Calvin wrote that if James’ audience “observed faithfulness as they ought, in their words, there would have been no necessity of so many superfluous oaths.”

How trustworthy is your speech? Would people say you are believable, someone who can be trusted and is faithful?  Do you see no harm in telling “little white lies?” Why are little lies “white” anyway? If you have been guilty of being less than truthful in your speech, making pledges and affirmations which you never really intended to keep, then go make amends with those you’ve wounded. Honesty will go a long way to making us believable, consistent and repeatable in the face of a world which is always shifting.

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries,

The key aspect of an oath is the intent of the heart behind it, for oaths and vows in themselves do not establish truth. Friends, your word, an oath or vow is only as good as the person behind it. Do you get my drift?

This quote from William Shakespeare in All’s Well That Ends Well captures an important insight: “‘Tis not the many oaths that makes the truth, but the plain single vow that is vow’d true.” If our word is our bond, then the promises of our mouth are not to be taken carelessly.

Be strong and courageous this week, be honest, forthright, clear eyed, and keep an ear open for the leading of the Lord. i’ll meet you again on the trail of the lonesome pine. Amen.

There was the grandest of all grand parades right down the middle of Glory Land! The endless crowd of the redeemed of the Lord were waving banners, people were jubilant and laughing, confetti of some sort filled the air, horns were blasting in one huge continuous celebration. Somewhere there was a brass band playing parade music. The light was just perfect… there were no shadows anywhere. Marching right down the middle of everything, were these glowing, shining individuals… some walking, some riding, some hovering… many in various types of clothing… everything from togas to 1700’s style jackets, stockings, and trousers, and more.

It was the “Day of Stars” when all the stars of the Heavens which guided sailors and adventurers across continents, and inspired mankind to dream, believe, and imagine where given special notice in Heaven. The “Day Of Stars” was the day all of Heaven gathered to honor the lights in the universe whom God had made and given them their place, gleaming night after night everywhere. The Lord gave it to me to see as a witness of the joy to come when we get home.

The vision happened during worship as i was looking out a window thinking about Jesus… the music had ebbed into a musical interlude, when suddenly i felt myself slip into an “between place” and i saw the scene as previously described. It was beyond words in that glorious moment of watching the Lord parade the stars done the streets of gold. i got to meet the north star, a portly fellow in Dickens’ style coat and tails with mutton chop sideburns and a round face which seemed to always be laughing. He was jolly and gracious and i thanked him for being such a central part of God’s plan. i met Casper, and Leo, the whole Aquarius crew, Rigel and others…all still glowing a ghostly glow with the star light God had given them. The only way to describe their voices is to say it was silver (i know that’s strange but the closest thing i can think of is sound that is a color), and when the bright ones spoke it was like a    rang in my head.

Friends, the canopy over the earth is a sky of wonder, something to be marveled at, which lifts us above the gravity barrier of worldly preoccupation.

When righteousness and faithfulness come together in a summation, there is a God-powered inclination to bring something into being with the consequence that it’s existence is a certainty. The Lord, from the beginning, gave man the stars, born of righteousness and faithfulness, as a certainty that our way was not one of being aimless and lost, but as a sign He would not leave us directionless.

Gen1:16 says… out of God’s infinite imagination, He made the stars, the moon, the planets and all bodies in the heavens above us for our wonder and comfort. He saw the need in man’s heart for celestial beauty, like stars, so in His mercy He created them for us.

Ann Taylor wrote, “Then the trav’ller in the dark, Thanks you for your tiny spark, He could not see which way to go, If you did not twinkle so. In the dark blue sky you keep, And often thro’ my curtains peep, For you never shut your eye, Till the sun is in the sky.”

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the deck area of a rural cafe overlooking the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the river’s edge and every evening is pleasant. This evening’s topic is about an amazing vision i call the “Day of Stars”, what God has built into the idea of the stars, and where we are in it all.

On a side note as a companion to this evening’s topic, the general idea of beauty was another one of God’s incredible ideas… He has made beauty all around us if we’re interested enough to grasp it. i’d like to lose myself in God’s imagination and thinking… He is the very essence of beauty. The concept of beauty is studied in art and culture, we experience beauty in our perception of things which can rouse feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Beauty is in the taste of a favorite food, the texture of silk, the smell of flowers, excellent music, the lingering kiss of a lover on a warm evening somewhere…it is in the sunrise, sunset or in the stars at night. It is all God’s idea in how to meet the needs of the heart of man. It is brilliant… just brilliant.

Dream, believe and imagine…the universe is indeed a vast place just waiting for us to let the Lord invigorate us to see His wonders in the landscape of Heaven. i’ll be right back.

Genesis 1:16-18, “God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good.”

Some of us get stars in our eyes, meaning we are mesmerized, excited or hopeful about the future and we imagine success and fame. To be star or moon struck means to show irrational behavior, especially of a romantic or sentimental nature, or to be made sick as if by the influence of the moon or the stars. In Greek, the word for “epileptic” or “lunatic” is from the word group in Matt 4:24 meaning “moonstruck”, because at that time, there were people who thought moon light and/or star light could influence someone so much they could possibly go crazy. Reading further in Matt4, we see that Jesus healed all those people, and it wasn’t the light of the moon or stars which made them ill after all.

Think about it… when you lie on your back and stare up into the night sky, you can’t help but be amazed.  Hundreds of thousands of tiny pinpricks of light that are millions of miles away speckle the fabric of the canopy of Heaven over our heads. Each one placed in a precise spot by the hand of God… like a field of fragrant flowers given to the one He loves, God gave us the stars. The Big Dipper, The Little Dipper, Pleiades, The Southern Cross, each one at the precise location of His ordaining. The Lord put them there and said “this is your place, stay here until otherwise”, and they did. On the day God made the stars, He flicked His fingers and shook His hair, fire and sparks flew from Him to make the stars and planets… the smoke from His nostrils, more dense than the sun, ignited to help hide new born stars in a stellar nursery, cloaking parts of the Milky Way and Orion’s Belt.

Psalm 8:3-4, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him….?” Let’s not forget the wonders above us. Scripture gives us a vision of the vastness, variety, and mystery of the universe and the Lord. One writer said the stars and night sky bear down upon our heads with power, calling the stars “God’s faithful splendors at midnight.”

In the book of Sirach, written by a Jewish scribe, Yeshua Ben Eliezer Ben Sira, describing the beauty of the Heavens, he wrote, “Great indeed is the LORD who made it, at whose orders it urges on its steeds. It is the moon that marks the changing seasons, governing the times, their lasting sign. By it we know the sacred seasons and pilgrimage feasts, a light which wanes in its course: The new moon like its name renews itself; how wondrous it is when it changes: A military signal for the waterskins on high, it paves the firmament with its brilliance, The beauty of the heavens and the glory of the stars, a shining ornament in the heights of God. By the LORD’s command the moon keeps its appointed place, and does not fade as the stars keep watch.”

God put the stars in the sky to be beautiful and to please us, his beloved children. In His wisdom, He saw the need in the heart of man for beauty and wonder…. marvelous things He created… imparting Himself into all of them for us to discover. i can’t imagine, nor has God revealed to me the secrets of the Aurora Borealis, but if He appointed me to know and i could get close enough, He would reveal to me the unimaginable wonders of His heart hidden there. i believe He hides His character and intentions in all things He has created. Why? Because the true heart of love desires to be involved with the object of its affection. Many of the hidden things of the Lord aren’t hidden because we’re too small to know, but because it is the hope of the Lord that we will go and search for them, to know Him.

Psalm 19:1-4, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world.”

Here is the word of the Lord, listen: He says, I love you on days when you are perfect in My eyes, and on days when you wonder why you do the things you do. I love you when you are the strong center that calms others, and when you want to rest in the comfort of My embrace. I love you when you are confident and proud of everything you stand for, and when you need Me to remind you how far you’ve come, and that there’s no limit to how far you can go. I love you now and forever, come what may, just as you are.

i am forever amazed at anyone who says there is no God in Heaven. Every night, the Lord hands us an amazing masterpiece called the night sky. It’s dotted with winking stars, glimmering planets, dark clouds moving silently and ominously across the sky, declaring the glory of the Lord… a testimony of not only His existence, but a testimony to us, the object of His affection. Anywhere on earth, we can stare upward into the night sky and see the evidence. i think our personal agendas, bitterness, disappointment, broken promises and crumbled dreams cloud our view, but it doesn’t detract from the evidence.

When i was young, my dad pointed to a deer standing in the edge of the woods. He told me it was there and i believed him. No matter how long my eyes searched those woods though, i could not see the deer. The longer i looked without seeing, the less i believed what i was told was true. In my sheer arrogance, believing only my eyes, i declared there was no deer there and that he was playing a joke on me. As the last words left my lips, the deer walked off… and i saw. Just because we don’t see the Lord in our lives doesn’t mean He isn’t there, and because nothing has changed with our situation yet, doesn’t mean God isn’t working behind the scenes.

Sometimes we need to just wait, “put a pin in it” so to speak, maybe even unplug from the roar in our heads, look up and listen to the voice of God which comes on the whisper of the wind in the tree tops proclaiming the wonder of the night sky.

When the Lord created everything we know of as creation, He imparted His attributes into those things… which says to me that the heart of God is discoverable in all things on this planet and of the universe….in His heart they were all conceived, implemented, and made sure in their place. Sure, sin has corrupted creation and possibly cloaked things, but that doesn’t mean the Lord’s attributes are not findable if we’ll look for Him. The goodness of God cuts through sin like a knife. It is the Lord’s heart that we would know Him and He would be known.

When Jesus came, God gave us His face for the first time, He got eye to eye with the object of His affection. Everything He has done has been for our benefit, the sun, the moon, the stars and all the canopy of Heaven over the earth, which we call the sky….it is for our benefit.

The first letter of Genesis is about God’s house and the family, and the word for stars ends with a reference to His house and family… from the beginning to the end, the Heart of God is about His people. Ancient scholars considered the sky to be like the Palms of God over us, like a cap… Friends, He seeks our heart more than gold and incense.

On a more technical side, stars is a simple word but is created from two other words, one which paints a picture of rolling or heaping up and the other the sense of blazing… when they are put together it brings to mind the idea of rolling fire… or a star. The heavens are like the closed Palms of God which hold the beauty, and when the stars twinkle and spark, they are like the open Palms of God releasing the flashes of His treasures.

Stars are a blaze of glory in the night sky, and if we look to His heart deeply, the gleaming glory in the infinite deep dark blue of the night sky uncovers his face. If we look for Him, He will find us. When the moon and stars are bright after the sun has done its work, the heavenly lights are a brilliant shining sea where living wonders find their footing. My eyes see star after star, some steady, others slowly pulse, holding their ground as our perspective changes on a turning earth.

The same hands that hold those stars in their exact place stretched out on a cross to take your place because he knows your worth. Jesus died for your sins and rose from the dead that you would have life, and have it more abundantly.

Amos 5:8, “He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name;” Pleiades is a cluster of stars to our scientific minds, but the Hebrew paints a picture of the the heaped up rolling blaze in the Palms of God connected to waves of purposeful grace, and Orion is the Palms of God leaning on His authority over creation… Orion is “the burly one”.

Exodus 28:2, “And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.”

That is the scripture of first mention where glory and beauty are used in the same sentence, it’s important and we need to pay attention to such things. The Lord wants us all to search out His secrets. There is a difference between the two words, and i’m only making mention of that because in some places translators called beauty… glory and inversely so. God makes the distinction of many things which appear similar but truly are different, and many times the distinction is lost in translation. Glory is like the weight of splendor, and we usually associate glory with the presence of God….glory comes with His presence and His presence comes with glory… beauty is a gleaming embellishment, like a well-lit ornament. Glory is a masculine noun and beauty is a feminine noun, and when God uses them together in scripture, i think of them as going together like a husband and wife… they complement each other. The Lord is beautiful and He is glorious… as His glory is revealed the weight and beauty of His presence sets the universe on its knees.

Psalm 29:2, “Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.”

His name is due the full weight of honor, and we wear holiness as a gleaming embellishment in our worship of the Lord.

In the same sense, stars and all the heavenly host are beautiful and reflect the glory of God, the weight of His presence and the gleaming brightness of righteousness.

Our galaxy contains over 100 billion stars; the Bible says in Psalms147:4 that God calls them all by their names. Isaiah 40:26, “Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.”

After thinking of that, i’m inclined to look again at how scripture describes the creation of all that’s in the universe. Genesis 1:16 states almost casually, God “also made the stars.” It is astonishing to me that the creation of the entire universe beyond earth is described by such a simple statement. The biblical description makes it sound like the creation of all the hundreds of billions of galaxies was so easy for God that it seems almost like an “oh by the way”. Truly, God is beyond my imagination, and if He did not open my eyes to see Him and what He has done, i would not see.

One time the Lord said to me, “Creating all there is, is one thing, but to change the heart of a man, ahhh, now THAT’S a big deal.”

Who would have thought from a casual glance at the night sky that all that is above the earth would be so majestic and enormous? The Lord our God infused Himself into all He created, not only was it good, but it was God. Take an “o” out of good and you get “God”. Assuredly, the night sky is incredibly beautiful, even to the naked eye. Who could have known that it would contain hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with millions to trillions of stars, along with countless clusters and nebulae of immense size and breathtaking beauty? Stars don’t have weight, they are measured in density.

God has constructed the universe to reflect His character. Romans 1:20 states, “… His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made, so they are without excuse.” It shouldn’t surprise us that the universe is so incredible. Truly the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of His hands! Think about it.

When i was much younger, in ignorance, i assumed the world around me was no more than it was, just the physical earth, trees, mountains, rivers, animals, and people… just being what they were, doing what they do. Then one day, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see Jesus, glorious, beautiful Jesus… Jesus who ransomed me from death, Jesus, who paid the price for my sin, Jesus who gave me new thinking to strengthen righteous reasoning, Jesus who restored the tenderness of my conscience, Jesus who used death to defeat death that the power of my flesh would no longer rule over my spirit… giving me life, that i would no longer be a slave. In the days to follow, an idea crept into my head… all which my eyes beheld was more than what i saw. It wasn’t a world which only served to entertain me, in all my self-centered ways, but it all reflected the Heart of Love for whom so ever would know Him. He saw in the heart of man the need for beauty, and part of that are the stars and all the heavenly bodies in the night sky. It was for love the Lord made the universe, and we are the object of His never-ending affection.

This production has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, The Mebane Freedom League with Alan, Kevin, and Tommy, the 20/20 Men’s Group for you fellas out there who can’t go to church anywhere else, and Trinity Bakers where there’s always something good in the oven.

You know, the days are going by. That may seem like a silly thing to say, but it means if you don’t take the time to see the beauty God has built into the world around you today, the moments will pass you by, gone forever and you didn’t see it. Take the time to look up, see the stars and dazzling lights in the heavens which the Lord has made, just for you, that you would think on His great name and know His great heart for you. The stars sang together before, and it is a distinct potential they’ll sing again… just imagine it all… we’ll get to sing praise and glory to our wonderful Jesus the Lord and God our Father together.

Be at peace as you go your way, turn your eyes to Heaven and your feet homeward. Be strong and courageous… and i’ll talk to you next time. Amen.