The Dawn of a new Day

I grew up in the church….man…I could have been born in a pew. I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s (born in 74) and I had a good first hand look at church culture. I always marveled at the handful of mighty Men of Woman of God that had a platform to lead, speak, and influence others from. We seem to love to identify ourselves with a dynamic leader whom we respect and is having an influence. Heck, in 1 Corinthians Paul had to address this issue with the church because they were saying ‘“I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ”’. It seems to be human nature to want to belong to a certain camp. Actually, the real issue is we really want to belong to someone and something that matters.

So this brings me to my main point here. Typically, in Christian western culture we have a tendency to exalt Christian celebrities and to identify ourselves with them. This is not all bad, because we need strong leaders and reformers in the Church. The main issue here is that Christ is not divided. He is whole. I think a contributing reason that we act like this is because we all want to have a voice. We all want to be identified with what is true and we want our lives to make a difference. These are healthy things. The problem is we have and “us and them” mentality. Do you realize that we have this vocabulary of “laypeople” and “clergy”? I understand this language is not as common as it used to be… but I think the mentality it created is still common. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:11-13 - So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Jesus is raising up an Army of lovers in these last days. He is not raising up an Army of Clergy in these last days….His body is starting to wake, stretch, and arise from the shadows. It is the job of Christian leaders to equip you to minister to the world around you. You are to heal the sick, feed the poor, love the dying, displace hate, and re-present Christ. You are the only Jesus that some folks will ever see. The Kingdom of God (His domain) resides within you. If you know Jesus and the Spirit of God lives in you….you are called into ministry. Your primary identity is to be a son or daughter of the Father. Your default role is that you get to minister of His goodness to those around you. The Gospel is called the Good News…..is your news good?

(Practical) I am so busy right now I can’t see straight. I feel like time is not on my side… but at the same time I don’t want to be just be that neat church guy…I want to take my walk to the street. We can listen to His voice. Last week after church we were in a busy restaurant and it was packed. There was this bus boy and he was working his tail off. One of the folks at our table said “Man, look at that guy, he hates his job”. It was a statement said with sympathy. I started watching this young man and he was working very hard. He actually had too much work for just one dude. This is not the type of restaurant that you normally tip at. You pay at the counter, eat, and leave. I could not stop thinking about him as we all were enjoying ourselves and visiting. The kid looked beat down and I don’t think he had much self esteem. So, it came time for us to go and we walked outside and the Holy Spirit was poking my heart. I was thinking what can I do for this guy? But, in my heart I knew. So I took most of the cash in my wallet (that I was saving my tattoo!) and walked back in. It was perfect…he was in an area by himself. I walked over and gave him the cash and told him that I had been watching him and that he was such a hard worker.  I said that his strong work ethic will take him places in life (I actually felt this was a prophetic statement) and we sure appreciate the service you gave us. I told him I was a minister (just like you are…feel free to steal that line!) and gave him my card with my cell phone# on it. I said if you ever need to talk to someone feel free to call me. I put my arm around him and squeezed His shoulder like a father would. He was stunned…and just said "thank you sir"…and kept staring at the card I gave him.

I didn't cure aids that day. I didn't see someone get out of a wheelchair. I just listened to the heartbeat of heaven and did my best to love. The Father loves that young man enough to tell him that He sees his hard work. Actually, the Father loves that young man so much to show him the HE sees him. That was good news to that young man that day. I planted a seed and God will water it and cause His Sun (Son) to shine on it. 

Don’t look to a platform or a leader to identify with. Look to the hurting, lost, addicted, and selfish to identify yourself with. You don’t need to identify with a certain camp or party. You are the body of Christ….Now Rise…and walk on.

Love

Love is supposed to be the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Jesus said the whole idea of the Old Testament law is summed up in Loving God with everything and loving your neighbor as yourself. I don’t know how many times I have heard that, but I would put it up into the thousands. Sometimes it’s so easy to hear something so much you actually think you know it. Knowing something experientially and knowing something via a knowledge transfer is a whole different ball game. Would you rather follow someone into battle that was top in their class at West Point with no combat experience, or a five time tour of duty combat veteran? I’ll get behind the veteran please. Well, there are a lot of similarities when it comes to talking about the love of God. Sure millions of people can quote these scriptures and the 1 Corinthians love passage is read at almost every wedding. So this brings me to ask….. Have you experienced the Love of God? Are you continually experiencing His love? I propose that we need to be five time tour veterans of His love…..it’s the only way to roll. Check out what Ephesians 3: 14-19 says as Paul prays for the Ephesian believers…

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

This is a pretty cool prayer that Paul drops right here… that our roots will grow down into Gods Love and that we will experience the love of Christ. We all need a root system that is anchored in something immovable.

We recently bought our first house and it was an exciting adventure. The back yard had three large mesquite trees along the back fence. The week before we moved in a storm hit and the middle tree just fell right over. So we had the fallen tree cut up and moved out the day we moved in the new house. Since then I have done some yard work and I discovered the root system to that fallen tree running all over the back yard only about six inches under the dirt. Sure, it looked like it was stable but, when a storm came…boom…its only good use now is to smoke some BBQ.

Likewise, it is the same in my life. Let me tell you, as a believer, I have been hit with some storms that have taken me out for awhile. As I reflect, it seems during those times I seemed to have lost touch with the Love of God. Sure, I understood God loved me, but my heart was not connected with the knowledge in my head. This walk had become a religious exercise and there is no life in religion. Keep your rules please…. I want real Life. I want real Love. Shoot…I want something Real. Don’t you….I know the answer…We All Do.

It’s so easy now to launch into a message about the immense Love of Jesus and the fact he not only forgives but does an amazing job as a Restorer. But let me tell you about a time when God rocked my world and I experienced the love of God. I was nineteen and had just moved to Waco Texas. I was young with no direction and I hated God…or what I thought God was. My father was a pastor and I was the typical preacher’s kid….and I thought Christians were the biggest hypocrites. I remember renouncing God in my bedroom at the age of seventeen…just a little angry. Well…my dad knew this guy who was a Trucker, loved God, and when he prayed things happened. Yep…you heard right… God used a trucker to blow my mind. Long story short…this guy prayed for me…and I have never felt anything like that in my life. I literally felt waves of electricity pulsing through my body and it seemed like I was bathed in a sea of real tangible Love. I had lived my life in so much anger and rebellion and this God (whom I had renounced) encountered me with Love. Wow…He Loves me. Its real….it’s as real as anything I have ever encountered. I have never been the same since. I have had ups and downs have tried to run from God but the fact of the matter is…..I have NEVER been the same since.

If you are reading this, it’s my prayer and desire that you experientially know this Great and Good Love of God for yourself. If you want a place to start why don’t you pray the prayer above out of Ephesians for yourself. We all need a fresh fix…and I am addicted…to God’s Love.

Kingdom and Politics

Yes...it has been awhile since I have last made a post. I had this great desire to post all during the pre-election process but I never got around to it. I have many thoughts about all that...politics that is. About four years ago I was very opinionated about politics and did not hesitate to debate my ideas with anyone who wanted some good discussion. I was not rude, I listened to others out of respect, but I felt passionate about what I believed. I called my best friend from college and started talking politics....I got shut down. He said he valued relationship with me more than discussing politics... which is so many times divisive. Slightly confused (I was sure he believed that same ideologies as me) I allowed the conversation to shift...Quite frankly at that point in my life I was allowing those political differences to really get to me, and change the way I looked at people. No major revelation...just a simple I VALUE RELATIONSHIP OVER MY OPINION.
I still voted and I still do vote. Don't think I am advocating inaction...I think it is important that we have this privilege. We can have a bloodless revolution every four years. Amazing. So the way I approached it this year was to educate myself, pray, fast, and vote. I did my best not to take the bait when politics was brought up. For me this election season was radically different than the past. I did not stress, get mad, become a hater, feel self-righteous, or loose any sleep. All of which I had in the past. I did not sell out or did not back down. I just shifted my priorities to reflect the true government of which I follow.
TRUE GOVERMENT. I have submitted my self to a true government one ruled by a mighty King who is a great leader because He was a great servant. I am a representative of that Kingdom. It is around us all the time....sometimes it's reality invades our reality and it becomes apparent that we live in a shadow image of the real. I believe we have a responsibility to govern wisely and to make sound judgement....but one day the real Wise Governing and True Sound Judgement will be upon us. He came once as the humble servant King of Mankind. Showing us true love so he could win us for himself....a Love story indeed. The first guy to enter this Kingdom was a thief being killed for his crimes.....Showing us all the gates are open and we can walk into this Kingdom. He took a man who used to hunt down and kill his followers to write about this way of life in the Kingdom and give us new Scripture.
Someone is reading this right now and you are having a reaction to the Kingdom talk I just mentioned. That is because you think the Kingdom of God is the spirit of religion...the same spirit that tried to kill the King. (He only died by his own choosing) Jesus only got mad when he encountered this religious spirit. Religion...putting a weight on people to earn more...so arrogant you don't recognize God in your midst...self righteous and blind to your own condition.
The work of God is to BELIEVE. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you truth....He will. You don't know me or the journey I have been on, but I can tell you that He did that for me ...over and over. He would do the same for you. One day...all the kingdoms of this world will be shown to be the KINGDOM of God. All the revolution, truth, justice, equality, love, peace, passion, desire, and dancing joy we all want will be made manifest. I VOTE FOR THAT! Much love....

Sucker...

A few years ago I found my life just plain broken. Broken...in some Christian circles is a word that is thrown around quite a bit. When broken hit me.....it took me out cold. Dust in the teeth of a broken man tastes very bitter... but I thank God for it.


At some point in Tucson I found my identity as an alcohol soaked musician- pot head. But what does that look like? I made good money and I had obtained a certain level of success in my career. Had plenty of friends.....heck even had a good business sense about me. I could sell drugs to you for allot more than I paid for them. SUCKER... It was at this point at my life I kept hearing the phrase " Mike...you are seriously cool". I mean I wish I could make that up...but really...ALL THE TIME. I heard this for about half a year. I guess I had a good image...half my arm tattooed with a dread locked Jesus... and when you talk slow all the time because your so high....it creates a great image. Fantastic.


At some point in 2005 I remember thinking to myself (as I was taking a shower....very stoned)..."Wow, remember when I used to be a hardcore Christian...what a trip" I mean I used to be in leadership for crying out loud. I had preached in churches and even in the streets of Europe. Now it seriously seemed like an entire past life. Some vague memory that I could attribute to living in a certain town with a certain culture. But God is faithful even when we are not.


Well....how can I say this. He..and I mean God... kind of allowed my mind to slip out of place a bit. Like a nervous breakdown. It happened when I was preparing a report for a college class I was taking to continue my education. Just a little heads up. Its not as easy to write reports when you cant stop drinking and getting high. I mean its not impossible...I had already done it before and made an "A". I was the "cool" guy after all. But there it happened. In the middle of trying to put some thoughts together, God just reached down and slightly dialed the tweak button.....and my mind just froze. My reaction was less than broken in the first few moments. I remember thrashing my computer, followed by bouncing my cell phone off the ground, and climaxed by kicking the ---- out of whatever I could find. Then I fell to the ground weeping. God....help me...freaking help me....freaking help me.....


Well he did. He got my attention and took me on a journey of healing that was unreal. There were times when I would sit on the floor of the room and have my life play like a movie in front of me....and God would just talk to me about some things of my past. He helped me understand my disillusionment with Church and some hurts that I had experienced. All this Supernatural stuff started colliding with my life. For several months I just knew things about people and situations that no one had told me. It was weird. I had things show up in my house and try to choke me out in the middle of being asleep. Seriously weird. Which could leave you thinking right now...why are you sharing this? Because.... as I have been typing this I have been listening to worship music... and Gods real substantial presence has just filled my room. I am seriously in Love with Him. Not only has He restored me....He has blessed me far beyond I could have ever imagined. Blessed me with a family....blessed me in my job.....blessed us financially....blessed us with so many sold out Jesus friends in our life who are not religious, but carry a weight in the Spirit. Restoration! No! Lavish...lavish...Goodness.


He loves you man. Daughter... He loves you. He loved me in my shame and has freed and healed me to the point where I could really care less of what you think of me when you read this. You little SUCKER... loved so much by God.


I pray that if His presence has gone far from your life.... that the Lord would let it rest on you....God bless them and love them....I bless them...Father may you always be found faithful...even when we have not.....Thanks for your reading time