Category: encouragement

Waiting for the Green Light

“But I tell you that I am going to do what is best for you. That is why I am going away. The Holy Spirit cannot come to help you until I leave. But after I am gone, I will send the Spirit to you.”

John 16:7, CEV

The disciples are distressed.  They are now starting to realize that Jesus is leaving them.  In the recesses of their minds they can’t accept this.  It makes no sense at all.  (After all, we just got started.)  They have been with Jesus almost “night and day” for three years.  They can’t imagine life without Him present and available.

Jesus starts saying things to help His friends.  I am going “to do what is best for you.”  With this concise idea Jesus wants His dear ones to understand and accept His decisions.  They must accept “this is why I am going away.”  He starts to link His absence with the rich goodness of the Holy Spirit.  On strictly basic level, the disciples have a reason for anxiety.  The disciples are thinking. “He will not be here when I wake up.  Jesus has left!  I am alone, what will I do?”

We have a tendency to think of the Holy Spirit like a telephone.  The dynamic is this–someone calls me from a great distance.  When I pick up the ringing phone, that person is still a long way away– but the voice is close.  To think this way though, is to think wrongly.  We mistakenly think of Him in technological terms.  But Jesus is insisting it is a whole lot better than this. He isn’t on the phone– The Spirit is at the door, and He is ringing your doorbell.

“As soon as we see the Lord Jesus on the Cross, we know our sins are forgiven ; and as soon as we see the Lord Jesus on the Throne, we know the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon us.”   Watchman Nee

The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is meant to “upset apple-carts” and change the flow of nations.  The Holy Spirit is first and foremost personal.  He comes and draws in closer than a person could.  He fills us, and our spirits and His are mixed in a new way.  Was it nice to have Jesus bodily present?  Yes. Of course.  But it is also awesome to have the Spirit connecting with us in a most spiritually wonderful way.

When Jesus ascends, the Holy Spirit is given the “green light” to come, and deepen the special relationship that the Father now has for us.  However, we can still be a little confused.  We think that Jesus physically present would be superior to having the Holy Spirit inside of our hearts.  And it is easy to think that way. Who hasn’t dreamed of having Jesus sit down with us over a cup of coffee at our dinner table?  But, it’s not really “better”– not even slightly so!

As we examine Acts 1-2, we are escorted the the real and very active world of the Holy Spirit.  His presence turns these disciples into a “tossed salad” of the Holy Spirit and humanity.  What happens can never be undone or reversed.  The Holy Spirit has followed Jesus and is now transforming everything.  Essentially, we must trust in what God has done, and we should bow our hearts and knees to all the Father has done for us.  Please, Spirit, come and help us.

“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.”  A.W. Tozer

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ybic, Bryan

kyrie elesion.

image by He Qi

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Is Jesus Your Center?

Jesus, the Center of Life and Time

“The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him about all the things they had done and taught.”

Mark 6:30, New Century Version

We need to become accountable to Him for the things we say, and the things we do.  A liberated discipleship is one that can’t be trusted–there is no supervision, and no direction.  And we need to be accountable.  It is not a question of freedom– but of slavery, and duty (kind of a “neutral” word.)  Within our culture, we are dancing on a knife’s edge, and we become intensely counter-cultural when we live authentically as His disciples.

The text has noted, “They gathered unto Him.”  That dear one, is the real essence of your walk.  He is the absolute center, that fact will never change.  Without Him we will drift in and out, unfocused and confused.  But these wonderful disciples know absolutely that Jesus Christ is their common focus, no matter what their own personal proclivities.

A simple word about all the plurality and variety among Christians.  We are intensely different.  Some of us are Pentecostals, and some are Roman Catholics.  Some Orthodox, Lutherans and Quakers. We are Mennonites, Baptists and Methodists. There is so much variety in the Church.  But I think that all of us are coming to Jesus–He is our center!

I no longer doubt or fear the amazing variety that is in the Church.  We are dealing with a God who can’t even make snowflakes alike!  We make Styrofoam cups that are exactly alike, and He does snowflakes.  He insists on creativity and being unique. Shouldn’t our churches reflect this?

The verse tells us that the disciples had the freedom to come to Jesus and report.  There wasn’t a need to embellish or exaggerate their work. They are not in competition with each other.  They have a broad confidence, an easiness and sureness about Him.  Jesus is the easiest master to work for.  Bob Dylan told us, “You gotta serve somebody.”

And serving Him is kind of demanding, but it is also a great and wonderful joy.  Only those caught in the middle are miserable.  They can’t make the choice.  They’re in a tough place. We must pray for them.

“Done and taught.”  The disciples have been active on their journey.  They have travelled different directions. They work, and then they teach.  And really that is all that disciple comes down to.  Working, and talking.  Talking, and working.  I believe that it was significant that this would become the focal point, and bulk of their time with Jesus was essential.  That tells me something.  In some real sense, this is how we are to monitor and evaluate ourselves.

1)  Do I gather onto Jesus with others?

2)  Do I share with Him things that matter?

3)  Do I evaluate my service with His light?

4)  Do I tell Him everything– “honest and truthful?”

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ybic, Bryan

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The Wonder of It All

Fairy Blue Wren
Fairy Blue Wren

This day– this wonderfully good day, has been a flood of kindness for my soul. Sitting on my deck soaking up the Alaskan sun, I’m jolted by a considerable awe at the created world that swirls around me.

I haven’t though these thoughts for a long time. But now they visit me, and I think it may be time to entertain them.

If creation is wonderful, the Creator is more so. He is responsible for everything I see. And living in Alaska gives me ample things to see and ponder.

I sat and mulled over a very persistent question. “Why is there ‘something’ instead of nothing?” There is nature that we see and touch. We take pictures of it. Our artists and writers and poets work out of this wonder that surrounds us all.

I was stunned when I first saw this picture of this wren. He is so wonderfully blue– a masterpiece meticulously ‘manufactured’ by Someone. I am left with an authentic awe and reverence that is left behind like when the tide goes out.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1, NLT

“Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!” Isaiah 65:18

“For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.” Romans 8:19

“He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.” Colossians 1:17

What we see and touch is full evidence of God the Creator. He reveals himself– what he is like. His character is seen all around us. We describe His faithfulness which is like the mountains. His love is like the ocean, and He also finds time to feed every sparrow that He has made. His fingerprints are on everything.

We enter a classroom, when we step outside our house. My problem is my “drone-ability.” (I just invented a new word.) I move through the creation blind, without really perceiving it. I can be completely impervious to the glory of God swirling around me. And I really don’t want to be this way. I want to live in wonder.

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ybic, Bryan

U

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The Art of Offending God

SinfulInside1

“Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and grieved his heart in that dry wasteland.”

Psalm 78:40, NLT

“For forty years I was angry with them, and I said,
‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’”

Psalm 95:10, NLT

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).”

Ephesians 4:30, AMP

I must say, we instinctively know how to offend God.  No one has to teach us how it’s done, we just know how to do it. We have the amazing ability to sadden God. Our sins, and our rebellion causes God to tremble and weep. Disobedience, in any form affects the very essence of God’s well-being.

As a believer in Jesus, I know that sin is never permanent. It is not like getting a spiritual tattoo on our hearts. Our faith prevents sin from completely attaching itself to our hearts. But my sorrow or grief over my sin, must drill itself directly into my heart. I should come to the point where I can not sin against Him who loves me hysterically.

To turn back to Him involves “contrition.” To be contrite is to imply a very simple acknowledgment of our sin– and the rebellion that is often seen within. Somehow this is possible. I do not understand the mechanics of it all. But I am very glad it is there. God loves a heart that is contrite.

God is very offended by our sin. But somehow we do not grasp this. More or less this is a bit intangible. In our mind, we go don’t ever stop sinning against Him. We feel that we are getting away of something, which isn’t true at all.

As a closet-Lutheran, I propose the Lutheran Church which also has its own act  of contrition, which is said during Holy Absolution. The following version, taken from the Lutheran Service Book (2006), says:

    O Almighty God, merciful Father, I a poor, miserable sinner, confess to you all my sins and iniquities, with which I have ever offended you and justly deserved your punishment now and forever. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray you of your boundless mercy, and for the sake of the holy, innocent through many bitter sufferings and death of your beloved son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor sinful being.

I can say nothing more than this. I will simply rest in this kindness that isn’t me at all. He loves each of us, as if we were the only ones. Thank you Father.

Y

ybic, Bryan

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