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Biblical Leadership II Faithfulness

Jamey — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 14:14:59 GMT

Abraham was faithful to God, and God reckoned that to him as righteousness. There is no single attribute desired more by God or humanity more than faithfulness. If you think about it, if you want to be a great leader, you want people to be faithful to you.

You can't lead if you aren't going anywhere.

Now the Lord said to Abram,
"Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from you father's house,
To the land which I will show you;
(Genesis 12:1 NAS

And Abram went. He left everything he knew and just left to go to, well he didn't know where. As a leader, wouldn't it be nice if you yielded the same kind of authority? Within family leadership, the kids always question, and argue. In corporate leadership, the subordinates always complain and cooperate only half-heartedly. In churches the congregations always divide. We want faithfulness as leaders, and we don't know how to get it.

Abraham became the father of a great nation, the father of our modern Christianity simply because he was faithful. People followed him, his wife and Lot went with him because he was faithful to the words God spoke to him. To gain faithfulness, you have to demonstrate faithfulness. Being faithful to God will lead you to be faithful to the mission God puts upon you. As you pursue His mission faithfully He will place with you the resources and people you need to accomplish what He desires of you. Truly, when it comes to faithfulness, you reap what you sow.

Biblical Leadership I

Jamey — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:35:30 GMT

Leadership and success are hotly pursued topics of discussion in our modern society. Recently, I began to teach my children principles of leadership, and ingrain in them the idea that success is a life that honors and glorifies God.

One day I was talking to my son and explaining how to identify his values. I explained to him a business practice called benchmarking. Basically, you identify something you like about someone, and you emulate that trait. I had to explain that this is not copy-catting. You don't want to try to be someone else, you just want to take a trait of theirs and develop it in yourself, because you really just want to be yourself.

While this has been going on I've been reading the books of Kings. One of my all-time Biblical heroes has always been Soloman, the wisest man to have ever lived. I have prayed for great wisdom and knowledge for a long time now, and I have studied. But in reading the story, I came to realize that all of Soloman's wisdom didn't make him a perfect king. He used forced labor, and placed great burdens on the people. He spent seven years building God's temple, then thirteen years building his palace. Then Soloman turned from the Lord, allowing other gods to be worshipped under his reign.

I was mortified. What good was the wisdom that led to the division of Isreal? What use is a wisdom that led God's nation into sin, and offended God so deeply? Soloman was wise, but he was was not faithful. Many of the great characters of the Bible had similar down falls. I've been looking at this all wrong. I don't need heroes from the Biblical texts, I need benchmarks.

I want to look at just a few briefly, and perhaps we'll explore this concept more thoroughly in the near future.

A few Biblical Benchmarks for Leadership:

Noah was righteuos, blameless in his generation and he walked with God.
Abraham was faithful and God reckoned that to him as righteusness.
Moses was humble.
Gideon was a mighty man of valor.
Ruth was loyal.
Saul was handsome.
David was a man after God's own heart, and God was faithful to him.
Soloman was wise.
King Asa did right in the sight of the Lord
King Hezekiah trusted in the Lord like no other.

Righteousness, faithfulness, valor, loyalty, pursuit of God, wisdom, trust, and even beauty are all traits that God has honored in his people. The list goes on. Job, Daniel, Jonah, and the disciples all offer amazing and insightful views of leadership. Then there is Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. A wise man will learn from all of these people and their stories as he seeks to be a leader either in small things or great.

Empting the Vessel

Jamey — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 04:27:56 GMT

In 1 Samuel 15 Saul was told through he profit Samuel to destroy Amalek's entire kingdom, men, women, children, and livestock, the entire kingdom was to be utterly destroyed. Amalek himself was to be cut into pieces. Saul marched confidently into battle, and God gave him a resounding victory. Saul returned triumphantly to Samuel, he brought with him Amalek in chains, and the best of the kingdom's livestock. Samuel questioned Saul in an exchange that any parent can identify with. First Saul said that the people required he keep the livestock. Then he justifies himself saying he would sacrifice all the animals to God. Saul tells him simply, "Obedience is better than sacrifice."

That story is one I can so readily identify with. I read the Bible seeking truth, not to justify my own traditions, but simply to identify how it is God would like me to live. I want more of Him in my life. I want to know Him better, and I want Him to recognize me undeniably as one of His sons. I have prayed over and over for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Gracefully God has made it clear that I cannot hold onto what I know and still be able to receive the knowledge and wisdom He has for me. The vessel must be empty in order for Him to pour into it.

This past year my family has stumbled through the feasts, reaping revelations and spiritual lessons in abundance. This year Halloween has been terminated from our annual traditions. Everything we do has been challenged rigorously against scripture. Most recently, the Christmas Tree and all its trimmings and accompanying greenery have failed the test and fallen from the traditions of men that my family will observe.

Jeremiah 10:2-4 started the conflict for me. The King James Bible gives the most true translation of these verses and it paints a perfect picture of a Christmas Tree along with God's warning not to observe such empty tradition. This choice was not easy. I looked hard and consulted many wise counselors before electing to live in obedience to this passage. I loved my tree. I really loved my ornaments. I struggled for weeks, and searched for a way out.

One day I was wrestling through this subject with my incredibly patient wife. I asked, "How can we take a clearly pagan practice of bringing a tree into our home, decorating it, and using that as a celebration of the Birth of the Messiah, now knowing full well that God had warned us not to do exactly that? If we take such a practice from Pagan traditions and offer it as a tradition for God are we not doing exactly what Saul did with Amalek's livestock?" At that moment, the decision was made.

With great anguish and worry I began to introduce yet another correction of our family's traditions to our children. We all cried. I explained the stories, read the verses, and the children were still upset. I pulled them all together, and offered this explanation:

Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ. This is a season we set aside as a human tradition to offer thanks and celebrate the birth of our Messiah. So doesn't it make sense to be sure we give Him special gifts that we know He would find pleasing? So far the kids were following me. I looked at my daughter and asked, "How would you like a stack of two by fours for your birthday?" She crinkled her nose. I looked at my son and said, "How about a few Barbi Dolls?" He crossed his arms and huffed. Exactly. So why would we think of doing something to celebrate Jesus that God the Father told us not to do? I explained that Jesus said whatever we do for the least of these little ones we do for him. That makes Christmas pretty simple. Take care of those less fortunate than ourselves, give offerings to them, help them and we are in fact giving those gifts to Jesus. The children got it. Do you?

A Bill of Goods

Jamey — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:55:26 GMT

A dear friend of mine once related the story of her early christian life as a Catholic. She had been reading scripture and went to her priest with a series of questions. He asked her where all of these questions were coming from and she told him she was reading the Bible. He replied, "My dear child, you will never make a good Catholic if you are going to read your Bible." She left the church.

This year, I started out to read the whole Bible, front to back. This experience has caused me to begin to ask about the Covenants, Laws, and teachings that are said to be everlasting within this Old Testament. I've been told that we are now under a New Covenant, but Jesus never said it was a New covenant. I've been told Jesus came a fulfilled the law so we don't have to follow it. But in the next verse He said that not a letter of the Law will change until both heaven and earth end. In short I have found more evidence in support of the old teachings and directions than I have found against it. It seems obvious that Jesus came to clarify the law, place it in proper perspective, and remind us that God loves us not because we are justified by the law, but because He just loves us.

I have wrestled and struggled with this understanding for months now. I suspect now that many congregations all over the world are being sold a bill of good by a hypocritical church leadership caught up in a lying, greedy spirit. Most modern, American, Christian Churches proclaim that the Law is fulfilled. Mine does. But I've been deeply troubled recently by the efforts my pastor has put into collecting the tithe. He proofed his claim using several Old Testament verses. Here in lies the problem. If as he claims the Law is irrelevant and we are to live under a new Covenant then he cannot collect a tithe that is written in the law only to support the Temple and the levite priests in service to the Temple, unless he can show justification in the New Testament.

That is something he cannot do. None of the Apostles nor Jesus, ever collected the Tithe. They may have asked for or accepted offerings, but never in the New Testament is the Tithe ever prescribed to the new churches. The tithe was reserved exclusively for the Temple of God which housed the Mercy seat of God.

I have no perfect answers. But I do know that we cannot Tithe in accordance to the scripture because we have no Temple. Nor can we offer sacrifices, for the same reason and because Jesus did say his was the blood of the Covenant. Read it, he never said new. His replaced the animal sacrifices.

You would be unwise to assume that your Church Leaders are leading you correctly. It would also be unwise to think that I am correct. Pray, read, and think for yourself.

The Feasts

Jamey — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:26:40 GMT

My family and I have decided to keep the Old Testament Feasts. This past couple of months have been a very full calendar. We started with Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and then most recently The Feast of Tabernacles. The first question we are confronted with whenever we mention such feasts is, "Are you Jewish?" The answer to that is no, but Jesus was, and as a Christian my desire is to be as much like him as I can.

Jesus Kept the feasts. Paul did as well, and he instructed us to. That leads to the next most popular question, "why?" It's funny really, most people think we are making up our own religion, and in a way they are right. But, I can point to scripture and show you where we are instructed to keep each of these feasts, and with a little effort you can see the meaning each feast had to Christ and their significance to him. Can you show me where we are instructed to celebrate Christmas? Can you give me any prescribed date in the scripture that supports this holiday? I'm not saying that I am anti-Christmas. I think it is a great thing to commemorate the birth of our savior. But to me, that's like studying really hard on just the extra-credit portions of the exam and ignoring the rest of the material. What I am saying, is that we seem to have mastered the extra-credit, but what do we really know about the rest of the course of study?

I am not one to even begin to tell you how to keep the feasts. I have missed dates. I have seen the dates arrive and found myself ill-prepared. I have had great celebrations during the Feast of Tabernacles, but not with all the traditional Sukkots and music, and other parts of the traditional celebration. But I can tell you this, it has been a blast this year just trying to practice and understand the whole fullness of these feasts, and from what I've learned next year will be even better.

Every time I've even tried to keep a feast, every time I have set a time aside and tried to do what God prescribed for that day, I have found myself closer to Him. He has brought revelation, understanding, and wisdom to us through our feeble efforts to be obedient to His word. If you would like to explore and practice the Feasts, post a comment. I will be glad to offer up all that I have learned. May God bless you and keep you.

Economic Pride

Jamey — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:23:11 GMT

As a nation we are in unprecedented times. For the first time in our nation's history the bond rating for the United States has been lowered. Unemployment is on the rise and I talk to more people every day who are out of work, underemployed, or truly fearful about their future. Fear and uncertainty have gripped large portions of our population.

Overwhelmingly, whether I'm talking to Wall Street Executives, or someone facing homelessness, everyone looks to the Government for a solution. Wall Street looks for deregulation, tax cuts or hand outs. The poor look for jobs, help, and well more help.

I have a harsh reality for you. Your not going to like it. ITS ALL YOUR FAULT. This may be a harsh reality and it may be a difficult pill to swallow, but it is a fact, your status in this world, your level of satisfaction your acceptance of whatever reality you face, is ALL YOUR FAULT.

I'm not saying that the world doesn't work on you and have its influence. I'm not saying that God doesn't bring His will into your life. I'm not saying that Sh-- doesn't happen. It happens to all of us. But what you do about it, how you react to it is up to you.

Too many people in this country want to be thin and healthy and have all the fat and sugar filled food they want. My Dad was at a class reunion one year when an overweight teammate of his stood in front of him with a plate piled full of desert and asked, "How did you manage to keep your physique?" Dad responded, "I watch what I shovel into my pie hole." Here's the point, If your fat and you don't want to be fix the lifestyle that got you that way. Likewise, If your poor, sad, lonely, or unhappy in any way, fix your lifestyle. Take personal responsibility seriously. One symptom of pride it thinking that you deserve something inherently. But you don't get skinny sitting on the couch eating bon-bons and you don't make money without generating results. This country was founded upon the freedom to pursue happiness. So pursue it.

Energy

Jamey — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:13:34 GMT

Writing takes a creative kind of energy that I have obviously been running low on lately. Time has become very compressed and simply doesn't exist in the abusndance it once did when I had the luxury to sit and thoroughly contmeplate every nuance of a story, or a thought.

I am sorry to anyone who may have missed my posts. Perhaps soon I'll get back to it. In the meantime, I wanted to let you know I am still here, and every day that goes by I miss the time I spent writing at length about whatever the spirit moved me to write.

Fear of God

Jamey — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 12:00:50 GMT

There are so many warnings in the Bible. There's one about people taking on a form of Godliness that isn't Godliness. Jesus says at different points that many will come to Him claiming to know Him and He will turn them away, saying He never knew them. Passages like these haunt me.

How secure in your faith are you? I'm not asking how secure you are in your salvation. Through Jesus, I think out salvation is secure. But have you read the Bible? There's a lot of talk about being greatest or least in the kingdom of heaven. It is written that there is a testing of fire, and all the unrighteousness will be burned from us all. There is a lot to think about beyond Salvation. Don't get me wrong. I am chief among sinners myself, and without salvation of Jesus Christ, I would be dead. There would be no hope for me due to all the inequity I have partaken of in the world. Thanks be to God, Praise be to out Lord Jesus Christ.

It was great testing and crises in my life that brought me to scripture, and persistent prayer. I am truly joyful and thankful for those trial today, for they called a proud and sinful man to God. His forgiveness and care for me over those years showed me His loving forgiveness, grace, and mercy. That relationship built within me a love for God that has no comparison in my life.

Out of that Love, out of that relationship I study, and continue to seek more of His divine wisdom. The more I study and learn the more I find great discrepancies between the word of God and the modern Church. The teachings of man on the Bible are a dangerous thing to have faith in. Think about it. Your faith is Yours alone. Your relationship with God is yours alone. So how active are you in that relationship? Do you study? By that I mean do you read the Scripture for yourself. Do you live out the lessons you learn? Do you pray? With an open heart? Think about it.

Questions

Jamey — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 12:56:52 GMT

Christ commanded us to love God with all our hearts, but how? What does that look like?

I strive for Obedience, in every conceivable way. But over years and years I have found very few people who have led me 100% correctly. I have found that the traditions of man have very little resemblance to the truth of scripture. The more I dig into scripture the more I discover problems in translations and the more I have to challenge myself to seek truth rather than justification.

I have so many questions.

Do we Christians really adequately accomplish what our name implies? Are we Christ-like? What was Christ really like anyway? We have four sperate portrayals of him, and each one is just a little different.

Why do modern churches love so much to preach on a verse or two? My most concise Bible has 1,012 pages of history and prophesy. Preaching on a verse is a lot like using a microscope to try to figure out what a what looks like.

We may all agree that Christ is the Messiah, the son of God. But do we really have any idea why we think that? There are several thousand years of history and prophesy that goes into that fact.

I am not trying to say that history and understanding of all these mysteries prevent us from glorifying God or experiencing his presence. Heavens no! But as I grow in faith, as I develop, and draw closer to God, I find the more I understand His instructions, the more I feel free and the more blessed I am. Think about your questions. Seek your answers.

Even Through the Poop

Jamey — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 01:36:01 GMT

I believe I've already published The Poop Story. It's a family favorite about the day I brought my youngest daughter home, and her very first diaper change. This is a story about one of the happiest days of my life. Its very funny too, because I ended up covered in baby poop before I managed to get through the diaper change.

Yesterday, I taught a lesson on Joy in a bible study at work. This was destined to be a purely academic study because frankly, there hasn't been a lot of joy in my life recently. But the spirit had moved me to teach this topic that was feeling a little foreign to me. As I reviewed scripture, and thought of all the joy in my life, I had to really consider how it is that we are supposed to have joy through trials and tribulations.

The Poop Story kept on coming to me. Here's the upshot, I laughed through that story, I laugh about that story, and that story is great because it is founded in love. I persevered regardless of how bad it got. I never lost a happy demeanor during those moments regardless of how messy I got.

If we recognize God's love for us, and open ourselves to receive His love, His guidance, and his divine sense of humor, then we indeed can be joyful with him even through the poop. He is our God, and he loves and smiles down upon us no matter how bad we mess up. He relentlessly loves us and accepts us. What more do you need to be joyful about?

Chaotic Good

Jamey — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:57:44 GMT

In recent reading I have come upon a theory that I am entertaining. It seems to have some truth to it. The theory is that humans do not create love, or just have love at all, but that love flows eternally from God. That seems very logical in a lot of ways. Then I ask, what about anger and hatred? Do these more negative emotions and thoughts then come from Satan? If that is the case, then, what are humans? What is our true nature?

Are we then just empty vessels built at first to simply receive God's love, and in the absence of any need on our own part were we not originally designed to simply love God back? It seems that it was that simple in Eden, until the serpent worked his ways. He poured evil into the world, and into out souls. He poured distrust and separation from God into the world. We bought into it, hook line and sinker. Over centuries now society has developed and grown. The lies of the devil have taken root and grown so fruitfully now that it is difficult to discern good from evil.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance offers a philosophical tool that Jesus has already offered. The book calls it Pheadrus's knife. Pheadrus sought a clean way to divide the world, a perfect cut if you will. His divisions were interesting, but it was the way he yielded the knife and the story of the insanity his pursuit brought him that was more interesting. You see, if humans are neither good nor evil intrinsically, then we are more like fields where crops are sown. We sow into one another, but we only give that which we have received.

We have one unique ability though. We have the ability to step back from our own field and see our crops. The problem we have sometimes is in discernment. There are crops in our field we may like, that are not necessarily good. Kind of like a field of twinkies. Then there are the obvious evil weeds: anger, rage, immorality. These weeds are persistent and hard to get rid of, the crab grass of the soul perhaps.

While we may be able to step back and look at our fields, we don't always do it. If we do step back, climb the hill and take in our whole garden, we don't necessarily know all the weeds from all the crops. A few weeks ago, my church did a project for a local nature center. We were supposed to walk through the woods and pull the exotic plant, the weeds. The problem I had, is that it was spring in Tennessee and everything just looked Green to me. Knowing my weakness I had our guide point out a few big tree like weeds and I spent my time working on those rather than being lost in the forest of green that all looked the same to me.

In the field of our soul though, this tactic seems unwise. Sure we need to uproot the large weeds, but we also need to work out knowing the small weeds, and killing them off before they become trees. To me this is tricky. The big things we all get: don't kill, don't steal, don't be mean, don't lie. Well, don't lie about big things...let's be honest. This is where we hit the slippery slope. If you get rid of all the obvious weeds in your field, how do you recognize the little seedlings that are good from the little baby weeds? Pheadrus drove himself insane trying to divide the world in such a way.

It is written that the word of God, the scripture is the sword of God. This is great imagery. Pheadrus has this scalpel, and he is carefully trying to find this perfect natural division in the world. He spent a life time seeking the perfect cut. All the while, right next to him is this enormous sword ready to slice his philosophical world perfectly. The word of God delivers discernment of good and evil. The sword is a separating tool. But once we clear out the garden, and uproot all the bad weeds, then what?

We are to be meticulous garners. We must carefully nurture and grow our beautiful crops until they are the biggest, most apparent portions of our soul, and we must share the bounty. In so doing the weeds may persist, but they become more recognizable, easier to eradicate, and hardly ever noticed by passers by. We must be careful the seeds we accept into our lives. We must diligently guard our hearts.

As a boy, I must confess I played a little Dungeons and Dragons. In creating a character, we had to choose his alignment. There were Chaotic evil, evil, neutral, good and chaotic good characters. Chaotic evil characters could do no good, and chaotic good characters could do no evil. Chaotic Good characters were the hardest to play. They couldn't just do anything. Chaotic Evil was also difficult. They always got killed in the village stealing supplies. Neutral characters were easiest. If they needed to steal, they justified it and stole. If they had to lie, they lied. Everything was based on what they perceived to be for their own good. Neutral. They had a few weeds, and they had some good crops, and they employed what was necessary to get the job done. Sounds like most of the world doesn't it. Truth is it sounds a lot like me at times in my life.

The most powerful character I ever had in D&D though was a Chaotic Good Human Monk named Dom. Due to his character and all the nerdy stuff that is calculated in a D&D game, Dom was very rarely confronted with low level foes. They most often ran from him. Everywhere he went, his provisions were most often given to him. Evil characters would have to change their alignment to be near him. In a lot of fights, he was protected. I know this was a game, and that it has very little to do with real life, but I liked Dom, I liked playing him, and in a lot of ways that character was one in D&D that reminds me most of Jesus. Yes, I just compared a Dungeons and Dragon's Character to Jesus. The world is so divided though, and reading scripture will highlight that fact for you. I don't think the world is evil. I really don't think most people put any real effort at all into choosing good or evil. Most are neutral. Most are luke warm. We create our character daily. What are you going to choose today?

Victory

Jamey — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:31:02 GMT

Who would like to be among God's anointed? Who would like to really serve God in radical ways? Who truly loves God and wants Him to be in your life? Think carefully before you answer. First you may want to look at those who precede you. Job for example. He lost literally everything and everyone he cared about. David is another great one. He was a great King, but his life was dominated by attacks and war. Saul was no different.

If you want to change the world, you have to take it on. You have to identify and declare evil. You have to inspire and change others. You have to pray and fight the spiritual battle at all costs, and make no mistake it will cost you. People don't like to change. They don't like to be told they are wrong. And they really don't like it when someone inspires their children or their spouse to pursue a righteously.

In every example I've read or experienced their has always come a crises. In every crises I've ever seen one of two things happens. Good either wins, or the hero to be stops. I've heard of great ministries that start, and things get hard, and the leader just quits. I've seen marriages die because the couple decided to quit loving one another. I've seen people stop arguing because they just give up on the greater good. I've seen great, world changing thoughts never go anywhere because of fear.

Perseverance. Courage. Boldness. The question is simple. Do you have it. Perseverance, courage and boldness are the world changing attributes that propel our light, our love out into the world. We are not called to a life of ease and safety. So go for it, and let the Devil cry as he may.

Surprise

Jamey — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 23:41:27 GMT

Many new Christians are challenged by the doctrine of love. Indeed, when it comes to praying for your enemies, and not resisting evil, and turn the other cheek, these messages have to be placed in perspective. Let us not forget that the turn the other cheek message was given as a rebuttal to the law at the time which was based on the doctrine of an eye for an eye.

Mel Gibson was in a vietnam movie playing a very faithful commander. The opening scene had him teaching his daughters to pray. Later in the movie, he prayed with his troops. He gave a very heartfelt prayer for all the normal things, protection, His blessing, His forgiveness, I can't really remember. But he wrapped it up with something like, "Father, grant us the strength and power to blow these mother @^%*, *&^%>?, slime-ball pieces of yellow pagan &!!%<* right off this planet. Amen" Everyone laughs at that, event he soldiers in the movie laughed. But there is a time and a place that a Christian must stand and allow God to carry him through a fight. We are not to be easy to anger. But we are to hate evil. We aren't to fight over our own petty desires, or our own wants and needs. But Jesus makes it very clear that anyone who causes one of his little ones to sin, it is better that a mill stone be tied around his neck and he be cast into the deep.

Two children played this out for me once. A little boy was trying to play with a little girl. She wouldn't cooperate with the war game he wanted to play. He wanted the dolls to shoot, she wanted them to have tea. He decided to push the little girl, then kind of tackle her. Now he was thinking he could push this little girl around because she was playing so sweetly. He was bigger than her, and he was older than her, and he wanted this to go his way. He ended up kind of on top of her wrestling over the doll.

The little girl cried, and tried to get him to stop, but he was determined to get that doll. He reached under her to take it out of her hands, and all I heard was the highest pitched girlie squeal you ever did hear come out of that little boy. He rolled off the girl, his arm still clamped in her teeth. She let go of his arm, picked up a stick and began beating that bullying boy. His squeal got only louder until the parents hoisted themselves from the park bench and ran to his rescue.

I believe this to be true. We as christians are to take a gentile approach whenever possible. The doctrine of love prevails whenever there is doubt about what to do. It is not beyond God, or unthinkable in any way that a good Christian can protect himself, his family, or any innocent person if God empowers him to do so. And with the mighty hand of God behind you, who can possibly stand against you? Walk as God tells you to walk. Speak as the spirit leads you to speak. If you are living by the Spirit, don't be surprised when the spirit tells you to act in surprising ways. Remember our Christ is the one who turned over tables and whiped the merchants out of the temple. Our Chist is the one who looked upon the baren fig tree, cursed it, and it died. Our Christ Cried out, "Oh ye faithless and perverse nation, how long must I suffer you!" Don't let it surprise you when the time comes and He makes your enemies your footstool. He said he would.

A Spiritual Fantasy Story

Jamey — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 14:37:26 GMT

The camp was neat and tidy, out on the edge of the plains near the foot of the Great Mountains. The scale of this landscape amazed Tuss now for weeks as he walked daily toward this massive mountain thinking he was nearly there only to succumb to exhaustion at the end of each day. Every day, he set camp, cooked whatever rodent he had manage to kill that day, and bedded down thinking he would come to the foot of the mountain early the next day.

Tuss's staff was next to him. He walked daily with the long staff in hand. This was the tool he most often used to disable his dinner. He lay asleep on his side with his double edged broad sword tucked between his knees. The sword was his prized possession. His small brass couldren hung from its tripod next to the small campfire. The pot had the remnants of the rabbit soup he had for dinner and would enjoy again for breakfast.

Tuss slept restlessly. He always did. From the day the priest prophesied over him that he was filled with God's spirit and power, that he was anointed, and favored by God, Tuss's life had been nothing but a nightmare. He had been nearly killed more times than he could count now. He had been imprisoned, sentenced to die. He never asked for God's favor. He wasn't even sure he liked this God, especially if this life is what having His favor meant. Non-the-less, Tuss found himself alone a lot, and often he had nothing to do other than talk to this God. At times his talks would be conversation.   A voice, not his own, with thoughts certainly not his own would echo in his head. This night was no different.

"Wake, but don't move." The voice was in his dream, but not at the same time. Tuss found himself wide awake, and still as a stone. He could see in the dim starlight three figures hunched over moving slowly, quietly toward his camp. They came quietly into the camp, and into the light of Tuss's fire. Tuss didn't move, only the grip on his sword tightened. One man approached his brass cauldron and smelled the stew with greedy hunger. The second went to Tuss's cloak which covered his scroll, and the few articles he possessed.   The third stood next to his helmet which covered only a small bag of coins. Each man was about 12 feet apart, and ten feet or so from Tuss. Not one of them touched the loot, rather, they hovered over it their eyes intently watching in Tuss's direction.

Tuss remained calm. He lay with his eyes closed, and observed the visions that ran through his mind. The voice commanded, "Now!" and Tuss set into motion all that he already saw. He rolled to his feet, turning his back to the three marauders, just as the heavy club of the fourth thudded down onto the rock Tuss had rested his head on. Before the man even realized Tuss had moved, his head rolled to the ground, cleanly severed by Tuss's sword. Tuss bent, picked up his Staff and threw it spinning into the legs of the man at his helmet who had already grabbed the coins and turned to run. Tuss drew his Dagger and threw it into the chest of the man at his cloak.    The man at the cauldron laughed as Tuss's cold blue eyes set their angry gaze upon him. "You are insane, the man said." We are innocent soldiers from the king's army who have entered your camp in the spirit of truth, cooperation, in need of your assistance. You have now murdered two, and left lame a third." The man with Tuss's bag of coins was trying to stand. As he put weight on his left foot his leg bent ninety degrees just below his knee. Two bones broke through the skin as the man fell to the ground screaming.

The man at the Cauldren continued, "you are a murderous out of control, evil being who has committed crimes against the king's men. Your only hope is to concede this fight and enter the kings service. The king is in need of good fighters, and if you serve I am sure he will forgive your crimes." The man had drawn his sword confident that he had the advantage over Tuss who was unarmed. Tuss circled slowly to his right. The marauder did the same, still not willing to leave himself without something between himself and Tuss. Now the fire stood between the two of them. Tuss dove straight into the campfire. As he rolled through it, he grabbed the cool end of a burning stick. In one smooth motion he thrust the stick up into the abdomen of the invader. The man tried to speak or call out, but only smoke came from his mouth as the burning embers were quenched.

Tuss walked over to where he had left his sword, and picked it up. The man with the broken leg let out a panicked scream when Tuss's eyes set upon him. He realized his time was near. Tuss kicked the crawling man over to his back. The broken leg spurted blood and twisted unnaturally. The man screamed in agony and fear. Tuss stomped his foot down on the man's chest, silencing him by knocking the wind out of him. The man caught his breath and began pleading.

"I didn't want them to kill you. I just wanted to come into the camp and ask for what we needed. We were hungry, and we have been out here too long. You are a good man, we've been watching you for a long time now. Can't we make a pact? I'll give you whatever you need, just please don't kill me, help me mend my leg, and let me serve with you."

Tuss pressed his foot against the man's chest and revisited the vision he had already had about these events. He questioned the truth of this man's statements. Tuss moved his foot and dropped his knee on the man's chest. "Answer me this, are there more of you?"

The man said "No." Tuss pressed the tip of his sword to the man's solar plex. The man insisted, "NO!" Tuss pressed the blade slowly into the man, under his rib cage. The man screamed, "NO!"

Tuss asked, "why were you willing to kill me?" The man was filled with pain and terror and he was losing consciousness."

"I was hungry, and they said they could get me what I wanted, I just had to do what they told me. I'd take it all back. I didn't mean to. I didn't want to."

Tuss closed his eyes. The voice told him, "Too late for this world. Have mercy on his pain, I will have mercy on his soul."

By this time Tuss's blade had scraped up the inside of the man's chest bone nearly to his throat. The man was delirious in pain. As quickly as he could Tuss Twisted his blade bringing the cutting edge toward the vital organs. He lifted the hilt causing the end of the blade to slice to the man's backbone. As he withdrew the blade it sliced through the man's lung, his aorta, and tore his heart in two. The man let out nothing more than a groan, his agony was over.

Dawn was coming. Tuss set about the business of breaking down camp to continue his journey.

Truth and Lies

Jamey — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:11:38 GMT

I went to pick my son up from a friend's house. The mom came out and warmly greeted me. She said he was good, and very pleasant. As the conversation rolled on, she asked me about our horses. My son who was standing right beside me when this subject came up, immediately ran for cover behind the truck. The mom went on to say that he had told her all about the horses we have at his Granddad's place.

Before I answered, I called my son over to me. I asked him to tell me all about these horses. He hid his face behind his cowboy hat. I apologized to his friend's mom and explained that while we had access to land and we wanted horses some day, my son hasn't yet even ridden one. The boy was very embarrassed.

He lied because he wants badly to be something more than he is, he wants to have more than he has. That may be a spirit of pride, a desire to be seen as more than you really are. The origin of the lie is important. It is the origin of the lie that is the problem, not the lie itself. If you pray against the origin and train a child up against the origin, then you can end the lies. This concept is true for all of us for every sin.

Truth though is sometimes a very difficult virtue to uncover. People often find themselves captive to sin, and ashamed of their behavior. They judge themselves to be something they don't want to be, so rather than reaching out to friends and family and confessing their problems seeking help and guidance, they try to hide and bury their sin.

Jesus called sins out repeatedly. Over and over he publicly spoke of individual's personal sinful past. Through that, he granted forgiveness, and more importantly healing and freedom. The body of Christ is to walk as a sperate entity from the world, holding itself accountable to Christ's doctrine of love. The doctrine of love has been misconstrued by some churches as the radical acceptance of everything. I have come to believe this is ill-advised. In many cases this is a fine line. Christ was radically open minded. He spent his time among sinners, for in his estimation they were the ones in need of a physician, in his estimation they were sick.

Christ never once looked at a sinner and said, "your behavior is ok, just hang with me, keep doing what your doing, and it will all be fine." While among sinners he stood sperate from them and called them to lives more pleasing and acceptable to the Father. We in the body of Christ are to be like Christ. Many times He changed lives, and saved souls. But those who were not willing to do as he said were sent away.

Accountability

Jamey — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 14:42:43 GMT

I teach and lead a lot of Bible studies and small groups. If anyone asks me for prayer, I pray then and there, whether its the entrance of the church or the middle of Wall-Mart. I preach the Gospel. I have been compared to Solomon, and David, although I see no comparison myself. I have prayed for wisdom for years.

Here's the thing about wisdom, it seems to come with experience and age. If you ask for wisdom, if you ask for discernment and conviction of God's truth, then God is going to give you experiences in life to gain those invaluable things.

Craig has asked for a men's ministry for years, and in obedience, he has started www.mensthoughts.com. In obedience he has taken opportunities to begin building his plan. These are small, humble beginnings. He has to build on experience and over years work diligently on God's behalf. He won't be rewarded until he has done the work. Sometimes along that path God will hold you accountable to your prayer, he will test whether you are willing to lay it all in his hands, and attempt something that would be impossible without him. These are your moments of true faith.

He only does this when you are prepared. David faced lions and bears in the wilderness before he faced Goliath on the battlefield. Can you imagine? I can.

There's a pagan army thousands strong standing on my land. They want to rule everything they can about my life, and take their spoils for themselves. For years this army has been all around my territory. Even my king's men fear them as they stand circled around the battlefield, their champion taunting the entire army.

At some point David had to realize that no one was stepping up. Everyone around him was beginning to waiver, and entertain the idea that this army could well rule. They justified the pending surrender. The pagans were people too. Their practices and their desires weren't so bad, certainly not bad enough to risk dying against. But David, he saw evil for what it was. He had heard the promises of God. And he knew.

This was his moment of accountability. I can see it. Everyone around him offering advice, or calling him foolish for entering this battle. The king offered him armor and a sword. And David knew it was just up to him and God. He knew this army threatening to rule his land was evil, and an abomination in God's eye's. Everyone around him was more willing to accept that evil than they were willing to fight it. After all they were giants. They were better armed, and the best of the men of Israel were small and ill equipped next to this behemoth and his sword.

David set aside the kings armor, and he silenced all of his nay-sayers, by proclaiming the righteousness of God's power within God's people. He never wavered. Can you imagine what Goliath thought when this little Kid stepped out onto the field? "Is that a sling shot?" Goliath was certain of his own victory. He had the size advantage. He had the technical advantage. He had the financial backing and all the weapons he needed. His last thoughts had to be, "I'm gonna crush this kid." Everyone all around from both armies are expecting a slaughter. But all this is noise. All of this amounts to just background chatter as one smooth stone of God's truth hurdles through the air.

Everyone was focussed on the worldly appearance of things. In their minds might could make right. Size and strength made the fact that the pagan's were practicing evil, and wanted to rule and bring their evil into the sovereign land of God's people an acceptable idea. David though walked in the true Spirit of God. He saw the truth of evil, and the power of good. He let that stone fly. Goliath never even considered that he would lose. He was dead before the though ever occurred to him. Where is your Goliath? Are you allowing him to camp in your family? Are you allowing him to rule your mouth, your deeds?

Peace

Jamey — Wed, 25 May 2011 10:48:23 GMT

I happen to talk to a lot of people in Missouri on a daily basis. These are all business calls. Sometimes right now when I dial out, I get a tone and a message that says, "due to an emergency situation in the area you are calling your call cannot be completed at this time." My heart sinks every time I hear that. I talked to one man who was very intent on contacting me who's wife was in the hospital in premature labor after being caught in a grocery store cooler that collapsed during the tornado. He called me back twice.

A lot of folks aren't answering my calls. Two, just two out of the hundreds of calls I make only two folks have said they are either in, or headed to Joplin to help. These folks need help desperately. If you can go help at all, go do it. But there's one thing I do hear in every call I make, peace. More often than anything else, these people have a faith and a trust in God that gives them a peace in such a harsh reality. In fact, some of these people seem a little more peaceful and aware of their faith now than they seemed ever before the storm. Again, I call, if you can at all get there, go, today or as soon as you can and help these people. If you can't go, offer your fervent prayers to all the victims of this turbulent and violent spring. And when your own little world seems to be a whirling storm, remember, peace, trust in God.

Fail

Jamey — Mon, 23 May 2011 11:35:24 GMT

We are to live a life of boldness and courage. We are to walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us. We are to yield the kind of spiritual power that destroys fortresses. These are not just lines we recite on Sunday. Love isn't something we show once a month when we volunteer at the soup kitchen or homeless shelter. Obedience is a lifestyle. God created you for something, are you seeking that?

I have failed God over and over. I've tried to set up ministries that didn't take off. I've tried to hold benefits that didn't make any money. I've tried to reach souls that ran away. I've taught lessons that were not received in truth. Some of the greatest things I've ever written, were never read. I've allowed a busy schedule to stall my efforts, and keep me from making progress that I know I should be making.

The more I aspire to, the more I fail. And I don't really care. Because I'd rather be here, on the ground, fighting the fight, taking the risk, and pouring my life out for the one who gave it to me every day. I don't really care, because even if I fail 10,000 time, if I change one life, if I save one soul, If I help God even once, then I count it as worthwhile. May God bless you in all that you do, and may you attempt all that God blesses you for. Success will not come until you glean wisdom from failure. So, go forth and...

Hoping for Lightening

Jamey — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:08:00 GMT

"I hate you God! I hate you your not even real!" The boy was screaming at the beautiful blue sky, thrusting an accusatory finger straight up madly. He was half hoping for lighting to strike, or the earth to open up; he needed some kind of proof that there was a God. HIs father stood by nearly weeping at the scene. As it turns out the boy was just having a bad day. Things had not turned out quite the way he hoped they would.

I think a lot of Christians have echoed the boy's sentiment, if not at least his frustration. We fall in love with God, and we think he will take care of everything. Thing is, he does, just not always the way we would like. So we pray for this or that, we hope for all this, and sometimes life becomes a train wreck. It's kind of funny really. The train wreck comes and almost every Christian will have some kind of response to God. So often that response is doubt, or abandonment of faith. Sometimes it's anger or disappointment. Every now and then it's trust.

Christian's hate God more than any other group of people in the world. We struggle with the challenges of life. We hurl our prayers and requests at God like children in a toy store. "I want this, and I want that and OMG I just have to have that. Will you get it for me please?" We try to manipulate God too. If we say it right, or have a list of really good reasons, or if we fast and really mean it God will listen. And very often he does. Track it, He is amazing. But like children, when we don't get our way, we tend to get upset. That though is only one small reason Christians have earned the title of hating God more than anyone.

I think we come to hate God the way we do sometime just because of how much we love him. Think about it. Its the people we love most in life that can make us the most angry. Its the people that mean the most to us that can disappoint, hurt, and injure us most easily. We take intimate risks with the ones we love, we let down our guard and take off our armor. When we lash out we regret it. Oftentimes it gets so we just put on out armor and keep our guard up. The closeness is over then. I've learned that at those times when I'm feeling hurt or angry it's not the other person, and it isn't God trying to hurt me. It's my perception that they have hurt me that is the problem. We make a choice in being hurt. We take on offense. The spirit of offense can get so powerful within us that everyone around us is walking on egg shells. When that spirit is directed at God we hoist our armor and our guard against the one who loves us most.

The Jews took offense at Jesus. They beat him. They persecuted him. They killed him out of offense. For all the pain and suffering He endured, for all the ridicule he took on, even as he hang dying upon the cross, how did Jesus repay our offense? "Father, Forgive them! They know not what they do!" Let your guard down. Even if you have proclaimed your hatred and disappointment toward God, he still loves you. No matter what your life is like, no matter what you've done or what you've endured, He still loves you. He's just waiting on you to love him back. You see, the boy standing in the park cursing God, waiting for proof, waiting for the lightening got forgiveness. He received grace. The lightening didn't come. When his father explained all this to him, the truth hit that boy hard. He wept, and hugged his father and prayed his sorrow out to God. Faith is built in these trials. Rejoice.

Momma's Wisdom

Jamey — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:44:00 GMT

Have you ever found yourself not even out of bed yet and in a bad mood? You know when you get up feeling a little scroogy, someone says, "Good morning, " and all you have is, "Baa humbug!" I don't believe its just me who does that and everyone else get up with zipidee doo dah in on their mind every morning.

I woke up in a baa humbug frame of mind yesterday, and for no particular reason. I didn't even want to be in a bad mood. But there I was, and I fought it all day. I came home, and I went upstairs and took a few minutes to myself. Then it was dinner time. When I came down my son had gotten into some kind of minor trouble, and all I heard was his momma's last words, "you can straighten up or I'll straighten you up." Once she was out of earshot he goes, "I hate today."

I thought to myself, "at least you got a reason pal." But the fact was he had had a good day, and so had I in all truth. As we ate I asked everyone what their three greatest blessings were that day. As I listened, my spirit lightened, the whole room lightened. My heart had tried to deceive me all day long. It was easy to focus on oversleeping, and difficult clients and a demanding schedule to justify my mood. But the fact is that there are so many more blessings.

We re-discovered a true key to happiness. If you want to be happy, focus on the things you have to be happy about, and thank God for those. When you were a kid, did you ever have one of those times that you were whining and complaining and your momma said something like, "If you want to cry mister, I'll give you something to cry about." I don't know if God actually works that way, but sometimes I wonder. It does seem like life works that way. If you carry a bad attitude then life gets bad. I believe there is a reason we are instructed to always walk in joy and thanksgiving.

There is one more thing I did after we as a family took inventory of our blessings. I changed my routine. I got everything ready last night for this morning so that today would run a little more smoothly. I did something about the regular stressful burden that may have had something to do with my struggle. Momma always says, "If you don't like it, do something about it." Come to think of it, Thank you God for such a wonderful and wise momma. The kids alarms just went off, time to get on with the day. So have a blessed one.