Too Proud to ask for Direction

This past weekend, my third son, Mikael and I attended the annual Promise Keepers Conference. We came out of it exhilarated and exhausted at the same time. There were a lot of spiritual nuggets to digest, and yet, those were delectables that give nutrients to the spirit.

The inspiration behind this year’s conference theme is Jeremiah 6:16: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient path...and walk in it.” The conference focused on finding God’s direction in life. Four speakers, a dramatist and a worship band fueled the hearts, minds and spirits of 2,000 men listening to the messages March 6 and 7 at Church of the Rock in Winnipeg.

It’s one thing to lose your way on the highway; it’s quite another lose your way in life, says Lennett Anderson, keynote speaker who opened the sessions with his energetic and inspirational talk in the two-day men’s conference.

Lennett regaled the audience with one of his car window-shopping sprees where he became quite disappointed when he sat in the cockpit of a luxurious Lexus that seemed to have everything, from a DVD player, a monitor, and wireless Bluetooth Internet access, a hand-free mobile phone, to a superb Surround Sound stereo system, except a GPS system.

When he complained to the car salesman, Lennett was told, “You don’t need a GPS. You have your own operating system.” At those words, Lennett woke up to the fact: “That’s my problem in life all along. I have been using my own operating system, that’s my fleshly desires, my carnal wants, and anything that begins with ‘my’. No wonder I do not get anywhere.”

Speaking at the men’s conference for the third consecutive year, Lennett Anderson, a dynamic and motivational pastor from Nova Scotia, addresses the masculine resistance to direction, recommending a navigational instrument: GPS.

No! It’s not the electronic gadgetry that seduces one with a coy and seductive female voice directing one to turn this way or that way.

GPS is “God’s Programming System”, guys!

“We rely on our carnal operating system and go round and round in life much like the Israelites did. They wandered in the desert for forty years when it should have been a four week journey. One of the devil’s tools is to get us caught up in a deadly cycle,” Anderson says. “We can break this hopeless cycle by accessing GPS through God’s Word and the work of His Spirit. If you humble yourself and ask God for His GPS, you’ll encounter Him.”

“With GPS, you move when God moves like the Israelites who followed the Ark of Covenant. They eventually crossed River Jordan and arrived at the Promised Land of milk and honey,” says Anderson.

“The creator of a product knows how it should work. He has the user manual.” To access GPS, one needs to go to God’s word, watch the movement of His Spirit, and listen to His still, small voice, Anderson suggests.

Professional actor, Jason Hildebrand, performed a one-man three-act play, “The Prodigal Trilogy”, in extrapolating the deep emotions of the three main characters (the prodigal son, the older brother, and the father) found in the Gospel story, “The Prodigal Son”. The emotions portrayed were intense, ultimately expressing the Father's Heart of God for each one of us.

Nate Larkin, an author, a speaker, and a one-time minister, gave an account of his sexual addiction to pornography and prostitution while in ministry. He spoke about masks, which he referred to as personas, that we put on “to win the day” in different life situations.

“The religious persona is by far the most tragic,” Larkin says, “My daily struggles [with porn and sexual promiscuity] continued for many years. I became quite tired of spinning around in circles. I wanted a private solution to my private problem. No! It didn’t work until I gathered the guts to confess them to others and invited them to hold me accountable.”

Larkin advises men to follow God’s prescription found in James 5:16: “… confess your sins to each other so that you may be healed”. “Don’t be a solo disciple!” he warns.

Doug Weiss, a marriage counsellor, gives the audience a fresh outlook at marriage. “Your wife is God’s precious daughter, and that makes God your Father-in-law.” Weiss draws a parallel between Christ’s relationship with His church and the relationship between husband and wife: “The purpose of marriage is not to make you happy. It is to make you Christ-like.”

Doug Weiss gives practical tips in making the daily journey of marriage a joyous one. He suggests praying with one’s spouse, walking patiently as bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit, knowing that the purpose of marriage is to become more Christ-like, and living a life of sexual purity.

“A woman needs emotional release as much as a man needs sexual orgasm,” says Weiss. He suggests that a husband shares two feelings each day with one’s wife and attentively enquires about her needs with “What can I do for you?” and “Is there anything else?”

Bruce Wilkinson, author of The Prayer of Jabez and Secret of the Vine, describes five stages of a spiritual journey. The moment we accept Christ as our personal Saviour marks the first stage. In the next stage, God tests us with difficult decisions: “God wants to see where your loyalty lies.” At the third stage, God asks us to surrender to Him as a “living sacrifice”. The fourth stage finds us saying ”Yes” to God more when He exacts what’s precious to us. Those who freely dedicate their lives to God as His bond-servants are at the final stage of spiritual maturity.

In the final session of the conference as a reprise, Bruce Wilkinson shares alarming Gallup Poll statistics that say “90% of churches are declining, and, most young people under 23 are leaving the church and not likely to return.”

He asks, “What’s broken?”

Wilkinson attributes plummeting church attendance statistics to misplaced priorities. He believes the Church is suffering from “Sunday-itis,” and it fails to help believers translate Sunday fervor into Monday-through-Saturday living. “We are more concerned with church building, operating costs, administration and attendance than with touching others. A pastor’s primary role is to disciple his flock (“Feed My sheep”), who in turn will disciple others. This is the vision of Jesus’ Great Commission,” says Wilkinson.

Wilkinson gives an impassioned and almost-impromptu plea in urging the Church to return to the way Jesus intends it to be: “We have drifted from God’s will. We are all called to be ministers…to minister, through the work of the Holy Spirit, to one another as they did in Acts,” he said. “The early church would serve as an effective model of interpersonal support in these tough economic times. The hope of the world resides in His Church.”

Let’s live out the prophetic words that we, the church, may prove to be the hope of this fallen and broken world.

Even the Devil Believes

It's an oft-used cliche in pulpit circuits: "Even the Devil believes in Jesus."

That's true. Satan believes that his arch-enemy is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. But, Satan does not, and cannot follow Jesus. He wars eternally with God, and he is condemned to do so until Jesus' Second Coming in bringing about the New Heaven and New Earth.

But, what about us, those who proclaim to be believers of Jesus? Other than not considering Jesus as our arch-enemy, how ought we be different than the evil believer?

We are invited to go beyond believing in God. We are created to follow Him, like Jesus' disciples did.

For me, it's a gargantuan fear to follow Jesus. It means I would live a life that is consistent with what Jesus teaches in the "Sermon on the Mount".

Consider the famous Beatitudes.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

I need to soul-search whether I watch out more for my own pleasure than for taking some responsibility in helping the poor, the needy, the widow, the fatherless, the oppressed, and the marginalized?

When God calls, as He did to Isaiah, did it ever occur to me to respond, "Here am I, Lord. Send me"?

I am so afraid to be a follower of Jesus. There is so much I want to hang onto, and not to let go.

Like the rich young ruler in the Gospel story, I am sad and on edge because I care more about myself than I do about God and the world of hurting people around me.

But, am I content to remain being a mere believer, or am I willing to take one more step... a very steep step of a plunge and become a follower, a disciple of Christ in living out my life for what He stands for - justice, peace, charity, mercy, grace, love, other-centredness and Kingdom-mindedness?

My life, thus far, says, "I don't mind being a Christian... only up to a point. But, to go all the way? I'm not that sure."

God didn't say give me a tithe of your life, Tom. He has called me to be a living sacrifice and give Him my ALL!

That's a huge gauntlet thrown onto the floor for me to content with.

Tony Campolo says there's nothing wrong with making a million dollars. But, it's wrong to keep it for myself. The issue here is not how much I tithe for God. The issue is how much is left for me to possess after my tithing is done... in material possessions, my heart, spirit, and life.

You see, following Jesus is self-actualization and self-fulfillment, not too different than Abraham Maslow's prescription for attaining the two top rungs of his hierarchy of human needs, those of self-actualization and leaving a legacy.

On my own volition, I can never will to become Jesus' disciple. He has to first invade me... deep in my soul and the core of my being, like His apostles who left everything behind and followed Jesus.

I have to allow Christ , who is knocking at the door of my heart, to come in... to invade me.

With His strength, I will be strong enough to live out my faith in God and be His follower, eager to collect the dust thrown up by the Master's sandals.

Lord, I hear You knocking at the door. I am totally humbled that the King of kings and Lord of lords is seeking me. Please come in, Lord! Invade me! Give me Your strength to believe and follow as one of Yours!

Amen