Tuesday, June 10, 2008

"Dense Forest"


Saturday evening my daughter called me. After a brief hello she told me, "Go to the basement, now." Now? Why? was my response...and then she told me, "Tornadoes in the area." Now you have to understand that we live in suburban Chicago, and tornadoes are not a part of our weather here. But I obeyed, casually gathering the dogs and some reading material and walked down to my son and his wife's apartment in our walk out basement. A moment later and the power went out and as we looked a huge tornado formed just beyond our tree line. Later we found out it was 1/2 mile at the bottom. It quickly moved to the east rather than the north, praise God, and moved around our house. But the sky was dark, the wind menacing and all of it was a bit terrifying. We found out later there were 5 tornadoes in the area. So I expected the Lord to speak to me in pictures about storms. He didn't. But He did speak to me about a dark threatening situation. I pray that it speaks to you as well.

Picture…I saw myself in a very dense, thick forest. There were so many trees towering above me that I couldn’t see the sky. The sunlight just filtered through the leaves, keeping the forest floor dim and even gloomy. I looked around me, and all of the trees looked alike. There didn’t seem to be any path, and I had the feeling that I was really quite lost. In concern and just a bit of fear I asked the Lord, “What on earth is this place?”

Hear…the Lord say, “This is the place of your concerns. It’s the place where you’re concerned about this need and that need, about this problem and that problem, about this situation and that situation. When you focus in on your needs, challenges and pain; you will find yourself in a very dark place, a very confusing place. There is no way to really figure it all out. You will be always and forever lost.” Seeing the desperation lingering in my eyes He offered, “Here let me help you.” Then He lifted me up above the darkness of the forest trees and I could see for miles. I lifted my face to sun to enjoy the warmth of its rays and it felt like a hundred pounds was lifted off my chest. I could breathe again and there was a thrill of excitement coursing through my veins. I asked the Lord, “What is this place?” With a chuckle, He stated what was becoming obvious to me, “This is my perspective. Relinquish your concerns, needs, problems, and challenges and begin to look through my eyes. I have a clear line of sight, and I will share my vision with you. And those things that are so dark and troubling to your soul will be as nothing because you will be able to rise up above them. It will no longer have the impact to tug at you and to wrap you around in its darkness.

Consider: Obviously we need God’s perspective.

Pray: “There are times, Lord, when it feels like everything is closing in on me. There are times during the night season when it all feels so hopeless. The hopelessness is like a dark weight upon my soul and I just can’t see anything good happening from all of this. I know that at such times I should begin praising you and asking to see things through your perspective, but it’s like I don’t want to. I can’t tell you why; I just know that I don’t even want to try to praise you. I don’t want to pull myself up one more time. I’m confessing this to you, because I want to ask you for your forgiveness. Forgive me for allowing myself to sink into such despair. Forgive me for focusing so much on all that’s wrong that I neglect, until it’s almost too late, to focus on what is right…You! I admit that I need your help. I can’t do this on my own. Help me now. I know that I love you; I just don’t know how to focus on you right now. I don’t know how I’m going to praise my way through this. Help me. This much and this much only do I know right now. I know that I love you; I know that you love me. So I’m just going to rest in that love, until you help me to lift up my eyes above the difficulties and discouragements. I trust you. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon — from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me — a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?" My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, "Where is your God?" Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Ps 42:5-11 NIV

posted by pastorc @ 2:05 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

"English Garden" - Three Lessons

I love the spring, I love summer. Why? The green, that is why. Living in Chicago makes me appreciate green grass, fragrant flowering trees, and delicate roses. I also enjoy gardening, helping things to grow, getting dirt under my fingernails, and emptying my mind of problems to focus on God's creation. Perhaps that is why I feel compelled to share these word pictures with you today. I hope that you are blessed or helped through them. This is a long posting, but when you are done reading it, I hope you'll to go out and "smell the roses." Or at least, take a walk through God's beautiful creations, emptying your mind of troubles and filling it with thoughts of Him. Much love...

Picture…Before me were massive ornately carved wooden double doors. I walked up to the doors and pushed them open. I don’t know by which I was more surprised, how easily the doors seemed to open or the beautiful scene that the opened doors revealed. Before me was such a delightful English garden, that it almost looked like a scene in a fairy tale. I stood in awe for a moment before the Lord led me to a maze. Just as in England, the maze was created with hedgerows. But what made this maze different was that there were very big drop-offs on both sides of the path, very dangerous drop-offs.

Hear…Stunned, I asked the Lord, “What is this? Walking such a path would be perilous. It kind of takes the fun out of it.” The Lord explained, “This path represents the very narrow walk that my people must walk. Some children allow the enemy to veer them to the right; where they believe that it is all up to them. They act as if it is their responsibility to get things accomplish, like it all rests upon their efforts. They begin statements with ‘I have to do this’ or ‘I have to do that.’ They act as if everything will tumble to a stop if they are there to take care of things. They don’t even realize where their overdeveloped sense of responsibility it taking them, into very dangerous territory. My purposes cannot be accomplished when it is all on their shoulders. It limits what I can do. But it also causes them great harm, as it is a very imbalanced way to live. It will lead to breakdown of their emotional and physical health as well as the relationships in their lives. Yet there is also dangerous territory to the left, where the enemy has convinced them that it is all about God. They think to themselves, “When God gets ready He can use me. I’ll just sit here and wait until God does His stuff. These people never get ready so that I can use them. They do not recognize open doors when they see them cause it looks like too much work. Although it is true that it is all about me, they have the right terminology without understanding. They need to supply their will, energy, and gift, as I supply the power. I want a partnership which incorporates a balance of the two mindsets.”

Consider: You can’t just talk about what God is going to do with you someday. It takes more than talk; it requires action. But it is impossible for you to do it all on your own, and God has chosen not to do it all on His own. It’s a team effort that necessitates you and God working together, walking hand in hand, day by day. That is why the path in the picture was a maze. You are not going to get a prophetic word, or personal revelation one day that will map out the rest of your life. If you have been looking to God to give you “THE BIG PLAN,” you are going to be sadly disappointed because God doesn’t work like that. He doesn’t give you a life strategy, all neat and organized that can serve as a map to use for the rest of your life. God gives you enough information for the next step of your journey, for the next turn in the maze. That’s it. God doesn’t want you running off, thinking that you know the way that you need to take. You’ll get yourself good and lost that way. God may give you the big picture, but for the details, for the “how’s” and the “whys,” you are going to need to go to Him on a daily basis. God wants you take Him by the hand, and walk with Him day by day. God wants you to seek His face, then His direction, and then His hand for His blessings. Don’t go off thinking that you HAVE to do it all, and don’t stand around waiting for God to do it all, but walk with Him hand and hand, working as a team.

Picture…Then God took me to another place in the garden, where there were several beds of roses. The fragrance was so sweet, and the colors were simply glorious. There seemed to be roses of every color and description. I have lived in a number of homes through the years and, with the exception our homes in the Philippines; I have planted a rose garden in every yard. I love roses. Nothing relaxes me more than tending my rose garden. I love having fresh roses in my home. I love their elegance and their delicate scent. But never had I seen such beautiful roses; the leaves were healthy and a vivid green, the petals were soft, fragrant and brilliant in color. The scene took my breath away. But then a gardener came along and started cutting the roses back, like one does in the late fall, way back. But the roses seemed in their prime, it seemed like the wrong time, and the cutting too extreme.

Hear…I exclaimed, “Lord, that stupid man is destroying the bushes. They are in their prime. Stop him.” But the Lord explained, “No, the gardener is just pruning away the selfishness. It must be done because although it’s beautiful now, all of the strength of the bush is going towards the blossoms. There is no root development. I have to cut it all back so the bush can grow stronger roots. That way the roses will last for more than one showy season. It will stand the test of time, storm, and adversity.

Consider: Why is it that it seems like just when things are going good, and momentum is building that God interrupts our season of blossoming, to introduce a season of pruning? It appears that just when things are starting to go smoothly something happens to make it all come skidding to a halt. I suppose that the reason is that God is in this for the long haul, so He is more interested in our development than in our comfort. Trusting God is more about our daily walk than the release of miracles. It is about trusting Him day by day even if our life seems to be falling apart. If God is God in the good, then we must accept that He is God in the bad. For it is in the bad, negative and difficult circumstances of life that God steps in to cut off the things that will hinder our progress later down the road. Pruning is not fun, but it is necessary.

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:1-2 NIV

Picture…the last place in the garden to which the Lord directed me was a garden bed with small, struggling little flowers. A woman was bowed over them and she was watering them with her tears. I said, “Lord that is an awfully slow and difficult way to water plants.”

Hear…the Lord say, “The woman’s tears are not tears of tragedy or sorrow. She is not crying about anything of a personal nature at all. Her tears are actually tears of love and compassion, and they are being released through intercessory prayer. That is how my seed gets watered; it is through the tears of saints who cry not in misery about their own situations, but with my love for those struggling to survive.”

Consider: Now I don’t know where you fit in these three pictures. But I do know God is speaking to you in one of them today. You may have been trying to do everything on your own. Your speech may be littered with the phrase “I have to…” God wants you to know that it is NOT your responsibility. Your responsibility is to take God by the hand and allow Him to lead and strengthen you. Rest in Him. Seek His face. Whenever He gives you a directive, be sure to obey it with all of the strength and wisdom that he has given you. But that is it. You may have been sitting around just waiting for God to do something in your life, and in the process, you have been wasting it. He doesn’t want you to waste it anymore. He wants you to take him by the hand to daily walk with him, obeying every little thing. Do not wait for that big thing to come and drop into your lap. As the Chinese say, “The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step.” Step out NOW as God directs. You might be someone the Lord is trying to prune and you don’t like, you don’t like it one bit. Understand this; he is cutting you back for His good, as well as for your own. He is cutting back some of the selfish things that have been guiding your life. Everything was looking fine, but God is not interested in the fine that is only for the “right now.” He is looking for years of maturity and service and relationship with you. Some of the stuff that has to be cut off will seem painful, but it is for your good. Lastly, maybe you have wondered why you cry so much when you pray. Understand that it is God’s work in you. Don’t stop the tears. Allow them to flow freely through you with prayer and love and compassion. Those tears are nurturing God’s purposes and helping them to grow, not only in your own life, but also in countless millions who are in need at this present moment. So go ahead and have a “good” cry.

Pray: “Lord, there is almost too much to take in right now. But I am mindful that you love me and you know exactly what I need to help me to grow. I give you permission to cut away anything that you need to cut away. I’ll stop screaming and hollering, and surrender to your gardening shears. I also want to say, “Yes” to the tears that you want me to cry, not for my own needs but for those who you deem it is needed. I recognize that there must be many, many people who need passionate intercessory prayer right at this minute. I’m sorry that I’ve been so focused on what is going wrong with me that I have failed to make myself available to you for this needed ministry of intercession. I don’t think that you needed to remind me that this life can sometimes be like a maze and a dangerous one at that. But obviously you do. So I ask that you help me to stay in balance in this whole area of service. I don’t want to run up ahead, and neither do I want to lag behind. I want to stay in step with you, day by day. I love you. In Jesus Name, Amen.”

posted by pastorc @ 9:36 AM 0 comments