Paths to Dwell In

The older I get, the more I see that life is all about endurance, not quick fixes. This is not to say it is about just getting by or coasting, no; it is about seeing a mountain in front of you and taking on the challenge to climb it, even if you know it will take years to do.  Then after going to that summit, looking for the next one to climb and conquer. It is a long-term life trek.

I personally have taken on the challenge to run a marathon this year and I have been training for months. This is a long-term goal I am working towards.  Paul, in 2 Timothy 4, talks to us about living that marathon life-of enduring, longsuffering, watching, and fighting, to finish our course. Our society today is not real big on any of these. Technology is usually designed to make things easier on us, not harder. But our lives should be different from the world; we are to walk through a narrow gate, not the wider, more comfortable one.

When our problems are fixed quickly, we tend to fall back and get more lenient, not necessarily seeking the Lord every day; but when there are challenges and mountains ahead of us, we fall on our faces and cry out for mercy.  This is the true life of a Christian-diligently seeking Him, going for those insurmountable odds, knowing that it is His grace that causes us to triumph, and believing “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me!” And notice that it is “I.” It is not Him doing it, we are. “We” have to get intotraining, pick up our hiking sticks, our running shoes, and learn how to do it. He will strengthen us, but it is us who has to walk it out.  Let us take our responsibility to finish our course, leaning on Him for guidance, and going for the summit regardless of the pain and discomfort. We are overcomers taking our life-long trek of 26.2 miles, one step at a time.

1 Tim 4:2—speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.

The subject of conscience and empathy is quite fascinating. On the far bad end of the scale you have the sociopath, who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience. Their chief characteristic is a lack of empathy because they cannot feel another’s pain. From this far end is a broad middle, where most of us have a conscience functioning at some level. What is fascinating is the role our conscience can play in keeping us from sin and moving us toward intimacy with the Lord when functioning well at the good end. John Sanford describes this well:

“There are two kinds of conscience. There is an active conscience, which causes remorse after the sin. It operates by the law. It seldom if ever works powerfully enough before the event to prevent it. It reminds us that we have failed the Lord and ourselves, but seldom if ever makes us aware of our brother’s hurt. It makes us aware only that we failed to be what we set out to be. It seldom moves us to real repentance. Repentance happens when we are hurt for the sake of the Lord and others. Remorse remains self-centered and is seen in terms of our own failure to perform.”

Then there is a healthy conscience that leads to real repentance, which “is a result of the gift of love. If I love someone, and my spirit is awake and alert, it checks me before I do a potentially harmful deed. Love constrains me because I cannot stand to hurt the one I love.”

(P.122, Healing the Wounded Spirit, John Sanford)

Identity in Love

When we lack identity in God’s love we will have fears to deal with since it is love that casts them out. 1 Jn.4:17 Fear leads to control; a lack of vulnerability, having walls up.

“In a shame bound family system there tends to be rigidly defined boundaries. This causes the development of self to get cut off early. Children learn to value defiant individualism over the ongoing dialog of relationship.” (Facing Shame) Most teenage rebellion can be found right here!

I worked with a salesman once who would pick up a clients’ young child and make them laugh just after meeting them, and within a few minutes he would have everyone laughing. This type of person seems to have the confidence and boldness to reach out, take the initiative and start talking to strangers, make others laugh, and to make things fun! They quickly become the life of the party. My dad was this way; he could sell ice cream to Eskimos! For a long time I judged this quality in others, thinking they lacked integrity. I have had to “lighten up” realizing that these qualities can be good. Love always believes the best.

It is so easy to be drawn to charisma in leaders. However, is this what qualifies someone to lead? The body of Christ has had some big leaders fall in recent times. Dutch Sheets recently said, “We, the leaders of the charismatic community, have operated in an extremely low level of discernment. We assume a person’s credibility is based on gifts, charisma, the size of their ministry or church, whether they can prophesy or work a miracle, etc. We leaders in the church have become no different than the world around us in our standards for measuring success and greatness.”

We, as the body of Christ, hold some responsibility too, not just the leaders. How often do we run and support leaders that have gifting, that may minister healing or a prophecy to us, yet have almost no concern as to whether or not they have integrity in their lives or ministries?

Who will we look to for our next president? What ministries will we support? Is speaking well, charisma and gifting enough? Is it all about the “big name” people or dynamic prophecies and visitations? It is time for the church and our nation to grow up. We need to be good stewards of who we support in government and the church.

Jack Frost used to say, “Anyone can stand up and give an amazing testimony, but I want to ask the wife and kids what the change has been.” This is the integrity test. What is life like in the homes of these leaders…or our own? I believe God is looking for integrity in our jobs, our marriages, our families, and our ministries. 1 Sam.16:7 tells us to look at the heart, not at outward appearances. May God give us greater discernment in these times we live in and become men and women of true integrity. 

by Cyndi

It’s that time of year again-fall soccer season.  A time for sunshine, grass stains, Gatorade and muddy cleats.  As I was praying for my son’s upcoming game this week, the thought occurred to me, “I bet God has a soccer mom’s heart”.  What is a soccer mom’s heart? It’s one that wants to protect their baby from getting hurt, yet wants to see them excel and grow into maturity. It’s one that yells from the sideline to play hard, yet is in anguish inside when she sees her child fallen on the field. It’s a heart that desires her child to be the best that they can be, yet without having to “perform” to be loved. They love their child, win or lose, clean or dirty.

A soccer mom takes their child to practice, washes their smelly uniforms, and stands out in the rain during games with a poncho from Sea World on, much to the child’s embarrassment.  She screams, she cheers, watching and encouraging. And not all the focus is about scoring a goal. Yes, it is great when it’s your child that scores the winning goal, but not everyone is supposed to be a forward and shoot. (You see, you learn all these terms for the positions when you are a soccer mom.) There are forwards, midfields, wings, goalies, different positions with different jobs to do on the team; but we moms just want them to do their best and give it their all in whatever position they play.

I believe that is how God feels about us. I think He does have a soccer mom’s heart. He is always there for us, taking us through “practices”, cleaning up our “stuff” when we get dirty, encouraging us to play harder and run faster. He is also always there when we walk off the field after an agonizing defeat, putting His arm around our shoulders saying how proud He was of us for hanging in there and trying our best.  And best of all, He is always there to support us even if we just sit on the bench and never get in the game. He loves us no matter what, win or lose, clean or dirty.

Just wanted to let you all know that Cyndi finished the Gate River Run here in Jacksonville yesterday in 2 hours and 5 minutes. This was her first time running it so she did a great job! Darren was planning on running also but got a bout with the flu and couldn’t. Thank you to all who were praying.

Darren with the youth group at Beaches Chapel completed their 30 hour famine for World Vision last night by breaking the fast with tons of food brought by parents. Many of the kids came back for 3 or more helpings. They had times of games, prayer, worship, and yes, even some sleep and raised almost $5,000 for World Vision. Blessings to leaders Kelly and James along with all the volunteers who helped make this a success.