Retooled & Thriving
Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order.
Beware of being so obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God.
Click on the link below for Oswald Chamber’s Nov 14 Discovering Divine Design
Blessings >>>>> merlin
“But if I obey Jesus Christ in the the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover the that through my obedience thousands were blessed.” Utmost for His Highest Nov 2. Click below.
Sharon Hodde Miller
“borrowed & slightly edited” from Christianity Today’s CT Pastors Special Edition Fall 2022
“No amount of information can persuade the closed-minded. It’s a lesson I’m still learning.”
“In 2020, as church leaders faced the triple whammy of the pandemic, nationwide racial tension, and a polarizing presidential election, the climate inside our churches changed with it. Our sanctuaries‘ air became polluted by deep partisanship, which meant every decision, every statement, every sermon, and every social media post coming from pastors was interpreted through a political filter.
In A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, author and family therapist Edwin Friedman, described our limited influence this way: “The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change.”
As much as we wish it were otherwise, information has far less influence than we give it credit for: Downloading the “facts” into others’ brains is not going to magically change their minds, but I will be first to admit this hasn’t stopped me from trying. God is showing me that I’m not merely attempting to guide them – I’m actually trying to control them. I am relying on knowledge, information, and the truth of God’s Word to function like reins on a horse, instantly directing others in the direction I want them to go.
But time and experience are teaching me that I am severely overestimating my own power to convince. Jesus himself hinted at the limited power of our arguments by concluding some of his hardest teachings with the statement “Whoever has ears, let them hear” (Matt 11:15). The implication is that some will not hear. They will not understand – not because they cannot but because they will not. No amount of convincing, no matter how compelling the evidence or airtight the logic, will move them. Not if they do not wish to be moved.
Research has shown this to be true. When we use information to change someone’s opinion, it can, in some instances, have the reverse outcome. The backfire effect is a term used in psychology to describe the doubling down that occurs when people are presented with information that contradicts their own beliefs. Further studies have shown that this phenomenon is especially likely to occur when belief is tied to identity. When new information feels like a threat to one’s identity or way of life, one is much more motivated to reject it.
Fortunately, I have learned to discern those persons who are receptive from those who are not. Bad faith assumptions about our motives, or a lack of genuine curiosity about our decisions are both sure-fire signs that our explanations will be wasted.
Identifying this struggle with control has helped me greatly in two specific ways. The first is captured well by the phrase “When you name it, you tame it.” Tension in my neck, back, jaw; the spiraling of my anxious thoughts; and insomnia that follows are telltale signs that I’m trying to control something God has not given me to control. Naming this temptation helps me reframe what is really happening: I am not trying to shepherd (disciple) my people; I am trying to control them.
Second, this realization about control has emphasized the priority of listening as key to pastoral ministry. When we try to control one another with arguments or attempts at persuasion, we often push our dissenters even farther away. In a loud environment like this one, the practice of being “quick to listen, slow to speak” is not just biblically faithful (James 1:19) but also a missional imperative.
Consequently, in both structured and spontaneous ways, we are seeking to intentionally listen to our congregants – especially to those who may be disgruntled or angry. Understand these times of focused listening serve as a countercultural witness in an ever-darkening society fractured by its issues with control.
Facing off with the ongoing temptation to controlling vs listening is crucial for everyone’s spiritual health, regardless of position. We cannot control our people – and attempting to do so will only do more damage. When we encounter the limits of our influence, we can either resist, OR, recognize this as an opportunity to lay down the burden we were never meant to bear. Perhaps the limits of our persuasion are not always a sign of the Fall, but rather a sign of the right order of things. May they remind us that it is time to take up the lighter yoke and to fully trust the Spirit – the one true mover of hearts and enlightener or minds – to do the heavy lifting for us.
Sharon Hodde Miller co-leads Bright Church in Durham NC with her husband, Ike. Her latest book is The Cost of Control (Baker Books 2022)
FYI:
Dr Henry Cloud in Necessary Endings (book reviewed on Oct 27 blog), identifies a person’s utmost hopelessness (hitting rock bottom) is often the precursor to opening minds and meaningful conversation leading to effective necessary endings, and promising beginnings. In chapter Seven, The Wise, the Foolish, and the Evil details the Biblical basis for these categories and why they are pertinent for Christ-Followers today, and especially so as both church and society trends toward deconstruction, and hopefully, the future awakening. merlin
David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my swords or any other weapons, because the king’s mission was urgent.” I Samuel 21:8 (NIV)
In no way today, am I advocating securing physical weapons to combat the offensive evil in our culture. I employed this verse because it implies urgency, in fact, David evidently was separated from his weapons when he got the urgent message necessitating his request of Ahimelek. So we today, are being lulled into complacency not realizing the approaching hour, and even though we Christ Follower’s (CF’s) are continually Spirit empowered and embolden as detailed in Ephesians 6:10-18 and always ready to be engaged, or to give an account…. Perhaps our non resistant culture has been so effectively euthanized by the both church and secular media we’ve become clueless of our 1.) spiritual reality, 2.) resources (remember people + prayer + His Presence = POWER), 3.) its transforming results, and 4.) then experiencing the restoration.
The question today is not merely “fight or flight” as with David’s request for weapons, but pushes us out much further far beyond fight or flight, to effectively encountering differing opinions, a lost art today. Perhaps the clip below serves as another example of our rich cultural legacy loosing its luster, and now, more or less, relegated to an enduring confining complacency.
Somewhere as a child or a teen, I read accounts that the underground CF’s, long before the anabaptists emerged, being frequently skilled artisans and educated, having fled the persecution in the cities and villages, taking refuge in the desolate areas of Europe becoming simple peasant farmers who in time, were credited with playing a major role in eroding the continuation of the Dark Ages because these observant focused scientific agriculturists flourished sufficiently providing sustenance to free others from food production to begin the innovative steps needed to birth the Industrial Revolution. They were the leaders in improving the breeds of milk and meat animals, but only by simple selection. They advocated crop rotation and the use of legumes, all of which is still being practiced on the Amos Miller’s farm.
Therefore, I read with interest the clip below also listening to the Tucker Carlson interview realizing now that both the church and our culture is in the process of reverting to the Dark Ages under the guise of a “Reset.” And yes, isn’t it interesting that agriculture and the church are both still the key components? To either flourish, as Christ established His church, or to “control” food production, just to eliminate billions of us. Even Communist China understands food production better than we Americans. Look at the stats on their stockpiling of commodities vs ours, and their refusal to practice the globalist insanity as did NA and Europe; but their absolute delight that we have so embraced this “Reset,” fueling their desire to “rent” our exquisite cropland ASAP.
John Kotter of the Harvard Business School, author of 21 books, in his 1996 book”Leading Change,” and his 2002 book “The Heart of Change,” describes his eight stage model developing urgency as an essential element for those wanting to be successful, for most people are more complacent than they realize. “Insufficient urgency,” he writes, “with all its consequences, can be found in winners and losers, businesses and governments. It can undermine a plant, an office, or a whole country. Conversely, in all of these situations, a high sense of urgency can help produce results, and a whole way of life.”
Need I say more? Just my two cents folks! I rest my case. Enjoy the clip. FYI, I’m planning to open the blog this week for your comments. It is time we burst the imposed bubble we’re in and begin actually communicating. However, please do so only in complete “wholeness!” Listen to Pastor Craig’s message from today on “Differing Opinions” on the Kidron Mennonite website for such “wholeness” details.
Blessings on your journey this week!
October 15
And Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware
of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in
the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Luke 12:15
Consider people first learned about sales by word of mouth. Then newspapers became the medium for advertising bargains. Next, the postal service began filling our mailboxes with ways to save money, and now, well, bargains via email and banner ads are a constant stream tempting us to buy things we don’t need just because “it’s such a great deal!” (Luke 12:13-21)
Jesus warned us about “consumerism” – which wasn’t even a word in His day. Instead, He talked about covetousness and greed – the accumulation of “stuff” beyond what we need. But where do we draw the line? Even looking for the line dividing “need from whim” is a fallen trait, driven by our “desire” to get as close as possible to it without appearing greedy?
Consider then, rather than merely limiting our consumption, perhaps the better kingdom approach is to expand our generosity. By giving to those in need, giving more than is asked for, giving to our enemies, and perhaps even giving until it hurts, or IT IS A REAL sacrifice – are all ways to store up treasures in heaven and escape the confines of earthly “soot and clutter” (Luke 12:32-34).
I’d be remiss though if the quantum leap going far beyond our expressions of daily generosity, was not revealed here in our mandate as His Ambassadors to disciple those in our circles of influence, so they too, possess their heavenly passports, and we store up treasures in heaven…… (Matt 6:19-21)
God promises that as we open our hands to the needs of others, He will at the same time fill our hands with what we need (2 Corinthians 9:10-11).
Prompted by David Jeremiah’s Destinations: Your Journey With God
Oct 12 Reading from The One Year Bible: The Message Version.
Thessalonians 5:1-28 MSG
[1-3] I don’t think, friends, that I need to deal with the question of when all this is going to happen. You know as well as I that the day of the Master’s coming can’t be posted on our calendars. He won’t call ahead and make an appointment any more than a burglar would. About the time everybody’s walking around complacently, congratulating each other-“We’ve sure got it made! Now we can take it easy!”-suddenly everything will fall apart. It’s going to come as suddenly and inescapably as birth pangs to a pregnant woman.
[4-8] But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. But not us! Since we’re creatures of Day, let’s act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.
[9-11] God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.
[12] And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!
[13-15] Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.
[16-18] Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.
[19-22] Don’t suppress the Spirit, and don’t stifle those who have a word from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good. Throw out anything tainted with evil.
[23-24] May God himself, the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together-spirit, soul, and body-and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he’ll do it!
[25-27] Friends, keep up your prayers for us. Greet all the followers of Jesus there with a holy embrace. And make sure this letter gets read to all the brothers and sisters. Don’t leave anyone out.
[28] The amazing grace of Jesus Christ be with you!
October 10
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress; have
mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
Psalm 4:1
It often helps to follow a pattern when we tackle a project. In approaching the Throne of Grace, our pattern is the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. If you’d like to use the Lord’s Prayer to develop a sequence for your own prayer time, just follow the course of these six words.
Praise: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
Priorities: Your kingdom come, Your will be done.
Provision: Give us this day our daily bread.
Personal Relationships: Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
Protection: Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
Praise: For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Notice that the first and last words are the same, as prayer comes full circle in worship, from praise to praise. The glory of God provides the bookends of this prayer that you can offer today.
David Jeremiah Destination: Your Journey With God
First folks, I made a serious error in my last blog. The quote was actually from Keith Miller, a prolific author beginning his trail of admonitions back when I was a teen with his early on book “Taste of New Wine,” AND not Warren Wiersbe as I stated. Wiersbe was merely quoting the quote crediting Keith Miller. A simple fact my sister had told me correctly but that I failed to fully comprehend! Once again! My excuse is the integral internal liabililities accompanying later stage maturation!
Second, I will pass along an admonition of “later stage observations of future events” for Christ Followers by such as Dr David Jeremiah in his recently released book titled “The World Of The End: How Jesus’ Prophecy Shapes Our Priorities.” I’m halfway thru it on Audible and have ordered hard copy yesterday and highly recommend it for any CF seriously coordinating/reconciling today’s events with Matthew 24, known today as the Olivet Discourse. Today we are learning fear can indeed erode faith, IF we let it. We are learning from experience that staying mentally healthy in a crumbling world is our daily assignment and we can’t do it without a buoyant spiritual foundation for our lives. We need God, we need Christ and His teachings, we need the Holy Spirit and his indwelling, and we need the scriptures and its prophecies about the future.
There is a special scene in the Bible where the teachings of Christ, the inspiration of the HS, and the prophetic words of God, all come together in a gripping chapter that is too often overlooked. We call it the Olivet Discourse from the final week of Jesus’ natural life where he sat with four of his disciples on a ridge on the Mount of Olives where our Lord rolled out the blueprint of the ages, the master plan for the last days, beginning with the shocking prediction of the second massive temple complex tumbling down (which occurred within decades according to the reputable historian Flavius Josephus written accounts from AD 70. See “the destruction of the second temple” in templemount .org/desruct2.html . Actually the Roman soldiers with long iron bars toppled the stones off while reclaiming the melted silver and gold in the temples storehouses that ran down into the temple’s foundations fulfilling Jesus’ prediction. Later then, Jesus gazed forward to the precarious days prior his return in our days ever delivered and it is recorded beginning in Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21.
And as in the infomercials, today there is another admonition!. As encouraged in prior blogs, go to dailylightdevotional.org and select Oct 8 for priceless “approaching end-times” admonitions for CF’s to read and memorize before the Shizzies hit fizzies in our domains. In fact, I suggest you hit your print button so you have hard copy for distribution later if and when we loose internet. Reminds me a tad perhaps of available oil in the ten wise / foolish virgins parable.
“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves… (Matt 10:16, KJV) See gotquestions.org/wise
Time to go dig potatoes!!…… merlin
This simple and profound Truth inspired by Warren Wiersbe’s famous quote to succinctly focus we Christ-Followers was most appropriately shared with me during these uniquely historic times while I was speaking with my sister Verla this past Saturday. In fact, do understand, that this “if – then” was solely my idea, resulting no doubt from the quote rattling around in my brain the past 48 hours, and perhaps rather appropriately, since we’re visiting our first grandchild here in Northampton Massachusetts, the pre-revolutionary war bastion during the 1730’s and 40’s, for such as long time resident Jonathon Edwards, and later the visiting English evangelist George Whitfield, and more than a century later, even for D L Moody.
Back to Wiersbe first though, Wikipedia states Warren Wendell Wiersbe (do you suppose his parents possessed a sense of humor with the initials WWW, and not merely a World War Warrior either!) Born on May 16, 1929 and passing May 2, 2019, I have associated Wiersbe being birthed in Nebraska but it was actually in E Chicago. Now, Warren Buffet, my father, and I always thought Johnny Carson to have been birthed in NB also, but Carson was actually born in Iowa; though he was a Cornhusker grad. Dad and Carson were born in ’25, Wiersbe in ’29, and Buffet in ’30, and now, Buffet is the last man standing.
Wiersbe was an American Christian clergyman, Bible teacher, conference speaker, and a prolific writer of Christian literature and theological works. He is perhaps best known for his series of 50 books in the “BE” series: Be Real, Be Rich, Be Obedient, Be Mature, Be Joyful, et., and other theological works.
As a middle and high school students, my sister and I would watch from the utility room window to catch a glimpse of the orange bus crest a hill a half mile away enabling us to walk timely to the road to meet the bus without waiting too long in the MN sub-zero temps. During those years mother had the kitchen radio tuned to KFNW Fargo ND 1200 AM (the decade prior FM arrived) that featured then M-F 7:30-8:00 AM Theodore Epp in his “Back to the Bible” radio broadcast who was later succeeded by Wiersbe during 1980-1992.
Prior to that, Wiersbe pastored Calvary Baptist in Covington KE ’61-’71 and the historic Moody Church ’71-’78. It is also interesting for KMC readers, and especially the pre You-Tube crowd, familiar with the Detweiler family having birthed and maintained The Calvary Hour in NE OH for nearly 70 years, to note Wiersbe’s Calvary Baptist Sunday sermons were also broadcast as The Calvary Hour on a local Cincinnati radio station. More information is available in Warren’s autobiography “Be Myself: Memoirs of a Bridge-Builder.”
Back to the rich history here in Northampton area for the earlier giants, you may enjoy the following clip from christianity.com titled “Ten Things You Should know About Jonathan Edwards.” This clip rather de-bunks the negativity towards Edwards I’m hearing in some circles of late. Here is some of what I learned:
1.) Jonathan enrolled in what became Yale when 13 and graduated at the top of his class at 17
2.) After serving the Northampton Congregationalist Church nearly 30 years, they voted to remove him from pastoral service for barring “unconverted” people from partaking in communion. Having both married at 23 and beginning as a pastor scholar under his grandfather at this church, his grandfather died three years later and Jonathan then assumed the pastorate. Whereas his grandfather had welcomed all to participate in communion, believing the sacrament could become a “converting ordinance” helping bring the lost to Christ, Edwards disagreed and maintained that only believers should partake in the Lord’s Supper. Any of this sound familiar? But bear in mind, it took 30 years for the vote to materialize. And we don’t know either, when Jonathan became so convinced, but as he was a prolific writer, I’m sure it is well documented and not a spur of the moment whim or vote.
At 47 then, Edwards and his family (11 children) moved to the frontier in western MA known today as the Berkshires, where he pastored a small congregation of settlers and preached through an interpreter to Housatonic and Mohawk tribes people. Edwards genuinely loved and cared for the natives, frequently writing about the quality of their character and the culture. The two tribes showed reverence for Edwards, and his ministry bore lasting spiritual fruit.
3. At 54, Edwards reluctantly agreed to leave his writing retreat and effective ministry in the Berkshires for full time academia accepting the Presidency of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Shortly after assuming his post, in Jan 1758, Edwards received a smallpox inoculation. Less than a month later, Jonathan Edwards died from the inoculation’s complications. Please, this occurrence is not necessarily to be associated with the events of today, though I’m sure this was well documented medically as well, being in an academic environment, but then again, assumptions do…
Read it without my editorializing by clicking the link below.
https://www.christianity.com/wiki/people/you-should-know-jonathan-edwards.html
And only the Spirit of God can detect this as a temptation of the devil. Satan does not tempt us merely to do wrong things – he tempts us to make us loose what God has put in us through regeneration, namely being of value to God.
Click the link below for more insights on the intricacies of temptation from the Sept 18 reading from My Utmost for His Highest.