Category: Spiritual

Before I sat down to write this conclusion, I had the opportunity to visit an elderly pastor, formerly an acquaintance, now becoming a dear friend, who is struggling with Parkinson’s. After catching up on the past week, I was explaining the Tony Reinke phone article and just ended up reading it to him, noticing when I began the avoidance motives, he was dozing. With lunch time approaching, I thought it best for me to move on allowing him a quick nap prior lunch saying perhaps we’d continue from there next time.

I mention this encounter for while reading this article again, I was reminded how vulnerable we as Christ Followers are today to the nuances and functional intricacies of this pocket sized idol that has been catapulted virtually into functioning as a living organism with its intrinsic addictive programed capabilities that we lazily elevate above our God endowed gifts diminishing and ultimately mothballing them as we shift our trust from Almighty God to merely one of many latest & greatest new & shiny objects, as we become the proverbial “cooked” frog when initially only seeking its comforting functional warmth.

Note these captivating devices once given free-reign in our daily treadmill of life are soon quietly unobtrusively under-girding our thought processes, and our subsequent actions & decisions, such that we are not even aware of the shift. These phones literally can think, recall, perform, store, capture and transmit data around the world and cloud, either electronically or even by its own voice, and now with AI, to even heal itself and continually diagnose and monitor the state of our health and make its dire or life-saving predictions. The list is endless; and all this occurs without fleshly eyeballs, blood, bone, heart, or brain. Just imagine! Even reproduction is in process, be it 3 D printers or cloning.

Remember how we chuckled as children during SS or Bible School at the foreign god idols during Bible days, being merely wood, stone or cast metal; “whatever were those heathen people thinking”? And then, we were even more judgmental when the children of Israel left the True God and worshipped their neighbor’s gods!

So, what about our situation now? It seems regardless of the date in history, without Christ, our hearts continue to gravitate toward some form of idolatry, be it identity or significance; all of which nudges out our love and adoration for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; be it a spouse, children, work, trinkets, toys, heroes, castles, social media, sexual fulfillment, kingdoms, sports, hobbies, land, humanitarian causes, fame, recognition, unique skills, etc. The list is endless, and we may snicker at the obviousness of those listed, but all that really matters in the end, is that we know without a doubt exactly what is crowding out God and His Righteousness from being front and center in our lives right now!

 I’m suggesting by using this simple 9-year-old phone idolatry article that we just ponder, really ponder the significance of that one technological development, and the hundreds of generations of phones since Alexander G Bell in 1844 sent the phrase from Numbers 23:23, originally recorded as spoken from Balam to Balak “What hath God wrought?” by telegraph, the precursor of the telephone.

I remember well having the power line installed along our county road 120 in ’51 so we all had electricity, thanks to the REA, the Rural Electrification Association; a party line rotary dial phone installed in ’55, water piped into our home with a faucet in the hallway in ’56, and indoor plumbing with a kitchen sink and a bathroom in’59, but the TV got skipped until the next generation. All of these developments since the Industrial Revolution were of significance in the doors they opened and the lives they changed, but none quite compare to the impact of phones on us individually spiritually, especially when intertwined with video.

We can’t undo it or ignore it, as my father tried with daylight savings time when it was introduced. Monday thru Saturday night except for Wednesday night prayer meeting, we operated and lived on old time, standard time, not the new, or Daylight time. Both the mailman & the milkman just came an hour early and our few appointments were adjusted. Seems funny now, but I think we did it 2 or 3 summers, being normal duration then.

I also remember well our old Zenith tube radio taller than me then with its AM/short wave bands arriving several years after the electric poles were set, providing Christian radio programming such as “Songs in the Night” from the historic Moody Church, Bill Collins and the Sugarcreek Creek Gang series, Unshackled, and with three short wave bands to cruise, (surfing came later with internet), with programming all the way from Quito Ecuador, one of the few in English, and of course, our government’s Voice of America broadcasting the positive attributes of democracy around planet earth, which interestingly enough now, I have no recollections of content.

Although for some reason, I am reminded of the five words “How the mighty have fallen! It seems I am using those five words more frequently of late when pondering the current trending perspectives being floated out & about, in & around. Perhaps it’s because I just came across that phrase twice in my One Year NIV Bible reading on Wednesday May 22 in I Samuel 1: 19 in David’s lament quoting from verse 17, “David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, and ordered that the men of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the book Jashar): 19.) Your glory O Israel, lies slain on your height. How the mighty have fallen!” True then, true now.

 For some weeks my copy of the book “A Church Dismantled: A Kingdom Restored” has been in plain sight on the top of several books, the bottom being my grandfather Gingerich’s very tattered Thompson’s The New Chain Reference Bible. A Church Dismantled was written by another acquaintance afflicted with Parkinsons, Conrad L Kanagy, whom I imagine would also echo these five words today, as he set the stage already in 2007 with his book “Road Signs For the Journey: A Study of Denominational Decline – and the Discovery of Hope in the Spirit’s Dismantling of the Church.” Isn’t that a novel perspective when the chatter today is confusingly more along the lines of “God Save the Queen?”

I mention all the above history only for perspective to awaken us to the lateness of the hour and how we of my generation are being lulled into spiritual oblivion, possibly even to our demise in our quest for “peace and safety” as espoused by our government and culture’s prior standard sources or benchmarks, which are already functionally dismantled, much as Kanagy has ascribed to the Church nearly 20 years ago.

I am very concerned for my generation, for even though we yet possess a knowledge and obedience toward the real and true God, we are fast becoming aware that individually and corporately we must up our game and demonstrate to all those in the cloud around or behind us, how exactly does our faith sometimes visibly sustain us and is witnessed by all those in our sphere of influence pleasantly exuding a NT freshness and an honesty unfortunately seldom intimately observed in & around our spiritually cultivated & anchored communities, let alone, be they ever personally encountered.

Our generation have & are witnessing historically the evolving of these intimate invasions into even how we communicate with God, and soon may have communication curtailed in our spiritual enclaves, or even more broadly, what we can communicate in or through any media at all anywhere.

Now, for those who graduated from high school in the past 20-30 years, their spiritual futures are suspect. Too many have been seriously handicapped being raised in the shadows of a glib shallow cultural institutional Christianity model sub-consciously characterized as authoritarian power based that I’ve been chief of the guilty promoting, “do as I say, & not necessarily as I do,” vividly juxtaposed with the invitational forgiveness love grace and mercy model, pervading & exemplified by Jesus as recorded in the gospels and vividly demonstrated in Acts of the Apostles and the following epistles.  

Bottom Line: We are out of time! And our phones are not the problem. We are. More to come. Until then. Read. Pray. Listen. Obey. More perhaps Sun evening. Or not. Blessings on your journey through the these inner disciplines….

Yesterday while seeking additional scriptural perspective from dailylightdevotional.org, I found these inspiring verses from Romans 6:19-23 (MSG)

“I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different it is now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?

As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter.

But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.

But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!

Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.”

Well said Eugene Peterson! Thank you for your gift of communication.

Since our recent firestorm, I now immediately after waking up offer verbal praise for the morning’s blessings and begin my spiritual devotional routine with two phone apps every morning, the first being dailylightdevotional. org, whose 12-16 selected KJV verses each day acts as a springboard to my phone app of The Message Version (MSG) for clarity and often reading whole chapters to satisfy a perspective thirst. Devotionals and blogs are ok, but personally, I much prefer pure scripture, with no one’s spin, twist, or slant. Dailylight does that superbly well. In fact, the scriptures above are the result of this morning’s dailylight verse from Romans 6:21 KJV “What fruit had ye then in those things where of ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.” Understand why I use MSG frequently?

Next, I tackle My Utmost for His Highest which is emailed me daily after midnight, that sometimes requires me to give it several passes before I’m fully able to grasp its bottom line, which you’d think after at least 20 annual trips thru, I’d be proficient. Truth be told though, I still have 4 or 5 readings I encounter each year, that leave me clueless of their bottom line, but I don’t sweat it, I just close the app and move on, but I do keep threatening to give Dr Jim Miller my clueless list for his explanations, since he gave me my very first copy of Utmost, which is still impacting my life profoundly.

Please understand though, I’m still not ready to proceed to the “layout & watch” maneuver mentioned in Tony Reinke’s phone article Step One. And please hear my heart loud and clear here folks, for I’m compelled to take you on this journey to greater devotional health and vitality for that very reason, so that you know such is permissible, possible, even desirable, and especially so, if you’re just a normal person seeking to grow as His Ambassador, not being a weird blogger or a fanatic who enjoys writing, or are not yet retired with too much time and desire.

Back then Pastor Bill inspired me to read the One Year Bible for 13 years continuously before taking a 6-year vacation, and though it was a step in the right direction, I’m sorry to say, the act was driven more by checking off the box than a desire to personally experience God, but nevertheless, God still honored the effort, even though the motive was suspect, for I was even then, laying up a future foundation.

During that period, I began listening to the Bible, especially the NT on my phone while working in the lab and barns and did the NT at least 20 times thru. In addition, I listened to well over two hundred of our 300 Audible wisdom books, nearly all selected and purchased by Loretta in hopes I’d absorb their truths and be spiritually revitalized. I also read a Kindle version of Martyrs Mirror twice, during my 5-minute interval breaks in milking parlors which has exerted a monumental peaceful influence over me while preparing for the inevitable prophesied tougher times and persecution ahead.

After I’ve satisfied my scriptural thirst from the dailylightdevotional.org verses for however long it takes, as I demonstrated above with the Romans 5 verses, and have read the Utmost reading, I then pray thru my prayer list. That completed, I then briefly consider each name to determine what is my next step with them, whether to visit, call, text, email, and/or, continue praying. Next, I proceed to my prior days unfinished “To Do List” reviewing its priorities and praying for God’s guidance and clarity as I rest in the Spirit in the “lay out and watch” mode of Psalm 5:3.

 While contemplating in this restful reflective creative state waiting on God to “stir the waters,” I’m led to begin meshing my “prayer contact to do list” with yesterday’s left over TO DO tasks, into a roughly “practical sequence of events” for today. I find this is an exciting way to live in the moment and momentum of His Divine presence, although it certainly doesn’t always flow that smoothly.

But this is where I am currently with such morning or evening spiritual disciplines, continually refining and retooling, and at the day’s end, we rejoice and give thanks for His continued faithfulness, guidance, and protection.  And we do enjoy our days, our spirits being fulfilled witnessing God’s nuances, miracles, & interventions, not forgetting our glorious tranquil sleep while anticipating His ever new opportunities for tomorrow.  

NEXT UP:

We’ll attempt to conclude the significance of the Psalm selections and move you toward putting wheels under your “Better Way Forward” replacing this ever-consuming phenomenal phone hijacking we’re experiencing…. but only by the empowering of His Holy Spirit, and whatever else we’ve gleaned while being open, and candidly honest about what works for us, or not, both during and after, our “laying out and watching.”

Earlier the idea of spending more time on the last post seemed like a novel & worthy idea, but Monday after spending six hours on a proposal I’ve been orally contemplating in my head for two months, no notes anywhere, when within 30 minutes of completing the final draft on my notebook, it all suddenly vanished. Checking my phone, the script had vanished there too. At first, I was simply devastated, but not angry, because I know I’m sufficiently challenged techie-wise to realize most of my difficulties are self-generated, and in time perhaps with proper help, my impending doom & gloom will vanish when the lost is found.

So, I did the wise thing deciding to hang it all up and head to the gym, discovering the Aultman Wellness Center is virtually deserted after 2 pm and their AC works well prompting me to think perhaps for the summer months, I should do my physical stuff after I’m mentally spent, which is the way I’m discovering I’m wired anyway. So, being only three trips in with Wellness, I have much to learn about the maneuvers that Wellness thought best for me, so with only 3 visible patrons, Aleah, the staff person, had ample opportunity to give me all the help I needed to lock in these routines. Soon my positive mental perspective was restored and I hadn’t even pulled out my buds or tuned in my current read in Audible, Imagine God by John Burke.

Enough peripherals, let’s focus quick on the last post, mainly centering on our abuse and ignorance of our stewardship of His gifts, whether we were genetically endowed, perhaps just outright gifted later, or more recently, Spirit empowered as we stepped out in faith. The three Psalm passages Tony Reinke identified, out of hundreds I’m sure, were key and I’ll give you the first from the Message Version (MSG) for a paraphrased perspective:

“Every morning you’ll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for the fire to descend.” Psalm 5:3.

Personally, during my recent 6-month firestorm transitioning from our properties of 41 years to an apartment, I’ve learned even before I do this “laying out & watching” routine, I’m best served by launching my praise words and reflections God-ward first. I am going to quickly share how our recent firestorm impacted what Christ Followers seldom talk about; their morning-devotional routines. Understand, the daily regiment I’m about to describe here may be a bit bizarre, but how would I or you really know? I don’t ever recall having shared this with anyone prior, nor am I accustomed to having others walk up to me and display their morning or evening spiritual vitamins for me either. Neither am I likely to ask anyone, unless perhaps, in a counseling or an intimate time of sharing.

But I am just about to do so very specifically and intentionally below, passing over the nefarious tipping point. I don’t ever recall having a personal conversation with anyone or reading anything written for public consumption prior, which really doesn’t account for much, because of my limited scope, although I’m thinking now the two author’s I’d research first for their possible devotional communication perspective would be Shane J Wood or John Eldredge.  

Since I’m just a weird blogger and not having done any due diligence research, I’ll admit I enjoy going “off the road” writing about the ordinary but profound stuff, hopefully not profanely, but mostly, just because God Himself came down to earth and turned the axis of this world from our way, in which everyone gets what they deserve, to Jesus’s way, in which everyone gets way better than they deserve! In fact, we get the perfection He deserves, while He gets the death we deserve…. A real deal epiphany, or a sudden revelation. Hope you got it, because it’s been my life line, hopefully yours too! (It Is Finished: 365 Days of Good News. May 19)

So, I am suggesting perhaps it is past time we break our unholy silence about how we communicate with Almighty God, both to Him, and then, from Him. First off, you must know that my track record communicating TO God, was very poor considering my abundant opportunities. God certainly spoke loud and clear to me during the many unique and varied circumstances of my life. That indeed could be a riveting read, but not so at all, at least for me, as it would be replicating a NDE Life Review as vividly detailed frequently in “Imagine Heaven.”

The bottom line for any of this discussion however, is that whatever words I do share here with you, it is paramount that they do actually provide worthy insights or encouragement to those of us struggling not only with our unholy alliances with our phones, but also with our at times non-existent communication with Almighty God; and just exactly, why is this occurring, and where can we get help, be it written or spoken?

Now being retired, I have both more time and desire to get my spiritual house in order, which I certainly ignored during my earlier years. Now also possessing a degree of experiential wisdom, I realize my earlier actions of depriving my wife, kids, and myself, was actually solely my choice, and not at all merely circumstances, and certainly not God’s plan for any of us.

The real question to be answered here is what exactly was my devotional regiment while working those 60-70 hours week and raising three sons? Truth One, it did not exist and everyone suffered, wife, kids, even me, but I was literally too tired and broken financially and spiritually from my chaos and confusion to know from whence it came, let alone, the real Truth. And even worse, I was so deceived then I was even teaching a SS class and serving as an elder. Only Loretta knew the truth but several in congregational leadership I do believe discerned my realities, but remained silent, for whatever reason…. And so, the games continued. Get the picture?

Time for a break. We’ll continue this discussion tomorrow.

…regardless of how good whatever was scheduled, and especially so since yesterday we with Ozzie’s help centered on “we taking the initiative to be practically obedient where we are now, and not in some future theoretical venue where we’ve not even been yet.

The Habits of Enjoying Adversity

 …..that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. —2 Corinthians 4:10

I know we have to develop godly habits to express, better yet demonstrate, what God’s grace has done in us. It’s not just a question of fire insurance, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh.

Is my life today exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or at best, just a basic irritation of “myself” that I demonstrate when apart from Him? Ouch! Listen, the only thing that will enable us to enjoy adversity ( such as all these transitions I keep telling you to prepare for) is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to give evidence of itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, “Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this.” Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.

We must not debate. The moment we obey the light of God, His Son shines through us in that very adversity; but if we debate with God, we grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30). We must keep ourselves in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in us, and in no way can we keep ourselves fit if we give way to self-pity.

Our very daily circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering a new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose, or even allow adversity, but quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God’s sovereignty. And if God puts us into such circumstances of adversity, He assuredly is adequately sufficient to “supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19).

BOTTOM LINE:

Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.

PS. If you desire more real deal inspiration about keeping your soul properly conditioned, or why it isn’t, I suggest you take a few minutes to read or view this clip from Christianity.com Daily Inspirations May 14 Running Through Rebellion – iBelieve Truth. Remember the song Carl reminded of us Sunday? “Be careful little eyes what you see; or feet – go, hands – touch, ears – hear, etc. A powerful story by this young lady who saw too much.

NEXT UP: I give up. Third try the Charm? Perhaps. It’s been a great day… I prefer living in the moment more than….

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the Righteous”. Proverbs 15:29. Prompted by and adapted from David Jeremiah’s devotional Destinations: Your Journey With God, Jan 19

In developing a stronger prayer life, it’s often helpful to read books about prayer, and the older ones are usually the best. For example, more than a hundred years ago, Samuel D Gordon published Quiet Talks on Prayer, which is still in print today. He opened his book by reminding us, “You can do more through your praying than through your personality.”

Most of us try to do things through the force of our personalities. We persuade. We cajole. We brownnose. We maneuver. We make exotic promises. We compromise. We bait. We push. We sweet-talk. We urge. We hint. We arm-twist. But you know, too often we just forget, or are too preoccupied to remember that the foundation of our faith, such that, we need to be reminded once more, that we are Spirit Empowered to do so much more through prayer than we ever could through our puny too often mis-directed quirky personalities.

Dr. Gordon goes on to say, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed. But you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

BOTTOM LINE:

I’m curious. Do you have any issues today in your life you’ve been trying to resolve but which, on reflection right now, you better realize that you must ask the Lord to intervene? So why not try the force of prayer where your forces of personality has failed?

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:3-32

If anyone should have been able to help Peter with good counseling or teaching, it would have been almighty Jesus. Yet His solution was to pray. Just meditate on that for a moment, better a week or two!

PS: I ordered Dr Gordon’s book yesterday after adding my twist to the above devotional, which as usual, I write first to myself, before offering it to you. I next opened my favorite book by a former mega church pastor, Francis Chan, titled “Letters to the Church” detailing his journey from leaving his mega creation and called to go to Asia with his growing family to build house fellowships and then five years later,was called to return to the Tenderloin subculture of San Francisco to further develop that church growth model in the states. I’d be remiss not share his prayer insights here.

In Chapter Six Francis identifies eight pastoral identities and speaks these inspiring words in the Praying Pastor portion, saying “I once told my staff to let me know if they were not praying at least an hour a day. This way I could replace them with someone else who would. I would much rather hire someone who prayed and did nothing else than someone who worked tirelessly without praying. That may sound harsh, but prayer is that critical. Prayer is not merely a task of ministry; it is a gauge that exposes our hearts’ condition…. Regardless of position: whether in the pulpit or the pew! It unveils our pride, showing us whether or not we believe we are powerless apart from God. When we pray, it is an expression of surrender to God and reliance on His infinite wisdom and sovereignty. Even Jesus Himself would not take matters into His own hands when His disciple Peter was being attacked by Satan.

Prayer is the mark of a lover. Those who deeply love Jesus can’t help but pray often. To love God with our entire being is the greatest command in Scripture. Pastors who are not drawn to prayer should not be pastors. It is in prayer we seek the Lord and the welfare of our people. I have joining my elders to pray Ephesians 3:14-19 over our people, begging God that they would long for Jesus as we do.

A pastor from India once told me he was researching movements and noticed a common thread: movements of God always start with a leader who knows God deeply and they always end when the followers only know their leader deeply. Pastors, we must know Him deeply and make disciples whose primary attachment is to Christ himself.”

NEXT UP!

Possibly the script of a unique Mother’s Day sermon delivered here in Wayne Co this morning.