Saturday, October 17, 2009

No, I'm Right!

With apologies for the delay in this post, I am wondering something -

Why does God use completely opposite ways of thinking?

I've heard from hundreds of people; people who say that poverty is the key, people who say abundance is vital, people who say we need the power of God, people who say "Focus on love and everything else falls into place", etc. Two main things jump out at me about these things:

1) They are definitely NOT teaching the same things, and often are completely contradicting each other.

2) With very few exceptions, God is using them in mighty ways for the Kingdom!

What am I supposed to do with that?

Turns out, in arguments throughout the centuries, people have used the fact that God is using them mightily as support for their validity. Hundreds of years ago, when John Calvin had a beef with the Catholic Church, this came up. The Catholic Church looked at Calvin and said "I don't see any healings happening in your little group while we have many documented miracles in our congregations. Therefore, God supports our doctrines." It was true - the Church DID have many documented healings and miracles. So Calvin said that miracles weren't supposed to support doctrine, only lead people to salvation (basically, he tried to take the miracles out of the argument). Valid or not, that's what happened.

So apparently, because most of us don't completely agree with the Catholic Church, we in some token way agree with Calvin that mighty works for God don't necessarily endorse personal doctrine. And with that, we are left wondering what criteria to use for discerning truth within the Scripture (you can easily argue two opposing points - using Scripture to support BOTH!).

Funny side note: Even Paul himself told his readers not to believe him at face value but because of the miracles he did - and then Jesus says not everyone who does miracles in His name will be saved! God has a sense of humor.

Right now, the only sense I can make out of this is that God judges you not based on your superior view of Him, but what you did with what you thought. Let me illustrate:

In the parable of the talents, one man is given 5, one is given 2, and the last is given 1. The first two double up and are rewarded. The third guy hides his talent and says "I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, etc." The master replies, "If that's what I'm like, then why didn't you act accordingly? (paraphrased, read it yourself)" The master did NOT say "You're right, I am like that." Point is, he didn't correct the man of his opinion, but judged based on what the man did with what he knew. So to me, as I see men of extremely varying opinions being used mightily by God, it looks to me as if it is because they stewarded their "revelations" of God more than others have. Of course there are limits to this, but there are many theologies that can easily be made WITHIN the Bible and without involving sin, evil, etc.

So are you right? Dunno, but being right ain't all what its cracked up to be sometimes.

John H.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Do I Really Have to....?

Maybe, maybe not. But that's beside the point for now.

Anyway, what's this whole "discipline" thing about? I must say that I have not been overly fond of it in the last several years. Now, I still got homework done, assignments turned in, and all that sort of thing. But what if you're not being told to do something and there is no pass/fail option in the works?

What if you have to be self-motivated?

*Gasp!* Oh no! All these years, I've had external motivation to rely on - my parents telling (and kept telling) me what I need to do, teacher giving assignments, coaches giving homework, etc. So what do you do when what you get is clearly up to you?

As I said, I have not been too hot on disciplines. The resason for me is that I have seen many people substitute disciplines for relationship with God (reading their Bible for exactly 30 minutes each day, praying a prayer before each meal and bedtime, and stuff like that). See, these disciplines can become crutches and in time the "means to the end" (growing close to God) turn into the "end" itself (the goal no longer is to get closer to God, but to do my disciplines each day like a "good boy" would).

So, how do we construct disciplines with God that allow for His style of creativity and spontanaeity? Remember, while He is overjoyed that we spend the time with Him, He's not too hot on sitting inside our 30 minute boxes :). What about setting aside a time each day to do something new with Him? Then, as you begin to have more and more fun with Him, allow the discipline to grow and don't look at the clock to tell you when to end your time with Him. Who knows? You might have so much fun doing something He likes to do that you forget about tiem completely!

This is called ectsasy or being enraptured with Him. Ask Him what He wants to do with your time and then do it with Him! You may find that God is not nearly as boring or regimented as you thought!

Now, there are sometimes seasons when we are seemingly not able to experience God in this way. This is where the discipline comes in. The goal is to get back to that place of rapture with Him. Some people think the seasons of rapture are passing and are not to be expected. This is not true - in Song of Solomon, the bride is in a continuous state of enchantment with her bridegroom (as a picture of our relationship with God). The only part where this changes is when he draws away from her, but this so that she will pursue him. He never intended to leave her in that place of separation. So even in the seasons of not-feeling Him, the goal is still as stated above: to get back to the place of rapture with your heavenly Lover.

And in this context, disciplines are valuable. But NEVER let the discipline become the goal.

John H.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Are You Worth It?

One of the things that I've been learning about lately is my worth. Specifically, people going out of their way to help me.

What usually happens when someone offers to help us out? We usually apologize profusely and desperately look for any possible reason to politely refuse their assistance. "It's ok, I'll be all right." or "Oh you don't have to do that!" or "But I don't want to be any trouble for you..." or even the stronger "No! I can't let you do that for me! I'll be fine!"

Think about it. Why do we say these sorts of things when we know that if the situation was reversed, we would absolutely love to go out of our way for them? Well, it seems like we don't love ourselves very much. Much of our lives, we are taught by the church to always put other peoples' needs above our own. This is good (in moderation), but we often slip into this mindset that our needs are not important and should not be assisted by anyone because it might be a burden to them. This can not only make your life much more difficult, but can also deprive others of the blessings they would receive by helping you.

But what is the foundation that we must have in our hearts for this? I am important. What a shock! How often are we taught this? Not enough! If you don't really think you are important, think of it this way: If God Himself would take a bullet for your well-being, then you sound pretty important to me!

So here is the punch line: You are worth it. He made you worth it!

Now we don't go around being a pain in the neck to others of course, but when we balance this out, we get:

My needs are important, and so are yours! This is a healthy view of life and relationship. I want to help you out and you want to help me out. Rememer, the second greatest commandment of all time? Love your neighbor as yourself. You can't love another person properly if you don't love yourself! When you find yourself questioning why anyone would want to help you out, remind yourself that...

YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!

John H.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Mountain Moving

I was just thinking about the verse where Jesus says it would take a mustard seed of faith to tell a mountain to throw itself into the sea. Seems pretty crazy, don't you think?

So the question I have is this: What kind of faith is a mustard seed? (Think practically)

What do you think? Please tell me!

John H.

Now or Later?

Time for a new post, don't you think?

So here's my thought: Where exactly is the balance between process and immediate results? (referring to growth and God)

Both can be good and both can produce ill effects, so how do you know when its time for one or the other? Do you err to one side or the other? Is one a sort of default?

In my meanderings through the path of life, I have found myself confronted by both opinions (sometimes quite forcefully), but I can't say that I've found one to be a clear and consistent winner. Some people say that immediate effects don't produce real growth in a person (character development), while others contend that we are not believing God as much as we should if we are only content with long term process.

So here's my opinion: Should we shoot for immediate or process? Yes.

If used properly, immediate results can create tremendous growth that process cannot give. By the same token, process teaches perserverance and persistence, which are vital to our personality. I don't think that our lives are complete until we have experienced both ways to the max.

I have heard many people say that we hope for the immediate, but fall back on the process. I'm not sure I agree with this, for the example of Scripture seems to indicate that we need to fall back on faith in God's ability and propensity to do the impossible. In the books of Law, we see that because Israel didn't have faith for the immediate, they put themselves in a long process that was not God's will for them at all (and a lot of people died without seeing His promises come to pass). However, we know that patience is a fruit of the Spirit and Peter says that we should excercise self control in our perserverance. Obviously, long term thinking is also biblical. So which do we fall back on?

Neither.

Why? Because neither one is a fail-safe option. Though it seems safe to fall back on process, many people do this and gradually lose faith for the immediate - or worse. Then they begin to make excuses for God (not a good idea, let Him speak for Himself) and make their unbelief and complacency palatable by describing them in good-sounding religious terms. "Well brother, my angry cutthroat boss is good for me because God's teaching me patience." Hmmm. Yeahhhhh. Maybe. Or maybe you're supposed to be contending for God's justice in the situation and your "perserverance" is costing the people around you physically, emotionally, and spiritually! On the flip side, I've seen people get super frustrated with God because they weren't healed the first time they were prayed for. This is also really not good - time to learn trust in your Father and patience while you're at it. So, strange as it may sound, I would say that falling on back process can be just as dangerous and harmful as always assuming the immediate.

Now where does that leave us? Holy Spirit. To know the times and seasons (as Jesus expected the pharisees to know), we must be able to hear His voice - whether through His Word, or through His still small voice in our hearts, or even through circumstances and unbelievers. He never stops trying to communicate with us, but most of the time our "antennas" are not up to receive His leadings.

He's calling! Are you listening?

John H.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

My Story Part 4

Ever since I had arrived here in Redding, I had heard some of the pastors refer to God as "Papa". I wondered why, since the Bible only uses the term "Father". Either way, it didn't make much difference to me because both titles were just what you call God. It had never occured to me why the Bible uses this parental distinction for God. But when I started hearing people use "Papa", I started to think a little more about it. Why would they do that? There had to be some good reason for it. So I kept wondering in the back of my head...

And then it hit me.

I don't even know how it it hit me, but I think it was an "Oh that's it!" moment. I realized that God wants to be personal with us. That's why Romans 8 uses the word "Abba" in conjunction with "Father". It was a very personal word - the only reason I'd missed it all this time was that I never called my parents "Father" and "Mother". Those terms sounded so cold and formal [and British :)] to me. In my family, it was always "Dad" and "Mom".

So once I realized the purpose of calling God "Father" and "Papa", I decided to try calling Him "Dad" and "Daddy". This took a bit of effort, since it was against everything I'd been taught about how to relate to God. Each time I called Him that, however, I could feel my heart opening more and more to Him. I began to trust Him more and was able to feel His peace all over me like a warm blanket when I talked with Him. I began to feel safer and more secure in everyday life, so I could try new things because I knew that He would be there to comfort and hold me if things went wrong.

Then I started thinking even more. If God seems to have a big interest in being a Dad to me, then I guess I should relate to Him like one, right (some differences, of course, but same idea)? I realized that when you are away from your dad, usually one of the first things he asks you when you reunite is...

"How was your day?"

So I started to tell Him all about my days! It may sound silly because He already knows everything, but for some reason He just loves to hear it from us! As I did this more and more, I realized that this is at least part of what Matthew 7:23 was talking about (depart from me, I never knew you) - we talk about knowing God a whole lot, but I haven't heard too many sermons about God knowing us. We often just assume that He knows us if we do the right stuff and obey His directions.

That's not what relationship is all about. Relationship is about two people who know each other inside and out; who spend life together - good or bad, thick or thin, ups or downs, happy or sad. Two people who are completely dedicated to each other and who make themselves known to their companion. The level to which they do this determines the depth of their relationship.

That's what relationship is all about. So, how well does your Daddy know you?

John H.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

My Story Part 3

So now that I could hear the voice of God, my mission was to start praying for people to get healed. Of course, this is easier said than done, mostly because of those nagging thoughts inside your head:

"Well what if they don't get healed? You'll really look stupid then!"

Better yet:

"What if God doesn't want to heal this person and I'm actually going against His plan by trying to get them healed?"

Ok so now its time for a quick side note: God wants to heal everyone! Here's the reasoning behind this. Matthew 10 tells us that healing the sick, etc. should accompany the preaching of His kingdom. Sickness and death came into the world because of Adam's choice in the garden - not because God wanted them to come. Sure, God can use them for good, but that doesn't mean they are His way of working or the best way of obtaining results. Basically, the devil tries to wreck someone's life by putting them in a wheelchair or making them paralyzed or whatever you want to fill in the blank with - and God still frustrates his plans by using even those horrible things to make something beautiful. Make no mistake - God didn't want that person to get hurt and is eagerly waiting for one of His sons or daughters to enter the situation and release His redemption: healing of body, soul, and spirit.

Now, you can imagine how difficult it would be to pray for someone with those awful lies running through your head. So, since I was going to a Christian college at the time, I decided to try first on other believers. It still wasn't very easy, but I finally saw God heal someone through me!

That was another turning point in my life.

It's hard to go back to powerless Christianity when you see the utter shock on someone's face when they can no longer find the pain that was just in their body a moment ago. You want a rush? THAT is a rush! Even the Dean of Students heard the two of us shouting and screaming about what had just happened! So within the rest of that semester, I saw God heal about 10-15 more people (I kept a tally on my dorm room door). However, I still had one problem: I didn't have the guts to pray for someone out on the street. The thought of doing such a thing excited me, but at the same time it scared the bejeebers out of me! I needed to find a large group of people who were running in the same direction as me. This search was mostly unsuccessful, though I did find a faithful few at the college of like mind as I. Then I remembered hearing that Chad Dedmon (speaker referred to earlier) was a graduate of the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. It sounded like just the right place for me! So after the (fall) semester ended, I packed up my few belongings and drove to Redding, CA with my mom and older brother.

It turned out that the school didn't take new students half-way through the year, so I found a place to live and got to know some of the students who were in the school. I quickly found out that the people here are very serious about taking healing everywhere; the streets, homeless shelters, malls, stores, and even to the bars! I felt like I was in heaven! Finally, a group of people who loved me enough to push me out of my comfortable shell! I started going out on their Friday night outreaches and got to see many people healed in public places and some of them even received Jesus!

As this was happening, I began to understand a concept I'd heard people talk about before, but really hadn't meant much to me. Read my next blog to find out what it is :)!

John H.

Friday, June 12, 2009

My Story Part 2

So after I heard Chad speak, I was duly convinced that God could (and would) use me to heal people. At that time, though, I thought that I should only pray for people that God specifically told me to pray for. While this is a good idea, we have already been told to pray for just about everybody (Matthew 10:1-8). Anyway, at that time I was having a lot of trouble hearing God's active voice (Greek word "rhema" as opposed to "logos" in the NT, refers to a conversational sort of word). At that time I was hearing about three different voices in my head/heart: one from my thoughts, one from the enemy, and one from God. My problem was figuring out which voice was which. My solution up 'til that time was to ignore all the voices. But after Chad spoke, I went forward to receive prayer from one of the ministry team members there. As he was praying, he felt like he heard God say to command the evil spirit of confusion to stop messing with me. He did, and as soon as I got back to my seat, I clearly heard God speak to my heart:

"I love you."

Just three words, but they felt like a million bucks to me right then. That was the first time that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that He really does love me. You can say all you want about believing what the Bible says, but there's something about actually experiencing what it talks about. It's pretty hard to argue with an actually experience - what I will also refer to as a God encounter. Of course we don't put our experiences on the same level as Scripture, but when they agree, head knowledge becomes a lifestyle for us.

That's part of the goal of this blog - to show you my journey from head knowledge to lifestyle in the past and as it continues to happen today. Perhaps it will give you the courage to move further in that process yourself :).

John H.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

My Story Part 1

I was born and raised in the church, as were my parents before me (and possibly even their parents). Mom was a missionary's daughter, while dad was the son of a retired army chaplain who lived through the Depression.

Growing up in the church, I knew about God and all that sort of thing and committed my life to Him at age 5. Unfortunately, either I didn't know what was going on or I forgot because I pretty much had Him in the farthest nook in the back of my mind all through Junior High and High School. I never felt like I was perfect enough for Him, even though on the outside I was a "model Christian". My character was, in fact, very good and I was looked up to by many for my values and standards. Unfortunately, I felt pretty dead inside and was wondering if I would ever actually meet this God of mine before I got to heaven. I was rather jealous of the people in the Old Testament because God did all sorts of things for them, but I never saw Him do anything for me. So, for most of my life, I thought of God as being "up there" and mad at me because I wasn't perfect enough for His standards.

Somewhere in this time period, I heard about God healing people (a little hard not to, since I grew up in John Wimber's Vineyard church). But for some reason, it stuck with me now and I began to want to see this sort of thing happen where I could watch - I wanted to know that God is real. I ended up going to another Vineyard Church a few years after John Wimber died: Vineyard Christan Church in Laguna Niguel, CA. There, I heard many more testimonies of supernatural healings and "God stuff".

Now that I was comfortable with God being real, I wanted to see God heal people through MY prayers. Again, though, I didn't think I was perfect enough for His power to flow through me. I had too many flaws and sins for my own standards. The standards weren't bad, but my mindset concerning them actually kept me from experiencing God. This sort of thinking continued, even though I was going to a Bible college.

Then, after 1 year in college, I went to a hear a speaker named Chad Dedmon. I don't even remember why. At any rate, he turns out to be this young, surfer-looking dude from So-Cal who had seen God do a lot of things in his life. He didn't really have a sermon or anything you'd normally hear from a speaker, but instead he just called out things that God had told him He wanted to heal physically in poeple that day. I remember that several people reported being healed on the spot, but there wasn't anything that was physically visible that was healed. But then, Chad found out that a woman was there who had one leg shorter than the other. Having found this out, he said, the craziest thing I'd heard up till that time:

"Who wants to see a miracle?"

I was stunned when I heard this, thinking that there was no way you could possibly say this with certainty. But hey, if a visible miracle was going to happen, I wanted to see it! So I went down to the front with about 50 other people where he had the lady sitting on the stage with her legs dangling over the edge. Chad made sure that everyone could see her legs clearly, then held them out straight and commanded the short one to grow out in Jesus' name. Before my eyes, that leg grew out!!!! I was stunned. It actually grew out too far by an inch or so! I had watched the knees to make sure there was no funny business going on and I could not deny what had just happened. Then Chad said another crazy thing:

"Well that was a good prayer!"

I was speechless. How could this guy act so....simple, so.....happy and content and confident? I was still trying to figure this out as he commanded the (now) longer leg to go back even with the other leg (and it did, of course). I went back to my seat with tears running down my face in awe of God. I knew that if God could use this unpolished college-age guy, He could use me too.

So that was the first major turn in my life. Guess what? God can (and will) use you too - if you let Him!

John H.

Introduction To This Blog

Hello and Greetings,

This blog is primarily dedicated to proclaim the goodness of God through what He is doing in my life. Your views about God may or may not agree with mine, but that's the great thing about God: He allows diversity within our personal doctrines while still loving and teaching us through His Word (The Bible), His active voice (explanation to come), and anything in our lives that He feels like using.

This blog assumes that you know Jesus, the Father, and Holy Spirit personally and have an active friendship with Him. If you have any questions regarding the words or tems used to describe experiences with God, please don't hesitate to ask. I will try my best to respond to honest inquiries, but I am NOT going to argue with people. I've done that in the past and I found that it was a major waste of time :).

Hope you enjoy the tales of what God is doing in my life! Remember: Just because God works with me in a certain way does not mean that He will do the same with you - maybe, maybe not. Usually, He speaks to us in a way that is very personal and specific to us. He really really really loves you too!

John H.