(From Sunday, April 24, 2011. Apostle Ainsworth and the musicians of the Rock.)
Prelude: "Christ" was not Yahshua's last name. It meant the anointing bearer or the anointed one. After His resurrection, when He was about to ascend to the Father, Yahweh, He told His disciples that it would be better for Him to go, because He was going to send them the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit that had been with them (through Him) would now dwell in them (just like it did in Him). Many anointing bearers are more powerful than one. Yahshua made the way for us to be sons of Yahweh, and His own brothers. In John 17, He prayed for us to be one with the Father just as He was, by the Spirit. So, it follows that the antichrist spirit we hear about is just that, anti-anointing-bearer. It tries to convince believers that we really cannot be one with the Father and that we really cannot have the power of His presence indwelling us the way Yahshua did. This accomplishes two things. In the life of anyone who believes this lie, it greatly diminishes the impact of Jesus' crucifixion and subsequent resurrection. And it renders believers powerless in the now, which is exactly where we're supposed to be powerful by His grace, by His spirit, as purchased by the blood of our Savior. We're supposed to be finishing the work He started, as His body, in the same way He did, by the Spirit, doing what the Father is doing, and saying what the Father is saying. For the church is "His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Ephesians 1:23). Whoa. He fills all in all through His church. We are His fullness in the earth. No wonder the enemy would want us to feel like miserable, unworthy weaklings who must grovel at His feet, begging Him to come back soon and rescue us from this "evil" world (of course, it is no such thing). But that's just the prelude.
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On Easter morning, it was time to start service. Jed greeted the people, and we started the music. The band was fired up from our sound check, and we were excited about the service and about what might happen and how Yahweh would blow our minds again. But there seemed to be a sort of heaviness in the room, kind of like a weight of expectation that can never be met. It was not an expectation from the Father that brings passion and tenacity and digging deep into the spirit. It was oppressive, and it made us musicians get a sensation that I can only describe as musically equivalent to plodding through knee-high molasses.
It's interesting to be on the platform during worship, because you see what's going on with everyone. This morning, we were getting faces and visual feedback that let us know we weren't the only ones feeling the funkiness. So we all kept praising and declaring and celebrating until our apostle just came up to deal with it. It was awesome. He totally nailed it.
Dan is one of the faithful leaders in our house, and his family is incredible. He had approached our apostle while the music was still going on, and he said, "Man, have I done something wrong? Something is way off right now." Apostle teased that he obviously needed to repent, then said something along the lines of, "No, this is my life! Every Easter I have to deal with the same religious spirits that try to spook everybody out and get everybody all religious."
Apostle stood up and addressed that. The crux of it is this: What do we celebrate on the holiday we call Easter? We celebrate that Yahshua conquered sin and death and came to life again in resurrection power. The depth of what He was purchasing for us is what I explained in my prelude above. For many churches, though, the Easter holiday is such a huge deal, because it's like the one day when Christians feel that feeling of VICTORY!! But if we only exprience victory on one day, then we've missed the point. Moreover, for those of us who understand that we are to demonstrate Him in power today, we also know that we don't long for the past where Bible characters and Jesus did great things, and we don't long for the future where we expect Jesus to do more great things. This mentality conveniently excludes us from expecting great things in the present, because that's where the great things would be our responsibility, through His power. He is the I AM. His powerful presence is in the present. With us.
So in a spiritual house, an ekklesia like ours, it's no huge surprise, I guess, that some stupid religious spirits tried to water us down and get us to just go through the "Easter" motions and get spooky and talk about the great things Jesus did, past tense. Easter is just a tradition of man, one with pagan history, and one that is silly and fun. But honestly, we don't know the exact date that Yahshua died and was resurrected. What if we just celebrated it every day by tapping into what He wanted for us and shaking the earth for the sake of His Kingdom? :)
A sunset service is no more holy than a later one. A fancy dress is no more holy than a regular one. A lily is no more holy than another flower. And a wooden cross on a wall is no more holy than a tree in the woods. Of course, none of these things is a sin, but the minute we get all moved and spooky by all the periphery things, that's the minute we lose sight of the normal, every day power we should all expect.
My apostle said an awesome thing. He said we celebrate the resurrection every day by walking in the thing Yahshua purchased for us, and having victory, and gaining ground. He said, "Why don't we have names for the other days? This one's Easter. What should we call the Monday after? Did You Really Mean What You Said Yesterday Monday?" He and some of the rest of us came up with all sorts of silly names. But the idea was this: Are we as excited and serious about the resurrection every other day of the year as we are on Easter? Not by way of the religious traditions being forced into our schedule every day (fancy clothes and chocolate crosses every day or you don't believe it!), but by way of the resurrection flipping our lives right off the edge into the Kingdom and its exploits because Yahshua's death, burial, resurrection, and sending of the Holy Spirit has changed our lives.
After Apostle addressed the weird spirits hanging out, and the ones that try to hang out every Easter, we kept going with the music, and it went prophetic into songs we'd never sung before, demonstrating the resurrection and its impact in us today. It was absolutely incredible and super fun! The weight lifted, because there was a spiritual father in his place, ready to judge on our behalf, and because there were sons of God in our places, ready to go where we've never gone, wherever the Spirit wanted to lead us. Presently. In that moment. Yesterday is over. Tomorrow never comes (in that when you awaken in tomorrow, it's now today). We live in our succession of "todays." With the I AM.
He is indeed risen! And He passed the baton to His disciples who passed the baton to the next generation and so on throughout the generations to us. I won't live in the past and long for the days He walked the earth. He still walks the earth. He lives in me. I am part of His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
"...he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." -Yahshua, John 14:12
I hope your Easter holiday was awesome! We Finleys did some traditional things for the kids to enjoy, and they really loved it. But Easter's already over.
What now?
Monday, April 25, 2011
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Barefoot and Pregnant: What a Woman in Crisis Really Needs
Barefoot and Pregnant: What a Woman in Crisis Really Needs: "Amidst the debates swirling around about defunding Planned Parenthood, some oft-repeated catch phrases are being tossed around like word g..."
Friday, April 22, 2011
Superlative. Noun. EVER.
(An ode to this happy day and the parlance of our times.)
Today is the best day ever!
We found out last night that Jed had the day off, which is the coolest thing ever. I slept in, one of my most favorite things ever, and Jed got up with the kids this morning. Score! He's the nicest husband ever.
I think Easter is the most meaningful holiday ever, because it's the celebration of Yahshua's resurrection, which, repenting of what I said earlier about Jed's day off, is actually the coolest thing ever.
It snowed yesterday, and snow in April is maybe the biggest bummer ever, but today, Good Friday, it's super sunny, the best surprise ever!
(Oh no, you can't leave yet. There's more...)
It feels so much like Saturday, but I keep remembering that we still get Saturday tomorrow, and we have church tonight. If you've ever been to one of our services, with great, free, prophetic music (as the worship leader saying that, is that the most arrogant thing ever?) and an apostle whose mouth "drips with gold" (best metaphor ever, Jenn Rutherford), you know that looking forward to services where we experience the presence of God is the most exciting anticipation ever.
Jed is the sweetest dad ever. He's taking Levi and Adelaide out for a little drive, and while they're out, they're going to visit Jed's old work and show off the kids to the owners, who are the kindest people ever.
Levi has already made up songs, created and then cleaned some huge messes, used his tools to do something awesome to the carpet (no idea), shoveled some holes outside, and stuck his Easter gels from Lolly to the window. He's the silliest boy ever.
Adelaide has laughed at him, screamed at him, harassed him, eaten lots of food, taken a great nap, and furthered her agenda towards wrapping Daddy more tightly around her finger. She's the littlest Bit ever.
Earlier today, I purchased the cutest dress ever to wear to Josh and Katie's wedding. It'll be the biggest celebration ever. Now, I'm working on some music, and I feel like this song will be the most amazing song ever.
Life's so good! I can't believe this greatest weekend ever has gotten off to the best early start ever.
It'll be epic. Like, the most epic ever.
Today is the best day ever!
We found out last night that Jed had the day off, which is the coolest thing ever. I slept in, one of my most favorite things ever, and Jed got up with the kids this morning. Score! He's the nicest husband ever.
I think Easter is the most meaningful holiday ever, because it's the celebration of Yahshua's resurrection, which, repenting of what I said earlier about Jed's day off, is actually the coolest thing ever.
It snowed yesterday, and snow in April is maybe the biggest bummer ever, but today, Good Friday, it's super sunny, the best surprise ever!
(Oh no, you can't leave yet. There's more...)
It feels so much like Saturday, but I keep remembering that we still get Saturday tomorrow, and we have church tonight. If you've ever been to one of our services, with great, free, prophetic music (as the worship leader saying that, is that the most arrogant thing ever?) and an apostle whose mouth "drips with gold" (best metaphor ever, Jenn Rutherford), you know that looking forward to services where we experience the presence of God is the most exciting anticipation ever.
Jed is the sweetest dad ever. He's taking Levi and Adelaide out for a little drive, and while they're out, they're going to visit Jed's old work and show off the kids to the owners, who are the kindest people ever.
Levi has already made up songs, created and then cleaned some huge messes, used his tools to do something awesome to the carpet (no idea), shoveled some holes outside, and stuck his Easter gels from Lolly to the window. He's the silliest boy ever.
Adelaide has laughed at him, screamed at him, harassed him, eaten lots of food, taken a great nap, and furthered her agenda towards wrapping Daddy more tightly around her finger. She's the littlest Bit ever.
Earlier today, I purchased the cutest dress ever to wear to Josh and Katie's wedding. It'll be the biggest celebration ever. Now, I'm working on some music, and I feel like this song will be the most amazing song ever.
Life's so good! I can't believe this greatest weekend ever has gotten off to the best early start ever.
It'll be epic. Like, the most epic ever.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Very Studious (I do teach them a little when I put the camera down)
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| I have the pleasure of being these girls' English tutor this semester. Right now, we're doing the 10-page research paper. Check out the fireplace in the Colchester library. Love it! |
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| Brianna: Day 1 of Thomas Edison research at the Milton library. It's under construction...not quite the selection we'd hoped for, but we prevailed! |
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| Shiloh and her Sticker: Day 1 of WWII fighting conditions research at the Milton library. |
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| This is just so very Vermonty. This flyer posted in the Milton library lobby invites everyone to a "Sugar on Snow" party. This spring-time tradition occurs at sugar shacks during the short maple sugar season when they tap the trees for the gooey, sugary, delicious topping. Put (clean) snow in a cup, top with maple syrup. Enjoy. |
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| The modest stacks at the under-construction Milton library...there were still some treasures to be found. |
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Trying to Understand the Abortion Issue...Ugh.
The cursor on the computer screen blinked at me: Blip. Blip. Blip. Blip.
"abortion" Enter.
I get a thrill in libraries. So many possibilities. So much to learn. Sitting at the computer, casting a line, sorting through options, and making some big catches is always a worthwhile hunt. Not making a catch the first time through my search is just as invigorating. I hunker down and narrow in. I scribble down the cryptic call letters on the little scrap of paper until I'm ready to go on the next level of the hunt. This is so different than my book searches on Amazon. The air smells like pages and leather and ink. Rows of wood shelves full of real life books that I can touch, flip through, and examine stand tall and stately around me. I find my row, getting closer, then the general area, the 700s, the 750s, the 754s, the 754.29s. There they are. Trouble is, my growing thrill is being matched in magnitude by a growing forboding in my gut. What I'm after today is something I'm not sure I really want to find.
There's an assignment in my spirit that I have to pursue. I can't not do it. I'm doing research on abortion. Yuck. Does anyone on either side of the issue really want to really think about it? I think that's part of the problem, though, so I'm going to find out the facts and figure out the origins of it and of our current popular thought on the matter, as well as all the legal and constitutional implications. I say popular thought, but I'm not too sure on that either. Is abortion popular? I have a sneaking suspicion that if asked, not about the glossy labels like "choice" and "rights," but if asked about abortion, plain and simple, most people would say they prefer it didn't happen. Or in the case of pro-choice folks, they'd probably say they wish it didn't need to happen. Let's just put it this way: it's not pleasant.
I am pro-life. I like life. It's good. So I will try to chronicle my research experience and my findings themselves, but I do not intend to be a flaming, raging, argumentative, judgmental virago. There are plenty of those in the debate already. (That is, I won't be judgmental in the irrational, non-compassionate way; obviously, one must draw conclusions, or, make judgments.)
I want to know the history of abortion, the legal fight(s) for or against it in history, how it came to be what it is in popular opinion today, the basis for the Roe v. Wade case that made it legal (privacy, as it turns out; more on that to come), the exact biological process that results in a human being, and anything else that matters.
This much has come up for me. Out there in the Big Debate World, it's complicated. Very complicated. If you have an ounce of compassion, you hurt for women who find themselves between a rock and a hard place. You just do. Of course, not all of them fit in that category either.
But here's the very little that I know so far:
I know women who have had them, and I love these ladies dearly. I also know they don't like talking about it.
I know that abortion as "birth control" sounds extraordinarily drastic to me, purely from a rational perspective with very few emotions or moral platitudes involved.
I know it's been asserted here and there that doctors who perform abortions are pretty much seen as "bottom feeders." I would love to know more about why that is in a pro-abortion society and what makes a person choose that profession. My understanding so far, though, is that it's an opinion held by other doctors, as all doctors vow to "do no harm." That's actually something for me to look up. Do abortionists have to be doctors?
I know that there seems to be a massive dichotomy in the pro-life stance on fighting abortion. On the one hand, pro-lifers assert that abortion should be illegal. On the other hand, they also oppose many pro-choice programs that try to keep people from getting pregnant in the first place, like sex education (this includes, but is not limited to, abstinence), health care, and access to contraceptives. I have a glimmer of an opinion on all that, but I just realize I need to know more about the facts all around. Pro-lifers tend to be folks who think all that stuff should be less mainstream or, certainly, not pushed on single people. After all, single people shouldn't be having sex.
And about that. I know that recreational sex has become widely, rampantly acceptable to the point that it's almost no longer part of the argument. My issue here is quite complex, and I'll get into it another time, but sometimes something can be best, even (gasp!) right, even if it seems archaic. And it's weird to me how those having recreational sex without wanting a baby call getting pregnant an "accident." Really?! How do you figure? Did you or did you not have sex? All of us modern, free-thinking, strong-opinioned people would do ourselves a favor to look at it intelligently and call it what it is. "Accident" is not the word you're looking for. "Oops" doesn't quite cover this one.
I know that my tone in that last paragraph unsettled some people. I will say again that for those in a pickle, it's a big deal and my heart goes out to them. It's not easy. Please always hear my heart for people in all this.
I also know that people are not in a pickle because of some "tissue." A random mass of cells is not necessarily an inconvenience. A baby is. They're not trying to escape a tissue or mass of cells. They're trying to escape a baby. Where does the line get drawn? Oh, how I'm encountering various answers to that question. It's mind-boggling.
What a preliminary hodge-podge of thoughts this is! I hope to pass on my findings as I go, and with two little ones and music leadership and all of life's great fullness, I'm sure it will be somewhat slow going. I have been interested to find in three libraries here in Burlington-area, Vermont, that not one abortion book on file has a pro-life leaning. Fine with me, as I'm looking for real understanding. That does mean, however, that I do actually need some books of the pro-life leaning, so I get to request them of my libraries who will very soon carry them after all.
I am currently looking for the ones written by Norma McCorvey who was "Jane Roe" in the Roe v. Wade case. (She's now pro-life.) And what fun it'll be to read through the judges' official opinion statements on that case. Their ruling on the basis of privacy certainly calls me to want to know more, though, so I will.
And now for my final, burning questions: How does one get to the root of the problem? How does one meet that need so that abortion would not be "necessary," as many call it?
Every time I keep digging on issues and problems like this, I always come down to a root issue of humanity that can only be answered through the Kingdom of God, which is about relationship, nurturing, trust, responsibility, and knowing Yahweh. As I posted months ago about how politics is not the answer, I realize again that there is more than one battleground from which to approach such issues.
As I follow Yahweh's leading on this, I look forward to uncovering some interesting things that grieve Him but that we, or maybe just I, may have overlooked, on both sides of the issue. It's His heart I'm after.
Good thing I love libraries.
"abortion" Enter.
I get a thrill in libraries. So many possibilities. So much to learn. Sitting at the computer, casting a line, sorting through options, and making some big catches is always a worthwhile hunt. Not making a catch the first time through my search is just as invigorating. I hunker down and narrow in. I scribble down the cryptic call letters on the little scrap of paper until I'm ready to go on the next level of the hunt. This is so different than my book searches on Amazon. The air smells like pages and leather and ink. Rows of wood shelves full of real life books that I can touch, flip through, and examine stand tall and stately around me. I find my row, getting closer, then the general area, the 700s, the 750s, the 754s, the 754.29s. There they are. Trouble is, my growing thrill is being matched in magnitude by a growing forboding in my gut. What I'm after today is something I'm not sure I really want to find.
There's an assignment in my spirit that I have to pursue. I can't not do it. I'm doing research on abortion. Yuck. Does anyone on either side of the issue really want to really think about it? I think that's part of the problem, though, so I'm going to find out the facts and figure out the origins of it and of our current popular thought on the matter, as well as all the legal and constitutional implications. I say popular thought, but I'm not too sure on that either. Is abortion popular? I have a sneaking suspicion that if asked, not about the glossy labels like "choice" and "rights," but if asked about abortion, plain and simple, most people would say they prefer it didn't happen. Or in the case of pro-choice folks, they'd probably say they wish it didn't need to happen. Let's just put it this way: it's not pleasant.
I am pro-life. I like life. It's good. So I will try to chronicle my research experience and my findings themselves, but I do not intend to be a flaming, raging, argumentative, judgmental virago. There are plenty of those in the debate already. (That is, I won't be judgmental in the irrational, non-compassionate way; obviously, one must draw conclusions, or, make judgments.)
I want to know the history of abortion, the legal fight(s) for or against it in history, how it came to be what it is in popular opinion today, the basis for the Roe v. Wade case that made it legal (privacy, as it turns out; more on that to come), the exact biological process that results in a human being, and anything else that matters.
This much has come up for me. Out there in the Big Debate World, it's complicated. Very complicated. If you have an ounce of compassion, you hurt for women who find themselves between a rock and a hard place. You just do. Of course, not all of them fit in that category either.
But here's the very little that I know so far:
I know women who have had them, and I love these ladies dearly. I also know they don't like talking about it.
I know that abortion as "birth control" sounds extraordinarily drastic to me, purely from a rational perspective with very few emotions or moral platitudes involved.
I know it's been asserted here and there that doctors who perform abortions are pretty much seen as "bottom feeders." I would love to know more about why that is in a pro-abortion society and what makes a person choose that profession. My understanding so far, though, is that it's an opinion held by other doctors, as all doctors vow to "do no harm." That's actually something for me to look up. Do abortionists have to be doctors?
I know that there seems to be a massive dichotomy in the pro-life stance on fighting abortion. On the one hand, pro-lifers assert that abortion should be illegal. On the other hand, they also oppose many pro-choice programs that try to keep people from getting pregnant in the first place, like sex education (this includes, but is not limited to, abstinence), health care, and access to contraceptives. I have a glimmer of an opinion on all that, but I just realize I need to know more about the facts all around. Pro-lifers tend to be folks who think all that stuff should be less mainstream or, certainly, not pushed on single people. After all, single people shouldn't be having sex.
And about that. I know that recreational sex has become widely, rampantly acceptable to the point that it's almost no longer part of the argument. My issue here is quite complex, and I'll get into it another time, but sometimes something can be best, even (gasp!) right, even if it seems archaic. And it's weird to me how those having recreational sex without wanting a baby call getting pregnant an "accident." Really?! How do you figure? Did you or did you not have sex? All of us modern, free-thinking, strong-opinioned people would do ourselves a favor to look at it intelligently and call it what it is. "Accident" is not the word you're looking for. "Oops" doesn't quite cover this one.
I know that my tone in that last paragraph unsettled some people. I will say again that for those in a pickle, it's a big deal and my heart goes out to them. It's not easy. Please always hear my heart for people in all this.
I also know that people are not in a pickle because of some "tissue." A random mass of cells is not necessarily an inconvenience. A baby is. They're not trying to escape a tissue or mass of cells. They're trying to escape a baby. Where does the line get drawn? Oh, how I'm encountering various answers to that question. It's mind-boggling.
What a preliminary hodge-podge of thoughts this is! I hope to pass on my findings as I go, and with two little ones and music leadership and all of life's great fullness, I'm sure it will be somewhat slow going. I have been interested to find in three libraries here in Burlington-area, Vermont, that not one abortion book on file has a pro-life leaning. Fine with me, as I'm looking for real understanding. That does mean, however, that I do actually need some books of the pro-life leaning, so I get to request them of my libraries who will very soon carry them after all.
I am currently looking for the ones written by Norma McCorvey who was "Jane Roe" in the Roe v. Wade case. (She's now pro-life.) And what fun it'll be to read through the judges' official opinion statements on that case. Their ruling on the basis of privacy certainly calls me to want to know more, though, so I will.
And now for my final, burning questions: How does one get to the root of the problem? How does one meet that need so that abortion would not be "necessary," as many call it?
Every time I keep digging on issues and problems like this, I always come down to a root issue of humanity that can only be answered through the Kingdom of God, which is about relationship, nurturing, trust, responsibility, and knowing Yahweh. As I posted months ago about how politics is not the answer, I realize again that there is more than one battleground from which to approach such issues.
As I follow Yahweh's leading on this, I look forward to uncovering some interesting things that grieve Him but that we, or maybe just I, may have overlooked, on both sides of the issue. It's His heart I'm after.
Good thing I love libraries.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Voice in Levi's Head that Doesn't Worry Me
In this blog, I talk a lot about the Kingdom of God, and with little snippets here and there and somewhat out of context, I know I probably leave a lot of people confused or even maybe defensive, which is not my intent. I hope to address more in the weeks to come to give a more solid picture. One thing I know is that knowing God and having a relationship with Him is what it's all about. Nothing else can fully satisfy the spirit of man. That's what this post is about...
"Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, Mommy. Please. I'm talking to Yahweh. (Pause) Oh, yeah, yeah, that's good, Yahweh! Mommy, He said that he does want me to save some for Daddy."
Levi's four. The one thing I want him to learn from me beyond anything else is that Yahweh talks and wants a relationship with us, that we can learn to hear His voice and follow His personal direction to us even beyond what we know from the Bible. The Bible won't tell Levi his purpose in life, whom to marry, or when a business deal could turn out badly (God is so practical--I love it.). If we know anything from the Bible, it's that the good book is chock full of stories about people who heard God.
Isn't there such a huge difference between knowing about someone versus knowing them?
I know Jed. No one can deny that. He's my husband. I have experienced him and continue to do so. I didn't just read his biography somewhere. If that were the case, our relationship would be missing a vital element. I wouldn't really know him...at all. But I do, and it would be absurd for someone to suggest to me that Jed doesn't exist.
It would be just as absurd if someone tried to tell me that God doesn't exist.
The reason I know, rather than just believe, is because I got really agitated in my youth about just believing. At some point, I became passionate about understanding Him and understanding my faith, and I knew that I'd heard His voice. Then I started hearing Him even more. He would answer specific questions through dreams, through random encounters with people (what I call divine appointments), through Bible verses, through anything He wanted.
It's His voice that has most shaped my adult life. When I read the Bible, it's not just the words, wisdom, and stories that I love. It's His voice reading to me between the lines. He tells me the pertinent revelation there and how it applies to my current situation, or I'll get entirely new understanding about a story I've read a million times or a Bible verse I'd memorized in childhood and thought I knew. I know many of you reading this can attest to the same thing in your lives, even if it's not been through the Bible. He created us, after all, to know Him, and I know many who have no faith but who've had an experience with something they can't attribute to anything else but His voice.
I'm so "over" hardened religion, or even just rote religion. I know that there are still habits that creep into my thinking, but I'm over it. I was over it 15 years ago, but the more I understand the Kingdom of God versus the philosophy of Christianity, I become more and more "over it" all over again.
He is what I want. Relationship was central to the Garden of Eden experience. That's what He wants, too. If I'm going to church and teaching good stories to my kids but not demonstrating a relationship with the real Person of our God, I'm doing them a disservice. I'm actually missing the point altogether and giving them a bunch of peripherals without their core. I'm giving them just one other option that they cerebrally can either choose to believe or choose not to believe.
But if I can teach them to hear His voice and truly experience His love and direction, that's something they can never deny.
So even when I know Levi is making up a conversation with Yahweh for some four-year-old reasons of his own, I couldn't be more pleased with his willingness to practice it, to be open in his little spirit to it, and for the times I've already seen that it wasn't made up.
Popular culture might raise its eyebrows at a little boy who "hears God." I chuckle inside and know that, one day, a generation who hears God is going to give popular culture a rather jolting kick in the butt. You better believe Levi's going to be one of them..."until the kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ." And what is the Kindgom, after all, but sons (and daughters) of God who know His voice? And something He wants to arrive "on earth, as it is in heaven?"
It might sound revolutionary, or maybe crazy? Until you go back to the beginning and realize it was the original idea. His idea. How'd we get so far away from it? We've created hundreds, if not thousands, of denominations that focus on a few core verses or doctrines, created division in the church, hit the mute button on the Creator of all things, and sufficiently tidied everything up into pleasant programs and plenty of quality entertainment in our services to make the message palatable to our culture. Not all of us, of course. But look around, Church. Are we happy with what we see?
How can we fix it? I know Someone who just might have the answer. And who's aching to tell us. We should ask Him. He still talks, you know.
"Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, Mommy. Please. I'm talking to Yahweh. (Pause) Oh, yeah, yeah, that's good, Yahweh! Mommy, He said that he does want me to save some for Daddy."
Levi's four. The one thing I want him to learn from me beyond anything else is that Yahweh talks and wants a relationship with us, that we can learn to hear His voice and follow His personal direction to us even beyond what we know from the Bible. The Bible won't tell Levi his purpose in life, whom to marry, or when a business deal could turn out badly (God is so practical--I love it.). If we know anything from the Bible, it's that the good book is chock full of stories about people who heard God.
Isn't there such a huge difference between knowing about someone versus knowing them?
I know Jed. No one can deny that. He's my husband. I have experienced him and continue to do so. I didn't just read his biography somewhere. If that were the case, our relationship would be missing a vital element. I wouldn't really know him...at all. But I do, and it would be absurd for someone to suggest to me that Jed doesn't exist.
It would be just as absurd if someone tried to tell me that God doesn't exist.
The reason I know, rather than just believe, is because I got really agitated in my youth about just believing. At some point, I became passionate about understanding Him and understanding my faith, and I knew that I'd heard His voice. Then I started hearing Him even more. He would answer specific questions through dreams, through random encounters with people (what I call divine appointments), through Bible verses, through anything He wanted.
It's His voice that has most shaped my adult life. When I read the Bible, it's not just the words, wisdom, and stories that I love. It's His voice reading to me between the lines. He tells me the pertinent revelation there and how it applies to my current situation, or I'll get entirely new understanding about a story I've read a million times or a Bible verse I'd memorized in childhood and thought I knew. I know many of you reading this can attest to the same thing in your lives, even if it's not been through the Bible. He created us, after all, to know Him, and I know many who have no faith but who've had an experience with something they can't attribute to anything else but His voice.
I'm so "over" hardened religion, or even just rote religion. I know that there are still habits that creep into my thinking, but I'm over it. I was over it 15 years ago, but the more I understand the Kingdom of God versus the philosophy of Christianity, I become more and more "over it" all over again.
He is what I want. Relationship was central to the Garden of Eden experience. That's what He wants, too. If I'm going to church and teaching good stories to my kids but not demonstrating a relationship with the real Person of our God, I'm doing them a disservice. I'm actually missing the point altogether and giving them a bunch of peripherals without their core. I'm giving them just one other option that they cerebrally can either choose to believe or choose not to believe.
But if I can teach them to hear His voice and truly experience His love and direction, that's something they can never deny.
So even when I know Levi is making up a conversation with Yahweh for some four-year-old reasons of his own, I couldn't be more pleased with his willingness to practice it, to be open in his little spirit to it, and for the times I've already seen that it wasn't made up.
Popular culture might raise its eyebrows at a little boy who "hears God." I chuckle inside and know that, one day, a generation who hears God is going to give popular culture a rather jolting kick in the butt. You better believe Levi's going to be one of them..."until the kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ." And what is the Kindgom, after all, but sons (and daughters) of God who know His voice? And something He wants to arrive "on earth, as it is in heaven?"
It might sound revolutionary, or maybe crazy? Until you go back to the beginning and realize it was the original idea. His idea. How'd we get so far away from it? We've created hundreds, if not thousands, of denominations that focus on a few core verses or doctrines, created division in the church, hit the mute button on the Creator of all things, and sufficiently tidied everything up into pleasant programs and plenty of quality entertainment in our services to make the message palatable to our culture. Not all of us, of course. But look around, Church. Are we happy with what we see?
How can we fix it? I know Someone who just might have the answer. And who's aching to tell us. We should ask Him. He still talks, you know.
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