Kingdom Training Grounds

There are several training grounds in the Christian faith. To sow some vision and for simplicity sake, I will describe only three.

The first is the pasture land with many fences, long and wide. This is the land wherein God permits us to roam as His people. We are to live within the fences, which are the boundaries of the general guidelines of His Word. Outside the fence is forbidden; inside the fences are green pastures, quiet waters, and the restoration of the soul. The pasture lands are the absolute best place to live, both in this life and in the age to come. The boundaries are a gift from our Father Who faithfully provided them for us. Even in the perfect place of Eden where we were first created, He lovingly provided these boundaries. “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).

However, God’s real interest is not the “do nots,” but the wide variety of excellent things He has given us to enjoy. There is no comparison between the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and all the other trees in the garden. All the other trees outweigh that one tree the same way heaven exceeds hell. Let the world focus on the “do nots” if they want to, but as God’s people we will enjoy all the other trees, and in seeing the splendor of them all, we will fully appreciate and respect their boundaries also.

The pasture land which God has given His people is profitable and satisfying. God faithfully provides Edenic gardens and incredible pasture lands, and along with them He identifies the fences clearly so we will know where the good stuff is and so we can avoid the harmful things. The problem of course, is we think we know better and we let our flesh convince us that the forbidden is actually better. What an incredible lie that is! Yet many convince themselves to pursue the forbidden to their destruction, and to God’s profound grief.

Yet more training grounds are also available with even greater benefits and more incredible things than the pasture lands, as great as they are. The problem is our flesh cannot see them because they are hidden behind the cost. Our hearts are drawn to their glory, just as our hearts were created to do, but our flesh recoils at the sacrifice, and the inconvenience, and the difficulties. Which man inside of you will win this universal battle, the old man or the new man? The one you feed the most will definitely be the strongest.

The next training ground available to God’s people is the corral. It too has fences, but it is much smaller than the pasture lands, but that is because it is located so much closer to the dwelling place of the Master. This is the place of greater training, deeper cleansing, and higher lessons which lead to even greater places with the Master. Many issues are touched upon in the corral that are never addressed in the pasture lands. Here we learn about ourselves in ways we never knew, and sometimes we wish we never found out, yet things which Jesus knew about all along. Yet He called us to the deeper place with Him anyway because He loved us so much. Here we learn about a deeper love of God that is much higher, the divine agape love of God Himself. It is the love He wants operating in you and me. But again, just like in the pasture lands, many cannot see past the tighter boundaries, so they refuse this place of training. Even some of those who are willing to enter the corral spend all their time in there longing for the freedom of the pasture lands. Such folks cannot derive the full value of the corral until they surrender to it completely. And of course the Master is working inside them also to bring them to that very place, so the deeper training of the higher things can begin. Those whose heart are truly toward the Master, whose heart are inclined to the things that interest Him, will gain access to eternal treasures which are not found in the pasture lands, as incredible as they are in that broad place. The food in the corral is also corn and fine grain, not the grass found in the pasture lands, as glorious as that provision seemed while we were there. In the corral more time is spent with the Master in ways that makes us closer to Him, but most importantly, there we are made to be more pleasurable to Him. Here it is learned how to hear His voice, see what excites His heart, and learn more about what He is truly like. In the corral, misunderstandings about the Master drain away because the Master is seen for Who He really is rather than that dim, warped way the world outside the pasture land perceives Him. Even in the pasture lands the deception of the world still has a little hold. In the corral where the Master is often so close, more of the deception is cleansed away.

You might say the pasture lands are like the outer court in the tabernacle of the Old Testament, and the corral is like the Holy Place there. The outer court is illuminated by the natural light of the world, but the Holy Place, because it is closer to the Almighty receives its light only by the flames of the candlestick of the Holy Spirit. Even so, there is yet another training ground that is deeper still than the corral. You might say is like the Holiest of Holies to which God sometimes beckons us.

One day while we are in the corral, learning from Him, enjoying Him, and surrendering in ever deeper ways to Him in our hearts, we are surprised when a yoke drops around our neck. This is not just any yoke, it is the incredibly valuable yoke of the Master. This place, however, is even smaller than the corral. Now the corral seems large by comparison. The yoke has even tighter boundaries wherein we learn even more about His gentle and humble heart. We discover breathtaking things beyond even that we could conceive of in the corral; things which greatly surpass what we ever knew existed about Him in the pasture lands. We learn about His incredibly humble heart. Here, though, we can move only by His command. Yet here we also become a more powerful tool in His hand. Like some who were called into the pasture lands, and like those who advance to the corral at His beckoning, there are those whose initial response to the yoke is one of sorrow, a pining for the loss of the freedoms of yesterday. Sometimes that is because the yoke has come upon them suddenly with great surprise, so their flesh has difficulty seeing the treasure in the training at first. But the Master continues to work on us in His yoke anyway. Others who received the yoke were told about it in advance by the Master, yet even they were reluctant at first. But the Master continues to work in that understanding way of His with those who are deeply His, until they finally cease the bucking, and the unnecessary sorrow, or the anger, or the crying out about the injustice of having been called to the corral, then the yoke. In the end it is here, as we alternately find ourselves in the corral and in the yoke, as the Master directs, that we finally learn to surrender to His deepest training. Here we gain all the benefits from each and every place of training. And here the Master Himself derives the pleasure He has so richly deserved from us all along, the pleasure He so seldom receives at all, from those of us who understand so little about the Kingdom Training Grounds.

A Leprous Society (Part 2)―The Eye That Mocks A Father!

Note: If you have not read part 1 (or are new to this site) you have visited in the middle of a context sensitive subject. Please read A Leprous Society―And Proud Of It! (which is part 1) by scrolling down. After you read that article, the first paragraph of this part 2 will make more sense, taste better, and go down smoother.

There’s something else about the leprous society that disturbs me; that is, those who try to get everybody else to catch the disease seem to change in appearance. They hunch little . . . like a witch . . . and get a creepy look in their eye . . . like Egore. I don’t mean that literally, of course. I’m just saying those who have an ear, let them hear what the Spirit of God says to the churches.

Bull Elephants

I saw a TV documentary years ago which chronicled a problem taking place in a massive conservation area in Africa. The elephant population was spiraling out of control. The elephants had not exhibited any unusual behavior for generations, then they suddenly started acting up, crashing through barriers and stomping down sheds, even damaging homes in the neighborhoods around the massive conservation area. Humans who had lived in peace for generations near the conservation area were suddenly being terrorized by elephants and nobody could figure out why. The dramatic change was particularly alarming for those who knew the “peaceful good old days.” Nothing anyone did seemed to make any difference while the problem grew steadily worse.

Then someone stumbled into something revolutionary! They realized the only thing that had changed since the problems began was all the bull elephants had been removed to make room for the young males coming up. Then somebody else pointed out that the only elephants terrorizing the humans were the teenagers (in elephant years). After much debate (which I would imagine centered around how dangerous bull elephants really were to elephant societies) the government spent huge amounts of money airlifting the bull elephants back into the conservation area. With amazing rapidity the problem instantly vanished, while rangers observed bull elephants “man-handling” (or elephant-handling) the “teenagers,” forcing them to conduct themselves appropriately. It turns out the sudden outbreak of lawlessness was due to the removal of the paternal training of fathers! This is but one example of how common sense and natural order are screaming at the leprous society how ludicrous their “no-pain” philosophy is!

Again, those who have an ear . . .

Healthy Vision

It is important for every generation, even for those whose children are grown and gone, to maintain a healthy vision for godly parenting. A generational shift away from God’s ways will have a devastating impact on our culture, as those who grew up in the 1950’s and 60’s already know. Your vision as a grandparent (but especially as a parent), or the lack thereof, can determine whether you are a stumbling block to your grandchildren or are salt in a kingdom which will never end. This is precisely why I state up front on the Godly Parenting page of this website that the teachings of that page are for parents, grandparents, and for all former children (which means everybody!)

The Bible Goes A Step Further

Natural order tells us when you remove something significant from an ecosystem it creates unintended and sometimes devastating consequences. If the authorities in that elephant documentary had known what removing the paternal training of fathers would do to their elephant world, they would have never spent so much money trying to expunge it in the first place. When they finally reaped the consequences for violating that principle, what they found was so significant (at the expense of many terrorized humans) they were willing to spend even more money on the off chance that it might restore things back to normal. That is how desperate the situation had become. Natural order alone tells us these things. The Bible, on the other hand, explains the real reason for this particular problem. I will offer you both an indirect and a direct approach the Bible uses to explain both the cause and effect for this issue.

The cause of the problem is stated in an indirect way in Hebrews 12:8, which says,

“But if you are without discipline,

of which all have become partakers,

[that’s a “natural order” statement]

then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

[this is the underlying reason]

Verse 7, the verse before this one, and verse 9, the one after it, both emphasize not only the universality but the absolute necessary of fatherly discipline for the young. The truth applies to all humanity, regardless of their culture, and even to some animals (such as elephants). When fatherly training is either absent or deliberately removed by a leprous society, it creates a sense of illegitimacy in the next generation. They are plagued by the nagging feeling that they do not belong. Many respond to that torment by lashing out, trying to create a world where they can feel accepted, often filling the void with lawless behavior. The sense of illegitimacy is the root cause for some (but not all) of that “I don’t care” attitude you often see in the next generation. Many well intentioned parents respond to those symptoms by supposing they need to give their children even more freedom and “hands-off” care. Others respond by trying to become their child’s BFF. Parents who refuse biblical underpinnings easily buy into these kinds of philosophies because they think it is wrong to upset their child’s world any more than it already is. In reality, the underlying cause for many of those symptoms they see (which they have actually been observing for quite some time in lesser ways while their child was young) is a sense of illegitimacy due to the lack (or the insufficiency) of the fatherly training. In some cases those children had great maternal care, but the absence of firm fatherly input still created the sense in them that they did not belong. Many do not realize that maternal input alone (loving, nurturing, understanding, compassion) is just as inadequate as fatherly training by itself (stern, consequence-oriented punishment). Before you react too much to these statements, keep reading because the Bible takes us somewhere in all this. We haven’t gotten to that direct statement I referred to yet.

Keep in mind that kindness, understanding, and loving care (general characteristics of maternal input) are just as much a requirement for godly manhood as the courage to confront, correct, and discipline wrongdoing. Proverbs 3:3 says “Do not let kindness and truth leave you.” What the world has done, however, is elevate kindness to a place where God’s truth is being sacrificed on the altar of kindness. The result is people are too intimidated to challenge anything clothed in “kindness,” even if it is a wolf. They are terrified at being tagged with the dreaded “hate” label (which is the absolute worst evil on the planet for any upstanding member of the leprous society).

Food For Thought

A father who thinks kindness, love, and understanding has no place in child training is just as much an abuser as a mother who thinks paternal discipline does not have any either. (Maybe we should embroider that and slap it on the wall!)

Still more baffling is anyone who gets in the way of society’s insanity is trampled over like a piece of garbage because they suggest a common sense solution according to natural order. Most tragically, however, is parents and truth are not the only casualties whenever God is rejected―the children themselves are devastated by wolves clothed with “kindness” and are damaged in ways society never considered (as mentioned in part 1). These are but a few of the unintended consequences that occur whenever something significant is removed from God’s ecosystem, especially when He has made it clear that those principles must be preserved and honored.

So what does the Bible say is the harm that will befall any child who either despises or does not receive fatherly training? The answer is it says their eyes will be gouged out and they will go blind. As bad as that sounds, however, it is only the first step in a much more dangerous sequel. What could possibly be worse than going blind? The Bible has a definitive and surprising answer to that question.

The Eye That Mocks A Father!

Now it is time to share the direct statement the Bible makes about children who despise their fathers. Interestingly, (as you will see from the verse I am about to give you) the same thing happens when children reject maternal care as well. For now I will deal with only the first half of Proverbs 30:17, which says,

“The eye that mocks a father,

and scorns a mother,

[the NASB margin says the word ‘scorns’ is literally, ‘despises to obey’]

When God inspires something and places it in His written word, it is because it is incredibly significant. According to Psalm 12:6 God’s word is refined seven times, which means it is not only pure―it is extremely potent in both promise and warning. Let’s look closely at what God warns every parent, grandparent, child, and grandchild in the world about and why.

Because part 2 of this series of articles is dealing with the removal of paternal training from society, I will focus only on the statement about the fathers, but keep in mind that rejecting paternal or maternal training creates the same serious problem for children.

The first thing to notice about the first half of the verse is what is being addressed: surprisingly, it is not an outward act of disobedience by children toward their fathers; it is a nonverbal response, which is an indicator of the child’s inward attitude. The verse says, “the eye that mocks a father,” which means this warning is about something as simple as a look of disgust. The verse has skipped over outward acts of rebellion and has focused on the inward attitude of every child toward fatherly training. Children may comply outwardly with what dad says, but God knows that is not enough. God knows children need a heart of obedience to remain safe, not just outward compliance. Parents who train outward behavior but neglect the inward attitude of their child are missing something crucial. Their intentions might be good but the warning still applies.

I’m sure you have heard the expression, “I’m sitting down on the outside, but standing up on the inside!” That statement describes inward rebellion. The phrase is sometimes used in a good way to describe a kidnap victim who has refused to be defeated by their torturers, even though they are forced to submit physically. The problem is the phrase also describes the inward attitude every child gets toward the godly input of their fathers at one time or another in their life. Outwardly they may obey, but inwardly they despise every moment of the instruction. They mock the instruction in their hearts because they are young and naïve and have no idea how dangerous that defiance is. Let me explain.

Two Kinds Of Fear

Most people are not aware of the continuous theme running through the Book of Proverbs. Every individual proverb is amazing and can stand alone as invaluable wisdom. However, we often get caught up in the splendor of those individual verses and miss the broader context which makes each of them so effective. What I am trying to say is those individual treasures are meaningless if we neglect the overarching theme in the Book of Proverbs. There is something behind all those principles which must be in place in order for those principles to produce their intended effect. Proverbs 30:17 (which appears near the end of Proverbs) is referring back to that overall theme, and is warning every youth (and their parents) about a horrible snare that awaits anyone who ignores the overall theme.

The best way to describe this theme is to describe the two different kinds of fear in the Bible. One of those fears we are commanded never to do, while the other we are commanded to always do. The fear we must never have is the terror kind, the one that frightens us and makes us shrink back in horror.  Unfortunately heavy-handed, tyrannical parenting creates exactly that kind of fear in children. The other fear we are commanded to always have is “the fear of the Lord.” This fear does not terrorize or cause anyone to cower; instead, it is a pure fear that can be described as reverence, respect, and honor in a heart.

When someone has the “fear of the Lord” it does not mean they are deathly afraid of God, or are terrorized about doing the wrong thing. Yet the world thinks this is exactly what it means because they do not know God. Having the “fear of the Lord” means we have encountered the living God and because we know what He is truly like, we honor Him so much we want to do right thing from our heart, no matter how much it might costs us to do so. Having the fear of the Lord means we esteem God so highly above everything else, that out of our reverence for Him we will gladly choose to obey Him in love and humility (which is a great definition of sincere Christianity). This is the kind of reverence parents are charged with making sure grows in the hearts of their children. To say that is no small task is indeed an understatement.

The reason the “fear of the Lord” is so important is because the entire Book of Proverbs is saying that this fear is the beginning of wisdom. In other words, without that reverence in a heart, real learning cannot begin. A child may develop academically, yes, but they cannot begin growing in real life wisdom until a true reverence for God (and their parents) has fermented in their heart. This is precisely why all those great principles in the individual proverbs are meaningless without the overall theme of the book (the fear of the Lord) being in our hearts.

The fear of the Lord is something only God can give our children, and something parents are charged with cultivating, tending, and keeping the weeds from choking out. It is also something parents can corrupt, or become a stumbling block to, if they are not careful. This concept is so crucial to everyone’s relationship with God, the Book of Proverbs states right up front in chapter 1 that the intention of the book is to teach youth this wisdom. That is what it means when it says to give “youth knowledge and discretion” (Proverbs 1:4). Then it follows up that declaration by saying “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Most of us read right past that (including yours truly) to get to what we think is the good stuff. We think we already know about the “fear of the Lord” stuff, when in reality we miss the fact that it is a profound attitude of the heart which makes everything else work. We think we understand, but we don’t.

This reverence in our hearts, a deep respect for God and His ways, an esteem for whatever God wants over anything we might want, provides the very basis for our relationship with Him. Without that we can never be sincere; instead, we become a warped perversion like the Pharisees. It does not matter if we apply all the incredible “principles” because in the end we will miss the mark due to the absence of that one crucial thing. This is why whenever a parents sees “the eye that mocks a father, and scorns a mother,” it must be dealt with as if that look was a blatant act of rebellion (because in God’s eyes it is). Because parents miss this, they often teach the principles, but neglect the soil in which those principles grow. Parents can say great things to their kids and offer them tremendous insights, but those things cannot germinate because the soil on which they are being sown is despising (and attacking) all that great seed beneath the surface. This is how children who are taught the right things about God sometimes end up so evil, because of the absence of the “reverence of the Lord” in their heart in their youth. Toward the end of the Book of Proverbs it harkens back to this vital concept of the “fear of the Lord” by explaining exactly what will happen to any child if they despise and do not repent of that lack of reverence. The Bible states in plain language where and how that child will end up if they do not change.

There is more to say about the fear of the Lord, of course, but I need to continue with the original progression I began in Proverbs 30:17.

The second half of Proverbs 30:17 describes the invisible trap that waits around the corner for everyone who despises parental authority and why it is so dangerous. Right after saying “the eye that mocks a father, and scorns a mother,” it says . . .

“the ravens of the valley will pick it out,

and the young eagles will eat it.”

This second half of the verse is actually describing two stages of the trap. The first stage is when the birds of prey come along and pick out that “mocking eye.” (The fact that they will do this is a promise). The first thing birds of prey do when they come upon what they think will be their next meal is to skittishly pick out the eyes. They do this because they are not sure if the thing is really dead or not, or if it is just lying in wait to pounce on them to make them their next meal. Birds of prey are smart. They know nothing can “fake it” through the gouging out of its eyes. If the animal is really incapacitated, it will not move. If it has enough strength to fight back it has to do so blind now. To birds of prey this is a win-win situation and is therefore the first tactic they use on the scene.

What does that mean for the child with the mocking eye? It means waiting right around the corner for them is a vast, dark kingdom of evil spirits which are represented by those birds of prey. The first goal of that kingdom is to pluck out the mocking eye, which means mocking child is headed for blindness. They are destined to become devoid of any discernment whatsoever, and will therefore blunder into all sorts of evils (which will astonish both them and their parents) because they have no idea where they are going or how to escape these dangers. This is what a lack of reverence does to every heart on the planet. It renders them blind! The heart that honors is a heart that can learn; a heart that despises is a darkened chamber without any discernment because it has already been snared by the first part of a two part trap. This is why Proverbs warns every youth (and parent) that the “fear of the Lord” is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs could not be more literal in what it means and begins by declaring this truth right up front! Every youth who continues through the rest of the Book of Proverbs is supposed to discover exactly what kind of trap they will face if the fear of the Lord is not in their hearts. All parents must teach their children these things! They must explain the principles of Proverbs 30:17 so their child can combat that despising which will inevitably rise up in their heart toward their parents. “Watch over your heart with all diligence,” Proverbs 4:23 goes on to day, “for from it flow the springs of life.”

The 100% reliable result of the despising and mocking of parental authority (or any authority in general) is blindness. This is both God’s warning and His promise. So what can be worse than total blindness? What could be worse than having all the lights go out so that we cannot see or discern anything dangerous? Part 2 of the trap is actually worse than part 1. It says,

“and the eagles will eat it.”

What does that mean? The eagles represent a stronger and more formidable class of birds of prey. The smaller birds, the ravens, will pick at the eye and render it blind but the most formidable creatures will come along behind them and actually eat it! They will chew up that child’s seeing instrument and ingest it into themselves. What does that mean? It means the mocking eye has now reached its final stage of deception and devastation. The mocking eye is now not only blind to what is dangerous, that child will now see the world the same way those stronger evil spirits do. That’s right, the child now views the world just like God’s enemies. They are not just blind victims anymore; they have been transformed! They are now perpetrators with a vision to exploit! They are no longer just victims of injustice; they are now perpetrators of that injustice. They have developed to a point where they are in league with the literal enemies of God, which means they are helping to gouge out the eyes of other unsuspecting mockers and despisers. The last state of the mocking child (as a perpetrator) has become worse than the first (as just a blind victim).

Can you see now why the mocking eye is so dangerous for all of us? If that isn’t enough to motivate parents, grandparents, and the children, then nothing will inspire them. They are doomed to stumble into the two part trap and be consumed by darkness. God alone can deliver us and our children from these things, so pray for your children fervently while you train them. Explain these things to them and ask the living God (in their hearing) to give you and your children the “fear of the Lord” according to Jeremiah 33:38-41 which says,

“And they shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good, and for the good of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them―to do them good; and I will put the fear [reverence] of Me in their hearts so they will not turn away from Me. [Notice how the tone changes now] And I will rejoice over them to do them good [the Lord is getting excited at this point], and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

The covenant the Lord is referring to in those verses is the one He makes with each of us as born again Christians when we surrender, repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the nature of our great salvation! I assume you also noticed how excited God gets about the “heart” thing. Let me say it again! Do not be a stumbling block to your children’s development in these things. One way you can prevent that from happening is by never allowing their mocking eye to go unchecked when you see it in your children. Instead, explain to them exactly what it will do to them in a way that drives the point home. Then ask the Lord to grant to you that your rod (of discipline) will bud, bloom, blossom, and bear the ripe fruit of reverence, honor, and esteem for the Lord in the heart of your children.

What Does This Mean For The Leprous Society?

In conclusion, can you see more clearly now why it is so dangerous for society to despise the fatherly training of children? Can you understand why a society must never depart from (or despise) strong paternal input without subjecting the next generation to insidious harm? The world absolutely cannot see these things because they are totally blind! The reason they are blind is because they have despised fatherly training for so long. In fact, they are past the blindness stage now, which is why they are trying to get everybody else to catch their leprosy! Their mocking eye has been completely consumed by a stronger class of God’s enemies so they now see the world the way God’s enemies do. The Bible is always true, not only for individuals, but for larger collections of people as well (societies). It also means these things are doubly important for the church, which is intended to represent God’s society in the earth.

Those who have an ear, let them hear what the Spirit of God says to the churches.

If you have never practiced the Biblically based method of training your children through the use of pain (spanking), please read the sequels to this article before you begin. The first one will be entitled, “What Is, And What Ain’t, Spanking?” and will appear in the Godly Parenting tab (see top) of this site.

If you remove spanking (the real kind) from the training in your home, you in effect are removing a form of fatherhood from your children. Please be aware that the world is teaching a corrupted version of fatherhood and motherhood, one that is a counterfeit of what God has prescribed for true fathers and mothers. Don’t get sucked into the deceptions of a society that not only mocks, but despises and hates true fatherhood―so much so that it is trying to abolish it altogether!  Society has become so blind to the treasure of godly fatherhood, its mocking eye has already been consumed by larger birds of prey. Their mocking eye now stares out at the world like Egore’s! They honestly believe that leprosy (feeling no pain) is the best form of training since sliced bread.

I will close with a passage of Scripture from Malachi 4:5-6, which the Lord has arranged to appear in the Bible just before God announces the glad tidings of His new covenant in Jesus (through John the Baptist).

“Behold I am going to send you Elijah the prophet [John the Baptist] before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.”

It is interesting that according to Luke 1:17, the angel that was sent from God to the father of John the Baptist tells him that his son will “turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children, [and as a result of that] the disobedient to the heart of the righteous . . .

A Leprous Society―And Proud Of It!

Caution

This article is intended for mature audiences

and may not be suitable for all viewers.

It is also prohibited for anyone who does not sincerely

believe in the Divine inspiration of the Bible.

Biblical discretion is advised.

Imagine a city where the majority of its citizens have leprosy. Now picture everyone in that city doing whatever they can to get everybody else to catch the disease? What if the Social Services Department condemned everyone who did what they could (in a good and right way) to prevent the disease? What if all the TV shows drip-tortured their citizens month after month and year and year in a way that shaped everybody’s belief toward thinking that catching the disease was a good thing and being healthy was wrong? My guess is if you lived in that city very long, not to mention your entire life, you would contract some form of leprosy because it is a highly contagious disease, no matter how hard you tried to stay healthy. Having said that, let me ask you a question―is it possible you might have contracted a bit of leprosy? I know I have on occasion.

Leprosy is a disease which deadens the skin and its nerve endings. As the disease progresses, victims can no longer feel any pain in the leprous part of their body. (In our fictitious city, everybody gets excited about the idea of “no pain.”) The problem is when your right hand is leprous you can touch a scalding hot skillet and never feel a thing. In fact, you can keep right on talking and lean all your weight on that skillet, right up until you sniff the aroma of roasting flesh―yours!

Or maybe it didn’t happen that way. Maybe in our advanced leprous society the first clue was when a leper wrinkled up their nose and said, “What stinks around here?” Without a clue about what’s causing the stench (which is “feeling no pain”) all the lepers point their flaky, white fingers at you, the only healthy person who still thinks pain has its place in child training. All the sicko-s then cry out, “It’s you―you’re causing that smell! You’re no longer allowed to stink up our world. Catch leprosy right this minute or lose your children!”

The Value Of Pain

It is a fact of life that pain serves an important purpose in this age. If you stick your hand into an open flame without knowing it, in order to protect you, signals will immediately rip through your arm and scream at your brain that something dangerous is going on and you need to change your behavior! Not only that, but you will instantly (and miraculously) know exactly how dangerous things truly are and precisely what you need to do to fix it. But there’s still more! Along with all that miraculous knowledge you will also get an overwhelming urge to do the right thing―that’s right, you will actually want to yank your hand out of that fire and never put it back again! Since pain is such a natural part of everyday life in the real world, is it possible that pain can be helpful to us in other ways?

But wait, there’s still more! (I hope this doesn’t sound like a commercial). Pain is such a good teacher it does not even matter how large or small your brain is because you will still get the message! So tell me: is this a good thing or a bad thing? Could it be beneficial to use a natural method of training which does not discriminate against anybody’s intelligence, or the lack thereof, but can still protect our children from incredible harm? Is it possible that our child’s real protection is not dependent at all on how much education they have? The truth is there are many things we can still learn from pain, even when we are old. We never grow past the age where pain can’t teach us powerful things of eternal consequence. Even God Himself ignores all the clamor coming from the leprous society and still uses pain to train His people for His Kingdom, right up until the very day they die.

That, my friends, is not only a good thing, it is a great thing. Why? Because pain can keep those flames that are burning your hand from inflicting more damage. How? If somebody does not feel any pain, they will unknowingly keep their hand in the fire, which means those flames will then race up their arm and catch their head on fire. I can tell you with some certainty that if your head ever does burst into flames because you either resisted the message or never received the warning signals in the first place, you won’t be seeing, smelling, or hearing anything for a very long time except absolute terror.

Those who have an ear to hear, please hear what the Spirit of God says to the churches.

The Ripples

What happens when a society starts believing that pain, whether physical or emotional, is so terrible that it must be avoided at all cost? What happens when that same culture then proclaims publicly that every child in the world (including yours) has the right to grow up in a pain-free home? What happens when people start thinking that as a society we have evolved past the point where pain is necessary to teach us anymore because we have become so intelligent, so advanced, and so progressive in our approach to life that we can learn everything we need to know without it? Besides appearing insane to anyone with any common sense (and there are more of these kind of people than you think), any society that resorts to these kinds of absurdities will look just as ridiculous as the one I described.

Are the trends in our youth indicating that the “no pain” philosophy is working in the real world? No! The numbers are screaming that the “no-pain” approach is breeding a nasty sort of self-indulgence, self-centeredness and a backward culture where children absolutely will not listen to anybody. Not only is learning in the classroom declining, but the trends are telling us that something worse is happening (what could possibly be worse than declining education?). Our youth are bursting into flames all over the country because their brains aren’t getting the signals they need to teach them how to live within the protective boundaries. Instead, they are venturing out into the world and sticking their flaky, pain-free hands anywhere they want to (including drugs, sex, and gang life). Some of those same children are then so traumatized by the aftershocks of their leprous behavior, they feel like they can’t bear living in this horrible world anymore―so they commit suicide! The suicide rate for those between the ages of 15 and 24 is spiking at an alarming rate in our society, but I predict that the trend will increase even more in the future. The reason is because ages 15 to 24 represent the period in people’s lives when they are experiencing both the freedoms and the harsh realities of life for the very first time. They are not, however, prepared for what comes upon them. Instead, they are discovering “a world of pain” exist just outside the rhetoric of the leprous city where as children they were raised and went to school all their lives.

Sorry world, when you remove pain from the equation you’re not going to get what you think you will. Besides, you’ve tried your way long enough now, so please stop pretending you don’t know what’s happening. The next generation is being tortured beyond belief because so many of our youth are not prepared for the pain that their unrestrained behavior will bring upon them in the real world. In the past they always exhibited that conduct in a “pain free” environment, which means the shock to their system is horrific. We also would like to ask you to stop blaming us for all the mess your “no-pain” philosophy has created. You can throw the Bible off this planet, but common sense, the facts of life, and the natural order of things will still be screaming how ludicrous your leprous philosophy is.

Yet in spite of all these things, the leprous society continues to base much of its philosophy on concepts which defy natural order. Meanwhile, the rest of us who are being shut out of the conversation (and being blamed for causing the stench) are standing around scratching our heads wondering why society can’t see what’s happening.

God’s Weighs In Through His Word

It is precisely because of these developments in societies that forsake God’s ways that the Bible says, “professing to be wise, they became fools” (Romans 1:22). It is an unchangeable truth that when societies refuse to honor God they “become futile in their speculations and their foolish heart is darkened” (Romans 1:21). This is how a leprous society as ludicrous as the one I described can come into existence. God has not only been taken out of the schools where our children are supposedly learning (to make room for witchcraft and other “deities”), in some places it is actually considered dangerous to believe in God, even though the trends, common sense, and the facts of life (not to mention the Bible) are constantly flashing warning signals otherwise. It is a bit ironic that the society that is so enamored with the “no pain” philosophy can no longer sense the warning signals screaming at their brains because they have fanned their leprosy into such full bloom. This is why I cannot describe it any other way than  a leprous society.

The truth is there is nothing more dangerous in this world, or in this age, or in the age to come, than refusing to acknowledge God and any of His ways (which Romans 1:16-25 explains so well). Today the state of affairs is so egregious, it makes you wonder if invisible forces might be at work somehow, forcing our society into increasingly outlandish forms of slavery (see Ephesians 6:12). You may not be able to change the thinking of the massive leprous society out there, but with God’s help you can certainly make all the changes necessary in the sphere that is under your charge (i.e. your own children and your own home). When enough people demonstrate both the fruitfulness and pleasant life that comes with obeying God’s truth, then it is up to God to decide when the time has come for Him to intervene in the affairs of the world through the witness He has raised up. That colossal job is His; ours is to lovingly yield and obey Him in the sphere over which He has given us charge.

The Crusade

What the world really despises (and rightfully so) is abusive parenting, for which we commend them. What they don’t seem to get is that God and sincere Christianity do also! Part of the problem is words like “abuse” and “spanking” are used interchangeably, as if they are the same thing. (See my future article, What Is, And What Ain’t, Spanking! in the Godly Parenting tab after part 2 of this article appears on the homepage.) The truth is there is a world of difference between abuse and real spanking. Society is not becoming leprous because it is crusading against abuse, it is rotting because they are lumping common sense child training (some of which is based on God’s ways) into the same pile with every other form of abuse―just because pain is involved! I have never seen a worse case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, or a more literal one. Our entire society, but especially our children, are being led to slaughter (or shall I say, stumbling into the flames) because the world is refusing to acknowledge this simple distinction. Yet every day the mantra keeps bubbling crude. (Now there’s a save-the-world “clean-up crusade” you can truly get excited about).

Concluding Part 1

In light of these things, let me ask you a few questions before we break for Part 2.

Are you healthy or leprous?

Have you contracted a minor form of the disease and do not realize it?

Or have you contracted a more serious strain and are contributing to the leprous epidemic by nodding your head (and applying) Dr. Spock’s advice?

I don’t know about you, but during the many years my wife and I were busy training our children, I sometimes noticed a strange, white flakiness forming on my hand because of the highly contagious propaganda spewing from the leprous society. Whenever I recognized the flaky deterioration, I would immediately ask the Lord’s to cure me. At some point He always ended up commanding me from His Word saying, “Stretch out your hand!” Whenever I obeyed Him, my withered hand was always restored and my children began learning again.

Sometimes sincere Christianity must not only be yielded and humble―it must also be courageous!  (Stay tuned for a very important Part 2).

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Pioneers And Settlers

I’m sure you’ve heard about the “love languages,” those expressions of love to which we are most likely to respond, and to which we are most inclined to express toward others. I would imagine you are also familiar with “night owls” and “morning larks,” and that you already know about the “motivational giftings” some believe are listed in Romans 12:6-8. I’m sure you also understand the five-fold ministry giftings listed in Ephesians 4:11 and you might know about some of those “management styles” such as P-types, T-Types, and A-Types. And don’t forget about the personality types like melancholy, sanguine, etc. There is actually a long list of these categories, most of which I have found helpful. Because this website is dedicated to promoting sincere Christianity, I would like to offer you another category to add to that list.

While teaching in various denominations it appeared to me that all believers, if I were to classify them according to their call, would fall into two major groups: they would be either “Pioneers or Settlers.” This category is not a “management style” or a “personality type,” but describes the two basic calls from God into which all Christians fall. While observing these two calls, I noticed several tendencies which often characterize them and how believers tend to respond to them.

As you may have guessed, Pioneers are those with calls which seem to be more adventuresome than that of the Settler. The primary burden of the Settler is the home base and its welfare, while the passion of the Pioneer lies beyond the walls of the local assembly. The so-called five-fold “ministry giftings” listed in Ephesians 4:11, for example, provide two candidates which nicely illustrate the difference between these two calls. The local pastor is usually preoccupied with the spiritual condition of the local flock, while the evangelist, on the other hand, burns with passion for those outside the church. A wise pastor will recognize not only the importance of the evangelist, but why evangelists must be given their proper honor and room to operate among church ministries. One reason this is the case is because of the incredible spiritual health which comes to a congregation that “looks outward.” Likewise, the Pioneer will recognize the true value of the Settler and will understand why Settlers spend so much of their time, energy, and resources on the local work instead of on missions. Truly kindred Pioneers will understand that the reason this happens is because God has called Settlers to invest in a way that is completely different from the way God has called Pioneers.

A Man After God’s Own Heart

I Samuel 13:14 describes David as a “man after God’s own heart.” The phrase means David did things in a way that did not reflect just the letter of the law, or the culture of the majority, or natural human tendencies, but instead, represented “God’s heart” in matters. A “man after God’s own heart” will institute practices (like worship, for example) which properly represent and promote the heart of God. This one single quality (or lack thereof) makes a world of difference in a local church. It literally means the difference between whether a local church exhibits the aroma of life or leaves a sour taste in everybody’s mouths.

A good example of one of the statutes David instituted in Israel is found in I Samuel 30:24, which paraphrased says, “He who goes out to war and he who stays home with the baggage will share alike in the spoil.” The reason we know this statute reflects God’s heart is because it is taken directly from something God commanded Israel in Numbers 31:25-27. The reason David reconfirmed this practice after the tragedy at Ziklag was because men in the camp (whom the Bible describes as “worthless”) were complaining about risking their lives to go out to war, only to have “their spoil” shared with the cowards who “stayed home with the baggage.” Oops; so much for the heart of God being displayed by those Pioneers! For these warriors, their so-called human sensibilities conflicted with the heart of God (which happens often by the way in modern times). I am grateful, however, that the Lord raised up someone “after God’s own heart” who was willing to take the heat which usually comes from instituting God’s ways, which are higher than ours.

As a point of clarity, the “baggage” (referred to so demeaningly by the “worthless” warriors in this case) is not meant as a degrading term, even though the word is often used that way in our language. Instead, in David’s statute the “baggage” refers to the life and resources that the Lord Himself also considers valuable (otherwise He would not have commanded the practice in Numbers). What those particular Pioneers in David’s situation did not realize was the “baggage” they despised was just as valuable as the “spoil” they were risking their lives to bring back.

The conflict which sometimes exists between Pioneers and Settlers (which you won’t see in truly “kindred” environments) can fire back and forth both ways at each other. Settlers can become apathetic about the incredible risks being taken by those who have given up everything. On the other hand, if adventuresome warriors are not careful, they can grow secretly embittered at their brethren back home who do not “seem” to care about what it cost the Pioneers (and his family) to go to war in a foreign land.

These dynamics, and others like them, can make Pioneers feel like they need to “fire up” the “lukewarm” church when they get home. For immature Pioneers, this means they will be turning up the “conviction heat” whenever they share with the church what is happening on the field. The problem is if a Pioneer is not functioning “after God’s own heart,” what they share will have a different flavor and produce an unintended consequence. When that happens the home base often falls “under condemnation” (rather than true Holy Spirit “conviction”) about missions. When that occurs (and chances are many of us have seen it) the home base is actually worse off than it was before the Pioneer tried to “fire them up.” The reason the situation is worse is because the Settlers are now even less equipped to fulfill their call because they are operating under condemnation instead of true conviction from God. Condemnation will always dampen a revival and is not capable of advancing it.

Keepers At Home

I believe some women who are called as homemakers in God’s Kingdom encounter a similar prejudice from society at large. In fact, sometimes the “baggage” to which these holy women are called is so demeaned by other Christian women who have been influenced by their culture (and/or by their warrior husbands) that the next generation never considers becoming “keepers at home” (Titus2:4-5); that is because the value of the Settler is being diminished. Feminists in the world, for example, often give tacit appreciation to homemakers, but inwardly they usually despise such women as “wasting their resources” because they have “settled” for the bottom of the barrel. Mature believers “after God’s own heart” recognize (like King David) the incredible value and indispensible function of Settlers and the so-called baggage. They realize how important maternal care is in developing a healthy society. These, of course, are homes where couples are in covenant with God and each other. Someone I respect has said what we do not honor, we mark for extinction, intentionally or unintentionally. If we are not honoring something God is passionate about, we usually are not aware that we are dooming it to our own detriment. Nobody wants to grow up becoming what everyone despises, yet much of society will pay nearly any price to become what everyone is celebrating as heroic.

It is therefore important for churches who desire to raise up mature believers “after God’s own heart” to recognize and verbalize that the “baggage” is not something demeaning; instead, it is the very thing those who go to war are risking their lives to protect and promote.

Caught In The Cross-fire

A pastor friend I know sometimes relates a humorous incident in which he was blindsided from both directions by his own congregation in successive weeks. One week he met with a group of church members who were upset because the church was sending out so much money to missions. I can picture many such groups across America ending their complaint by claiming their pastor had no heart for the local work. The very next week that same pastor then met with a different group of people who were upset because their pastor did not seem to have any burden at all for missions or missionaries, even though the pastor himself was a former missionary who had paid a great price on the field!

Dear saints, please understand that anyone who has a genuine call from God can become so passionate about what they are sensing from the Lord (which is a genuine call) that they might start firing rounds at everyone (even the pastor) who does not share the same passion they do for the call they have. Sincere believers, on the other hand, recognize everyone must be given freedom to operate in whatever they are called to do without condemnation, and that the local church should always be a place where their call (and every genuine call) must be honored and appreciated. A sincere and humble Pioneer “after God’s own heart,” for example, can share their burden about what is happening in the field without leaving a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. When a sincere Pioneer shares, the hearts of the Settlers will be genuinely aroused for God’s purpose because the Lord is the One convicting. When immature warriors share, some folks might head home “feeling guilty” they are not on the “true mission field.” Sometimes a carnal Pioneer will mistake apathy as the problem in the home church, only because their church is not sending all its members to the mission field. Sincere believers realize the real reason for apathy in the home base is because the Settlers are not responding properly to the true call God has given them to build the local work. It grieves God when folks with a call (whether it is as a Pioneer or a Settler) brow-beat others for not getting gung-ho about a call they never had in the first place.

Righteousness And Praise Springing Up (Isaiah 61:11b)

The local church must grow with sufficient maturity that allows every gift, ministry, and function to receive the place and honor it needs to flourish. In order for what God intends His church to fulfill, all of us must recognize the value of every other part in it. Each kind of call and every sort of ministry must be functioning with folks who have a kindredness that is operating in a manner that is “after God’s own heart.” Calling is not enough and gifting is not enough. Gifts and fruits must both operate in believers and kiss each other in local churches. Everyone must promote kindred unity with every other call and ministry that God wants functioning there. Anything less in local churches is the Body of Christ turning on itself and cannibalizing. When that occurs, innocent bystanders get caught in the wrong kind of “cross-fire!”

But even that is not the worst of it. The real tragedy is when humility of this caliber diminishes in churches (regardless of the reason), it grieves and angers our Heavenly Father to no end. Psalm 95:10 says it well, “For forty years I loathed that generation, and said, they are a people who err in their heart . . .” That, my dear friends, should be enough to motivate each of us to work kindredly with others for the sake of the purpose. If we really are a people “after God’s own heart,” then grieving God should be motivation enough to get us to play well with others. We are supposed to be an example of God’s ways to the world. If that is true, we need to learn to honor and unify the Pioneer and the Settler in a kindred way that issues the aroma of life.

The rest of that Isaiah 61:11b verse in the paragraph title says, “So the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.” What’s interesting about that verse is the context is the famous passage Jesus read to His local congregation. It begins with, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted . . .” (Isaiah 61:1). May the Lord truly raise up unified congregations of believers who are a people “after God’s own heart.” May sincere and kindred Christians spring up in every church in sufficient numbers to take their place as those who establish statutes of kindredness and understanding which are pleasing to the Lord.

The Anatomy Of A Burden

A burden is usually a negative thing like a hardship, or an overload, or some kind of `heavy,’ but in God’s Kingdom the concept has another meaning that is surprisingly desirous.

This discussion springs from my first post about the Kingdom Training Grounds, which among other things introduces the concept of yoke. If you have not yet read that post, please do so. Go to the archives to your right and click the October link. It won’t take but a minute and this post will be waiting for you when you get back. Today’s post will advance the concept in a way you likely do not expect. The Anatomy Of A Burden reduces the fear-factor that is often resident in our flesh about yokes. There is something about this concept which when really understood, it makes you run to the Lord to get it, not flee from Him to avoid it.

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My Yoke [emphasis mine] upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy [margin reads `kindly, pleasant’] and My load is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). When you really look at what Jesus said, you find there is nothing scary about His yoke. In fact, His yoke is designed to relieve the heavy-laden and weary condition that comes from being at any place besides His yoke.

To get where we are going, let me explain a burden that most of us understands. Think of someone you love very much, or a person you know at work or at school about whom you care deeply, someone who at the moment does not love God. When you pray for that person, I’ll bet you a whole denarius that you do not ask for judgment to rain down on them; instead, you pray fervently that they understand the riches of the free gift. You might even weep for them occasionally while you pray. I bet you also shudder at the thought of what will happen to them if they continue to refuse God. So you pray again for their enlightenment, that they might see the goodness of the Lord and yearn for Him. Nothing would thrill you more than to watch them rejoicing over the miracle of their salvation while they jump up and down in anticipation about it (you know, like the world does about a ball going through a hoop).

That is how God feels about each of the wicked. I Timothy 2:4 says, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth . . .” The thought of what awaits the unrepentant pangs God even more than your friend does you. God is deep and passionate in His love which is incredibly strong in ways we do not understand. The grief He feels over the destruction of the wicked, even the concern He has over the destruction of animals (Jonah 4:11) is far more intense than we realize. The next time you have a pang about somebody you care about, remember God experiences that and much more for everyone on earth. He is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (I Peter 3:9).

Consequently when we pray we are not “wrestling with God” to convince Him about a lost soul; we are actually communing with Him (or shall we say, kindredly commiserating with Him) about something that is important to both of you.

This next part is very important. When we are done praying our hearts to God about the person we care about, our burden for them has probably increased because of what God was doing in us while we were interceding. God was pouring out His love in our hearts (that unique kind of intense love that only He has) while we were on our knees. In essence we were “learning from Him” (to put it in Jesus’ words) while we were spending time with Him in prayer. Our hearts were becoming burdened some more in the way that His is. We were becoming increasingly passionate about somebody’s faith because we were taking on (in small increments) more of how God feels about them. Though we may not be aware of it, we were also being burdened even more for all the lost while we were on our knees.

This idea is called “taking His yoke upon us” (again, to put it in terms that Jesus uses). I call it a yoke burden. God’s desire is that we become increasingly burdened with His godly love until we reach the point where we are willing to lay down our lives for that person(s). The apostle Paul, for example, became so burdened for the lost house of Israel that he said he had “great sorrow and unceasing grief in his heart for them [the Israelites]” (Romans 9:2). After that, he says the burden became so strong that he was willing to be “accursed, separated from Christ, for the sake of my brethren . . .” (Romans 9:3). Now that’s a yoke burden! It wasn’t something Paul cooked up in himself. That was something that God poured into His heart by the very One Who did the same thing. We later find out how that yoke burden was created in Paul’s heart. In Romans 10:1 he says, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”

It is staggering to meditate on the enormity of God’s burden for the lost everywhere in the world. The startling truth is there are countless other burdens just like that one which are also resident in God’s heart, burdens He would love to unleash on us. Sometimes all it takes is for us to get heavy laden enough (from not being in His yoke) that we are finally driven to Him in desperation. Then we can discover and nestle into His “kindly and pleasant” yoke that comes from His “gentle and humble heart.”

Let me put this another way: all it takes for yoke burdens to occur is for us to spend real time with God, but it has to be enough time. If we will just step away from our heavy ladenness long enough to come to Him, He will pour out His love in our hearts while we do it. Amazingly, mixed with His love are those other burdens that He has for us that we don’t know about yet, burdens He wants us to enjoy with Him, such as the life’s work He has chosen for us. The usual method is for us to make up our minds about what kind of career we want and then spend years investing toward that end. God, on the other hand, has rapturous plans for us (which also require sacrifice, just like a true career does) that we never knew about because we did not spend enough time with Him to find out what they were!

Consider this verse. “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:?). Does that mean if we spend time with God He will then give us whatever we want? Absolutely not! And to be honest, I am thrilled He doesn’t do that, because He does something better, something higher. If we set our hearts on spending quality time with Him and if we truly learn how to delight ourselves in the Lord (that is, learn how to make Him our delight), if we can passionately seek that as intensely as we would seek a college education, or the almighty dollar, or excelling at a sport, or becoming esteemed before men, or studying prophecy, or doctrines, or the end times; if we will channel that kind of passion into the art of delighting ourselves in the Lord, Psalm 37:4 says something extraordinary will happen. While we are delighting in Him, He will take our human heart out of us and rewire it. God will fix the problem in our heart and our heart will work differently. Instead of pumping with passion for things from our human perspective, it will burn for things from God’s point of view. The burdens that are going on in His heart will begin to happen in ours because God has reinserted the rewired one back into us. Our passions, our intentions, and our burdens will become different. Our heart will beat with HIS burdens, His desires, and His passions more than ever before.

Now re-read Psalm 37:4 with this understanding and see how it hits you. “Delight yourselves in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” So many folks read that verse self-centeredly, but God intended it God-centeredly. The reason we do not see that verse the way God intended is the very reason why we need to have our hearts rewired in the first place. There is only one way out of that trap! Spend enough time with God until He becomes our delight. He is the only One Who can make the kinds of changes that have to be made there. Education won’t do it and finding “your career” won’t do it.

So why not try it? Instead asking God to do something for you, why not delight yourself in Him with worship and praise and prayer long enough to let Him begin to lay on your heart His burden for things, anything and everything He has in mind. Don’t worry about how you pray, just learn how to worship and delight yourself in Him. Enjoy the fun in the relationship the way it was intended to be enjoyed. I’m not talking about going out into the wilderness and fasting three weekends in a row. The way to begin is by setting aside at least some time alone with Him at home (in a closet if you have to). Maybe you can start by singing the songs that come to mind in the morning. If songs don’t come to mind that early for you, ask that whatever God has on His heart at that moment to begin gurgling in your heart during the first hour you are awake every day; you know, while you are putting on your socks, or washing your hands, or stumbling into the bathroom. If you keep requesting that kind of thing like the persistent petitioner of the unrighteous judge did in Luke 11:5-8, one day you will find a song rolling up your heart when you first wake up. Oh wait, you say that has already happened? Then did you take the time to follow that lead? If you will do that, even more incredible things will follow.

Also try to get with God at some other time during the day or evening if you possibly can. When I worked full time at City Hall (in the 1970’s) I purposed to get more time with God during some of my lunch breaks (not all). Amazingly, I found some fascinating places where I could be alone with God in that building. I realize I discovered them in pre-homeland security days, but I found that on the top floor a stairway kept going higher to another place. I followed the mysterious stairway and discovered it led to a door to a mechanical room. So I just sat down on the top dusty step (which was obviously not used much) in front of a mechanical room door with my Bible in my lap. I have to admit the first time somebody bolted out of the top floor into the stair well directly underneath me, my heart almost jumped out of my chest. They couldn’t see me because they hurried down the stairs, which in their minds was the only way they could go. They had no idea I was “up there.” After a while I also found that the occasional foot falls on the distant floors below was like living next to an airport. After a while I never heard them. Besides, most folks used the elevators anyway.

One day a maintenance man came up the stairs and found me, but when he saw a Bible lying in my lap he seemed almost apologetic that he had disturbed me. I explained that I worked in Traffic Engineering and was on my lunch break. Then I asked him if I needed to move. He assured me I was fine and that he would be out of my way soon! I often supplemented my early time with God by spending my lunch break with God in other places I discovered in City Hall, especially on days when it seemed like His nearness had been exceptionally strong earlier that morning.

Whatever level of seeking God you find yourself operating in at the moment, please consider ways you might increase it with Him. He wants to pour out the kinds of things into your heart that He has in mind for you, things that He has been living with alone without you for quite some time. You will be surprised when the burden comes upon you, and you will know exactly what I mean when it happens. It might take some time to prime your pump (depending on how much flesh God has to burn through in you) and God might end up asking you to find other creative ways to seek Him, but the whole process is a journey that is worth far much more than the price of the search.

What Do I Do? Example 1 - Headed For The Pool

This week's new item appears in the Godly Parenting wine rack.

Preserving Innocence

This week's new item appears in the Godly Parenting wine rack.