Praise and Worship Part One: The Holy of Holies

Psalms:100

 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
² Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before His presence with singing.
³ Know that the Lord, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;^[a]
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

⁴ Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
⁵ For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting,
And His truth endures to all generations.

Normally I don't start a post with a scripture;  but, today I felt that it was important to start out by setting a firm scriptural foundation for what I am about to talk about. Recently I was talking to another believer, and they were telling me about how they were thinking of going to school to get a degree in worship ministry. Well, not to make light of this persons genuine desire to serve the Lord through music ministry, but what exactly is a degree in Worship Ministry? I personally attended bible school, was raised in a pastors home and have been involved in ministry in some capacity for most my life, and I had never heard of there being such a thing as a degree in worship. I actually went online to some very well respected bible colleges to verify that they were telling me the truth; and, Lo and behold, to my great surprise, there actually were many such degrees being offered. Personally I feel that a degree in worship is a waste of time and money; but, who am I to judge; but if you want, I can teach you all you need to know about worship and save you about ten thousand dollars. My problem with this all is not the fact that people are going to school for worship; but rather, what everyone seems to have quietly left out of our views and definitions of music ministry. For me personally, when I finally start a church or step into a pastoral role I will not be looking for just a WORSHIPER. Yes brother, you are looking for a lead worshiper who is anointed and set apart by God with the skills and tools necessary to take your worship team to another level. Well, actually I am not. In fact, anyone who comes at me with that kind of view on worship will most likely not even sing backup for me. Lets just set the record strait right from the get go; there is no next level of worship. What??? (Spoken in a minion voice.)  I will repeat this statement again since I feel it is very important. THERE IS NO NEXT LEVEL IN OUR WORSHIP. Surely you must be joking MR. Kiefer? I m not; and, don't call me surely.

You see this is just one of the problems we have with our view of worship. We can go deeper into the presence of God; but, how deep we do or do not go is not determined by the worship leader. It is also not determined by the skill of the worship team, nor by the caliber of our sound system, nor by the song selection. None of these things mater when it comes to how deep we will personally go into the presence of God. Now don't get me wrong, if the worship leader or his team is in sin, then it will hinder what God wants to do; but, it does not have to hinder you from entering in. Likewise, if you allow the failures of the sound system or the song section  to be stumbling blocks for you, then they will be. You see entering in is something that you as a child of God have control over. For us to say that how far we go in worship is determined by all of these variables is like saying that my healing is determined not by my faith; but rather, by the environment around me. The only thing that can limit what God wants to do in me and through me, is ME; and, this is also true when it comes to worship. Of course, we don't want this to be truth because, then it puts the ball back in our court and it takes away all of our pet excuses for not entering in on Sunday mornings. The truth is, if you don't enter in then it is no ones fault but your own. You see the next level we are seeking does exist; but it is in our own personal relationship with God that will then be displayed in our corporate worship and praise. Depth in the presence of God is not inherently found in worship; but rather, it is a result of our personal desire and relationship outside of the corporate setting. The scripture I started out with shows us Gods exact plan when it comes to entering into the Holy of Holies. If we follow this plan, then most likely we will always get to that place of relationship called the Holy of Holies. This is, after all, where we all want to go in the end.

Psalms 100 states: Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. In this scripture the Psalmist is referring to the tabernacle, which was the for runner to the Temple of Solomon. In fact, the temple of Solomon was designed as a permanent version of the tabernacle and was set up with the exact same dimensions. Both the tabernacle and the temple were designed as a physical representation of the spiritual reality of how we as Gods children can come into His presence. These two buildings were set up into three distinct sections: the outer Courts, the inner courts and the Holy of Holies or the Holy Place. Each section had a distinct purpose and was filled with items that were required to move farther in and closer to the Holy of Holies. Both the rooms and the objects in them where physical representations of spiritual truths. The Holy of Holies was the place where the Ark of the Covenant rested, which was the physical container of the manifest presence of God. Now, the Holy of Holies, the place where the presence of God dwelt, was separated from the other rooms by the famous veil. Only one person once a year was allowed past that veil and into the holy Place where the presence of God dwelt; and he, had to do everything perfect and follow every rule to the letter or he would drop dead. This thick veil was placed there to protect us from the presence of God; because if we were to enter the presence of God in our unclean state, we could not survive the purity and holiness of God. His presence would literally kill us. After Jesus died, this veil was torn from the top to the bottom signifying that the way to the presence of God was open to us. I find it significant, however, that the rest of the temple was not destroyed like the veil. What does this mean? Well, I feel that it shows us that the spiritual process of how we enter in has not changed. Jesus did not do away with what Psalms 100 states, and the steps it sets out before us still apply today. In fact, I feel that most churches today are simply wandering around the outer courts and calling it true worship. This is why we are always searching for that deeper place of the presence of God, because we are never really entering in.

You can burn me at the steak later; but for now, just hear me out. I have been in many church services over the past few months as I search for a new home church. In almost every church I attended the worship leader tried to take us right into worship. There was no praise and no preparing ones heart through thankfulness before he or she attempted to thrust us all into this place called the Holy of Holies. Now, I do not look at this as a failure on the part of the worship leader; but rather, it is a fundamental flaw in our understanding of the biblical and spiritual process of praise and worship. We have developed a culture of WORSHIP in the church of today. This in itself may sound like exactly where we were always meant to go; but, it is not. In fact, how can we have a culture of worship with out praise? In the past worship was always unbreakably linked to praise. They were like Siamese twins and you could not have the one without the other; but in todays church, we have removed praise from the equation. We no longer have Praise and Worship leaders, instead we have worship leaders. We no longer hold Praise and Worship services, but rather we have worship services. You see the bible says in Psalms 100 that we enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Yes, the Holy of Holies, or true worship, is the end destination of our corporate and personal journey; but, we can not get there in either our personal walk or our corporate walk outside of the process God established. This is why even though we have more quality and professionalism in our music teams today, we just simply do not have the same presence of God as we did in the past. This is not just the ramblings of an old warrior who longs for the past; but rather, a man of God who desires that place of true worship where the manifest presence of God dwells. I for one am tired of simply wandering around the outer courts when I know there is so much more of God then I am experiencing. We have to ask ourselves this one important question, 'Why are we not entering in?" Unless this fundamental and essential question is addressed in every church we will never be able to progress forward into the manifest presence of God, and we will continue to settle for just a shadow of what we can truly have. In the next few posts I will be addressing a few issues that I feel have been holding us back in this area; so stay tuned, because CULTIVATING THANKFULNESS is on deck, with PRASIE waiting in the wings.

When Brothers Become Wolves

 Luke 6 

 Romans 12:19

I Corinthians 13 

1 John 4  

1 Timothy 1:20

 Mathew 18:15-17

Ephesians 6:12 

Have you ever had a brother? I have two brothers and I love them with all my heart. I can't say I was always the best older brother in the world, but I do try my best. In younger years I was at odds with my brother Josh. I was very jealous of how easy things seemed to come for him, when things seemed to be so hard for me. Even in the times of greatest conflict between the two of us I always loved him. In fact, if anyone else attacked him other then me they were in for the fight of their life. Now, as an adult I am a defender by nature. It is something that is built into my DNA by God and it comes as natural to me as breathing. Because I am a defender I absolutely despise wolves. If it were up to me I would eradicate them wherever and whenever I find them. Even though it is good and right to stand against wolves I have encountered one problem; what do I do when the wolves I have to deal with were once my brothers or sisters?

Now I know this is a touchy subject for most Christians and we all fall on two very distinct sides of the coin on this issue. It has become the current trend in the American church today to buy into the Grace Above All Else doctrine; which states, that no matter how horrible a person sins God will forgive and love them anyway. The view through this doctrine is that we are all just sinners saved by grace; so therefore, we should not judge but simply love them until they come back into the fold. On the other hand, on the other side of the coin, we tend to take a hardline stand towards our fallen brothers.  This group tends to be condemning and judgmental lambasting those who show any lack of moral character and integrity. So, since we have two very diametrically opposed views on how to deal with this subject, which one is the right course of action for us? I can think of no better way to find out then an all out UFC battle royal, so lets get down to it! In this corner, wearing the lovely pink "can't we all just get along" shorts, we have the 1 Corinthians 13 love conquers all Christians! In the other corner, wearing the black "sinners in the hands of an angry God" shorts, we have the give them over to the Devil so they can learn not to blaspheme Christians! Both sides have been training under their pet doctrines for sometime now and have even created their own gyms around their distinct fighting philosophies. These gyms, of course, don't associate with each other; but hey, that only makes this fight personal. Both fighters are ready and they meet in the center of the ring and touch gloves as the official describes the rules to them. This is going to be the fight of the century; well, at least the fight of the hour anyway. The bell rings and both fighters emerge from their respective corners like stallions out of the gate. My money is on the fighter in the black, since the fighter in the pink shorts prefers talking and singing together in stead of combat. Both fighters rear back and let fly and a resounding "crack' rebounds through out the stadium. Holy cow folks, both fighters staggered and went down hard. The official is counting and neither fighter is showing any signs of life! Wow folks in a shocking turn of events, both fighters have been counted out and the fight is a draw!

Well now, why a draw? Certainly one philosophy on the subject must be right right? Not necessarily. Neither doctrine is completely wrong or right on the subject;  but in true human fashion, we take things to extremes while shutting out any point of view that does not lineup with what we want or feel. This way of thinking leads to conflict and an inability to see the whole truth on a subject. It is in fact, why there are so many different denominations and sects in Christianity. You see, you can not simply love people out of sin; on the other hand, you can not necessarily condemn them out of sin either. In the end, both philosophies fail producing no lasting effect in the lives of people. One creates an environment that allows sin to continue unopposed and unchecked; while the other, gives no way for grace, mercy or change. So if both are wrong, then how do we deal with brothers and sisters in Christ who have fallen into sin and have become wolves? Well I am glad you asked; and if you did not, I was still going to tell you anyway, because it's what I do. You need to merge the two philosophies into one giant Megazord theology. Kind of like when all the colored lions merge together to form Voltron. (Dinotherms connected Mega Thrusters are go!) If we can see the truth in both theologies while simultaneously discarding what is incorrect,0 then we can get down to the heart of the matter and find the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Of course, this requires us to except things we may not like while letting go of things we have come to except as truth that just simply are not. For example, the bible clearly states over and over again that there are consequences for sin and that God does not necessarily remove these consequences even though he desires to forgive us. Moreover, it likewise states that his mercy far outweighs his wrath and that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

In Luke 6 Jesus talks openly about how we should love our enemies.

 "²⁷ “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,   ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.
³² “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. ³⁴ And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. ³⁵ But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."


Furthermore, He goes on to talk about how we should not judge.

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
  
Now these are powerful statements that give us a clear conduct that we should follow when dealing with our enemies. Jesus, however, is not talking about how to handle sin here, so let me now deal with a bit of misconception that we have all had about this scripture. Jesus is not referring to dealing with fallen brothers and sisters who have become people who are leading others astray here; but rather, he is talking about how to deal with people who have come against or hurt us personally. Whereas our fallen brothers and sisters may have hurt us personally, this still does not give us a clear cut explanation of how we are to deal with them. It does, however, talk about not judging. WOO HOO, a triumph for the love crowd! Not exactly. Where as He does say we should not judge, he specifically expresses judging as condemning or being unforgiving. One of the definitions Webster has for "judge" is: to sit in judgment on :  to try:  to determine or pronounce after inquiry and deliberation. This is what Jesus is talking about here in this passage. He is clearly showing us that it is not our job to determine guilt or to pass sentence. The problem is that we tend to want to take matters into our own hands because we feel that God is not doing enough. Moreover, it is our job to protect people from those who would do them harm; it is not, however our job to be judge, jury and executioner. Unlike Judge Dredd we are not the law. Moreover, our view of justice is often vengeance and not actual justice. There is a fine line between the two, but both are ultimately Gods responsibility and not ours. (Romans 12:19) 

Even though it is not our job to pass sentence, further down in Luke 6 he does give us an explanation of what is our Job. Now we all know the parable that He states earlier on in this chapter where He tells us to see the plank in our own eye rather then being concerned with the speck in our brothers eye; But after that, he gives us this statement.

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of."

Also in 1 John 4 he states: 

"4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world."

 Here He is letting us know that every person can be identified by their fruit. What? Are you saying that we can JUDGE people? In a manor of speaking I am. Webster also defines the word judge as: to form an opinion about through careful weighing of evidence and testing of premise. Jesus tells us clearly here that we have the right to do this. We must be able to recognize people for where they really are. One of the greatest compliments my sister Melody ever gave me was when she said, "You are not the person you used to be." She was letting me know that I had changed and she knew it. How did she know this? She saw the fruit of the change in my life. It is our responsibility to judge people in this manor. In fact, if we can not, then we will always be deceived. Fruit does not lie, it simply is what it is. If a tree brings forth apples then it is an apple tree. So if a person is bringing forth bad fruit, then there is something wrong with that tree. This does not mean, however, that the tree is nonredeemable or untreatable; but rather, it simply shows that something is not right with that tree.

So now that we see that it is our responsibility to judge people by their fruits, what should we do about them? Well, we first off need to love them. Yes folks, love really is the end all and catch all of everything in this universe. In 1 John 4 the bible states that "God is Love and that if we do not Love we do not know Him". Moreover in 1 Corinthians 13 the Bible states that without Love we have nothing. He is not saying however that all these other things have no meaning; but rather, that with out love they have no significances. Love needs to be the reason and motivation behind all that we do. This is what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 13 and what John is talking about in 1 John 4. Both apostles are showing us that just like God, the motivations behind what we do should always be love. In 1 Timothy 1:20 Paul talks about giving people over to Satan so they will learn to not Blaspheme. We may see this as harsh, but Paul did this in order to save them because thy were heading down a path that would have led to their destruction. The bible also says that the Lord chastens those whom he loves. This of course is again Gods responsibility not ours. 

In Mathew 18:15-17 Jesus gives us a detailed explanation of how to deal with a brother who through sin has come into conflict with us. Here He states:

¹⁵ “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’^{[b] 17} And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

Here Jesus tells us that if a brother or sister will not come to a place of repentance then we need to treat them like we would any other unbeliever. Now what exactly does this mean? Well, we do not hate or attack unbelievers do we? No we do not. We love them and we treat them with respect and kindness; but we do not, allow them to have a place in our lives of influence and respect. In other words, we do not allow them to be apart of our inner circles of friends. We may love unbelievers and even at times eat with them and have relationship with them, but they are not our best friends who we go to for council. This is what Jesus is saying we should do to brothers and sisters who have fallen away and are unrepentant. Moreover, I have heard the Zacheous story mentioned often about  how Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners often. He did, but they were only allowed into his inner circle after they were repentant and had changed. For instance, of all of the millions of people Jesus helped and ate with how come there were only 120 in the upper room? It was only the ones who were willing to repent and change that ended up there. In fact, I wonder how may of the people who cried "Crucify Him" were also those he ate with.

In conclusion, we need to love or brothers and sisters who have gone astray without becoming people who attack them personally. Our motivation should always be love and restoration; but, we do have an obligation to stand up for the truth and to stand against ideologies or beliefs that are against the Word of God. In doing this, however, we need to be careful to realize it is the sin and the false doctrine we are standing against and not the brother or sister that has been deceived. I will leave you with a superhero analogy. (I know you were afraid I was going to get through this without one, but have no fear!) Loki was raised with his brother Thor since they were young. Thor loved his brother Loki and was deeply torn when Loki decided to do things that were hurting other people. In the end he tried to reason with his brother but to no avail. When this happened Loki forced Thor's hand and they came into conflict. Thor had to stand against what Loki was doing, but at every opportunity he tried to reason with Loki to turn him from the path he was on. This is how we should be with our brothers and sisters who turn away from the Lord and become wolves. We should stand against the false doctrine and the sin while simultaneously doing everything in our power to restore our brothers and sisters who have been deceived by the enemy. After all, in Ephesian 6:12 Paul states: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." People while taking a stand for what's right, lets always remember that the real enemy is the Devil and not our brothers and sisters. 

Lifes Keys Chapter Four: Stay Connected to the Source

                                                                

                                                                  John 15:4

                                                                 Matthew 4:4

                                                                  John 10:10

 

 

I want you to do a favor for me. Throw a seed outside on the asphalt and just let it sit there for a few days. After a sufficient amount of time has passed go out and check to see if anything has happened to that seed. You may find that the seed has grown a few roots; or maybe, it has even opened up and tried to bud a bit. Either way, give it a few more days separated from good ground where it can put down its roots and find sustenance and it will die. Why is this? I thought that life always finds a way as Dr Malcolm in Jurassic Park so eloquently put it. The truth is, that life only finds a way when it is plugged into a source of sustenance that can sustain it. Life may bloom for a while; but, if it is deprived of a life giving source it will eventually fade away and die. Life does not happen by accident, nor can it be sustained by chance. If you buy a fish, as I have, and you forget to feed it or clean its bowl it will die. Unless of course, your fish is a highlander then you have to remove its head. Either way, to have life a source is required. For humans we need a complex environment in order to sustain life. We need breathable air, water and a source of food that contain certain proteins and minerals in order for us to live and thrive. Scientist have discovered that in our universe this complex system is so rare that they have yet to find another planet where human life can be sustained for a prolonged period of time. Even in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar they had to go outside of our galaxy in order to discover a planet where human life could be sustained indefinitely.

 

In John 15:4 Jesus makes the statement, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” What a powerful statement He is making here. This is not a parable needing to be explained, nor is it a deep mystery that can only be understood through the intervention of the Holy Spirit poking at our brains in order to coax our synapses to life. Sure, it is helpful when the Holy Spirit gives us revelation about certain scriptures; but, this one really shouldn’t require that. What Jesus is saying here is that unless we are genuinely and consistently plugged into Him we can not bear fruit. It really is as simple as that. You see, one of the biggest problems we all tend to face as Christians is that we are constantly trying to bear fruit and have life without actually being plugged into the source of all life. Jesus put it to us pretty blatantly in this scripture when He says that that just simply isn’t possible. Neither is a Human living indefinitely without food or the Transformers without Optimus prime or my kids getting up before noon without some form of cold water involved.

 

Sometimes we are like the walking dead stumbling through life in search of anything that will bring us life except the one thing that really will. It’s kind of like socialism. No mater how many times they try to reinvent it; it just simply does not work. No form of socialism will ever be able to produce any form of prosperity and growth. Moreover, nothing other then Jesus will produce life in us. In John 10:10 Jesus said that he came to give us life and life more abundantly. We as Christians, however, are always trying to have this life without Jesus. Wait a minute now! I am saved and I go to church on Sunday mornings isn’t that enough. Well, if you uproot a pant everyday and only plug it into its source for about two hours once a week do you think it will live and thrive? If it does it will only be a pale shadow of what it could and should be. It will be the living dead since it is constantly trying to have life without being plugged into the source of its life. Just like the plant this is what we do all the time. We try to live an on fire overcoming Christian life without the source; and, we become nothing more then the walking dead who have a small measure of real life while trying to sustain ourselves with the death of this world.

 

Now, I am someone who loves to consume entertainment. In fact, I have always wanted to be someone who created books, movies and television for a living. I absolutely love entertainment; but if all I ever do is fill my life with entertainment, then that is all I will ever have. What do I mean by this? Well, what you put in is what you have to sustain you and to give out. If I never spend time personally with God or in His word and prayer, then when I need that life all I will have is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Now, knowing how to fight like a ninja can be helpful against a mugger; but, it is completely useless against the devil, depression, sickness, suicide, divorce, or any other kind of hurt or pain that we all face in life. The word of God and prayer, on the other hand, are the only powers in the universe that are capable of handling the aforementioned issues. Just like the food we eat for strength and life in our daily life, these things must also become our food. This is what Jesus meant when he made the statement in Matthew 4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” You see just as our body requires a source of life to live so does our spirit. Without that source we can not have life or bear fruit. The truth is people, that if we want to do more then just survive we have to be plugged into the source of our life everyday and not just once a week on Sunday mornings.

 

 I will leave you with an analogy of one of my favorite superheroes. Seriously, you had to have expected this was coming.) The Green Lanterns are a group of intergalactic superheroes who get their considerable powers from a power ring. This ring must be charged constantly or it will run out of power. They charge their rings by touching them to the source of their power which is their green lanterns. Now the green lanterns personal batteries have power because they are connected to the central power source on the planet OA. If the Lanterns loose their lantern or forget to connect to their battery, than their rings will eventually run out of power and they will become powerless. This is what happens to us as Christians when all we do is connect to God on Sunday mornings or when we are in dire need; we become powerless. The word powerless means exactly what it sounds like it means, “To be without power.” We as Christians are without power when we are trying to live our lives without being regularly connected to the source. Sure, we may have power for a while but we will eventually become more and more drained of our life until all that is left is merely a shadow of what we once were. If this is where you are today then I have good news for you. You have a personal power source with you right now that you can recharge your spirit with called the Word of God and prayer; and, the more time you give to those things the more life you will have.

What is the Object of The Symphony of Your Life?

                                                                    Matthew 13:44-46


Have you ever felt the terror of being stuck in traffic fifteen minutes from  home when your show is about to start in five? You have to fight the urge to run old ladies and school buses off the road in your frantic attempt to make it home before you miss something important. I have actually prayed till blood flowed that God would translate me home so I would not be late. Ok well not blood, but maybe a little pee since I drank too much water that day. For me it is anything DC Comics related on the CW that gets my blood pumping. In fact, tonight I have to work at my second job at Toys R Us which conflicts with the season finally of the Flash. I have actually thought about calling in or simply quitting in order to make sure I'm home for that momentous event. Don't judge me, you all know that you feel the same way. Whether it be the Season Finally of the Bachelor, Jersey Shore or Greys Anatomy everyone has their own particular vice. The thing is we waste so much of our lives on such trivial things. What?? I know it just doesn't seem right that ME Jason Kiefer would refer to the season finally of the Flash as "trivial". The truth is that it really is. As much as we love our trappings they are after all just simply that, entertainment. They provide no lasting value in our lives. They can not cure cancer or solve world hunger. Neither can our Facebook and twitter posts; but, that's a discussion for another time.

Now don't get me wrong I am a story teller and I understand the importance of stories to inspire and help us understand things we might not normally. In fact, Jesus often spoke in parable which are simply stories that are used to teach spiritual principles. Where as God has often used the Justice League to personally talk to me, I do realize that such things can take up way to much of my life. Moreover, what I eat, where I am going to live, what I wear, who does or does not like me and pretty much anything else that involves this life takes up way to much of all of our time and energy. There is a very powerful and true saying that I have often quoted: "What you spend your time on you purchase with your life." What have you been purchasing with your life? I know that when I look back at what I have bought with the five dollar bill that is my life I see that most of it is completely worthless. I can name for you almost everyone of Batman's villains; but, can I find the right scripture to help minister to a hurting person? I know everyone of Aragorn's titles; but, can I hear the Lord when he calls in the deep place of my heart? I think, that we spend way to much of our life's currency purchasing things that just simply do not matter. Yes, entertainment has value; but, the quantities that we purchase of them are way out of balance.

 Let me put it to you a different way. If you had a choice between the presence of God and an extra hour of sleep a day, which would you choose? Well that's an easy one, the presence of God of course. How stupid am I to ask you such a question; and yet, how many of us simply hit the snooze button every morning when we have set aside that time to pray. I know I am notorious for that. In fact, not since bible school have I been able to actually not hit the snooze button. I purchased one more hour of sleep with my life instead of one hour of the presence of God. Let me ask you this, if you had set aside a specific time for your spouse everyday and you choose to take a nap instead during that time, do you think you would still be married? If you were, you would most likely not recognize that your spouse was seriously unhappy that you felt a nap was more important to you then them. We do this to God all the time. We skip church, we skip our prayer time, we go back on our commitments to Him and then we expect God to simply understand. Don't get me wrong, He does love us anyway and continues to pursue us anyway; but, I bet we break his heart every time.

I have never been able to work out consistently and have struggled with my weight because of it. Recently I have become much more consistent in this area. What has changed? Well my son has finally grown old enough to work out with me and he is very excited about it. In fact, every time I skip out on my obligation to him he gets very disappointed. That look on his face when he is hurt and disappointed breaks my heart and makes me not want to ever go back on my word to him again. It was through this very dad experience that I realized that I do that to God often. Every time I choose something other then God I tell Him by my actions that what ever it is I would rather do is more important to me then Him. In Matthew 13:44-46 Jesus gives us the parable of the Hidden treasure and the Pearl.  We have often looked at this parable as one that refers to how much God loves us; but, it is referring not to how much He loves us but rather how much we love Him. The truth is that He is the pearl of great price and the hidden treasure. Jesus is what life is all about and nothing in both the eternal life or the earthly temporal life that we could ever pursue is worth more then He is. There is nothing both eternal or temporal that can satisfy but Him.  People we all sacrifice the things that are eternal for the things that are temporal. We all choose this life over God. There is more to loving this earthly life more then God then just the idea that you would die for God if it was asked of you. In fact, it is harder to live ones daily life choosing God over the temporal joys of this earthly life then it is to literally physically die for Him. To die is but a moment in ones life; whereas, to live is all of the moments of your life combined into one symphony. What is the object of the symphony of your life?

Lifes keys Chapter Three: Submit and Resist

                                                                          James 4:7
                                                                      Matthew 6:24
                                                                      Ephesians 6:13


In one of my previous posts I briefly mentioned that I felt that most people struggled with sin in their lives because they used sin as a form of self medication. I strategically dropped that bomb in the earlier post because I knew that I would someday return to that subject; and KABOOM, here it is. Mr. Kiefer where did this land mind come from that I just stepped on? Well good suh, I put it there in the back of your minds so you would eventually step on it. I hope you didn't lose a foot or something. Of course if you did, the bible does say it is better to enter into heaven missing a limb then to go to hell with all your parts intact. So that being said, lets tackle a subject that most people in todays Christian world like to simply ignore; or at best, simply skim over in hopes that it will go away. If you know anything about me, then you would know that I don't like to let things go. I am a bit of an obsessive person and I will pursue things like a blood hound if I feel they need to be addressed. In fact, it was prophesied over me that I was a drill sergeant who was sent to train Gods troops; so, after each sentence you all will salute and yell, "YES DRILL SEARGENT!"

I have found in life that one scripture we all so readily quote when dealing with problems is James 4:7 which states: Submit yourself to God, Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. As you can see this is a two fold scripture. It gives us two distinct steps that we must take before the Devil will flee from us. The first, and most important, is that we must submit to God. I think this statement is pretty self explanatory and I will certainly tackle it in detail in a future post; but, I will expound on this a little before I move on to the next point. We all know, I hope, that if we are in rebellion and not submitted in every area of our lives to God that we have already given the enemy place in our lives; and, if we have already given him place he has legal right to be there. For instance, if I look at pornography on a regular basis and then try to rebuke the demon of lust he most likely will not go. The reason he will not leave is because I have invited him in by my actions. My words and even my heart may not be to have this spirit working in my life; but my actions, however, have given him an open invitation to meddle with me. This is where submitting to God is the absolute most important action we must take when dealing with the enemy in our lives.

If we refuse to submit to God and give place to the enemy in our lives; then, we will always struggle with sin. In Matthew 6:24 Jesus expressly states that you can not serve two masters. He is referring to money in this passage, but it can be applied to any area of your life where we are un-submitted. How can you ever expect to resist an enemy that you have already let inside your gates? The truth is you can not, and this is why most of us fail. As my father always says, "It is the sins we like that we struggle with the most." I am not a murderer because I don't like killing people, and I don't need to go to Murders Anonymous or have a murder intervention. That statement may seem a little ridiculous; but, it is very true. We struggle with the sins we like and these are the areas where we allow rebellion and lack of submission in our lives. In America especially we often like to medicate ourselves instead of dealing with the deep routed issues in our lives. It does not have to be drug addiction or alcoholism, but it can be something as simple as allowing ourselves little fantasies about things we know are wrong. What ever your pet sin is, it needs to be submitted to God in order for you to ever be able to throw off the shackles that you have allowed the enemy to place on you. You have to admit to yourself that you like it; and, no mater how small it may seem it is something that must be cut out and dealt with immediately. Once you have done this you can finally move on to the next phase of the process, RESISTANCE.

I am going to be completely honest with you right now maggots. (Sorry the drill sergeant is coming out.) You can not council sin away. What? What did you just say? I will repeat it. You can not council sin away. I am not saying that counselling has no benefit. Counselling is a very good tool that can be used to help us see the deep areas in our lives that need dealing with or healed; but, there comes a point in time when we all must move past this. I find that in todays church we have become counseling addicts. We can not go through a day with out our counseling fix. In fact, I would say that we have almost created a system that perpetuates this idea that we are just simply sinners who are in constant need of counseling and healing. Sorry soldier but I for one am not buying into that malarkey and I wont let you either, because we are far more then that! There absolutely is freedom from hurt, sin and bondage and its found in Jesus Christ. Until we finally except that He has already healed us and given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness, we will never be able to live victoriously free lives. We will never be able to RESIST. You see resistance needs to be built on the foundation that if I resist then I will overcome. If we are constantly in a state of insecurity and failure then we can never rise up and resist the enemy. People who always feel like they need to be doing something else first will never be able to rise up and fight the enemy. In fact, this mentality has the opposite effect in our lives by actually giving us a license to continue to struggle indefinitely; and that, is not what Jesus died for.

 If you want freedom from the enemy, then YOU need to resist. This part neither God nor your pastor can do for you, you have to do it for yourself. You have to stand up and throw off the chains that bind you and resist. In Ephesians 6:13 Paul says, "that we should put on the full armor of God so that we might be able to stand and having done all to stand, stand." The kind of "standing" Paul is referring to here is "resistance". He is telling us that the full armor of God was given to us for resistance to sin and the enemy. To stand against him. He also says in Hebrews 12 that we should, "Throw of the sins which so easily beset us and run with endurance the race that is before us." Paul specifically states here that it is OUR job to throw of the sins which so easily beset us. I am not saying that we can do this in our own strength; but rather, what I am saying is that God has already provided us with the power an authority to rise up and overcome. People He already did it in us when he died on the cross and rose again. What Jesus did through His death and resurrection was far more then just provide forgiveness and atonement for sin. He also restored us back to what we were always designed to be. He made us new creations and heirs with Him to the household of God with all the rights, privileges and power that goes with that title. He provided everything we will ever need to live victorious overcoming lives. So people lets put just as much effort into resisting sin as we do in giving in and see what God can do for us. So soldier its time for you to join the RESISTANCE and overcome! YOU ARE DISMISSED!

Lifes Keys Chapter Two: Get Up and Never Give Up

                                                                 Romans 8:28


"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts."
Winston Churchill

"If you are going through Hell, keep going"
Winston Churchill

I find that over the last few years I have become almost a motivational speaker when speaking with other brothers and sisters in the faith. I think it is because the church has bought into that very American idea that says everything in life should be easy; and when it is not, it is a result of some lack in our own lives. In retrospect, I think, it could also be from a false religious idea that came about through an institutionalized misunderstanding of life that crept into the church during the dark ages.  In any case, I find that we as a body have embraced the idea that life in Christ means nothing bad will ever happen to us and if it does its our fault somehow. I wont lie, most of the time it is our fault in some way; but, the Bible clearly states that God is bigger then this. You see we all fail in life at times. This in no way means we have to keep failing in life. I believe that God made a way for us to be able to live free from sin in this life not just the next. You see, to me if God only cared about the next life then He is a poor tactician and we know he is not. In any case, failures we may be; but, we in no means have to stay there.

I love to study about people who have come before me that have risen above their own personal failures to truly change the world. Among my favorites in Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant and Winston Churchill. Neither of these men were what we would refer to today as Golden Childs.  In fact, all of these men were just the opposite. Churchill may have been more of one then Lincoln; but, he was still  a failure who was almost drummed out of political and public life by his failures as the head of the Admiralty for Great Brittan during WWI. Lincoln failed at almost every election he ran in; and when he finally won the presidency, it split the nation. U.S. Grant failed at everything he tried his hand at and only went back to the Army because he could not succeed at anything else. In the end, he won the Civil War for the Union and eventually became president of the United State. What do all of these men have in common? They all refused to give up. They refused to see themselves as nothing more then failures. They continued to believe it was possible for them to overcome no mater how dark the night got nor how badly they had failed.

Here's the deal then, you have failed. So what! Wait a minute here; you mean it doesn't matter that I just fell again. Well, I am glad you asked. No it does not. I can not say this anymore strait forward then I just did. The only way that it maters is if it has become a consistent character issue in your life and if you are unrepentant of that issue. If you simply do not care about God and want to continue sinning, then by all means death is your portion; but, if you are genuinely repentant of this issue and want freedom from it then you can have it. Get up, dust yourself off and keep moving. You don't have to let failure become your identity! The Bible says in Romans 8 that ALL things work together for our good. In my dictionary all means exactly that, all. So all even encompasses our failures. After all, if God is not even big enough to overcome our simple little failures then He really isn't much of a God is He? We talk about God being bigger then our circumstances and our enemies, but He is also bigger then us. He is bigger then our mistakes, our wrong turns, our sin and our failures. If we really love Him and if we really are the ones called according to His purposes then HE will work all things together for our good. (Just a little clarification, the ones who are called according to His purposes is everyone who excepts Him and runs after Him. So that means you honey.)

The only way we can truly fail in this life is if we simply stop trying. Any creature will die if it loses the will to go on. Maybe it is hard for you to have faith right now because you have failed so miserably. Maybe just getting out of the bed you have made for yourself is the most difficult thing you have ever had to do. I feel for you I have been there; but, I got up, and I still am. Everyday I get up anyway and hope. You see you can not have faith without hope. Faith is the evidence and substance of the things that are hoped for. Faith is not possible without hope. Hope is simply the possibility that something can happen; where as, faith is the substance and evidence of that thing. God is bigger then the bed you have made for yourself and in Romans 8 he lets us all know that His response to our self made situation is not, "you made your bed now lie in it."; but rather, "Take My hand and let Me show you that I am bigger then this situation you have made!" In Hebrews 12:1 Paul encourages us to set aside those sins which so easily beset us and to run on after the high call of God. Just like us Paul knew what failure was like. He knew what it was like to have to overcome his own mistakes. After all, he was a serial murderer of Christians and now he had become one. No one trusted him; in fact, it took a  miraculous act for God to get someone to go to Paul and heal his eyes. Maybe you are there right now. Maybe you are in a place where it is going to take a miraculous move of God to even get people to start trusting you again. Well then, you are in the same place Paul was after his conversion; the right place for God to move for you. I leave you with the words of Winston Churchill, "Never Give Up! Never Give up!"

Lifes Keys Chapter One: Fighting For Others

                                                            

                                                                    Mathew 14:13-14

In life we sometimes face situations that completely demolish our hearts. It is in these times that the enemy often comes in and tries to lead us astray. Whether it be in an area of sin in our lives that we use as self medication. (What?? I don't use sin as a means of self medication.) Well, that is a topic to discuss on a another occasion; but just let me say, that most of us use sin as self medication. I would dare to say that most of the sins that so easily beset us in our lives can be attributed to self medication. If not to sin he will try to bring us to a place of discouragement. In either case most of us usually become so self absorbed that we can not see past our own hurt and grief. I am no different then any other person in this life and when I went through my divorce I fell into a depression that I never thought I would recover from. During this period in my life I had many friends give me many tidbits of advice on how to drag myself out. I even had one, cough Doug, tell me he would shoot himself in the head if he were me. He was, of course, joking...well at least I think. In any case, most of the advice I was given was good, but in the end I was still in an out of control spiral that I could not recover from.

One in particularly hard day I was praying and God brought me back to a message my dad preached when I was at bible college. It was a message on compassion. He taught about how after John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herrod that Jesus had gone out into the wilderness to be alone so he could morn. Now John was not only his cousin, but he was the only other person in the world who knew exactly who Jesus was; and, in all the time John had been in prison Jesus was unable to go visit him. In fact, John had even sent Him a letter asking him if he really was the Christ. Jesus responded but was still unable to come to him. Soon after John was killed and Jesus had retreated to an isolated place to be alone and morn. Of course, being who He was, when the multitudes heard He was there they all trekked out into the wilderness to find him; and of course, find Him they did. When Jesus heard them He came out of his place of isolation and did something extraordinary. Instead if loosing His temper with them by sending them all away he rather chose a different path. The bible says in Matthew 14 that He was moved by compassion and healed all who were sick. That in itself is amazing; but Jesus does one better, and He miraculously feeds the multitude with just five loaves of bread and two fish.

Now we all know, if this had been us that we would have either not come out at all or we would have completely lost it and probably shot at least half of the people before they had a chance to flee in terror. Even though my track record in handling such things had not been, shall we say, kosher up to this point; God did however, show me something in this scripture passage I had not truly seen before. It was a key that I could use to unlock my own seemingly hopeless situation. It is this key that ultimately was the turning point in my recovery. The key He showed me-drum roll please-was simply compassion. What, you mean it wasn't time heals all wounds; because, we all know that works right? (I hope the sarcasm came through the computer screen there.) No my friends, it was not sit around and wait for God to miraculously heal me from the inside out. The truth is, He was already doing that and I still could not see past my pain. What He showed me here was very simple and yet profound. What He showed me was that I needed to get my eyes off of myself and on to those who were around me; and when I did, my whole world changed in a flash.

When I for the first time in years really looked around I saw people. Thousands of people who were hurting just as badly as I was. I saw people who were on the verge of suicide. I saw people who were so bound up that they were in mental hospitals. I saw friends and family who were hurting and being beaten by the enemy. In that moment something clicked inside me and I grew angry. Not angry at God or at my situation as I had been before; but rather, angry for the people I saw around me. I was moved with compassion. It hit me then and I realized what Jesus had been doing in the moment after John had been killed. He was not allowing Himself to stay in his hurt and grief; but instead He allowed His grief to drive Him to truly see the plight of the people around Him and it move Him into action. You see, this is what I needed to do as well; and as soon I did my world changed. I was no longer a failed destroyed mess but I became something else. I became the person that my friends now refer to as Captain America. I became more like Jesus that day then I had ever been before. I became a hero; because after all, Jesus is and still is a hero. He is the savior of all, and we were created in His image; so by divine design, we were fashioned to be heroes as well. This is why the enemy goes through so much trouble to try and keep us so focused on ourselves and our own circumstances.

You see, the key to finally getting out of depression and hurt is not just time or healing; but,  it is turning outward and choosing to pray and fight for others. After all, the bible says in Isaiah 58:8 that God is our rearguard; if this is the case, as my dad often says, then when we turn around away from our problems and start seeing others instead we put our problems in the best place for God to deal with them. To be honest, if we want to be like God then this is the way we should live in every area of our lives. The bible talks extensively about living our lives for others and not ourselves. The bible says that we should aspire to be fathers in the faith. Since I had great parents and I hope I am a great father I know full well that the job of a father is to sacrifice for his children. Fathers are always the ones who are willing to put others before themselves. True fathers are the ones who are giving their lives so others can succeed. So you see folks, the key to freedom from pain and depression and life in general is looking outward instead of inward. Now, go be heroes and fathers. Go find someone today who you can fight for and invest your life into; and I promise you, you will certainly change and so will your world. For me, I am already picking up the phone to call Bucky and the Twins Hawk and Dove. Excelsior!

                                                                        Listening to