"Walk by the Spirit"......and I don't mean Johnny Walker Black!

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for they are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

—————————Galatians 5:16-17

So………….my wife and I are at a crossroads and at times, at odds with each other on what to do next.  I admit……I have been confused, very angry, discouraged and disillusioned by normal American Christians, especially myself.  

For the last 4 years, I have been thinking about my next 25 years on this planet and eternity. 

 Part of me says……relax Keith……just be a normal American and do normal American stuff……….

there is no need for adventure in your life.  

After all, your friends and family and acquaintances 

NEVER, EVER 

discuss their future ministry or service opportunities and probably never even think about it.

They live the American Dream in the here and now, counting their 401k's……letting life come to them…..

They are not struggling….why the hell should you??

You are 58 years old, safe, somewhat healthy, some friends, loved by a Godly woman and maybe one or two of your children and most of your Grandchildren, on a good day!

Just do what 99% of your friends, both Christian and non-Christian, do!!  

Live the free American luxurious life

….dreaming of your next luxurious vacation while lounging in your new home watching Monica Lewinsky’s ex-boyfriend’s wife do battle with a thrice married, billionaire orange clown on your new 65 inch LG 4K Curved TV in the cool comfort of your living room drinking your favorite beverage (Double Oaked Woodford Reserve or a Macchia Cab)!!!

………………………………But then, there is another part of me.  

My wife often times calls it “my impulsive nature” ………….. that scares the hell out of her.  

Its full of adventure and risk taking!

And it gets even more intense when I meet people like the young woman Linda and I had in our home last night!

Bright, full of life and a heart for God.

A heart for Missions!!

A heart for where my heart has been for the last 17 years…..Southeast Asia!

Sure…..I cried…..tearing up right now.  

Our Father is Faithful and he is still working in the hearts and minds of young people!

It was a great encouragement and she wants to visit our children’s home in Pua, Thailand. 

We were impressed with her passion and desire to help the poor as well as her willingness to take a risk to serve the Least.

Eldredge says…..

” When it comes to living and loving, what’s required is the willingness to jump in with both feet and be creative as you go.”

 And…..Wow……..was she willing!!  Unafraid! Bold! Determined!

"Heading off into the unknown with God”, Eldredge says……” there is a time in one’s life when you have to break away.. This is a vital part of our journey and if we balk here, the journey ends.”  

Oswald Chambers speaks words of wisdom when he says….

“There comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. The call of God can never

Be stated explicitly; it is implicit.  The call of God is like the call of the sea,

No one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him.  

It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, because His call is to be in

Comradeship with himself for his own purposes, and the test is to believe that God knows what he is after.

There is no formula!  The only way to live in this adventure with its high stakes and risks and unpredictability is to do exactly what Paul told the Galatians in Chapter 5………

”walk by the Spirit”.

So…………what about you my friend,  are you walking by the spirit into your next Adventure??

Our Father is a Person, Not a Formula! The Legalist is confused!

Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing…………Certainty is the mark of the common sense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.  To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth.  This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.  ( My Utmost for His Highest)

—————Oswald Chambers

The realm of God is dangerous.  You must enter into it and not just seek information about it.

——————Archbishop Anthony Bloom

………….and I have to say that much of my early life as a Believer, was just that!!  I viewed God as just a Doctrine…….and so I studied Doctrines……Armenism, Calvinism, Charismania, Pentecostalism,  Faith Healing, Name it Claim Wealth Doctrines, etc.  And that is what I did…..I sought more and more information…..but not a relationship with my Father in Heaven!!  I knew about His History but not so much about his person.  I know many very knowledgeable men who claim that Doctrine is everything.  They are logical, systematic, clear and precise, convincing and inspiring………but it appears to me………they are also ineffective with Dead Faith and lots and lots of Knowledge about God but little Action.  They have taken little risk in their lives and what I have seen……….they have little joy………caught up in the seeking for more knowledge and the cares of this world.  Lots of discussion about who God is but little action of what He is telling them to do in practice of their Faith.  This is my observation and yes……………. I have been quite judgmental of them but I think and I hope…….. I am getting past that.  I want to learn from my friends……….not become like them or just judge them.  That doesn’t help me or challenge me spiritually.

This life is short and why do I want to live it just “working for the legal tender” as Jackson Browne sings in his famous song The Pretender.  Is my legacy important?  Should it be?  Why do so few people I know and you know take a risk??  I believe we are "Slaves to Fear”……we are afraid of the unknown, uncertainty, becoming poor, dying poor, not having enough of anything……..especially the American Dream.  And that’s why I love this song by Jonathan David and Melissa Helser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxkNj5hcy5E

I am no longer a Slave to Fear……….I am a Child of God

Am I called to be less daring than Joshua in the Battle of Jericho or Gideon when his army was reduced from 32,000 to 300?  They were mere men just like you and me!!!  

I have to agree with Elderidge when he says:

The problem with modern Christianity’s obsession with principles is that it removes 

any real conversation with God.  Find the principles, apply the principle

———what do you need God for?  So Oswald Chambers warns us, 

“Never make a principle out of your experience; 

let God be as original with other people as he is with you."

So give me your original thought about your destiny

………share it………..

Come on……..

Be Un-American!  Take a Risk for a Change!!

WHAT MAKES YOU COME ALIVE?

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs are people who have come alive.”

———Gil Bailie

This is the phrase that helped change Eldridge’s life when he was gasping and grasping for purpose!!  

Are you living a script written for you by someone else?  Are you acting a part that someone else wants you to act but your heart is not there?  Can a world of Posers tell you to do anything but pose yourself?  Why listen to them?

Beuchner says, “We are in constant danger of being not actors in the drama of our lives, but reactors, to go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current is running the strongest.”  It might be a job or your grandchildren or your dream home or your retirement or __________, you fill in the blank.  I have a friend going to the dangerous Middle East……….all for security and retirement bliss.  I was told last week that I needed to have $1.5 million to retire……..total and absolute nonsense……….but the world and others are always wanting you to react from fear…….fear of not having enough $$$, or fame or recognition or comfort or attention…….all selfish stuff but we react to it and believe it all………..All LIES…….a pack of lies from this world 

 

Are you spending most of the energy of your life trying to eliminate or avoid risk?  Most men do!  Many of the people I know and work with and have known for many years are doing all that they can to eliminate the risk of dying poor.  Their lives are consumed with the fear of not having enough money to retire or live a certain lifestyle.  They find security in counting their money.  My Mother certainly did…….spoke of her money often…………loved it and treasured it and was suffocated by it.  Never took a risk with it to help others outside her immediate family and was hell bent on dying rich.  What about dying poor?  What about taking a risk to give until it hurts.  (Mark 8:36)  I met a person recently who is not yet 50 with over a million in savings.  Full of fear that their spouse might leave and they would be less rich.  Searching for purpose outside of Jesus but not knowing what gives security and pleasure.  The money is not enough.  What a wealthy life!!  What a sad life!!

Eldridge is correct when he says………”you can lose your soul, by the way, long before you die.”  And I see and know so many people who have lost their souls………to money, to sex, to greed, to fun and pleasure, to their appearance, etc. and are no where near death.  But is that any way to live?  I have friends who have told me that they are bored in retirement with nothing to do.  Late 50’s with nothing to do……..no one to help or serve or give to???  Bored!???  

But how do you beat boredom?  How do you come alive and seek a life worth living?  You take a risk.  You take an adventure.  If you had permission to do what you really want to do, what would you do?  Forget how.  That’s God’s department.  What is your true heart’s desire?  What gives you great joy and makes you come alive?  I ask these questions of myself because I, like the Author, want "to live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit, not feeding on the compulsions of selfishness.”  

I want to come alive and live life to its fullest.  What about you???

I AM A CHILD OF GOD!

FROM MY MOTHER’S WOMB, YOU HAVE CHOSEN ME.  LOVE HAS CALLED MY NAME.  I’VE BEEN BORN AGAIN INTO A FAMILY.  YOUR BLOOD FLOWS THROUGH MY VEINS.  I’M NO LONGER A SLAVE TO FEAR.  I AM A CHILD OF GOD!  

YOU SPLIT THE SEA SO I COULD WALK RIGHT THROUGH IT!  MY FEARS WERE DROWNED IN PERFECT LOVE.  YOU RESCUED ME SO I COULD STAND AND SING.  I AM A CHILD OF GOD!  

If you can’t worship the Living God to this song, I am not sure it can be done!!!  See below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8TkUMJtK5k