Monday, April 28, 2008

To Those Desiring Change in this Army of the Lord

Let us share in zeal. Let us share in passion. Let us be unified in our desire for truth. But let us not be right in our own eyes. Let us seek wisdom and be open to reason. Please, let not the change we wish to see be of our own agenda's. Let us not form the Army to look like ourselves, to make it like ourselves but we must be one in this desire "YOUR KINGDOM COME, OH GOD, YOUR WILL BE DONE" and this alone. Don't be conceited. Don't be arrogant. Don't think that you've got it all together or that you have all the answers to the Army's problems. THERE IS ONE, dear children; ONE INDEED. And He knows how we are to look. Like His Son. Driven by His Spirit.

For it is true "Where there is selfish ambition there is disorder and every vile practice" James 3:16


therefore, don't let your selfish ambition get in the way. If we are going to be one, if this change is going to take place it must be one big unified thrust by the true people of God, not a bunch of ideas and ideals made by our own human reason which can only lead to more disunity and chaos. Let this be your motif: Desire for God's Truth, and Zeal for His house. May it consume US just as it did the Christ who after expressing that zeal proclaimed "My Father's house shall be a house of Prayer" In other words, stop building towers, and proclaiming idle opinions and get on your knees and weep for God's Army, weep that His righteousness be manifested deep within. Cry out to Him for His mercy and grace. Become LOW. Understand your desperate need; understand your poverty (for the Kingdom belongs to such as these!). Understand that ALL good things and ideas and wisdom come from the Living God ALONE, understand His holiness in relation to your need for holiness and cry out for HIS good and perfect will and not your own! And in all of this let our ultimate end be in line with HIS ultimate end. That being the glory and the upholding of His name; as the apostle says "Do all things to the glory of God``.


LISTEN!

Those of us that desire change in the Salvation Army aren't all in agreement when it comes to doctrine or theology or evangelism. We don't all agree with each other's way of doing things, this can potentially ruin things for us. Though this grieves me greatly, that is not what I want to focus on this moment. I want us to focus on that one thing we have in common, that desire we have. That desire for change is a manifestation of the groaning that Paul talks about in Romans 8. This desire isn't of us; it comes from our union with Christ. Though our means of grabbing that which we desire may differ, the end is the same. It's a cry that we have within our spirits for God's will to be done; for Glory! It's something that ALL the people of God share in, not just those in the Army. And it's a cry that we must unleash together; let us not to strive to accomplish it in our own strength. But like babies cry out to Him FOR Him, that He may accomplish what our deepest yearnings call out for, things that have not been seen. I'm talking about hope. The desire for change that we share in is a manifestation of the hope of the people of God. What we need to do is stop tacking our own vision to the hope that we have, I think that's where unhealthy ambition comes from. But we hope for what we do not see and in doing so we wait for it in patience. PATIENCE for what is coming. Faith that it will come. You do well to abide in these things.

So I encourage you to go on in zeal, just as long as you hold fast to the heavenly wisdom expressed in James' epistle. And run in your passion, as long as you delight also in the knowledge that God has provided in His word. Don't put your revelations above scripture, but test everything in the light of scripture. And always always always pray. Don't EVER stop. He will come; He will accomplish what He has promised to His children! So live and breathe and walk in your faith which alone justifies us before Him, and hold fast to the hope to which you were called(a hope that is not seen). Don't grow weary but be fervent in zeal. He was stricken and made low that you may not grow weary. And put on love. Love those that you are unified with in Christ, care and supply for their needs and encourage one another every day. Just as He has loved us, so love one another! Tell of His salvation to the nations that He may be glorified in that Great and Terrible Day!


grace and peace


Jeremy Strain.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Freely receive. Freely give.

How difficult do you find it to have mercy on people?
I think it's easy to say we freely offer mercy when it comes to big obvious things, but what about just people. People who make you angry, people that you know have sinned against you, people who are just difficult to love. 

Often I find that I want to be the potter. 
I see people, I see their defects by sin and I want to fix them, or make them pay. 
I don't think I have ever asked anyone to sacrifice and animal, but there are other ways. 
ex; avoiding them, not praying for them, using other means to make them "make-up" for their behavior that somehow offended me. 
When I was younger I heard in a preach once that when you become a christian, you loose the right to be offended. I'm not sure if I completely agree, but isn't that mercy. Forgiving people and letting go of their offenses when you don't feel like it and they just don't deserve it? 

I've been struggling to offer mercy and grace to people recently. I've been struggling to just love that difficult person to love. I know what I need to do to reconcile myself to them, to offer them mercy and really ask forgiveness for my lack of mercy. Then there is still the issue of why I am having a hard time with this. Then is dawned on me...

Sometimes it's so hard for me to freely receive from the Lord. To accept his mercy in times when I feel like I need to pay from my wrongs. Often times when I mess up, I make myself miserable with disappointment in myself and I leave no room for the mercy of the Lord. How can I give, what I do not have? I must receive in order to give. 
 
This verse gives me comfort;
(Hebrews)14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens,[e] Jesus the Son of God, 
let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

The Lord desires mercy, not sacrifice. (matthew 12)

When you feel like you don't deserve mercy, and others don't deserve it from you.  Know that you can choose to do what the Lords asks of you by will, not matter what you feel like. 
We need to bow to the son of God, not to our feelings. The only way to overcome evil is with good. 
Freely give as you have freely received. Kind of like walking in the opposite spirit. 
If we waited to give mercy when it was deserved, it wouldn't be mercy at all.

Freely receive. Freely give. 

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Michael Collins - War College Faculty

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Life

It's been a while since I've blogged, but an experience today with the kids was so profound that I want to share it. In discipleship with the kids today we shared the story of Ezekiel 33 and the army of dry bones. After having traced the kids outlines on the sidewalk, we had them act out the story of the dry bones while Caitlyn narrated it (Jael was ezekiel, with Caitlyn's help, while the rest lay in their outlines as dead bodies). They understood it all - that a dead army couldn't do anything and that God told Ezekiel to pray for the dead army. God breathed once and they stood up; God breathed a second time and they came alive (and had a dance party, so our version went). When we told the kids that the point of the story is that God brings life, they started jumping and dancing and proclaiming life loudly! When I saw this, I asked them if they could stand on their outlines (of dead bodies) and do the same thing to pray for the Church - so they did! What an incredible prophetic act declaring that their is life for The Salvation Army, for the Church, for the Downtown Eastside, for all! And it was all basically the kids idea. What a moment. It was the highlight of my day by far to see little children, the oldest being four, engaging in warfare and fighting on the side of the life that only God can bring to an army of dry bones.

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Term Three has begun. As I've done for the previous two terms, here's what our daily class schedule looks like so you know what's going on:

Monday - Friday 9:00 am Praying the Bible
Monday 9:30 am - Holiness, J. Evans
Monday 1:00 pm - Squad (accountability groups), C. White, K. Ivany, B. Wulfing, J. Gomez
Tuesday 9:30 am - Advanced Warfare Research Project, C. Evans
Tueday 1:00 pm - Discipleship time
Wednesday 9:30 am - Gardening, A. White
Wednesday 1:00 pm - School of Justice, K. Ivany
Thursday 9:30 am - Comparative Writings, S. Bell
Thursday 1:00 pm - Drill, D. Melanson
Friday 9:30 am - Martyrdom, M. Collins
Friday 12:00 pm - Consistent Life Ethics, K. Walker and A. White
Friday 2:00 pm - Holy Space, J. Evans/Sessiontime

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I've been meaning to blog what books I've been reading because I'm attempting to read one a month this year. So far I've read

January - Be a Hero, S. Court and W. Campbell
February - The Divine Romance, (I forget who wrote it but it was really good, about the relationship between God and his Bride)
March - The Uprising: A Holy Revolution?, O. Munn and S. Court
April - Peace is the Way: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation

So far, I'd reccommend all of them. I'm working on Peace is the Way right now. It's a big book but I'm really enjoying it. There are writings by Martin Luther King Jr., Mohatma Ghandi, Daniel Berrigan, Thomas Merton, and more. I am really coming to love the Fellowship of Reconciliation's work (one more reason for me to move to NY sometime in my lifetime). They are the largest, oldest interfaith peace organization in America. Reconciliation has really been put on my heart by the Lord lately.

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Hope you find these updates useful. Is it really 15 more days until I'm on a plane for a weekend in Chicago? :-D

Peace out,

Megan S