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Spiritual
Center
“The
Journey Of The Heart”
(Word
format click here)
Introduction
This is not
another doctrinal statement, though it is in many ways a
proclamation of whether we really believe what we claim to
believe. These are simply tenets of Truth to help guide us in
the days ahead, grappling hooks we can hang onto when the winds
of the world are howling around us, Light-posts on the Pathway
to show us both where we’re going and how to get
there.
To those
outside our Body of Believers: This is what the Journey of the
Heart has looked like for us, as traveled over the past two
years. This is what it has resembled for a fellowship in flux,
in the midst of a culture and country decaying into the depths
of both degeneracy and demonic deception by the minute.
Body
Clarity of Purpose.
There is so much to be done, so much Spirit-lead labor in the
Cause of our King; it’s a given that we can’t do it all. There
are so many fronts on which to fight in this Battle. It’s
obvious that we can’t fight on every front {which is exactly
what Satan wants: the “sons of God” scattering in a dozen
different directions at once, with no aim, no purpose, no
goal}. But we know now with even greater clarity— two years
farther into the Journey— what our role is in the Story,
the part which we alone have been given to play, and upon that
we center our resources and pray out our plans. The day we turn
our backs on the phenomenal power God releases through prayer,
the lavish provision of grace in the lives of those who love His
presence, is the day we die!
This clarity of mind and consistency of mission is what keeps
us from being or doing what everyone else in the Body of Christ
is being or doing. I have no desire to be ‘mired in
mediocrity;’ and the status quo of Churchianity holds no
fascination for me. Paul wrote to the Roman Church saying, “I
will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has
accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the
Gentiles by word and deed …in the power of the Spirit. …And
thus I aspired to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was
{already} named so that I would not build on another man’s
foundation, but as it is written, ‘THEY WHO HAD NO NEWS OF HIM
SHALL SEE, AND THEY WHO HAVE NOT HEARD SHALL UNDERSTAND,’”
Romans 15:18-21. We recognize the Life which is ours to live;
from that we learn to “love each other” as our Lord
commanded us— John 13:34-35.
Heart’s Journey is, quite simply, a message-centered ministry
and a mission-minded body. Whenever, wherever, however the
Spirit leads we must follow Him in faith. That Message concerns
the healing of our hearts, the restoring of our souls… walking
with God daily and deliberately, from a heart purified by His
power and a life ransomed by His grace. This is the Home we
choose to inhabit as men and women living in the Sacred Story
our God is telling, a Home where our hearts are free to
experience a conversational intimacy with Jesus Christ. Paul
summed it up with characteristic concision when in Philippians
1:21 he said, “For …me, to live is Christ and to die is
gain.” Life = Christ, death = gain,
and everything else is just a second-rate substitute: false
lovers and false gods in a fallen world of fallen wills.
The Apostle’s rallying cry in Galatians 2:20 should resound
from every soul, and live on the tip of every tongue: “I have
been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who
live but Christ lives in me. …The {life} which I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave Himself up for me,” who sacrificed Himself so
that I could live with passion and purpose! And that’s
exactly what I intend to do.
From Conviction to Commitment to Courage.
Our ministry, and everything that comes out of it, should
have as its goal irreversible change, both metanoia
and metamorphe, a deep redirection in our lives because
of our deepening intimacy with the Giver of Life. My goal
{which I believe is quite consistent with the Spirit of the
Living God} is not primarily education, though that certainly
takes place; it’s not emotional inspiration, though that’s a
very real result; it’s not even encouragement, though we realize
the desperate need of many to have courage instilled in
our faltering souls. It’s irreversible change at the deepest
and most fundamental level: the inner transformation of our
hearts and the outer transformation of our lives.
In this process we move from conviction to commitment to
courage— from conviction in the Word to commitment in the Cause
to courage in the Conflict. Conviction in life is knowing
what you believe and believing what you know. The things
you truly believe, those core convictions at the center of your
soul, you will live out of. Commitment to the Cause is staying
true to Who you’ve trusted— to Jesus Christ your King. He
hasn’t let you down yet, and He’s not going to. Courage in the
Conflict is being unafraid to face reality. Get it down and
live it out.
Pursuing the Spirit.
Early Celtic believers often referred to the Holy Spirit as
the ‘Wild Goose,’ a name fit for the wild nature of our God,
unfettered and free. As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You
must be born again.’ [For] The wind blows where it
wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it
comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is
born of the Spirit,” John 3:6-8. They live their lives in
the fulness of faith, unbound by the chains of religion. I’m
not sure if this is where we got it or not, but you can see our
disdain and self-imposed distance from a life lived in the
freedom and grace of the Spirit by the expression, ‘a wild goose
chase.’
Here’s how this works: we consecrate ourselves to Christ
daily {Rom. 12:1-2: body, soul, and spirit}, we submit the
direction and decisions of our lives to the Father {spiritual
submission always precedes spiritual power}, then listen
for the Spirit to speak. Notice the involvement of the entire
Triune Godhead? It may be affirmation that comes, or a
direction / decision that runs completely counter to human
intuition. A principle: The purely rational life is in
direct opposition to the purely spiritual one. What will
not make sense to man makes perfect sense to God. By the way,
rock-solid assurance from God comes only after the first
step of faith. What we want for the most part in modern
Christianity is full-blown affirmation from the Father before we
ever take a single step of faith. Or, even more self-absorbed,
we like to lay out our plans, our designs for a self-directed
life, then bring them before the Throne and ask God to bless
them. As Christian author Dallas Willard once said, “Perhaps we
do not expect” the Spirit of God to lead us “because we know
that we fully intend to run our” own “lives …and have never
seriously considered anything else.” The Spirit of God
“would therefore be an unwelcome intrusion into our
plans.”
{Italics mine.}
Authentic Increase.
I’m not nearly as concerned with numerical growth as I am
with the genuine growth that emanates from a passionate
relationship with the Son of God Himself. Genuine growth,
unshaken by the chaos of the kosmos, comes from a
tender, intimate relationship with the Abba of Jesus.
The Life that you long for can only be found in Him. To believe
otherwise is to deceive oneself, plain and simple. The kind of
community Christianity represents, that Fellowship of the Heart,
and the closeness and camaraderie borne out of it, is a little
difficult to have with three thousand people on a Sunday
morning. My concern as a shepherd is for you… for your
life in God’s love. Above all else it is to see our
hearts set free by the healing hands of the Father, and to see
us living in the Light of His love and the glory of His grace.
That’s it, very simply. We don’t need or want a huge ministry
with regional offices and a legion of employees for that goal to
be accomplished. We need intimacy with the Father and
camaraderie with one another. In short, a Family of Faith we
can lean on, and that will lean on us in return.
Learning to Trust the Tribe.
If you’re a member of this Body, your Band of Brothers and
Sisters just got a whole lot bigger. Practically speaking, that
means there’s a lot more love to draw on and a lot more life to
be lived. And that’s the way it is with a God who knows no
limits: there is always more! Honesty, transparency,
communication and concern: this is how we learn to trust in the
Tribe… as we open our lives to one another. As we’ve shared our
Stories through the past two years— the disastrous victories
and the glorious defeats— and fought valiantly for the
hearts of those around us, the bonds have been
built. They are unbreakable bonds that will last into Eternity,
forged forever by the blood of the Cross. This is the way it
works, this is what I said, and that’s precisely what has
happened.
I want our focus to remain on the Family, our Family, and on
the people the Family is reaching out to, not on a building or
an organization. Our loyalty belongs to the King, not a
corporation. So, take a look around you. Because this is
the Body right here: you are Heart’s Journey {insert the name of
your church here}, not this corporate name, not this place or
property, but this people. In the words of a famous football
coach, “What are we? Mobile-agile-hostile
{to the enemy, that is}.” My own personal belief is that God
has trimmed some of the fat away from our fellowship, unloaded
the unnecessary things that were weighing us down. It is a
trimmed down body, leaner, faster, and more flexible. Even
with that, not in spite of it, God has increased among us a
spirit of dedication and desire. That’s what a Tribe is:
flexible and functional, in the Fight to the finish!
Wings, Wind, and an Unwearied Walk.
The prophet Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 40:31, “those who wait
for the LORD [qavah: the strongest of five Hebrew
words for faith: ‘those who wait for the Lord in faith’] will
gain new strength; they will mount up {with} wings
like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and
not become weary.” There is a progression in the Life God
offers us: soar on eagle’s wings, run like the wind, then walk
unwearied, step after step and mile after mile. So, there is a
progression in ministry as well: you start out slow {maybe even
at a crawl}, then you pick up the pace walking faster and more
determined, and ultimately you run, you take off on a full blown
sprint to the finish.
So that by the time we reach the End of the Race, we will
break the tape and fall gasping into the arms of our Savior.
This assumes that we are not now all that we will be one day.
And that God will lead us into that Life of fullness and
freedom, individually and collectively. It demands on our part
patience and perseverance, and a faith out of which our hopes,
dreams and desires can come to fruition.
Caring for Our Hearts.
In Proverbs 4:23 Solomon instructs each of us, and wisely, to
“watch over your heart with all diligence [‘guard
it, above all else’ {NIV}], for from it {flow} the springs of
life.” This is so important to life in the Conflict of
Christ— to care for your own heart and for those of your
family. Because we live every day on battle-ground we need this
and we need it desperately. We need to spend precious time,
‘valuable time’ {our hottest commodity in the 21st
century} in the Father’s presence. That solitude and silence
alone with Him, being fathered by Him— loved with absolute
affection and accepted unconditionally in His arms— is what
fills our hearts with the treasure that others need to receive.
What will this look like to the world? A rejection of
its values, a conscious neglect of cosmic priorities, and
honestly, who cares? This frequently means saying, “No,” even
at the risk of displeasing others, to more busyness, more
frantic activity in a light-speed life. It may mean saying ‘no’
even to legitimate activity for the sake of our own relationship
with Christ and those we love most. Why? Because we want to
give to others out of abundance, not apprehension, from desire,
not desperation. Jesus told us in John 10:10, that “the
thief comes only to steal, …kill and destroy; I have come that
they may have Life, and have {it} to the full” {NIV},
have it “abundantly.”
Strength and Wisdom.
We live, we work, we relate using the wisdom of the Word and
the strength of the Spirit, who may guide us at times in ways
which directly counter our own insight and intuition. But ways
that are always consistent with the written and revealed Word.
Paul prays in Ephesians 1:17, that the “Father of glory …give
…you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of
Him.” And that “the eyes of your heart may be
enlightened [‘flooded with light’ {TLB}], so that you
will know what is the Hope of His calling, what are the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what
is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
Are we those “who believe” or are we not?
Humility and Honor.
Philippians 2:5 is a command, to “have this attitude in
yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus:” the attitude of
humility. Humility is nothing more and nothing less than
knowing who you are in Christ and living from that place.
It’s neither the arrogance of self-absorption nor the hubris of
self-hatred. Humility is the recognition that all we have, all
we are, and all we ever will be is courtesy of grace; everything
honorable, true, powerful and pure in our lives is a gift from
God. We would do well to remember this, and to pray that all
our relationships— be they major or minor— would be coloured
with the humility of Christ, the love of His Spirit, and the
forgiveness of the Father.
I want to turn now to the practical, to our day to day
operation as an assembly of believers. These were two of the
things God has lead me too, two of the things which have been on
my heart for several years now.
Adjustments and Arrangements.
1. One of the
things lingering in my soul was, considering it might meet with
some resistance, we needed a new name for a new focus, a new
ministry, and a new outlook on other believers and the world.
That we now have.
2. More
devotion to prayer, and a deeper appreciation of its power. The
power is not in the one praying, the power is borne out of our
communion with Christ. We’re going to begin, today, with a
portion of time at the end of each service dedicated to intimacy
with the Almighty. I’m going to lead us in a few moments of
calm and quiet in our rushed and hurried world. If all you can
pray in the pain and heartache of your present circumstances is,
“Father help me; Father deliver me; Father embrace me and
empower me,” then you pray that until you’re finished.
Freedom in the Word.
In John 8:31
“Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed in Him, ‘If you
abide in My Word [‘If you make your Home in the Truth that I
am’], you are truly My disciples [The Message
has: ‘If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you
are My disciples for sure.’]; and you will know the Truth
…and the Truth will set you free,” v. 32. God speaks
to us, first and foremost, through the wisdom of His Word. The
Word of God is the rock-solid ‘something’ we needed to build our
lives on. Every other ounce of wisdom, guidance, divine
direction or spiritual intuition that comes our way must be
examined under the Light of Scripture. Here’s a quick look at
what the Father has already said to His children:
Ø You are my son forever, my daughter eternally— Galatians 3:26; 1
John 3:1.
Ø You are fully forgiven and completely cleansed {purified
perfectly in My eyes}— John 13:10; Titus 3:5; 1 John 1:9.
Ø Your sin-nature has been defeated and your heart circumcised
unto God— Romans 2:28-29, 6:11; Colossians 2:11-12.
Ø The Lord Jesus Christ is now your Life {spiritually, eternally,
and abundantly}— John 10:10, 14:6; Galatians 2:20.
Ø You have a new nature {an eternal identity}— Ephesians 2:4-6—
and a new name— Isaiah 62:2; Revelation 2:17.
The Attitude of a Servant.
Consider this a challenge to motivate our sheep to serve.
This is the Day of Redemption, this is the hour of awareness,
the moment we arise from our slumber and step into the fray!
The time is now; and there is no other. God help us if we turn
our backs on it.
I want to know
if there is anything the Body can do to help, to assist those
who are actively involved in ministry, or if there are
any people looking for a place to serve. Understand that you
don’t need my permission to be intimately involved in the
purpose of God; you need only power, leadership, and a gift from
the Spirit of God. And all those things you already have.
What Should Our
Church Look Like?— Jesus Christ.
Our church ought to be active, in motion, alive, joyful and
vibrant, and above all, gracious and loving. A shepherd cannot
produce that, and his sheep cannot work it up through the
emptiness of emotionalism. If it doesn’t exist, it’s our role
and responsibility to pray and pray and pray until it does. Only
God can produce a church in His likeness! We need a sense of
urgency and zeal in our prayer lives, and we need it like never
before. The time of apathy and indifference is over; quick,
cute little prayers aren’t going to cut it anymore. “Bless this
bread, bless this meat, thank You for this food we eat,” is not
enough in the crucible of crisis.
We want the
three things the world is running from relationally: openness,
honesty, and vulnerability as a people, to be a Family of warm
and welcoming believers. We want those on the outside to say,
like the Romans did of the early Christians, “My, how they love
one another.” That’s the sign for the world to see: that
our discipleship is real and our spirituality works {Jn.
13:34-35}. It remains for each of us to be {and there is no
compromise in a heart of compassion} those who have never
forgotten what it is like to live with a shattered soul, a
broken heart, the suffering of sin, slavery to idols
mentally and emotionally, or self-righteous religiosity. We
have a duty, borne from desire, to lead those bound in the
shadows of sin and shame and chained to the pain of the past
out of the Darkness and into the Light, and to choose for
ourselves— once and for all— never to return.
And finally, our church should be a home where everybody is
welcome— and I mean everybody— regardless of wealth, class,
color, or appearance, whether their social status is high or
low. This is what it means to ‘be like Jesus,’ to live as He
lived and to love as He loved.
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