Category: Different Scriptures

Posted in Different Scriptures

Walking Through our Emotional Forest with Jesus (a prayer prompt)

Posted on by Wick

Read slowly, pausing as needed…

In 1 Samuel 16:7, God tells his prophet Samuel, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Later in Acts 15:8, as non-Jewish followers of Jesus begin to receive the Holy Spirit, Peter proclaims “God, who knows the heart, shows he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as He did to us.” We believe God doesn’t just “look into” our hearts. He knows our hearts already. As those made in His image, we are aware of hearts and emotions, though we cannot know the hearts of others as He can. In moments like this one, we slow down to become aware of our own hearts in His presence, as it’s the only human heart He enables us to know fully. Knowing our own heart prepares us to share our hearts in reciprocal relationships as those made in His Triune image.

With this in mind, I want to invite you to close your eyes for a moment (or at least, stop looking around as you read these words). Take a deep, slow breath and allow the room around you to fade away. Acknowledge intrusive thoughts as they come, and set them aside for later. With your eyes closed, imagine yourself surrounded by a small forest of full, green, leafy trees. Pay attention to the stillness, the quiet, and how refreshing it is just to breathe deep in this space. You are surrounded by life.

As you imagine the trees surrounding you, you begin to notice there are 6 trees, almost in a circle surrounding you. Many smaller trees and shrubs fill in, but you begin to notice these trees seem to hold a special invitation by God for you to approach and consider. These are the 6 primary emotions we often feel, and each is capable of helping us reflect the image of God in a unique way. In these moments we will listen to the heart of God, who knows our hearts, and allow Him to guide our awareness.

The first tree you notice near you, is the tree of Fear. Where have you felt afraid in the past week? What has made you experience anxiety, or feel rejected by others? Ask God to make you aware of how these feelings have been present. (Pause as God guides, before continuing.) “Lord, we confess that we are sometimes afraid. We do not live in perfect trust with you, and the feeling of fear helps us to become aware of where we can turn to You in new ways. Calm our fears, Jesus. We are thankful for your presence even when we are afraid.” (Take a deep, slow breath before continuing.)

The next tree you notice near you, is the tree of Happiness. Where have you felt happy in the past week? What has made you experience being proud, joyful, or optimistic? Ask God to make you aware of how these feelings have been present. (Pause as God guides, before continuing.) “Lord, we are thankful for those moments our happiness comes from those things which delight you. We confess sometimes we seek happiness in ways that are not of you. Holy Spirit, make us more aware of our happiness, and may we experience the sources of Your Joy.” (Take a deep, slow breath before continuing.)

The next tree nearby is the tree of Anger. Where have you felt angry in the past week? What has made you experience feeling hurt, or threatened by others? Ask God to make you aware of how these feelings have been present. (Pause as God guides, before continuing.) “Lord, we confess that we sometimes feel angry. Your Word offers guidance, ‘In your anger, do not sin.’ We ask that you would guide us to understand how our anger reveals opportunities for growth and healing sourced in Your Holy Spirit this week. Set us free from any chains of anger still holding us, and bring your healing even now, Jesus.” (Take a deep, slow breath before continuing.)

As you look around the trees, you notice the next one is labeled Disgust. Where have you felt disgust this past week? What has made you experience disappointment, disapproval, or the desire to avoid others? Ask God to make you aware of how these feelings have been present. (Pause as God guides, before continuing.) “Lord Jesus, you experienced the disgust of injustice. You experienced the disappointments of human misunderstandings or stubbornness. Fill us with your patient compassion even now, for a world and a humanity wounded by sin. We are thankful for how our disgust can make us aware of where You invite us to grow.” (Take a deep, slow breath before continuing.)

Now take a deep breath. We only have two more trees. Notice God is smiling as you spend time walking with Him, aware of these trees together.

The next tree God draws your attention to, is a tree marked Sadness. Where have you felt sad this past week? What has made you experience loneliness, despair, or even guilt? Ask God to make you aware of how these feelings have been present. (Pause as God guides, before continuing.) “Father, we know your heart is tender, as we confess the tenderness of our own hearts before You. We know you wept in Your sadness, and you invite us to come near to you even now, entering Your comforting embrace. Bring healing where our hearts hurt. Help us to always be honest with our sadness, even as You show us the hope of your eternal healing, where sorrowful tears will be no more.” (Take a deep, slow breath before continuing.)

Finally, we see the 6th tree of our short hike, one labeled Surprise. Where have you felt surprised this past week? What has made you experience confusion, amazement, or being startled? Ask God to make you aware of how these feelings have been present. (Pause as God guides, before continuing.) “Lord Jesus, we are thankful for the process of learning to trust You through the unknowns. Just as Your disciples, we follow You while only seeing what is necessary to take each new step forward. Make us humbly aware of how Your surprise reveals the whimsical joy of our loving creator this week. As we walk side by side with you, startle us with revelations of Your goodness and Love.” (Take a deep, slow breath before continuing.)

“And now, Father – Son – and Holy Spirit, as we open our eyes and the trees begin to fade – help us to continue seeing with Your heart-centered vision. Reveal to us how each new feeling invites us to know ourselves as You know us, and Love us. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.”

Posted in Different Scriptures, Different Thoughts

A Gathering of Thunder…

Posted on by Wick

(Warning: Spoiler Alerts from the movie “Thunderbolts”. Do not read unless you’re okay with that.)

Confession: I enjoy Marvel movies. I grew up with the X-Men, and superheroes in general were always fun to keep up with. I don’t know them nearly as well as those who are well-versed in the comics. But I’m familiar enough to enjoy keeping up with the new movies. I also believe imagination and the arts are an important part of our prayer and spiritual life, so I’m always encouraging our girls to pay attention to where Kingdom Truths are being revealed or expressed in culture.

With all of this in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie “Thunderbolts*” recently. If you’re a Marvel purist, you may not enjoy this post. But if you’re open to it, I believe the movie illustrates beautifully some important Kingdom truths, especially as we experience them in our present cultural deficits.

  1. Emotional Health is real, and a real need even (and especially) for Christians. In her role as a pastor, my wife is leading a group through the book “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality“. It has been a blessing to share the journey with her and others. Toward the beginning, Yelena shares advice with Bob to “stuff it down deep” to his question of what to do with the “emptiness”. An emotionally healthy person can be aware and respond authentically with self-regulation even to unpleasant emotions. Pretending everything is fine and peace exists, when there are real challenges or biological alerts that something is not okay, denies a major part of who God has created us to be. As we see toward the end of the movie, this creates a “shadow self” which is not our real and authentic self. We become focused more on controlling and manipulating both ourself and others without recognizing the humanity of anyone. In fact, (as illustrated poignantly in the “Dark Sentry” moments) we “dehumanize” others, displacing their authentic self, consuming them for our purposes in ways that leave them as isolated as we were feeling in the first place. As we do this, the darkness we thought we had “dealt with” grows – no longer within us, but demanding space out in the reality we exist in. Such a dehumanizing darkness continues to cause isolation, both within us from our true selves, but also between us and others (especially the most “otherly” of others), and between us and God.
  2. Our Goals are Dis-ordered. We see a collection of “dis-ordered” goals, in Ox Corp’s attempt to create the most powerful “super-soldier”, called “The Sentry”. He would be male, obviously, and have no weaknesses or limitations. So many of these same goals can be found woven through our society, especially as seen in our pursuit and use of technological advances. Andy Crouch does a great job highlighting these pursuits in what he calls “the Magic”. The goal is to maximize productivity (profit/power/etc.) with minimal effort, and disregarding the human/environmental costs. We want to be as close to being “a god” as possible. We want to know everything, transcend every limit, and make anything we need or want accessible instantly (instant gratification). We want to be omnidesirable (I made up this word, but we want to be in a perpetual state of “camera ready” without vulnerable flaws or imperfections.), omniscient (have access to all knowledge in our pockets), and omnipresent (having internet capabilities connecting the globe wirelessly). We want to defend our ability to have and be these things so strongly, anyone who seems to stand in our way is no longer a person but an object – an obstacle to be removed in our pursuits. Jonathan Haidt has a bestselling book about how this cycle of anxious pursuit is unsustainable and dis-integrating. At several points in the movie, we hear a voice of reason questioning these goals being pursued without regard for the persons involved. Mel, who is Valentina’s assistant tries to point out the risks involved in offering limitless expectations to someone who is emotionally wounded, or at best very undeveloped. By offering all these divine-like promises of our culture to every child as young as they’re able to hold a screen/device – perhaps we’re doing the exact same thing?
  3. Healing comes in authentic relationship/community. Many books and podcasts are finally announcing what the research has been long showing us – to quote John Donne, “No man is an island.” I’ve loved the research being done by leaders like Dr. Curt Thompson, and the writing of Dr. Jim Wilder in areas of interpersonal neurobiology. There is so much healing available to us when we purposefully pursue vulnerability in committed community with a small group of others. We’ve “discovered” what God revealed in scripture long ago – we are made in the image of a Triune God who literally IS relationship (and invites us to exist within that relationship), revealed in Jesus Christ. We cannot exist in healthy or redemptive ways in our isolation, or in the false versions of community most of us settle for provided by social media. “Media” means “in the middle”, and so we’re reminded that a “mediated presence” through technology is not an embodied presence. It can be a helpful tool at times, but should never be seen as anything more than a supplement or liminal space to actual in-person relationships wherever possible. When God wanted to invite us back into restored relationship with Him, He was not content to send a message to us, or even appear in the clouds. He came in the flesh, walked among us, and invites us to “become His body” by the power of the Holy Spirit still today. This is what every local church seeks to be, as our specific/temporal expression of the Church across all time and space. This is our hopeful and redemptive path of response to all the “darkness/isolation” caused by turning away from God in the first place (see Genesis 3).

Just as Yelena was encouraged, we are those who “shine the light” in response to darkness (John 1:5). We do not attempt to do this on our own, but together with others. We live in this direction humbly, confessing our faults to each other, and being loved/restored each time – as we grow in the direction of more readily being those with strong attachments to our God who is Love. This will take grace, in every direction. This will take practicing forgiveness and reconciliation as an act of tangible love, even and especially where it doesn’t make sense according to the world. When this happens invitationally, even those who thought they were completely lost to darkness already can be integrated into the healing community sourced in the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus Christ. Not only integrated, but becoming part of His living and ongoing invitation to all others to come and be soaked in the healing realities of Father, Spirit, and Son. That sure sounds like a great commission…(pun intended).

Posted in Different Scriptures, Different Thoughts

effective (mens/womens) ministry

Posted on by Wick

“Revival will not come through your children’s ministry….Revival will not come through your women’s ministry….Revival will come when we turn the hearts of men back to God.” (source purposefully not mentioned)

These were from the final moments of a recent message I listened to. Maybe you agree and are passionate about these words. Maybe you hear the imbalance in them, as I did. I was given this message by a dear friend, who was excited to share. I listened because I trust his heart. In the first few moments of the message, and several points throughout, I wanted to turn it off. Complaints about the “feminization of the church”. Complaints about poetic songs about “Drowning in an ocean of His Love”. Complaints about flowers and fonts/colors that are too soft and effeminate, accusing these things as the reason men are no longer drawn to local churches. My Bible sure seems to have some beautiful poetic images (the speaker himself even talks about us being the “poiema” of God), words about noticing the flowers, and descriptions of colors.

He then went on to make a list of 3 “Voids” that exist in men today, declaring as if prophetically that if churches addressed these specific needs for men we would see a new revival of God’s Spirit in our churches. I’m glad I kept listening to the message, because I believe he’s right. Although not in the way he might think. I hear his accusations of the ineffectiveness of silos in ministry like “Children’s” or “Women’s” (or “Youth Group” or “Young Adult” or “Singles”, et al). But I don’t believe addressing the silo of “Men’s” ministry will do anything beyond manufacturing the same sort of “boost” (even with amazing limited impacts) any of these ministries offer.

Yet there is still a powerful truth in the 3 “Void’s” he identifies. I believe these voids exist not just for men, however. I believe these are 3 powerful avenues of healing needed for all men, women, and children in our world today. The speaker was spot on when he focused on different generations connecting in deep, Jesus-honoring relationships. I believe if a church can connect younger men with older men, and younger women with older women, and nurture confessional communities where “Truth-telling”, forgiveness, and prayer are part of our DNA, the Holy work of the Spirit of God will breathe a revival deeply needed for the healing of the nations.

  1. First he mentioned an “Affirmation Void”. Specifically he talked about young men whose fathers never communicated their love for them. I don’t need to prove to you, this is not a male-centered experience of life. Plenty of young women would have loved to hear “I know and love you. I’m proud of you. I enjoy time with you.” Each generation of parenting has focused on different things. As parents, we feel the pressures of the world around us and we want to prepare our children for success. When we move away from a trusting relationship with God and our own Belovedness, our children become “products” we help create, or “proof” of why we should be valued/affirmed in a world we seek the approval of. Whether we’re strict and value their success, or we’re relaxed and value their freedoms to experiment, we can focus so intently on resourcing what they’re becoming that we forget to focus on loving who they’re becoming.
    • So how do we respond? We purposefully become and nurture spaces/times where affirmation is practiced, strengthened, and experienced (Ephesians 4:29), especially across generations. We help all our generations become aware of their feelings, in order to examine our emotional responses. As I become more “attached” to the Love of God both directly, and indirectly through others, I have more freedom to love my children for who they are – separate from any of my identity coming from theirs. We foster moments where connections are happening between generations – inspiring older generations to continue dreaming and younger generations to have visions for who they can become. (Acts 2:17)
  2. Second he mentioned a “Community Void”. He talked about men feeling alone, like no one else knows them, or know one else experiences life like they do. It probably isn’t surprising to anyone to hear, with so much being said about our current “lonliness epidemic”, that there’s only a 1% difference between the experienced lonliness of men and women (Even with women being perceived as having the ability to share more deeply about their emotions.). Our world is just not conducive to building and sustaining intimate committed friendships across time. My wife is ridiculously gifted at this, and I’m so thankful for the ways she has set an example for me, and continues to invite me to consider my own friendships. Our world offers unlimited shallow connectivity with just enough dopamine and cycles of activity to make us feel like we’re generating authentic community. One of the lies of our world is that intimacy can only come through sexual relationships, which has become the source of so much disintegration in those seeking intimacy. But connection, even sexual, is not relationship – we know this by now, when we’re willing to be a Truth-telling community. We have huge amounts of activities (even as churches) that do not deepen our experiences of knowing, being known, loving and being loved. The speaker pointed at all the young men addicted to pornography and video games as proof. I believe him, but I don’t believe young women are doing any better just because they turn to different false sources of connection.
    • So how do we respond? We purposefully become and nurture places where authentic intimate relationships can happen. We talk about, and give a shared vocabulary to our need for the healing intimacy that can only be found as we’re reconciled to God in Jesus by His Holy Spirit. We offer and encourage things like “Discipleship Bands” (John Wesley called these “Band Meetings” for banded discipleship) where Truth-telling, forgiveness, and prayer together help make our Beloved-ness something tangibly experienced. We offer co-ed “Small Groups” (John Wesley called them “Class Meetings“, you might call them “Transformation Groups”.) As this kind of relational intimacy becomes part of our DNA, we will not only experience healing for ourselves, but we become a source of healing for our communities. This is a shared biological need, the need for felt connection. So we can trust that a Jesus who desires healing (the root meaning of the word “salvation”) will always join us by His Spirit when we as the Church seek to invite others to this.
  3. The Third and final “Void” he mentions (though I’m sure there could be more) is what he called the “Agency/Authority Void”. By this he means, we have so many young men who feel stuck in cycles of sin, powerless to advance in their spiritual life. I write this as a man, but I’m pretty confident the modern approaches many of us grew up with, left many of us of both genders feeling this way. Many of us were told what sin was, and to avoid it. We were given unlimited content, apologetics, and even today have access to the most inspirational presenters from across the world. The assumption was, the more correct and encouraging information we can put in our brains, the more transformation will occur. Unfortunately we can end up drowning in content, feeling no more deeply attached to the Love of God in our soul’s deepest sense of self. Both current neurological research and ancient spiritual practices proclaim we are less influenced by what we think than what/who we love.
    • So how do we respond? I believe the ways we addressed the first two “Voids” above will automatically contribute greatly to this third area. I also believe we must become places and nurture experiences of God’s perfecting Love alongside the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our world often believes the loving approach to any particular is to reduce the expectations, boundaries, or limits. But with less integrity in our boundaries, it makes sense we would see increased dis-integration in our world. The good news of Jesus Christ is that we have received a Lord who became like us, served us to the point of it killing Him, and conquered even death itself in order to join and empower us. By His Holy Spirit, He shares that victory with us, reconciling us to relationship with God. We can deepen not just our knowledge, but our experience of that relationship in Spiritual Disciplines. From within that relationship in Jesus’ name, we share His authority over all the forces of darkness we do not understand. We are set free not only from impact of others’ sin, or the guilt of our own sin, but also freed from the power of continued cycles of sin. John Wesley called this “Entire Sanctification”, which the speaker also alluded to in his message. I believe if our local churches become communities who preach/live this message not as a judgmental indictment, but as a loving confession and invitation toward healing – we will humbly invite a revival the Holy Spirit has already begun and desires to accomplish in our midst.

May it continue to happen in my heart. May it happen through our Churches, and for the sake of our neighbors. May His Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.