I know the Lord is taking His people to a new place. The only trouble is that we don’t seem to know the way. Many feel that they have been at a dead end. I have felt the same. And so when I am not sure of the next step, the only thing left to do is to stop and offer myself again to the Lord, and invite the Lord to search me and try me and see if there are any hurtful ways in me and then lead me in the way everlasting.
I wrestled all day yesterday trying to write this post. I was restless and frustrated. Then I laid my head down on the pillow it came to me. The way through is to enter His rest and abide in Christ. When I come to a dead end then He must become the door.
Some of the ancient rabbis used to teach that when the High Priest went into the Holy of Holies, he was not able to actually go in unless the Lord reached out and pulled Him through the veil. There was no split in the veil and so the priest would literally be translated through the veil into the Holiest of all. In other words, the only way through the veil was by a supernatural drawing in from the Father. There are some places one cannot "go"; you must be "taken" there.
God is bringing His people to a purer expression of what it means to be His people. But that purer expression is on the other side of the veil of the flesh, of what is possible. It is in the land of the impossible, the realm of the Spirit. It cannot be accessed by striving. We must fall into the kingdom, and be pulled through the veil. There is way through but only in Him.
Even now God’s people are pressing up to the kingdom in an unprecedented way. But there seems to be a delay in going through. We are waiting for the arms of God to reach out and pull us through. We are also waiting for a deeper work of the Spirit to prepare us for the translation. We are going to the place to which there is no natural access. The next stop is the Kingdom and accessing it does not happen in the flesh. “Unless you have been born of water and spirit you cannot enter the Kingdom of God,” Jesus said in John 3.
We are at a dead end but we still have places to go. Much of what the Lord is doing in this hour is preparing a people to receive their inheritance. But that preparation is a heart work, a work of surrender, a fresh circumcision of the heart. “Prepare to come under the knife” the Spirit is saying. And as we do, we will find a deeper place of abiding. That place of deeper abiding is the new place He is taking us.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
A few things I learned from an Amish community seeking the Kingdom of God.
Suzanne and I were privileged this weekend to visit an Amish community that was both open to outsiders and diligently seeking the kingdom of God. What an extraordinary privilege and blessing. We were not sure what to expect. We were invited by some friends from Boise to accompany a group on a ministry trip. We were pleasantly and profoundly blessed by what we encountered there.
There were a number of things that were particularly noteworthy. First of all, it was very evident that the community was full of God's love and that their hearts were open and tender. This was significant for two reasons. To begin with, the Amish are not actually known to be open to outsiders but this group has specifically purposed to open itself to relationships with other christian groups. Which introduces the second reason their openness is so surprising. This particular community has endured a bit of persecution and rejection by some other groups with similar backgrounds for being "too" open. Nevertheless, they have purposed to cleanse themselves of all bitterness and anger for being judged and misunderstood.
Another thing they are doing is thinking generationally. The Amish love children and it is evident from the size of the families as well as from the relative peace of so many living together. Right now they are seeking to raise funds to build a school which will double as a meeting hall and make room for the growing size of the congregation. There is a subtle but significant difference between building in order to grow and building to accommodate growth and purpose. All the families "home school." Home schooling is simply part of the family dynamic woven into the fabric of their lives. But they are also attempting to tap into the community of resources by drawing the children together in one place while still remaining under the same family values.
The Amish have always understood the power of community in raising their families to embrace their values. Now they are incorporating this understanding as they pursue the Kingdom of God. They instinctively know that the Kingdom of God is not just a Sunday topic but a reality that touches every part of life. The Amish live "community" every day. The Kingdom of God is not a religious commodity. It is a flow of life, an economy of love pursued in the atmosphere of heaven and yet touching the realities of every day living.
This Amish community has ceased to cling to exclusive traditions in favor of pursuing the eternal values of the Kingdom. They have not rejected their own culture. They are still Amish. But they are not making those traditions mandatory for inclusion in their community. They are pursuing the difficult and painful process of identifying and separating those distinctives that make them "Amish" from those which are foundational to the Kingdom. They are not building an Amish community but a Kingdom community. Therefore they are growing larger numerically, growing in understanding the Lord's heart and vision, growing in wisdom and stature and growing in impact. Obviously, growing pains are also part of the season but they do not dominate their time or attention.
Here is another significant reality. This Amish community is quickly becoming a "city of refuge" because they are cultivating an atmosphere that not only provides a place to live but a "safe place" to grow up into the likeness of Christ. They are abandoning the legalism of the past and growing in the grace of God. A safe place is where people can make mistakes and not be rejected or threatened for it. Rather they are instructed in the love of God towards wholeness and holiness. In times past this type of place has been relatively hard to find. But it seems that God is rebuilding the cities of refuge for the days to come. I believe the little Amish Community we visited this weekend is one such place.
There were a number of things that were particularly noteworthy. First of all, it was very evident that the community was full of God's love and that their hearts were open and tender. This was significant for two reasons. To begin with, the Amish are not actually known to be open to outsiders but this group has specifically purposed to open itself to relationships with other christian groups. Which introduces the second reason their openness is so surprising. This particular community has endured a bit of persecution and rejection by some other groups with similar backgrounds for being "too" open. Nevertheless, they have purposed to cleanse themselves of all bitterness and anger for being judged and misunderstood.
Another thing they are doing is thinking generationally. The Amish love children and it is evident from the size of the families as well as from the relative peace of so many living together. Right now they are seeking to raise funds to build a school which will double as a meeting hall and make room for the growing size of the congregation. There is a subtle but significant difference between building in order to grow and building to accommodate growth and purpose. All the families "home school." Home schooling is simply part of the family dynamic woven into the fabric of their lives. But they are also attempting to tap into the community of resources by drawing the children together in one place while still remaining under the same family values.
The Amish have always understood the power of community in raising their families to embrace their values. Now they are incorporating this understanding as they pursue the Kingdom of God. They instinctively know that the Kingdom of God is not just a Sunday topic but a reality that touches every part of life. The Amish live "community" every day. The Kingdom of God is not a religious commodity. It is a flow of life, an economy of love pursued in the atmosphere of heaven and yet touching the realities of every day living.
This Amish community has ceased to cling to exclusive traditions in favor of pursuing the eternal values of the Kingdom. They have not rejected their own culture. They are still Amish. But they are not making those traditions mandatory for inclusion in their community. They are pursuing the difficult and painful process of identifying and separating those distinctives that make them "Amish" from those which are foundational to the Kingdom. They are not building an Amish community but a Kingdom community. Therefore they are growing larger numerically, growing in understanding the Lord's heart and vision, growing in wisdom and stature and growing in impact. Obviously, growing pains are also part of the season but they do not dominate their time or attention.
Here is another significant reality. This Amish community is quickly becoming a "city of refuge" because they are cultivating an atmosphere that not only provides a place to live but a "safe place" to grow up into the likeness of Christ. They are abandoning the legalism of the past and growing in the grace of God. A safe place is where people can make mistakes and not be rejected or threatened for it. Rather they are instructed in the love of God towards wholeness and holiness. In times past this type of place has been relatively hard to find. But it seems that God is rebuilding the cities of refuge for the days to come. I believe the little Amish Community we visited this weekend is one such place.
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