• About
    • Welcome
    • Prayer Partners
    • Ministry Partners
    • Angel Partners
    • How to Promote
    • Crowdfunding
    • Statement of Faith
    • The Desert Warrior
    • The Temptations of the Cross (A Novel)
    • Jesus was an Alien (and Other Stories of Faith)
  • Desert Warrior
    • Tears of the Desert Warrior – The Absurdity of an Abnormal Existence
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
      • 1. The Secular Problem of Evil
      • 2. The Essence of Religion
      • 3. The Heart of the Human Experience
      • 4. The Moral Interpretation of Religion
      • 5. Finding Life in the Face of Death
      • 6. Reality, Language and Meaning
      • 7. The Myth of Human Morality
      • 8. The Dangers of the Divine Ethic
      • 9. The Religious Problem of Evil
      • Conclusion
    • Whispers of the Desert Warrior – Evidence of the God who is There
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
      • 1. The God Who is There
      • 2. The Breath of Life
      • 3. Pride and Prejudice
      • 4. The Divine Perspective
      • 5. Return to Babel
      • Conclusion
    • God of the Desert Warrior – Evil and the Goodness of God
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Desert Warrior – Finding Strength in Difficult Times
      • Series Introduction
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Way of a Desert Warrior – How the Desert can give you Courage
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Heart of a Desert Warrior – How Reality can set you Free
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
    • The Life of a Desert Warrior – How a Conversation can Change your Life
      • Prologue
      • Introduction
  • Family Secrets
    • Family Secrets – Chapter One
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Two
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Three
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Four
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Five
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Six
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Seven
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Eight
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Nine
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Ten
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Eleven
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Twelve
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Thirteen
    • Family Secrets – Chapter Fourteen
  • Jesus was an Alien
    • Preface
    • Created For His Pleasure
    • 1. Charles Benton. Neighbor.
    • 2. The Wedding
    • 3. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
    • 4. Truth in Flip Flops
    • 5. Jesus was an Alien
    • 6. Lucifer at the Cross
    • 7. The Way of the Desert Warrior
    • 8. The Anointing
    • 9. The Tower of Babel
    • 10. The Eight Year Old Evangelist
    • 11. Dr. House. Brilliant. Idiot.
    • 12. The Old Lady and the Giant
    • Return of the Prodigal
  • Seeking Jerusalem
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 1 to 10
      • Day 1 – The Plan
      • Day 2 – The Confession
      • Day 3 – The Rebuke
      • Day 4 – The Denial
      • Day 5 – The Judgment
      • Day 6 – The Power and The Glory
      • Day 7 – Holiness
      • Day 8 – The Cost (1)
      • Day 9 – The Cost (2)
      • Day 10 – Transfiguration
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 11 to 20
      • Day 11 – Desert Warriors
      • Day 12 – Revealing the Glory
      • Day 13 – Maturity
      • Day 14 – Spiritual Conversations
      • Day 15 – Hard Questions
      • Day 16 – The Weakness
      • Day 18 – Your Life Ministry
      • Day 19 – The Gift of Significance
      • Day 20 – Joshua
      • Day 17 – Spiritual Warfare
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 21 to 30
      • Day 21 – True Confessions
      • Day 22 – The Courage of Confession
      • Day 23 – Brokenness
      • Day 24 – The Culture of Grace
      • Day 25 – FaithWalk
      • Day 26 – Dr. House. Brilliant. Idiot.
      • Day 27 – Healing Power
      • Day 29 – Spiritual Unity
      • Day 28 – Spiritual Trust
      • Day 30 – The Anointing
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 31 to 40
      • Day 31 – The Sanctification Gap
      • Day 32 – The Sweet Spot
      • Day 33 – Hosea and Gomer
      • Day 34 – The Wedding
      • Day 35 – The Delivery
      • Day 36 – The Struggle
      • Day 37 – The Helper
      • Day 38 – The Secret
      • Day 39 – Messianic Prophesy
      • Day 40 – The Gathering Darkness
    • Seeking Jerusalem – Days 41 to 50
      • Day 41 – Dark Night of the Soul
      • Day 42 – The Divine Irony
      • Day 43 – Truth on Trial
      • Day 44 – The Descent into Hell
      • Day 45 – Death Comes in Darkness
      • Day 46 – The Divine Sting
      • Day 47 – Divine Visitation
      • Day 48 – The Kingdom Come
      • Day 49 – Transformation
      • Day 50 – The Road to Jerusalem
  • Temptations
    • Prologue
    • 1. Death of a Warrior
    • 2. The Old Man in the Temple
    • 3. Memories from the Past
    • 4. Battle Over Jerusalem
    • 5. Passover in the Holy City
    • 6. The Shedding of Blood
    • 7.Messianic Prophecy
    • 8. Ten Divine Words
    • 9. The Days of Artistry
    • 10. Breaking the Alliance
    • 11. The Covenant of Promise
    • 12. Birth Pangs
    • 13. Temptation in the Desert
    • 14. Prophet, Priest, and King
    • 15. Mobilizing the Forces
    • 16. The Gathering Darkness
    • 17. The Dark Night of the Soul
    • 18. The Divine Irony
    • 19. Truth on Trial
    • 20. The Descent into Hell
    • 21. Death Comes in Darkness
    • 22. The Divine Sting
    • 23. Divine Visitations
    • 24. Thy Kingdom Come
    • 25. Transformation
    • Epilogue
  • The Roman Road
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 1-10
      • Day 1 – All Roads Lead to Rome
      • Day 2 – “Let me Introduce myself….”
      • Day 3 – “….and my Ministry”
      • Day 4 – The Fight with Peter
      • Day 5 – Getting our Hearts in the Right Place
      • Day 6 – Getting our Heads on Straight
      • Day 7 – ……and the Demons tremble.
      • Day 8 – The Five Pillars of Evangelism
      • Day 9 – Truth in Flip Flops
      • Day 10 – A Conversation with Jesus
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 11-20
      • Day 11 – Jesus Was An Alien
      • Day 12 – Don’t Kill the Messenger
      • Day 13 – The Holy Hiatus
      • Day 14 – The Dilemma of Love
      • Day 15 – The Enigma of Evil
      • Day 16 – Dr. House. Brilliant. Idiot.
      • Day 17 – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
      • Day 18 – No Wonder God is Upset
      • Day 19 – Suppressing the Truth
      • Day 20 – A Law Unto Themselves
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 21-30
      • Day 21 – Intelligent Design for Stupid Fools
      • Day 22 – Evil is it’s Own Punishment
      • Day 23 – The Revelation of Wrath
      • Day 24 – But for the Grace of God
      • Day 25 – I’m A Good Guy
      • Day 26 – The Sin of Jonah
      • Day 27 – Reality is the Ultimate Judge
      • Day 28 – Obedience is the Ultimate Goal
      • Day 29 – The Heart is the Ultimate Standard
      • Day 30 – Blasphemer or True Heart
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 31-40
      • Day 31 – Sin Addiction
      • Day 32 – Friendship with God
      • Day 33 – Breaking the Alliance
      • Day 34 – Religious Virtues
      • Day 35 – Spiritual Warfare
      • Day 36 – The Path
      • Day 37 – The Holy Guarantee
      • Day 38 – Charlie Benton. Neighbor.
      • Day 39 – The Sacred Moment
      • Day 40 – The Nature of Our Struggle
    • Walking the Roman Road of Salvation – Days 41-50
      • Day 41 – The Quality of Our Struggle
      • Day 42 – Walking In The Spirit
      • Day 43 – More Than Conquerors
      • Day 44 – Living Sacrifices
      • Day 45 – Love Must Be Sincere
      • Day 46 – The Secret
      • Day 47 – Resurrection Maturity
      • Day 48 – Kingdom Evangelism
      • Day 49 – Seeking Jerusalem
      • Day 50 – Walking with Purpose

Desert Warrior Ministries

~ A Burden of Glory

Desert Warrior Ministries

Tag Archives: spirituality

“Spiritual Warfare”

02 Friday Mar 2018

Posted by Bert Amsing in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cross, crucifixion, Death, Discipleship, Lent, Lenten Season, spiritual warfare, spirituality, Suffering

Temptations2The Way of the Cross – Lenten Season 2018

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV).

Discipleship and Spiritual Warfare

Uuggghh! It was so frustrating talking to this woman.

Of course I didn’t let it show and my smile was more or less genuine but the truth still lingered in the corners of my eyes.

It was like I surrounded myself with these people, misfits and homeless and emotionally unstable and even a bit crazy. I started to tick them off in my mind one by one. Charlie, Leticia, Silvana, Fernando….

I said goodbye and started to walk away thinking about my life and how I had gotten here, to this place surrounded by difficult people everywhere I looked.

Every one of them was a problem. What did someone call them? Yes, I remember. Well-intentioned dragons. They sucked at your energy and drained you of your motivation. What would Jesus do with these people?

I stopped in my tracks. My smile fading….

What would Jesus do?

That was easy. He had surrounded himself with these same type of people and he had done so on purpose. Peter, always jumping in before he thought things through. James and John with their reputation for fighting. They even had a nickname, “The Sons of Thunder.” I bet there was a story behind that. And the way James was always working the power angle, trying to get himself and his brother into the best seats beside Jesus. And don’t forget Simon the zealot and Judas Iscariot. One ready to lay down his life in the battle against Rome, paranoid, even obsessive, no doubt. And the other? Urbane, sophisticated but really a scoundrel and a thief, ready to betray his Master for thirty pieces of silver. Maybe it was a trick to get Jesus to commit to the revolution against the Romans, to use his power to free their people, but that was no excuse. It was still betrayal and it was still wrong. Ultimately it cost him his life and his place in the Kingdom of God.

I sighed.

Jesus had it a lot worse but he had chosen each one of them knowing who and what they were. I was trying to avoid these people like the plague.

And what about you? The thought came into my head just that instant. Me? It was a good question. I wasn’t much better. Yes, I might be the Pastor but that didn’t make me any great catch either. I could be a pain in the neck too. Just ask my wife.

I chuckled out loud.

In any event, it would be resolved tonight at a special meeting with the Board. They made the mess. They can clean it up.

I straightened out some of the chairs and picked up a hymnal and put it back on the shelf. I heard the front door open and someone come in.

“Hello Pastor,” he called. It was Hank, one of the members of the church.  Never on the Board or in a leadership position.  He made people uncomfortable.

“Hey, Hank. How are you?” I hoped my lack of enthusiasm wasn’t evident in my voice. I liked Hank. Really I did. It was just that he was…….what was the word? Difficult. Yes, that was it. He was also a dragon and well-intentioned no doubt, but still a thorn-in-my-flesh.  Prophets usually are, the thought came into my mind but I shook it off.

“Just stopped by for a chat,” he said with a big smile. “That is, if you have some time…”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.” It wasn’t easy to say no to Hank. I always felt like I needed to be careful with him around. He was different. Smart as anything and very knowledgeable about the Word of God but he always had an opinion about everything and it wasn’t always positive.

We walked over to a couple of chairs and sat down. Nobody really came to the church during the day so we would not be interrupted.

“How can I help you, Hank?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about this meeting you’re going to have today,” Hank said. “I just wanted to pray with you a bit beforehand if you don’t mind.”

How can you say no to prayer? But I wanted to know why he thought it was important enough to come over to the church in the middle of the day. So I asked him.

“It’s probably the most important meeting that you or the church will have this week, maybe even this month,” he said.

Really? Why? It was just a short meeting with one of the ladies that claimed to have been treated badly by the church before I had arrived to become the Pastor of our little international congregation. We needed to resolve the problem by talking it out and getting some reconciliation going between people, especially when it involves the elders.

“Don’t you think it’s important?” Hank looked at me carefully.

“Of course I do,” I said. “We’ve talked about this before, Hank. I believe that reconciliation is the key to pleasing God and receiving his anointing on our ministry as a church. If we want to grow, we need to do things God’s way and this is at the heart of the matter.”

“I hear the words, Pastor John, but I’m not sure you really believe them yourself.”

Well, that was blunt. I didn’t know how to respond. I wanted to get angry. I was hurt but I was also confused. I took a deep breath and asked him quietly, “Why do you say that?”

“I’m sorry if I offended you. That was not my intention. In fact, I agree with you totally and most churches and many pastors don’t even go there. The ministry of reconciliation is difficult and dangerous and can even be deadly if we don’t treat it carefully with much prayer and fasting.”

“You think I’m not praying or fasting?” I blurted out.

“Are you?”

“Of course I am.”

“When?”

“When, what? Are you checking up on me now?” Yes, I was getting bothered. Even angry.

“No, you’re right. Don’t answer that. I just know that I tell people all the time that I will pray for them but I don’t really do it much or with much passion. Maybe I’m just projecting my weaknesses on to you.” Hank hung his head for a moment and I didn’t know what to say.

Then Hank began to talk to Jesus. It wasn’t prayer like I normally prayed. He just started talking to him as if he was sitting right next to us. He poured out his heart and asked for forgiveness. At one point he grabbed my hands and tears squeezed out of his eyes. I was watching him covertly while pretending to pray with him throwing in the occasional “Amen” or “Yes, Lord.” He prayed fervently for the meeting later that afternoon and called on God for protection for me and the board and for Silvana.

Protection?

When Hank was done, he waited in silence and I realized that I should pray too. Five minutes later Hank was on his way and I walked a bit bewildered into the kitchen where my wife was making lunch.

“Who was that, dear?” she asked.

“Oh, Silvana was here earlier and then Hank came for a few minutes to pray.”

“How is Silvana doing? Is she ready for the meeting this afternoon?

“She’s scared,” I confessed. “She doesn’t want to come alone. She wanted to invite Hank’s wife, Anita, to come to the meeting with her but Anita said that Silvana needed to come alone.”

“Why was she scared?”

“I don’t know. I don’t get it.” I started to get a bit hot under the collar. “She makes this whole thing a big deal when it really is quite simple and straightforward. The board handled her situation badly. Everyone is going to apologize and we will move forward. That’s it….”

“Well, it’s not quite that simple, dear. I heard her testimony at our women’s conference last month and Silvana is someone who has lived with rejection and pain most of her life.” My wife put the stove on simmer, then took my hand and we both sat down at the kitchen table. “Listen,” she said. “You’ve got to take this a bit more seriously.”

“You sound like Hank,” I said.

She just smiled at me.

“Okay, okay. I get it. She has been rejected all her life. I heard she was adopted. That couldn’t have been easy for her.”

“Not just adopted but also rejected by them. They have money but refuse to help her and have practically left her on the streets with nothing to her name. Sure, she has emotional problems. Wouldn’t you? But she loves God and she is always willing to seek reconciliation with the people she’s offended.” My wife paused for a moment. “You always say that seeking reconciliation is a sign of the Holy Spirit at work in someone’s heart. Right?”

“Yes, of course,” I said. “I believe she’s a Christian and loves the Lord and I understand the pain our church gave her when she was living here. They handled it badly, apparently. She needed to go and find her own place but they were too abrupt and not very helpful in the process.”

“It’s more than that, John,” my wife said. “One thing is the specific need she had at the time and the other is the relationship that she has with the church, especially the leaders. They told her to go away and never come back…”

There were tears forming in my wife’s eyes and I had to look away.

“And it isn’t the first time this has happened,” she said quietly. “It’s almost as if they just want to get rid of problem people and not deal with them at all.”

I thought of my attitude a couple of hours earlier. I was just as guilty as they were….

My wife sat silently. Probably praying…

Maybe this was more important than I realized.  I hesitated, wanting to say something else….

“Just before Hank left, he said something strange. He said that the ministry of reconciliation was spiritual warfare. I hadn’t thought of it that way before.”

“Some things only come out with prayer and fasting,” my wife said. “Hank’s wife told me that once. I thought she was talking about demons or something but I think it applies to all kinds of evil.”

“Do you think we are dealing with evil here?”

“Yes, I do,” she said quietly. “It’s in us as well, not just the board. We have to take it seriously.”

I sighed heavily. “I guess anything that gets in the way of God’s anointing is evil.”

“That’s a good place to start,” my wife said. “You are always saying that the ministry of reconciliation is the key to spiritual power in the church.”  She smiled.

“True.” I was quiet for a long moment. “Hank doesn’t think I’m taking it seriously enough,” I said.

“Is he right?”

“I’m not sure how to take it more seriously.” I shifted in my seat. “I feel like I’m out of my depth, like I’m drowning in a pool of good intentions and nice people that haven’t a clue as to what’s really going on. And I’m one of them.”

My wife laid her hand on my arm and said, “That’s a good start. Confession is where truth can get a foothold, you always say. Go take your nap and then get ready for the meeting and let’s see what God does with this mess.”

I nodded wearily and trudged up the stairs to lay down for a few minutes.

An hour later I was up, took a shower and got ready for the meeting. “Lord,” I prayed silently. “I put these people and this meeting in your hands.”   Then I went downstairs and met with the prayer team and had them focus on the spiritual battle that lay ahead. They would surround the church, walking around it while they prayed.

Our board wasn’t very big, just three people. One of them brought their wife with them. That was unusual but not a big deal. Silvana showed up on time and I called the meeting to order. We prayed for a moment before we started and then I got down to business.

“Everybody knows each other here so let’s just get started,” I said.

“No, no,” Silvana said. “Let me talk first.  May I?” She was always a bit abrupt in her manner but I wanted her to feel comfortable so I waved at her to indicate that she could start.

“I just want to apologize to all of you for what happened last year. It was my fault. I was off my meds and having a rough time emotionally and I took it out on you.” She went on for a bit explaining what was going on in her life at that time and we all listened quietly. Finally, she was finished.

“Apology accepted,” said the head elder. His name was Arnold. He was a preaching elder that had led this small congregation for years. He was a pillar of the church and his wife, Annie, was involved in everything from the fellowship committee to the potlucks once a month to singing in the choir. They were good people. Solid. God-fearing. “But I have something to say as well…”

I looked up at him sharply. This was interesting.

“I also need to make an apology. I handled the situation all wrong. I treated you badly, Silvana and I am so sorry.” His eyes glistened. Was he crying? “It wasn’t just the fact that you needed a place to stay. After all, we gave you a place in the church in the back room for almost six months. We also gave you some money to get you started somewhere else. But that isn’t the point. I was just trying to get rid of a problem. ”

“You told her never to come back,” his wife said gently.

He nodded, his head hung low, unable to look anyone in the eye. “I’m sorry. That was wrong. Please forgive me.”

I was holding my breath. It was absolutely silent in the room. Silvana didn’t say anything which was very unusual for her. Finally, one of the other elders spoke up. His name was Peter. He was talking to Arnold.

“You know I always supported you, Arnie,” he said. “But when this happened, I was uncomfortable. I didn’t like it but I went along with you anyway.  I thought I was being loyal.” He paused. “But maybe I was being loyal to the wrong person.” He turned to Silvana. “You are a sister in Christ. We have a bond that goes way beyond family or friendship. I am sorry that I didn’t have the courage to protect you from this abuse of our authority. I am ashamed of myself. Please forgive me.”

Again, silence in the room. It stretched on into agony. Suddenly, I thought maybe I was supposed to say something, but before I could speak, I heard a sob from Santiago, our third elder.

“I don’t know what I’m doing being an elder,” he said. He was having a hard time maintaining his composure. “This is the second meeting this month that we have had with someone that we’ve hurt as a board. And I can think of three or four others that we should probably talk to as well and that’s without half trying.” He stopped, gulping.

“Pastor John has been preaching on the ministry of reconciliation and the priority of healthy spiritual relationships, healed through confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. It’s hit me hard. I’ve never really heard this stuff before. Pastor John and I have been getting together a lot to talk about this and praying but I really have no business being an elder. I just make things worse.”

“You and me both,” Arnold said, and Peter nodded as well.

I had to tell myself to breathe or I would pass out and spoil everything. Even I knew that I was in the presence of the Holy Spirit and He was coming in power into the lives of these people. There seemed to be a bubble of protection around us and we were able to share our hearts without shame, or fear or any other hindrance.

Silvana finally started to speak again.

“Of course I forgive you and thank you for your help last year. I really needed a place to stay and get my act together again. I had nowhere else to turn and you graciously gave me a place to stay in your church. Thank you.” She was quiet for a moment. “But when you threw me out and told me not to come back….. I almost died.” She looked at the floor, unwilling to meet their eyes, wounded and afraid to tell them her secret, to look even weaker than she already was. I knew what she was going to say.

“I tried to commit suicide, right here in this room, that same night,” she whispered. “I was going to do it right there in front of the altar, hanging myself from the cross, so you could see what you did to me first thing Sunday morning.”

Now even I was crying.

“Why didn’t you do it?” Arnold asked quietly.

Silence. Everyone waited.

“I don’t know,” she said, finally. “I guess because Jesus was watching, and I knew he wouldn’t be happy about it. Kind of lame, I know. I remember thinking that this wasn’t over yet. Something else had to happen.”  She paused.  “Now I get it.”

What did she get? I didn’t get it. What was she talking about? But the others were all nodding their heads and I felt like the outsider here.

“He’s like that,” Peter said. “Uses our stupidities and sin and makes them into something beautiful.”

“Only if we do things his way,” Arnold said. “Otherwise we just make things worse.”

Heads nodded in agreement. The Spirit of God was bringing the power of fellowship and spiritual unity into play.

“I hear that you need a place to stay again,” Santiago said.

“That’s not why I came,” Silvana said quickly. “I’ll figure it out myself. Don’t worry about it.”

“I get it,” Santiago said. “One thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other. But we still want to help, don’t we?” He looked around at the others. “You could stay here at the church again for a few months and save up some money and we will all start looking for a place for you.”

“Yeah, and I got a truck that we can use to move your stuff in here this weekend,” Peter said. “We’ll all pitch in and get you moved.”

“You know that old furniture we have in the downstairs room?” Arnold was talking to his wife. “She might be able to use some of that.”

“Great idea. I’ll get together with Silvana and find out what she needs,” Annie said, smiling at Silvana. “I’ll also get some of the ladies together to make a lunch on Saturday after you move her in and we can eat together afterward.”

“Sounds good,” I said finally finding my voice. I took a deep breath. “Let’s talk to Jesus for a minute and thank him for a great meeting and then we can get things organized.”

We grabbed each other’s hands and I bowed my head to start praying…..

and woke up with a start.

I was in my room, the air heavy, the windows open but no breeze, not even the sound of birds chirping. Where was I? What was happening? Then I realized. It had all been a dream, a very vivid one at that. My heart sank. Did that mean it had never happened? I looked at my watch.  The meeting was scheduled in forty-five minutes. O bother….

I got up and took a shower and shook off my lethargy.

“Are you alright dear?” I could hear my wife’s voice calling from the bottom of the stairs.

“Down in a minute,” I called out.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Yes, there was something off about that dream. They talked as if I had preached about this stuff a lot when it had only been one sermon so far. I knew that sounded off even when I was in the dream. There was no prayer team coming to pray around the church. I hadn’t met with any of the elders before the meeting to talk about their walk with God.

I was upset with myself and nervous. I was winging it. Hank was right to challenge me. I hadn’t even prayed much for this meeting myself. And fasting? Forget about it. It wasn’t happening. I realized right then that I was going into battle totally unprepared.

But it was too late. I heard the doorbell ring.

Our board wasn’t very big, just three people. One of them brought their wife with them.  Silvana showed up on time and I called the meeting to order. We prayed for a moment before we started.

“Everybody knows each other here so let’s just get started,” I said.

“No, no,” Silvana said. “Let me talk first. May I?”   I waved at her to indicate that she could start.

“I just want to apologize to all of you for what happened last year. It was my fault. I was off my meds and having a rough time emotionally and I took it out on you.”

“Apology accepted,” said the head elder, interrupting.  His name was Arnold. He was a preaching elder that had led this small congregation for years.  “But I have something to say as well…”

I looked up at him sharply.

“I understand that you are looking for a place to stay again? Is that why you’re here?”

“No, no,” Silvana said. “One thing has nothing to do with the other.”

“I’m not sure why we are having this meeting then.” Arnold’s wife, Annie, had decided to speak up. “I thought we were going to talk about whether or not she could move into the church again.”

“No,” I said. “We are here to see if we can reconcile with one another.”

“We already accepted her apology,” Arnold said. “Maybe we didn’t handle things so well last time but, like she said, she was off her meds and not in a good place. We did the best we could.”

“You told me to leave and never come back,” Silvana burst out. “How is that doing the best you can do?”

“We gave you some money so that you could find another place,” Annie said. “You should be thankful for our help.”

“It was Hank and Anita who helped me move, paid for the moving truck, got me a place and paid for the first month’s rent,” Silvana said heatedly. “They even signed the documents as guarantors. You didn’t do anything.”

I was holding my breath. It was absolutely silent in the room. Finally, one of the other elders spoke up. His name was Peter. He was talking to Arnold.

“You know I always supported you, Arnie,” he said. “And I support you now. Maybe we could have handled things better but we did the best we could at the time. Enough said. I’m ready to go home.”

Again, silence in the room. It stretched on into agony. Suddenly, I thought maybe I was supposed to say something, but before I could speak, I heard a sob from Silvana.

“I don’t know what I’m doing here,” she said. She was having a hard time maintaining her composure. “I have nowhere to go. I’m supposed to leave the place I’m in this Saturday. I don’t have the money to pay a real estate company or the money for a deposit and I don’t have a guarantor.” She stopped, gulping. “I was scared to come here today. I never wanted to come back and ask for anything but Pastor John encouraged me to come.”

“We have a room upstairs in the church she could stay in for a couple of months,” I said softly.

“No,” Annie said sharply. “Not upstairs. We need that for Sunday School classes.”

“But we have had other people living up there this past year…”

Annie waved her hand to dismiss the idea completely. “There’s a small room in the back where the gardener used to stay. It has room for a single bed. She can stay there for a couple of weeks.”

“No, it…it’s all right…” Silvana stammered.

“Maybe you can talk to the owners where she is right now and ask for more time,” Peter suggested, talking to me.

“Well, I really don’t know anything about….”

“Great idea. I think that settles it, then,” Arnold said. Problem solved.

No reconciliation. No healing. No anointing from God.

Problem. Definitely. Not. Solved.

Santiago, the third elder, had not said a word. He was going with the flow. Peter and Arnold were in agreement. Doing the best they could. Nothing more. Fine, upstanding elders. Pillars of the community. No spiritual maturity or discernment but nice people in the wrong job. Cannot be trusted to lead the church. That was the truth.

Silvana was speaking again.

“Thank you for your help last year. I really needed a place to stay and get my act together again. I had nowhere else to turn and you graciously gave me a place to stay in your church. Thank you.” She was quiet for a moment. “But when you threw me out and told me not to come back…. I almost died.” She looked around at them, holding their eyes with hers, angry but still afraid to tell them her secret, to look even weaker than she already was. I knew what she was going to say.

She hesitated. Then stopped.

“I don’t need your room in the back. Thank you anyway,” she whispered. “I came here for something else.” Then she said again, quietly, “I’m sorry.”

The silence was uncomfortable. The elders looked at me.

“It looks like we are done here,” I said, finally finding my voice. “Let’s have a prayer and get going. We all have things to do.” I couldn’t believe what I was saying but I was tired and discouraged and things were going nowhere fast. It was time to end it.

I grabbed Silvana’s hand, but the others already had their heads down so I just started praying…..

and woke up with a start.

I was in my room, the air heavy, the windows open but no breeze, not even the sound of birds chirping. Where was I? What was happening? Then I realized. It had all been a dream, another one, a very vivid one at that. My heart soared. Did that mean it had never happened? I looked at my watch quickly.  The meeting was scheduled in forty-five minutes. Thank God….

I grabbed my phone and called Hank. Told him what I needed and hung up. Prayer cover was on its way. I sank to my knees and started to call out to God earnestly. Forget about a shower. Forget about eating. There was work to be done. The ministry of reconciliation was spiritual warfare and I was damned if I was going into battle unprepared.

Not this time. Not ever again.

Jesus said, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.”
Mark 9:29 NIV

The Desert Warrior

P.S.  Spiritual Warfare requires prayer….

Lord, I’m scared of spiritual warfare.  I don’t understand it very well.  I know I am protected by your blood and, so long as I am walking in the Spirit, I have nothing to worry about.  It’s important work.  I never really thought of it in the context of relationships and reconciling people to you and to each other.  That ministry is the heart of the gospel and is my main work as your disciple.  I accept that job description, Lord.  But I cannot do anything without your anointing.  Teach me your ways, O Lord.  In your name I pray.  Amen.

Continue reading →

The Shadow of the Cross

20 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by Bert Amsing in Uncategorized

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complex good, eternal security, grieving the Spirit, living in the Spirit, sanctification, shadow of the cross, simple good, spirituality

Good morning, Lord.  Thank you for another day in which I can reveal Your Glory.

I have been reading the books, Seeking the Face of God by Walters and Five Views on Sanctification by Stanley N. Gundry as well as a bit in the book, Dynamics of Spiritual Life by Richard F. Lovelace.

I think that the things I learned over the past few weeks reading about spirituality have been very helpful.  Here are a few of my thoughts.

1) Christians don’t continue to live in the flesh.  By definition, they “walk in the Spirit” and have the power to do so (either immaturely or with growing maturity).  If they are not fully surrendered and consecrated to your service then the question is rather how do they even know that they are saved (i.e. J. Edwards). If they fall into sin, your children learn to quickly confess and repent and return to a life lived in the shadow of the cross walking in the Spirit in loving obedience to your will with the purpose of being used by You in Your great rescue operation.

We are crucial to your plans, Lord, because You have chosen to use us as living testaments to the glory and power of your character in us fulfilling the demands of your Holy Justice in your own body on the cross.  Love fulfilling justice, not setting it aside.

This is the Calvinist position which, in many ways, is more strict than the Arminian position.  It’s almost like they/we define “walking in the Spirit” as positional sanctification rather than, the more obvious, experiential sanctification.  Almost as if fleshly living is simply immaturity rather than dangerous rebellion or deadly spiritual drift.   But perhaps it is both.

I suppose that if you are a Christian and your salvation is secure, then fleshly living is immaturity and dangerous to your growth and ministry (but not to your salvation) but, by definition, it is also temporary because the Spirit will convict you of sin and bring you back to a conscious walking with/in the Spirit.  If you are a Christian.

But the question is, how do you know you are a Christian if you continue to live in the flesh?  You can believe that you are, but if it is true, your normal state is walking in the Spirit.  If you are not walking in the Spirit in full surrender and consecration, then there is no assurance of salvation (i.e. J. Edwards) unless you run to the cross in confession and repentance of sins.

After all, if the heart is deceitful above all things, how do you know that you are a Christian?  Is it just a matter of taking God at his word or is it a matter also of seeing the evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit (our seal of salvation, our guarantor of eternal life, our promise of the power for a new relationship with God) in our lives?

And what is that evidence?  Spiritual gifts?  Yes.  Spiritual fruit?  Yes.  But J. Edwards, the great American theologian who lived during the Great Awakening in America, says that it can all be false and counterfeit except for the humility of true confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation between us and God and others.

The shadow of the cross is a place of humility which is rooted in love and despises the shame of revealing its sin and deceit for the joy of reconciliation with the desire of your heart (which is the true convicting work of the Spirit).

So, what do we say about the masses of churchgoers (Christians? non-Christians? a mixture?) who live lives that are not surrendered or consecrated?  The Christian life is distinctive.  It is different from the world and distinguishes itself from the flesh.

Preaching must be clear about the abundant life and that it is not optional but the normal Christian life.  It is a life lived in the shadow of the cross.

Relationally, we walk in the Spirit and when we fall into temptation for whatever reason, we quickly confess and repent because we want to be in right fellowship with God more than we want to live apart from Him in sin and rebellion.  Is this not true of every marriage, every couple in love?  If it is not, then there is no love relationship even if they have been declared “married”.  Marriage is a matter of the heart not of the law or ceremony or even of good intentions.  Do you love me? is the cry of the heart.

No cheap grace allowed.  The cost of new life in Christ is a new life in Christ.  The cost of marriage is the exclusion of all others and a heart-felt desire for the object of our love.  As Christians, we are different.  Our beliefs and values have changed.  Our actions reflect those changes and we live on the edge of faith, working out the salvation that You have placed within us.  Yes, there is room for growth in obedience but, relationally, it is black and white.  You are either with God (and in Christ) or you are not.

Growth is normal in all relationships, but you are either in the relationship or you are not.  Now be (live out) what you already are (a new person in Christ).  Now be the husband or wife that you already are.

That is not to say, that on a deeper level, this question of the heart isn’t, in fact, the most important issue to God and that, in His grace, he allows us to rebel and fall away for a time to reveal our own hearts to us in order to increase our awareness of His grace and thereby increase our love for Him which keeps us more firmly on the path.  Even in marriage, temptations can happen and we can even fall and any betrayal is a deep hurt to the other precisely because of the love that they have for us.  But forgiveness based on the cross is still possible.  In the context of true confession and ongoing repentance on the one side and forgiveness based on the cross and reconciliation based on the promise of God to finish his work in the life of the sinner, new life is possible.

It is even possible to say that the restored life is deeper and richer than the romantic life in a marriage (and restoration can ignite a deeper and longer lasting romance).

But we may not fall into the lazy “cheap grace” attitude that says that we will allow ourselves to sin so that grace may abound (we can always repent later on).  I can  feel the pain in Your heart at such crass betrayal of your love and I have been the cause of that pain.  Forgive me, Lord.

We pursue the simple good (C.S. Lewis) of walking in the Spirit free from conscious and intentional sin by the power of the Holy Spirit and quickly confess and repent when we fall into sin and temptation.  God works the more complex good (C.S. Lewis) of transforming even our sin into a deeper relationship with Him.  God may use our sin to reveal His grace but we are expected to live in the Spirit by faith and not sin in the first place.  God is looking for mature believers who have learned to love him deeply from the heart because they want to not because of the benefits.  These are the kinds of people he is creating and which are very useful to his purpose of rescuing his people from the clutches of the Devil.  Sanctification has a purpose after all. 

2)  Much of the disagreement between the 4 major views is semantics but I’m not sure it makes much difference in real life.  Lord, I think that you can work effectively in people’s hearts even if they get some of this doctrine wrong (just like the early church).  Certainly the concept of eternal security makes a big difference but the concept of flesh used of Christians who are not walking in the Spirit is minor.

Still it is helpful to remember that You are there even when we are living in the flesh and that, probably, it would be more accurate to say that we are grieving your Spirit (or better yet, we are living as if we were still in the flesh which we are not which is why the Spirit is grieved).  That makes it more “relational” which is helpful.  Thank you, Lord, for teaching me these things.

We are living as if we were still in the flesh which we are not which is why the Spirit is grieved.  Just like in marriage, we can live like we are single when we are not which is very hurtful to our spouse because it puts in doubt the relationship itself.

3)  My third take away is that I belong to you, Lord.  Period.  If I fall into fleshly living it is immature rebellion and dangerous to my growth and ministry.  Like in any relationship, I have to Stay, Talk and Try.  Staying is the point here.  Just like the movie “Catch me if you can” with Tom Hanks and Leonardo Di Caprio about the young forger running away from the FBI, at one point Tom Hanks says “nobody is chasing you.”  You are already part of the family.

In many ways, staying is harder than running away.  Staying is about love.  Running is about shame.  Do you want to stay?  Then stay.  You will have to humble yourself and talk (confess) and try (repentance and make every effort) but the fundamental question is what do you want?

And perhaps you, Lord, allow us to go there, precisely to reveal to us what is in our hearts, the glory of wanting to stay more than wanting to go (to sin, to rebel) and, as that wanting grows into desire and then into love (the reason for wanting to stay is in the other not in the benefits to you), you teach us and help us to grow in intimacy with You.

Lord, all of this is good material for my book on Hosea marrying the prostitute as a metaphor of your relationship with your people.

Anyway, Lord, maybe there is more benefit to the Calvinist view of things than I thought, although the concept of “staying” still can be defined by full surrender (vs. wrestling with and rebelling against You) and consecration and I still think that there is some truth to the conscious sins (in the context of an awareness of our overall pollution) vs. unconscious and unintentional sins.

So, from a Calvinist point of view, it isn’t about a second blessing or about a higher life or a deeper life because they all seem to assume that it is normal (and certainly, common) for Christians to be living un-surrendered, un-consecrated lives in the first place.  No, the normal (even if uncommon) Christian life is lived walking in the Spirit in full surrender to Your will and consecration to Your service in whatever creational context that You have given us. 

That may not be entirely fair to the Arminian position because they clearly preach that living in the Spirit is the normal Christian life but the words themselves, “the deeper life,” “the higher life” seems to be a contradiction in terms.  Yes, the abundant life is used in Scripture to describe this normal state of walking in the Spirit and, yes, the abundant life is “deeper” and “higher” than walking in the flesh (which, by definition, means “apart from God”). But, the point is, that if we are in fact Christians who are intentionally rebelling or consciously sinning and are unrepentant, then we will be grieving too.

Church discipline is not about the sin so much as it is about an ongoing conversation with the sinner about whether or not there is grief and conviction which leads to repentance. 

If not, as a church, we may have to make it clear that there is no evidence of the work and presence of the Holy Spirit of God in their lives and the church needs to treat them as a “gentile” in need of salvation rather than as a christian in need of restoration.

So long as the teaching of the abundant life is clearly stated as the normal Christian life and that we are not simply “walking in the flesh” when we intentionally disobey or slowly drift away.  We are, but so much more.  We are “grieving the Spirit” because we are living as if we were apart from God when in fact, the Spirit of God now lives within us (if that is in fact the case).

No one can hurt you like someone you love.  Yes, non-believers also grieve the heart of God in a sense but there is a response of ultimate judgement if they are not saved.  For those of us who are saved by the blood of Christ, we are the children of God and have the power to hurt God deeply precisely because of that love, that new relationship which the cross has made possible. 

But we need grace even for ourselves otherwise we are still in our pride wanting to be seen and counted as perfect or holy or spiritual without the humiliation and shame of transparent confession and ongoing repentance.  We need to practice a constant clinging to the cross for our conscious sins as well as our unconscious, unintentional sins and overall pollution.  No pride allowed, spiritual or otherwise.

We can’t deal with everything all at once.  My knowledge exceeds my obedience and always will in this life.

Rather than minimize the sin (by ignoring some sins or not looking closely at our motives and intentions), I have to learn to maximize your grace (in spite of my conscious, semi-conscious and partly intentional and unintentional sins and overall pollution) and stay in the process of learning to make every effort to live in the shadow of the cross.

Stay, Talk, Try.

Perhaps it is helpful to talk in terms of immaturity, growing in maturity and maturity.  Assuming that you are a Christian and you desire through the work and presence of the Spirit to be in fellowship with God and are willing, therefore, to humble yourself as often as necessary through confession, repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation, then we can talk about the maturity continuum.

Perhaps immaturity in Christ should be seen as that initial wrestling with God about loving obedience to His will.  We surrender and then rebel.  We consecrate ourselves to his service but refuse to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily (confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation is the way of the cross).

Maturity is the ability to remain in the shadow of the cross in full surrender and consecration and includes the desire to quickly return to fellowship after falling temporarily into sin.  So on the relational side of things, it is black and white, immaturity or maturity (although there is room for growth).

After all, we are like prostitutes (see Hosea) who have destroyed our ability to love but have been called into a new relationship with our bridegroom or young lovers, pregnant with new life, but untested and immature in their commitment.

In either case, untested love or inability to love, it is the relationship itself that is the question.  What do you want?  Do you love me more than anyone or anything else? 

This is a black and white question but it may have to be asked more than once (growth in maturity) and God is especially good at revealing our idols and asking for our permission to rip them out of our lives inch by inch, step by step, to increase our capacity to love Him by forcing us to decide between them and Him, by shedding light on it, bringing it out of the darkness and into his light and asking us to crucify that idol of flesh upon the cross of Christ in confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.

In that sense there is a relational immaturity and maturity that prioritizes the relationship over other things.  This process is a deep and necessary one but in the process, even though we are already married (assuming that we are, in fact, Christians), there are periods in which we have rebelled and are sitting in the bar, nursing our beer and flirting with the barmaid.

The question is whether or not our hearts are in pain, grieving the breakup, nursing the hurt or misunderstanding or sense of justice that caused the rupture or rejoicing at the opportunity to get away and be free to do our own thing.

As leaders we must be at the point in our relationship with Christ that we can say that God has brought us to a place of tested maturity in which we have demonstrated a true, growing love for God and a desire for His fellowship and, when we sin, we quickly return to the safety and joy of the shadow of the cross.

Then there is the question of growing in maturity.  That is only possible on the other side of full surrender and consecration not for those who are temporarily in a place of rebellion.  If you are grieving the Spirit, the issue is to make up and reassert your love and desire to be in fellowship.

Sadly, the focus for many individuals and churches is on the sin itself, as terrible as that may be, instead of on the relationship between the individual and His God which is the heart of the matter.

But, if your are living in the shadow of the cross, then growth in obedience, in christlikeness, in virtue and in ministry can happen.   If you are living in rebellion and sin, search your heart to find out what you truly want, talk to some Christian leaders who can clarify any misunderstandings you may have about God and what He is doing in your life and then decide, again and again if necessary, to choose the love of God in Christ or to turn to your own ways.  Is God good and my heart evil?  or Is God evil and my heart good?  Is he in the wrong or am I in the wrong? 

Love is always a decision but make sure that you know deep down that whatever God is doing in your life, whatever the circumstances are, He is in control and He loves you.  That is the basis of the relationship.  If you don’t truly believe that, you may need to start at the beginning and take a good, long hard look at the cross of Christ to see your sin and God’s provision of grace who loved us even unto death while we were still sinners.

The point is that if we are living in sin and rebellion and we know it, then we must first ask ourselves whether we are, in fact, “married” to God or not and, if we are, then are we truly “in love” with God or not and, if so, since He is good and in control and we are his children and need to learn to love and trust Him, we must be in the wrong and must confess and repent (and get help to continue to repent until the sin is overcome in the power of the Spirit however long it takes).

No growth in Christlikeness or virtue can happen while we are in a state of open rebellion or spiritual drift.  No growth in love in a marriage can happen while we remain uncommitted to the relationship and are willing to put in the time and effort and resources to be the spouse that we are and to find that sweet spot where we actually want to be there and to be in fellowship with the desire of our heart.

We live out a redemptive focus in a creational context but even our redemptive focus consists of our life ministry lived out in the relational context of our walk with God.  That may seem obvious but is rather uncommon.

Our true life ministry (which is to reveal the glory of God’s character as shown in Christ) is an overflow of our walk with God and our church ministry (according to our gifts and roles) are an overflow of our life ministry. 

So, again, the relational question (even for Christians) is the essential question of the heart and can be seen on a spectrum from immaturity (struggling with God, unwilling to give up ground, focused on justice) to maturity (struggling with sin in the power of the Spirit, quickly bringing faults to the cross because we know we are loved and have been bought with a price, wanting to be obedient out of love not for the temporal benefits in terms of feelings or success).  Immaturity is bad.  Maturity is good in any relationship, even with yourself.  But that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn something important when we begin to recognize our immaturity for the selfishness that it is and then consciously choose love.  After all, that is how maturity happens, in relationship (even when babies arrive) when you have something to lose.

Morality may be a limit to our will but love doesn’t even consider our will to be important because it is focused on the other.

That relational maturity can take a lifetime to learn and even well known spiritual leaders may experience the dark night of the soul, the final step in their relational maturity where they, like Christ in the garden, against all odds, in the face of a silent heaven, choose to obey even when they feel abandoned by God.

In the case of Christ, he was, in fact, abandoned by God and became sin for us on the cross.  In our case, we may feel abandoned by God because of our sin, or our over dependence on feelings rather than faith, or because God has withdrawn his obvious favor to teach us the priority of love over benefits.

So even well-established leaders can experience these relational challenges in their walk with God but it is precisely because they have learned the maturity of walking in the Spirit and desiring after God, that God leaves the hardest and most difficult issue of the dark night of the soul until last.

It is important to say also that God’s relational question in our rebellion and sin is black and white but our ability to respond quickly and decisively in humble confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation will grow over time as we face and overcome this question of the heart which underlies our sin and rebellion.

So, even here, to talk of maturity is more difficult than to talk about growth in maturity.  Still, there seems to be a place that we all get to in our relationships that the tide has turned, where we are truly together together, where it isn’t just a matter of duty or obedience but of desire and love.

That maturity is created in us through this process by God Himself as we discover and respond to the grace of God shown through the cross of Christ.

So, leadership needs to have this true relational maturity which has been tested and refined by the fires of temptation and sin, sometimes overcome, sometimes being overcome but always redeemed by the blood of the cross.

Which is to say that even the relational maturity process can continue for a lifetime but there is a growing maturity in our walk with God that desires fellowship with Him above our sin and self-interest and when that happens, as we are walking in the Spirit in-between these relational challenges, God is at work molding and working on our Christlike character.

Separating the relational process from the character process seems to make good sense to me, even though they are related and integrated.  Both of these processes are inner realities and must be worked out in the outer realities of mastery of our bodies and in our life ministry to others.

Thank You for teaching me these things.

In Your Name I pray.  Amen.

Spiritual Leadership 2

02 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by Bert Amsing in Reflections

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anointing, leadership, spirituality

The Anointed Leader by Ransomed Heart Ministries

Thank you for that beautiful discussion on The Anointed Leader…..you are defining leadership in relational terms rather than competency or even character/morality first of all.

What does it mean to walk with God?  What does spiritual maturity mean?  How can you tell whether or not someone is anointed or not?

What happens if a leader is in a leadership position but is not anointed?  How do you minister to them?

Lots of questions.  Your ministry is focused on restoration ministries.  How would you minister to people who have been destroyed in their ministry by their lack of walk with God.

I would not assume that it means that they are NOT anointed just because they were publicly exposed….the real test is what they do about it.

It may have been a severe ministry designed to deepen their spiritual authority and to give them a more powerful anointing.

Just a few thoughts.

Bert Amsing.

The Desert Warrior

http://www.desertwarrior.net

Weekly Update No. 6 (Crowdfunding Campaign)

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Adventure of Grace, Short Stories

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christianity, spirituality, temptations

Lucifer at the Cross

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

These two stories come from the novel The Temptations of the Cross.  Admittedly, they are short and to the point but the idea was to give people a taste of what they could find in the book.

Lucifer at the Cross is a short snapshot of the moment when Lucifer realizes that all is not what it seems and that there is something more going on than meets the eye.  Of course, all of the build up to that point in the book is essential for really “feeling” that moment even though we know the story well.  Essentially, I wrote the story of Jesus from the point of view of the angels (and demons) in order to interpret the story from the point of view of the two temptations of the cross.  The temptation of Jesus to avoid the cross and the temptation of Satan to use the cross as his instrument of revenge.  It all culminates at this point when the divine sting is fulfilled and Lucifer is destroyed.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a snapshot of heaven at the time of the fall of mankind.  This is after the temptation of Gabriel by Lucifer and after the temptation and fall of mankind.  Now Gabriel (and the other angels) have some questions for God about what to do next.  In this section, a general concept of evil and how God will ultimately use evil´s own nature to defeat itself (poetic justice) is given.  Also, there is a picture of God dancing and working out the details of the Story of Redemption in the sands of time.  This is a combination of the main character of Fiddler on the Roof together with the passage in the OT that tells us that God dances over us in joy.

Hopefully these two quick pictures of the spiritual dimension of the History of Redemption will motivate many of you to check out my novel The Temptations of the Cross.  Enjoy.

The Desert Warrior

An Adventure of Grace – Our Crowdfunding Journey by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net        info@desertwarrior.net

In the Midst of Battle

14 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Reflections

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arrogance, battle, Humility, pride, spiritual immaturity, spiritual warfare, spirituality

The most dangerous PRIDE

comes as a gentle word and soothing advice

when HUMILITY shouts a warning in the streets

in the midst of battle

and is not heard,

or even worse, ignored and dismissed

as spiritual immaturity.

*****

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net         info@desertwarrior.net

The Miracle Journey

12 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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arrogance, christianity, grace, Humility, Love, religion, shame, spirituality

There are three things too wonderful for me,

Four that I do not understand.

A child made in the image of it´s Father,

A cross in a garbage dump outside the Holy City,

A journey from arrogance to shame

and the grace that transforms it into love.

*****

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net       info@desertwarrior.net

The Leadership Question

10 Saturday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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christianity, church discipline, leadership, maturity in Christ, religion, spiritual warfare, spirituality

Beyond the general maturity in Christ expected from all leaders, a few more questions might reveal the beliefs and values they hold on to when the going gets rough.  Many other questions could be added, but these get to the essence of whether or not this potential leader is ready for spiritual warfare and has some idea of what the strategic and tactical plan of God is in the context of the church.

1.  Is it possible for a leader of the church, one who truly loves God and has good intentions, to make fundamental and dangerous mistakes in morality, life and spiritual management of the church and be blind to it?      yes/no

2.  Which things are essential for every Christian (and even more so for a leader) to protect them from the ignorance, blindness and willfulness of the flesh?

  • the conviction and ministry of the Holy Spirit within,
  • the knowledge and ongoing application of the Word of God,
  • the fellowship (and accountability) of a group of mature and wise believers,
  • all of the above.

3.  Do you believe that there is a spiritual battle going on for the hearts and minds of every believer (including your own) and for the church as a whole with a particular focus on the leadership?     yes/no

4.  Do you believe that a leader of the church, including the Pastor, has the right and responsibility on their own to prohibit the use of a believer´s gifts in ministry within the church based on a general lack of maturity in the believer as judged by that same leader?      yes/no

5.  Do you believe that a leader of the church, including the Pastor, has the right and responsibility on their own to prohibit the presence of a believer (or non-believer) in the church for any reason or any sin whatsoever (other than temporarily because of an immediate physical threat of danger to themselves or others)?    yes/no

6.  When do you think it is appropriate to spiritually and publicly confront a leader, if ever?  How should a leader act when he is confronted in that way?  When is a rebuke spiritual and when is it an expression of the flesh?  Is our reaction to sin and flesh in others as deadly as the sin itself that we are offended by?

7.  What (and who) are you willing to fight for?  You can either have the status quo or the abundant life, but you can´t have both (until you arrive in Heaven).  What do you believe is the bottom line for the church?  When will you stand up and be counted, at least in an ultimate, defensive manner (since a proactive approach is what is really needed)?

Finally, is the job of the leaders to defend the church or to defend the gospel?  And no, those are not the same thing.  They are supposed to be, but they´re not.  Sadly.  If we defend the gospel, we defend the church.  If we defend the church, (most often from unsavory characters such as prophets or the least, the last, the lost and the losers) we may, in fact, be hindering the gospel.

Send me a comment with the answers you would give.  Privacy assured unless permission is given.  Pray.  Think.  Share.

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers. All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net     info@desertwarrior.net

Arrogance

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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arrogance, christianity, Humility, religion, shame, spirituality

There is no greater embarrassment

in heaven or on earth

than the arrogance of those

who ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Sadly, this applies to all of us.

*****

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net      info@desertwarrior.net

Weekly Update No. 4 (Crowdfunding Campaign)

05 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Adventure of Grace, Short Stories

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Tags

church, cross, Evangelism, grace, spirituality

The Eight Year Old Evangelist

I remember the day when I decided to write the story, The Eight Year Old Evangelist.  Obviously, the story is about my daughter, Michelle, who was eight years old and had more evangelistic zeal than our entire church put together.

We were living at Villa Los Pinos in Tigre, Buenos Aires.  Now, that sounds better than it was.  It was a beautiful property for sure.  Two thousand five hundred square meters of back yard, fifty four pine trees and fruit trees (yes, the girls counted them, every one), and grass everywhere.  A bear to take care of but a real pleasure nonetheless.  The swimming pool was falling apart but useable, but the house (and apartment) were almost unliveable when we first arrived.  Still, it was a real pleasure to live there.  It was a gift of God in a difficult time.  Low rent, no downpayment, but, boy, did it need a lot of TLC.  We painted, cleaned, fixed, scrubbed, and looked the other way until it was liveable….. and we were grateful.

We had visions of Villa Los Pinos becoming a spiritual retreat centre and headquaters (as well as a home) for our ministry.  So far, that hasn´t come to pass and we no longer live there.  But that´s another story.

Part of the deal for moving into the house was that we had to move out again a few months later (in December of that same year) since they had already rented it out for one month during the summer.  There was a small one-bedroom apartment (also a disaster) that we fixed up.  We stored our furniture and lived on the basics for a month in the summer while the other family enjoyed the back yard, the pool and the house.  Still, it was a blessing.

Michelle had gotten to know the kids and she was invited to play with them and use the pool when they were home and generally have a good time.  I wasn´t there when she stormed into our small apartment and said to my wife that the kids she was playing with were not Christians and that she would take her Bible and go over there and tell them about Jesus.  Absolutely precious. 

Of course, we were curious about what would happen…..

But it got me to thinking about our church.  We were going to an English speaking expatriate church in Buenos Aires.  Everyone who knows us and lives in Buenos Aires knows who we are talking about.  That´s an issue.  They say that you aren´t supposed to write about real people and events.  That you can get sued.  But our God is a God of reality and ministry is about dealing with reality.  So I wrote the story, told the truth, but changed the names (and sometimes the gender) of the people involved so that it would be a general rather than a specific story.

Still, I don´t think anyone over there even cares.  We don´t go to church there any more.  We go to the OTHER English-speaking expatriate church in the North Zone of Buenos Aires.  Everyone knows who they are too.

What do I mean, they don´t even care?  That is the sad thing.  They would probably agree with everything the story says, maybe add a few details for clarification, but not be ashamed of any of it.  The capacity of the human heart (including mine) to decieve itself is so great, it scares me.

The church building and grounds are beautiful.  The gardens and trees are a real treat.  The people are nice and friendly, but the church is as dead as a doornail.  No, that is not a judgment on individual people.  Many of them continue to be our friends.  It is discernment.  I believe that the difference between judgment and discernment is involvement and we were very involved.  I supported the pastor, my wife worked in the church as the Director of the preschool.  I preached.  We sang, cleaned, fixed, helped.  We came early and stayed late.  We did whatever was necessary.

We were identified with the poor and homeless that came to the church because we ministered to them, gave them money, clothes, shoes and lots of acceptance and love, and we got into trouble for it.  And they were a pain.  Some of them were real characters.  Scotty, Charles, Julio.  They ate more than their share of facturas and tea (with lots of sugar) after the morning service.  They smelled and they interrupted the worship service.  They asked for money.  They cried.  They laughed.  They sang (mostly out of tune).  They invited more of their friends off the street, because they knew that there was a friendly word, a helping hand, sometimes a few pesos or at least a bit of food that could be had on a Sunday morning.

We were a thorn in the flesh to the flesh of the church.  It´s not a role we wanted or looked for, but it seemed to happen by itself.  We were gentle (we thought), but we wouldn´t back up on the basics of the faith, like the cross, like feeding the poor and standing up for the powerless (even if they smell).  But nobody promised that we wouldn´t get into trouble for it.  Sometimes we have this idea that everything will have a Hollywood ending in this life (though it certainly will in the life to come).  But, often, you get into trouble (even with the church) when you try to follow God (however imperfectly).

So, there you have it.  The Eight Year Old Evangelist is a true story, a sad story, a story of the shame of the gospel (or not).

Frankly, we have found that many of the poor and homeless (like Scotty and Charles) do more evangelism on a weekly basis than the entire church on a yearly basis.

What does that say about us?  Yes, we are ashamed of the gospel.  We don´t need it desperately enough.  We still rely on our own resources and power and we have not yet been destroyed.  Our true flesh and arrogance and pride has not yet been revealed to us.  We haven´t yet understood that we are all homeless, we are all losers, we are all addicted to sin, pride and ego.  We are all in desperate need of the good news.  It is that humility, that awareness of our own need for grace, and the thankfulness that God has given us that grace in Jesus Christ, that is the foundation of the ministry of the church and our spiritual walk with God.

Jesus made the standard of obedience to him how we deal with the poor, the needy, the least, the last, the lost (yes, the LOSER).  There is no question about it. The Bible is abundantly clear on this issue.

Perhaps he did so because only in that context would our humility or our pride be shown for what it is.  The things we learn about ourselves and our faith in God are revealed in how we deal with those around us who smell and are inconveniences and different and a bother.  Forget about our enemies (yes, that too), it is how we deal with our brothers and sisters in Christ (especially the lowly ones) that is the litmus test of our faith.

Yes, the sad thing is that they don´t care.  If they would be upset about the story, if they would protest their innocence, if they would claim it wasn´t so, that would be good news.  It would indicate that there is some awareness of God´s standard of obedience in dealing with the poor and that they don´t want to fall short of it.  Then you can talk, you can discuss, you can even argue, about how, and when and where and what happened, and “you don´t understand, and what I was trying to say or trying to do was”…..that conversation would be wonderful.  I have no problem disagreeing with someone who is zealous for the things of God.  That would be a welcome discussion, a necessary process, like iron sharpening iron.

What I have a problem with, is people who simply don´t care.

So they got rid of us.  Had an official meeting.  Came up with some bogus reasons, some half-baked accusations, some misunderstandings.  Yes, there were other things going on about evangelism, pluralism and preaching the cross of Christ but that is in the story itself and I don´t want to give it all away here.  Suffice it to say, that it was more of the same.  And the process was a disaster.  No conversation, no heart-to-heart.  Just……go away.  So we went.  Who are we to defy the leadership of the church?  We never intended to do anything wrong.  So, we left.

After two years in the new church, we are leaving again.  Lord, how heavy my heart is.  It must be me.  It must be my flesh, my zeal, my lack of gentleness, my pride, my ego, my sin.  Forgive me for my blindness.  Restore to us the joy of our salvation and the favor of a fellowship dedicated to you.

Yes, we have left.  We were kicked out, again.  Basically, for the same reasons.  The poor seem to follow us around.  We have been identified with them.  The leadership comes to us to complain about them or to ask us to deal with them for some imagined (or real) slight or embarrasment.  Thank you, Lord, for that priviledge.

But when they publicly kick someone out because he asks for money (wouldn´t you if you were broke?) and they threaten to call the police if he comes back and he only wants to meet with me on the street because he is afraid to come into the house of God…..we are talking here about a Christian brother who is a street evangelist…..and he cries  on my shoulder …..a grown man….not able to handle, on top of everything else life has thrown at him, the rejection of the church, his own brothers and sisters in the Lord…..where else can he go?  He is alone, rejected, worthless…..noone sees his true self in Christ……my family surronding us and laying hands on him as he weeps…..yes, even my children and my eight year old (now ten year old) evangelist……and praying on a street corner near the church because there was no room, no place, no acceptance for him in the fellowship of believers……..then there comes a time when a public rebuke is necessary and the church as a whole needs to know what is going on and decide what kind of church it is going to be.

Well, that kind of thinking will get anyone in trouble.

Perhaps the point is, that following God is not an easy task.  There is no guarantee that even the church will not reject you, or throw you out.  The status quo is precious to people even though God has condemned the status quo as a deception of the Devil.  God wants us to grow in obedience and spiritual maturity.  Spiritual growth and the status quo are not compatible.  At least, not in this world, with the power of the flesh, the world and the Devil against us…..not when sin is automatic and the spirit takes dedicated effort…..not if you want to be useful to God and get your hands dirty and make a difference in the lives of real people in the power of the Holy Spirit as you share the good news of the power of God in the hearts of man through the cross of Christ.

Of course, that assumes that you actually want all this……but why bother?  It´s not very comfortable.  It´s rather inconvenient.  Takes up a lot of time.  It´s a lot of work and requires a lot of sacrifice…….

This time new accusations are made.  I am spiritually immature (of course, aren´t you?).  I lack self-control (I keep asking for forgiveness for my sins, so obviously I don´t have any victory over sin in my life…..or is the victory in the confession and repentance of the sin in the first place?).  But, even worse……I am machavillean (with evil intentions) and “the Bible warned us that people like you would arise in the church.”  (I am now either a wolf in sheeps clothing or the anti-christ).  Lord, please forgive them.  And show me where I am out of your will and how to conduct myself so that you are pleased with me.  Do I really give them that impression?  I always say that their list of accusations is shorter than my own list against myself and both of ours are nothing to the list of accusations that the Devil brings against us.  Thank God that all of the accusations are covered by the blood of Christ.  We do not deal in justice but in grace and that grace was bought with the blood of Christ because of the justice of God.

The problem is that kicking Scotty out of church was a line that I could not cross.  Sure, there are lots of things that I might disagree with the elders on.  Of course.  I have opinions but I can write about them here, in my blog, and get them off my chest.  But how do I condone kicking the poor out of the church?  How can I be in agreement with the corporate sin of the fellowship?  How can we have the anointing of God on our ministry, if we don´t minister to the poor (and everyone else)?  I just couldn´t find a way to continue working on Desert Warrior Ministries, much less be a part of the fellowship in the church, if I just let this go.

Sure, I could have handled it better.  I apologized for that later (again with the confessions of sins, how weak I must be).  I find that there is some flesh in everything that I do, so I end up confessing whatever the Lord makes me aware of…..but, the truth is, I could not let this pass.  I brought Scotty into the church after the service (he was waiting outside and scared to come in) and found the elder talking to a bunch of people, gentle and friendly, shaking everyone´s hand, a great preacher of the Word actually, and a genuinely good man.  Someone that I like and respect as a community and even a church leader.  I harbored the hope that it was all a big misunderstanding.

I brought Scotty to him and told him that Scotty was under the impression that he was not welcome in the church and that he, the elder, had threatened to call the police if Scotty showed up again.  He said that it was true and glared at Scotty as if to say “what are you doing here”….perhaps that is where my flesh got the upper hand in my own heart.  It was the arrogance of the leader, the bold faced assertion that he had the right to kick someone out of the church on his own authority if he wanted (without even consulting the rest of the elders, who ended up agreeing with him anyway after the fact).  He claimed that Scotty had lied to him about coming from Canada (Scotty´s english wasn´t that good), but who cares?  I don´t know if it´s true or not.  Even the elder didn´t know, really, if it was true or not.  He suspected that Scotty lied to him.  So what?  Are we kicking all liars out of church now?  Then I have to go and the leader has to go, in fact, all of us have to go…..what was this?  And it got worse from there.  People had gathered around and I raised my voice and made it clear that this was not of God.

He wasn´t so much embarassed as angry that I was challenging his authority.  What authority?  Last time I checked, no one had the authority to do anything in the church that Jesus would not do.  I can´t see Jesus kicking Scotty out and calling the police.  In fact, Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of these my brothers, you do it unto me.”

Of course, we already had a history of discussions in private and with the elder board about my involvement in the church.  This wasn´t the first time that they have accused me of doing something wrong.  He didn´t like how I prayed in a prayer meeting.  How I cried and was upset in a Men´s Bible Study because we pretended that everything was all right in the church when no one is ever saved and lives are not transformed.  How I rebuked this same leader in a more private setting for suggesting that Charles was a danger to the church and could not come to a congregational meeting when we talked about money as if he was a gangster or would hold up the meeting with a gun or something.  Who knows?   We just don´t want him there, was the position taken.  I had just prayed with him for safety on the streets because he had been threatened in the group home he was living in at nights……he leaves his extra meager possessions in my house, a few shirts and pants and a coat so they don´t get stolen……In any event, now I am an evil man.  Apparently, in their eyes, I have no respect for the church elders and their spiritual authority, my goal is to destroy the church and I have evil, machivillean intentions towards the leadership……Lord, how did this all go so wrong?  Yes, my flesh got the better of me.  Yes, there was probably a better way to handle it…..but since when do we throw people out of the church and then throw other people out of church for standing up to defend them?

Now, a few months later, there is a new pastor in the church.  My wife refuses to give up on the church even though she is in full agreement with what I did (minus the flesh parts).  She is a true spiritual warrior.  She believes, as I do, that God can use this situation to teach the church (and us) the value of spiritual unity on the basis of confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.  Not just sweep it under the rug.  Not just let time heal the wounds.  Not just let sleeping dogs lie.  No.  God confronts sin and pride and ego and demands confession and repentance.  God confronts pride, we negotiate, compromise, even ignore it.  After all, it is the most difficult thing to do, take the journey from pride to humility.  You can´t make anyone do it.  It is always a miracle of the grace of God.

For us, it is impossible to imagine that these leaders would ever confess their sin in this matter.  But what is impossible with man is possible with God.  Now there is a new elder and a new pastor and they want to talk.  My wife will meet with them first (at their request).  Will the miracle of the grace of God prevail? or will this just be more political maneuvering?  Psalm 133 tells us that the blessing of God rests upon those who are in unity with each other.  We know that spiritual unity is based on confession, repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation.  It is not the unity of compromise but the unity of obedience and loyalty to the same Master.

I don´t know the end of the story yet.

The Eight Year Old Evangelist continues to inspire me.  It has led me to the story of Scotty (which I have yet to write) and perhaps the story of the triumph of God´s grace in our church fellowship and a renewed commitment to the priorities of God and the centrality, necessity and value of the cross.  It may lead us to a growing, changing, developing ministry rather than the status quo.  And that would please you immensely, Lord, I know.   We want to be useful to you, Lord, in building your Kingdom and revealing your glory.

One of those same elders, an older man, who has been a Pastor for the Spanish service for many years, asked me once, why the church doesn´t grow.  I told him what I honestly thought.

We, as a church and especially the leaders, do not seek the anointing of God with all of our hearts.  If we did, we would crucify our pride and confess our sins one to another, help each other to repent, forgive one another in Christ and treat each other as we are in Christ not as we are in the flesh, which brings true reconciliation and spiritual unity.  On that basis, in humility and spiritual power, we can minister in the anointing power of God to everyone who comes to us without shame or discrimination.

We lack the power of transforming lives because our life is not transformed.  Frankly, that is always the answer and the solution.  (I found out later that he was offended by my answer and that, too, became another reason why I was asked to leave.)

Lord, will they even care that I write these “truths” about them.  They can hardly deny that this is what happened but, hopefully, your Holy Spirit will stir up some anger, some concern, some sort of explanation or justification why this interpretation of the facts is not so.  Hopefully, they will care enough to fight back and then, perhaps, your new servant, the new pastor, can say something, do something (bathed in prayer and dependence on you) that will help the scales to fall from their eyes, so that they can see and repent and be restored.  And then there can be reconciliation in the church.  That is always the way that division in the church must be handled.  Anything else is fake and powerless.

Lord, I pray for them with all my heart.  It doesn´t matter whether or not we go back to church there (although we would like to if it is in the context of true spiritual unity).  Lord, I pray for them because they are your children, they truly have good intentions, they are good people.  They simply haven´t learned  the power of the flesh to keep you in ignorance, blindness and willfulness.  Lord, help them to learn that they can be good people, love you and have good intentions and still mess up big time and be blind to it, even (especially) as elders.  After all, there is a spiritual war going on.  Things are not what they seem and each of us, especially the leaders, has a crucial role to play.

Lord, help them to see that there is spiritual warfare going on all the time and that the heart and soul of our church fellowship is at stake.  Lord, help them to understand that our own hearts are our biggest enemy and that we need the fellowship of believers to help us uncover our blind spots as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Being an elder isn´t about getting it right all the time.  It´s about having the humility to go to the cross immediately when you become aware of your flesh and sin.  That humility before the cross of Christ in the hearts of men and women, so rare and difficult to obtain, is the glory of God and the reason why nothing of importance can happen without prayer.

And you will reveal that glory in us, both as individuals and a church, both now and before your throne.  That glory, the power of the cross in the hearts of men, is why the world continues on.  It is the great adventure.  It is the goal and purpose of creation.  That ministry of reconciliation is the power of God for salvation and sanctification and it will empower our church to minister to the Spanish and English communities throughout the region.  I know that is your will, Lord.  Make us useful to you in your great rescue effort for the hearts of our families and friends and community.

Lord, we so desperately need your power and presence in our lives.  Fill us with the certainty that we have your anointing because we dedicate ourselves to spiritual unity rooted in the cross.  This ministry of reconcililation is the heart of what the church is and does.  It is difficult to see our pride much less crucify it (me too).  We need each other to help search out and destroy our blind spots and to keep each other accountable in humility and thankfulness, to help each other to stay at the foot of the cross in that sweet spot of grace.  We need to keep our discipleship rooted in the humility of our own need for grace.

That is what I leaned from my Eight Year Old Evangelist.  The simplicity of the truth, the humility of love and the natural result of evangelism and discipleship as expressions of the ministry of reconciliation.  I truly wish we were all eight years old.

“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”   – Jesus    (Matthew 18:3 NIV).

The Desert Warrior

An Adventure of Grace – Our Crowdfunding Journey by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by van Kregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net        info@desertwarrior.net

When I am weak

28 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by Bert Amsing in Conversations with an Elder, Reflections, Short Stories

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identification with Christ, spirituality, strength, weakness

When I am weak, then I am strong.
II Cor. 12:10 (NIV)

Not exactly a favorite verse for most Christians.  No one wants to be weak, or thought of as weak.  One of the unwritten rules of life is that we are expected to take care of ourselves.  To be strong.  To take care of business.  After all, God helps those who help themselves, right?  Not exactly.

It may be weak to be weak but it is not weak to side with the needy when you, yourself, are strong.  To identify with them, to take upon yourself their weakness is to be like Christ.

How often have we felt overwhelmed by the needs of others, especially those who don´t seem capable of standing on their own two feet.  We feel that wave of dispair, and fear, wash over us because we know that we don´t have the ability to meet their need, to solve their problems, to save them.

And that is the way it should be.  It is true that we are not the Savior, that Jesus is the one who saves all of us, that a Savior complex is unhealthy.

But it is also true that Jesus saves people through the cross in the context of relationships.  He made it quite clear that, in terms of circumstances, clothing, food, drink, shelter, he “saves” people, blesses people through us.

So we cannot escape along that route.  Jesus saves “creationally” through us.  So a few more things need to be said.

On the one hand, we are not called to save our brothers and sisters alone, as individuals.  There is a community responsibility which is rooted in the plain teaching of scripture about the priority of the poor and God´s preference for the least, the last, the lost and the loser.

On the other hand, of course we feel powerless to make a difference and scared at the price that we might have to pay to meet their need.  And yes, we are called to that kind of complete, poverty inducing, self-sacrifice on behalf of others (whether or not the community also responds).

We must treat our brothers and sisters as they are in Christ.  What you do for the least of these my brothers, you do it unto me, Jesus said.  There is no way to escape that truth.

But even further, we fear because we are not yet convinced that God is our provider and protector.

Or maybe we are, but we also know that he has another agenda, for our eternal good, in which He is more than willing to sacrifice our convenience in this life in order to accomplish a more basic and important good related to our relationship with him.  God uses desert when we prefer the promised land.  Exactly.  And we don´t like it.  We are not in alignment with His purposes, His priorities, His agenda.

But, in the end, there is a final truth that is revealed when we are faced with the needs of the weak, the needy, the least, the loser.

The truth that we are powerless and that we lead powerless lives.  We are not fully surrendered.  We are not fully identified with Christ.  We have not learned to become desert warriors dedicated to the centrality, necessity and value of the cross in our lives.  We have no power because we are not willing to pay the price for that power.  The power of love, the power of the favor of God is relational.  Always has been and always will be.  Marriage is not much different.  But, then again, very few people have much power in their marriages either which is why so many (including my first marriage) fall apart.

Truth is revealed in how we deal with the poor and the needy.  The truth about community.  The truth about sacrifice and the truth about power (or the lack of power) in our lives.  Community, sacrifice and power.  But there is more.

How we deal with the weak, and the truths revealed in our attitude toward the weak, reveals to us our own weakness and the illusion of what we call strength.  In the eyes of God we are all weak and needy and unwise and full of sin addiction and rebellion.  He draws near in the community of the godhead, with great sacrifice and power and he transforms the human heart – for all of us.

He prefers the weak and sides with them and identifies with them in Christ through the cross and his strength becomes theirs and their weakness becomes his.

When we accept our weakness and therefore our need for his community, his sacrifice, his power, we are humbled by the awareness of our sin and rebellion as well as the depths of his grace in spite of our sin, to transform our sin into glory.

When we identify with him as he identifies with us, in full surrender, and in humility, acting as he acts, with his priorities, passions, and purposes, then his strength becomes ours and he can act through us and in us and therefore, in that place of anointing, in him, we can do all things (that he asks of us).  Philippians 4:13 NIV

He asks us to identify with the poor and the needy.  Period.

Of course we can´t do it on our own.  Of course, his command reveals the weakness of our individuality, our fear of sacrifice and our powerlessness.  He reveals it so that it can be dealt with at the foot of the cross in confession and repentance, so that we can rise in full identification with him and go do what he has commanded us to do in his strength.  

That is, after all, the point.

We reveal the glory of God in our weakness, and our awareness of our weakness, which creates humility, so that his strength is made perfect, complete, in us when we identify ourselves completely with him, in Christ.

When I am weak (in myself), then I am strong (in him).
II Cor. 12:10 NIV (brackets and italics mine)

The Desert Warrior

Reflections by Bert A. Amsing
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers.  All rights reserved.
http://www.desertwarrior.net        info@desertwarrior.net

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  • Forgive wildatheart.org/daily-reading/… via @RansomedHeart Desert Warrior Ministries 3 days ago
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The Desert Warrior

Artwork by Astray-Engel.

All rights reserved by Artist. Used with permission. Click artwork for details of the Creative Commons License.

Copyright Notice

© 2012 vanKregten Publishers and Desert Warrior Ministries. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to vanKregten Publishers, Desert Warrior Ministries and/or Bert A. Amsing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Specific reprint permission will be granted upon request via email for inclusion in digital and print media.

Scripture Copyright

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2012 by vanKregten Publishers. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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