Tag Archives: God

Pastor Wrinkles: The Lenten Journey Pt. 6

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This Lenten traveller has been on “the road” for nearly a week. God has taken me places I didn’t want to go and yet the journey has begun to yield some wonderful fruit. I discovered a hardness of heart in myself springing from three roots which troubled my forward advance. I realize discovery is but the first step to healing these things but they are exposed now and the Holy Spirit is beginning His work upon them.

Have you ever been afraid of a road God told you to walk down? What did you do?

Yesterday in service our lead pastor preached a message concerning “spiritual health assessment”. He gave us five questions to meditate through over this next week  regarding our spiritual health.With each question he offered 6 sub-points to ponder on each day.

Today’s meditation concerns our connection with other people and with God:

On a scale of one to five ( 1 being just at the beginning of the journey and five being well-developed in the area)…

How am I at  developing authentic community within my church family?

How am I doing in the area of loving others? Giving grace to others? Forgiving others? (I guess that’s three in one but OK) Read I Corinthians 13 before answering this one.

How am I at intentionally cultivating my relationships with Christian friends? Spiritual mentors?

How am I doing with connecting with my immediate family relationships?

How am I doing at resolving conflict with others in a biblical manner?

How can I deepen my relationships with others? 

It was question number 6 that hit me square between the eyes. Just before service yesterday God revealed I had believed a lie that was keeping me out of balance in my relationships. Somewhere in my life I came to believe that I had to choose between family relationships and church relationships. If I was going to have one then I would have to neglect the other. God showed me yesterday that if I am to be healthy it must not be either… or but both… and.

Over the course of family life and ministry I have failed to establish and enforce proper boundaries. I have given other people the right to declare my boundaries  because I was afraid of rocking the boat. I was afraid of losing face. I was afraid of losing relationship. I am realizing that by allowing other people to set the boundaries for me I have given away the power to balance my relationships. I wonder what fixing this is going to entail.

Which question above most speaks to you?

Pastor Wrinkles: The Lenten Journey Pt. 5 (First Sunday In Lent)

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Today is our annual church business meeting. So Pastor Risto preached his State of the Church Address, “A Spiritual Health Assessment”.

Here are five questions I came away with to ponder and I will be speaking to them over the next five Lenten posts:

1. How has your connection with God and with others grown this year?

2. In what ways have you grown this year in Christ-like maturity?

3. Are you serving God according to your Spiritual giftings?  your heart?  your abilities?  Your personality? Your experiences?

4. How are you intentionally sharing your faith with unbelievers?

5. How has your public and private worship life grown in the last year?

 

Feel free to chime in on any of these questions today or over the next few days.

Pastor Wrinkles: The Lenten Journey Pt. 4

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In all our hearts lies a longing for a Sacred Romance- Brent Curtiss

In all our hearts lies a longing for a Sacred Romance Brent Curtiss

I am so grateful for what Jesus has showed me these last few days! My Scripture reading this morning was from Hebrews chapter 3:

7 That is why the Holy Spirit says,

“Today when you hear his voice,
8     don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled,
    when they tested me in the wilderness.
9 There your ancestors tested and tried my patience,
    even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
10 So I was angry with them, and I said,
‘Their hearts always turn away from me.
    They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11 So in my anger I took an oath:
    ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13 You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”

I want to start by thanking those of you who have prayed for me. I have spent the last couple of days afraid of moving forward just like the Israelites. The Sacred Romance has been calling but I have been afraid to embrace it for a couple of reasons:

1. Inadequacy. I feel I am not equal to the road that lies ahead.

2. Fear of rejection. I am realizing that one of the reasons I am afraid to walk this road is because I am afraid I will discover God doesn’t want me.

3. Fear of disappointing others. If I fully go after God then I may incur the disappointment of others (because I am not doing their will for my life). Then if God rejects me who will I have?

I know! I know! These things look silly when they are written down on computer screen; But these are the things that have been hidden in my heart that I was not even aware of. These are the reasons I have not boldly shared Christ with people on the streets. These are the reasons I waited so long to send my book out. These are the reasons I have skipped my scheduled writing sessions at night. These are the reasons I have not done more travelling. The list goes on.

As I have prayed these last two days God has revealed these are three things He is healing in me. Today I realized they are nothing more than unbelief and hardness of heart.

Sooo…I have left these attitudes behind and I confess:

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

” I am accepted in the Beloved.”

“The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid.”

Now forward into the Sacred Romance!

What Scriptural confessions do you need to cling to in order to walk into God’s promises? Continue reading →

Pastor Wrinkles: The Lenten Journey Pt. 3

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We wake, if ever we wake at all, to mystery.- Annie Dillard

We wake, if ever we wake at all, to mystery.- Annie Dillard

Brent Curtis writes, “The true story of every person in this world is not the story you see, the external story.  The true story of each person is the journey of his or her heart.” ( The Sacred Romance, Pg.7)

This journey is so compellingly different from the 21 day spiritual journey I walked through in January. Two weeks ago my prayers were so focused, directed and led by the visions God was giving me. Now I am spending long hours in prayer just staring into space and asking God “Show me…show me what’s in my heart.”

I don’t know how I know this but I am certain that this  season…this journey is about healing my heart so that it may be ready to receive the  God dreams He has promised me. The change must come in order for my life to support the dreams He is giving birth too.

I feel like something in me is awakening and I don’t know what it is. I only know that this awakening is exciting and frightening all at once: Exciting for the promise it brings of forward movement (because how can I move if I am asleep);  Frightening because I know it will call me to face and come to terms with some of the confusing stuff that has happened.

Fredrick Buechner writes, “If God speaks to us at all other than through such official channels as the Bible and the church, then I think that HE speaks  to us largely through what happens to us…”

While I believe God has many ways to speak to us I do believe He uses our past circumstances to teach us deeply about the life HE longs for us to have. So what is God teaching me through my past about my future?

What has God spoken through your past circumstances?

Pastor Wrinkles; The Lenten Journey Pt. 2

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I know I am only a day into this journey but I am already beginning to draw comparisons with my last spiritual quest. The 21 day spiritual journey was all about visioning and faith. This Lenten journey seems to be all about grace and inner healing…restoring the heart.

Yesterday God gave me the word “grace”. Today he gave me my reading for the forty days, The Sacred Romance Drawing Closer To the Heart Of God, by Brent Curtis and John Eldredge.

In my reading today I found this quote by A.W. Tozer “Thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been wakened by the touch of God within them.”

I am thirsty. I am longing. Yet there are things which hold me back from the edge of God’s river. I know it sounds crazy… a minister saying something like that, but as I have spent the last month praying over many of my dreams, goals and visions I am realizing that while I want those things I am also afraid of some of those things because the attainment of the dreams will redefine me. I have realized I have to change in order for some of those dreams to come to pass and some of the change means letting God heal and reorient  my heart. I won’t be the same me when the dreams come to pass. Maybe that is a good thing, but it’s still a scary thing!

Question of the day: How do you think you will change when your God dream comes to pass? Is that scary?

Pastor Wrinkles: The Lenten Journey Pt. 1

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It’s Ash Wednesday the traditional start of the fasting season called Lent. As I begin this 40 day journey I am given a starting word:

“Grace”  I am reminded that I am called to understand at least three things about grace.

1. Grace cannot be earned. It can only be realized and received with thankfullness. Anyone who desires it can have it.

2. Grace is God doing for me what I cannot do for myself. That does not mean there’s is nothing for me to do. I must do what I can.

3.Grace doesn’t kick in until I stop  struggling to do things I cannot do. Struggling in areas beyond my control is called pride.

I want God’s grace. So today I am taking this word to my prayer list and seeking to realize where and how I need to realize and receive the working of His grace.

Today’s question: what is one area in which you recognize the grace of God at work in your life?