Gang, this one jumped out at me when I was talking with Isaac.
He was doing his Bible Homework and asked the question.
In how many days did G-d make/create everything?
And most of y’all know the answer, the usual answer.
Six.
And yet, the first record of rest did not happen until the seventh day.
Ther for, G-d created everything except for rest in six days.
But G-d did not create EVERYTHING in six days.
Rest was his idea and thus, his creation.
So, I answered him, G-d rested on the seventh day, and so given that, the answer is actually seven days.
Granted, this is a simplification of my views, given I am an old-earther. But, fascinating point. Seven days, because the seventh day was in fact a day of creation. He created the reality of alignment through rest, refreshment, and also assessment of what he had done.
Days and seasons of rest are also opportunities for us to “occupy” in active rest through evaluation, shifting, realignment with Dad’s purposes and prepping for the next week.
#sevenrthdaycompletion
A SOUND BYTE ON MERCIES AND WARFARE
Mercies do not enjoy warfare. Mercies like to avoid warfare.
And other like statements.
And I have a couple of thoughts for that sentiment.
Actually, one.
Bull.
Now that I have said that, consider the following
Three words.
Man of blood.
Look at the life of King David, the merciest of Mercies, and Joshua, another Mercy say that with a straight face again.
Granted, I think there are some Mercies that run from the donneybrook, but I think greater is the number that runs to the donneybrook.
So, thoughts.
For a definition of “donneybrook”, see below.
There are some who would laugh at the social butterfly that is the Exhorter.
There are some Prophets who might be tempted to laugh AT the Exhorter’s anger, or fail to take their anger seriously, precisely because, so frequently, the Exhorter is saddled with a “life of the party” stigma.
But nothing could be further from the right way to handle the Exhorter, epsecially when their anger is rightly-weighed and placed.
Let’s read the following text from Exodus 32.
As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hand and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.
Exodus 32:19-20 (ESV)
Gang, make it your aim to refuse to stereotype any one of the gifts.
Just because the Exhorter can be so fun-loving and given to people and possibly some glad-handing, does not mean their ire cannot be drawn and their zeal for the L-rd’s honor and holiness cannot burn fiercely.
Just because a Prophet, for example, can make fun of an Exhorter’s anger, does not mean it is not incredibly stupid.
Just because an Exhorter is angry at something does not mean it is time for another colossal joke or that we should not take them seriously.
G-d made the gifts all good.
Moses lost it and forced the idolaters to drink ground-up calf idol.
Sounds like a Prophet, right? Reminds me personally of Elijah.
Nope. Exhorter.
Each of the gifts can manifest a zeal for the L-rd of hosts.
Then, on top of that, the Exhorter Moses said.
Levites, start a massacre.
Again, Exhorter.
Granted, some stuff is Exhorter ego, and we should feel a safe place to call it out when it is off-base.
But that is why discernment is so critical, gang.
And we should be aware of when the Exhorter really is desiring others to take them seriously.
Just because one gift typically presents one way, does not mean that they always present that way.
Handle the Exhorter, and handle them well.
Make sure you can have a strong exchange with them when necessary. They need people to help them come down when they are burning with Reality over some issue.
Thoughts?
Every morning when he dresses the lamps [of the lampstand] he shall burn [incense], and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a regular incense offering before the L-RD throughout your generations.
From Exodus 30:7-8
Of course, Aaron was a Mercy. And yes, Mercies and intimacy are somewhat second nature, though intimacy is the birthright of the Prophet more than the other six in terms of ROI.
But intimacy and friendship are different.
Moreover, the Altar of Incense is a Giver Picture. And while Mercies do intimacy, Friendship is the purview of the Giver.
And read that dual phrase with me, ponder it. Every morning, burn incense.Every evening, burn incense.
Every day and every night. Find some of the incense of G-d’s heart and G-d’s friendship to burn on the altar. And the incense is as vast and varied as the Givers are. Whales, birds, fish, serpents, monsters, eagles, terns, penguins, sharks, squids, octopi, mollusks, crustaceans, hummingbirds, and all their vast and varied homes from the second day and third day. A variety of nests and nooks, abover the ground and under the sea.
And it was not just any incense, not just strange or unauthorized incense or even unauthorized fire for that matter (Leviticus 10:1-5) that they were to offer, but rather the most holy incense. The camp’s best incense. Incense that the L-rd knew. Incense that has the right feel to it. Not just soulish incense, but spirit-driven incense. Not just blinded incense that does not pray with precision, but sharpened, discerning, perceptive incense. Not just incense that prays only for the prodigals of believers, but for all prodigals. As you recall, there was a movement of believers in the 60’s that prayed for prodigal, hippy kids of believers, and they were so short-sighted that they failed to include the children of unbelievers in that intercession.
Our job is not just cry out for our kids, but to also pray for the lost and the things that really do matter in their lives. It is right and good for the plight of the lost to also touch our deep places.
G-d will let the bowls of incense in heaven fill up so that He can get the ROI not just among believers, but also from unbelievers.
Are you, Givers, willing to step into a place of alignment and agreement with that desire of His heart?
Or are you just content to complain about what the Left or the Right is doing? Are you content to complain about the agenda of the homosexual community? Or are you willing to spend time in the holy place, talking with the King about His heart?
Execute His heart and in the process, He will help you bear the things that are on your heart, your mind, and your reins.
A most holy altar demands appropriate incense (Exodus 30:10).
Givers are designed freshly for Intercession, in the same way that Prophets for Sacrifice, Servants for Cleansing, Teachers for Fellowship, Exhorters for Revelation, RJD’s for Execution of G-d’s commands via life-giving systems that Execute His work, and Mercies for the burning fire of consecration and mystery.
We in the Giver tribe can do the good work of providing resources out of our own strength, or we can walk by faith (our cardinal virture).
I use “we” not in the sense of “me”, because I am not a Giver, but rather in the sense of my tribe of Givers. So, don’t let that sentence cause you to stumble.
I know I am no Giver because I don’t have Giver face. Not a poker face, but in the words of Anna Zimmerman, it is a face that can mask the emotions exceptionally well.
Back to the topic at hand.
Because of your capacity for friendship with G-d Most High, Givers (Jas 2:23), you have a capacity to connect in intercession and keep it from becoming a religious thing that is unparalleled, if you will choose to walk in it. It is better to intercede out of the friendship you have, instead of the religious spirit that you can so easily walk in. And Givers and Teachers can walk in a reigious spirit if they are not careful. They, like Teachers, can walk after the good things instead of the G-d things.
And we need both to militate against the religious spirit. We need both to connect with G-d and to do the one thing He is telling them to do.
The bottom line for the AOI (Altar of Incense) is that it is designed to be the home for burning the best incense, instead of the leftover junk, or the other stuff that came into being without Father’s permission.
Keep the strange stuff away from the altar, and burn the best stuff from the King’s heart on it.
Keep all the good things you want to pray for away from it, and hunt for the specific one thing that He wants to show y’all.
Engage with the Prophets in your life and connect with them, to consecrate those altars, to apply blood from the sin offering (Exodus 30:10) to the horns of the Altar.
and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
Exodus 20:19 (ESV)
Question: What is worse than not being able to hear G-d?
Answer: Being able to hear G-d clearly and rejecting what He has to say.
You will read this a hundered different times in the average evanglical Sunday School classroom, and still it is possible to miss G-d’s heart for His people.
G-d clearly spoke, and the people of Israel clearly heard His voice. The problem here is that they did not want to hear His voice anymore.
The commands could have been too harsh-sounding to them, they could have imposed to much on the independent spirit of this Giver nation that liked to be in control, or they could have just thought, great, another master, and we have just gotten over our PTSD.
Whatever the issue, they basically told G-d to stop speaking to them.
And that is heartbreaking.
It is heartbreaking for the Father of Lights, to have created His people, and for His people to say, “we do not want this thing called relationship with You. Moses, the Exhorter, is much more user-friendly and approachable. He is easier to grumble against (Ex 15:24, 16:2, 17:3). We will speak with him.”
But the moment they stop wanting to hear the L-rd’s voice, out of a religious spirit, which is part of the Giver DNA, then trouble begins to happen, and it culminates for this same people in Numbers 13, where they reject the command of G-d to enter the Promised Land.
And my question for us today is, “have you rejected hearing His voice recently?”
In keeping with the spirit of Chanukah, have you rejected the deep voice of G-d? Have you chosen the shallow, partial, incomplete, and familiar voice of what you think is the fullness of His voice instead of hunting for the complete fullness is? You spirit knows when you have rejected that voice in some season or matter.
If so, I am being G-d’s prophet and exhorting you to repent, renounce your covenant with the Spirit of Deafness, and with Darkness, and come back into the light so you can do business with G-d. Not with religion, not with denomination. Your Father. He has things He wants to speak to you. Some of those things are fun. Some of those things are joyous. And some of those things are hard and sobering.
But He does want to speak to you, dearly beloved.
And now, I have some repenting to do…
The alternative is the Canaanite Iron Bowl, a structure that enforces your inability to hear G-d in not only the areas where you have rejected Him, but also in the areas where you want to hear Him.
Some of y’all have flat rejected His counsel concerning relationships. He has given some of y’all free will when it comes to a relationship and has told some of y’all, “You will be blessed if you move into this relationship, but I am not forcing you into this relationship. You are not required to have this relationship. But if you want it, I a completely fine with it.”
Some of y’all are so gung-ho about “obeying G-d” and wanting to know “the will of G-d”, that you cannot fathom the idea of G-d treating you like a son and giving you free will in a matter.
And you need to get used to the fact of not only being able to hear and accept the command of G-d, but also the times when G-d gives you a choice that he will bless, either way you go.
Some of you need to quit assuming that G-d’s a binary “yes and no” machine only, and need to get into, nay, dive into, and dig into, the G-d Who Gives Us Real Choices.
Discern when G-d has something clear to say for you to obey, versus when G-d has a choice for you to make and really is okay with the choice you make.
AND WHILE WE ARE AT IT…ESCAPING THE SNAKES DEN
And while I am at it, let me jump on the concept of Lauren Daigle briefly, and remind the church of something.
It was not a failure on her part, what she said about homosexuality being a sin.
Here is what it was, gang.
She was avoiding the trap of a snakes’ den.
Oh, I am sorry that offends some of y’all.
Unfortunately, some followers of Christ are so rabid for every public figure to denounce this or that sin, that our idolatry when it comes to holding one sin above all others for examination has kept us from the place of “being wise as a serpent”.
Daigle did just that.
Some of the church needs to get a freaking grip.
Some times, we need to recognize when the culture is setting us up for a trap, and ignore the trap.
Sometimes, we need to avoid some conversations, because there is bait involved.
The church in some places, has royally sucked at not taking the bait.
And it is our job to learn which unfruitful conversations to avoid.
Let me close with my paraphase of some of Paul’s final words to Timothy.
Avoid idiotic arguments that lead to more jackassery.
Gang, enough of our putting pearls out there before swine.
And good on Daigle for following Paul’s advice letter-perfect, and for increasing in Matthew 10:16 authority.
More of us would do well to emulate that principle.
Instead of wasting our time making rushing to worship at the altar of denouncing every sin.
Go right ahead if that (stoning believers without pondering their motives) is how you want to spend your time on earth.
But that will not build a lasting ministry in this Mercy season.
ἄφες τοὺς νεκροὺς θάψαι τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκρούς.
For those that cannot read the above text, here is some help.
νεκροὺς (necrous) means “dead” and θάψαι (thapsai) means “I bury”.
Sometimes we need to quit arranging funerals. We are living, gang. And some wish to go on acting like they are dead.
‘And it is also said,’ answered Frodo: ‘Go not to the Elves for counsel for they will answer both no and yes.’
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, One-Volume Edition, (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1999), 83.
And I know this is in the free stuff on Sapphire Leadership Group’s Spartanburg website. But there is a value here. And Arthur enjoys reviews of his material.
THE PHYSICS OF THE MATTER
First, the concept of light and sound being part of the same spectrum is only partially true. Starsongs, Sound Portals, lights do carry frequencies, and, as a result, you have these waves that move back and forth. That said, sound that emerges from non-light sources, as in the case of vocal cords, is not tied to light. That is, my perscepctive, this teaching is not arguing that all light and all sound are part of the same spectrum, but rather, there is a frequency that emanates from light, a sound (for lack of a more precise word) if you will, that is something that can actually be heard. Not all sounds are tied to or sourced in the concept of light.
Light itself is both wave and a particle (a phenomenon called wave-particle duality), and therefore, as a wave, light can be the source of something that is akin to–and actually–a sound.
Separating from the sound and frequencies that emanate from light sources, sound that emanates from non-light sources is a wave of pressure that disrupts the particles in its vicinity.
So, you have sound frequnecies that come from light.
And you have sound frequencies that are not tied to or rooted in light.
Where light and sound meet, for the purposes of this teaching is the wave aspect of light that creates pressure and therefore emanates sound. So, we are describing both/and here. But there are sounds created that are not sourced in light and therefore are not part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum, because sound does not have the property of mass, as does light.
Now, that we have the physics out of the way, let’s consider the teaching.
Arthur begins this concept with the idea of generational memories and he pulls from the idea of “you have made me to trust at my mother’s breasts” (Psalm 22:9). He moved from this passage and made known the concept of eye contact, given light flows into our eyes and is therefore reflected back out, and with the concept of fiber optics, light is capable of therefore carrying data. And the eyes of our primary caregivers help either root and stabilize us or uproot and destabilize us. The light that flows from our eyes carries with it data of some form, either data that says we can trust in this life, we cannot trust in this life, or we are in for a life that is a mixed bag.
From there, Arthur moves to reframe Jezebel and Ahab from this issue of trust. Most people who develop Jezebel and Ahab spirits do so because a lack of trust was fostered in them either because they were wounded, or because their primary caregiver was wounded. And when we make an agreement that we are not going to trust or take matters into our own hands, we open the door for a perversion by a demonic entity to mess with us, oppress us, control us, or subvert us.
This is a quick two-disc shot and it carries some very brightening truth that will help us place our light sources in the right roots and right soil, and it is good for us to take hold of and hear Arthur out and work at making Him our root, and choosing to be intentional when it comes to by faith appropriating trust in Him by turning to gaze at Him and into His eyes.
Seriously, go grab this set and listen to it, and ask Him to give you new memories and to reframe the old ones, or to get rid of those memories that traumatize you.
Ask the L-rd to show you His eyes, and see His eyes, for if you are His, then:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go and I will guide you with My EYES.
So, I was going to take my sons to feed the ducks.
The across-the-street kids were not home when we got out.
Then, as we walked down the street and across a major road to a different neighborhood to feed the ducks at the local pond, Isaac made a comment:
“They are following us, Daddy.”
The kids from across the street know our timing, evidently, and even though I have no relationship with their parents, evidently, we have some free-range kids that deem us safe enough to tag along.
And so the five of us fed ducks.
And I am shaking my head.
I am safe enough, that my home and my sons have become a haven for more kids.
And…sure, they can tag along.
But I still shake my head.
And, bonus. I got to pet some wild ducks. And these kids with me as well. My rambunctious sons as well. Petting wild ducks.
Go figure. I absolutely had a blast with this day.
[wpvideo LTFIO5LC data-temp-aztec-id=”abfedc34-26e5-41a5-9354-e6794fae0f06″]
Reposted from a comment on a friend’s post:
In this season, there is a very not-quite-so-profound realization that we are, hopefully, coming to realize.
It is not just about integrity or skill in preaching taken alone.
And people are smarter and they yearn for more than than well-crafted, apologetically-driven, eexceptionally-studied spiritual mugging after the fashion of Ray Comfort or RZIM.
The accurate defense of the faith means nothing if people cannot discern the tenderness and affection of the Father of Lights strawed through our exposition. There has to really be a sense that we have been with Him more than we have been with the text.
It is not even about the tired maxim of “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”.
The bottom line: in this season, people have to be able to smell the fragrance of Christ on our lives in order to know that we do, indeed, “have the goods”, and therefore, be finally given a reason to “pay for the goods”.
We have to have real skin in the game, not merely five hours of good study and at the top of our preachcraft expositionally.
You can preach till the cows come home verse-by-verse, but people will not invest their own skin in the game in the walk after and with Christ until they know your skin is first in the game.
Have we been with Him, or have we merely been with IT?
Are we merely pennywise because we have only been with the text, or are we exceptionally wise because we have marinated in The Only Wise (Jude 25)?
If, on one hand, people smell the fragrance of Him, they will at least have no excuse for not coming.
If, however, on the other hand, people do not smell the fragrance of Him, we will have no excuse, and they will be fully justified in ignoring us.
We must invest that time in having been with Him in order to be clothed with His fragrance. And before we will seek Him rightly as it comes to expanding the kingdom, we must have the right affection for them.
There is that intangible quality of tenderness toward the people not yet of G-d, in order for them to respond well.
Preachcraft alone forces us to rely on cunning speech and persuasion.
Fragrance on the other hand will yield the fields that are white from season to season.
Psalm 91 shows us part of this dynamic of how to avoid mere preachcraft.
#secretplacesofelelyon
#shadowofthealmighty
#preachcraftalonesucks
I have learned a whole lot about the work of dealing with Bibles in the last 20 years.
I was not prepared for the idea that a Bible can be defiled to the place where, like a flag that has been worn beyond repair, it must be dealt with in an appropriate manner.
My old ESV Study Bible has recently been the victim of a fit of anger when I was dealing with a situation at home. And (confession and vulnerability are good for the spirit of one who is designed to walk as a leader in the church), it was severely damaged in that issue. No people were harmed, though I was wrong in what I had done.
All that said, later, my wife later asked me about that particular Bible, and I ultimately realized there was a connection to several negative emotional events, and then she asked me where I had gotten it.
It had been a present for Christmas, back when I had celebrated Christmas, from my ex-wife. It was bought in the context of an unrighteous, unyielded, unequally-yoked, and ungodly relationship. And in short, its purchase was an act of rebellion.
As I flipped its pages with this revelation, it dawned on me.
Spirit of anger. Purchased with a wrong motive.
The bible had become a terrible mixed bag. For it had become a place where I had learned both great revelation, connected with the L-rd, and had done a great deal of memorization. It was the bible I have used in my lengthy conversations with Eric Hatch during our long study of Ezekiel, and for whose understanding and reading of that prophetic book I remain exceptionally indebted. However, it had also been a place of significant mental blocks, choppy flow in relationships, and it was the book in which I found solace in the midst of a rapidly deteriorating marriage, and over which I had engaged in several verbal fights with my ex-wife.
The initial even of friction after that bible’s purchase was in church a few days after I had bought it, when one of my then-toddler sons had taken a pen and graffiti’d in it.
And so, tonight, I did what for many Protestants would be unthinkable.
I burned that old Bible.
And as I burned it, I felt some pushback and shifts, and some nasty demonic retaliation, and a definite sense of cleansing.
For the record, there is a principle that I think someone needs to hear. And regardless of the pushback, it bears saying slowly and reading deliberately.
That Bible in your hot little hands, follower of Christ, is not the living, breathing Word of G-d.
According to Hebrews 4:12, Jesus is. If you want the meaning of Hebrews 4:12 and the identity of the Word of G-d, you need to read the entire context of that verse.
And as we are at it, consider the following fact.
Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
Arthur Burk
Here is the fact, and sacred cow, gang.
The distinction that we often make in our word studies between Logos and Rhema is artificial. Those words are actually used interchangeably in the New Testament for “word”. We like to use the concept of logos to describe the written word, and rhema to describe when the word becomes revelation and living and breathing in us, but such an attempt at distinction that Scripture does not consistently make is unwarranted.
Furthermore, which word do the New Testament, the Mercy John, and the writer of Hebrews use to describe the L-rd Yeshua?
Answer: LOGOS…. Not the word you would think for living word, but the word we classically associate with the idea of the written word. That alone tells us that our ideas of word studies may have begun to embrace ideas and mentalities akin to magic incantations. Besides, gang, just because we can list all the meanings found in a concordance does not mean we have the full understanding of a word. Words in the original languages of Scripture are precisely like words in our own language. They do have meaning, but that meaning is primarily found in the context of the passages in which they are found. Words primarily have meaning relative to whole of the verse or passage, chapter, book, ch in which they are nested.
For the purposes of our word studies, the words logos and rhema are used interchangeably.
Gang, there is a news flash here. The Bible is not your magic book to learn the right incantations for making the spirit realm behave as you want, nor is it the key to success and all of your wildest dreams.
Growing in your relational connection with the Man and the L-rd is.
ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE OF WORDS VS. ACQUIRING THE HEART OF THE TRUTH BEHIND THOSE WORDS
Many followers of Christ have grown to value the acquisition of the knowledge of the text of Scripture, but have stupendously failed at the acquisition of understanding the principles behind the words they have dutifully memorized.
As such, many have grown to treasure both the English book that is the translation behind the text of Holy Writ and the concept of biblical literacy, yet we have a long way to go to see the flowering of both widespread understanding and wisdom. I am hunting for the fullness of our understanding of the Word of G-d.
It’s not about the book, and I enjoy reading that book as much as the next person, so if the following pictures, that serve as a memorial to the end of that turgid season, offend you, then perhaps ask yourself why they do.
It is about the Man. We read and study and ingest and execute the principles written in the book in order to connect more deeply with the man.
If all we do is treasure a book, and that book keeps us from walking with the Man that book describes, then something needs to shift. If the Bible is the most important THING in our life, then it risks becoming a sacred cow, and our valuing its words can turn to bibliolatry. And if something is defiled and cleansing it is not the answer, then we need to consider that it needs to be removed. Remove the branches that have stopped bearing fruit.
