Responding in Truth

This morning I read a tweet from a prominent speaker in our country, and it said something to the effect that God doesn’t respond to our need, He responds to our faith.  I immediately had a “no” in my heart and I thought of the story of the father who brought his son to the disciples and they couldn’t heal him.  He asked Jesus to heal his son IF He could.  IF…there wasn’t a lot of faith right there, you know?  He then admitted to Jesus that he needed help with unbelief and Jesus gave him the miracle of healing his son in order to do just that…Jesus boosted the man’s faith.  Jesus didn’t respond to the guy’s faith.  He responded to his need so that He could give him the gift of faith.  I’m not sitting here gleeful because just one more preacher dude made a mistake.  That’s not the point.  The point is I am tired of the church sign approach we Christians have to the truth.  We often say things that sound so pious and right and cute and cuddly, but when you really start digging into a lot of these platitudes they aren’t right at all, and I think that they also harm because somewhere out there is a hurting person that DID believe and they didn’t get what they asked for and now they are floundering.  The last thing that person needs is a 2 x 4 across his head making him think he didn’t believe “enough.”  I think God responds the way any good Father would respond.  He does what He knows is best in the situation and based on what will bring us the most good and help us to grow.  Truth isn’t straightforward.  It just isn’t.  If you don’t believe me then read Proverbs 26:4-5.  I am learning that God is more often a “both-and” person and NOT an exclusively “either-or” type of person.  And somewhere, somehow we are going to have to quit acting like we know it all, and we are going to have to start acting out of the place that our faith contains mystery and unanswered questions and there is not one human being on this planet that has it all right including (and probably especially) myself.  If we lead people to the Answer instead of trying to have all the answers, we might go far.  Just a thought… 

Sunday Mornings

Ambiguity seems to be the order of the day
Especially from ones who claim to pray
To a Being they have never seen or known

Dishonesty seems to play a part
Particularly in the religious art
Where those who have never seen or heard
Are telling me I am a raucous bird
Because I speak with Him every moment

Distraction seems to be the key
To attempt to allure and bury me
Into a place where there is no reality
There are only rules and regulations

I must have love and I must have real
Forget all about this curb appeal
That doesn’t get the orphan fed
And doesn’t give the hungry bread
It just sits and consumes the sunlight

I sit and I sit here quietly
And God just sits right next to me
And that right there is the meaning of life
And that right there is the ending of strife
So I’m just going to sleep in on Sunday morning
And meet with my family in another way.
My goodness, it is such a beautiful day!

I sit with Wonder, I sit with Love
I rest in the Goodness, I am placed above
I walk through darkness as I am bathed in light
I watch True Love simply blow away fright
And know this is just where I am meant to be

Totally free….

K, Duane Carter 6-19-10

Time for Reformation

Time for Reformation
Everywhere I go there is a dissatisfaction with what we have all been taught about God and church. Everywhere I go I talk to people of all colors and social classes and the talk is the same: there has got to be more than this. I believe that God is helping me to see why.
The enemy has so far succeeded in creating a religious society within “Christian” nations that in most places one cannot differentiate between the “real” Christian and simply a religious person. There is no visible difference because there is no visible power, so therefore people come to the logical conclusion, based on their premise and their experience, that Christianity is not for real and it is no different than any other religion. See, people are looking at a structure that the enemy built and put the label “God’s House” on it, so they look at it and rightly say, “That is not God.” So people say, “Heck with this” and they just live the best they know how. Those people are not full of evil intent, they are simply speaking what they see. They are simply living out what they have been shown. In other words they are in the dark because the light has never been shown to them. They have HEARD about it, but they have never SEEN it. Some people know deeply within them that God is for real, but that is all they have to cling to as they struggle through their lives. They believe He is for real, but they are never led to really experience Him. If the church of Jesus wants to see a transformation then we must undergo a reformation. Not an awakening, not a renewal, not necessarily a revival, but a reformation. This reformation will be where God Himself forms us into a loving and radiant bride for His Beloved Son. She is to be perfect, spotless, and without blemish. She is to be the perfect match for the Perfect King. That word “radiant” is there for a reason. Radiant things emit light and that is what a world of darkness needs. Yet God must be the author of such a work. No work of man could ever achieve this place of intimacy with God, nor could any work of man, no matter how extravagant and costly, ever put us into that place where He longs for us to be, emitting the light of His love. When we arrive there, the enemy will have no ability to counterfeit God’s intimacy with us. God is love and God Himself cannot be counterfeited. Sure, the enemy will have his alternatives, yet just like when the magicians of Pharoah stated, “This must be God for no one can do miracles like this” so will the reformation of the church be.
This reformation is not God’s call for the distant future. It is not to come to be in the millennial “sweet by-and-by.” It is not for us to simply say, “That is for heaven after I die.” NO. It is for now. The responsibility is on us for now. We can no longer ignore the promises of God that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, nor can we ignore our Lord’s commands (not suggestions, not requests, COMMANDS) to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons, and spread the good news of the kingdom to the poor. We have changed His commands to our simple deeds of pray for the sick, comfort the survivor of the dead, give medicine to the leper, ignore the demonic or send them to the psychiatrist, and tell the poor about their future in heaven. I wish God would have destroyed this false gospel much sooner than He is going to, but I would probably not be here if He had. Yes we are to do good works, but they are to be the works that the Father has ordained, not the ones we simply achieve with our good planning, fund raisers, and organizational skill. Many cults and religious organizations can do that. It is time for those who call Jesus Lord to let Him be. It is time for those of us Who God has named “Son and Daughter of the Living One” to be just that. The time for reformation is upon us and many people are crying out for it to be birthed. Congratulations! You have been chosen. You are a part of making history!

Truth and Disaster

One of the Greatest Truths, One of the Greatest Disasters

One statement that I have heard many times is one of the great truths in the modern church, but is also one of the greatest disasters. It is, “You are so heavenly minded, that you are no earthly good.” It is a great truth because the church has gotten to the point that it is so far away from Jesus’ call for it, that we have to look forward to the rapture to save us all. The world is not in a mess because of the rampant power of sin. The world is in a mess because of the rampant powerlessness of the church, and our reaction to that is to pull the “eject” lever and bail out. Thank God He didn’t tell us where that lever is. Instead He has told us where the throttle is, and He has told us where our weapons cache is, and that is what He expects us to do is to go full throttle into the mess and come into agreement with Him to fix it. So we do need to get delivered out of this dreamy state with our heads in the clouds waiting to be delivered from our boring, meaningless, and powerless existence. It is time we became good to this earth. It is time we took our role as the salt and preserve the goodness that God created in this earth.
There is a disaster in this statement though. The question becomes “How do we go full throttle into this mess and work with God to fix it?” We have to become heavenly minded. If we try to be earthly good without being heavenly minded, then we have a disaster. Now before you start to throw rocks at me for contradicting myself I am NOT talking about dreaming about streets of gold and a big house and such. I am talking about getting to the point where we are so intimate with God that we follow His dreams. That is TRUE heavenly-mindedness. His dreams are a world without poverty, a world where every child is loved and nurtured and cared for, a world with no HIV, a world with no violence and hate, and a world that is overwhelmed with His love. I am not talking about “utopia”; I am talking about the kingdom of God. In order to think like the King, we have to know the King. We have to hang out in the presence of the King. We have to obey the King when He says, “Do this.” We have to obey the King when He says, “DON’T do that.” I am not talking about obeying the ten commandments. I am not talking about taking on more activities at the local church. I am not even talking about selling everything and becoming a missionary. I am talking about getting before Him and listening and doing what we are told. To do this, we have to be heavenly minded. Paul puts it this way, “We have the mind of Christ.” Christ did only what He saw the Father do, and He said only what He heard the Father say. If we are true believers, then we have the mind of Christ and it is time to put that heavenly mindset, the mind of Jesus, to work. When we become the body of Christ and we function in the place He has created us to be, then guess what? The body of Christ becomes the living being that it was meant to be. Let’s get heavenly minded so that we can BE earthly good.