Burn Your Ships And Commit!

The History Lesson
In 1519 Hernan Cortes, Spanish explorer, landed on Mexican soil.
He and his 600 Spanish troops were commissioned to take Mexico for Spain.
In a swift move to stave off any thoughts of retreat, he commanded that his fleet be burned.

Can you imagine being one of those six hundred men on alien soil standing there watching your only lifeline to the ‘old life’ being burned at sea. The only recourse was to make progress deeper into this unknown land; to fight, survive and claim it for the crown. The ships were gone, they had to fully commit or die.

For Us.
I am not justifying any other actions of Cortes.
Some of his decisions were down right brutal.
That being said, I do believe that there is something here for us today.

Spiritually speaking…
Have we burned our ships in the act of a full commitment to Christ?
Or
Are we still looking back longingly at the places that we used to live before we accepted this new life in the form of Salvation? Do we (even subconsciously) consider this “commitment” to be temporary while all along we have a fall back plan in case it just doesn’t pan out?

I believe even Jesus had disciples in His day that had one foot in the new life while the other foot was still firmly grounded in the old.

Read:
(Luke 9:57-62)

The Cost of Following Jesus
⁵⁷As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. ⁵⁹He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” ⁶²Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

The cost of following Christ is high!
The commitment level of such a calling is total or none at all.
We cannot have one foot in the new life while our other foot is firmly planted in the old life.
Either we are all in or we are not in at all.

Perhaps it is time that we burned the ships.
Perhaps it is time to burn that which holds us back from making that full commitment to Christ.
Don’t allow those things to pull you in two different directions any longer.
His path, His calling is the path of true peace, of true redemption, of true love.
When we burn the ships, we can no longer turn back from His will for our lives.
He wants a relationship with us that requires a full commitment.
So, how about it, are we willing to burn the ships?

Something more to ponder today!

April 20, 2015 0

Dear Salvation Army, A Persecuted Army: Joy In Suffering???

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4

Last week, a horrific attack took place in Kenya.
The aftermath left 147 people dead…mostly students…many were Christians.
It is heartbreaking.
Violence and religion seem to be odd partners.
Radical groups, terrorism, and death seem to plague our world.

Our hearts ache for those who are immediately affected by such acts of appalling violence.
Let me be honest, senseless killings not only makes me sad, it makes me angry.
The world is still filled with bullies and power-hungry zealots.

It WILL get worse!
I don’t mean to be all doom and gloom today, but I can’t help but feel that things are going to get a lot worse for Christians before it will get better. Many within our ranks in various places in Africa, India, Asia and the Middle East place their lives on the line for the cause of Christ daily…and we should be praying for them!
As an Army of Salvation, we have the opportunity to provide love and care to many corners of our world…we are even able to gain access to places most churches aren’t allowed to go because we provide humanitarian aid.

Is the cause of Christ worth our sacrifice?
I sure hope so!
– Are we living up to our calling to love the unlovable?
– Are we living up to our calling to clothe and feed the poor?
– Are we living up to our calling to take care of the orphans and widows?
– Are we striving to be the very reflection of Christ in our corner of the world?

If Christians suffer persecution, you can bet that The Salvation Army will suffer too because we go to the places with the most need! We engage in the mission on the front lines. We cannot be afraid, we cannot falter in our call.
I am not writing these words to “puff us up”, I am writing these words to encourage our Army to continue on into the fight even in the face of persecution and the possibility of death. If we take up our crosses and follow Jesus, sometimes that path leads us through the very valley of the shadow of death. We do not fight for General Booth, he was a mere faithful servant of Christ, no, we fight for souls because Christ has saved us and has commissioned us to go!

To my brothers and sisters, fellow soldiers in our Army in places like Kenya, who have been immediately impacted by violence and threatened with death for your faith, we pray for you! You are not alone! We support you, some of us will join you on these front lines! Your faith is strong and I want to encourage you to keep holding up Christ’s light of compassion and hope to all who need it! You are a shining example of perseverance to the faith, may the rest of us be as bold as you! Keep your standards high, and show us, by your example, how we ought to be conducting ourselves as soldiers of the cross!

I am reminded of this song in our red song books:
SASB #825
1. Christ for the world, we sing;
The world to Christ we bring
with loving zeal;
The poor and those who mourn,
the faint and overborne,
sin-sick and sorrow-worn,
whom Christ doth heal.

2. Christ for the world, we sing;
The world to Christ we bring
with fervent prayers;
The wayward and the lost
by restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost
from dark despair.

4. Christ for the world, we sing;
The world to Christ we bring
with one accord;
with us the work to share,
with us reproach to dare,
with us the cross to bare,
for Christ our Lord.
-Samuel Wolcott (1813-86)

To God be the glory!
Something more for our Army world to ponder today!

April 9, 2015 0

This is Holiness (A Poem)

I want to be something
I am not quite yet.
Something more
Something better
than I am now.
I wipe my
guilt riddled brow…
not that I am wretched
or maybe I am…
Still there is this
longing
deep
within
my Heart.
It drives me
propels me constantly
forward
call it passion
call it charisma
call it a compulsion
to become who I was made to be…

Can’t you see,

there is something more…

something deeper than
all of this.
It’s like a handshake instead of a kiss
a ‘like’ instead of LOVE

But God blew the doors open
when Jesus was sent
from above…

I am pardoned

once condemned…
no longer hemmed into
this death sentence

cornered because these wages
of sin weighed

heavily on me.
Instead,

I am free.
And in this freedom
in this perfect light
I now can see
with heavenly sight
from broken and shattered
to a pardoning matter
a redemption
a promise
and now… I want to be
more

than this.

I was the one
who kissed His cheek

i was the one
who denied His name
I was the one
who played sin’s game

But now…

now, I want to soak up

His presence
to capture…………………………………………….this essence
of holiness inside this
pardoned heart.

Now I find the chains

are not gone

and the day has
dawned on this fire to burn
me into His reflection
so that before the Father
no sin can be detected
and love has intersected
with one lost and now found.
I am ready.
I am ready to be more
to live more
to become
even Christ on a cross.

January 28, 2015 0

“NOT WORTHLESS!!” 3 Ways to Discovering Your Self-Worth Pt.2

Yesterday we explored three basic lies that many have convinced themselves are important in order have a sense of self-worth. (See Pt. 1 Link Here)
(RECAP) These basic lies are –
#1 Self-worth is all about what you do (Employment/Career).
#2 Self-worth is all about how others see you (the People pleaser trap)
#3 Self-worth is all about being “happy” all the time.

Now onto the “good” stuff – Discovering true self-worth.
You can’t buy self-worth…at least not in the long term.
You can’t work capture self-worth by attaining your “dream job” either.
These things are temporary.

Our Lives Are Like Vapor:
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

Understand how temporal this all is.
I don’t mean to sound all “doom and gloom”, but this life is brief…we can make a difference in how we live by recognizing this one. small. truth.
We. Are. Like. Vapor. So…what are we going to do with this “vapor” of ours?

#1 Our true Self-Worth is found not in who we are but Whose we are!
“And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” -2 Corinthians 6:18

Beyond anything that we can “do” in this world, the most vital argument for finding our true self-worth is tied up with Whose we really are. Places of employment and careers are great things but they shouldn’t be the primary definer of who we really are. From the very onset of creation God longed to fellowship with us. He has made a way for this to happen even when we distorted our true identities with sin. In a very real sense realizing Whose we are leads us to find our true self-worth in life. This doesn’t mean that nothing else matters now in life, it just means that we re-align our perspectives in life allowing for this primal and vital identity to take first priority in our being, thereby releasing false images of self-worth while reclaiming this ancient, yet eternal truth – We are God’s creation, and we are called sons and daughters.

In moments when we feel the sting of rejection by others around us, let us remember that despite all of these things we are His -both first, last and everything in between.

#2 Our true Self-Worth is found not in our identity but in Christ’s!
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” -Galatians 2:20

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” -2 Corinthians 5:17

I hope you get the sense that all three of these “self-worth declarations” are interconnected.
Once we can come to terms with the notion that we are children of God, we too must understand that our self-worth isn’t tied up in the old life prior to conversion. Since Christ has conquered sin and death, we too can share in this eternal redemption story! If we are Christ-followers, we too recognize that the old lives we used to live prior to our salvation story no longer dictate where our self-worth comes from. Before this we followed the ingrained patterns, we indulged in selfish gain, we strive to climb the corporate ladder because that’s where true success and self-worth came from…But now, ah now we are no longer blind to these trappings. It doesn’t mean that we have become better than others, it just means that we have begun to identify with the eternal Christ more than the temporal measures of self-worth.

Becoming crucified with Christ means that we have aligned ourselves with His love, His redemption, His purposes, His grace. We have allowed Christ to replace the lie with His truth within us. This new creation (because of Christ) provides us with a deeper, more clearer sense of self-worth because it is divine and untarnished by our old sinful selves.

Within this identity shift, recognize too that we must be gentle on ourselves. What do I mean by this? Don’t denigrate and berate yourself when you slip and fall back into some of the old patterns. These old habits are sometimes hard to break. That doesn’t mean that Christ can’t miraculously redeem you from them, but many times we must strive to overcome them through His power…sometimes inch by inch and yard by yard. Be gentle on yourself as you realign your self-worth with that of Christ’s. Sometimes we can become our own worst enemy…If Christ believes in you, you too should find some encouragement and confidence to believe in this new creation that is “You”.

#3 Our true Self-Worth is found not in being served but through service!
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you…” 1 Peter 5:6

“With all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” Ephesians 4:2

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

Jesus washed His disciple’s feet.
He did this to display how vital humility and servanthood was.
Serving others because of our new identities in Christ is an outpouring of this new self-worth and purpose!
No longer are we tied to what others think of us.
No longer are we tied to a self-indulged lifestyle.
No longer are we tied to a selfish success oriented binge of climbing the corporate ladder.

Fame and fortune (which is temporal) take a back seat to the utter gravity of the Salvation Story.
We find our self-worth in serving others because we long to be like Christ in every way!
When we follow this path of servitude, we further execute our old ideals of self-worth while taking up far more significant and eternally impacting cause!

Sometimes we assume that we have this humility thing all worked out, only to find that we still have miles to go in this journey. Be patient. This is day by day. Submitting to Christ completely ~~can be~~ will be difficult…But isn’t identifying with authentic worth…worth it?

So…
How is your own sense of self-worth today?
Has it been tied up with all the wrong things?
Mine has too.
This is a reminder for all of us.
This is a pondering of encouragement also.
Perhaps we can break these old lies of their power over us, and rediscover how God intended us to live all along.

Something more for us all to ponder today!
To God be the glory!

January 21, 2015 2

Could Communion Be Overshadowing Something More Important?

Sometimes, perhaps, Christians become so focused upon one aspect of the Jesus’ teachings that it nearly overshadows another important teaching – humility and service.
What I mean is that Jesus breaking the bread and pouring the wine was not the only aspect of becoming like Christ for His disciples. The act in and of itself was not mysterious, but it was significant. Jesus spoke to His disciples and the crowds using Rabbinical parables to illustrate and to teach. Is it really much of a stretch then to consider He was using the Passover bread and wine to do the same here? Of course not!

The Path To Sacrificial Love:
In order to become like Christ in every way, Jesus does something more significant for His disciples at Passover – He washes their feet. Towards the end of the meal, as recorded in John 13:13-15, Jesus gets up takes off his outer garments and puts a towel around His waist. He then pours water into a basin and does the unthinkable. He stoops down low, kneels before His students, in essence becoming a servant or slave to them and washes their feet. Talk about significant! Jesus illustrates for His disciples how to serve others. Isn’t that the path to sacrificial love? Shouldn’t this become our focal point more often in our living rather than a monthly or weekly ceremonial breaking of the bread?

But Get This…
What if one of these things lead to the other?
What I mean by that is this: What if by serving your fellow parishioners, neighbors, even enemies led to holy communion with one another? I don’t mean simply going to the nearest church and participating in a communion service, I mean literal fellowship…holy fellowship with one another because we are willing to place each other before ourselves…what if?
What would happen then? Do you see what I’m saying? It is so much harder to do than a ceremony. It is so much more strenuous to “get along” with others let alone serve one another…but isn’t that the path to sacrificial love?

The Cart Before The Horse…
Sure, it’s most likely assumed that these two elements of Christ’s teachings go together, but do they really in today’s “Christian” world? I mean it’s simple to follow through the motions on a simple ritual week after week in church, but is it really that simple to become like Christ by becoming the servant and serving those around us? I would contend that it is not. It is much easier to say the words than to live out the context of those words. Could it be that before holy fellowship (as I described it above) can be performed one must take off their outer garments, place a towel around the waist and serve?
Jesus said, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt 6:21)…what would happen if our treasure was two-fold (1) Christ and then (2) others? Would we have to look very far to see either? NO!

John 13:12-17 – “When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.“

Something more to ponder today.
To God be the glory!

December 31, 2014 1

Dear Salvation Army, Healing A Broken Mercy Seat…

IF…
If your Mercy Seat is broken, how can it be fixed?
If your the spirit of your corps is tattered and wounded, how can it be healed?

Eyes wander and rove the Mercy Seat.
A weary soul is kneeling down before that altar of submission and some within the chapel are wondering what they are kneeling for? What sins could they be confessing? What will happen next? Who will go up and pray with them? Someone might be smiling to themselves and thinking “it’s about time they confess their sins!”

Do you see what is broken with this Mercy Seat?
I don’t wish to imply this is happening everywhere, but sometimes I don’t think I’m too far off the mark.

To the wandering eyes and the gossip laden hearts, here’s a hint – it’s none of your business.
Shame on anyone who questions the motives of another’s heart in a pure attempt of seeking Christ at these sacred spaces. I fear that the cause of these broken Mercy Seats is the hardened hearts and calloused souls of those gathered in other seats around the chapel. This isn’t an indictment, this is just a cautious observation.

Hope & Sensitive Spirits:
I had numerous people write me yesterday describing how beautiful these places of consecration were in their home corps. How marvelous to hear of lives being transformed as we maintain this element of holiness in our services. This gives us all hope to hear. This provides an insight into repairing that which is broken in other places – sensitive spirits and hearts open to the wondrous workings of the Holy Spirit.

Healing The Mercy Seat Means Softening Our Hearts:
“I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.“—Ezekiel 36:26

Frequently, we can become desensitized to the workings of the Holy Spirit. We can also become desensitized to the formats of our Holiness meetings and/or the use of the Mercy Seat. Perhaps we have grown up in the corps we attend. Perhaps there are times where we are simply just going through the motions. Perhaps there are times when we have grown tired with our meetings and hearing the same people uttering the same prayers and the same testimonies. Perhaps we even wonder sometimes if we are just practicing worship but we are never really engaged in worship.

Is there a hardness in your heart today dear Soldier?
Is there a place within you that frightens you because you feel numb to it all?
Are you harboring a grudge or bitterness for someone else in your corps?

If our hearts are hardened our Mercy Seats could become broken.
If our hearts are not sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading anymore, then the Mercy Seat will simply gather dust and become an idle piece of furniture.

Oh, dear Soldier may our hearts be softened by the Divine!
May our spirits ever thirst for His fellowship!
May we stop looking at others as we used to when we belonged to our old patterns of living; but may we, instead, look upon others with softened hearts through the living, thriving love of Christ.

The Mercy Seat:
Is not just furniture.
Is not just a ritual or a surrogate for sacramental practice.
Is not just frequented by sinner, but also by saints.
Is not a place of weakness, but a place of great strength.

The Mercy Seat is the practice of softened hearts.
The Mercy Seat is consecration, reconciliation, salvation and holiness.
The Mercy Seat is about living holiness as a corporate body of Christ.
The Mercy Seat, dear Soldier is more than furniture, it is a matter of our hearts.

May we ever be sensitive to His holy moving.
May our hearts ever be softened first to the Lord and then towards others regardless of friend or foe.
Thus begins the healing of our Mercy Seats.

Something more for our Army world to ponder today.
To God Be the Glory!

(Cover Image: Felix UK, New Mercy Seat circa 1923)

November 7, 2014 3

Category: Salvation