The following is "not really a blog"--only "blog-like". Funny how this genre of writing so appeals to me. A friend asked for my notes from a recent talk I did and I wanted to type them up for her, since what I put on paper is a map of my thoughts that might not be traceable by anyone outside my brain. I began typing notes and every now and then a bit of blogging crept in. Rather than converting the whole thing, I present it here in it's raw form. It's a talk called "Sit, UBU, Sit--Or Not" (the point being: We must stop telling people in church to be themselves (UBU!) and then telling them to "sit"--our mixed message of "you're accepted as long as you do what we approve of" must stop and we really must become intoxicated with the God who uniquely wired each one of us to express Him! We have all been misunderstood when we tried to "be ourselves" as we were encouraged to do by other Christians, but on those very ruins of pain, God wants to build a new confidence.") There's a little summary...here are the contents...
Jeremiah 30:18: Jerusalem (place of worship) will be rebuilt on its own ruins.
Place of worship in your life is not just you singing songs in church, but your whole life, being who you are and expressing God through the uniqueness that he put in you—That worship will be established in your life upon the very things that seem crumbled, failing and disastrous. This is a pattern with God, who is better than any earthly “recycler”…
Ruins is also translated “mounds”—visual image: in the U.K. there are literally so many ancient sites worthy of excavation by the National Trust that sometimes when they discover a new one, they dig a while and then literally “re-bury” them to preserve them until their teams can get to them. For years, some ruins of ancient churches, etc. are only visible as little “mounds” all over a field that evidence life long absent. Sometimes our lives look like that: “mounds” that are the only memories of life that once flowed through us. Upon THAT utter desolation, God wants to stand and build. We are so sure he has forgotten and that we have fallen into oblivion, but he never forgets and is always working on a plan of redemption—personalized for our own brand of “ruins”.
GOD WILL SURPRISE YOU WITH HIS CREATIVITY IN BOTH LAYING OUT AND REDEEMING THE PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you…. Plans here literally means “cunning” and is also translated: plots, inventions, schemes ways, intentions, designs
Comes from a root word that means to “weave, plait (as in braid) or interpenetrate”. Imagine the most creative of textiles with threads of various size, color, etc. and think the process of weaving. This and more is what God is doing through all the textures of your life—and he does it with a gleam in his eye. There is a playful edge to his desire to surprise you with good—throughout the bible there is an emphasis on the mind-blowing capacities of God—he is always painted as more than we can take in or mentally understand. Now realize that this aspect of his character is applied to his personal intentions for us and our lives!
Ephesians 2:10 We are his workmanship---Greek is poiema, one of the roots of this word is also related to fabric—we (and our lives) are being woven together according to his magnificently cunning devices—not to trick us but to revolutionize us.
(Why don’t we always see it? Why do bad things seem to go unanswered in our lives, lingering like a dirge over our view of God? Romans 12:1-2 Our minds (the reticular activating systems in our brains, specifically—the part that filters what we notice or ignore) have to be renewed to see the goodness of God---then we begin to see the goodness of his tapestry weaving.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IS YOUR “LIFE-COACH” KNOWING THE REAL YOU AND TEACHING YOU AT EVERY TURN HOW TO EXPRESS THAT.
The root of the word “genius” goes back to ancient Rome. The pagan Romans believed that genius was a guardian spirit that nurtured, educated and basically “brought out” the inner greatness of a person. This concept was so real to them that on a Roman’s birthday, he would actually give gifts to that spirit! That is pagan nonsense, and yet a great picture of what the Holy Spirit has actually committed to in our lives. He is teaching you what is authentically you—the “genius” (your particular brand) that lives inside you being personally coached and coaxed out by the indwelling spirit of the Creator who knows its detailed dimensions! He is an expert at seeing what is in you and bringing it out.
Abraham Maslow, the famous psychologist who developed the “hierarchy of need” as an explanation of what motivates humans, put at the top of that pyramid (see diagram) the need for “self-actualization”—what he was saying to us is that this drive in us to get what is inside of us out for public viewing—to make some contribution from our inner man—to live from the inside out—is not just a good idea, but actually a NEED, hard-wired into us by the Creator who desires to express Himself through the vastness of his creation and the uniqueness of each individual! (Ok, Maslow didn’t add the part about the Creator, but---that is actually what the Holy Spirit wants to do for you: meet that need in you for “self-actualization”. It isn’t “self-ish”—it is the way he works. It is Christ in you showing what a union between earth and heaven can look like—what a free man looks like—what God flowing through uninhibited creation looks like….)
HE IS THE GOD OF ALL POSSIBILITIES AT ALL TIMES. The whole Kingdom responds to choices and changes, continuously manifesting the goodness of God.
Romans 8:28 (all things “synergize” for good…) movie: Sliding Doors: two scenarios—missing the subway vs. making it on---implied fascinating message—the same outcome would have arisen through a different path. If we make a choice that was not the one God intended, there is an instant Kingdom reconfiguring response that realigns the next options to offer us GOOD from heaven once again! There is no scolding time, just a system of Kingdom resources that is input-sensitive, responding to the changes that believers make---always, always, always seeking to bless and comfort and manifest the goodness of God to us.
Matthew 10:29 He knows when even a sparrow falls. Chaos theory: tiny movements are passed through layers and layers of atmospheric relationships so that a butterfly’s wing in China really can be the source of a tornado in Texas….how much more is it true with the human heart and the God who rules heaven! Every tiny movement of our heart sends of disturbances through the heavenlies that somehow register in heaven in the vast mind of God that never overloads with data because he takes in all signal with perfect wisdom and grace-filled response capabilities that never falter! Psalm 139: He knows my “downsitting and my uprising…” He knows not only when we physically sit down or stand up (in some way, again, that must register in the information banks of heaven!), but more importantly, he knows when we “sit down” on the inside—backing off of our hope and adopting a wait-and-see attitude where once we had confident expectation. And he knows when we “rise up” once again—he sees the pain we press through to dare to believe, even just slightly, once again in areas we have experienced disappointment.
“Synchronicity” is not just a new age-y feel good term. Synchronicity is a thing of the spirit: Romans 8:28: All things work together (fit into a pattern) for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose… Purpose is a guiding force in connecting all the details of our lives and weaving them into a pattern for good. Amazing “before you ask” resourcing occurs when we focus on the big Kingdom picture and meaning for our lives. It is a spirit phenomenon. (the opposite: frustrations and setbacks and almost supernatural disjointedness—is how it goes in the flesh—things seem to go from bad to worse—when it rains it pours…NOT how God intended it to be…if you are experiencing that, you may be pushing in the flesh—may need to zoom out and relax and regroup). God has a resourcing orchestration for those who rest in his purposes.
In the biochemistry of the cell, thousands of little reactions fit in to a pattern for good—for life! A starting product supplied by the bloodstream or the external environment is taken through a cycle of changes to produce something needed for the cell to live. All through the process, there are waste products released—bits of molecules clipped off and sent into the cell “soup” because the cycle doesn’t need them anymore…BUT, so amazingly efficient is the cell that every single one of those “waste products” (that we draw on our paper going off with an arrow) actually gets picked up by another cycle in the cell that needs it to make something else vital for life. All over the cell, cycles spin and spin, supplying each other with the substrates needed in a fabulous orchestration that is only possible by the most amazing Master Mind! If he does all this on the micro level of the cell, how much more does he do this on the MACRO level of our inner journeys! What we call waste products from all we go through can all be re-used in the big picture of our life destiny. It might be harder to see, but that is just because we are in it (not “above” it as in the cell situation) and because we “feel” it! Still it is true if we just open our eyes and believe it! Our “waste” fuels something vital in the economy of God!
Little synchronous stories abound in life—how something was there for you just when you needed it. Often little “silly” things! My friend Liz recently desperately needed a napkin at a restaurant. Before she even could get the words out of her mouth, from behind her came a waitress almost running for no apparent reason to shove napkins into her hand. Everyone marveled at the moment and Liz joked, “I need $100,” and looked around to see if it came from somewhere, too! Why is it that these happy coincidences seem to happen on these small levels, while often we feel so desperate when it comes to our “big” “real” needs? I believe it is because we aren’t blocking our view of the resources by WORRY when it comes to the napkins of life! We aren’t stressed and straining and trying to help God bring us a napkin, freeing him up to supernaturally motivate a waitress to speed across the room???? If we desperately needed $1000, we might not be so calm and we might fret and pace and freak and fail to see the provision of God. He comes through anyway, but we are so messed up we missed the moment!
If we combine this concept of SYNCHRONICITY with God’s amazing ability to REDEEM, we get little moments I call “happy ironies”. This was brought home to me recently when I was reading something about Susan B. Anthony, who fought her whole life for equality for women, playing a large role in getting women the vote in this country. When she was 50, she received a critical letter from her brother begging her basically to “get a life”. He said, “You’ve worked tirelessly all your life and you have not even a dollar to show for it!” She ignored him completely because her passion could not be diverted, but HOW FUNNY that long after her death (and her brothers) she literally has a DOLLAR IN her name!!! Hilarious—a happy irony.
Happy ironies are when the place of your worst moments are turned to your greatest victories—the place where you are most misunderstood becomes the place you are celebrated!
Judges 15:15-19 tells the story of Sampson killing 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass and it says that after that he was so thirsty that he basically said to the Lord, “am I going to die of simple thirst after this great exploit?” There’s a play on words happening here because the word for the place “lehi” is also the word for jawbone…so God’s answer to Sampson has two interpretations. The Bible says that God brought a spring of water out of “lehi” which could have meant the ground but many scholars think it came from the actual jawbone—one translator says it sprung from the “tooth socket” on the bone! I could see this latter possibility for two reasons (1) God has an amazing sense of humor and he is not afraid to use it—in the face of Sampson’s complaint about God not taking care of him, I think it would be hilariously glorious if the water sprung out of the thing right in his hand! And (2) God wants to refresh you right from the middle of the thing that wearied you! Sampson had been grabbing on to that jawbone to do the will of God and it had worn him out—God NEVER fails to water those who swing the weapon for him!
God’s creativity to resource you is so far beyond your imagination. The biggest enemies to it are legalistic ideas and mental limitations. Let your mind be expanded to the glorious, vast, amazing, resourceful, ACCESSIBLE God we serve and sit back and watch the world spin differently for you! The best is yet to come! We are in a big system and the only price for the wild ride is the abandonment of natural reasoning. Go ahead and let go and let spiritual realities become more real to you—this is the “great adventure”!
