The X Factor

From Henry’s Desk

 The X Factor

 

I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

(Jn 10:10b AMP)

My wife Sandy and I almost didn’t get married because of a game of checkers. One of the first times I went over to see her, she wanted to play checkers (she also enjoyed watching Lawrence Welk when she was a teenager - go figure).  We played our first game, and not being a game type person, I really didn’t try too hard. I did not care if I won or lost and did just enough to get by and didn’t jump if I didn’t want to.  Well, she was not happy with that at all.  Actually she was quite irritated, and told me I was too passive.

We then proceeded to play two more games at a much higher level of intensity.  I didn’t like being called passive (laid back would have sounded better to me), and I played very aggressively.  When I went home, I did not ever plan on seeing her again, feeling very offended at having been called passive.  Of course, I did see her again and we did eventually marry.

I was thinking about living the other day, specifically about living passively verses living passionately.  To live passively is to be content to just get by, to never jump, to always hold back emotionally, physically and verbally.  You never rock the boat, you just drift along, no surprises, no chances, no enthusiasm and nothing extreme by any means.

Living passionately, on the other hand,  means putting yourself out there.  Passionate living requires involvement.  It is robust with energy, emotion, action and verbal outbursts!  It will make you take chances, jump and do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do.  It is life on the edge, extreme living, abundant living, life lived to its fullness, full of enthusiasm,  nothing held back!

So, do you think Jesus was saying, “I have come that they might just get by”, or “I have come that they might experience and enjoy life lived to its fullness, abundant, action packed, and eXtremely satisfying.”

I think Jesus wants us to jump into the life He has for us with both feet and gobble it up for His glory!

Weed-eaters, Dirt Daubers, & God's Voice

From Henry’s Desk

 

For God does speak-now one way, now another- though man may not perceive it. (Job 33:14, NIV)

I was thinking today about a time, the Lord spoke to me in what I thought was an unusual way.  As a matter of fact, it was so unusual that I missed it.  What really made it unusual is the fact that it came in a very normal and usual way.

One day around the end of winter and beginning of spring, I was preparing to do some weed-eating.  I went out to the shed, got out my weed-eater and started trying to crank it.  I did all the right stuff, but the weed-eater would not even try to start.

After a bit, I decided it was not going to start and put it back in the shed.  As I was closing the shed door I found myself thinking about an incident in Junior High shop class.  The teacher used to sabotage a lawn mower engine and we would have to figure out what was wrong with it and then get it started.  I remembered the time he stuffed a paper towel into the muffler keeping it from starting.  I walked back up to the house and never gave it another thought.

A few days later, I took the weed-eater to a small engine repair shop and told them it wouldn’t start.  The mechanic took a small nail or some such thing, stuck it into the muffler opening and broke up a dirt dauber nest that was in it.  The weed-eater then started right up.

Then I understood about the memory from shop class.  God was talking to me in an unusual way using a usual function of my mind, to be exact, a memory.  I would have saved myself a lot of time and effort if I had recognized that God was speaking to me with that memory, telling me what to do to fix the weed-eater and get it started.

I wonder how many times in our lives God has been speaking to us in one way or another, but we didn’t realize it.  How much time, effort, finances, etc. would have been saved if we had been expecting God to speak to us, and then paid attention.

I think that I’m going to remember that God does speak, that He does it one way or another, and I’m going to pay better attention.

Sowing Seeds of Fire

From Henry’s Desk

 

-the sower went out to sow …

 

-bored people are dangerous people …

 

If we learn from our mistakes, then I am learned.

If we grow through adversity, then I am growed.

If we are what we eat, then I am sweet.

If we are what we think, then I am a mess.

 
           -henry

 

I am not impressive, but on the other hand, I’m not impressed with myself.  I am impressed with ONE person, He is Jesus Christ, Son of God/Son of Man.  Not to be understood so much as to be experienced. 

 Kind of like a “fireball”, from my childhood.  This was a hard candy ball, red and very hot on the outside, and cool and sweet on the inside.  To be told about is was one thing, but to suck on one was quite another.

The red outside was unbelievably hot and hard to take, while the white inside was incredibility cool and sweet.  It was well worth the time and heat to get to the inside. 

Of course, there were some who would never open it up, not even considering what it had to offer.  And some would pop it in their mouths, and then spit it out, unable to endure the heat.  There were others who tried just licking the fireball, but their real desire was the sweet without the heat.

And there were some who paid the price willing to make a sacrifice

They endured to the end and their comfort did not defend

Willing to live, willing to die, and willing to die to live again

Are you bored?  Go experience a fireball.

Destiny's Song

Destiny overtakes and apprehends its recipient, plants a seed, and potentially reaps a harvest. Your destiny is what is growing inside of you, getting bigger and bigger. Destiny captures your heart, mind, will, and emotions.

The fire of destiny does not get started by you, but you must add fuel for it to keep going and growing. Unattended, destiny will only sputter, but never set your life on fire. It will only give fleeting glimpses of purpose, with no lasting passion, In the end, it will die unfulfilled as also its recipient.

TEND THE FIRE GOD HAS PUT IN YOU!

The fire must be kept burning on the alter continoulsly; it must not go out. (Lev 6:13) Destiny sings tomorrow's song. We must hear and begin singing and dancing to its song today...

Destiny sings tomorrow's song...

TIGHT PLACES - The Promise of Beauty To Come

TIGHT PLACES - The Promise of Beauty To Come

(From 2/09/09)

Sometimes I have to put people in (through) tight places to get stuff off (out) of them.  You may wonder, but don’t wander (escape) from the narrowness I put you in.  It squeezes out death and I replace it with life.  I take you from a narrow place into a wide place, from a closed place into an open place. 

A flower bulb is a closed tight place, but it holds the promise of beauty to come.  It opens and releases more beauty and life than the bulb (tight place) could ever have held

As the promise of the bulb, so the promise of the tight (narrow) place.  There is something larger and better than where you are or even where you have been that will come as you let the tight place do the work I have assigned it - that you may more fully do what I have assigned you. 

As the flower must endure the bulb before it can release it’s beauty, so you must endure the tight (narrow) place before you can release my beauty.  The bulb is not a bad place for the burgeoning flower.  The tight narrow place is not a bad place for the burgeoning Christian - it is the promise of beauty to come.

Burgeon:

1. To send forth new growth (as buds or branches): sprout, bloom

2. To grow and expand rapidly: flourish

3.  To make or become greater or larger

Synonyms: amplify, build up, enlarge, escalate, expand, extend, grow, magnify, multiply, soar, wax

 

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”  (Mt 7:13-14)      

Bless, And Curse Not

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. (Ro 12:14 KJV)

I was not raised in the light of this scripture. It did not illuminate my path in the darkness caused by someone coming against me or my family, trying to limit or eliminate us. My response, fueled by a big dose of adrenalin, tended to be hostile.

The last time a situation like this presented itself, my wife and I discussed the circumstance and prayed. As I got alone and prayed after that, I kept being impressed with the words "bless and curse not." I was no longer a hostile person, but I sure was feeling some hostility and having some hostile imaginations.

"Bless, and curse not" comes from Romans 12 verse 14 noted above. The verse is real simple to understand and doesn't need a lot of explaining, but I will mention a few of the words.

• To persecute means "to put to flight, drive away or pursue in a hostile manner.
• To bless means to invoke (pray) or call down blessings or goodness upon a person.
• To curse means to speak curses, doom, imprecate evil on, to invoke (pray) or call down evil or curses upon a person.

In other words, Be a blessing to and speak a blessing over those who come against you to hinder you and pursue you with hostile intentions. Instead call down blessings and goodness upon them, and make sure not to cause or bring evil into their lives.

The New Life Version words this verse "Pray and give thanks for those who make trouble for you. Yes, pray for them instead of talking against them. "

The more we talk about the situation, the bigger it will seem to us and the more it will bother us. As it keeps coming to our minds, we need to pray for and release blessings upon the "persecuter(s)."

 We were not captured by God to speak curses, but to speak blessings. James 3:10 says: Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.

1 Peter 3:9 makes it clear how we are to respond. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called . We are called to release blessings.

 

Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. (NLT)

Emails To Henry #4 - Come Away My Lover

Dear Henry,

 

Song of Solomon 8:14 says: Come away, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains. How do we answer the inner call to "come away" when we no longer hear it?

 

There was a time when we did, but we began to put Him off, to put others and other things before Him, and the call of sleep became stronger and more inviting than the call of the Lover of our souls. It is like in 5:2 of Song of Solomon: I slept but my heart was awake. Listen! My lover is knocking: "Open to me, my sister, my darling, my dove, my flawless one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."

 

But we, as the Shulammite, at first had our excuses, vs 3 I have taken off my robe— must I put it on again? I have washed my feet— must I soil them again?

And finally we would give no excuse, only roll over in silence for more sleep. And when we awoke, we awoke to slience. And when we go to Him now there is only silence.

 

 

Again, how do we answer the inner call to "come away" when we no longer hear it? I think the following verses from SOS 5 will help direct us: 6 I opened for my lover, but my lover had left; he was gone. My heart sank at his departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I called him but he did not answer. We again open the door for Him and to Him. We enter that inner sanctuary again, and begin to cry out again, begin to seek him again.

 

8 O daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you— if you find my lover, what will you tell him? Tell him I am faint with love.

 

We again begin to tell Him of our love, of our desire and need for Him, of our desperation for Him. We again make Him and our relationship with Him the number one priority of our lives. As we again begin to nuture our relationship with him we will again hear the call to come away, to spend time with Him, in fellowship, worship, prayer, adoration and the Word. We will again enter into inrimacy with Him. The Amplified Bible words Proverbs 3:32 as … His confidential communion and secret counsel are with the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with Him). (Prov 3:32)

Mt 6:6 says: But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Andrew Murray in response to this verse writes "Of course, to go to your room and close the door means that you must also exclude all worldly thoughts, as well as that with which you are busy. You must be alone with God and pray to him only. ... Let this be the main purpose of your quitetime: to sense the presence of your heavenly Father. Take time to pray to Him. ... Then follows the great promise: You Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you openly. All through your busy, active day, God will answer your prayer. The prayer said in your sanctuary will be followed by the secrete working of God in your heart."

 

May it soon be said of us "Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover?" (SOS 8:5)

Humbly seeking God,

jim