Where we have been, where we are headed... THE CHURCH

In this day and age, there is no more desperate of a cry from the church than the cry for revival. Revive our hearts, revive our churches, revive our land... thy kingdom come, thy will be done...  release us, Lord. 

This morning while meandering through the book of Luke I was hit between the eyes with some things that I thought I should share. This is a verse by verse impression / conversation / revelation that I am still digesting… Here we go, from Luke 5…

Warning… this may not be easy to read, because it is not easy to do… I am simply asking questions. I also stand in conviction as I write.

legend:

BOATS = Church

NETS = resources

FISH = people

Vs. 1  “One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God.”

• The people came to hear the WORD OF GOD. Not opinions, not testimony, but the strait up word of God.

Vs. 2 – “He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.

• The Boats were empty. Why were they washing their nets when they had not caught anything? Other things that were not fish must have been stuck in the nets… That’s just like us, isn’t it? To spend our precious time to wash our “boats” even when they are not being used or void of “fish”

Vs. 3 – “Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.”

• When Jesus steps into our churches do we recognise Him for Him? When he asks us  our church family to be pushed out into the world, do we obey? Can we? How do we?

Vs. 4 – “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

• Deeper – in the thick of it – and only able to be because he we have been listening to Him speak the WORD OF GOD.
• Jesus tells us to go out deeper and let down our nets. He tells us to go into the world, deeper and use our resources to catch some “fish”. He doesn’t ask us to try. He tells us to.

Vs. 5 - “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”

• Poor Simon has been working so hard… but in his own way, and in his own strength. They were just finishing cleaning their nets (resources) of stuff that was not fish that they had caught. 

Sometimes when we have done all that we can do, 

we become resistant to what Jesus has asked us to do

• ·         Do we have the courage when Jesus asks us to try again, even when we have been hard at work doing what we think we should be doing… even if he asks us to “go deeper” and “cast our nets” again? but now in his timing, on his watch, in his strength? Will we lower our “clean nets” ( I would almost argue that this means simply Jesus in modern times… our “resource” is Christ himself, and the message of Salvation and all that comes with it. This message alone in our age is so counter cultural to all that hear it… but it is fresh, clean, life giving, and truth) into deeper water? 
•     “But if YOU say so” who has been saying so before? The people with the money? The tradition of the way it has always been? Who has been driving what we do, aside from Jesus himself?

Vs. 6 - And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!

• Are we ready for our nets to be overflowing? Do we have strong enough nets, strong enough people in the boat to sustain an influx of fish???

Vs. 7 - A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

• Are we willing to shout to other “boats” (churches) for help when ours is about to sink from too many fish (people)?

Vs. 8 - When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.”

• Is this the man that Jesus spoke the words to in Matthew 16:17-19? What a way to begin a calling…
• In the thick of success will we be humble enough to recognise what has just happened. That it was all Jesus, and not us? (How do we carry with us a continual posture of being humble? What is being humble?) That all praise and success will not be given to the methodology we have used, or how many resources or people we had, but purely back to the simple message, the eternal truth of Jesus Christ?

I am convicted writing this. There are a bunch of things I need to check at the door if the ministry God has called me to is to continue. I simply ask the same of you… As iron sharpens Iron. 

School: This year, I struggle to let them go...

This year I may struggle to let them go. This year I may struggle because last year I didn't... and last year I should have. The past, history... things not being what I had hoped. Things not being what they could have been or should be for every 7 and 5-year-old girl. My uncertainty, a reminder of the fear to trust. 

When we release them, it is not to the teachers, bus drivers... bullies or friends. When we release them it is to God. And that is a whole other wave of trust we are asked to ride to shore. 

They are more resilient then you give them credit for... You can mess them up as much as the next guy... (Is this really what you are asking of me again?) In this place will you allow your mind go to worse case or will you hold my hand, and ride that next wave so that I can bring you to a deeper place of understanding?

I have drawn the sacred in your heart. You have treasured these things as you should. They are not forgotten, they are only memories... memories that hold no power, do not control emotions that once held you captive... 

But as I think of that bus pulling up... and their eyes dancing with excitement for another first... I refuse to ruin moments because of my fears, my regrets. It is with certainty that I again know the sovereignty of YOU. YOU who are my rock, a refuge in which I can trust. A refuge where I will rest, trust, with purpose seeping from each tear, destiny marching with the pounding of my heart, hold them close, then release... the same love has pushed and released its way through death and into eternity millions of times without me. Nothing new under then sun, not even in the good things of this life.

As purpose seeps with tears, and destiny climbs those too high to reach stairs of the bus without me... I choose to trust. I choose to believe that all is as it should be, could be, and always will be. I choose to trust that you live outside of time and see their lifelines at the beginning as at the end, all held in the palm of your hand. As you weave people, lessons, allow life to shape, pass beside them through the fire to bring forth gold, I see now that surrender was not even an option... because they have always been yours. I hold them close with hands wide open to feel them pull away... back into you... snuggled close to your heart, safer then my own.

Father, children are a gift. Let us never hold them so tightly that they cannot breath... as you give knowledge through others to them, may that knowledge become wisdom that is known for purpose outside of our human understanding. Pour revelation through them for us, as we journey together, closer to you. Help us to know their hearts, as the heart of a child is needed to enter the most sacred of spaces with you. Protect their minds, preserve them as your chosen ones. May we learn in our weakness where you remain strong, and in our mistakes the resiliency of these beautiful bundles of life you have given us. Breath into us the newness of life we see in our children. Help us wonder, explore and seek you around every corner, and in every moment of every day... and do not allow our shortcomings scar the next generation. You are our healer... heal us so we are well, good and pure before you in all that we do. We anticipate all that you will do, and revel in all that you are already doing as you speak to the hearts of every child on earth. Thank you. Gather, and show us what part we hold in that. Amen.