“Let us make man…” the statement began, as curiosity stirred in the gathering angelic crowd. What is a “man”?; began the prevailing buzz, but the next part of the statement took the attention off curiosity and put it on amazement. Read more…
Time: An english word we usually use to describe the movement of hands (or digits) on a clock. There is another way we use this word. The alarm goes off, the nurse comes in, or the contractions begin to come in closer proximity and we say “It’s Time!”
The Greek word for this is Kairos. You may have seen my writing, or read on our church website that we host an event called Kairos. I have received enough inquiries, I thought I would say a few words about our Kairos freedom weekend.
The First thing I would say is this. Our definition of Freedom is based on two verses in the Bible. In John Chapter 8, Jesus tells the crowd, “you can know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.” In 2nd Corinthians 3, Paul tells the Corinthian church, “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom.”
Rather than define freedom as the absence of bad behavior, or the expulsion of demonic forces, we believe the Bible tells us that freedom is the not the absence of something, it is the presence of Someone. Certainly some things get in the way, but removing them does not equal freedom. Freedom is when you engage the presence of God and become the person you are created and redeemed to be.
Our weekend is structured with this in mind. We spend the first part of our time reminding us all that pursuing God for the restoration of our identity is our goal.
The rest of the weekend is a series of instructions on how we interact with God. Confession, listening for His voice, bringing Him the entanglements of our soul, in honest communication, these interactions are intermingled with a variety of interactive ministry exercises. The intent is that we move beyond a mental engagement only, and really love the Lord our God with our mind, heart, soul and strength.
The most important part of our time together is worship. Having provided instruction in a variety of entanglements, and providing opportunities to surrender these entanglements to God, we engage in worship. Sometimes it is musical. We are convinced that God inhabits the praises of His people. We bring ourselves to Him, and then ask that He come inhabit our worship. Our desire is that in this personal encounter God will work deeply in peoples souls.
Now…I just read what I wrote. It was a little like a biochemical discussion of romantic love. It can be described this way, but if you hear only the mechanics of our time, you will miss what is really going on.
Men and women, from all ages, and a variety of religious backgrounds come and drop their guard. They let God win the tug of war. They walk out with a variety of responses. Most say they will never be the same. Isn’t that what you always thought would happen when people encounter God? It’s Time!!
If you have been to Kairos please leave a comment so others can hear from you as well.
He hadn’t said, “Let there be…” yet, but He was about to. In the same way you hear someone draw a quick breath before they speak, all of reality paused. Read more…
Before God created the sun, He spoke light into existence. Before He made living beings, life was present, and before Adams body died, death began it’s reign.
I think it helps us to recognize that God’s perspective on such things (the forces of reality) is not limited to their work in a particular body or place. In fact it may be the other way around. The work of life in a specific body may be connected to how much alive-ness hangs in the air around us.
The work of death in a given body or circumstance may be connected to how much that body has been immersed in an atmosphere of death.
I am certain that this is not a rule…(if this then that), but it just seems that if the forces of life and death exist separate of the bodies they impact, we should learn how to engage them.
It also strikes me that this picture of life and death can enlarge our view of the cross.
Like a cold front and a warm front collide and create violent storms, so on the cross did these the forces of life and death collide. The “ultimate weapon” of darkness, the power of death, collided with the source of all life and alivness, the very Life-giving Spirit of God, in a very specific geographical location. At the moment of impact, the lights went out, and the earth shook. Amazingly, Life, the very Source of all Life, succumbed, and was swallowed up by death. For three days it appeared that death had actually come out on top.
Stay tuned though, with God appearances can often be deceiving. The reality is that Life, the Author of all Alive-ness, had in mind to journey to the center of death and blow it up from the inside. We sing occasionally, and rightly, that Jesus conquered the grave. Do not mistakenly think you are singing only of His grave, He conquered yours too!!! Sing Loudly!
Our team hosts an event called Kairos. It means “God’s appointed time”. A few hundred people come together and though we do a bit of teaching, we really believe that if people have an encounter with God, He will help them. We have done about fifteen of these events now. So far, it seems that God has shown up to do more than we expect every time.
I am about to do something dangerous. I am going to muse for a while on why I think He comes to meet with us. I say this is dangerous, because we all know God does not fit well into formulas. He does however fit well in the human heart, so I would like to write a few thoughts I had this week on why God seems to visit us again and again.
1. My Team knows that we cannot do this without God. I think for the most part, if we are convinced that we can do something without God, He will allow us to. Not because He is mad, or feels rejected, but because He has no control issues and doesn’t suffer from rejection. He knows that eventually, left to our own resources, we will come to a point of realizing how much more He has to offer. The sooner we come to the end of our resources, the more quickly we will come to the beginning of His. I think He likes to show up where people know they need HIm.
2. My team is…well…a team: We do not invite people to hear a person. In fact we parade a number of people to the front of the crowd. Imperfect, flawed, and varied humanity. Women, men, younger, and older, our team knows that WE demonstrate God’s character more as US than as any one person. God is in all of us…no individual could show the Nature of our Father more than the variety of personalities we tap into.
3. We love each other: Within our team, we have been growing in deep, affectionate love for one another. When we view each other the way God views us, we are tapping into a frequency upon which God always broadcasts.
4. We are unified: We all know why we are together. We all know what the goal is. We all know what the strategy is. We all know that we are dependent on God showing up. We recognize one another’s strengths and we embrace one another’s frailties. God is a unifying sort of God, and as such, He seems to enjoy hanging out with us when we overcome our differences, and join together.
5. We would quit if He ever quit: Frightening as it may be, I like to believe that if God stopped showing up, we would stop, notice, and change course. If we began to see that God was moving in a different way or a different place, we would all scrap this Kairos thing and Go where He goes. It is Him we are after, not a plan and sequence of events that “seems to work”.
6. We like Him, and we spend a lot of time telling Him so: Who wouldn’t hang out in a place where people were constantly telling you how much they like you?
7. We are doing the best we know to love the people He loves: This one makes sense without me throwing words at it…
Funny…the more I read my own list, I realize that perhaps He did not so much come to us. It seems to me that perhaps it is us who went to Him. Either way, it sure is fun.
The Amazing Freedom Team
“I just wish I felt normal”.
After twenty years now as a licensed counselor, I have heard this statement countless times in countless settings. Normal. Everyone seems to expect that some external standard called “normal” exists and that we can and should figure it out and attain it.
The idea of some setting called “normal” that you can dial into and finally feel like you are not crazy may be a bit like Atlantis; a destination everyone tries to imagine, but no one we know has actually seen it. In fact this Destination Normal idea may even be a bit problematic. What if your picture of “normal-ness” actually contributes to your struggles. I don’t mean the general struggles of humanity only. I mean yours specifically.
You conjure in your mind the picture of normal, based on something. Conscious or unconscious, your picture comes from something you have seen, or imagined you have seen. A friends family looks normal, you wish yours were like theirs. The neighbors marriage appears normal, you wish yours were like theirs. The guy next to you, he appears to have a normal life, you begin to wish yours was like his. That grass sure looks green over there.
Two immediate thoughts come to mind.
First, what if you were made to be like you, and not someone else? What if there is no one like you? What if you are made to carry a specific and unique attribute of God’s Nature, and no one else on earth is designed to carry this characteristic, and certainly no one is designed to carry it like you, and in your circumstances?
To hunger for normal, some externally and socially defined standard, may actually whet your appetite to NOT BE YOU. Desiring to not be you can cause a great deal of suffering. Perhaps it is this feeling that you wish would go away. Your desire is not to be NORMAL, your desire is to be entirely yourself, however abnormal that may be.
Second, What if the thing you call ”normal” is part of the problem you want to move away from? What if striving to attain average humanity is why you ended up frustrated in the first place? What if your definition of normal actually leads to increased discomfort?
Normal for the human race looks like self-reliance. Normal for the human race looks like self-satisfaction. Normal for the human race often means feeding the most destructive part of us, and starving the most alive part of us.
Normal for the human race means that our strength is our strength. What if surrender and weakness bring real and enduring strength?
Normal for the human race means reaching for what we want, and extending our soul toward our desires. What if letting go brings real peace and satisfaction?
Normal for the human race means pursuit and attainment of goals. What if being pursued and allowing ourselves to be overtaken gives us what we have always wanted?
Normal for the human race means looking for stimulus in order to feel alive. What if finding the Source of Life really is the only stiumulus that will really sustain?
Normal. I am afraid we define normal based on thousands of years of living outside that Garden.
The most frequently asked question in all of life is “why?”. First, I want to point out the frustration inherent in the question. Why is it that when things are difficult, people are most driven to ask the question which has the least to do with improving their circumstances? Even if the goal is understanding, I repeat, understanding usually has little to do with men and women feeling more settled, or gaining power over their circumstances. Yet the question almost seems to have a life of its own, pursuing us relentlessly with the need to be asked.
Why did they die? Why did he leave? Why them and not me? Why me and not them? Why?
I think the question haunts us because of what we think the answer can do to settle our soul. I also think that it haunts us because we are made for greater understanding than any of us currently posess.
Then again, the question haunts us because of a misguided search to find justice…to assign responsibility. “Why?” often carries the unconscious question “Whose fault is this?”. And therein lies the danger. If we can’t find the answer, our mind automatically, and in many cases, unconsciously, turns to the One who is ultimately responsible, God. Too often, our desire to know why, carries an unintended and dangerous accusation against God.
The more important question is “What?”
Look at your circumstance and ask:
“What does this mean?” What does it mean about me? What does it mean about God?
Are you less loved? Is God less good? Is this really the fulfillment of your fear, or is something else going on?
The resolution and sucessful negotiation of my circumstances has more to do with how accurately I perceive reality in the midst of ,and at the conclusion of my circumstances. Has my circumstance changed how I see myself? Has it changed how I see God?
The answer to the question “why?” can often be unsatisfying and in some cases destructive. Ask instead “what?” What is true? Is God good? Is He near? Is He powerful? Am I loved? Ask “what?” and be sure you don’t let your circumstances, unfinished as they are provide the answer to the “what” questions.
He is Good. He is near. He is powerful. And you are loved.
If only we could see accurately, how different everything could be. We are hungry. Hungry to feel alive. Hungry to be ourselves. So many of the things men and women struggle with, you know, bad stuff we do, things we later loathe ourselves for, are actually our unnatural response to our natural make-up.
Our appetite for intimacy can become unhealthy dependency. Our appetite for adventure can become a drive for self destruction. The hunger to feel like a man, or a woman, fully alive sends us down a path of sexual misadventure. Intimacy, adventure, and manhood are not the problems. It is how we have come to believe these appetites will be satisfied.
I love what John Eldredge tells us in his book, “Journey of Desire”, that the “Christian” response to desire has either been a series of ultimately failed attempts to suppress our desires, or the ongoing misdirection of human appetite. Somehow we have ended up ashamed of the appetites themselves. What if our deepest drives tell us something deeply true and good about us? What if the seemingly unquenchable longings in our soul actually tell us something about our true depth instead of somehow indicating we are broken?
Adjust the dial, ask your Father, your Creator what is this appetite, that drive intended for? God did not create you to be someone else!! That would make no sense. God made you to be FULLY and COMPLETELY who He made you to be. Fully Alive. Fully Desiring. Fully Reaching for all He put in your path. You are created in the image of the God of All Creation. Let Him show you how you are designed. The design is not flawed, it is the operation.
C.S. Lewis says that we are much more than we thnk we are, and God hides our full identity from us so that we will not become swollen with arrogance. Simple logic may tell us the same thing. We are created in the Image of God. We were once connected to the very Source of all Life. We were created to be His image, and His representative on earth. I used to think of Adam as a man who was just less insecure than I. I am starting to think of him as extraordinarily powerful.
Connected to the Tree of Life, Adam had to be a conduit of…well…life. Not just signs of life. The roaring, throbbing engine which drives every living thing to breathe and be. The Force compelling every cell to multiply, and every beast to obey it’s instincts. The kind of force that could bring to life creatures of every size, shape and type with a word. The kind of force that could bring a dead body back to alive-ness. This is the kind of nuclear reactor to which Adam was hooked up.
Imagine now that kind of raw power available to an empty, lonely, self-centered creature. Thinking quickly, and lovingly, God said that man must not be able to access that kind of energy while in a fallen state. Man would have to be restored to his intended source, before he would be allowed again to tap into this thing called LIFE. Minus his connection to God, this power would be devastating to man and those he loves.
Re-connected to his creator, his Father, and His source, man is also re-connected to LIFE. Not just life, but life abundantly. Life explosively. Life in full measure. How might he wield such power? Well, God said that man would have the power of life in his tongue…his words. Why not, the One in whose image we are created had the same power, right?
What if the entire symphony of life is still at our finger tips?
I once heard a comedian elaborating on the incredible restorative power of duct tape. He said it can fix anything. He then described an incident of driving down the road when the CHECK ENGINE light on the dashboard came on. He promptly pulled over, grabbed a roll of duct tape, covered the light and drove on. Genius. We would never do this of course.
Oh wait…what if we actually teach one another to do this very thing.
What if we have indicators in our lives that are designed to warn us when things are not quite right? What if these indicators are given to us and designed not only to tell us that something is wrong, but can actually help us learn what is wrong? If we had such indicators in our soul it would be ridiculous to cover them up and ignore the information they can provide us.
The Christian world has been told for years that their feelings will deceive them. People who are afraid of their emotions can use this idea to distance themselves from feelings that are uncomfortable. I would like to go on record at this point to dispute this dangerous idea that our feelings will deceive us. I am convinced that our feelings will always tell us the truth. Not necessarily the truth about reality, but the truth about what we believe.
Keep in mind that when I use the word “believe” I am not referring to the intentional choice to agree with an idea. I am referring to the programming of our soul which in many instances may be hidden from our awareness. It is this very hidden-ness which necessitates indicators. Our emotions, acknowledged and understood can help identify places in our soul where God would like to operate. They can also help indicate places where God is already operating!
Feelings like confusion, frustration, agitation, fear, and others like them can help us identify areas in our hearts where God would like more access. Feelings like joy, peace, and affection, can show us places where God has full access.
Slow down, let your spirit catch up…then ask yourself, ask God…what are these feelings and where did they come from? What can they tell me about the contents and the arrangement of my soul? Are these feelings like God? Are they different from God?
Leave the duct tape in the trunk. Take an honest look. God is not afraid of your honesty.
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