The Mystery of Position

Clarity in thought can arise when a person goes through a tragic event. The event itself causes the thought process to heightened giving the person a clearer perception of the event they've experienced. It has been often said that the best time to ask someone what occurred is usually right after it happened because this is when the person is in a posture of analyzing and collecting mental data about the event. This is not only true in the natural realm, but also in the spiritual realm.

When we as Christians go through a tragic event, we usually attempt to blame the devil. It is easier to blame them because the devil has become a scapegoat fro every wrong that occurs, but, if the person actually seeks clarity in thought, they will find that the one whom caused the event is not Satan but God. You see, God is the creator of good and evil. I say this because if God is the creator of everything, we cannot limit this nor make it a false statement by categorizing just what God created. God is the Supreme Being, the Alpha and Omega. He is the one who can build and destroy all in the same moment, but we as Christians oftentimes only want the good and will only accept the good from God. The unfortunate truth is that in order to obtain the good, one must persevere through the negative. Because the negative or tragic events causes one to think clearly, the only true way to reach where God desires us to be is through the rough waters. We can only be strengthened by the events because as we go through it, we are forced to see clearly what is happening so that we can embrace an understanding of the events. Not only this, we can also work to accept the errors we?ve made and the things we?ve done to cause the event, therefore, removing the devil from the posture of scapegoat and placing him in the place where he belongs ? a tool of evil to get our attention and push us into destiny.

I find it true that we should not be afraid of the devil. But, we also should not deify him either. Because he is a worker for God, we must realize that his attempts to destroy us often occurs right before we reach a point of breakthrough. It reminds me of the space shuttle. NASA must time the launch of the shuttle just at the point where it will rendezvous with the space station. This window of opportunity is only about ten minutes long, which in time travel, is not much. This same equation can be applied tour lives. Whenever we are close to a point of breakthrough, there is only a small window of opportunity that we should walk through. This is the narrow gate spoken of in the synoptic gospels. But this window is also the moment of decision we face when we are unaware of which direction to take. Because we are afraid of the unknown, we hesitate, but that mere hesitation could cause us to miss the window of opportunity therefore causing us to suffer further in a situation we should have been out of a season ago. I do not contend with the belief that that is a time and place for everything, but I do believe that id we mss that season, we must wait for another opportunity to arise.

Too often I have seen people who have finally made a decision to move, getting frustrated with themselves because now, they can look back and see what they were involved in. They become frustrated and angry because they cannot believe they stayed so long in such a trying event. Many times, the person will enter a place of depression because this is the only way for them to purge from the situation and gain an understanding about what they have just experienced. This is a good place for them to be in, but, we as watchmen, need to walk with them so that the depression does not overtake them and cause them to return to that situation of event. I believe that this is a major part of sanctification, where we as leaders help those who?ve made a decision to follow through with the decision. While it is not our job to walk the road for them, we cannot be so callous as to leave them at the alter to fend for themselves with the pitfalls that salvation has now brought into their lives. We must, as leaders, be compassionate, understanding, but also firm in our walk with them so that they can complete the journey and walk in destiny.

The church is a hospital environment, one where the physician will sit down and talk you through the procedure, then prep you for the procedure, perform the procedure and attend to you during the healing process. The physician does not leave you on the operating table. They will, from time to time, visit with you, check on your healing progress and, when you are strong enough to go on without them, release you from their care. But, this only speaks of specialized care and, as difficult it is for many in the church to accept, each church is specialized to address particular issues in a person's life.

The commonality with the church is the same as with a hospital; you go to a hospital because you are sick. But, when you arrive at the hospital, you are directed to areas that specialize of curing what ails you. Meaning, we cannot just go to jus any ole church. The Bible tells us that our sheep will hear our voice, meaning, each church is designed to minister to a distinct group of people.

Depending upon the specialty determines the size and number of people you addressed. For example, it is common that a ministry led by one with an evangelistic gifting will have a church of insurmountable numbers. This is true because the evangelist is gifted in gathering the people, therefore, people will be attracted to their word, presentation or style. Usually those who are not seeking that one on one interaction with their pastor, (meaning, I just want to go to church, don?t be all up in my business) will gravitate to these types of ministries because of the great opportunity to be a part of the crowd.

There is the ministries led by one who has a pastoral gifting. This ministry oftentimes is small because the membership is seeking a one on one relationship with the pastor. There is not a high turnaround of membership but a strong core of generational members, (those whose grandparents, parents and their children attend). This, in turn, provides a strong core membership, but little chance for growth (if the pastor is seeking to build a mega ministry, of course). In order to properly attend to the needs of each individual in that ministry, growth might be a negative if there is limited assistance in leadership. Therefore, if one seeks to growth this type of ministry, the pastor must also train up pastor while he attends to the needs of the people.

Then there is the ministry led by the prophetic gifting, where the membership retention is difficult to account for, because their membership oftentimes stays for a season and then moves on, their number fluctuate in a midrange between evangelistic and apostolic ministries, but, will have a strong core of members. There is also the apostolic led ministries where the membership numbers really cannot be counted accurately because with this type of ministry, their reach goes beyond the single entity, or church. They will establish ministries, business and entities across the world, causing their touch to go beyond the Sunday Morning service and because of this, the accurate account of memberships could be exaggerated if it includes the entities and services it provides.

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?What governs men is the fear of truth.?
“What governs men is the fear of truth.” Henri Amiel

There is an elemental injustice occurring in the body of Christ. People are being misled by leadership that lacks proper training and preparation. Over history, it was common for preachers to be the most educated persons of leadership. From the days of Moses to the Azusa Street revival, leadership in the pulpit was trained to teach and preach the word of God. Today, we are faced with those who are educated but, are not allowing the training to come forth to built a strong, biblically rooted foundation.

I found myself, a few months ago, in a meeting where the leadership chastised their membership for not teaching the basic principles of their doctrine. It was a comment that went beyond my immediate attention because I knew in my heart that they were not talking about me. But, as time went by, I began to reflect on this comment and I realized that the leader was not chastising them for not teaching the Bible, but for not teaching their doctrine.

I found this to be interesting because it seemed that the leader was more interested in his doctrine than in the Word of God. There is only one doctrine we should abide by. That would be the Word of God. It is dangerous to be in a posture where our doctrine is more important than the Word in which we base it on.

Then I surmised one simple truth: we have allowed people to be elevated into position without evaluating the fruit that they produce. There is an unfortunate reality about this as well; that, Christians have been dealing with this same problem since the days of the Apostle Paul. Henri Amiel once said that “In order to see Christianity, one must forget almost all the Christian.” Meaning, in order to fully see and comprehend the Word of God, we must look beyond the person bringing the Word of God to us. We must go beyond the momentary emotional satisfaction and look for the intellectual fulfillment. We can no longer go to church to feel good but to be edified by the Word we hear. It is true that Praise and Worship is beautiful, powerful and wonderful, it should not be the only reason why we go to church. Praise and Worship sets the atmosphere for the truth of the Gospel to come forth. Jesus, as He spoke to the Samaritan woman, told her that a time will come when we will worship God in Spirit and in Truth. This means that when you enter the sanctuary and you enter into a posture of worship, the truth of God (revelation) will be revealed to you. This revelation is not only to present to you your inner faults and successes, but it will search your heart to pull out the true essence of your destiny and presented to you the steps to reach that goal. But we too often stop the revelation by staying so deep into worship (for the emotional elevation) that we miss the revelation surrounding us. I look at it like someone in a burning house with headphones on. They see the smoke, they smell the fire, but because they are so absorbed in the music, they ignore the dangers around them.

You see, the Word of God is often misused by those who seek to squander away the potential wealth and riches that are found in the church today, by selling the Word of God instead of presenting the Gospel to those who need it. While there are financial attachments to spreading the Gospel, one must be deep in meditation and prayer before any word comes forth. Too often we find ourselves shortchanged by those who only see the potential wealth and recognition that comes with ministry but ignore the pitfalls and extensive level of servitude that is required.

John MacArthur once said,
“Failure to appropriate the truth of the gospel produces stagnation in spiritual advancement and the inability to understand or assimilate additional teaching.”

The Bible tells us in Hebrews that
11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! (Hebrews 5:11-12)

When one becomes greater than the Word they teach, it causes them to become disobedient to the Word they teach.

“It is only when men begin to worship that they begin to grow.” – Calvin Coolidge

Reflections
Driving down the tree covered lane
I shade my eyes from the interruption
Of sun beams through leaves as I
Wonder if I could grasp its warmth;

I opened the sunroof to the salute of
Oaks holding hands over the road
Covered with multi-colored leafs
Painting a picture of crayola dreams;

I look through my rear view mirror as
I increase my pace to see the dance of
Colors flying high as though they believe
The wind will carry them back home;

I wonder if I drive fast enough could I
Throw them high enough for the oaks
To reach down and grab them just so
They could have another try at strength;

Maybe so but that will change the fate
Of life and the purpose of their fall onto
A road traveled my so many before me
And so many yet to appear in my sight;

That one day someone may pull over and
Get out to search for that one rustic colored
Leaf to carry with them through the day on
A journey so few leaves are willing to travel;

Could today be the day that another leaf
Will fall unwillingly or shall he let go of
Safety’s embrace to fall into the hands of
destiny awaiting them on the road we call life?

Tell me…which leaf are you today?

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