My Personal Exodus!

There have been three shifts that God has been making in my life over the past few years. It has been a very distinct and undeniable work in my life. It has been a journey from one place in my life to another, a transforming process of heart and mind, of which I was unaware that I needed to take or undergo. At least two of the shifts, I believe, are ones that every Christ Follower needs to make. The third may be more personal to me in my situation and more distinct to my calling but is worthy of consideration none the less. You will not make these shifts from the comfort of your home. They don’t happen when the checking account is full, the kids are all doing well, the mate is loving and attentive, or when life couldn’t seem to get better. They are born out of struggle, difficulty, hardship. They happen when the job is lost, the family is falling apart, the health report is not good. The journey opens up to you when you are crying out, hurt, lost, confused. The process is near when you are discontented and think there should be more to life or that at least life should be better. Unfortunately, you rarely learn about these shifts in church. These are not decisions you make from a pew. These shifts are forged in the wilderness, in desolate times, and often in lonely places. For it is there that God reveals Himself. It is there that you truly begin to follow the path of God. You don’t experience Manna from heaven or water from the Rock by staying in Egypt. And that brings me to the first shift.

He has been moving me from the Empire into His Kingdom. Empire living is living that is deeply embedded in this world’s systems and thinking. It is represented in Scripture as Egypt. We are unaware of how entrenched we are in this world. We are blinded by consumerism, materialism, individualism and many other isms that cause us to live like slaves rather than sons and daughters of the Kingdom. We are free and are meant to live free. We are “born again” into the Kingdom of Heaven. Our citizenship has changed. We literally have to experience our own personal “exodus.” It involves a wilderness experience but the Kingdom lies on the other side.

I have much more to say about this but I will save it for other times. In order to not be too wordy, I will also save the other two shifts for a later date. Let me leave you with this: Are you experiencing difficulty or hardship? Is your heart crying out to God for relief and help? Is there a general discontentment rising up in your soul? Maybe this is just the beginning of a powerful and wonderful journey on which GOD is leading you! Maybe this is the first step on your own personal “exodus.” Maybe the most surprising thing is that you never realized that you needed such a deliverance. Maybe the “wilderness” that you are experiencing now is the path to a freedom and life you have never experienced before! Go with God! Journey with Him! Let Him do the perfect work in you!

Six Pages To Go

There is a certain way that God lets me know that He loves me. There is a way that He connects with me that lets me know that He knows what’s going on in my heart, mind and life. It has to do with my reading habits. I am a reader. I read almost everyday. Often I will be partially through a particular book, even a book of the Bible and I will suddenly stop. Maybe because of busyness or maybe I’m not connecting with what I am reading or maybe I get distracted with something else that comes across my view but somehow I will go days and sometimes weeks before I pick up where I left off. But almost always when I return, I am reading exactly what I need to hear on that day. If I had read it earlier, the words would not have been as significant. It happens so often that it can’t be just coincidence. It is God speaking to my heart.

Yesterday, it happened again. I had been reading The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. I was trying to finish this book before I left GA but it just didn’t happen. I only had 6 pages to go. Well, on Tuesday evening, we spoke to Rachele and Camille as they were returning to GA from TX. This would be the first time for them to return and we wouldn’t be there. The conversation was so sweet that I started feeling a sense of guilt. “Who am I to say God spoke to me? What right have I to move Pattie and Rayanne away from their family and friends? Who do I think I am? What am I doing here in Denver?” These thoughts plagued me through the night and I rose early and went to the nearby McDonald’s to read, commune, and have my hazelnut ice coffee. I picked up the book and this is what I read:

“One of the things that the story of Abraham, the fellowship of sports teams, the desperate comradeship of soldiers, and the Fellowship of the Lord of the Rings teach us is that the journey itself is important - that maturity and self-actualization require movement and risk, and that adventure is actually very good for the soul. . . We find these elements in the way Jesus formed His disciples as together they embarked on a journey that took them away from their homes, family, and securities and set out on an adventure that involved risk, active/reflective learning, and spiritual discovery. On the way their fears of inadequacy and lack of provision faded, only to be replaced by a courageous faith that went on to change the world forever.

And what makes phenomenal Jesus movements so dynamic is that they actually involve movement . . . there is real motion. This is not to say that every Christian literally left home and family to follow Jesus but that the foundational spiritual transaction of laying down all in the name of Jesus was at the very base of all of their subsequent following. In this way they had made an abiding decision to enter in to the liminality of leaving securities and comforts when they first became Christians and so didn’t have to try and factor it in later. [This type of Christianity] was to continue until Constantine gave us buildings and an institution and a bond between church and state that was to put Apostolic Genius (or Apostolic Faith) to sleep for a long, long time.

We need to hit the road again. We are people of the Way and our path lies before us, inviting us into a new future in which we are permitted to shape and participate. . . . By calling to mind how Jesus and the early church went about spreading the Message, we evoke that yearning and that willingness to undertake an adventurous journey of rediscovery of that ancient force called Apostolic Genius.”

Six timely pages lifted my spirits. I am thankful to have been chosen to move. I feel no guilt for moving my family. Pattie and Rayanne are also on a journey that will shape their faith, perspectives, lives forever. I am thankful that we have been given the courage and faith to move and act in the name of Jesus. The end we cannot see, the results will be up to God but we have already benefited from the journey and will continue to follow wherever He leads.