HEAVEN'S FIRE

God often acts in the context of faithfulness.  Historically, 70 million faithful Christians have been martyred since the time of Christ.  Well over half of those were killed in the 20th century alone, over 20 million in Soviet prison camps.  Down through history the blood of faithful martyrs was spilt. Early church father, Tertullian, is known to say “The blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.”  The same is true today.  Where the church is persecuted, it grows. God acts in the context of that faithfulness. 

Nearly every major revival and mission movement in the past two hundred years in North America began on college campuses and was preceded by a season of student prayer.  Faithful young people who have a vision for revival often occasion this.  This was true in the First and Second Great Awakenings and more recently in the Asbury revival of 1970 and Wheaton revival of 1995.  Where followers of Jesus Christ are faithful in prayer, the reading of scripture, and other means of grace, God acts in the context of that faithfulness.

God strikes a fire in hearts of the faithful.  Those hearts come together to listen to the whisper of God in the reading a scripture and to pray for the outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the people.  Out of the embers of the faithfulness of a relatively few comes heaven's blazing fire of the Holy Spirit.  The songwriter captures this impulse of the faithful heart when he writes,

Make me a blazing fire where’er I go,

That to a dying world Thee may I show

How Thou hast bled and died

That none may be denied,

But in Thy bleeding side

A refuge find.

(Anon)

It is not uncommon that such a blazing fire takes time to build and burn, and to rise in temperature.  In the meanwhile faithfulness can lead to suffering, ridicule and discrimination, persecution and death.  Faithfulness is not merely a matter of perseverance in prayer alone.  It may also occasion rebuke, disparagement, abuse and martyrdom.  Nevertheless, the faithful carry on.  The same songwriter speaks to this as well,

So shall my moments flow

In praising Thee,

For thou hast never failed

To strengthen me.

Filled with the Holy Ghost,

Saved to the Uttermost,

In Christ alone I’ll boast

And forward go.

(SASB #521)

John Fletcher (1729-1875), a close friend and co-laborer with John Wesley, understood how the Holy Spirit works in the context of faithfulness when he wrote,

An eager attention to the doctrines of the Holy Spirit made me in some degree overlook the medium by which that Spirit works; I mean the word of truth, by which that heavenly fire warms us. I rather expected lightening, than a steady fire by means of fuel.

We might think that God strikes revival with his Holy Spirit like lightning strikes the rod on a farmer’s barn.  BAMMM!  History says otherwise.  God more often waits for a faithful remnant to catch the vision of heaven's fire, to bring the God-given vision back to God in prayer, in prayers of petition and supplication with thanksgiving and praise.  God has his timing. His prevenient grace is at work in the hearts of those who respond to the fire of revival and renewal.

Wanted, hearts baptized with fire,

Hearts completely cleansed from sin,

Hearts that will go to the mire,

Hearts that dare to aught for him,

Hearts that will be firmer, braver,

Hearts like heroes gone before,

Hearts enjoying God’s full favor,

Hearts to love him more and more.

John Lawley (1859-1922) SASB 3704

DESERT FATHERS: KOOKS OR SPIRITUAL ENTREPRENEURS

For many years I thought the Desert Fathers were kooks.  Now I think of them as spiritual entrepreneurs, not for fame or fortune, but for the riches found in intimacy with God.

In the early centuries of the Christian church, they were known for abandoning the community life of the church in the major cities and trekking out into the desert to live the solitary life of a hermit.  This was the beginning of the monastic movement.  St. Anthony, the Father of Monasticism, was one of the early ascetics.  He left Alexandria and journeyed out into the western desert into what is now Libya.  At first he lived in an abandoned tomb, then in an old dilapidated Roman fort.  At one point he returned to Alexandria during a time of persecution hoping to be martyred. It didn’t happen.  In spite of his bold behavior proclaiming his faith, he was ignored and eventually he moved into the eastern desert of Egypt.  Pilgrims found him wherever he resided and sought his teachings.  Disciples followed him and sought his teachings. His overarching desire was to escape the attractions and distractions of urban life and find peace and solitude in the quietness of the desert hoping to pursue a life of holiness.  It wasn’t meant to be.  Anthony became so famous that the Emperor Constantine asked Anthony to pray for him.  He became known as Saint Anthony the Great.  While he was believed to be illiterate and never wrote a book, his sayings in Coptic became famous and published in Greek.

St. Anthony sought neither fame nor following.  What he desired was an environment that transformed. The desert life was simple, uncomplicated, and devoid of distractions.  It was and still is a place where the fast paced, frenetic nature of contemporary life can be left behind and a single focus on God can be pursued.  We do the same today in various fashions.  Monasteries today welcome visitors and guests who seek a weekend or a week’s retreat of silence.  Second homes, cabins and cottages serve a similar purpose.  They are a get-away, an escape, a refuge from the semi-chaotic life with all its pressures and distractions.  Sadly, such havens of solitude are poorly designed for what people need the most, a place where God hears the faintest whisper of our hearts and we in return hear His. 

Is it possible to design such a setting?  Can environments intentionally serve in ways that transform? Just as homes for sale are staged to increase the probability of an attractive offer, environments can be staged to increase the opportunities for drawing nearer to God and promoting a dynamic, intimate exchange.  Just having one’s Bible out and open on the desk, or placed on one’s pillow to be read at night increases the probability that it will be read.  Having sacred music, literature, and DVD’s readily available all contributes to an environment that potentially transforms.  The many means by which God shapes the clay of our lives may be managed intentionally into an environment of intimacy with God.  We need not take up residence in the deserts of North Africa to benefit by a salutary environment of transformation.  Our home, office, or car can be staged to facilitate greater faith and a more intimate journey with God as environments that transform.  Thanks be to God. 

SEEKING THE KINGDOM IN THE AGE OF APPS AND i PHONES

We live in an amazing time technologically.  Our i Phones, i Pads, and MacBook Pro lap tops, Netflix, Amazon shopping, Facetime, Skype, Facebook, texting and Twitter are right at our finger tips putting us in contact with the world.  It is a world that through technology is both bigger than ever and yet smaller in access.  It is a brave new world with seemingly unlimited possibilities.  We find ourselves in a new age.

What will historians call the present age?  In my lifetime I’ve heard we were in the industrial age, the nuclear age, the space age, the post-nuclear age, the age of technology, and now the age of social media.  I have my own label for what we are now experiencing.  I call it the age of unprecedented attractions and distractions.  We are in a time when high tech, and social media in particular, generates a tsunami of remarkable gizmos, gadgets, apps and all manner of ways and means by which we may be entertained, preoccupied, and mesmerized.  Some of it is behaviorally addictive.  Teen and pre-teen texting comes to mind along with video games on line, on the laptop, and on the phone.   I am most concerned about the epidemic of texting while driving.  It’s crazy out there.  But it’s crazy in here.

What I mean by “It’s crazy in here” is how the heart and soul is impacted by all the attractions and distractions, made possible by technology.   I am not making a case that these amazing tools are evil and sinful.  They make possible a quality of life that is unprecedented in history.  My concern is that they make it easy to be too engaged in the entertainment attractions and distractions of the culture.  By this I mean all those good things that steal our time and attention from the excellent things in life.  The excellent is all the key daily experiences most important to our social/spiritual development and the inner life of the heart and soul.

It comes down to how we use technology, what we do with it.  We have choices.  Watching a Netflix movie is a good thing, depending on the movie.  Watching NCAA Final Four basketball, or the cooking channel are good things too.  Staying in touch with friends on Facebook and texting to say happy birthday are all good.  Doing it so much that there is no balance to life, no pursuit of those things that are spiritually excellent, is the challenge.

My i Phone has an app that for months I did not notice and did not use.  It’s a Bible, scripture at my fingertips.  One morning, I realized I was slacking-off reading my Bible.  I was sacrificing having a personal time of reflection on scripture and a quiet time with the Lord.  My fault.  I can’t blame my i Phone.  I must face the music of my own poor time management.  The reality is that I spend too much time on the Facebook app not enough in activity that feeds my soul and moves my heart.  

Yes.  The culture has attractions and distractions accessible through the technology.  But the real battle is an inner one of consecration.  It calls for me to manage my time in ways that are pleasing to God.  It’s a call to use technology in ways that feed my soul and grows my heart after the likeness of my Lord.  The enemy of excellence is not the bad.  It’s too much of all the good that steals time and attention from a more excellent way.  Technology can help or hinder depending on what we value and how we mange our time.  Help us, O God, to seek first the Kingdom and your excellence and to use technology accordingly!