A Prayer for Multiplication

Do not despise the day of small beginnings.

Oh, how hard it is sometimes to embrace the childlike faith of my own children.  Even though I know that know that I know that our prayers from our humble den are heard and answered on high, I feel so alone, so small, so insignificant.  It seems so long ago now that we embraced this call to "a family house of prayer" and so improbable that the Lord asked me to ask for 600 family houses of prayer like this.  How can that happen?

What is impossible with me is possible with You, Lord.  Refresh my faith and renew my vision!

How, Lord, do we keep our hearts refreshed in You so that the darkness in this world doesn't overwhelm us?  Remind us that you have called us and you are not ever overwhelmed.  You who can see from beginning to end, perfect perspective, are not troubled by these times.

Open our eyes to the greater reality, the one we can barely glimpse on the horizon.

Ponderings on Slavery

Slavery, as I have understood it, has made me cringe and cry out against the gross injustice.  Until recently.  Now, I'm perplexed at my desire to embrace the unthinkable - becoming a slave.  My flesh cries out against it with reasons both sane and selfish.  How I long to be truly free!

Therein lies the rub.  I am beginning to comprehend the hard truth that has always been there, in scripture, that there is only one way to experience true freedom, and that is through voluntary slavery to Christ and his righteousness.  (I had comforted myself with milder translations - servanthood sounded both noble and do-able.  Slavery, not so much.)

The following is longer than my usual posts ... for it is my ponderings on the call to be a slave ... and what that means to me, personally.  There is a lot of scripture here, but the ponderings are incomplete.  So, read if you will ... if you really want to.  And begin your own journey.

 Who am I (and who is God) in light of the following scriptures:

2 Peter 1: 3-11

New International Version (NIV)

Confirming One’s Calling and Election

³ His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  ⁴ Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

⁵ For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

¹⁰ Therefore, my brothers and sisters,^[a] make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, ¹¹ and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 3:10-18

New International Version (NIV)

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.^[a]

¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹² as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.^[b] That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.¹³ But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵ Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶ He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸ But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

How is it that we are so susceptible to being carried away by the error of lawlessness?  Isn’t it in the same way that the early Christians were so carried away?  Paul addressed this issue in his letter to the Romans, as he explained the concept of grace, realizing that “grace” could easily be confused with a license to do as one pleased.

Romans 6:1-4; 11-18; 22-23

New International Version (NIV)

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

^{…….. 11} In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. ¹³ Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. ¹⁸ You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

^{…. 22} But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Having been set free from sin – no longer caught up in sinning and controlled by sin – we are now slaves all over again; but this time we are not slaves to sin but rather slaves to God’s will and his ways.  Slaves to righteousness.  Not too many people think of the book of Romans as a call to “slavery.”  But the words are clear. 

The apostles understood this well, referring to themselves as slaves at the beginning of their letters.  Peter called himself a slave (in the Greek, doulos, also translated “bond slave” or “bondservant”) of Jesus Christ in II Peter 1:1. So did Paul in Romans 1:1 and Titus 1:1, and so did James in James 1:1, and so did Jude in Jude verse 1, and so did John in Revelation 1:1.  The word is also applied to Moses in Revelation 15:3.

As slaves of God we serve him as Master, so our service to him is not optional, but mandatory.  Perhaps we are so removed from the concept of slavery that we don’t recall its meaning.  Slaves are bound to do their master’s bidding and do not have the freedom to do as they please.

Most believers memorize Rom 6:23, above. But far fewer study 6:22 before it.  Perhaps we should all meditate on this for a day, a week, a year.  Yes, eternal life is a gift, but it is given in the context of our becoming slaves to God and reaping the benefit of holiness.

Being a slave to a cruel master, like sin, or like the slave traders of old, provided very little benefit.  But, according to verse 22, being a slave to God has a great benefit.  In being slaves of God we reap the benefit of holiness.  And it is holiness that has the result we are yearning for: eternal life.  

Too many in the church equate “holiness” with a movement that required its people to remain under the law – concerned about the outward appearance of dress and obligations.  But in Rom 6:22 we can see that true holiness is described as a benefit that we as believers reap, as a result of being slaves to God’s will.  Holiness is further stated to be the very thing that leads to eternal life.

How, then, do we live the life that we are called to live?  How do we avoid spending ourselves on things that don’t lead to eternal life – like vain arguments*?  How do we avoid being enslaved again to sin?  The key is found in understanding what it means to be a slave of God.

*1 Tim 1:6.

Our slavery to God – unlike slavery as  we understand it today -is a voluntary one.  Being a bond slave of Jesus is the breaking of my independence, and purposefully surrendering to the lordship of God.  No one can do this for me; I must do it myself.

We talk a lot about servanthood, which is good.  But what is the difference between a servant and a slave? A servant typically gets days off and makes choices, but a slave is a slave for 365 days a year and makes very few of his own choices. A servant has his own money he can spend on whatever he wishes. A slave has no money of his own; if he wants something, he must ask the master for it. A servant can marry whomever he wants. A slave must marry whomever the master tells him to marry. A slave has no possessions of his own, no rights, and he is obligated to do whatever the master commands him to do.

Today we value freedom more highly than just about anything else.  People die for freedom.  In our western concept of slavery, it is hard to imagine someone volunteering to become a permanent slave. Yet, that is the Biblical definition of a bond slave. A bond slave is a volunteer permanent slave. The passage in Scripture that defines bond slavery is found in Exodus 21:2-6:

…"But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,' then his master shall bring him to God, and then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently...."

A Hebrew was made a slave on a temporary basis, and after his time was fulfilled, he could go out as a free man. However, if because of love for his master, the slave said that he did not want to go free, then his master would take him to God for a spiritual commitment.  They would go to the door or the doorpost where he would pierce his ear with an awl or, in other words, with a large hole - one that would never grow back. That slave would then serve him permanently. He is then a bond slave. From that moment on, he would have no time of his own, no rights of his own, no money of his own, and no possessions of his own. He would have to do whatever the master told him to do.

Even though the cost of being a bond slave is high, there is a benefit to the slave.  His master is committing to take care of him, to protect him, and to provide for him for the rest of his life. As we make this commitment to God to be his bond slave, He makes that commitment to us in return.

The real motivation for making a bond slave commitment to God is because of our love of the Master, and not because we want His divine protection (Exodus 21:5). That is simply one of the benefits.  

Most strikingly, we find ourselves being most like Jesus when we are a bond slave, because Jesus, himself, was a bond slave of God, His Father: "Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond slave, and being made in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:5-7).

If we truly want to follow in His steps, then we too will want to be bond slaves of God. God is doing a divine work today, calling out those who will be His bond slaves (worshipers in spirit and truth)  who are willing to live holy, righteous and pure before God, and to be obedient to Him.

When the commitment is made, to become a bond slave, there is giant shift.  Everything changes.  We see as Christ saw that there is nothing to do except that which the Father is doing.  (note the shift from “nothing worth doing” to “nothing to do.”  A slave has already counted the cost, already committed to a lifetime of obedience.  The cost and value are of no consequence now.  What the Father does and what the Father says are all that matters.

The next step in the journey is one that God offers again to all who follow in the path of obedience.  Just as Christ Jesus was both bond slave and so much more, so we are more than just bond slaves.  Having embraced the status of slave, we can receive the incredible gift the Father has in store for us…. sonship. 

Just two chapters after Romans 6, that we read above, we read in Romans 8 more about this life of the bond servant which leads to adoption as sons..

Romans 8:5-17 (NIV)

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life^[d] because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of^[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

¹² Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

¹⁴ For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. ¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

By embracing the life of bond slave, we find the Father calling us by a new name – we learn that we are “God’s children.”   And rather than only knowing him “Master and Lord,” we are graced with the right to call him by a new name:  “Abba, Father” – Daddy.

To gain a greater understanding of who we are as the children of God, I meditate on the book of First John.  In this way, we remind ourselves that we are truly called to walk as children of God, dearly loved and cherished, our obedience shifting from obligation (of the bond slave alone) to obedience born of love (the child who loves his father).

At the same time, however, we must caution ourselves to not replace one truth with the other.  There is a great temptation here.  That temptation is to forget who we are in Romans 6.  Those who are walking in right relationship with the Father, as dearly loved children, will refuse the temptation to forget that they are also, in the truest sense, still surrendered as bond slaves to Him.  

In a society filled with self-willed, rebellious, and independent children, our concept of “child of God” is just as inaccurate as our concept of slave. 

In 1 John 3, we see what God means when he calls us His children:

  3 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! ….

⁷ Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.⁸ But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life^[a] is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. ¹⁰ So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers^[b] does not belong to God.

¹¹ This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.  …

¹⁴ If we love our Christian brothers and sisters,^[d] it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead.¹⁵ Anyone who hates another brother or sister^[e] is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

¹⁶ We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister^[f] in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

The Bible clearly tells us how to tell whether someone (including ourselves) is a child of God.  A child of a typical American family may be one who is pampered and spoiled  and who whines and cries and demands his own way.  But a child of God is the opposite of that.  According to 1 John 3:10, a child of God is one who loves others (not just in word, but in deed) and lives righteously (does what is right and pleasing to God, the Father).  

  

Lord, help us.  We live in a culture that is so opposite of your Kingdom culture, that is often difficult to understand the simplicity of your Word.  We have heard so many misinterpretations, and so many people making excuses for us, that we are lulled into a sense of complacency. 

Your word tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and we have replaced that with our own “wisdom” that says we have nothing at all to fear except fear itself.

Open our eyes to the truth of your Word.  May we see you as such an amazingly perfect God and trustworthy master that our only logical response is to cry out to be your bond slave forever. 

Lord, help me to understand more thoroughly what that means, so that I may walk fully alive in You.

I have fallen into the typical trap of thinking that others who are great in your kingdom have a special call, a special gift.  Remind me that we all have the same call to be your slaves.  Of course, once we say yes, we are yours, to do your bidding, whether that be to work in the field or the kitchen or the nursery.  But all those who say “yes” are rewarded with the prize of being yours … and the gift of eternal blessing in you.

Teach me, Lord, how to say “yes,” both today and tomorrow, and show me the necessity of saying “yes” every single day of my life.  From dawn to dawn again, a bond slave’s duty is to say yes and fulfill the master’s bidding.

Because I am now getting the inkling of clarity that being the bond slave is the only true way to fully embrace Your Kingdom, I am nearly ready to ask this:  Make me your bond slave and keep me close to you in obedience, righteousness, holiness, and love.  But perhaps I don't trust you quite enough yet.  Please reveal to me your faithful love that opens my heart to yield completely to this reality of being your slave.

And for your body, the church, I pray that you will move us far beyond arguing about semantics and theories, our minds stuck on controversies, and let us recognize the reality of who you are calling us to be …  those who are fully surrendered to your will as both slaves and sons.

Unexpected Ending

Not very long ago we celebrated the unexpected gift of an extra teen girl living with us.  I will call her Valerie to protect her identity.  The Lord moved us to throw our arms wide open to embrace an opportunity to be family to her, and we were blessed to enjoy that budding relationship for nearly 6 weeks.  Then, without warning, Valerie was gone, returning to the very place from which she had sought refuge.  She simply packed her bags and said, "Sorry it didn't work out."  No explanation; no tearful good-bye; no "Wow, guys, I sure appreciate all that you've done, and sure will miss you."  Just a quick good-bye, and not a phone call since.

One week has passed and our notes of encouragement and offers of help have been ignored.  The girl who shared all our meals and slept under our roof all those weeks won't even return our texts.

I can't help but puzzle over the meaning of it all.  We feel as if we did all we could do, and even by a stretch of our imaginations can't see anything we did wrong, or to offend.  Perhaps what is most puzzling is that none of this was our idea in the first place, and yet now that she is gone I miss her so much.

Many years ago, a few years before my first daughter was born, my husband and I experienced an unexpected pregnancy.  Though we were caught a bit by surprise and were slightly panicky at first, in a very short time we found ourselves excited by the news - all the new possibilities!  Would we have a girl or a boy?  What names did we like?  Which room would become the baby's room?  How would this affect our job situations?  We were almost to the stage of sharing the news of the baby with more than close family when ... all of a sudden ... I started bleeding, and it didn't stop.  And when they said the baby was not alive anymore, I started crying and could hardly stop.  Why?  Why would the Lord give me something I didn't ask for and then take it away?  Why give me such pain?  Didn't he love me?

But in a few short weeks he revealed something to me on a Sunday morning at church.  As I sang through my tears, "Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights," suddenly I saw this short-lived pregnancy as something more -- a good and perfect gift.  I didn't want to believe it at first.  I was still upset and confused.  But in His mercy, in that moment, the Lord showed me that sometimes the gifts don't come in the packages that we would expect or choose.  My short-lived pregnancy was more than a cause of grief.  A life of only 9 weeks was a true gift -- worth more than no life at all.  The Lord began to show me how this gift helped me to change my perspective, to begin to make plans for a career change that would be a blessing to my children to come.  This gift softened my heart and my husband's heart, too, to embracing parenthood sooner.  This gift also meant that in eternity we will be united with a child whom we didn't get to meet while on earth.  And with all this revelation came unexpected joy -- joy mingled with tears for a "good and perfect gift" from my Father.

And as I reflect on that gift of 20 years ago, I see the glimmer of revelation dawning right now.  Our unexpected (and unplanned) time with "Valerie" brought joy and perspective, not just for us, but for all of our children.  This time brought us close together and caused us to be more purposeful in our family times.  This time opened our eyes to see things beyond our own home that perhaps we thought so far away and foreign to us, but now we know the love of the Father in those situations is so much bigger than any fear or "impossibility."

I'm not quite ready to fully let go of all the possibilities I had imagined for us with Valerie as part of our family.  I still harbor a hope that this apparent ending is not really the end.  Perhaps there is an undetected heartbeat for this relationship.   A few of my friends would say so.  But either way I do feel peace today -- peace that this time was indeed a good and perfect gift -- and peace that even if I don't see the reward of this time here on earth, we will be family in eternity.