Tag Archives: Musing

Blogposts, Musing

The Wisdom To know The Diffference

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Years ago, I wrote a story for the newspaper on acceptance. I talked about the stages of grief for part of it and the acceptance or finality that was required to move ahead. Life is like that. Sometimes to make a change you have to “agree” with something or accept it to make the changes necessary.

For instance when you accept there is corruption in the government, you are posed with two choices. Do nothing or do something? No matter who you are, change and the ability to change are hardwired into you.

The results of acceptance are that you accept the outcome, deny the wanted answer or recognize the futility of something. But there is an also an acceptance of who you are and what you can accomplish.

Too often we “settle” for something because we assume it will not get any better or never change. I would be lying to you to say that I have not had a moment or two of that type.

There is a famous prayer.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr

My concern for a while has been people accept less than what is God’s best for them or His provision for them. Life is subject to change. All of it. Every time. Either you choose to believe the scriptures or you do not.

You can choose what you change.

Can God raise the dead? Have others raised the dead? So why not you?
Can God heal people from cancer? Have people been healed from cancer? So why not you?
Did God multiply the fish? Find the coin? Do you know people who have had magnificent provision in their lives? So why not you?

We do not have to “accept” the substandard or even the norm. Now, right here I will say what you believe will be important. Do you believe God raises the dead, heals the sick? Do you believe you have the ability to change? Do you accept the fact that you “deserve” good? We can choose excellence or better every time. And I accept and I never doubt that God is on my side and moving things ahead for me. What you accept will change over time. What you accept will determine going forward motion. Your acceptance can lead to reward and favor.

What you do with “answers” will have a lot to do with your responses. No does not mean never. It is not semantics but a reality founded in truth. You will always have the choice to accept or reject. Those actions will be based on the premise of what you believe. So, if you use that prayer, be sure to rely on His wisdom and not yours. You will find much of life is changeable to those who believe.

Blogposts, Musing

REST-He is in it!

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I woke up this morning from a dream where an old friend of mine was involved. We had been invited to a meeting. We were staying in a large hotel. We had beautiful rooms. And a noise.  In the dream there was this “mystery” sound. It took me all night to isolate and determine what and where it was. It has taken me much of the morning to understand the thought process behind it.

Yesterday I spoke about set at a table, set in place and set in motion. I believe that is where much of the church is right now.  What is going on? Where is the motion? Where is the “answer”?

I was talking to a friend last night. A savvy business person and good friend, we talked about the current state of life. Like he and myself, many have felt like the motion of things has stopped. We discussed the reasons. Without getting into lots of detail we cleared governments, economies and people. No, something has people in a place of “slowed” or a holding pattern. Even as I thought about the holding pattern, I thought what it was a prelude to. Landing, disembarking, new positions and places all follow. The holding pattern can be discouraging, as it can create impatience or anxiety. Especially when you look out the window and see others “in the air,” circling alongside of you.  (Die Hard 2 maybe?)

My answer is, many are in the place of “what’s next.” Often we see it in an individual or two, but it does seem like many are waiting. What if how well you wait determined how well you “land”?

In my dream we were distracted until late into the night, looking for the source of the noise. When we got close to it, it seemed as if it changed. Direction, sound, volume. I finally got into bed and got some sleep(rest) only to hear the sound a few hours later. I jumped out of bed, opening the door and I saw the source of the noise. A type of “knocker” had been affixed to my friend’s door. I opened the door and there he was, asleep. He was worn out from the night’s explorations. The sun poured through the window.

Only when I was in my room and resting was I able to determine the source of the sound. It was on a door. As we moved about the hotel the previous night, we heard it but could not locate it. There is a new day coming. The Lord is behind the “distractions” but not as you perhaps think. He is not making it hard for you, He is making it easy. There is rest He is calling you to. And only when you are in that rest will you hear the sound. The sound of Him at the door calling you to a new day. A day that is bright. Why a door? Because He is not making this hard or difficult.

I personally just went through a frenzied time. A time that began with a flat tire a few weeks ago. And then a car accident and my wife’s injuries. Finances, vehicle and residence, all seemed to take a hit. It is not “over” but I felt the Lord asking for trust. He is knocking. He has knocked at many people’s “door.” The answer is “open the door.” (It is like, how do you remove the darkness? Turn on the light!)

This is a season of unraveling of thinking, discarding of old thoughts and process and the listening for the sound. My answer in the dream was “right there.” But we could not find it. We did the room to room search, the examination, the interviewing of others…everything but “lie down.”

REST-He is in it!

 

 

Blogposts, Lee Johndrow, Musing

Family and Friends (More than a cellphone program…)

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Even as I write that, I chuckle, because the latest revelations about snooping indicates we have a wider circle of “friends” than we thought!

Yesterday during our time of worship, I felt the Lord say that many can comprehend “unity” or the concept of family, because of their upbringing. I made a note and wrote the thought and went back to worship.

During the “sermon” time my friend Mark said something about it as well. I wrote this scripture down. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ. ”

We are one. I began to think about this. If we do not see from God’s perspective that we are to be one, we “act” out unity from our perspective, from our “location.” One of the symptoms of dysfunction is the need to “isolate.” I am not talking about times of respite or retreat, but the continued move away from others. I get it. Perhaps you have been hurt. But, when one is “hardwired” from the get go for community, moving against that sets up a tension that can move to an unhealthy place.

We have programs that denigrate family because we came to a place where we ascended to unity rather than a place of moving to unity from the working of Christ in our lives.

Using this statement, “I am only human” attacks the fabric of Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is in opposition to 2Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” A new creation may resemble the old, but is NOT. It is new! A supernatural being with roots in heaven and the DNA of the Father. You can not say “I am just human.”

And if we are not “just human” than not only has our identity changed, but it compels us to change our perspective and outlook on community and family. We need to examine what it looks like from His place and His purpose. “”that they all may be one, as You, Father, [are] in Me, and I in You;”

When we change our thoughts about one another, shaped by the likeness of Him, we will see a move in family that will shake the world. Fathers and mothers rising up with a destiny to be sown, not held on to. A future so bright that worry not enter.

And when we see it is not about our purpose, but His purpose, we will live on purpose.

Blogposts, Lee Johndrow, Musing

Concentrating On Him

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Too many seem to focus on what will be, where they will go and what they will do.

There is a reason this is is relevant. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It speaks of being the change where you are.

I have watched too many make “sacrifices” in the name of Jesus, that have cost them financial freedom, families and peace. Peace is our referee, when He is coupled with wisdom.

If you can’ t take care of dishes in the sink, what makes you think you can do it out there.

I have watched way too many “sacrifice” for selfishness and self serving measures only to bankrupt themselves, lose families and destroy credibility with friends.

On the other hand I am not saying make your “home” so comfortable you never leave it or ever see the value in carrying the gospel to other lands.

Too many friends have gone into debt over the sake of the ministry believing that was God, to the place if He called them for a cup of coffee they would need to borrow it. Too many have walked away from the calls on their lives in disappointment because of the money, the prestige and the “glory.”

I would like to suggest that we can “do this thing” with integrity, long lasting fruit and enjoyment.

It begins with you, then family and friends, communities, regions and then to all the world.

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Blogposts, Musing

Present In Truth

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Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

As I read that, there is something truly “present” in what is said. This is not afar, but a present reality. It goes on to tell us that in this hope we were saved. A reality. “Now hope that is seen is not hope.” We know our salvation is there, so is not the completion of something done, and something new upon us?

We have been held back by a future thought process, that seems to not be truth. I recognize that adoption speaks of a maturity(30 years, -“this is my son, whom I am well pleased in.”) or an age, but I think we need to relegate some things to their proper places.
In the scriptures as Jesus heads back to deal with the “Lazarus issue” Martha comes to him with a “past glory” thinking. “If you had been here…” Mary dealt with a future glory, “the son of God who is COMING into the world.” They missed a very present reality. Jesus was not the hope to come, or the glory past, but the glory manifest in their midst.

Lazarus(God help us!) in a grave cloth, bound hand and foot. How did he get out?

It is tie we realized the presence of the presence and walk in the operation of a present reality. A maturity simply because WE ARE! It is time for us to “unbind” them.