Captured by dangerous men, I knew I did not want to die. As they tied my hands behind me, all I could think of was my family, my friends and the mission I had undertaken.

They left the room and were yelling loudly.

“Kill him. Get it over”.

Last night I wrote a “devotion” for a book I am creating. It was on citizenship. Questions were asked. Where do you live? What do you love? What are your rights? Benefits? Provision?

I find that many have forgotten their place. Their calling. The mission.

There is more to the dream and I will share that shortly.

I have observed that many are bound to tradition and thinking of the harmful kind. The kind that denigrates, undermines and stops motion.

Traditions of destruction. Disciplines of the wrong kind.

If a church suggested self flagellation. You might run because for many the whipping of one’s self for religious reasons might be considered destructive. Just a little, don’t you think? Yet I uncover many who do this to themselves. They “beat” themselves They beat themselves into the corner.

Stinking thinking. It is not just about being not positive. It has to do with the thinking that brings you to a place of destruction or unhappiness or fear. (By the way, none of those are considered good!)

One of the biggest offenders to the Kingdom is the one where we forget the call, put aside the mission and lose our perspective. God is not showing you better things to cause you angst. He is not putting homeless people or poor people in your pathway to hurt you, but perhaps simply to remind you of the mission.

Why offer this up?

I wrote this little dialog…

Lord. I am so confused.

Make a decision.

What?

Make a decision.

Too often folks are bound up in what they describe as attacks when it is really the need to make a decision. Do not hold out for the next best and new thing. Grab hold of the NOW thing.

But what if I make a mistake?

Can you trust the Lord? Do you trust the Lord?

James deals with instability. In fact the word “unstable” means to stagger about like one is drunk.

God is not asking you to depend on feelings (in fact many feelings reveal fears and frustrations from former times and circumstances.) or even our predetermined formulas. He is not here to confuse or to annoy.

He is here to guide.

“He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3 NIV)

When one does not understand the mission, one begins to waffle, be easily distracted, lost track of things.

Certainly there is a great mission. Love everyone!

But that is hard! And suppose I don’t want to? Then you accepted the mission and now you want it on your terms. Who’s to blame? God?

I am reminded of my daughter Amy, when she was quite young, as she was reading a scripture in the car while we were driving. “Love bears all things…” She started to cry and tell me, “Daddy, I don’t want to love bears!”

Will loving others make you vulnerable? Absolutely. Will it be painful? Of course, people are people? Will it help the mission? Absolutely.

But there are other missions. What job will I take, what room will I clean…

If one always holds back from making a decision, decisions will be made for you. And is it really loving people to not make decisions? Is it okay to say, “let me think about it”? Of course, unless you don’t want to do something or hold out for something better.

Make a decision today. Don’t wait and call it wisdom when it is thinly veiled control or fear.

The men came back into the room, yelling at one another.

We have decided to kill you.

I don’t think so. God won’t let you. As a matter of fact He is here right now.

The men looked bewildered as the atmosphere got brighter and brighter. They ran from the room.

Why had I been captured? Because I was praying for their men and women to see Jesus. Their business was shrinking and I was the “threat”.

It is a new season for you and I. The things we thought were impossible or could not make happen are happening.

The mission?

Love!