| Subj: Visions from the heart #2: The ocean
One time a couple of months ago, when I was contemplating the process of
how Jesus was working in my heart to set me free from sin, He showed me
something very interesting. In my mind's eye, I was positioned over a large
body of water, like an ocean, with no land in sight. From my vantage point,
I could see down into the water, but only for a short distance, because the
water was rather murky, and I could detect dark objects floating in it
below the surface at varying depths, though I couldn't make out what they
were. This was the state of my heart before surrendering my life to Jesus.
Once I yielded my life to Him, He dove into the ocean of my heart and began
shining a very bright light here and there with great purpose. Wherever His
light was shone, the murkiness cleared right up. I realized that He was
busily cleaning some things away without any conscious involvement from me.
Occasionally, He would shine His light on one of the objects suspended
below the surface and look up at me. When He did this, I realized that He
was showing me that there was something in this area of my life which I
needed to address consciously. At this point, I had several choices. 1) I
could refuse to acknowledge that it was there; 2) I could acknowledge that
it was there but choose not to deal with it; 3) I could try to deal with it
in my own strength, using my own willpower; or 4) I could acknowledge to
Him that this sin was here in my life and ask Him to forgive me and to save
me from it.
If I chose 1, then my spiritual growth would be stunted at this point, and
while I might continue to grow elsewhere, my willful blindness to this sin
would likely cause me to become hard, cynical, and critical of others --
like having a plank in my eye.
Choice 2 would indicate a slightly more open position on my part in that I
might come to a point where I was ready to deal with the problem. But I
would probably still be stunted in this area, and it could have similar
effects on me as choice 1 might have.
Choice 3 is very common, and it may even succeed sometimes. However, by
relying totally upon my own strength and not at all on God's, I am deprived
of any benefit of seeing God's strength made manifest in my weakness and am
missing out on what would probably be a really wonderful blessing and
addition to my testimony. And this choice usually seems to fail in the long
run.
Choice 4 is the right one, and that's what He's hoping I will do. As He
says in John 15:5, apart from Him, I can do nothing. But I can do all
things through Him (Philippians 4:13), so if I confess my sin, He purifies
me (1 John 1:9) and will work to save me from it. This may not be immediate
and may well require further action on my part, but the important thing is
that I do what I see Him doing and be patient. Eventually, in the fullness
of time, He will fully cleanse me from this sin, though I may need to
suffer further and will need to be willing to do that if so.
Frequently, when He shows me a suspended object, that object is tied (like
a mine) to something below that is still hidden in the murky depths. For
example, say I were addicted to smoking (which I'm not). I may have
confessed this to the Lord and to others, been truly sorry for it in my
heart, felt the great weight of the sin and seen it take its toll on my
body, and maybe have even had people pray over me and lay hands on me in an
attempt to seek the Lord's healing or deliverance, and even with all of
this, I still can't quit. Why??? Do I lack faith? Am I unwilling to be
healed? Am I clinging to this sin for some reason that I can't fathom?
Doesn't God want to heal me?
It's quite probable that none of the above applies. In all likelihood, this
is just one of those objects that's tied to something hidden in the depths
below. Jesus still wants me to confess it and rely upon His strength to
deal with it, but He also wants me to be patient, to persevere with this
sin, and to trust Him. He hasn't yet shined His light down into the depths
to reveal the object to which this one is tied. And that new object may be
tied to yet another object, and so on... There may be a whole chain of sins
all with the same single root cause. Or worse yet, there may be a whole
web of them, all tied or tangled together, and He may wish to reveal them
one at a time. It may take a very long time indeed before the roots are
revealed.
My sole work in the Kingdom of Heaven is to believe on Him Who was sent
(John 6:29). That's it. If I do that in increasing measure, then I will be
obeying His commands in increasing measure also, and I will come to know
Him better and better. He will shine His light into deeper and deeper areas
of my heart, and the water will become clearer and clearer. His question
for me is: How deep am I willing to go? Am I willing to suffer whatever
must be suffered for Him to continue working in me, revealing the sin in my
heart, and purifying me as I trust and wait in Him?
Lord, may I always be willing to go as deep with You as You would have me
go, whatever it takes!
In His love,
-- Daryl Gleason
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One morning a few weeks ago, while I was taking a shower, I happened to be
praying and thinking about the subject of marriage. As with just about
everything that I pray and think about, I asked the Lord for wisdom, just
as He encourages in James 1:5. Very shortly thereafter, I realized
something about marriage, and about men and women, that had never occurred
to me before, nor had I ever heard or read about it as far as I know.
Now, in the past, I've read several books on the subject, including many of
Dr. Larry Crabb's books, such as "Men and Women: Enjoying the Difference",
"The Marriage Builder", "Inside Out", and a number of others and found them
to be very enlightening and edifying; it pains me that it took the trauma
of separation and divorce for me to give myself over to the Lord so that I
could begin to gain a little understanding about what the Lord had intended
marriage to be. What He showed me that day in the shower went beyond
everything that I've ever read, heard, or thought, both in the depth of its
profound beauty and in its incredible simplicity.
Please understand that what I'm about to share is not anywhere near close
to perfect or complete in any way, for I don't know this, or anything else,
as I ought. What follows are just some thoughts that came to me at that
time, after I had prayed for wisdom; I hope that you might find them
interesting and perhaps even helpful, and I would be interested in any
feedback you may have.
To establish a foundation for what follows, it's important to note that
some men and women have been given the gift of celibacy in one way or
another; perhaps as a spiritual gift, or perhaps they were made that way by
men or by God, or perhaps they have made a vow of celibacy to the Lord.
What follows would not apply to them.
Other men and women are presently not married (for whatever reasons) but
would like to be. What follows, to me at least, describes the type of
relationship of which I very much wish to be a part, and I do not wish to
settle for less than this. I would have to pray very fervently indeed
before entering into a relationship where I saw no possible potential of
having what follows, because having failed once at marriage, I know
experientially what a long, slow, and torturous death it would likely be to
marry the wrong person, even when they both want the best for each other.
And finally, still other men and women are already married, whether happily
or not. For them, if they do not have what follows already, they may have
the opportunity for their own hearts to be changed by the Lord's grace in
such a way as to experience the true blessings of what follows, limited
only by their own willingness to suffer through the pain of the exploration
of the depths of their own hearts and each other's hearts in humility and
vulnerability before God.
With that foundation laid, here is what occurred to me that day:
It is the highest privilege and calling of a husband in service to the Lord
to fully love and enjoy his wife; this means to love his wife as Christ
loves the Church (Ephesians 5:25-33, Colossians 3:19, 1 Peter 3:7), with
all that these verses imply. He cannot possibly do this with his own love
or understanding, because only God's love covers over all sins and enables
him to begin to fulfill 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a. If he is in tune with God's
love, then he can, in increasing measure, embrace and cherish everything
about his wife, including all of her little quirks and faults, and fully
enjoy her for all that she is, joyfully receiving from her everything that
she has to give and giving all that he is to her. This to me is part of the
mystery of Christ and the Church, and I believe that no possible calling on
a husband should ever be considered higher than this, unless God
specifically and explicitly commands otherwise, which to my mind would be
an exceedingly rare occurrence.
Similarly, it is the highest privilege and calling of a wife in service to
the Lord to fully submit to and be enjoyed by her husband; this means to
allow her husband to love her as Christ loves the Church (Ephesians
5:22-33, Colossians 3:18, 1 Peter 3:1-6), with all that these verses imply.
Neither can she do this with her own love or understanding but must rely
upon God's love in the same way as her husband. If she is in tune with
God's love, she can in increasing measure embrace the privilege of having
him as her master, allowing him to fully enjoy her for all that she is and
fully giving herself to him, allowing God's love to cover over all of his
quirks and faults. This too is the highest calling for any wife, above any
other calling she may have from the Lord, unless He explicitly commands
otherwise.
The husband is fulfilled in the relationship when his wife allows him to
love and enjoy her for all that she is with all that he is, and the wife is
fulfilled when she allows herself to be loved and enjoyed for all that she
is with all that her husband is. This represents a true union of two
hearts, minds, and souls each united with the Spirit of Christ. Adam and
Eve probably had this to perfection before they disobeyed, and it will
probably be something like this (as much as a human mind can grasp) when
the Church is finally united to Christ.
While we can't have this or anything else to perfection in this life, as a
husband and wife allow themselves to grow closer to the Lord and to each
other in humility and vulnerability, they may be able to have this in
increasing measure. A man is uniquely suited physiologically and
psychologically to his part in the marriage, and if he can get past the
emotional barriers of his childhood and begin to figure out what it means
to be a man, he can better appreciate how a woman can be a wonderful
complement to his existence; she was made for him. The same is true from
the perspective of a woman. This self-discovery can be a very painful
process, but I believe that it's the only way to a true union in Christ.
With love in Christ,
-- Daryl
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| Subj: Visions from the heart #4: Spiritual authority and the Body of Christ
The subject of spiritual authority (that is, authority instituted by God,
not by man) and how it relates to the Body of Christ is a rather
controversial one, and some of you may consider what I'm about to say on
the subject to be totally contrary not only to your own personal beliefs
but also those of your church or denomination. If you find that this is
true for you, I ask your forgiveness in advance, for it is not my intention
to be inflammatory, but rather to share with you my current vision of how
God's authority was meant to work, where we have gone wrong, and what we
can do about it with God's help. I offer this for your consideration only,
without any expectation that it will be received, but instead with a hope
that it may speak to those of you, if any, whom God has prepared to receive
this. If you feel a need to rebuke me because of what I'm about to say, I
would urge that you please feel free to do so, but if you do, please take
the time to show me where you believe I am wrong from the Bible.
Man's structure of authority is something with which we are all familiar;
it can be seen from the structure of most any corporation. One person
generally sits at the top at the position of greatest authority. Below that
person are a handful of others to whom the person in charge delegates
significant authority. Below that group are some number of other
increasingly larger groups with decreasing levels of authority. And at the
bottom of the hierarchy are the workers with little-to-no authority but who
are essential for actually getting any work done.
This structure has been also seen in a very great number of families, where
the husband is (or wants to be) at the top with the greatest authority,
followed by the wife with lesser authority, and the children with little to
none, depending on their ages, maturity, and the parents' attitudes.
In both cases, this structure has incredible potential for abuse, where
those in greater power lord it over those with less, perhaps even
violently. And in both cases, I believe that it is exactly the opposite of
what God has in mind. God does associate power with authority, in that
positions of greater authority have a correspondingly greater power. But
where man's authority gives the power to command those of lesser authority,
God's authority gives the power to love and to serve those of lesser
authority and only to command in very rare and explicit circumstances (like
parental discipline, for example, which is absolutely necessary). And with
God's authority, to him to whom much is given, much is also required.
The structure of God's authority is exactly the opposite of that of man's
authority, and it is described in the Bible in Ephesians 4:11-13 and 1
Corinthians 12:27-28. At the very highest level are those with the least
authority, those most cherished of all, which are those without a calling
to a particular spiritual "office" -- those called only to love God with
all their hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and to love their neighbors
as themselves. Below them at successively lower levels are those who also
have this calling but are called to manifest it in specific ways. At each
level, there are fewer and fewer people.
The first level is comprised of the workers of miracles, healers, helpers,
administrators, and those who speak in tongues for the edification of the
Church, who have authority and power to love and to serve as their specific
gifts enable them. Below this level are the teachers, whose calling it is
to teach the ways of God primarily to the levels above them. Pastors are at
the next level; in addition to the responsiblity to teach, they are called
to be shepherds of the flock that the Lord brings to them, finding the
strays as best they can and protecting the flock, even to the giving of
their own lives, if necessary. Below them are the evangelists, whose
blessing it is to have the calling of reaching out to the lost so that they
may be gathered into flocks. Below the evangelists are the prophets, who
serve as watchmen (and women), to whom God reveals what He is doing and
what He is about to do, so that as they speak His words to them, the Body
may be built up and prepared. At the lowest level are the apostles, those
men of greatest authority and lowest calling, at the very end of the
procession (1 Corinthians 4:9), through whom God works signs and wonders
for the purposes of demonstrating the depths of His love and for the
gaining of glory by, among other things, defeating Satan. The apostles,
together with the prophets, are responsible for laying (and for *being*)
the foundation of the Church, with Jesus Himself as the cornerstone
(Ephesians 2:19-20).
In the family, the children are at the very top, to be loved, cherished,
guided, and disciplined by the parents. The wife is at the next level down;
it is her blessing to nurture the children and to submit to her loving
husband. And at the bottom is the husband, who acts as the shepherd of the
family, loving, protecting, and giving himself, even his life, if
necessary. This is of course a very brief description of a subject that is
worthy of considerable thought and prayer.
Now, back to the levels in the Church, it is true that, to some extent,
responsibilities may overlap. That is, for example, we are all called to
evangelize and to teach, and any person in the Body may be called to heal,
prophesy, or to act as a teacher, pastor, or perhaps even an apostle, for a
time or for a specific circumstances. What I said above goes beyond these
instances and describes specific "offices" to which God may call a person.
The difference between, say, the office of Prophet and the gift of prophecy
is one of depth. I may have the gift of prophecy but not be a Prophet. If
one is a Prophet, he or she is called of God to that office, and that
calling flows from his or her very being. While I may desire and ask for
the gift of prophecy, I was either born to be a Prophet or I was not. (And
just to clarify, I am quite convinced that I am not a Prophet, though I
have met a few who are, and their calling seemed very evident to me even
when in some cases they did not realize it.)
As relates to the Body of Christ (i.e., the Church), I see each level as
representing a different specific part of the Body. Those at the top and
the first level down represent those parts of the Body not explicitly
mentioned in what follows. Teachers represent the fingers of the Body,
pointing to the Way (Jesus) for those above them. Pastors are the hands of
the Body, with which they may lay hands on their sheep and show their love
and affection for them. Evangelists are the open arms of the Body, ready to
embrace anyone who is willing. I believe these three offices are jointly
described as "teachers" in 1 Corinthians 12:27, though they are distinct
from each other. Prophets are the eyes and ears of the Body, through which
God communicates most directly with the Body as a corporate entity; as the
watchers at the gate, this makes a lot of sense. And finally, the apostles
are the heart of the Body -- the organ by which blood, or living water, is
pumped throughout the rest of the body to keep it alive. They are also
direct representatives of the heart of God, with all that implies. And of
course, Christ Himself is the head.
The state of today's society is, I believe, directly attributable to the
state of the Church today. It is my observation that what the Church has
done is to attempt to superimpose Man's structure over God's structure,
which has profound and far-reaching implications. And in doing this, Man
has had to do away with those who most closely represent God's authority:
the prophets and the apostles. This has been the case throughout biblical
history, as evidenced by the killing of God's prophets in the Old Testament
and Jesus and His apostles in the New Testament *by those who claimed to be
of God!* And this is demonstrated in the present day by the overwhelming
reluctance by a great many churches to acknowledge even the possibility of
the existence, to say nothing of the presence, of modern day prophets and
apostles, and moreso the latter than the former. The effect of this is that
the foundation of the Church is crumbling, because there have been so few
prophets and apostles allowed by the churches to maintain it, and that the
Church is attempting to survive while being blind and deaf and without its
heart!
However, it is my belief that God has allowed a remnant of the Church to
survive; a remnant not so bound by the traditions and teachings of men as
to be blinded to the Word of God. And from this remnant, a revival the
likes of which has never been seen before will spring. I believe that we
are seeing the beginnings of this now in various parts of the world, much
like ripples in a lake from the first few drops of rain that precede a
major thunderstorm. This is God's work, and He has raised and will raise up
followers of Jesus through whom He will accomplish this, by His grace and
mercy and by His Spirit.
What can we do? I would ask that you prayerfully consider what I have said,
and even more importantly, pray about the Scriptures I mentioned, as well
as the Bible as a whole. Pray for wisdom and believe God will give it to
you, as James 1:5-8 exhorts. Then, simply do as you see Him doing and say
what you see Him saying, just as Jesus did. He will take it from there.
With love in Christ,
-- Daryl
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