Well.
Just in case you are wondering, this is not a continuation of the last post. Not in the way you might think. There is something that I want to put out here for all to read.
There is too much suspicion going on these days. Too many people are afraid. Fundamentalists are too afraid of liberals and liberals are too afraid of fundamentalists.
Men and women are afraid for their ‘ministries’.
The ‘literal’ are afraid of the ‘allegorical’ and vice versa.
On and on.
Left and right…
blah, blah, blah….
Listen to your hearts, saints, not your ‘flesh’.
Listen to your Lord, not to men. Not even to me.
So what if God can speak through man? Don’t you know the difference?
Children differ nothing from servants, but when faith comes….the anointing within will lead you into all truth.
Brothers and Sisters in high places:
Sorry.
You are disqualified.
You must start over.
Don’t grasp The Equality, it’s not healthy.
If you just don’t get all of this, you are blessed.
If you do….the Kingdom is near you.
Whew.
Glad that’s out.
Now I want to say something else.
Not everything that comes out of my mouth is an encouragement.
As a matter of fact I recently wrote a post expressing grief over the fact that I struggle with back-biting.
How horrible of me!
I’m not kidding here.
This issue really troubles me. And no, I’m not the only one.
This disease seems to be running rampant in the believing community.
Which brings me to the meat of this particular post.
‘Sideways Talk’.
What is it?
Remember when Nathan the prophet told that parable to king David, and king David was in harmony with what Nathan was saying, and then Nathan told David that the parable was really about David and his sin with Bathsheba?
Well ’sideways talk’, to me, would be if Nathan had not ever said ‘You are that man’.
Sideways talk is almost like straight talk, but cockeyed. It’s the art of almost confronting someone with a word of correction or even rebuke.
Brothers and sisters, some of you know me quite well, and some of you know just how good I am at doing this. Well, right now, within the realm of this virtual community, I confess, generally, to this crooked practice and I turn back to the Lord concerning this aspect of my conduct.
I apologize in whatever humility that I truly possess.
I ask your forgiveness.
So does this apply to the first half of this post?
Not really.
Consider that an ‘open letter’.
There is a difference.
I harbor no convictions about anyone in particular at this moment for the above mentioned suspicious mentality.
Now for ‘The Invitation’.
Brothers, Sisters, family, friends, enemies, and strangers:
Come to me if you have issues with me. Please.
I beg of you.
And the same goes for all of your relationships.
Sure. If you are able to ‘take it to the cross’, then bless you. But if you take it to the cross, don’t drag that dead thing to everyone else’s doorstep looking for consolation.
Hold on just a second now.
YES.
There are times and places for seeking counsel, for seeking direction. This is all well and good. Healthy, even.
This is altogether different from backstabbing and crooked-speak.
In this type of conversation, there is no ill intent, but there is only humility and honesty. You will know the difference.
Well….
That’s about it for today.
I haven’t posted here in a while, but this is soon to be my blog-home of choice.
I believe I will have some good stuff to share here very soon!
Grace and Peace to you ALL in and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, it’s a good thing I’ve got it all figured out…
KIDDING. This is a great post, brother. Do go on and make this your blog home of choice. Your WordPress ‘dashboard’ makes importing your previous blogs easy, then you can just have one publicly-displayed post on each, pointing ‘em here.
I’ll update my Sites Unseen listing.
Yes.
I rest well knowing that Mike Morrell has solved the Mystery of the Universe, finally revealing the true meaning of life.
42.
Right?
Tee Hee.
Seriously though, thanks for the import tip, my brother!
Peace.
O.K., here goes…
WHAT is with the half-off-the-screen/off-center image of you?????
My personality type wants to fix it everytime I see it!!!
Is that something I need to repent of?
Yay!!!! The smilies work on WordPress!!!!
Hi Sis.
I’m honestly not sure what the deal is with the crooked Image.
Maybe an ‘attention getter’.
Mike had a cool picture of himself on a blog where his face was not center in the picture, which I thought was just different…
Maybe it’s kind of like a conversation piece.
Something with the potential to stimulate conversation .
It worked!
No, really…just trying to be different I think.
Now to get to your other question.
I can see two great potential subjects to get into branching off of your comments, Marie.
a) Is the ‘I want to make right what must be wrong’ frame of mind ‘healthy’ or ‘wrong’.
b) Are our personality types meant to change as we go on in our walk with the Lord. Are we supposed to embrace our personalities or reject them?
You know what, sis?
I’m going to see if anyone else has anything to say about this.
I would appreciate any sincere, honest answers, even if you have no idea if you are ‘right’ or not.
I’ll reply here soon, or maybe I’ll use these these questions as an outline for my next post. We’ll see…
*********************************************
To all:
Before I go, I just want to say something.
The Lord answered a prayer last night.
He gave me certain clarity on a very specific matter.
Maybe I will be able to elaborate a bit on it sometime, but all that I can tell you is that I received a concrete word of direction from the Lord.
All I can say is that He is worthy to be praised.
He is more than worthy.
There is a fire burning within, and I did not light it myself.
Is there anyone out there who could refer to themselves as a ‘disciple whom Jesus loved’?
Anywhere close to that?
Care to elaborate?
I never expected that answer from you!!!
I figured you would say that only God is the Center and the focus shouldn’t be you or something to that effect.
The picture is definitely an attention grabber!
BTW, I believe that God made us unique so that we would be whole together. Someone has to straighten the “pictures on the walls” lest the wrong message of indifference leaks out (hands?). And, someone has to have the vision to keep us on the right track that leads us to greater depths in Christ (eyes?). Someone has to have the energy to keep us all excited about this race we are in (feet?). Of course, the implications are much deeper than I have stated here. And I have a sneaking suspicion that you will not totally agree with me…….which is OK!
“..only God is the Center and the focus shouldn’t be you …”
My face being to one side in the photo is a metaphor for God being the center.
I like that.
Thanks.
I pray that be a reminder for me, whenever I begin to see myself in the ’spotlight’ with the Lord somewhere in the background.
I LOVE what you are saying in your ‘BTW’.
Hmm.
Straightening the pictures.
On the personal level, Spiritually speaking, I believe that the Lord comes into us,…into our person, and He begins to do a work.
Our first encounter with HIM is incredible.
Life changing even, and He plants a seed, a portion of Himself, the anointing, the Holy Ghost.
The seed germinates, sprouts develops and grows, like a tree, but more like a branch that grows from a vine…
In due season we blossom and bloom, and we have a Master Gardener who tends to us, and prunes us.
I think it works like that on the personal level.
In the corporate experience, it is similar but different.
It is still Him who ’straightens the pictures’ but He does so not simply by preaching messages and giving verbal instruction, but by our experiences together in genuine community and relationship.
Well….theres so much more I want to say…but I have things to do at the moment…
I plan to come back with something of value in my next post.
Lord willing.
~Peace
Until then!
~Peace!
Yeah, off-center pics have become something of a cliche on the web, but I still like ‘em…
Look out.
Blurry pic’s will be next!!
Marie.
I’m glad that you are okay with us not having to be in complete harmony about all of these things.
I truly appreciate your insights and glean from them just as much as you do those of others.
I just read your comment again and would like to respond to it a little.
“BTW, I believe that God made us unique so that we would be whole together”.
Amen. Totally all the way…TOGETHER.
“Someone has to straighten the “pictures on the walls” lest the wrong message of indifference leaks out (hands?)”.
In the scriptures, we frequently see the prophets declaring the need for a ’straightening out’ of the Lords people.
Jesus was the man for this in the new testament.
If he had not come, we would not have known sin.
That’s just what happens when the Light comes on the scene.
In the first century, you had the beginning of the body of Christ, the birth of the Church, the ‘first fruits body’ so to speak.
We are told that when two or more gather in His name, that He is there in MIDST.
The CENTER.
It is Him in us that CAUSES us to WILL and TO DO, and so that means both personally (‘individually’) and corporately or in community.
We possess the Spirit of truth, but we also possess the Comforter.
One has the power to convict and the other has the power to comfort and yet, they are both One.
It is good to recognize our weakness and flaws, but for the sake of apprehending our Savior and our great salvation.
The more we experience our Savior for who HE is, the more we desire to follow Him. It is in this way we begin our ‘walk’ in the Spirit.
Paul said CLEARLY that correction should be done in a spirit of humility and meekness by those who are spiritual, not by someone declaring the law from Mt. Sinai.
This last statement isn’t at all directed at anyone in particular, but for those who try to promote transformation using the ministry of death,….we are finished with that way of God’s work….because God is finished with it.
There is a huge difference between indifference and trusting the Lord, but then there is also a huge difference between just living in the Spirit and walking in the Spirit.
Now we have one who lives within us who writes his directions on the fleshy tablets of our hearts, causing us to first WILL and then empowering us to also DO.
Someone once summed up the three general phases of Spiritual transformation as being:
1) All about me and my sins.
2) Overcoming and a revelation of ‘others before ourselves’.
3) All and all.
I don’t have time to go into all of this right now, but I’m sure you are keen enough to understand what I’m saying.
“And, someone has to have the vision to keep us on the right track that leads us to greater depths in Christ (eyes?). ”
Sure!
Again, it takes a genuine community.
I want to add that Jesus said that he was/is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE…
He is the right track (the Way), He is the One who Speaks His desire(the truth) and He is the empowerment or the energy by which His desires are fulfilled (the Life).
And what are His desires?
Just for us to love Him and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
It’s ALL wrapped up in that.
“Someone has to have the energy to keep us all excited about this race we are in (feet?).”
Again, the Lord!!
“Of course, the implications are much deeper than I have stated here. And I have a sneaking suspicion that you will not totally agree with me…….which is OK!
”
Yes, the implications are eternal!!
Now, let me clarify just a little bit more.
I have just put all of the responsibility on the Lord.
Now, what about us? Where do we come in?
We die.
We get out of the way.
We crumble.
And when we are not doing that, we are learning that is what we must do.
When we we die, we discover that we are truly living in resurrection life.
For us, ‘death’ equals Life.
There is suffering, but we should count it all joy.
Why?
Because to the degree that we die, that is the degree that we shall live.
I totally agree with what you are saying, actually.
What you are referring to here is the ‘functioning’ of the members of the body.
I am all for that, but sometimes this becomes confused with ‘church government’ or ‘order of worship’ etc…
The man who planted our church here in the neighborhood had a wonderful perspective on our Christian titles.
People get hung up on them to the point of the cart getting before the horse.
Everyone wants to know, “Who is the ‘pastor’?”
“Who are the elders?”
“I am a ‘prophet’ ” or “My gifting is that of a ‘teacher/preacher’ or whatever.
So what.
Whatever we are, that is what we are, and whatever we do, that is what we do. Call me whatever you want. I prefer you call me Johnny, or ‘brother’ or ‘hey you’.
I may be a teacher(?) That has been confirmed to me on many occasions.
‘You have a sure calling’.
So do you.
Now let’s move on.
If you are His, then you have a definite purpose, and that function that you have organically inherited is a GIFT.
It’s not something that you went to school for.
Nothing against the intellect here, but what I am talking about is altogether different.
Marie, you are gifted, you have talent(s), you have divine Life, you have wisdom, and righteousness, redemption and sanctification.
You have ALL THINGS in Christ Jesus your Lord.
HE is working in you.
HE is causing you to will.
HE causes you to do.
Please don’t take this as condescension!!
******************
Wow.
Even after writing all of that, I still feel as if I haven’t fully expressed how I feel about all of this.
This is just the tip of the ice-berg…
Which kind of leads me to what I’m about to say.
For whatever reason, I have discovered that the internet has become a hindrance to my local community. I’m sure it is just a matter of finding balance and I humbly admit this truth to you all as a confession of weakness.
I love you all, but I need to take some much needed time away so that I might discover what the Lord has for me here (in Lithia Springs) or somewhere else.
I plan to write one more post and then I will be signing off for a while.
Conversation is great, but if we are not careful, we will find out that that is all we really are. A conversation.
Peace to you all.
New post coming soon.
Wow Johnny! Thank you for the exhortation! One can never hear it enough that Christ in us is who works and wills to do His good pleasure.
I think I agree with you totally on everything you have said! The only phrase I was not sure what you meant by it was “the ministry of death”. But then you later talked of our own death so that He could minister His life in us, so it must not have been that death you were talking about. You say things a little differently than the way I have come to understand them, but, in the end, I find we both mean the same thing.
I, too, have been disillusioned by the whole “church” thing and am so grateful the LORD has led my husband and I to worship and fellowship with the community at New River. I am also very grateful to have met bloggers like you that have stretched me beyond my comfort zone and helped me to think in a “larger” way towards the LORD who is my life.
I understand the time-off thing. Go be with your wife and kids who are Jesus Christ to you. Go be with your neighbors who are Jesus Christ to you. And as a dear friend likes to say “we should live so out of Christ that when someone sees you they reply ‘isn’t Christ beautiful?’”
When I “see” your posts, Johnny, I say isn’t Christ beautiful!
Many, many blessings to you!
Marie Hill
Hey Sis!
My time off ‘officially’ starts tomorrow, so for now, just a quick reply.
I thank God for saints like yourself, wherever you are, you are a light to the world.
I happen to know a couple other brilliant expressions of Jesus Christ who gather at New River…
Darrell, Alisa, Scott (virtually), Mic (virtually) and I know there are many more.
The Lord has great things for you all, wherever you are!!
The Lord is doing marvelous things here in Lithia Springs as well…and across the globe.
He is good!!
He is revealing Himself more and more all the time!!
And a most sincere ‘thank you’ for your appreciation of my words here in this realm.
I praise God that Christ is glorified!!!!
HALLELUJAH!
All that I meant by ‘ministry of death’ is what Paul meant when he was referring to the Law.
The letter of the law works death, but the Spirit brings Life.
The death that we believers posses is in Christ.
We were in Him when He was slain on the cross.
Now it is no longer us who lives, but Christ in us.
Jesus Christ crucified all things that were against us, including ourselves, and now He lives in our stead.
Praise the Lord Jesus Christ!!