“Why didn’t you talk to me? How come you just didn’t ask?”

“Why didn’t you talk to me? How come you just didn’t ask?”

I recall exasperatingly saying these words to my children when they were teenagers. When they were very young, however, they were always talking to me, always asking me questions or asking me for something. Though perhaps I was at times a bit annoyed with them as young children, I loved the attention. I loved that they wanted to talk to me, that they wanted… me.  But as teenagers they began to assert their independence and autonomy, sometimes to my consternation and their misery. Perhaps there are some parallels to our relationship with God.

Hebrews 5:8 mentions about Jesus “Though he was a son, he learned obedience by what he suffered.”  What? No way. Jesus was perfect, He never sinned, how or why did He have to learn obedience? Some have said this verse refers to Passion Week, the Via Doloroso when Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane “Not my will but yours be done” and then obediently submitted to death on the Cross. But maybe it’s more than that.

“Though he was a son” it says. Jesus became a son at birth. Luke 3 tells of when Jesus was 12 years old and his parents lost him in the big city of Jerusalem and for 3 days were frantically looking for him. “’Son,’” his mother said to him ‘Why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.’”(Luke 3:48 NLT).  Many a parent has spoken similar words to their teenagers. Oh the anger we feel, the fear, the desperation.

And Jesus replies to his mother, “But why did you need to search… you should have known I would be in my Father’s house. The family then returns home to Nazareth and it says Jesus “was obedient to them.”

So obedience is something Jesus learned not just in Passion Week, but from boyhood, perhaps even infancy. And just what is obedience?

I have mostly thought of obedience as being something I am required to do and I do, but I don’t want to do it. Something contrary to my will but that I must submit to for my own good. Sometimes that’s the case for us but that probably was not the case for Jesus.

“Obedience ” in Biblical Greek is ὑπακοή, a compound word hypo which means “under” and akuoo, which means “to hear.” Literally it means to listen and live under, i.e. to hear and live by what you are hearing.  The Hebrew word is similar. Jewish people recite what is called The Shemma- “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength.”  שׁמע shemma means “to hear” and “to hear” means “to obey.” They are synonyms.  

So when Jesus “learned obedience” it doesn’t mean he was forced to do something he didn’t want to do. No, quite the opposite. He delighted in learning to hear, to listen to His Father in heaven. To spend time in his Father’s house listening and learning. And suffering is often what we have to experience to get us to “shut up” and listen, isn’t it? When we suffer, and Jesus suffered greatly, not just in his passion on the Cross, but in his incarnation, taking on human flesh with all its limitations. When we suffer, when we hurt, it is then that we stop and begin to listen. And maybe even go back to church.

And what a joy it is to hear our Father in heaven, to listen to his voice, and to experience his delight in us. As a parent, I loved when my children came to me and needed me. As Father in heaven, God loves when we become like children and come to Him, listening, asking, seeking, knocking. He loves to take us in his arms and bless us with the very things we need most life. Things like love, meaning, joy, purpose, significance, and value.

In Isaiah 30:1-2, my reading for today, Isaiah prophecies “Destruction is certain for my rebellious children,” says the Lord. “You make plans that are contrary to my will. You weave a web of plans that are not from my Spirit, thus piling up your sins. For without consulting me you”… (devise your own bad plans).

You see, from the beginning of time God as Father has wanted his children to listen to Him, to listen to his Holy Spirit, who now lives in each of us. He loves us so much and longs for sweet intimacy with each of his children- with you! Can we take time to stop our busyness, stop and talk to him, stop and listen to him? Stop and ask him?

Come on kids. Sit in my lap. Let me read you a story.

Report on Dunamis January 2015 in Kyrgyzstan

A secret to overcoming private temptations

It's not about more discipline but more love.

Over 40 years ago when I was a new Christian in the Jesus Movement of the early 1970’s in the USA I memorized 1 John 2:15-16. I used the Navigators “Topical Memory System” in the RSV because there was no NIV yet. The RSV says that if you "love the world or the things of the world: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, then love for the Father is not you." Ouch. So every time I had a lustful or angry thought, or even a hungering desire, it meant that I wasn’t really a good Christian. My hormones did not sync with the "truth" in my head. I lived with continuous self-condemnation, making me feel wormish, and syncing instead with the doctrine of total depravity.

I took the challenge of this verse to not love the world, to hate the values and temptations of the world, and to love God more. I separated myself from my old high high school friends and sought Christian friends, but the battle raged nevertheless. Deep inside I felt a failure. I just could not overcome the “lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life” (vs. 16).

In 2012 God led Debbie and me on a journey to come to know Him as “Father,” to experience His love in our hearts as something as real and tangible as the very air we breathe. Love that is experienced in the heart, as powerful as a “romantic crush” but which does not fade or dissipate over time. Actually, it has grown and deepened now 3 years later.

So today, when I look at this verse in 1 John 2:15-16 I experience it quite differently. Rather than feeling condemned for my lusts and I “just try harder” to not sin, I ask, “Father, why am I struggling with this right now? Why am I angry? Why do I feel so… (you fill in the blank).

Looking at the Greek New Testament I also see what is probably a translation choice of the RSV based on those scholars' personal understanding of how to deal with lust. They said if you are lusting after the world then love for the Father (God) is not in you. No. It should translate “Do not love the world nor what (is) of the world. If anyone loves the world, then the love of the Father (Father’s love) is not in him (or her).” See the difference? It isn't about our love for the Father it's about His love for us, Father's love being in us. 

If we think that because we struggle with sin then it is because “love for the Father is not in us” we will condemn ourselves “Oh, I am such a sinner, I do not love God as I should.” NO. That’s not what it says. The opposite is true. We struggle with sin because we are not experiencing/living with Father’s love working in our hearts. Something is missing and that is why we are struggling with the temptation. When we are not presently experiencing Him loving us then our hearts will long for other love, even sinful love.

Over and over, all through the Old and New Testaments we see the command to love God and love our neighbors. When we actively do this, the Bible says, God’s love will be in us. And as God’s love is in us, the Bible says, we will do this. It is reciprocal. It is “perichoresis” i.e. interpenetration. As Father’s love penetrates into our hearts, we enter or "penetrate" into His love.  Only then does love for the world begin to fall off. All the false loves of fleeting, sinful pleasures loose their grip. The temptations even begin to smell bad.

So the secret to overcoming private temptations, the private battles of lust, with evil* and pride IS NOT just disciplining ourselves and trying harder the next time. The key is to ask Father God to pour His love into your heart. Just like for the young man in vs. 14 who has God’s Word living in his heart, victory comes as we experience the reality of Father’s love penetrating our hearts, comforting us, and dispelling the love for the world with all its addicting, corrupting enticements. 

This is a lot of fun. Living IN Love is living in life.

*greek word for evil is porneia- vs. 14, or "porn"

The World Is Eagerly Waiting For You

Yesterday I took another drive through the East End of Newport News, Virginia with my friend Pastor Chris Williams, looking at different street corners, apartment complexes and “hotels” where gangs stroll, prostitution and strip clubs abound, and people wander lifelessly on the sidewalks. Chris shared with me how so many from the community think “If only I had money like white people, life would be okay.” This morning in my prayer time I mulled over some of the many people I pastored in New York who reminded me that the belief held so deeply in East End just isn’t true, it isn’t reality. Some of the most broken, needy people I have ever taken care of had enough wealth to make me envious… And some of the most economically poor I pastored had such treasure within to make me... more envious. Also this morning this text jumped out at me:

Jeremiah 9:23-24 The Lord says, “Let not the wise man gloat in his wisdom or the mighty man in his might, or the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who is just and righteous, whose love is unfailing, and that I delight in these things.” (NLT)

“For if they boast or praise, be praised in this: To contemplate and know me for I am Yahweh who does/creates/makes hesed (loving faithfulness), justice and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight” says Yahweh. (My Not So Great Translation MNSGT).  

First- notice the name. Our English Bibles translate Yahweh as “The LORD” (“Jehovah” in KJV).  In the Hebrew there is no article “the” in front of Yahweh. No, Yahweh is a personal name, the name God (Elohim) told Moses that He would be known by (Exodus 3:14-15).  Saying “The LORD” is impersonal, describing His title and role. When I pastored a church I truly preferred to be called “Allen” and not “the pastor” or even “Pastor”.   Pastoring was something I did, but I am Allen. I believe God wants us to know Him by name, intimately and personally. Jesus called Him “Father” not “The Father.” From the beginning when God revealed His personal name to Moses, to distinguish Himself from all the other pagan gods (‘el’ is the word for god, ‘elohim’ for gods), He wanted to be called by a personal name. The problem is our English language lacks a good word for this revealed name “Yahweh” which has the deep existential meaning “I am” or “I am who I am” or “I exist from eternity.” Implicitly it means “all life, all being, all ontological meaning are found eternally preexistent in me.” We have no single English word for this. Nothing can capture this idea so the translators chose “The LORD”. But maybe lets take the “The” off it and call Him by His name. I love the name “Father.”

Second- notice that God wants to be known not just that He is loving and just and righteous, but that He DOES love, DOES justice, and DOES righteousness. Again, implicit in His being but also in His doing is love- ‘hesed’ means loving kindness, faithfulness, loyalty, goodness. God is love and He does love. As humans we are made in His image, made to be like him in nature and action. As redeemed children of God, as He pours his love into our hearts (Romans 5:5) by the Holy Spirit who lives in us and is indeed God, we become like Him, both in our being and in our doing. We are to do justice and be just. We are to do righteousness and to be righteous. All this is possible in Christ, who lives in us.

Third- There is nothing greater in life than all this. Whether you are poor or rich, from the north, east, south, or the west, from Africa or Europe, Asia or the Americas, nothing is greater in life than knowing Yahweh, knowing God intimately as Father, who loves you, lives in you, and delights in you. There is nothing more exciting and worthwhile than Him living who He is (love, justice, and righteousness) in you and through you. And the world is eagerly waiting for you.

PRMI's Moving With the Spirit report on "Encountering the Heart of the Father"

Encountering the Heart of the Father Report

Christmas, Ferguson, and Staten Island

It’s amazing how God our Heavenly Father truly longs that every man, woman, and child, regardless of ethnicity and social status, be unto Him a “Peculiar Treasure,” (Exodus 19:5).

Though the Christmas rush is upon us, probably many of us in America are still thinking about Michael Brown and Darren Wilson (two Black men who died under questionable police enforcement). These situations painfully remind us how many people feel like “I don't matter…, others are more important than me…, there is no equality or justice.”

God told Moses and all the Israelites, “Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the nations of the earth; for all the earth belongs to me” (NLT). And how do we obey God and keep His covenant? To summarize the whole Law “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength… and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah but He opened up access to the Father for all of the world, not just the Jews, to become, by faith, God’s “peculiar” or special treasure.

Protesters all over America right now are holding up placards saying “Black lives matter.” YES! Maybe our social conditioning tragically taught us otherwise. But God declares “Your life DOES matter! I want you to be my treasured possession, you are indeed my inheritance” (Deut 4:20).

Christmas is a season that reminds each of us “You are loved, you are special, I want you.” Father God gave us His Son so that through a personal relationship with Him we can experience being loved by Father and loving Him. All you need to do is ask. “God, do you love me?” Then ask Him demonstrate His love by pouring it into your heart by His Holy Spirit.

You matter, Black lives matter, each of us matters. He wants you to know and experience deep in your heart “I am God’s special treasure.” That’s the message of Christmas.

"Encountering the Heart of the Father" Conference October 22-26 Black Mountain, NC

Many of us are longing for more. We've known Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit for ministry, but our hearts long for something more. There seems to be something missing in all our serving.

Today God is revealing Himself as Father, pouring out his love in new waves of power, giving us the comfort, security, intimacy, and peace we all earnestly desire. From October 22-26 we are hosting a conference at PRMI's Community of the Cross teaching and sharing how you can know and experience God as Father more deeply.

Here's a link to the brochure:

Encountering the Heart of the Father

And here's the link to register with PRMI's (Presbyterian and Reformed Ministries) Dunamis Institute. Note, the conference is free. You will need to stay at a local hotel in Black Mountain and we will share preparing lunch and dinners. 

Register with the Dunamis Institute