Posted by: jakinnan | September 12, 2012

It’s Not Christianity

We’ve exchanged that great hymn “Onward, Christian Soldiers” for a subtle but telling substitute, a song that is currently being taught to thousands of children in Sunday school each week, which goes something like this (sung in a very happy, upbeat tune):

I may never march in the infantry,
ride in the cavalry,
shoot the artillery, I may never fly over the enemy
but I’m in the Lord’s army, yes sir!

There is no battle and there is no war and there is no Enemy and your life is not at stake and you are not desperately needed this very hour, but you’re in the Lord’s army. Yes, sir. Doing what? may I ask.

The reason I bring this up is that if you want the real deal, if you want the life and freedom that Jesus offers, then you are going to have to break free of this religious fog in particular. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Gal. 5:1). So here’s a bottom-line test to expose the Religious Spirit: If it doesn’t bring freedom and it doesn’t bring life, it’s not Christianity. If it doesn’t restore the image of God and rejoice in the heart, it’s not Christianity.

The ministry of Jesus is summarized by one of those who knew him best when Peter brings the gospel to the gentiles: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and . . . he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him” (Acts 10:38). The stream of Spiritual Warfare was essential to Jesus’ life and ministry. It follows that it must be essential to ours if we would be his followers

-John Eldredge, Waking the Dead, 162-163

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 12, 2012

Beauty to Unveil

“The King is enthralled by your beauty.” Psalm 45:11

Lovely little six-year-old Lacey was visiting our ministry headquarters the other day, going from office to office, swinging on the door frame and asking with a smile, “Would you like to hear my song?” Her face kissed by the sun with charming freckles, two front teeth missing and eyes dancing with merriment, who could refuse her? She didn’t really care if she was an interruption. I doubt the thought crossed her mind. She sang her newly made-up song fully expecting to be delighted in, then skipped down the hall to grace the occupant of the next office. She was like a ray of summer sun, or, better, a garden fairy, flitting from office to office. She was a little girl in her glory, unashamed in her desire to delight, and be delighted in.
Remember twirling skirts? Most little girls go through a season where they will not wear anything if it does not twirl (and if it sparkles, so much the better.) Hours and hours of endless play result from giving little girls a box filled with hats, scarves, necklaces, clothes. Dime store beads are priceless jewels; hand-me-down pumps are glass slippers. Grandma’s nightie a ballroom gown. Once dressed, they dance around the house or preen in front of a mirror. Their young hearts intuitively want to know they are lovely. Some will ask with words, “Am I lovely?” Others will simply ask with their eyes. Verbal or not, whether wearing a shimmery dress or covered in mud, all little girls want to know. As a young songwriter recently wrote,
I want to be beautiful
And make you stand in awe
Look inside my heart
And be amazed
I want to hear you say
Who I am is quite enough
I just want to be worthy of love
And beautiful.
(Bethany Dillon)

-John & Stasi Eldredge, Captivating, 12-14

Picture Credit: Miles Morgan

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 12, 2012

The Intelligence of Color

“Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.”

-Siobhan Vivian, Same Difference

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 12, 2012

09/12/2012 Scripture

Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

-Ephesians 2:20-22 NLT

Picture Credit: James Neeley

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 11, 2012

The Warrior Princess

“Me, a princess?”
“You are the legal heir.”
“I never lead anyone.”
“We will help you to be a princess, to rule. If you refuse to accept the throne then the
kingdom will cease to exist as we know it.”
–The Princess Diaries
In God’s name we must fight them!
–Joan of Arc
Women are often portrayed in stories and tales as the “Damsel in Distress.” We are the ones for whom men rise up and slay dragons. We are the “weaker sex”; said to faint at the sight of blood, needing to be spared the gory details of battle whether on the field or in the market place. We are the ones waiting in our flowing gowns for the knight to come and carry us away on the back of his white horse. And yes. There are days when a knight in shining armor would be most welcome. We do long to be fought for; loved enough to be courageously protected. But there is a mighty fierceness set in the heart of women by God. It is true to who we are and what we are created to do.
Women are warriors too.
Redeemed women of God have tender, merciful hearts, backbones of steel and hands that have been trained for battle. There is something incredibly fierce in the heart of a woman that is to be contended with, not dismissed, not disdained, but recognized, honored, welcomed and trained.

-John and Stasi Eldredge, Captivating, 186-188

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 11, 2012

The Poet Dreams of the Mountain

“The poet dreams of the mountain

Sometimes I grow weary of the days, with all their fits and starts.
I want to climb some old gray mountains, slowly, taking
The rest of my lifetime to do it, resting often, sleeping
Under the pines or, above them, on the unclothed rocks.
I want to see how many stars are still in the sky
That we have smothered for years now, a century at least.
I want to look back at everything, forgiving it all,
And peaceful, knowing the last thing there is to know.
All that urgency! Not what the earth is about!
How silent the trees, their poetry being of themselves only.
I want to take slow steps, and think appropriate thoughts.
In ten thousand years, maybe, a piece of the mountain will fall.”

-Mary Oliver, Swan:Poems and Prose Poems

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 11, 2012

09/11/2012 Scripture

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

-Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 10, 2012

Energetic Information

“Energy is the universal language of Nature; Nature is the universal source of information.”

-Joey Lawsin

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 10, 2012

A Cunning Jesus

Jesus is more impressed with the cunning of “the people of this world” than he is the naïveté so common to “the people of the light.” And then—back to the doves and snakes analogy—he urges us to be cunning: “I want you to be smart in the same way . . . not complacently just get by on good behavior” (v. 9, The Message). There’s a certain charm to a Forrest Gump naïveté, the kind your grandmother had as she wore her white gloves to church—but is that the kind of person you could trust with your life?
          
God’s response to the Tower of Babble uprising was cunning—confusing the languages of the earth. It was certainly better than taking away the faculty of speech. Men could make some headway, but they would have a heck of a time uniting the world again in a rebellion against God.
          
Setting eternity in our hearts was cunning, so that every last one of us would be haunted all our days with unmet longings that would cause us to seek the only Fountain that can quench our thirst. I think the movement of the Spirit in the church is cunning—first here, then there, keeping men from systemizing it, keeping the enemy from squelching it. It’s like a game of rugby.
          
Jesus is holy and cunning.

-John Eldredge, Beautiful Outlaw, 124

Picture Credit: Chuck Haney

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Posted by: jakinnan | September 10, 2012

09/10/12 Scripture

“My prayer is not for the world, but for those you have given me, because they belong to you.  All who are mine belong to you, and you have given them to me, so they bring me glory. Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are.

-John 17:9-11 NLT

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