The Chiropractor & the Nazarite

My 10 year old son, Justus, likes to go with me on my trips to the Chiropractor.  He then insists on demonstrating the spinal manipulation he learned from watching...on me!  He then announces that he will be able to save us so much money due to his seasoned knowledge and skills he has suddenly acquired and quickly refined. Although, his intentions are admirable I think I will stick with the professionals.

I have been battling neck and shoulder issues over the last few years but never so severe as what hit me this summer.  I knew I had a mixture of degenerative disc problems, slight scoliosis, and damage from the hanging (story found in previous blog) so frequent bouts of pain were not unexpected. It felt like something had just kinda clicked out of place this time; thus causing pain and irritation to shoot down my shoulders and a good portion of my back.  I remember thinking if I could just get a little adjustment, a little realigning then things would be ok.  That's when it hit me.  I felt, right then,  like God needed to take me through some spiritual adjusting and realignment. It was gonna take some exercise, physical therapy, and medication, i.e. prayer/meditation/confession/repentance/worship...you get the idea. So the physical and spiritual work for the next several months began.  God began spiritual surgery, and I began avoiding neck surgery...through chiropractic care, physical therapy, anti-inflammatories, and lots of ice!

The way of the Nazarite fascinates me.  A Nazarite took a special vow for a certain period of time to consecrate himself to the Lord.  They said no to the world's pleasures by abstaining from grapes/wine as a means to rely only on the joy of the Lord as their strength.  They  accepted worldly shame by not cutting their hair and refused to bury their own family members if one died during the vow.  Sound familiar?  Follow me...let the dead bury the dead...the world will hate you.  I wonder if we're supposed to live as Nazarites...priests unto the Lord.

I do believe with all my heart that the path of the Nazarite is the only path to true triumphal procession and victorious living in Christ.  The warfare is ever-increasing. The onslaught is crushing.  The prince of the power of the air has declared all out attack through every means he has available...the mind, the media, the emotions, desire, disparagement, fear, and on and on. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!  Even Jesus insisted the disciples pray for themselves so they would not fall into temptation.  The days of "riding the fence" are no more...in fact, impossible.  Complete consecration unto Him is of the absolute necessity!  Follow Him intensely or experience the intensity and the defeat of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

I believe over the last few months God has, in a sense, been inviting me to the Nazarite vow.  As I worked with Dr. Hicks, the Chiropractor, on my physical ailments, I worked with the Father on my spiritual ailments.  I remember so distinctly on the day I woke up with the neck problem, God began revealing deep areas of pride, vain-glory, jealousy, and covetous desire.  I thought I was doing "ok", then I let Him dig a little deeper.  He can find it if you let him.  Hence the spiritual surgery. Like any other surgery, it is painful. My friend, Kari, just shared with me a great quote to use as healing salve for these times of going under the knife..."for every look at yourself take ten looks at Christ". Whew!  Thankful for that one! 

As God has been inviting me to these deeper times of adjustments, I have been learning to gaze more deeply into His beauty and His magnificence...always praying may I decrease Lord, and may you increase in me.  After all, there is no beauty in me apart from Him.  I am hopelessly lost and completely unable to redeem myself at any level.  I fall into His embrace longing to live as the Nazarite, completely fixed on the lover of my soul.  

"Thus says the high and lofty one that inhabits eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit".

My only longing is to go deeper into the heart of Him who gave His divinity to me that I might simply love him in return. God's word says that no one knows the thoughts of God but the Spirit of God.  That same Spirit lives in me through His blood shed on the cross so shunning worldly pleasure, accepting worldly shame, and placing my affections on Him high above all else seems a small cost compared to knowing the unsearchable riches of Christ.  

I believe that taking the vow of the Nazarite means partaking of Christ, tasting and seeing that He is good, leaning upon His breast, allowing Him to shape and mold and break us, beholding the fire, beholding the holy, beholding Him, and walking this earth as anointed ones completely consecrated to Him, peering into the unknown, and diligently awaiting His return.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   My 10 year old son, Justus, likes to go with me on my trips to the Chiropractor.  He then insists on demonstrating the spinal manipulation he learned from watching...on me!  He then announces that he will be able to save us so much money due to his seasoned knowledge and skills he has suddenly acquired and quickly refined. Although, his intentions are admirable I think I will stick with the professionals.

I have been battling neck and shoulder issues over the last few years but never so severe as what hit me this summer.  I knew I had a mixture of degenerative disc problems, slight scoliosis, and damage from the hanging (story found in previous blog) so frequent bouts of pain were not unexpected. It felt like something had just kinda clicked out of place this time, thus causing pain and irritation to shoot down my shoulders and a good portion of my back.  I remember thinking if I could just get a little adjustment, a little realigning then things would be ok.  That's when it hit me.  I felt, right then,  like the Lord needed to take me through some spiritual adjusting and realignment. It was gonna take some exercise, physical therapy, and medication, I.e. Prayer/meditation/confession repentance/worship...you get the idea. So the physical and spiritual work for the next several months began.  God began spiritual surgery, and I began avoiding neck surgery through chiropractic care, physical therapy, anti-inflammatories, and lots of ice!

The way of the Nazirite fascinates me.  A Nazirite took a special vow for a certain period of time to consecrate themselves to the Lord.  They said no to the world's pleasures by abstaining from grapes as a means to rely only on the joy of the Lord as their strength.  They  accepted worldly shame by not cutting their hair and refused to bury their own family members if one died during the vow.  Sound familiar?  Follow me...let the dead bury the dead...the world will hate you.  I wonder if we're supposed to live as Nazarites...priests unto the Lord...I do believe with all my heart that the path of the Nazarites is the only path to true triumphal procession and victorious living in Christ.  The warfare is ever-increasing. The onslaught is crushing.  The prince of the power of the air has declared all out attack through every means he has available...the mind, the media, the emotions, desire, disparagement, fear, and on and on. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak!  Even Jesus insisted the disciples pray for themselves that they would not fall into temptation.  The days of "riding the fence" are no more...in fact, impossible.  Complete consecration unto Him is of the absolute necessity! Follow Him intensely or experience the intensity of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

I believe over the last few months God has, in a sense,  been inviting me to the Nazarite vow.  As I worked with Dr. Hicks, the Chiropractor, on my physical ailments, I worked with the Father on my spiritual ailments.  I remember so distinctly on the day I woke up with the neck problem, God began revealing deep areas of pride, vain-glory, jealousy, and covetous desire.  I thought I was doing "ok", then I let Him dig a little deeper.  He can find it if you let him.  Hence the spiritual surgery, and like any other surgery, it's kinda painful.  My friend, Kari, just shared with me a great quote to use as healing salve for these times of going under the knife..."for every look at yourself take ten looks at Christ". Whew!  Thankful for that one! As God has been inviting me to these deeper times of adjustments, I have been learning to gaze more deeply into His beauty and His magnificence...always praying may I decrease Lord, and may you increase in me.  After all, there is no beauty in me apart from Him.  I am hopelessly lost and completely unable to redeem myself at any level.  I fall into His embrace longing to live as the Nazarite, completely fixed on the lover of my soul.  "I am the high and holy one that inhabits eternity and I dwell with him also that is of a humble and contrite heart".  My only longing is to go deeper into the heart of Him who gave His divinity to me that I might simply love him in return. God's word says that no one knows the thoughts of God but the spirit of God.  That same Spirit lives in me through His blood shed on the cross so shunning worldly pleasure, accepting worldly shame, and placing my affections on Him, high above all else, seems a small cost compared to knowing the unsearchable riches of Christ.  I believe that taking the vow of the Nazarite means partaking of Christ, tasting and seeing He is good, leaning upon His breast, allowing Him to shape and mold us, beholding the fire, beholding the holy, beholding Him, and walking this earth as anointed ones completely consecrated to Him, peering into the unknown, and diligently awaiting His return.

The Heart Of An Explorer

"I have found the sweetest consolation since I made it my whole purpose to enjoy His marvelous Presence." Christopher Columbus

The kids have been studying the travels of Christopher Columbus these last few weeks. They even went to a special exhibit off the river that included touring exact replicas of the Nina, and the Pinta (the Santa Maria didn't make this particular exhibit). Those 3 famous ships carved into American history carry many stories of a great voyager fixed on his passion of discovering new worlds, and proving unaccepted truths. He knew it deep within his heart. The numbers added up. The science proved success. It burned in him. He had to go. He had to sail. His passion held him spell-bound. His studies left him little time for sleep. His private, secret world that drove him to explore and charter unknown seas and lands captivated every desire, channeled every ounce of energy, and held him transfixed on the prize set before him...the all-consuming joy of discovery.

Everything...without exemption...everything pales in comparison to the discovery of the love of the Father, the person of Christ, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Contrary to the world's opinion, boredom is never found when separating yourself holy unto Him. It is, in fact, enthralling...anything to find Him. When I think of the many...trinkets...of this world, I see they are nice. But that is all. They are nice trinkets. They do not capture me. They only moderately interest me. I kind of fake my interest some times just so people won't think I'm weird...at least not more so....

I certainly do not want to come off as "holier than thou". Please do not misunderstand. It's just that you and I have seen something. We have seen something magnificent. We have seen something that is not of this world. It is irresistible. It burns within. We know it in our hearts. We have seen a great light. The numbers add up. The science proves success. We have to go. We have to sail. Our secret world captivates our hearts and holds us spell-bound on the prize set before us...the joy of discovery...the discovery of our God and our great city, Jerusalem.

Please do not misunderstand my passion as legalistic endeavors and forsaking of this world. It is almost Christmas, and I regularly ask my daughter what she wants for Christmas. She rarely has an answer! This happens every year. My wife, thanks to her friend, Rachel, made the recent discovery that Annaliese's love language is touch and decided presents are cool to Annaliese but she would be just as content to have her parents hugging on her every night and tucking her into bed, instead. I guess this is why Rachel nicknamed her Annasqueeze, AKA "the squeeze". God's word says that if you seek him with all your heart you will find him and if your eye causes you to sin gouge it out, or your hand...cut it off. Like my daughter's desire for the presence of her family, so is our all-consuming desire to be with Him. And so is our desire to let nothing stand in the way. "In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge"...he is the treasure. So we seek him...blinding our eyes to the world if necessary...whatever it takes...just to find him.

May we walk with the secret heart of an explorer. The land we explore is a mystery that cannot be mishandled or treated lightly with reproach. It is the voyage of a lifetime, a pilgrimage, and unknown fire warms our hearts along the way. Dark speech dispels lies and unlocks new passageways. We must sail! We must link arms together and set sail. Every waking moment cries out for discipline, navigation, mapping, creating, teaching, declaring, seeking, and most important of all, discovering.

Holiness is enthralling. I hunger for its mysterious fire because I know that He is there in that fire, and I hunger for Him. There is no boredom found in holiness. It is pleasurably resisting the world as we melt into the arms of His love and His magnificence. If we only accomplish one thing today, let it be to live with the heart of an explorer. We must set sail!


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Give Us Barabbus!

“No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” John 18:40

No not you. There's someone else I want. I suspect all of us have heard it at one time or another in our lives. Rejection. It cuts deep and carves something out of our hearts and replaces it...with nothing. The loss, the emptiness chokes us and transports our souls to a terrifying place called abandonment. We are left asking ourselves who will be there for us? Who will hold us until we heal? The clique at school said, "no you can't be a part of us". The love of your life said, "I'd rather have her." The prospective employer said, "no, not good enough." You were bullied growing up. They made fun of your handicap. They gave you up at birth. They stabbed you in the back. They slandered your name and spoke lies about you. She doesn't want you anymore. He wants a divorce. You're too fat, too short, not pretty enough, not smart enough. The list goes on and on and on while the world wraps their purple robes around you and mocks you and screams...be like me! We don't want you, "no not you, we want Barabbus."

I was a bit of a loner growing up and I remember walking the halls of school every day passing each group huddled at lockers, recognizing each clique, absorbing the stares and never connecting. I just didn't fit in. I just didn't measure up. I just wasn't what they wanted. I am sure this coupled with the troubles at home are what motivated me to turn inward, losing myself in music, songwriting, drugs, and an extreme fascination with different philosophies. There seemed to be no remedy for the pain...the deep feeling of rejection. I'm not ashamed to say it hurt. It hurt for days, months and even years.

"he was despised and rejected by men" Isaiah 53:3

It is infinitely beyond my imagination how the King of the Universe, the Son of God, Lord over all the powers in this age and in the age to come, God himself who created the universe, absorbed the mockery, the scorn and the shame from a world he dearly loved. Not only did they mock him but they basically said no we don't want you God, we're throwing you in the dung heap with a little torture and death mixed in, and by the way, we want the other guy...yeah the guy that personifies everything you're not! The guy that would lie, murder, rape, steal, from his own mother and not give it a second thought...we want Barabbus...anything...anybody...but you...so called son of God!

He was Truth, he was Beauty, he was Majesty, he was Purity, he was Holiness and he was completely rejected. The king of Israel was rejected by the Jews, scorned by the entire known world, seemingly deserted by His heavenly Father, and died completely misunderstood and completely alone. Our savior was familiar with rejection.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort" 2 Corinthians 1:3

I am so eternally grateful that our comforter is not of this world. Our thousands of years of history has not brought an antidote for the crippling effect that offense and insult and rejection has left on our hearts. God's word says he has given us Divine power for all things pertaining to life and Godliness...how?...through the knowledge of Him....through knowing Him...and his word also says to set our hope FULLY on the grace to be given us when Jesus Christ appears...we will appear with him in glory!!!

Like the woman with the issue of blood who pressed through the crowds just to touch the hem of his garment, we press in to know him...to truly know Him...the one true God...not some made up story in history...not some dead religious icon. We press in to know him, and we set our hope completely on him, knowing that in his presence is the fullness of joy. And in his presence we find little hope or even concern for this present world and all its sufferings. It is in his presence we find a God who takes in our pain of offense and insult and rejection and fear of abandonment and absorbs it all into his heart...because he absorbed it all when he suffered it here on earth, on the cross, and through his abandonment from the Father...eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani.

When I set my hope fully on Him, the sharp arrows can come, the slaps on the face can come, the hatred and rejection can come, and it can sting for a moment, but only for a moment...because my heart is transfixed on what really matters...seeing the love and passion of my life and his soon return! You say it's escape?...maybe...maybe escape into reality! His hope is a LIVING hope and his kingdom is a real kingdom that is not of this world. It is from above, and I have been born from above! Because of Him I am not of this world and everything I see as I look around this temporal realm has been corrupted...corrupted by an evil, maniacal Barabbus-like fallen angel. So if this world now says we don't want you, we want Barabbus, then I rejoice! For if they rejected our master, they will reject us too! No servant is greater than his master!

So I wrap my arms around the cross, and I clench my hands around the horns of the altar and I dig my knees into the soil of the Holy ground that he has invited me to stand on through the blood sacrifice of his son. As Jesus set his heart fully on the joy before him, I follow in his footsteps with every ounce of strength I have within me...and when my strength has run dry and His grace and power and comfort come pouring in, I know that he is good and I have the very rare opportunity in eternity's history to walk by faith and know him...really, really know him...through every joy and triumph and every heart-crushing defeat. He absorbed it all at the cross and he absorbs it all right now.

Tabitha

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas (also known as Tabitha) had made while she was still with them. Acts 9:39

I wonder if Tabitha's footsteps down the long path that led from her home to her workshop struck fear into the heart of Satan and caused the walls of hell to tremble. I wonder if the angels of heaven suddenly rose to attention when she gathered her tools and threw her fabrics out on the table. I wonder if the heart of God swelled with delight and his throne glowed and shot out new bursts of power and light to the earth below when the aged hands began to weave with deep tenacity and careful accuracy. Her robes, her tunics, her garments were extraordinary. Why? Because every breath she withdrew from the cold thin air were breaths of passion for her savior and her God. And those breaths were fierce as she worked, and they delivered the strength and the artistry she needed to give back her best display of love to her master as she sat at his feet and worshipped through her craft and served those around her.

What a thought. As you pour the cup of cool water for the thirsty child, heaven is advanced. As you feed the starving man, God's throne is exalted. As you sweep the floors in the church's foyer, the hounds of hell are silenced. And as you craft the song, paint the picture, build the bench, direct the play, retell the bible story, organize the outreach, love your spouse, teach your child, put food on the table, all heaven rejoices! For the character of God is on display, his wisdom is made manifest, darkness is pushed back and one more small portion of redemption and purification and paradise regained is woven into His precious creation. The work of our hands is warfare. The tapestry of our hearts devoted to Him...is worship.

And when God's word says that through the church his manifold wisdom is being made known to the rulers and the authorities of the heavenly realms, I want my life to scream out and echo through eternity the magnificence of the Almighty. And wether I am singing out with all my strength, guitar in hand in the solitude of my home or cleaning tables after the homeless have had their fill, my desire is that all the angels of heaven would gather around the throne, like Tabitha's friends gathered around Peter and say..."look at the garments he made!!!! Look at his garments of praise He made for you! God be glorified!!!

God's word says that human hands cannot serve him. Tabitha's friends weren't bragging on the fact that she could bust out some sweet threads...although she could. They were showing Peter the precious tapestry of an anointed woman of God, in love with her savior, who devoted every stitch to bring him honor. In Christ she had learned to live and move and have her being. The marvel of the colors and the quality of her design were accomplished by a heart that desired that the manifold wisdom of God be made manifest to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms!

Whatever we do, may we do it with Tabitha's intentions....to show forth the beauty of his holiness, the splendor of his majesty, the glory of his redemption, the mystery of his love...and may we pour the cup, wash the tables, and sweep the floors to demolish the works of the kingdom of darkness and root out the evil in our own lives and in the lives of others around us.



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Where Are You?

 Where Are You?