Dulles Family Life Church

In Joshua, chapter 1, God tells Joshua, who’s been selected to lead the people into their land of promise, to “be strong and courageous.” He tells him this 3 times. In the gospels, a central part of the message of Christ was that He “came to give life, and give it abundantly.” As I survey the landscape of His church, of my own life, I see what seems to be far more evidence that we are anything but strong and courgeous, and that the life so many live is not only non-abundant, it’s barely mediocre. I don’t speak this in judgement. It’s fact that can’t be denied. The church, His Body, has been commissioned to be the light of the world, salt to the earth. Yet, instead of being light in the darkness, we seem to have been overwhlemed by that darkness. How else to explain that the people who profess to be followers of a risen Christ, have had no more success overcoming the darkness than has the world we’ve been told to “make disciples of.” Divorce, infidelity, abuse, addictions, seem to be on the same level in the church as in the world. Those who would testify that He is with them, seem no more able to overcome than those who are without Him. Why?

The Hebrew word for “strong” used in Joshua means “be connected to.” In this case, God is telling Joshua that he will be strong, he will have courage, as long as he stays connected to Him. THe power is sustained by the connection, by the degree of intimacy in the relationship. God saw this point as so central, so important to the life He called Joshua to, that He stated it 3 times. The importance of the message hasn’t lessened, but somehow, too many have ceased to hear it. We’ve become disconnected people living disconnected lives. As writer Erwin McManus says in his book, “Soul Cravings,” as he quotes pastor Chip Anderson, “If your soul is disconnected from its source, it will die.”

Friend, how disconnected in our lives have you and I become? We see the signs and results of it in our human relationships, have we seen them in the one we say we have with Him? How does one stay connected with Him on 5 minutes of prayer with a few random verses of scripture thrown in? And, day by day, we grow more fearful, grow weaker, see our lives withering, yes, dying, because we’ve failed to be truly connected to Him.

Such things never happen all at once. It starts with letting up with some important part of the connection. Just this once. He’ll understand. We’ll get back on track tomorrow….or, failing that, the day after, or the day after that, or…….. Before long, the victory we once had has turned to defeat. The vibrant life we once lived, has become grey and listless. It’s become existence, which is not life at all. Yet all the while, He calls to our heart to come back, to reconnect, to be strong again, have life again, to be able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us….again.

How goes the connection with Him in your life and spirit today? As I write this, the lamp in my office flickers, even goes out briefly from time to time. Somewhere there is a bad, or loose connection. The power flow is hindered. The same happens in our spiritual lives, and it’s time, overtime, for them to stop flickering, even going out, and to experience anew, perhaps for the first time, what true life, His life, is really all about. Strength, courage, abundance, all are possible in Him, if we’ll but be connected. We are called in the Old Testament to “follow hard after God.” In effect, be completely attached to Him, one with Him. Have you such a conncection? You can, and you must. With such intimacy in Him, you will.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tags: Heart Thoughts by oshell
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Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a holiday known for food, football, family, and perhaps most important of all, the big day after sales at all major department stores. Names are to always have meaning. What’s the meaning of this day? It seems to be completely about consuming, indulgence, and yes, greed. I read recently that the mighty T Rex dinosaur had a metabolism that caused it to be always hungry. Everything and everybody it came across was a potential meal. Writer Erwin McManus says he was “the ultimate consumer.” I wonder, how much like T Rex have you and I become?

We are living in the midst of a culture that sees itself as having a right to every object it desires. We always want more, but more is never enough. Greed is never satisfied, and no matter how much it is fed, like the T Rex, it’s always hungry for more. In such a lifestyle, there’s no place for gratitude. There’s no time for thanksgiving. We’re always looking for the next meal, and we’ll not be satisfied till we get it, except….even with it, we still won’t be satisfied, for then we must focus on what comes next, and next, and next, and……

McManus, is his book “Uprising,” has this to say: “Lack of gratitude is a manifestation of an abundance of greed……From the vantage point of the taker, it is his or her justification for always demanding. He is endlessly disappointed in others. No one ever comes through for him. No one ever keeps his promises. Everyone always falls short of his expectations. There’s no need for thanks, except, thanks for nothing.” Many of us may recognize this trait in another. They may be in our church, our family, even our mate. Are we able to see it in ourselves?

Do you remember the wonderful cartoon strip “Calvin and Hobbes?” 6 year old Calvin had a wondrous imagination. He saw himself doing many things, and being many different types of creatures. One of his favorite pastimes was to imagine himself a mighty dinosaur, most often a T Rex, destroying, eating, consuming, everything around him. He was a hilarious character, he was also totally self absorbed. He was a perfect candidate for being a T Rex. Forget about being like a T Rex. How close to being Calvin are you and I? Has our selfabsorbtion level reached the point where being grateful, living a life of thanksgiving is no longer possible? We’re caught up in the culture of greed, the lifestyle of demanding. Yet, we can still escape. How, by fixing our eyes on the One to Whom we give thanks. The One Who is the ultimate Giver. The One in whom we can be transformed into givers as well. They say the T Rex is extinct. He’s not so long as he continues to live in us. He has to die out, once and for all. In Christ He will. Are you ready for that?

McManus writes, “Those who give most freely, live most fully.” Are you ready for such a life? Ultimately, T Rex was a dragon, a dragon that Jesus Christ has crushed. In Christ, be a dragonslayer. It starts with a choice to be a giver, of thanks, of self, of life. Kill the dragon of selfish greed within, and enter into the blessed life both within, and without.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tags: Heart Thoughts by oshell
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As a pastor, I think I’m faced with choices as to how I see the people He’s entrusted me with pastoring. I can see them as a means to my ends, growth, success, notoriety….for me, or, I can see them as a means to His ends in them. Wholeness, abundance, life, His wholeness, abundance and life. It’s to my shame to say that there was a time, too much time, when the first was how I was looking at them, and I have to maintain my guard against it even now, but I think I fall into the second category at this point in my ministry. The question I have, and it burns in my heart, is, why do so few of these people, so few of His people, have His wholeness, life, and abundance. Where is the fullness of His life in His church today? Why are so many, too many, of those who profess to be His, defeated, discouraged, and depressed? In Exodus 15:6 He announces, “I Am the God Who heals you.” In Jeremiah 17:14, the prophet cries out to Him, “Heal me O Lord, and I will be healed.” We say we believe these scriptures, yet why are so many of us walking about lame, wounded, crippled in our emotions and souls? Where is the God who heals us?

I think the answer is that we have replaced the God who heals us, with false healers who cannot. Erwin McManus makes a strong statement about this in his book, “Uprising.” He talks of a time in his early ministry in the Dallas innercity. “After four years in seminary and seven years in the Christian faith, I concluded that the unspoken policy was to give Jesus the small stuff and leave the real problems to Freud. The sad truth is that the church didn’t know how to help people get better. Wholeness was as much a mystery to us as it was to anyone else.” We may react strongly to that, but in truth, to who are we going for healing? How whole are we really? Are we, you and I, offering to those who so desperately need it, whole life, or just a lot of theory? To who are we taking our real problems? In who are we searching for answers?

I think a lot of the answer lies in two questions Jesus asked three different people. To the cripple at the pool of Bethesda in John 5 He asked, “Do you want to get well?” To the two blind men who cried to Him for their sight in Matthew 9, He asked, “Do you believe I can do this?” The way we’ve been answering those questions has determined, and continues to determine the state of our spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Do we really want to get well, and if so, do we believe, really believe, He can do it, or, do we, as McManus says, leave the really tough stuff to Freud…..or some other false healer that the world abundantly offers, but who give no abundance to us at all. Not His abundance, not His wholeness.

We are surrounded today by messengers of life, such as Beth Moore, RT Kendall, Charles Stanley, and so many others, but we seem to run to the messengers for life, but never receive the message. We look to them, and not to the One who has sent them. The God Who heals us. The One in Whom when we’re healed, we are truly healed, truly whole, truly have life. Are you going about today as one of the countless “walking wounded, carrying hurts and unhealed issues that have crippled you for so long, even your whole life? Do you want to get well? Do you believe He can heal you? Do you believe He can take these crippling afflictions that have been with you your whole life, and out of them give you His whole life? He can. He will. In His own words He says, “I Am God Almighty. Is anything too difficult for Me?” Nothing is. Nothing ever will be. Abandon the false healers, and bring it all, all of it, to Jesus. He will give you life.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tags: Heart Thoughts by oshell
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Manna. Just what was it anyway? Well, the term manna comes from a Hebrew word that meant “what is it?” Well, I think most of us would say we know what it is, it was the food God gave the Israelite’s as they journeyed through the wilderness, and we’d be right, except only partly so. Like so many other things, we settle for surface understanding when there is so much more that the Father would have us know. Manna was more than food, it was literally life to them. In it was everything, EVERYTHING, that the people needed to sustain life. Not only sustain life, but to make their lives physically flourish. No earthly food could equal it. Yet the people thought differently. They were sure that the foods they’d left behind in Egypt were superior to the manna. It was that food they longed for. They thought true life was found in it.

Author and writer Erwin McManus, commenting on Jesus’ wilderness experience in Matthew 4:1-4 says this, “Satan know when we’re hungry that God intends to bring us bread. Yet he also knows if we lack perserverance he can convince us to settle for something less. He tried to convince Jesus to turn stones into bread. With us he just tries to convince us to eat rocks instead……Most of us are eating rocks rather than waiting on God to bring us bread.” We have to ask ourselves, are we found among the “most of us?” Are we rock eaters, or manna eaters.

Back to the manna. It was literally the bread of life to the Israelite’s. What made it so? McManus says, “God spoke into the manna and it carried with it the capacity to meet Israel’s every physical need for nourishment.” Except, the people didn’t really believe that. They thought true nurture was to be found somewhere else, in something else. How often do we do the same? How often have we heard that His Word is the, is our, “bread of life,” yet we continue to search for our well being in some other place or thing? How often have we exchanged manna for rocks?

How often have you? Are you today, eating rocks instead of His bread?

Back to Jesus, which is always the best place to go, in fact, we ought never leave, but we so often do. There was no doubt that in the wilderness, Jesus was hungry. Very hungry. He could have turned the stones to bread. When He told the devil He would instead live on the Words that came from His Father’s mouth, He was not saying He didn’t need food, He did. What He was saying was that He would wait on, and trust in His Father to supply that food, the best food, in the right and perfect time. His Father had promised Him that, and He would trust His Father. He wouldn’t settle for “something less.” As McManus says, “He would rather be hungry waiting on His Father’s timing than to lose hope and be found eating rocks when the bread came.” God knows your need today. He really has promised to provide bread, manna, to meet that need. In that manna will be the all the fullness that you need to flourish and be victorious in the midst of it. Will you trust Him for that? Will you believe His Word on that? Or, will you, will I, be found eating rocks when the bread comes?

The bread will come. That’s His promise. If it’s not come yet, you may well be looking for some other kind of food. No matter how enticing that food may look to you, in comparison to His, it is only rocks, and it gives no life. Wait for His bread. He won’t be late with it, and in it, you will flourish. You will live.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tags: Heart Thoughts by oshell
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