Dulles Family Life Church

     There is a verse in the book of Habakkuk that has come to be part of my daily prayer life, something that is more and more becoming part of my heartcry to Him.  It’s found in chapter 3, verse 2.  He prays, “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord, renew them in our day, in our time, make them known; in wrath, remember mercy.”
     Of late, I have been doing a lot of thinking and praying on both my, my church’s, the church in general’s faith life, or lack thereof.  Beth Moore, in her book, “Believing God,” says this.  “We believe little because we see little, so we see little and continue to believe little.”  This is a destructive cycle that too much of the church is living in.  I don’t mean to say that there is a total absence of His power, but can any of us possibly believe that He is moving in us as He long to?  If He is, where’s the evidence?  We can’t deny that the church is having no more success overcoming the destruction that is besetting our culture, than are those living outside of us.  We recognize that there is a deep need, but I’m not sure we realize where the answers lie.  I don’t think it is in starting more home groups, going to more conferences and seminars, having more strategy sessions, doing choruses instead of hymns, or hymns instead of choruses.  It’s to be found in His heart and life.  Evangelist James Robison said, “If God is in me, than a river MUST flow out of me.”  His Word says that the water of life is a river of life, and that it brings healing wherever it flows.  Friends, is the river truly flowing out of and through you and I, and of His church?  If so, where is the healing?
     You may think as you read this that I have a low opinion of the church.  I don’t.  I love it, more than I ever have, but I can no longer be satisfied with less when He so longs to bring and give more.  To you, to me, to His beloved bride.  I remember a time, not long ago, when I heard a young pastor speaking of his church saying, in effect, “Things are great.  Attendance is great, there’s plenty of money, all is going well.”  I mean no judgement, I know there have been too many times when I have said or desired the same, and I certainly don’t know the young man’s heart, but in our heart of hearts, is having that, whether as a church or for ourselves, our deepest desire?  Francis Chan in “Crazy Love,” writes, “Colossians 1:16 tells us everything was created for God….Don’t we live instead as though God were created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones?”  Meanwhile a world dies around us, and we appear powerless to prevent it, as well as disinterested in doing so.  As Chan says, “We have to stop giving people excuses NOT to believe in God.” 
     So we come back to Habakkuk.  I am longing to see, experience, and know, in ways beyond anything I’ve yet known, the God whose fame I have heard of.  To be awestruck by the wonders He works in me, in others, and in my world.  To see His wonders and miracles renewed in my day, our day.  That in His mercy, despite my own stubborn resistance, my own selfishness, and yes, my own coldheartedness, He will remember His mercy…..and come….
bringing life.  His river of life flowing in me, through me, out of me.  Habakkuk’s prayer is more and more becoming my prayer.  Could it be yours as well?  Will it be?  What’s really the desire of your heart?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tags: Heart Thoughts by oshell
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     Beth Moore, in her book, Believing God, shares a story of a time when she was out on a walk in her neighborhood after a spring rain.  She said she came upon a large puddle in the street, with 4 ducks paddling around in it.  What made this seem so strange was that just over the hill, not 25 yards away, was a large, spacious pond, yet here the ducks were, oblivious to that truth.  She said at that time, the Lord spoke to her and said, “That’s My church…splashing in a mud puddle with a sea of living water within her reach…Just on the other side”  She adds, “Our reality differs from our theology…Some of us work pretty hard at something that is hardly working.”  We live in a perpetual wilderness because, like the Jews who left Egypt, “We don’t believe the God we say we believe in.”
     You most likely have gathered that I read a lot, and I am “hearing” an ever increasing theme from a wide variety of “voices,” all saying, in some manner, what Francis Chan says in his book, Crazy Love, “We all know something is wrong.”  How did we come to be content with puddles?  Do we even know that’s what they are?  Have we even a clue to the existence of the sea of living water…just over the hill?
     I have written and preached much on the concept of waiting upon God.  Micah 7:7 says, “I will wait for the God of my salvation.”  There is such power and promise in that verse, but I think we have no real knowledge of what “waiting upon God” is.  Somehow, we think it’s something to be done from an easy chair….by the fireplace….in front of the TV…while our favorite show is on.  I think God is waiting upon us to realize our great blindness in all this….and repent of it and turn from it.  Just this morning, I received an email announcement saying that a cross section of Christian leaders are calling for the church to “kneel in prayer,” on Sunday morning, July 5, and pray, in repentance, not for the nation, but the church.  Pastor Tony Perkins says he believes the church has (finally?) “Come to the end of our own devices,” and is looking to God for answers.  Have you and I come to that end as well?  Have we had enough of puddles, enough of the living water being just over the hill, yet mistaking dirty, stagnant water for the real thing?
     Does your heart resonate with what Moore, Chan, Perkins, and so many others are saying?  Are you ready to leave the puddles of mediocrity, of lukewarmness, frustration and powerlessness?  I want the sea of living water that He promises me is just over the hill.  He’s waiting for me, for you, for us, to leave the puddles and follow Him there.  Can we believe the God we say we believe in?  Will all the teaching, preaching, and bible study we’ve heard and done over the years become more than our theology, but our day to day to reality?
     One closing thought.  In Mark 10:46-47 it reads, “A blind beggar named Bartimaeus was sitting by the road as Jesus was going by.  When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus from Nazareth was nearby, he began to shout, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.’ “  Jesus, the sea of living water is nearby.  He is also passing by.  We, in brokenness, need to cry out to Him for mercy.  He is waiting, and He is also moving.  We must move with Him, but to do so, we have to leave our puddles, no matter how safe and secure they seem.  We have to follow Him over the hill…..and beyond.

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tags: Heart Thoughts by oshell
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     Some years ago, during a Sunday morning worship service, a man in his 30’s stood up to give a “testimony,” concerning God’s work in his life.  Now, for the unfamiliar, a testimony is meant to be something that encourages, inspires, and gives glory to the awesome, life transforming power found in the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  The key phrase is “meant to.”  It has been years since this happened, but I’ll never forget it.  The fellow rose, and began to describe how he’d been in a buffet type restaurant the evening before.  Part of the buffet’s feature was sweet potatoes stuffed with brown sugar.  At first, he was told they were out of them, but a few minutes later, the server came back to tell him they still had a good sized one left, and would he like it?  The man concluded his glory giving by praising and thanking God that He had provided him his sweet potato….and his brown sugar.  I was stunned then, and you may be now, but should we be?  If we are truly honest with ourselves, how many of our own words concerning His work in our lives are little more than “sweetpotato” testimonies themselves?
     How much of what we give Him glory for in our lives concerns things that have little or nothing to do with eternity?  It’s true that He cares about even the seemingly insignificant things about our way, but that doesn’t mean we are to be consumed by the insignificant, yet, aren’t we?  Paul tells us that we are to “always be ready to give reason for the hope that we have in Him.”  If you were pressed to share that hope, give examples of it, what would you say?  If you were to share the wonders wrought in your life, what would they be?  How much of it would be about how He enabled you to buy something you didn’t really need, but very much wanted?  How much of it would be about how He had worked in your life to make it more comfortable, easier?  How much of it, in the end, would be nothing more than sweetpotatoes and brown sugar?
     Jesus says in Matthew 10:7-8, “Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of heaven is near.  Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons.  Give as freely as you received.”  This is what we are to have done in and through us.  This, and not sweet potatoes is what we are to be giving.  This is what the Kingdom is about.  All about us a world is collapsing and dying.  It is desperate for the Kingdom that is so near.  Yet we remain at out buffet, glorying in our sweet potatoes, and wondering why no one “out there,” wants to join us.
     When was the last time you and I could tell the church, let alone the world, how great God, in all His awesome wonder, really is?  When was the last time you were a part of healing the sick, raising the dead, curing the lepers, and casting out the demons?  It’s what we were made for, saved for……not the buffet table.  He is the Savior God, but we have added “Caterer,” to His name.  The world locked in darkness is desperate for that Savior.  So is His church.  So am I.  Are you?  The Kingdom is nearer than we think.

Blessings,
Pastor O

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     In John 21:18-22, the risen Christ having lovingly confronted Peter over his failure with and betrayal of Him, begins to speak to him of his future, saying, “I tell you the truth, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.  Jesus said this to indicate what kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.  Then He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ ”
     I find myself standing in Peter’s place today.  Maybe you do as well.  In truth, I think all who profess to truly be following Him are going to be here too.  There is a shaking going on, and comfort zones are being breached, and yes, destroyed.  What we have known, externally at least, is passing away, and the time has come upon us to come to grips with how real our knowledge of Him, who is the unchangeable One, is.  He is calling us to places our comfort loving flesh doesn’t want to go.  We’re being confronted with the question writer Erwin McManus asks, “Have the benefits of faith become more valuable and precious to us than the Benefactor of our faith?”  Have they?  My answer is no, but at the same time, I know I have become very attached to those benefits.  I want to stay by the still waters and green pastures of Psalm 23, but though there will be places of refreshment along the way, He calls me to get up and follow Him.  He calls you as well.
     When I first began to follow Him, it was easy to go wherever He led.  It was only me, I had few possessions, and though personal risk and danger were there, there didn’t seem to be that much to lose.  All these years later, the situation has changed, risks and danger have increased, there is so much more to lose, and everything has changed except this….Jesus is still the One calling me to follow.  As McManus says, “Jesus wants to take us places only dead men and women can go.”  So the question is this:  Can I take not only myself, but the people and blessings He has given me, following Him to the cross, placing them there, dying to them there, dying to myself, and following where He leads, going only where those who have “died” can go?  My flesh doesn’t want to go there.  Neither does yours, but it’s where He’s leading us, where He’s leading His church.
     Does this mean we will lose these things we love?  The only answer I know for sure is that we will surely “lose” the controlling fear we have over their loss.  Yes, we put ourselves, even our families at risk, but as evangelist James Robison says, “What better thing can we do than to take our hands off, and for what we release to be in His hands?”  Only hands, lives that have died can do that.  Can we do it?  Can you do it?

Blessings,
Pastor O

Tags: Heart Thoughts by oshell
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