Swaddling Clothes

Swaddling Clothes

Luke 2:7 - “and she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” 

This phrase, “swaddle,” never meant a lot to me. This was just another word I would read over as I pursued the meat of the story until I had children of my own. Babies like to be swaddled. If you are unfamiliar with the technology of the swaddle, it is basically a baby straightjacket made with or by the blanket. This technique, when done correctly, completely immobilizes the child’s limbs while still allowing for breathing and blood flow. I believe babies like this because the whole time they are in the womb they are in close, confined quarters and this swaddle imitates what they were used to. 

Although swaddling is used at the beginning, it is not something that lasts forever. There were times when the swaddle was needed for the boys to fall asleep but as they grew they wanted to move their limbs, stretch out and the the swaddle now would prevent the sleep that once it provided. Even Jesus out grew the swaddle!

After experiencing new birth, most Christians are swaddled by certain beliefs like a tight blanket restricting our motion and movement. This “swaddling” is used to keep us safe and to help us rest and grow. The reality is though that even as a baby grows and the swaddling loosens, so our faith must continue to unfold. It must be examined and understood more deeply and differently. 

Truth is progressive in nature. It comes to us in seed form but must grow and expand. One great example of this is found in dealing with Lepers. In the Old Testament you were not to touch a leper or you would become unclean, really you were not suppose to go near them. In the New Testament however Jesus takes a very different approach, He sends out his disciples with the command to “cleanse” the leper. In other words go touch who you have been told your whole life not to. While the swaddling of this truth starts restrictive, if we do not grow and allow the swaddle to loosen and grow with us we will miss out on where God is. 

Let me see if I can explain this better. In the Gospel of John chapter 9, there is a man blind from birth. Jesus approaches him, spits on the ground, makes some mud and rubs it in his face and then opened his eyes. 

Jesus was and is no stranger to miracles. Every where he went He was creating controversy and manifesting miracles. This miracle, to me, is very unique though, for a couple of reasons. 

1. The man didn’t ask to be healed
2. He worked on the Sabbath to do it

This miracle wasn’t sought after by the man and Jesus didn’t have to work to make it happen. Previous miracles included someone touching Him, He had sent His word and others. He could have done anything and healed this man who didn’t ask but chose to work (make mud pies) on the Sabbath. If He didn’t want controversy, He could have waited a couple hours and the Sabbath would be over, but He didn’t. Jesus was breaking the rules, stretching the swaddling of the religious leaders. 

In healing this blind man, Jesus was stripping the swaddling off the Sabbath, giving this truth room to grow and confronting the swaddlers, the religious leaders that love to make it tight. The religion of the day with it’s practices, rituals and regulations had become so restrictive it was stunting any and all growth. 

Mark 2:27 - “The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.” 

The problem wasn’t the Sabbath but how they were using it. So, also, the swaddle for the baby not the baby for the swaddle. 

This is the point. As my boys began to grow out of the swaddling phase, we didn’t burn the blanket. The blanket changed it’s function. The relationship babies have with their blankets, the swaddling is also found in the dynamics of peoples beliefs. Our beliefs are often like the blanket: at times they serve us best wrapped tight around us and at other times they must be loosened to make room for growth. The key is knowing when to do each. 

Swaddlings are needed. If these boundaries are not applied early on, people ruin their lives and or the lives of others. If the swaddling (boundaries) is left on to long and never allow room grow, we suffocate and our growth in God is stunted. 

The lesson Jesus offers is simple. We should not despise old obediences or constraints; they help. But if left in place for to long or in the wrong way, these obediences can become abuses. Knowing when and how to shed the swaddle is a matter of wisdom and experience. An indication you have shed some swaddling too soon is that you lose all discipline or you feel you need to make everyone else shed theirs. These are indications of rebellion, not growth. 

Bless Them

Romans 12:14 says that you are to "bless them which persecute you...." It is very easy to bless those who bless you and make you happy, but how are you going to respond to people who persecute you and try to deliberately injure you? After 12 years of full time ministry I can say without a doubt this is one of the hardest things to do but it is possible if we yield ourselves to the Spirit of the Lord. 

The word "bless" is the Greek word eulogeo, a compound of the words eu and logos. The word eu means good or well and depicts any positive emotion. It is where we get the word euphoric. The second part of the word eulogeo is the word logos, which simply means words. But when these two words are compounded into the word eulogeo, it means to say good or positive things. The word eulogeo is where we get the word eulogy, which is the sermon preached at a funeral. It is supposed to be a time when good words are spoken in remembrance of the person who died.

So when Paul tells us to "bless them which persecute you...," he is literally telling us that we are always to return a blessing for a curse, speaking only good words about those who wish to harm us. Taking this route must be hard on the flesh, for the Greek tense describes a continual action, implying that we must speak well of these people again and again and again. Our flesh may rise up to point the finger of accusation at someone and charge him with dishonest and wrong conduct. But that's when we have to tell our flesh to be quiet! Instead of falling into the mode of accuser in an attempt to defend ourselves, we are to take the more godly route of blessing those who persecute us.

Paul says that when we are in these situations, we are to "curse not." The word  "curse" is the Greek word kataraomai, which simply means to verbally curse. In the ancient world, it was believed that when a person spoke good words about someone else, those words conveyed a blessing on that other person's life. Conversely, people believed that when someone spoke curses over another person, his very words caused curses to come upon that person's life.

This ancient belief in the power of words is actually borne out in the Scriptures. We should never forget the power that is contained in the words we speak. Proverbs 18:21 makes it very clear that the power of life and death is in the tongue.

Never underestimate the importance of how you react to those who persecute you. Your words of blessing and forgiveness can put to bed forever all the past wrongs ever committed against you. On the other hand, your words of retaliation can reignite the fire of opposition so that the same kind of opposition keeps reoccurring again and again. Let us guard our hearts and watch our tongues. 

Songs of the Season

Luke 2:13-15

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased. 15 And it came to pass, when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us."


OK, if your anything like me then before Christmas ever gets here your already tired of hearing the same songs being played over and over on the radio. Don't get me wrong, love the season and the songs but it's like overkill from the end of november until New Years Day. There is one song however that never gets old. This is the song the angels sang on the night that Christ was born.

The birth of Jesus changes everything! I was re-reading the story again when this time the song of the angels really stuck out to me, a song of peace and goodwill to all men because of the new born Christ. This song of peace and restoration that broke the silence of that starry night and broke into broken humanity wasn't sang to Caesar, the self righteous Pharisees or any other great leader of the day. This angelic song that reveals heavens heart and the messiahs mission was sang to shepherds.

So who were the shepherds?

They were Social Outcasts. They were poor, uneducated, uncultured, and uncouth. If you were with your family walking through town you would go to the other side of the street to avoid them. They were the rough characters in the small town on the fringe of society, so much so that their testimony was not even admissible in court.

They were Religious Outsiders. Because their work was considered ceremonially unclean, they were not allowed into the temple courts or to be an active part of temple worship. Religious leaders often considered them on the same level as prostitutes, so when it came to the religion of the day they were always on the outside looking in.

Here then, God is inviting a group of guys who have been on the outside looking in the entirety of their lives and putting them at the top of the invite list for the most important birthday of all time. This is a theme we will see continue throughout the story of Jesus’ life. Not only does he consistently seek out those on the outside or fringe, He invites them to be at the center of His mission. As an adult, Jesus chose an inner circle comprised of uneducated fishermen, a former tax collector who has robbed and cheated his countrymen, women (who had few or no rights at the time), and even a former prostitute. Those who have been relegated to the outside are not only a focus of His rescue mission—they become the leaders of God’s rescue mission for humanity.

Even after the resurrection, the song, the mission continues, the invitation to all outcasts still stands. In Acts chapter 8 we read a very powerful conversion story. Phillip who is evangelizing in Samaria and being very successful is called by The Lord to leave and head to an area where no one lived. On the way to nowhere he ran into an eunuch who was reading from the Prophet Isaiah.

At normal glance this too would seem like just another cool conversion but this man was not only a foreigner, he was also a eunuch. A eunuch was someone who had been castrated. This man was in the service of the Queen and this was something that had to be done in order to work with royalty. This help to ensure protection and eliminate trouble in the palace. Often eunuchs picked up feminine traits and acted a little odd because of very low testosterone. These guys freaked regular people out and according to Deuteronomy 26 were not even allowed in the assembly of believers. God however sent Phillip to a man the bible banned, this outcast would become one of the greatest evangelists Ethiopia would ever know. Notice that when he wanted to be baptized Phillip didn't pray for a creative miracle if you know what I mean. Without rules or stipulations Phillip obeyed and although not embraced by religion He was added to the Kingdom and was a catalyst of Kingdom expansion.


From birth, in life and even after death Jesus breaks the boundaries of religion and His love goes after the outcast. This season (one of the greatest time to missional I might add) lets listen to the song of the season, the heart of heaven and go after and love the outcast and maybe even have our boundaries pushed a little.

Greater Continued

In John 14:12 Jesus makes a very staggering statement. He said that because He was leaving we would know be empowered to do not only the works He was doing but "Greater." Wow! What a promise. This isn't just my wishful thinking or something I came up with. This greater life that goes beyond the limitations of of our imagination is God's idea. God not only believes but has done everything He can to make this greater life accessible to us. This begs the question then, "are we just living a good life or one founded in the realm of greater?"

In our series this month we have been looking at life principles from the life of Elisha, an ordinary man who went on to do extraordinary things, a man who from routine to remarkable and left the fields of familiarity to embrace the miraculous mantle called greater! Here are just a few of the principles we have looked at thus far.


1) Burn the plow - Elisha didn't just sacrifice his oxen, he burned the plow. Simply put there was no room for a plan B. He was making sure there was nothing for him to go back to. Often we make seasonal sacrifices but fail to burn the plow and when we try to go from good to great we often find ourselves frustrated, dissatisfied or in a place of doubt often because we have never burned the plows.

2) Digging Ditches - faith requires action and is often spelled RISK. To avoid getting stuck after the plows have been burned we need to dig a ditch. There were some kings going to battle who believed they knew what and how to do it only to if d themselves about to die in the desert. When they ask the man of God what to do, He replied, "dig a ditch." This sounds stupid when your out of water and dying in the desert but we must remember God is the only one that can send the rain but he is looking for someone to dig the ditch, put faith in action. Faith in action not only moves God it releases the resources necessary to accomplish the task at hand. Dream Big (Water for an army in the desert) Start small (dig a ditch).

3) Pour some oil - like the woman who all she had was "a little oil." We must also embrace our limitations and understand all God wants is all we have! He is not looking for us to be something were not but to surrender to him what we have. god has a way of taking our little and making it a lot. Surrender the gifts/talents/limitations you have and remember our limitations can be Gods greatest opportunity.

4) Connect to Someone- before Elishas miracle ministry, before he walked around in the realm called greater he first connect hi life to that of Elijah, somone who was going in the direction he was going in. Simply stated, if you want to be a giant killer you need to hang out with people who have killed giants. Who and what we connect our lives to can and will have an direct impact on the realm in which we will live, "good" or "greater".



For more on the series you can watch the messages on our YouTube page elevationqc.

Greater

  

Greater....

             God has called each of us to live a life tat is greater than we have or could even imagine. The only real limits we have are the ones we have already set in our hearts and minds. 

JOHN 14:12 - "..and greater works will you do.."   Jesus left no room for wonder or doubt when it comes to His expectations for our life. It is a life that is Greater than the normalcy that seeks to suck the expectation for more out of the very air we breath. The reality is most of us are not in danger of ruining our lives we're just in danger of wasting them.

Most of us know, at least in part, that we are created for so much more. Yet we end up settling for so much less than what has been paid for on our behalf. This is baseline living and this place of miserable mediocrity is the cause of many Christians apathy, depression and overall loss of passion for life because somewhere along this journey we stopped at a place called "good enough".

I don't know about you but that is a place I cannot stay! Not when Jesus called us to something "greater." The clarion call has sounded, can you hear it? Today is the day and now is the time to shake off the slumber and sleep, apathy and depression and awaken your soul to the possibilities of something "greater."

I want to end my blog with a simple question. Are you ready to open up your heart, your imagination to the possibility that God has a vision for your life that is Greater?


                 - greater than the labels place on you by others
                 - greater than all the missed moments and wasted time
                 - greater than the slander from the enemy
                 - greater than the struggles your having right now
                 - greater than the dreams you already have for yourself


This is more than hyped up spiritual talk, it is a promise from the one who hung the stars and created the cosmos. He said, "GREATER," will we believe him?

This is a new series I am going to be preaching in youth during November and December, so stay connected on here as I continue to add pieces and thoughts about going after the "greater" that God has in store for you!

Create or not to Create that is the ??????

"All the forces in the world are not so powerfu as an idea whose time has come" - Victor Hugo

The first revelation we ave of God in scripture is that of a  creator.  All it takes is a glance n any given direction and this s evident. If God is anything, He is a creator and He is very creative. This being said then if God is infinitely creative and we were created and called to be conformed to His image then creativity isn’t optional for us. In reality, creativity is one dimension of spiritual maturity. To become more like the creator is to operate in wisdom because biblically wisdom and creativity are connected. In fact, creativity is a manifestation of wisdom in the context of excellence and integrity.  Wisdom is personified in Proverbs 8, and is the companion of God in the creation of all things. Therefore wisdom and creativity cannot be separated. While most Christians place a high value on wisdom most do not hold an equal value for creativity. Yet it is creativity that illustrates the presence of wisdom: “wisdom is vindicated by all her children” Luke 7:35 NASB. 

 The first mention of a person filled with the Spirit in scripture was Bezalel  and he was called upon to head up a building project for Moses. Wisdom has a creative release. King Solomon, the wisest man next to Jesus, was honored by dignitaries and led Gods people into the greatest time of peace and prosperity they had ever known. Wisdom, through one man, changed a nation. This wisdom made manifest not only in decisions but in creative release actually took the breath away from the Queen of Sheba (2 Chronicles 9:3-4).  I look forward to the day when the sons and daughters of God embrace this reality and the church in wisdom with creative release takes the breathe away from the world that surrounds her.  

Although there is no  4 step program to creativity or guaranteed formulas which will ensure that we get that God idea that we need these are some practical things I have put into place in my life that have and do help me.

1)      1. Prayer. The Aramaic word for “prayer” means “to set a trap.” We often think of prayer as words we speak to God and sometimes we forget He really does want to talk back.  Prayer is the place where God ideas are conceived and captured. This would also be a great place to add, praying in the Spirit, since it is the Spirit that desires to tell and show us those things “eyes havn’t seen and ears havn’t heard” (1 Corinthians  2:9-11).

2)      2. Mental stretching. Of course I start with reading my bible because I want to be into His mindset. But I also read about things I know nothing about to get out of my mental routine and do some cerebral stretching.

3)      Location. I often struggle to be productive behind my desk. I love the people I work with and my desk is ok (chair could use some work) but often for me to think out of the box I need to be out of the box.  Sometimes change of place equals change of perceptive. 

Somewhere in our journey we stop creating the future and start repeating the past. This is not loving God with all o our mind remember the creativity of the creator is in you, release that wisdom!

The Rising Sound

The Bible tells us that, "In the beginning God create the heavens and the earth" and His first known words were "let there be light." This light that was released from the mouth of God was the very essence of who He is, the light of His glory. Remember the Sun and moon, stars and so forth did not come until day four.

I say that because in releasing His glory, light He was also releasing sound. Light and sound travel through the medium of waves. Moving light waves are called electromagnetic waves and the wave length determines the type of light it is. As humans we only see we're only able to see 3% of the entire light spectrum and part of the 97% which is unseen to the human eye. Within the electromagnetic light there exists a range of wavelengths called radio waves and within those only a small percent is what we can hear. Essentially, we know that all these forms or categories of light and sound exist within the same spectrum. I said all of that just to get to this point, When God released His glory, "let there be light," He was also releasing sound or proclaiming the beginning of sound, in this instant music was born.

"Let there be sound" or "God is (light) Sound" are very true and biblical statements. When God breathed His life into us and created us in His image, that very same sound He released in the beginning (glory) He placed within us. As we can see from creation, sound has the ability to change everything. Think of movies how sound can make a scene loving or scary, the moment is dictated by the sound.

Throughout the generations the spiritual climate of God's people has always had a musical (sound) indicator. With every revival , there has been a release of a new sound (a fresh revelation Him). The sound changes as God's people respond to what He is doing and saying.I write this only to say the onslaught against this generation is to "steal, kill and destroy" the sound of heaven stored in the hearts of this generation. There is a sound that scares the enemy, a shout that silences the avenger.

Balam was hired to curse the people of God but every time he tried he blessed them. The way the encampment would have been set up and from Balams view it was in the arrangement of the cross. You can't curse a people living in the power of the cross! He also noticed something else about those people living in the cross, "the shout of the king is among them."  Balam couldn't curse but he did tell the king how to lead them out of the cross and lose their sound. Immorality, Idolatry, and more (wrong sound) lead them out from the cross and silenced their sound.

There is an onslaught of pornography, casual sex, destructive music, poisonous paradigms all meant to steal or silence the sound of an emerging generation but as the Lord spoke and light (sound) went forth and has continued until this day reminding us of the truth that light expels darkness and darkness cannot triumph over light, God sound, the shout of the king is rising all across the land in the hearts and lives of those who have determined to be silent no more and to release the shout of the king.

I believe we are on the verge of a another new sound being released!

The Comforter or the Punisher?

When the ministry of Jesus was rolling and there seemed to be no end in sight, He told His disciples that He had to go but He would not leave them alone (John 16:7). He didn't say, "I want to keep and eye on you guys, you have a habit of getting into trouble and doing dumb stuff so I'm going to leave and send you "The Punisher" to keep you guys in line," and neither did He say, "I have to make sure you don't mess up my plan so I am going to send "the Controller." No, Jesus said He was sending one like Himself, a helper, a councilor and a reminder.

The Lord is not looking to punish or control you, He is looking however to empower you and walk with you to navigate this great freedom He has given us. The word tells us that it was and is for FREEDOM Christ has made us free and He wants to help us navigate that freedom and if we mess up or miss it along the way He is there to come along side and call out the best in us.

How do you view the Lord, Punisher or Helper?