The Risk of Faith

 Ever get to a place in life where you realize, " I can't keep doing this forever, something has to change!" You have an uneasy feeling on the inside that says you haven't become who you were supposed to be and you're not doing what you were born to do. You know you need to change. You know your circumstances need to change .....but you're afraid that the price tag of change is too high. Frankly, you're afraid and caught in the middle of a place called 'the land between''.

  What you're experiencing is the realization that indeed there is very real risk involved in making significant life changes. We're not talking about a change in your physical appearance, your diet or your schedule. We're talking about the big things of life.... the WHO, the WHERE, the WHAT and ultimately the for WHOM. Since we are born for a specific purpose by a God who knows what he's doing we're all frustrated when we're misplaced in life. We're lost in life till we find our place, our person and our passion. Who am I? Where am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be doing?  If you haven't answered those questions adequately your soul suffers deeply. You always KNOW when you're not being honest about these three key dynamics in life.

  Let's talk a little about RISK. Risk defined is a possibility of loss, injury or danger. It's interesting that God's call to follow him in relationship implies absolute trust and a willingness to go where we've never gone.... to lean totally on his character and not KNOW the where, the how or many other pertinent details. The sum of God's requirement to please him is a VERY risky proposition: " But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him."

  It's one thing to know you need to make changes in your life. It's quite another to make the changes you need to make to get to where you know you need to go. Fear has the power to paralyze our movement toward our destiny. You'll always have to leave something, someone and some place before you can get to the 'next place' in life. Without Faith and trust in the God of love many won't go....the fear of the unknown is closely related to our not KNOWING the ONE who is love.

  Are you STUCK? Are you in a place of enduring frustration and dissatisfaction? Is your stomach churning and your mind racing at night? Perhaps you're being called to the place of risk with a God who can be trusted to care for you on life's challenging twist and turns.... your own pilgrimmage of personal faith. Change is not an enemy, it's your best friend calling you into the future... to a place prepared for you in every detail by a God who knows your name.... knows your desires, your talents, your dreams and has hand painted them into your soul.

  The frustration we all feel at times in life is often fueled by the God who wants something better for us... he doesn't want us to camp at wells gone dry or in relationships gone bad. He wants to change us, empower us, guide us and fulfill us. But all that involves an ongoing relationship of faith.... and risk.  The risk is that we can't control the God who calls us to himself.... but once you begin to know him and how much he loves you, you begin to relax and enjoy the journey.  You were born to experience life as adventure...there is an element of the explorer in all of us. When we deny our need for adventure and settle down into a 'risk free' life we shove a knife into our soul and die a slow death. Faith is all about trust...we move and make changes with no guarantees except that the God who calls us forward into the future is GOOD and LOVE.

  Are you moving into the future prepared for you? Or are you holding onto a past that no longer exists?  Let's follow the example of faithful Abraham, "By faith Abraham obeyed when was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelled in the land of promise...." (Heb. 11:8)

Jim

Intimacy Killers: Infidelity

  In order to develop and maintain intimacy in our relationships we must have a character quality known as fidelity.  Fidelity is defined as faithfulness that is steadfast in the face of any temptation to renounce, desert, or betray. Intimacy demands loyalty and devotion to whom we are committed. 

  Infidelity in relationships between men and women is one of the most frequently cited causes for relational failure. It is important we understand the why behind the necessity of faithfulness and fidelity in our relationships. When we go back to our 'relational roots' in the book of Genesis we see that intimacy and satisfaction in relationship was a God idea. Men and women were joined in a mutually satisfying unique creation.... the two were united into one. They were completely intimate, vulnerable, satisfied and without shame. ( see Genesis 2:18-25)

  Infidelity is more than an isolated physical act or relationship outside of marriage. Infidelity is rooted in the false belief that we can find 'what we're looking for' in intimacy outside of a committed relationship. It's a lie that plays upon our broken and sinful nature guaranteeing what it can never deliver. The sin trap begins when we look beyond the truth right in front of us to embrace the lie just beyond us. In the context of relational intimacy, infidelity often begins with lust. Lust is defined as unbridled sexual desire. Lust allows  the eyes and heart to wander outside of what is righteous and true. It seeks to take what it wants. It's not rooted in true love...it demands, it grabs. Lust is rooted in selfish desire though it often acts the part of genuine love. Jesus tells us that 'anyone who even looks on a woman with lust in his eye has  already committed adultery with her in his heart'. In a society and culture saturated with sexual imagery, its little wonder we have so few truly committed and intimate relationships. Betrayal is an act that damages all three dimensions of who we are as men and women. (Body, Soul & Spirit)

  Infidelity impacts our physical, emotional and spiritual selves. Once we cross the line of faithfulness in our marriage, we damage both ourselves and those who we claim to love. If you are married and you seek for intimacy outside of a relationship with your husband or wife you are guilty of infidelity and in danger of destroying yourself and your spouse.

  There is something uniquely destructive to human beings when we are guilty of sexual immorality. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 we read, "But our bodies were not made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. And God will raise our bodies from the dead by his marvelous power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead. Don't you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man (or woman) take his body which belongs to Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! And don't you know that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the scriptures say, "The two become one." But the person who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body."

  When we sexually unite with another human we become "one" with that person in every conceivable dimension. There is no such thing as 'casual sex'.  What God created for committed relationship is beautiful and satisfying in the right context. When we take our sexuality and spread it around beyond the safe boundaries of committed love we damage every aspect of our humanity. The intimacy we seek through unbridled sexual relationships often ensures we will never find what we're looking for.

  Real intimacy demands committed and life long relationships which are willing to work through differences, disappointments and disagreements. Intimacy at its core is a spiritual reality that must involve the foundation stones of faith, hope and love. The counterfeits of self, lust and sensuality will never satisfy ultimately. Life long love is built on spiritual substance that will never fail us, never leave us, and never forsake. True intimacy is rooted in a God of love who can make all things new in our relationships. He can heal our broken hearts and give us pure desires. Today, I urge you to forsake infidelity and lust for the real deal of committed love. Intimacy awaits.

Finding My Roots: The Mather Legacy

When I was 5 years old my parents took me for my first dental appointment. I don't remember much of my visit other than something the dentist said to me in the presence of my father. The dentist leaned down in my direction and whispered, "Your family name is important, when you are older you need to learn about the history of your family." When I was 8 years old my father bought an encylopedia and I looked up the Mather name. In the meantime my father had researched our family genealogy and verified we are direct descendents of the Mather's who immigrated to America as Puritan minister. As I have gotten older the history and calling these men experienced has had a direct impact on my life. That dentist whispering into a 5 year old child's ear helped me rediscover my roots. I would like to share a little bit about the Mather family who immigrated to America so long ago. Richard Mather was the first of my family to arrive to America. He was born in 1596 near Liverpool, England.  He became a believer as a teenager.  After brief study at Oxford University, in 1619 Mather was ordained as an Anglican minister. In more than a decade of pastoral ministry, he upheld Calvinist orthodoxy while keeping clear of the Anglican ceremonies, he and other Puritans found objectionable. In 1633 Mather was briefly suspended from his position; the following year he lost it. In 1635, Richard and his family took sail for Massachusetts.
  Richard was soon installed as pastor of the small church in Dorchester, just south of Boston. He had 2 major accomplishments in his work there: 1. He persuaded the congregation to require that those wanting to be members provide a convincing account of their own conversion, the goal being a church composed of 'visible saints'. 2. He composed the bulk of the Cambridge platform (1649), a sort of Robert's rule of order for the government of New England churches. Richard died in 1669.
  Richards son, Increase has been hailed as the "greatest American Puritan". Increase was a dominant figure and the leading voice for orthodox Calvinism in an era when rationalism was beginning to undermine the Bay Colony's  religious foundations.
  Increase attended Harvard receiving his B.A. in 1656. But instead of staying at Harvard for his M.A. he enrolled in Trinity College, Dublin, from which he received his master's degree in 1658. In 1664 Increase was called to Pastor Boston's  Second Church, where he remained until his death. He spent most of his waking hours in his study, preparing the biblically grounded, theologically sophisticated sermons his congregation demanded. His delivery was free, direct and vivid. Many of his sermons were published.
  Increase was appointed a fellow of Harvard College and a member of the school's corporation in 1675. 10 years later he was elected President. He insisted on retaining his pastorate.  His absence from the campus while pastoring resulted in his ouster in 1701 by religious liberals... the low point of his ministry.
  The high point of his ministry was when Increase was called to London to negotiate the return of the colony's original charter, which has been rescinded by Charles 2.... although he failed in the task he greatly influenced the new charter granted by King William. Increased died in 1723.
  Cotton Mather was born in 1663. He was named for his maternal grandfather, the well known John Cotton. Cotton mastered Latin, Greek and Hebrew and graduated from Harvard at the age of 15. He followed both his father and grandfather into the ministry having become a believer in his teen years. In 1685 he was ordained and installed as his father's associate Pastor at Boston's North Church.
Cotton shared his father's commitment to evangelical Calvinism. But where Increase's sermons were plain and direct, Cotton's were ornate and full of literary references and deep theology.
 While Increase focused on the preaching and study, Cotton canvassed house by house across Boston...reaching the unchurched! He even composed an instructional booklet to guide other pastors in evangelism.
  Cotton also organized small groups of a dozen or so members, which met in private homes once or twice a month for the purpose of prayer, bible study and fellowship. Such groups contributed vitally to the health of North church.
  Regrettably, most closely associated with Cotton's name is the Salem witch trials of 1692. In fact Cotton denounced the way the trials were being conducted, insisting on more objective proof. It was the united opposition of Boston's clergy that was crucial in ending the trials and saving dozens from the gallows.
  Cotton's supreme achievement was in drawing on the perspectives of Puritans like Richard Baxter and German Pietists like August  Hermann Francke to forge a distinctively American spirituality. This new piety would finally come into its own with birth of American evangelicalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mather's ministry bridged the gap between what was and what was to be.
  For years, Cotton Mather prayed for New England's spiritual awakening, praying that God would agains pour out his Spirit on its churches and communities. In 1728 his death brought and end to the Mather spiritual dynasty of the era, but within a decade came the answer to his prayers--the Great Awakening! (excerpted from an article by George W. Harper)
  I became a Christian just before my 21st birthday on August 2nd, 1980. Now I look back on what the first Mather's in America accomplished and realize the power of a Godly heritage. I feel the power of the prayers of my forbears from centuries ago and long to serve faithfully in my generation. Thank you God for calling my family from England so long ago. Help me Lord to serve you with the same faith, dedication and vision that the early American Mather's were known for!

Jim
 

Prayers from Hell

When we think about praying we almost always assume it's a good thing. As young children if we are raised in a religious family we are taught how to pray and the importance of prayer. But prayer is in fact a struggle for most of us. The idea of speaking to an almighty and eternal being is often awkward and intimidating. What exactly should I be praying about?
  I have been a Christian since August 2nd, 1980. I have prayed quite a few prayers since then!  I would like to tell you I am adept at praying and all my prayers are unselfish and powerful. However, if I did I would be lying... another sin I need to avoid! The truth is sometimes I have prayed horrible, selfish prayers that in some distinct ways were inspired from hell. I want to share with you an example from own life of such a prayer. Prayer is such a vital, powerful and life giving form of communication that we dare not waste a single word in the presence of God. Please stay with me as I share my heart on this important topic I have entitled, "Prayers from Hell".
  I moved to Mobile, Alabama in July, 1998. I have lived next to the USA campus since my arrival. Upon my arrival to Mobile I wanted to stay in shape so I began the daily ritual of jogging around the campus for both physical and spiritual exercise. I would pray for things as I jogged the entire perimeter of the University of South Alabama. On the corner of University and Old Shell I was often confronted with the Solomon's restaurant and bar. It was a 'notorious' place noted for the frequent appearance of the Police and criminal activity. One night one of our international students walking through the parking lot was mugged and robbed. I got into the habit of praying daily for God to 'shut down' Solomon's. My full name is James John Mather. I am named after the two brothers who were Jesus apostles, James and John. They both were nicknamed "Sons of Thunder" for wanting to call down destruction on anyone who would not follow Jesus their way. Unfortunately, I have much in common with my namesakes! I am often too quick to judge and too slow to have mercy and compassion. I prayed for 10 years for God to close Solomon's. One day while jogging around the campus, God stopped me in my tracks as I prayed my time worn but ineffective prayer. Here is what I think I heard God say, "You're praying the wrong prayer!" At once I felt both shock and humility. I stopped running and  listened for what God might say next. I felt a distinct impression that God was telling me to pray for the people inside the Solomon's business. " I want you to pray for the people inside... the customers, the workers, the business owners."  That's what I felt I heard God say. I began to pray in that manner with compassion and concern for the people... and not with the goal to condemn...but to redeem. A few months later the lights went out at Solomon's.  The sign board out front listed a cell phone number for anyone interested in leasing the building.
  We were in the early stages of launching an international church in Mobile and I wondered if God might have us use the former Solomon's building as our first location. We called the number. Some of our leadership team met with the two brothers who owned the business. On our first meeting I apologized for any part my prayers might have had in Solomon's closing. They looked shocked at my statement but said they were glad it closed. Int their own words the business was 'killing them'. It quickly became apparent that we were not to lease the Solomon's building but instead embrace and welcome the former owners of Solomon's into our church family. Howard and Steve Weller have now become close friends and very involved in our church. I officiated at Steve's wedding and have walked with both of them through the trials of physical illness. To put it simply, I love the men whose business I was praying closed. I was praying the wrong prayer. When I began to pray for the people on the inside of that bar, God took notice. I don't want to be a "Son of Thunder" any longer. I want to be a son of God.... full of love, compassion and mercy. I want to intercede with prayers from heaven....not from hell.  Will you join me?

The Wizards of Washington D.C.

The current economic maelstrom consuming the world's attention reminds me of a critical scene in the classic movie, "The Wizard of Oz". Dorothy and her friends finally make it to the land of Oz to seek the missing pieces in their lives in the audience of the great cosmic power of the Wizard of Oz. Behind the curtain we find a weak and ineffective leader who has a  lot of smoke but no fire.
  In the last week, the curtain has been drawn back upon the Wizards of Washington D.C., the European Union (as well as Wall Street) have been found to be severely lacking in their ability to fix the collapsing confidence of a broken world. The banks and the welfare of many people around the world has been simply robbed by clever but heartless bankers and political scoundrels. Now when we hear the voices of the wizards no one believes.... no one is moved to cower back into our caves of false comfort. We simply don't believe their words anymore.
  We are in for a 'day of reckoning' and austerity. We no longer can be cajoled into spending money we don't have or to believe that the wizards know best. The entire Western World has become indebted to the point of insolvency... bankrupt. If we are to avoid war and anarchy we need a moral renewal much alike the great awakenings of early America. Democracy in times of crisis is dependent on a moral people.... to restrain us from fear, criminal behavior and absolute chaos.
  We have become a world where evil is called good... and good evil. There is more fear about people being called to prayer than there is to ongoing riots in the streets of London or Syria. We have lost the moral foundation that produces prosperity and wonder how we wound up broke. Our financial condition personally and corporately is a reflection of who we are on the inside. We are empty and uncertain about what is really true...what is really important and thus our civilization is at a massive turning point. The way forward is in fact to look back and search for the conditions and realities that produced our prosperity in the first place... a commitment to truth and absolutes that cannot be sullied and ignored for very much longer.
Praying for a 3rd great awakening to shake the world and return us to God.

Jim

When the Walls fall down

The pressure is unrelenting. An unceasing torrent of information about economics, debt and a financial armageddon knocking at our door. A few days ago we breathed a 'sigh of relief' at a phantom debt agreement. The political shenanigans had the immediate impact of collapsing world markets. The reality has broken through the smoke and mirrors of world governments. The mirage of false prosperity no longer offers even faint hope for a world where multiple walls continue to fall.
  We can't print more paper currency and 'juice and seduce' people to buy stuff they can't afford and don't really need. We are now facing the music of reality. The world is broke and broken. Mammon is an unrelenting but ultimately unsatisfying false god. The last book of the New Testament.... the Revelation, has much to say about economic turmoil and it's root causes. In Revelation 18 we are brought into a future reality that appears to be nearly upon us. " After this I saw another angel with great authority coming down from heaven, and the earth is illuminated by his splendor. He cried in a mighty voice: It has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen! She has become a dwelling for demons, a haunt for every every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean and despicable beast. For all the nations have drunk the wine of her sexual immorality, which brings wrath. The kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from her excessive luxury. (Rev. 18: 1-3)
  There are no more seductive forces on the earth than the lust for power, money and sex. They are intimately related. When our life is given over to any form of  idolatry, there is a high cost to ourselves and to the world in which we live. God gives us a warning to come out of the deception of idolatry here in chapter 18, "Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins, or receive any of her plagues. For her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Pay her back the way she also paid, and double it according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix a double portion for her. As much as she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, give her that much torment and grief."  Evil will not always reign supreme in our world. There comes a time when what we have sown will come back to haunt us. If we are not living lives based upon truth and righteousness the wall of idolatry and falsehood will collapse suddenly back down upon us.
  Worldwide we are seeing the beginnings of a massive financial collapse. Those who worshiped at the false idol of the money god are weeping during the day and sleepless at night. Revelation 18: 15, "The merchants of these things who became rich from her, will stand off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning and saying,: Woe, woe, the great city, clothes in fine linen, purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls; because in a single hour such fabulous wealth was destroyed!
  The global economy is seamlessly connected like never before. The illusion of economic and political unions are melting like wax under the heat of unrelenting truth. Greed has a massive payday and its backlash is fiscal collapse. What to do when all around us walls are falling? The answer is simple and yet profound. Jesus said it best in the context of dealing with worry and anxiety in the gospel of Matthew chapter 6, "This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what your will wear.  Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky; they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they?  (vs 25-26) In verse 33 Jesus makes an astounding and vital promise to those who would follow him as Lord and Savior, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (necessities of life) will be provided for you."
  We'll have what we need when we really know who we are..... who God is .... and how we should live in the light of that knowledge: full surrender to his will and ways.  When the walls of this world collapse there is one still standing who will never leave us....never forsake us.....never stop loving us. Why don't you join me in following him to the place of real and lasting joy....It's all about relationship.

Jim
www.allnationsmobile.org

Soul Healing

When you're certain, When you're home
When you're broken,  All alone

There's a feeling and a song with your name
Confusion and fear for a season

Hope like a river, bursts your banks
It's coming inside, flooding your house

Soaked on the inside, pained but alive
The artist is working, repainting your Soul

Don't run from darkness, you can't outrun the night
Crying out for light, you'll see his face

He's coming closer, He's breathing your name
The Brother you've needed, The Father who won't hurt your heart

Let him draw closer, let him heal the real you
The hiding is hurting, the closet is killing

Come out in the open and become who you are
It's time for freedom and the end of your hell

Jim