I Memorized a Chapter of the Bible About Love
The Bible is a Matter of Life and Death
After six months out of fellowship in the church, pulled from time in the Scripture in real ways following the birth of our 2nd child, a cross-country move, and a new job requiring a lot of travel, I see the effects of not being as closely connected to the vine, and it is slow death.
Prophecy, Most Read, People Getting It Done
Shandy Showed Me My 2015 (End of Year Update)
***Now that 2015 is complete, I decided to go back and report on how this prophecy panned out, as in, how accurate was it... See the end-of-year updates in bold below.
The more you believe in and listen for God, the more you hear His voice, which means you get supernatural guidance, even prophetic visions.
Sounds crazy, but its happened to me many times. Just click the Prophecy tag in my archives to read all about 'em. But for now, I have to tell you about what happened to me last week, when a bro approached me with a bunch of fresh info for my days ahead.
It was a normal Tuesday morning spent praying with guys in Silicon Valley. Afterward we had breakfast, and then I headed to my car. One of the guys was parked in the same direction, so we walked together. As we did, he piped up and told me that while we had prayed together, God gave him a vision for me.
Now, this isn't just any bro, Shandy Pekkonen, is a guy I've prayed with for over two years, and I know that he both loves Jesus, pursues him anyway he can, he believes God's promises, and as a result, God uses him to do cool things like share a vision of the future.
So I was curious to hear what Shandy had to say. He started out by saying that God was looking forward to creating with me. That he say a large black wall and the two of us, God and I, were throwing ideas on that wall to create a vision for my future. Shandy said that God was really looking forward to that time with me.
Whoa, right away I was hit by what this brother was telling me. For a month I had a strong desire to get away for a day to pray and brainstorm with God on a whiteboard. In fact, there is a friend of mine who has a house overlooking Silicon Valley where I sometimes go to pray, and he had just put a new office on his property, and I specifically wanted to go to that location to have my brainstorm session with God. I had a hunch (which I later confirmed) that instead of a whiteboard, his "brainstorm wall" was currently black.
Update: I ended up doing this within a week of Shandy's prophecy, and it served to orient my thinking. The time played a part in a web of actions that led to my getting a consulting job in Philadelphia where I met with a guy who hired me, resulting in our move to the East Coast.
Next, Shandy told me that God showed him grass that was about to sprout from the ground and that it was going to start growing. This was a result of seeds that I had been sowing.
Update: Shortly after I started my new job at Geneva Global, I learned that there were many people in my network that unbeknownst to me had connections that would serve me in my new role. Without realizing it, I had been sowing seeds for my future work without knowing it, to the level that I've been traveling back to Silicon Valley almost monthly to continue to cultivate those seeds.
Even more, he said, while my wife was largely not involved in my work in this most recent season (ie. few years at my latest job), that was going to change, and she was going to be involved.
This choked me up right on the spot. I never felt like my wife was fully included in my work and that was a missed opportunity to me. I wasn't blaming anyone for it, I just knew that I wanted her to be a part of my life more fully, including my work, because I know she has so much to offer any situation, and plus we're just better as a team. My dream job, in fact, no matter what it is includes working with my wife.
Update: Whitney has been welcomed by my new company with open arms. Geneva Global made extra efforts to ensure she was cared for by having insurance and doctors in place. They provided full-service movers to lighten the load on the move. The COO asked me weekly how my wife was doing, and helped us find a pediatrician when we landed on the East Coast. Whitney felt a real warmth from this extra attention and care, and brought the kids to the office to meet people, and was warmly greeted. People passed the baby around and wanted to know more about her. Our CEO has asked to have Whitney and I over for dinner at his home, and Whitney received a personal thank you from him for making sacrifices to enable my work at the firm especially the travel. At the company Christmas party Whitney and I were invited to sit at the table with the CEO and his wife and managing director and COO. This has all served to welcome Whitney into the company in a way she has never been before. and now that we are moving to a house just a mile from my office, I forsee Whitney stopping by to say hello more than ever before.
Shandy started to tell me about changes coming in my current role at Cityteam, but I had to leave our conversation, because (TMI warning) all the coffee from breakfast had caught up with me and I urgently had to use the bathroom. But I needed to hear the rest of it, so we agreed we'd talk more by phone.
I soon called Shandy back and I wasn't sure how much more God could have given him in this vision. I also know that one moment of vision with God can fill volumes of book, He sometimes paints an entire story with so many details in a single moment (yes, this the same God that breathed into existence all Creation, so its no surprise).
Turns out Shandy had a lot more. He asked me about my parents, and specifically our relationship. He called out specific issues that were affecting us, and he was spot on. The good news, he said, is that there was healing in store for the year ahead. As he was telling me this, I was full of emotion, so happy inside, praising God.
Update: Who knew that we would move back East and that we'd get to spend significantly more time with my parents, which has been truly wonderful, especially to see them with the kids. My Mom drives down to play with the kids every other week or so. I talk to them far more than I did while on the West Coast. We Facetime with the kids more. We've had a number of really constructive conversations. All in all, I definitely feel like we're growing our relationship.
Then Shandy asked about my brother. Wait, did I even have a brother, he asked? Yes, I do. Well, he said, your brother is an amazingly magnetic person, isn't he? Yes, Shandy he is. He is really good speaking to people, connecting with them, delighting them, helping them. Yes, he is all of those things, I reported.
Well, he said, your brother was given a pastoral gift by God, he was made to be a pastor and to speak to people to restore their souls. That is his calling, and there is some history of this in your family (I'm not aware of it, have to do some digging to confirm it). Without going into the details, the things Shandy said about my brother, a person he never met, in fact, he never knew I even had a brother, they were just incredible, true, so good to hear, again, I was ecstatic.
Update: I decided to relay this to my brother, and we've talked about it a couple of times since. The reality is that he is really gifted with people, he connects with them easily and is genuinely interested in their retirement security. I've been sharing with him how, due to this prophecy and continued prayer, I believe that he has an ability to help care for people's eternal security. And I'm so pleased to say that these have been great exchanges. Even more, I later realized that the "history" that Shandy talked about was referring to my Dad and his calling as a pastor. I relayed this to my Dad and ever since have seen it confirmed over and over. He's a "man about town" who knows many people in his town, is often sought out for counsel, and has a heart to help people. We've been discussing that there is perhaps another level of help he can provide, actual healing, casting out demons, speaking life and truth. Again, these conversations are undoubtedly positive, well-received, and on-going.
He concluded by telling me how even though there would be tough work ahead, that the tide was about to change for me and my family. The things he said were such an encouragement to me that I got off the phone, I thanked God for his encouragement, and put my Bible app onto reading mode to sit and listen to Scripture as I drove. I couldn't wait to tell my wife later that night about this encouraging report, and the rest of my family too.
Update: Reading this prophecy now, at the end of the year, literally has me choked up. There was tough work, leaving a job well, leaving an area where I had made great friends, moving across the country with a 5 week old and a toddler, living in transition while we look for a home, starting a new job with 2+ hours of commute time, struggling to be disciplined in my faith with a lot of obligations and a lack of sleep. But the overwhelming sense is that the tide has changed in a BIG way, that is literally how I would describe it. It never ceases to amaze me that God speaks to us, often through other people, to guide us and at times even show us a glimpse of our future.
So, what does your future look like? Do you get reports on it, either small details or a fuller report like I got? You must know that it is possible, that truly all of the days of your life are written in a book held by a good, loving, and just God who desires to show you.
Shandy is available for coaching and ministering to people--reach him here.
The Most Important Message I Have to Give
While attending the 2015 Primemovers National Conference, I had a chance to share a story that illustrates what I believe to be the most important in this time.
Gift Guide for Children
These are the books Whitney and/or I have found to read nicely, they're on message, and well received by our little guys.
Click for more details and to purchase.
We Prayed for a Cool Home and This Happened
Moving from the West Coast (Silicon Valley) to the East Coast (Philadelphia) was a big undertaking, especially with a 1 month old baby and an almost 2 year old toddler. Needless to say, Whitney and I prayed for God to land us in a place where we felt at home and could be a part of the community in a deep way. What happened is pretty remarkable and has us thanking and praising Him...
The Derfler's Are Seeking This Kind of Church
Here's what Whitney and I are thinking and praying for as we look to settle into a church family on the East Coast.
God is the Real Deal
I've found that in God's Kingdom things get whacky really fast. His "economy" looks nothing like ours, He doesn't play by our laws, there are no man made presumptions to contend with.
“Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.””
I've come to realize that God actually turns things upside down like this so that, when one looks back at the circumstances, they are so clearly out of one's control that it had to be God. I find myself thinking, and increasingly saying, just that. God get's the credit--there's no way I could have done this.
If you watched my recent Stanford talk, you heard about how when I was in need of money to "make ends meet" I got a call about a consulting job that more than made up for the 1/3 pay cut I had suddenly experienced. Clearly it would seem that I was the one who was blessed by that.
Think again.
Yes, I certainly was, but it turns out that the guy who gave me the job was probably equally blessed. First, as it all played out, he realized so clearly that God spoke to him in prayer--this alone is a wonderful sensation. Once you tune your ear to discern what is your own thoughts, and what are the thoughts God put there, its powerful.
Then, he stepped out in faith to hire me and then pay me out of his own pocket. A financial loss, but he quickly saw God used it for a bigger purpose. I remember sitting with him and his wife over dinner while on the job and I detailed how I had met with a CEO who had offered me a job on the spot. They looked at each other, then at me, and said, "that's why we were to bring you here."
When these kinds of things play out, no matter how seasoned a believer in God you may be, I think you are always elated and even a bit mystified at the realities of a practical living God who's working things out on Earth. It still blows me away when this stuff happens, but the more I see it and believe it the more it happens and I feel like I'm essentially living in a world with another dimension.
When I spoke at Stanford, Mike, the guy that hired me, brought his wife and son along to hear the talk. We've rehashed it numerous times to really praise God about it. And, I just discovered, it all struck him so much that he decided to write about it on his popular blog, Biblical Viewpoint. Here's an except from his post titled, "Are You the Real Deal?"
“Over this past year I had a young man’s name pop into my mind while I was praying. Not a vision, not audible words, but the simple, distinct thought of this person’s name. I did not even know him that well. The strong notion I received in prayer was that I should hire this young man as an assistant on one of my business consulting projects. By the way, this would cost me money out of my own pocket and I was confident that this junior person would add little value to the project. The available project had not even come up yet. I asked God to make it clear how, where, and when to involve this person.”
In the article, he talks about living a stereotypical Christian faith vs. one that he calls "all in." This is humbling to me that he considers me to be this kind of Christian, I know I fail often, and yet God keeps saying to me, "Ryan, I need laborers, people to be my hands and feet, brush yourself off and follow me." And for that, yes, I am all in.
My Talk at Stanford
I was really humbled to be invited to speak at the Stanford Faculty Club as part of the Silicon Valley Prayer Breakfast quarterly event considering the Godly men who had come before me.
And yet, it made sense since I had been given a prophetic word several times over the past year or two that I would be speaking in front of groups, as a sort of humble pastor.
As the date came, I prayed, I asked God what to say. I felt like he was telling me, "I have already given you plenty to say." Not exactly a workable outline.
And yet, I knew that, indeed, He had given me everything I need. As the date approached, I became excited, no nervous at all, but feeling as though God was going to use this to do something new. Praise God for that.
When I landed in the Bay Area, it was so wild from the start. A talk I gave at a Christian high school resulted in follow-up contact by students that left me grasping for God's wisdom in response.
A couple of hours spent in the ghetto of San Francisco left me feeling both filthy and the power of the resurrection spirit in the face of entrenched darkness.
Just 48 hours before I was set to talk, I sat down to draft up this outline to hand out to the attendees. I did it because we hear so much, we take in so much information, I feel like retention is low, and that God really wanted me to impress the three takeaways on this to the group.
Then, on Wednesday, November 3rd, this is what I said:
PART ONE: The video recorder cut out...
PART TWO: So I recorded the 2nd half comments back at my hotel.
Lance Wants to Die
Man, There Is Death All Over the Streets of San Francisco
I had two hours free in San Francisco before meeting friends for dinner, and I thought I should go to the Tenderloin.
The neighborhood is known for its open air drug deals, prostitutes, government subsidized SRO's (single resident occupancy units) where many of the residence are sick or dying.
I would have been easier to check-in to my hotel early and freshen up before dinner, but this "random" Facebook moment popped up on my phone:
Okay God, I hear ya, and I took the 5th Street exit, made my way to 6th and Howard, and pulled into the first spot I could find.
Thank God I saw a woman passed out on the curb with half her body laying in my spot before I ran her over; I found another place to park.
I walked the block, through the pot smoke, past hooting and hollering clusters of men and women. People leaned against buildings to avoid falling over, heaps of dirty flesh lay on the ground in various states of undress. I rubbed my shoulder to discover that I had been crapped on by a bird perched on the building above me.
For most people The Tenderloin can be overwhelming. It feels dangerous because, frankly, it is. People high on drugs, desperate and dying, in a fragile mental state are all around.
The environment itself bears witness to the darkness that rules the day. Look around and see used condoms, beat up hookers loitering outside sex shops, human feces in the corner, bodies gaunt from years of drug abuse.
I decided to pray with people and give whatever money I had. But when I tried to enter a "hotel" I had been to several times I learned that the residents were all evicted as it was being converted into an SRO. Okay, God, why do you have me here, I asked?
A group of Christians came out of another hotel and we exchanged stories of the darkness in the area and ways we've fought it and have ministered to people.
I walked the block and saw a woman who was being held upright by her friend. Every time he tried to leave her, she would collapse to the ground. He kept saying, "I don't know you." She was totally out of it, he kept holding her up. They propped up against one of many demonic murals in the area, which looked as if it wanted to devour the young life.
You can see the two off to the left in this photo.
Here's another awful mural. It shocks me that this is a city, a society, so calloused to the reality of spiritual darkness and oppression that they would allow this as their public art. There are literally scores more packed with skulls, demons, death--satan has clearly marked his domain here.
Up ahead I saw a pair of legs jutting across the sidewalk.
I didn't plan to stop and talk to this guy. But as I stepped around him, I looked into his eyes, and he in mine.
There was a sparkle of life.
He asked for a cigarette, I don't smoke I said. We bantered back and forth, I asked for his name, he said it was Lance. I shook his hand, crouched next to him, and asked him to tell me his story.
As he began, I drew out more details with questions. Deeper we went into his life, he'd served in the Gulf war, was a track star, then I learned about the source of his pain, the blow from which he has never recovered.
He was in a car accident and his wife and daughter were killed. The only survivor, Lance blamed himself; he could have told them to go slower to avoid hitting black ice. He blubbered with tears and snot as I held him close.
Lance went through the windshield, and has had seizures ever since. He lost his family home, their car, his job, pain killers don't work anymore, only a constant supply of alcohol to numb the pain. He wants to die, I fought back and told him he's awesome, I spoke life to him. Then I asked him if he wanted to say anything to the world, he said yes, this is what he said.
Lance said he never learned in school how to deal with death like this.
At one point, as he looked at my phone, he said he hadn't seen his own reflection in a long time. He called me an angel that came from out of nowhere. I repeated my advice to him, talk to God, read his Bible, go to Cityteam. Then I left.
I ran into a guy I know from Cityteam, an addiction recovery program, but had relapsed. He commented about living in the Tenderloin, he said it was the darkest area he's ever been in. He said the spirit of death and Satan is everywhere, like Legion demons from Luke Chapter 8 waiting to sweep into the next person. Without God, he remarked, nobody out here has a chance.
We talked about how with God, there is no fear in the Tenderloin. It didn't even occur to me to be afraid. I gave him a hug and blessed him in the fight for his life.
I made my way to ritzy Nob Hill for dinner, parked my car, and wasn't shocked to see skulls and cross bones all over the place. San Francisco has invited Satan and his beasts with open arms, socioeconomic status makes no difference.
This is a dark city in need of God, I'm certain of it now more than ever. The darkness is not confined to the Tenderloin--not even close--here's what greets you entering a swanky apartment building.
Lord help San Francisco.
In the spirit of victory of Jesus, who overcame the world and death, the same victory that enables me and anyone who knows Jesus to walk into the darkness with no fear, I leave you with this.
Speaking to Students at Alma Heights Christian School
A teacher at Alma Heights Christian School in Pacifica, CA, reached out to me to talk to the high schoolers. I was super blessed by her invitation, and felt God prompt me to accept it followed by His preparing me to deliver a message. This is what I shared:
Pretty new to talking to students about my faith. Some were clearly engaged, while others were just as clearly sleeping. I trust God for any impact. Sowing seeds, letting someone else water, knowing God Himself is responsible for growth.
I was super encouraged that one student came up to me after the talk, after the room had cleared, to say he felt like I was speaking directly to him. He said he was nervous to come talk to me, but he just had to since he felt so clearly that I was speaking directly to him. He told me why he felt that way, and it was clear that the Holy Spirit had moved in that room. We exchanged info and I encouraged him and instructed him as best I could.
After I left, I got a message on Twitter then text messages from students--this is what they said:
can I ask for your opinion on homosexuality? do you think its wrong? last year i accepted who i was and i knew i was attracted to boys since i was little... i believe i was born like this and it wasn't my choice.
Your whole message resonated with me. i'm going through a rough patch with someone i've been dating. i feel like God has placed you in my life because i don't know what to do. How do you listen to God and hear his voice?
Suddenly my offer to be a brother in Christ to these students became very real. Amazingly, I felt very equipped to respond to the inquires I got, not because of my own wisdom, but because I was literally sitting with brothers in Christ when I got the questions, and was able to talk through them to confirm what I was thinking.
One improvement I will make when I talk to groups in the future is I will provide a handout or visual that includes my contact info, as well as a few trusted local resources if I know of any.
When you're walking with the King of Kings, you never know when a life is going to be changed in an instant.
I Slept In A Homeless Shelter & I Never Expected This
Healed A Man at Penn Station in NYC?
This guy comes up to me at Penn Station NYC, wanting help, not knowing I'm sensing in my spirit the extent. I'm hungry, he says. Okay, I will feed you. Grab $ from pocket. Tell me your name... Tell me your story. How did you get here? Kidney failure. Two strokes. Heart attack. How old are you? 50; I stroked in my truck at UPS. I do dialysis 4 days per week for 4 hours. Wow man, that's tough. Look at my veins. Okay. Touch it right here, there's a machine in there. I feel it. But!! I get a new kidney in two days. Praise God I react. Then I say, where is your family? Another country, but they are coming for the surgery. Okay brother, I will give you 2 things: 1. The rest of my $, 2. A prayer to God for you--is that okay? Oh yes, I believe in God... Always have... Let's go over here he asks... We go... Jesus, oh Jesus, my hand on his arm, oh Jesus, your name, wash over this all now, heal him, accept the kidney please, strengthen, renew, give him a vision of the purpose of this long trial. He looks at me: yes, yes, there's a reason.... I look him in the eyes--there's a plan for you--before I walk away knowing he will be healed I give him a big old hug, then on my train...
I Sent A Demon Possessed Woman Packing
I recount the experience in this short video...
I Faced A Demon with a Couple Googlers
WARNING: This post contains graphic content.
I'm starting to see the plastic skeleton's, sheet ghosts, and other goblin paraphernalia hanging around town. This reminds me of the time I met a demon possessed woman on the street of San Francisco with a couple guys from Google and their friends.
What?! A demon? Are they real?
Yes. They are. I could rattle off Bible verses that talk about it but I'll leave that up to you and instead recount what I saw.
Here's how it went down: A guy I met said he wanted to bring his Google colleagues into the City to serve the poor. At the time, I was working for a ministry called Cityteam with an operation in the Tenderloin, a neighborhood know for open air drug deals, passed out people, emergency sirens, sex in the corners, people defecating right before you, even some convulsing as if possessed by something...
Here's a short (and sanitized) video I created after the day's events. I think it gives you a taste of what we were up to.
What you don't see in this video is our encounter with a demon possessed woman. I was leading the group down the street when I turned around to see that the other five had fallen behind. Sitting on the curb there beside me was a woman I had seen drinking hours ago, and not wanting to deal with someone inebriated I avoided eye contact.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw that she had on a super dirty scarf, while in my hand I clutched a clean new one. I decided to offer it to her and so asked her what her name was. Rather than answer she offered to perform a sex act on me for a nickle. As I worked up a response, somewhat shocked, the rest of the group caught up.
Now with a larger audience her offers became more vulgar. Another guy and I began to say to her repeatedly that she didn't have to do this. We told her that there was hope for her. She ignored us except for one moment when her look changed to pure innocence and she asked, "Is there?"
But then her head snapped back and she began gyrating on the sidewalk. We asked her if we could pray for her, she ignored us. We kept asking, then again in a break from her profanity she looked up to us and said, "please pray for me."
As soon as we began to pray, she leaped to her feet and ran right into the street and barely missed being hit by a car. We were all a bit stunned but continued on our mission to give away hundreds of hand made scarves, hats, and blankets.
While our interaction with this woman was the most stark example of the torment a demon possessed woman has, literally talking out of two sides of her face each with a distinct look and language, it wasn't the only. Throughout the day, we encountered others that were oppressed, shackled by death and addiction, clearly in a dark place.
Some we met had a different disposition, they beamed with hope, joy, and love. They invited us into their homes, tiny rooms no bigger than 8' x 10'. Despite their circumstances, though, they seemed to literally emit light.
Here's the video where the group talks about what they experienced that day, including our encounter with the demon possessed woman.
In closing, realize that there is another spiritual dimension on this planet, and that demons exist. They seek to confuse, divide, kill and destroy wherever possible. Often they work subtle angles killing slowly over time.
The Bible lays all this out very clearly, and when you understand the power and authority of Jesus Christ there's nothing to worry about. With Jesus there is guaranteed victory over demons and death altogether!
Just by uttering the name Jesus you can send a demon running. Though, I encourage you not to keep the name above all names in your back pocket like a "Get Out of Jail FREE" card should you face a demon. I encourage you to get to know who Jesus is by picking up a Bible. If you get lost or have questions, set up a phone call with me via my connection page.
This Halloween, as many decorate their homes with fake spirits of the dark sort, since I know first hand that there are plenty of real demon's in the world, I think I'll decorate with pumpkins.
I Want to Die
Every week I get to a place where I'm desperate for the Word of God. Sometimes I don't get my fill and the desperation grows. I know that the longer I stay away, the more I'm doing things in my own power, in ways that make sense to me, and the risk of being outside of God's will scares me.
Eventually I succumb and collapse at the feet of God. He's so gracious He's always there to pick me up, invite me to sit on His lap, and gently instruct and guide me.
The point is that there are so many forces pulling me away from God. Yet, I'm already tuned into His Word, I've had a taste, I've submitted my life to Jesus, and there is no turning back. But staying there, well, its a daily battle.
The further I go into my faith, the more I see the miraculous unfolding in and around me, the more intense the battle rages. I get emails now from people who say my words or prayers or something I did brought them healing, it stirred up their interest in Jesus. I know this is God, just my making myself available to Him in some small way.
You'd think that with these kinds of things happening that I would be ever so committed. And in some ways I am, but in other ways I feel the opposing forces growing ever greater. I'm like the Stretch Armstrong doll being pulled to the limit, until I finally get the wisdom and courage to shout to the enemy "let go, out of here, in the name of Jesus!" Then I go springing toward the prevailing force, that of my savior.
Is this all about shaking my hand free from the enemy that's trying to pull me away? I think that, rather, its about choosing the hand that is outstretched to me so fully that I no longer have an open hand to the enemy.
This isn't easy. I mean, on one hand (excuse the pun) it IS EASY. But then again, no, it's not. This is a struggle because I am at war with my flesh. I am at war with the world. I become interested in the pleasures of the world. The comforts of it. Even the comforts of the church and what I see and hear preached.
Lord, help me, save me, show me YOUR WISDOM. Not the wisdom of men.
I saw this sermon by Francis Chan. This brother, well, just listen to what he says about the church in China. That desperation, that abandon of self, I crave that. I crave to give up my life for Jesus.
I was thinking this last night. Then I cracked open my Bible to pick up with my reading this morning, and the verse that I read is John Chapter 10. You should read it, anyway here's a verse that jumped out at me:
“The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”
So, here I am, sitting before my computer, and before God, and before you, and I'm asking, "What does it mean for me to die to myself?" I have a couple ideas, here they are:
- Die to wasting time with mindless activity, and replace it with studying God's word.
- Die to over indulgence and comfort that robs early morning hours in prayer.
- Die to the sense that I can manufacture success, and bathe every effort in prayer.
- Die to the obsession with my self and own image, and seek instead of build up others.
- Die to free spending on things I don't need, and give more money away.
- Die to my instinct to criticize, and instead practice holding my tongue.
- Die to shortness with my wife, and practice assuming the best and active loving her.
- Die to the apathy I have that God is moving and drawing people all around me.
- Die to my lack of focus on learning songs of praise and memorizing Scripture.
- Die to judging those who wrong me, and instead pray for and seek to bless them.
- Die to the lust of the flesh and focus heartily on my wife, purity, cleansing in the Word.
- Die to avoiding service to the church and rather build it up right where I am.
- Die to favoring quick and dirty responses to the issues of the day versus being rooted in the bigger picture and more sustained faithful efforts.
I've had a taste of most of these things at times, and it is gut wrenching. I have a sense about the direction God wants me to go, the direction he's pulling me toward. I've gone down these paths, sometimes only to turn around the other direction. Or I go but look back. Or I go and lament going for a time, I grumble. Or I go, and sometimes, I embrace the great escape, the freedom, the power of overcoming the world, overcoming my own self, overcoming death for life, and in doing so, the Gospel and my faith comes alive.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Rich Kids See God Too
A couple months back I attended a pretty swanky affair at the United Nations. Most of the attendees were either very wealthy, accomplished, popular, or all three! Seriously, George Soros' son was walking around, so to Meryl Davis, and many others. It's not clear why they let me in...
Nonetheless, in a room with smart, rich, young people, I had a notion that I'd be hard pressed to find anyone wanting to talk about faith in God. After all, if you read the reports, those are precisely the factors with a high propensity for disinterest in religion. Boy was I wrong.
I wasn't there a full day when I started to hear conversations about God. In fact, that first night on my walk back from dinner, I ended up having an hour long conversation with a mildly practicing Jewish woman about Jesus. It was remarkable and had me literally choked up to tears.
Night two, I spoke with the leader of a major movement in Mexico--this guy literally has a million people following him on social media and in other places. I asked him what drives him and was floored when he replied that it's when he's ministering to people, that's where he meet's Jesus. Again. Ryan. Choked. Up.
A Saturday evening soiree I stopped by was called "Shabbat Unplugged." I had no idea what it meant, but as soon as I entered I was greeted with a blessing by a woman who seemed to be the host. In the hour or so event, the hosts of the event, a husband and wife duo, stood on a couch and the husband prayed over the wife. We all raised our hands to pray with them. They broke bread and then passed it around the room to the 100 in attendance. A guy jumped up and recited an amazing poem. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought I was in a lively church fellowship and worship session right there in Trump Plaza!
There was a special breakout session specifically to explore religion and how the world religions could get along. I thought I'd be one of a few to show up, again, wrong, it was standing room only. At lunch I sat with a table with a Hindu, Atheist, Universalist, and some other kind of -ist. To start the discussion, we prayed in four different traditions.
What really blew me away though, was a series of questions they asked the crowd. First, raise your hand if you identify with only one religion. Only about 25% of the hands went up. Then, they asked, raise your hand if you have had some experience with "the other" that you cannot explain, but which is central to your faith. Almost every hand went up!
People are being touched by God, that much is clear. They just don't know what to make of it, that sense that there is something bigger doesn't easily line up with what they see as the available options of religion around them.
Now I was soaring high, really sensing God move in and through this crowd. Why wouldn't He, for Scripture says in Proverbs 21 that God controls the kings of this world.
It kept growing, the reality that God and faith and Jesus were all around New York City and among this group. One night, on a yacht sailing around the Harbor, I got to talking with a wealth adviser from California. I don't remember how faith came up, but when it did she revealed to me that she was beginning to get inquiries from her clients about how faith should be factored into their finances. She was uncertain about how to respond, especially since some of them feared an "end of the world" scenario, and so I offered to be of counsel to her anytime.
Another guy I met raved about his start-up, and how it enables people to find each other to do service projects much easier. Curious, I asked him what drove his vision for the whole thing. He leaned in and he told me that, secretly, it was a vision from God, and that he'd love to tell me more if we could set up a call for a week later.
This was all a great encouragement to me, and also, with it there was a real weightiness. The realization that in this world there is not a battle against flesh and blood but against principalities of evil. Realizing that where there is good, there is an enemy that seeks to destroy and to devour around every corner. How will people come to know these truths?
In the days after the event, I got a flurry of emails from folks I had met who intended to keep in touch. One such email included a hint about the faith that sustained the sender, a young man. I checked his LinkedIn profile for clues, and then when I replied that I was a believer, and was praying for God to use me for the good of this group, I was quickly introduced to a handful of others who had found each other and were already praying and planning seeking to serve the community with grace and truth.
In closing, I'll tell you about a documentary film maker I met at the event. A super personable guy, we hit it off and he beamed about how he had shot 19 videos, that we set to air on a major network about this movement. His job was to capture it and tell the story. I replied to him that there was an unseen current beneath this movement that he has to capture, and that is the faith of these people, and the very hand of God. Just then someone got up in front of the room to pray.
The Greatest Commandment is Not the Golden Rule
I had an interesting conversation over the weekend among family. As we bantered around the issues of the day, the Golden Rule was brought up as a lens through which we should examine them.
“And the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.”
One hears this verse more these days, I thought; so to make sure it wasn't just me I did a Google news search and found that, yes, it's a hot topic. From maxims on how to run a business to the handling of the Syrian refugee crisis, the Golden Rule is getting a lot of air these days.
What strikes me most is that this "Golden Rule verse" is the tail end of Jesus' response to the the lawyers gathered around to trap him. Here's what Jesus said just before the Golden Rule:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Why does this so frequently get left out? This is in the Bible's "red writing" meaning Jesus himself spoke it. Not to mention that He says point blank that this first part is "the greatest commandment."
Why am I emphasizing this point? Here's why, because my life experience is that I cannot love myself, let alone my neighbor, apart from loving God.
If you knew how I treated myself before I submitted to God, before I decided to seek Him out fully, you would shudder. It was a path that by the world's standards was upstanding, I volunteered, held down a great job with increasing responsibility, took care of myself, didn't harm anyone too much, so far as anyone could tell. The deeper truth is much different!
I know for a fact I would be a lousy husband without God's commands because when I abandon them at times to "go it my own way" it goes south quickly. Left to my own devices I would not love Whitney well, I would be short with her, I wouldn't consider her fully, I wouldn't cherish her the way she deserves. I would miss out on the greatest expressions of love I have ever shown her, which are always born out of my time in prayer and in Scripture with God.
As a father, I would just be hanging on. I'd lack the energy to really engage, and I wouldn't spot the characteristics God has given my children for their own unique calling for this short stint on Earth. Even more, I wouldn't even have a sense about their calling because I only got that through my time with God. I'd punish them and squash their spirit instead of acting out of an abundance of love and grace mixed with discipline.
Not to mention the rest of the world, I would hardly care about them! Sure, I'd volunteer now and again, but would I LOVE others? Hardly! Love is such a strong word, especially when defined according to Biblical terms. I cared about other people in a shallow way before, but it was after I went after God and actually prayed that He would open up my heart to others that He began to love them. Now God puts people, my family, friends, neighbors, even strangers to mind for prayer and for me to minister in a way that brings me to tears. There is no comparison to the love I have for my neighbors compared to before I sought God.
Jesus, as He often did, is answering with a profoundly meaningful response missed by the casual reader of Scripture. The "greatest commandment" covers the first five of the Ten Commandments from the Old Testament, the so-called spiritual commands. The "golden rule" covers the last five commandments, or the civil commands. Jesus is bringing the Old Testament Ten Commandments to life in a new way here.
This one statement also brings together all of the commandments that all of the prophets of the Old Testament taught. Basically, Jesus is saying, if you love God you will keep the spiritual laws and in so doing you will keep the civil laws. He literally covered all of law from beginning to end in this one statement. It's such a crazy response to this bunch of lawyers that after this dismantling they decided not to ask him any more questions. Scripture literally says, "no one could say a word in reply."
So there it is--a love of God first in the fullest sense, with heart, soul, and mind--that is the lens through which we should look at the world.