Everything Is Symbolic: 366 Days, One Thought at a Time

By Josh Ingram

Everything Is Symbolic is a compilation of blog posts—366 of them, to be exact. So it’s also a devotional. I grew up reading and listening to the King James Version of the Bible. Alongside this, I developed a seriously fluid imagination and mind (what with all the emergent media of the eighties). If I hadn’t had the former, the latter would have driven me mad as the inevitable “storms of life” came to me during my twenties. Herein are the distilled thoughts in the wake of those events, presented one day, one thought at a time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512767131

Josh Ingram

Josh is a student, bookseller, reader, and writer. His main sources of inspiration would be Jesus, music, and coffee, in that order. He hangs out at www.joshingram.com; you can reach him there. His first-ever memory involves a novel that he was unable to read at a year-and-a-half; he still has that book.

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Copyright © 2016, 2017 Josh Ingram.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture quotation on page ii is from The Message. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-5127-6714-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6715-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-6713-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016920494

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/08/2017

CONTENTS

Preface

A note on the cover

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Acknowledgements

About the Author

PREFACE

What you hold in your hands is five years of blogging about different things. The main theme herein is Jesus Christ. And, as it says in John’s gospel (1:14) the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So, the second topic would be words, or, more specifically symbols (because that’s what words are, hence the title). Let me rewind a little bit. Way back in 2009 (or thereabouts), I encountered a crisis of faith. The biggest question leveled thereat was something along the lines of Why does Christianity look like ‘mythology for modernity’? or some such. So I read and dug through tome after tome and began to see what they were saying. As Christianity is a religion and as many myths and religions deal with big questions that can in turn be rendered in symbols, a pattern began to emerge. The theme of symbolism continued to loom large and so I wrote to that. Other themes would be language, books, dreams, and the spectrum of creativity as viewed through my lens.

Fast-forwarding to today, one of the reasons I’m not an atheist after all the reading I did (there’s something of a bibliography scattered throughout) is because of the existence of information, to say nothing of love, grace, truth. The opening passages to both testaments, while similar, differ. In Genesis, we see such things (rendered with words, of course) as Spirit (verse 2) and light (verse 3). But if you then go over to John’s Gospel (first 5 verses), we see John tying what’s going on with Jesus to what was going on in Genesis—also rendered in words. However, just because something is symbolic, doesn’t mean it doesn’t carry weight and isn’t true. Read through John’s Gospel and you see those two former things (Spirit and light) spelled out in the person of Jesus, the living Word of God. Grace and truth (verse 17) and love are lived out in a human frame. This is the best kind of information.

That I may know Him… says Paul in Philippians 3:10.

At Seth Godin’s insistence, I decided to make a commitment to do something creative every day (paraphrase) and so blogged for a year. It was during the early days of that commitment (taking my inspiration from Scottish theologian and army chaplain Oswald Chambers) that I saw my blog as more of a book—a devotional. The two became one and that’s what you hold in your hands, as I was saying.

One more thing: unless otherwise noted, all the scripture references and citations are in the King James Version. It’s the version I grew up reading and appreciating and the thought processes that gave rise to what I’ve written stem from the books and letters of the Bible as rendered in its cadence. It might be a little archaic and anachronistic but it’s best to use that in conjunction with this devotional.

When it’s all said and done, it’s about simplicity. Symbols can be complex and dense or simple (the cross is two lines, for God’s sake) but they’re everywhere and everything. Christ always appeals to the heart first; the head comes in line later. This is my experience. Thank you for reading and for joining me on this journey.

A NOTE ON THE COVER

When I was a kid, I remember walking through a mall with my parents (different mall than the one mentioned on 4/2). It was about closing time and I seem to recall other shoppers making their way out. While this happened at a point in my distant past, I had forgotten it up until about fifteen years ago. It came back to me and as it continued to diffuse into my thinking over time, I found myself unable to say whether or not it was indeed a dream or a real memory. And I can assure you, it was something that happened and not just a figment of my imagination (dreams and figments are two different things, in my opinion). There wasn’t anything else remarkable about the memory except for the fact that the walls were patterned in orange paisley. This would be the main reason it feels like a dream. I mean, who in their right mind would cover the walls of a shopping mall with something so garish? Reason I choose to put it on my cover is because that thought—like an index thought, one that holds in its makeup so many things around time and place and feeling and atmosphere—is like the bridge between dreams and reality, for me; a symbol of sorts for such.

JANUARY

Belvedere 1/1

Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high… (113:5)

God’s vantage point? Does He have a vantage point or does He simply see everything?

Who humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven, and in the earth. (113:6)

Should your thoughts instantly stray into fields in which you might think God can’t be present or active or such, try and rein ‘em back in for a second. If you don’t understand that there is more than one power at work (the other being an awfully confused-looking mess with a cohesive head), then it’s easy to either blame God or disregard Him. And now I feel I’ve gone on the defensive. Let me start over:

The Lord is high above all nations, and His glory above the heavens. (113:4)

And He’ll lift you up if you want to see it. It takes time and effort and discipline. But if you must know, humbling oneself—i.e. lowering yourself—enables Him to take notice and therefore lift you up.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; That He may set him with princes, even with the princes of His people. (113:7-8)

See, He did everything for us. Scattered the stars where He did and planted us on the firm foundation of His Son. Everything, then, is about enjoying the view through His eyes. But how does one look through God’s eyes? I think we know. Love. Compassion. Kindness. Christlikeness in heart and mind. If you endeavor to see the world as does Jesus, even as you live in and among those who may or may not know you, God will show you things. He’ll intimate to your heart and mind details that most miss. He’ll get you up in the middle of the night to pray. To meet with Him. To touch base and then turn over and go back to sleep. He’ll carry you through the clouds and then show you the silver lining for each one.

Praise ye the Lord. Praise, O ye servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Blessed be the name of the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord’s name is to be praised. (Psalm 113:1-3)

Absolute Value 1/2

"I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing." (2 Corinthians 12:11, emphasis mine)

Nothing to lose

God has made you. And when once you meet Jesus and begin to wrap your mind around this substrate fact, all the stuff through which you sift (like motes of dust, gazillions of them) to get there falls into place. But until you see the Father for who He is (which necessarily requires you meet Jesus) all that stuff looks to be for-all-intents-and-purposes like a mountain of randomness doing its thing. And that is: nothing.

"And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved. Lord, by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: Thou didst hide Thy face and I was troubled." (Psalm 30:6-7, emphasis mine)

Look around you and glimpse the beauty of God. Cherry blossoms waving on the branches and then scattering in the wind. The most beautiful eyes you could ever imagine, set in the grey head of the old woman pushing a shopping cart down the sidewalk this morning. The glint off a windshield that blinded you for a moment and filled your field of vision. A sparrow. As God is not human but does indeed have a face, you see His beauty everywhere. But the thing is, only in Christ can we make that one-to-One connection. We see his beauty and His splendor everywhere and I can guarantee you, were He to hide His face from you, if only for a brief moment, you would feel the emptiness. Come to think of it, should you be feeling any emptiness at all in the present moment, perhaps you’re experiencing what Paul might term the sufferings of Christ (2 Corinthians 1:5)? Here’s the thing, don’t wallow in it but be quiet and revel. Sufferings don’t last, neither does emptiness. God is sure to fill you up (or back up) but maybe there’s something He sees that we’re not aware of?

"That Thou givest them they gather: Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." (Psalm 104:28-29, emphasis mine)

Nothing more to lose

Read through Psalm 106. In much the same way as an absolute value expression is bracketed by sticks (|a|) in an equation, times of suffering are both preceded by pleasantness but also followed with rejoicing and times of refreshing (Acts 3:19). Psalm 106 is the same. Thirty-eight verses delineate a national history of backslidden Israel but that are bookended by five verses each detailing the love and goodness of the Father. He holds your value and it’s what He sees when He looks at you. It doesn’t matter how deep you go, Christ went deeper. It’s true. And the Father held His place. He holds yours even now and you are of great value to Him.

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us; (2 Corinthians 1:9-10)

Endgame 1/3

Chess is life. -Bobby Fischer

Have you ever felt checkmated by God? Have you ever been hemmed in by circumstances that feel overwhelming to the point of despair?

We are troubled on every side… says Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians (4:8), but not in despair.

Paul wasn’t afraid… Maybe this resolve and centeredness can only come about through suffering? If that’s the case, then our sufferings are eminently valuable. Peter says that the trial of your faith is much more precious than of gold which perisheth (1 Peter 1:7).

There are things that you go through in your life you wouldn’t wish on anyone. There’s a lot to be said for letting an individual on the outside go through the bliss of ignorance thinking they’d never make it through the misery you did. But isn’t that pride? It’s certainly not love. And if you went through misery in order to not only grow closer to God (or meet Him for the first time), but also to return and rescue others who were in the same situation, wouldn’t you want God to open someone else’s eyes too? Is the beauty of which you regularly partake worth having gone through the fire of your particular desert experience? It most certainly is.

Lovest thou me?…Feed my sheep. (John 21:16)

But before we get there, sometimes God has to block off every possible escape route, crowd us into a dark corner and show us that He loves us.

Notice what Jeremiah says in Lamentations (3:9-10): He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. Ways. Paths. Secret places. God is getting closer to you. And all of God’s negative press and wrong opinions you’ve gotten from others and from your old, wrong thinking are coming to light. Anytime we would think that God is mean and spiteful and uncaring shows we harbor those thoughts and opinions above all else. Towards God, ourselves and others. By the same token, sometimes God has to let the glowing opportunities that are slowly—or quickly, whatever—leading us away from Him turn into the dark and deceptive mirages they are. He’ll let them fall apart to show you that not only is He the way, but that He also has something better in store for you. Something that He has carved out and set aside for you to do. It takes time, maybe some pain, but it all works out.

Proverbs 3:6 (emphasis mine) "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Or as the New King James version puts it: He shall make your paths straight. In other words, not crooked".

My dad taught me how to play chess at an early age. Never became great at it and I still enjoy it. But anymore, it’s all about having the right person to play with. With a computer, or a person over a network, it’s just not the same. This being said, think about life as an incredibly intricate, multi-layered and long game of chess. The truth is, if you believe on and in Jesus, you’re on God’s team. And He always wins. But if it seems that God is slowly and systematically capturing your pieces one-by-one (or even sacrificing them!) and driving you into a corner, don’t despair. It wouldn’t be happening at all if you weren’t (ignorantly, of course) playing against Him.

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. (Psalm 119:67)

Next time you sit down to pray, ask God if there’s anything that is keeping you off the path that He has for you. And be sure to meditate on the fact that He loves you. Because without love, we are unable to go through the fire of purging that might be required to rid us of the mirages in our lives. And the desert is full of them.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. (Psalm 121:7-8)

Day Labor 1/4

I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. (John 9:4)

Dawning on us

What does that mean to you? When I read it—it’s also good to take in the next verse—I think about how the things that Jesus was doing (i.e. work[ing] the works) were so bright that they pushed the forces of darkness back out into the recesses of space (see Colossians 2:13-15). It would seem that Jesus only had a short time in which to do things we’re still talking about and learning from over two thousand years later. Here’s the next verse:

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Earlier on in your Bible, in Matthew’s Gospel (Matthew 5:14a), He brings the disciples in on this truth: Ye are the light of the world. What He’s looking to show us is that we have the right to do the same things as He. It isn’t about standing up from your seat at the restaurant at which you just had lunch and walking across whatever body of water is nearest in order to prove a point. It’s simpler than that. The works to which He’s referring, the ones done in the daytime, so to speak, begin with an understanding of who you are by virtue of being one of God’s children, and, subsequently, whence you came. Paul speaks to that in his first letter to the Thessalonians (5:5-6):

Ye are all children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

High noon

Jesus understood the seriousness of the state of the world. He grew up for thirty years in the company of peers and neighbors that made up the community in which He was known as the carpenter’s son (Matthew 13:55). He then stepped foot on the world’s stage one day when He announced to the audience in the temple that the prophecy concerning the Messiah was really about Him (see Luke 4:17-20). That’s huge. All around this event, this same little inconspicuous (globally speaking) community had been overrun by the first world superpower—you gotta know they were feeling it. After thirty, He began to do things that clashed with the establishment. The seemingly-insignificant references to His interactions among the chief priest and scribes (see Matthew 2:4, John 3, et al.) and the Roman Empire (see Matthew 8) were like tiny cracks and fissures that would end in the widescale destruction of everything that had been built up at that point in history. This, among other reasons, is why we demarcate our calendar with B.C. and A.D., but that’s beside the point. Jesus gives us the standing confidence and also brightness in order to affect the same kind of changes in our world as did He. But it begins with the elementary, childlike things of kindness and warmth and playfulness, and love, that were resident in Him with each interaction He had with those whose hearts were right. These are the things that scale and grow and cause widespread, permanent change. You can do this.

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. (Mark 15:33)

Journeyman 1/5

Measure

For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. (2 Corinthians 10:18)

The old pattern of craftsmanship-as-a-trade had three levels. It applied to everything from woodworking to bookbinding to bookselling. The stages went apprentice to journeyman to master. For life, I would say many patterns we see and therefore seek to appropriate into our walk (really, our adult life) are based on that paradigm of adulthood/childhood balance. I think when once we see what we want to become, we begin, however subconsciously, working toward it. And as a Christian—a follower of Christ—who doesn’t want to be the best? To be just like Jesus in heart and mind and body (see Ephesians 4:13)?

It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master… (Matthew 10:25a)

And every man (or woman) that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. (1 Corinthians 9:25a)

Just try and take a few steps in some direction you think is best and watch the whole machinery of your life come to a grinding halt. It may take some time to do so, it’s all contingent on the mercy and timing of God though, I think. I mean, if you really want to follow the Lord’s will for your life, He won’t let you get very far on your own without redirecting. Sometimes it’s painful but it’s best to heed.

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. (Revelation 3:19)

Stature

This is why it’s good to start from the bottom. I find that with the new birth in Christ (understand it’s been 27 years for me) the floor has been cleared. People often talk about the Honeymoon stage. Where everything is hope and light and joy, like Heaven. And I haven’t yet met a Christian who doesn’t have to go back and clean up the past (make amends, forgive, apologize, etc.) for a lifetime of wrong thinking and wrong doing. But this doesn’t negate the reality of the beauty you first tasted. This being said, unless you’ve had some sort of marked watershed recently (like accepting the Lord for the first time) it’s hard to imagine yourself in a life without a thousand different attendant drains on your life and time and joy and peace (and finances). This is the way of the world. Notice what Paul says:

"For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin unto Christ." (2 Corinthians 11:2, emphasis mine)

In other words, you’re marked. You belong to someone else. The idea is similar to the Apprentice in that you have to follow the Master around to learn what they would teach. But as a follower of Christ, it’s so much more than indentured servitude, than simply being a student for its own sake. Paul speaks of the relationship as a marriage compact. You belong to Christ now; you’re part of His Bride. Notice this:

"What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when He hath found it, He layeth it on His shoulders, rejoicing." (Luke 15:4-5, emphasis mine)

Fulness

But we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that our father Jonadab our father commanded us. (Jeremiah 35:10)

Y’know, the Journeyman stage may well last your whole life, I’m just going to say that right now. It was as true for the medieval bookbinder as it was for the Rechabites in the above. One difference, though, would have been the command for the latter as opposed to the unskillfulness of the former. Say you hadn’t been listening (!); say there was some aspect of your desired trade you were unable to wrap your mind around. Good luck producing your masterpiece. That was the way, by the way. Your master and the other guild leaders would expect after a time something akin to a masterpiece. Something that proved the master hadn’t been wasting his time unspooling the ins and outs of a vocation worth keeping alive in the world at large. Then again, if you find yourself in the desert still, perhaps God’s not done with you yet? This is clichéd but it’s totally true. The Lord won’t leave you in a dry region, journeying for He-knows-how-long, forever. If you have this gnawing feeling saying that you should have been elsewhere long ago, share it with the Lord. He dwells without time. Where He is, is no time and ultimate freedom. And He is working from that place, making you into a masterpiece. Here. You can help Him along:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Lessons in Coalescence 1/6

The Greek myth of Athena has it that she emerged, fully-formed, from the brow of her father Zeus. There on the floor of Olympus, ready to fight. And while this is myth, who’s to say that it hasn’t—in its own way—given rise to, or at least influenced, the equally substantive modern myth of instant gratification, get-rich-quickness and all-around expectation that God (the true God) should work on our terms and our schedule, our way? Because the Bible purports an altogether different understanding of character development and long-term focus. Ironically, Athena represents wisdom (among other things) and wisdom is something that, by its very nature, takes time to form and acquire.

Possess ye your souls with patience. (Luke 21:19)

For whatever reason, we emerge from the womb and begin to wander around—and to wonder in general. Who are we? Why are we here? How did we get here? The wonderings are allayed, however temporarily, when we discover that we have parents, and parents of parents. The biological question is easily parried, if answered. But something deeper remains, something spiritual. Our dreams begin to form and to tell. We reminisce over old memories that spoke to something that seemed genuine. Maybe there’s a (literal) dream that helped define us and to steer us in the direction we’re on. And that’s not easy—easier to steer when moving, yes, but once you get going, it can be incredibly difficult to turn. Follow me here. Some people live out their entire lives in a state of undecision. If that’s the road you find yourself on today, take heart. I may not have any concrete and particular answers for you but rest assured, God does. And the value of an overarching answer to a life is indeed worth the life (i.e. time) spent finding it.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)

There is a price to pay. One of the things that came to me in the wake of my parents’ divorce—a watershed for me—was the phrase: I discovered that I wasn’t who I thought I was. This isn’t to say that I am done searching, just that I’d never have found myself had I continued on with the facade I’d built up from about four years old, on, that crescendoed in my late teens. All that aside, there were, and continue to be, those of a certain stripe who will approach me with some notion as to who I am, and what my gifts and talents are that really have nothing to do with the person I know myself to be. Gifted people, no doubt. But no one knows you like God, your Creator.

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. (1 Corinthians 13:11-12)

See, God knows you. He knows why you like the things you do. Knows why you do the things you do. The quirky habits and peculiar foibles that you think no one sees. He knows all the things that you see that you’d hope no one else does. Trust, everyone has them. And in and above and in spite all of that: He loves you. These things don’t hold a candle to the importance to Him that you are. And if you ever feel so inclined, give any and all of the things in question to Him, one at a time, and watch Him replace them—over time—with their true counterparts. Any recurring mistake or fault is based on a need that we’re seeking to meet outside of Him.

And ye are complete in Him… (Colossians 2:10a)

Keep asking, keep searching, keep knocking. Good things, worthwhile things take a long time. But it’s so worth it to stick it out and wait on God. Keep preparing, keep practicing, keep fit. Because you never know how or when God will let you see something about yourself in reward for your seeking Him, first. That which you lay to rest at His feet will be transformed into that which is enlivened by Him, never to die. Trust. God has you. God sees you.

In closing, if there was one thing I could confidently assert regarding one’s search for significance amidst the stars is that, in Jesus only, all is one.

And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. (John 17:3)

And, wisdom is justified of her children. (Matthew 11:19)

Lessons in Incalescence 1/7

The order of our ardor

Smoldering

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures? (Luke 24:32)

Dig deep enough and you’ll find it. I don’t believe God’s ever silent but ever communicating. The above verse is two followers of Christ who had seen all their hopes dashed with His death. They were walking to Emmaus, a village seven-and-a-half miles from Jerusalem and were accompanied by a stranger who just so happened to be Jesus. I know it says their eyes were holden that they should not know Him. (24:16) but something tells me that deep down, they did. Their hearts witnessed to the truth of this stranger, who, it says expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself. (24:27) But it wasn’t until afterward, after they had shared a meal that their eyes were opened, and they knew Him (24:30). It then says that He vanished out of their sight. Think about the order in which things happened. These two men were going to Emmaus, commiserating among themselves, thinking they knew how it ended—and that it had indeed ended. But Jesus, ever the Good Shepherd, shows up and gently stokes the pilot light on their insides. After He disappeared from their communion, the two men hurried back to Jerusalem—to the fold. I’d wager to say it was a layer or two of unbelief that kept His identity hid from them. As an aside, is it the layers of unbelief in our lives that keep us from seeing God walking right by us in our everyday lives? Food for thought. At Jerusalem with the rest of the disciples, Jesus proceeds to expound a bit more on His coming and the scriptures that foretold it. He then adds but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. (24:49)

I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. (Psalm 16:8)

Diabatic

In Thermodynamics it refers to air being heated by the sun. In Chemistry, it’s the so-named process of heat transfer between molecules. In other words, diabatic heating is getting warmer through heat proximity. Perhaps this is why Jesus instructed the disciples to tarry in the city of Jerusalem. To stay near the source, the fire. The second chapter of Acts (written by Luke, his Gospel and Acts were originally one book) opens on the day of Pentecost. Verse two says they were all with one accord in one place. It would seem some conditions had to have been met before the power from on high was released. A spiritual heat transfer as it were. Jesus swept everyone back to Jerusalem and after they had all ironed out their differences (There seems to have been a lot of doubt and griping among the disciples, oh well.), there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. (2:3) God is moving by His Spirit. He commemorates the Jewish celebration of Pentecost with a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Something that we partake in even today. Jesus started the fire and it will slowly die down unless we stay near to Him. After the crowd saw what happened to those in the upper room—and began to doubt in spite of it (see 2:7-13)—Peter does the same as Jesus. He cites Joel and also David to keep the dream (and the fire) alive. He says For David speaketh concerning Him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. (2:25) God poured the Holy Spirit out upon the Church and ignited their individual pilot lights (you and I have them) into a conflagrated and communal bonfire. To where anything trying to snuff or damper, evaporates instead. This is a good thing.

He (David) seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption. (2:30)

Incalescent

Then was Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the fourth is like the Son of God. (Daniel 3:19, 24-25)

Incalescent simply means to increase in heat. All global warming aside, I find it’s the natural order of things. God is hot, how else can I say it? And the closer you get to Him, the more the heat gets turned up. While Peter (quoting David) says that His soul was not left in hell, there may be times where, like the three men spoken of in the above passage, you might have to wander around in the fire. No matter. It might be Old Testament, but Jesus was there with them and He’s in the fire with you. Let it get hotter, let it incalesce. There’s nothing hotter than Him. If you can’t stand the heat (don’t leave), then ask Him to show you why—to open your eyes. With Him by your side, you won’t smell of fire (Daniel 3:27). And you’ll be qualified, as is He, to lead people through hell, and out.

His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire. (Revelation 1:14)

Keeping the Peace 1/8

For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13)

So, one of my biggest struggles has been emerging from a somewhat self-imposed cocoon. A place within from where I came to a deep and revelatory undercurrent of God’s character. A place that you naturally wouldn’t want to wake from or crawl out of. But again, I’m finding that a time to change (at least into something else) comes around every once in a while or so and the things to which God had one eye closed (see Acts 17:30) have been brought to light. And now you’re squinting from the light and things are uncomfortable and God is closer than you ever knew but He’s also a lot…different. Simply a fuller version of Whom you’ve known all along.

"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:" (Isaiah 29:13, emphasis mine)

This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Galatians 5:8-9)

It’s times like these, much like your new birth in Christ (if I may) that you really have to keep the kernel of that which God is doing on your insides, hidden. Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood says Paul writing to the Galatians (1:16). Simple answer because no one had the correct angle on what God was doing in his life. And when Isaiah writes regarding the fear of the Lord as taught by the precept of men, this means that everything God is doing in your life will be turned on its head as God is not seen by others the way He’s seen by you. If you have glimpsed by His grace a side of God that has been heretofore hidden from view for whatever reason, revel in it. If you have walked with the Lord, in the shadow of His peak to where the clouds have parted revealing the sun over the mountaintop, best thing to do is sit down and soak in the view. You very well may have all the reason in the world to continue moving on, but if God is stopping for you to look, don’t turn to the right or the left. And certainly don’t look behind you.

And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. (Galatians 2:2)

So Paul is doing his thing in Jerusalem fourteen years after (2:1) and he distinguishes among certain types of individuals in preaching to them. The realms of society, secular and non, are intricate and interwoven in ways that only God sees. Paul stepped lightly around and among them which were of reputation. We’d do well to consider diligently the temperaments and character types with whom we give that which is only for us, at least for a time.

"Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare unto thy soul." (Proverbs 22:24-25, emphasis mine)

Seriously. You don’t want that.

Take This Down 1/9

"And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." (Habakkuk 2:2, emphasis mine)

Make it plain. Legible. Easy to be understood. Things that, while they have a complexity born out of a different dimension, only take the heart and humility of a child to understand and appropriate. To ingest.

When God speaks to you, how do you react? Do you have trouble believing that any voices you hear are Him? How do you hear the Lord? A sweet, soft intimation to your heart? What about through circumstances and people and time and place? Because if you want to hear it, He’ll make sure He gets through. It might take some time and we may need some realignment in our expectations. But God will get His point across.

The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write. (2 Thessalonians 3:17)

It’s a good idea to write out the stirrings of what God is doing in your heart and life. While they may not make sense at the time—much like a dream upon waking—God will fill in the words with His meaning or else reorient your understanding along their lines. How often would we read the Bible and gain a fresh insight only after living through a certain season? The words you get are what you need for the night.

I find that writing is an act of humility. We think we’re so smart. We think we’ll remember everything. I guarantee you you’ll forget. The still, small voice of the Holy Spirit is so gentle as to be nigh imperceptible to the untrained ear. But you did hear it. If that was the only time He was going to speak on a matter and you forgot!? Gasp! Don’t let that happen. Grab the nearest writing implement and get to work! God has so much to say on the matter that we’d best be listening.

Writing is cathartic. I don’t know how many times I’ve sat down to journal a dream. And then the mere adjective that comes to mind in describing the situation in my sleepy head was the key. The key to understanding a crucial aspect of what God was seeking to show me with said dream. Had I not written it plain I wouldn’t have gotten the insight He wanted me to have. There’s good reason for alphabets and language and the whole spectrum of writing. What it means. What it does. What it’s for. It’s a miracle.

Be Still and Know 1/10

Stillness is a highly valued quality with God.

"Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10, emphasis mine)

I tend to push myself. I wouldn’t say I’m driven in a bad sense, but I do like to fill up all of my free time with activities: writing, coffee with friends and acquaintances, errands, curiosity. Next on my list would be reading—I have to read, it’s genetically encoded into me. I believe that these things will further my cause and vision and purpose. What’s wrong with this? Maybe nothing. I will say however, that if I end up squeezing the sweetness of the Holy Spirit out of my day and my life because I was so intent on doing what I thought was right then that’s wrong.

Sometimes I wonder about this: I believe we see God with our spirit. But this doesn’t mean that we necessarily take the time to think through—with His word and the Holy Spirit as guardrails—how God lives. I’ll explain.

One of the strongest characteristics of God’s character and personality that you’ll find in the Bible is that of stillness. In returning and rest shall you be saved and in quietness and confidence shall be your strength (Isaiah 30:15)

David saw this. He says in Psalm 23 that the Lord leads me beside still waters. (verse 2) This is impossible if I’m only intent on doing my own thing. It doesn’t take much to push my temperament into an erratic and distracted facsimile of my former self. Here’s another side of that: I could be doing the very things—in a rudimentary sense—that God would have me do, yet be missing His sweetness and fellowship and stillness that God wants me to sense and be a part of. God doesn’t need me to do stuff. He does need me for fellowship and companionship and relationship, provided I remain grateful and don’t take Him for granted. But God can do stuff on His own. It’s us He’s interested in. It’s us He wants to know. And in this world, the way we know God is to slow down and seek out stillness.

Occasionally, I get incredibly harried. So hurried and fried and frustrated and worried regarding time that I wonder how this word of admonishment even makes its way through the storm of activity, but then again, with God, nothing shall be impossible. (Luke 1:37). The word in question sounds something like this: Slow down for two moments and wait. Two moments, not just one. I find that if I do this, the time constraints fall off and I realize that, not only is two moments not going to set me back at all, but that my mind clears up to sanity and the worry that was so intense dissolves. It works and it’s wonderful.

Another thing that helps when cultivating God’s stillness is to think of the things that, by their very nature are still. This one may not be immediately evident, but consider gravity. Gravity simply is. Of course, gravity is caused, or created, by movement through time. But you don’t feel it. The perfection of gravity happens and subsequently creates stillness on earth. Take two moments (one for God, one for you) and thank Him for gravity, and feel His peace envelop you and give you fresh focus to proceed.

This fact hardly bears repeating, but it’s nigh impossible to live in today’s world and society without having a million things on your docket. Necessary, integral, important things that, left neglected, would cripple and crumble your life. Don’t stop! Except for two moments and ask God to show you—to move you to His stillness. It’s closer than your very breath. Closer, even, than gravity.

"How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with Thee." (Psalm 139:17-18, emphasis mine)

Hello There 1/11

See that over there? A dust mite floating through a shaft of sunlight. Perhaps it’s a bright yellow car passing by your window (or windshield—should you be reading this while driving?). Maybe it’s that dove that’s been cooing for the past two or three minutes while perched on that utility pole but you’re just now noticing it. It’s God speaking to you. He’s calling your name. Listen… And now that He has your attention, say with Samuel Speak, Lord. Thy servant heareth… (see 1 Samuel ch. 3)

Granted, God’s been speaking from time immemorial. Through His Creation (read Psalm 19), through His prophets and through His Son (see Hebrews 1:1-2) and through His Spirit all the time. Have you listened to any of it? Better yet, have you responded? What does He have to do to get your attention? Don’t ignore Him. Ask Him what He wants to tell you. Be polite.

Have a conversation with the one who made you. Don’t worry, He speaks your language, whatever that may be.

Doing the Work 1/12

Drawing out the sword

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." (John 6:29, emphasis mine)

I find that when an individual—in this case myself—has a far-reaching goal, something that I’ve striven for and bled, sweat, and cried for, action must be taken. Jesus, above in the sixth chapter of John talks about the simplest, least-common denominator for doing the work of God. It’s so easy to go through this life doing things, accomplishing tasks and even tearing down long-held paradigms of wrongness, replacing such with the right standard, the correct way of doing and/or looking at a concern—whatever it may be. But! And I don’t mean to set myself up as some holier-than-thou individual with a vantage point granted only to Christ Himself, but if the person doing all of this busywork (for lack of a better term) doesn’t start with belief—that thing to which Christ points in the heading verse—then that’s all the aforementioned activity ends up amounting to: busywork. Jesus seems to bookend the statement about belief-as-work with this, uh, averment in John 17 (verse 4):

I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.

Later on in the nineteenth chapter (verse 30), Jesus drives the point home while on the cross with It is finished. It’s almost as if in the former chapter, chapter 17 (One of my favorite in all of the Bible), He declares to His father the finality to (and truth of) what He had been doing and then in chapter nineteen He gets to announce it to the world as He’s dying. I love how we as humans, citizens, denizens, get this window on what Jesus was doing while He was here in this world. A window, colored, of course, by pastors and parents and participants in this grand story of God as we grow up and move through life. But we have to figure it out for ourselves (work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Philippians 2:12b), so to speak. It starts with belief.

Squaring the circle

That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. (Acts 10:37-38)

I love that. What did Jesus do with His life? He went about doing good. As we endeavor to follow Christ for ourselves (to walk, even as He walked. 1 John 2:6b) what does that look like for us? A person doesn’t have to be an outgoing, type-A personality. One doesn’t need to nurse a Messiah complex (don’t worry about that) and they don’t have to put their hand to the forehead of random strangers, casting out demons in the name of Jesus drawing all sorts of weird attention to themselves in the process (unless you’re directed by and moved upon at the leading of the Holy Spirit—you’ll know it though). Those character traits and personality types and incidents don’t necessarily point to the reality of Revival or of Thy Kingdom come. (Matthew 6:10). Believe. Pray. Take your perceptions to God and do your best to love others in whatever way is comfortable for you. And I don’t mean the whole (step out of your) comfort zone thing. Walk in your body and tear down the old models of apathy and alienation and indifference at work in the world. This is hard work.

Facing Our Accusers part 1: Schema 1/13

False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not. (Psalm 35:11)

How does it feel to be treated like that? You don’t know? That’s wonderful. Because if you’ve left your house at some point and endeavored to be your own person in this world, you’re bound to step on some toes as you go about your business, in the broadest sense of the word.

Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: (1 Peter 2:22-23)

Sometimes life can wind up like a legal proceeding. You get these nebulous notions as to what people think of you, (corroborated, or not, by anything real). And you wish you had some audience with someone who, you think (subconsciously), holds sway over your happiness. Help! It can be this way at work, at places you frequent, at school or at home. And it’s no fun. Because we really can’t look to the world to exonerate us when once slander is loosed from the hearts and minds and lips of those with whom we’ve clashed at a deep level, however well-meaning we were, and innocent.

For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. (Psalm 11:2-3)

So, in legalese, it’s called the confrontation clause. It’s the right to face your accusers. Thing is, we certainly don’t see all the extenuating circumstances leading people to act in the rude ways toward us they do. And many times, while we might have meant well, we probably shouldn’t have interacted with them in the way we did, either. In other words, we’re not always without fault in these cases. But it takes God’s wisdom and judgment to sort through these factors.

To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him. (Acts 25:16)

The latter chapters of Acts detail Paul’s tour of Asia Minor in his persecution for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Something that was brought into this world through spiritually legal auspices, if that makes sense. Because of Jesus taking the punishment for all our sin and sins, we now have the responsibility of taking our grievances to Him and forgiving our offenders. This is Gospel. And whether you actually get to talk to the person who stirred up the strife that’s ruining your day, or not, know that they’re forgiven when once you lift them up to the Lord and ask for it on their behalf. They may hate you all the livelong day. But they’re just getting closer to truly meeting the God you know, love and serve.

Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. (1 Peter 2:24-25)

Facing Our Accusers part 2: Aureate 1/14

And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (Revelation 12:10)

And then John adds (next verse), And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death.

From one to the other. It says that the days of the devil pointing his finger and throwing stones and slinging mud are over. But we’re not quite there yet so you have the next verse. There is a way to overcome the vague and ambiguous evil of that ever-present accusatory feeling (should you experience or be experiencing it) that follows you around.

Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman. He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. (Acts 22:27-28)

I find that when we don’t make friends with someone, to put it politely (this could be what causes the accusatory atmosphere we sense, you understand), we don’t know what’s going on in their heart and as such, don’t know the full story. Jesus chose the way of suffering (unto death) in spite of being the only person for whom that paradigm was unnecessary. Paul’s story was several shades removed from the total black-and-white of Christ, however. In Acts chapter 25, we see Paul’s qualifications for fair trial in Roman court and how he carries the Gospel of Christ in his human frame. It’s fascinating when you see the pieces play out as they will. Paul carries citizenship to one of the greatest empires the world had known and yet his allegiance is with one higher. He tells those of the house of Philip (Acts 21:8) that he was ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And that’s the real reason you feel (if you do) a standoffishness bordering on hate. Because you are representing Christ. And one of the devil’s main concerns at present, is to accuse you—whether it’s true, or not. After Paul had gone to Jerusalem, the Lord then tells him to leave for one reason only for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me (22:18). Your testimony has all the power of your new birth with the telling. You carry this around and if you don’t realize it—I mean make it real—you most likely won’t overcome him (the devil), as it says in Revelation. This is stark but simple.

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works. (Psalm 73:28)

Getting Warmer 1/15

Just a little closer…

One appeal of any public function or get-together—where you don’t know anyone attending—is the warm inviting nature of the strangers you have yet to meet. At least, that’s what one hopes. You take a deep breath, pull open the door and step inside. Well, someone is usually there to open the door for you at church.

In a church atmosphere, where sometimes the last reason for attending is because you want to, the parishioners are the deciding factor as to whether or not a newcomer is going to return. When my parents divorced, few people we encountered at the numerous churches we visited as a (broken) family really understood what it was like to have the family unit dissolve. And fewer still, it seems, were able to do more than simply understand—to give that which was required to rebuild one’s soul.

He restoreth my soul (Psalm 23:3)

Okay, so the above verse says that God is the one who restores one’s soul. Whew! Because I sure don’t know how to do that. I know (barely) what it took to get myself back to a hundred percent (or whatever percent I’m operating at now). One ingredient is time. I hold up my hand, counting off on my fingers. I suppose another ingredient would be hope. Hope can be a pretty amorphous thing. Hope is good, but hope must necessarily be rooted in something, really someone. Namely, Jesus. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19). Hope is essential, but what about the substance needed to nurse a hurting soul back to health? I know what will hinder the convalescence: a cold shoulder. A person who attends a church looking for something as-yet undetermined is not likely to return unless they sense warmth in the atmosphere. And what if your church was the last resort for them? It is essential that we as Christians are attentive to the unspoken, unformed needs of the strangers in our congregation. Social mores might prevent us from delving into a person’s business right off the bat. But there’s nothing keeping us from intimating to others the strong warmth of the Holy Spirit (the comforter John 14:26) that lets them know they’re loved, accepted, appreciated, validated, etc. The list goes on. Everything God gives us through our struggles is intended to spill over to others to help them along in their journey. And the warmer we get to God, the warmer we’ll be toward others.

If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire C. S. Lewis (from Mere Christianity)

For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29)

Let God’s gravity pull you closer.

Eyes and Ears 1/16

Oswald Chambers said that we go through things that have nothing to do with us, but have everything to do with people we’ll end up meeting later in life. People who will need the spiritual expertise that God has worked into us through the difficulties we’ve encountered and overcome. This is my paraphrase.

Jesus came to this earth and His three-year ministry encompassed an area less than fifty miles in diameter. Then, when He went back to Heaven, He