Calling Me Out

long but...

it has been a long time since i couldn't sleep at night. but for some reason there was this rumbling in my stomach that couldn't settle down. it could have been the double americano pulled with long shots, otherwise known as a guiness, due to the body and head that the americano has, or it could have been the hobo pack we ate over at the burn pile outside our home. either way i am awake and so it is a good time to blog. the wrestling that i spoke of began with the lyrics to this song by don chaffer:

Against the Window Pane

by Don Chaffer

I believe the heart’s a theatre,
and that the actors on its stage
are playing dreams but they’re imposters
and that the devil pays their wage.

I believe the passion of that drama
that we’re certain is for real
is a diversion for our senses
while the director comes to steal.

CHORUS
And ever since I was a little kid, I didn’t want to run away,
But it scared me half to death to think that I might have to stay.
I’ve had a hundred scarecrow certainties.
I’ve built a wooden drawbridge for my brain.
But they all burn up
when I see Your face
against the window pane.

I believe that in the passionate,
there’s a part that is divine
I’ve seen the cosmos in a woman’s smile,
tasted eternity in wine.

But I don’t just believe in sentiment,
or miracles of everyday.
I believe that there are lepers healed.
I believe the dead are raised.

BRIDGE
Jesus was a lover. He had a fire in His eyes
that could burn away excuses, cremate your alibis.
He had a gaze that would expose to you all the subtle lies
that your soul permits your heart to tell concerning all that it denies.

a great album if you dont have it. but the part in bold is what began me thinking. do i really think that? do i really believe in more than the "miracles of everyday. that there are lepers healed that the dead are raised."? i began to pray.

i was randomly given a book in the fall from a friend called red moon rising. written about the 24-7 prayer movement that began in europe and is now international. last spring i made contact with a couple named the baileys, who are involved working with 24-7 prayer in spain, i've mentioned them before. as i read this book i realised there was a global thing that is taking place in the kingdom of god. i know some will get hung up on the connection of global and kingdom, but that is just it. jesus has chosen a people on this globe to make his name and glory known and to usher in his kingdom. we are a part of that. anyway this book began to stir in me another whole aspect of prayer and the transformation of the generation that is to come. i think this generation will be a kingdom generation. by this i mean that there will be a large number of younger people, yet it will involve and has already invovled people of the faith who will teach and lead and be a part of it just as much. thus a generation built in the reality of the kingdom. call me naive, but...

24/7
so i devoured that book and began praying what Jesus would have for us here up in the mountains in california with CommonFire the community we live in. i began to be enamoured by this movement and looked forward to seeing where it was headed, and jesus quickly spoke and said be obedient to me in the small and daily living and a movement/revolution of the kingdom will take place. so true. that is what 24/7 is centered around. people living obediently to jesus, praying for change and direction and living in full submission to him, not worrying about a lot but being consumed with his causes. no program no gimic just obedience to pray and act.

Sermon on the Mount
ever since i finsihed reading divine conspiracy some time ago, the sermon on the mount has held a whole new place in my life. it is the greatest teaching of jesus on what a kingdom life is. unpacked beautifully by willard. the kingdom began to make clearer sense. this winter there was a renewed interest and i began to read the sermon on the mount and it as consumed a lot of my scripture reading this winter.

What If
then the other day Tony, my freind, bro and boss asked the question on his blog, what if??? this question resonated with me. what if we really did live our life according to the scriptures? what if we took for real the transformation and power that is present in his spirit? what if there was a life that allowed Jesus to search the core of who we are and deal with our sin and pride and transform us into people who really lived and walked in obedience. what if we took Jesus' radical teachings of "but i say to you..." and lived in them?

Vision and Vow
i have made one covenant in my life. that is to my wife. i feel Jesus is leading me to another. i began on tuesday to read a book by Pete Grieg, the same author of Red Moon Rising and the founder of the 24/7 movement. the book is called the vision and the vow. the book is an explaination of a vision that he wrote on a prayer room wall and a call to discipleship. i am only 2 chapters into it, but in those chapters Jesus has begun to tie together the thoughts of the last year. jesus has begun to burn through me. the bridge of the song above is becoming real:

Jesus was a lover. He had a fire in His eyes
that could burn away excuses, cremate your alibis.
He had a gaze that would expose to you all the subtle lies
that your soul permits your heart to tell concerning all that it denies.

i am begining to allow him that access that i so quickly cloak behind. he is calling me out in a good way. he is gentle to deal with us. he knows just how to package his rebuke and his admonition. he desires us for his glory. he wants the kingdom to be where we are and in what we are doing. he is calling me to make a vow possibly about who i am and how i live. it isnt a vow to live as a christian it is a vow to live in the kingdom of god. it is a vow to allow all areas of my life to be beautifully infected with who he is.

Baraka
as i said before, Baraka solidified what is to be true that there is a world that is dying and we need to be about more than Christian things. take residence in the kingdom and change the world. the movie is very hard to explain

i mentioned 24/7 a few times, but please dont think it is another program or that it is the only way to do this. i have never been physically involved in a prayer room, but spiritually yes! or any activity that this movement has sponsored, but the people i met are ones with the same stirring in their hearts. they would not want to be put on a pedastool they are the same. the same as leo the bro i met at church form guadalajara. the same as freinds in spokane. the same as people who have served here at camp. the same as ones studying at seminary or grad school. jesus wants us to listen and obey him in the little things of our life. through this obedinece there will be radical change in this world. he wants us to live with the devotion of a bride. to be intimate as a bride. to allow him to be a groom. i fail at this in my life and with my wife, but there is a love and coventant that is there.

bring it jesus. let the etrnal be now. cause us to rise up.
let the lepers be healed, let the dead be raised

thanks for reading.