Here is one of the most difficult things about the vision in my experience with people.  I see here in Isaiah 54: 6 that God is speaking to His people (us) and saying that He's called us like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit.  Many times I've seen that people don't really want to acknowledge that they really need God.  They're thankful for the free ticket to heaven but aren't willing to admit that they were utter failures apart from God in every way...not only spiritually but socially, metally and physically.  We have all the benefits in the covenant relationship we have with God...He on the other hand received a people in desperate need.  It's not enough to talk about how you are in subjection to God, there must be a place where you become part of something that He's doing on this earth.  Again here I will use our little ministry as an example.  I have no idea how many times I've come to the end up myself abroad and could not have gone on without the support of the people praying for me at home...I wouldn't have been abroad in the first place without the church.  My closest friends are the brothers and sisters of the Lord in our church.  There may be squabbles between us from time to time but they are my family...others are aquaintences...it's good to know the difference.  Most people seem completely oblivious of the need they have for the people in their church.  They feel pressed if asked to do anything for the church and fail to see the benefits that come from serving God and doing right by their fellow laborers in the work that God has given us.  Accepting the ministry that God has given you requires that you understand the importance of those fellow Christians around you.  Naturally speaking a doctor must appreciate the people he sees daily as not just subjects in need but those that give him or her the business that allows their practice to continue.  If you mistreat your patients you will find yourself out of work...the same is true with the ministers of the Gospel.  You don't have the 'luxury' of hating those you work with and in fact you can't continue to be of any value at all without an understanding of God's value system as far as people are concerned.   I see the ministry and the vision there as a magnification of what I'm called to do...not as a mere obstacle or means to get what I want.  Committing to a cause higher than yourself is essential!  Submission to such a vission is not something which takes away from who I'm meant to be but the only way I can reach who God has made me to be.  People are not obstacles!  Religiously we know that we have to talk a certain way and we seldom admit our true feelings...even to those we claim to love the most.  God see the heart and a programed religious response as to how much we love people while we abuse them won't work with Him.  We're trained to be self sufficient here in the Western US, the Philippines tries so hard ot say they're family oriented but as you look closer to the reality you see that no matter where you go that isn't humanly possible apart from God.  You say you care because you know you should but until you meet Christ and see what Love is all about you have no idea what love is.  He cared/cares for us so much that He sacrifices all for us...He did not even hold back His own prescious son.  Loving other people..even those in our own family the way God does requires the revelation of the Holy Spirit and the Grace of God and to grab that you must see how truly unloveable you are youself...if God would give everything for you how could you see others as unworthy of that same love?  This is the problem with many Americans today with the war on terror as well, they want to choose who they think is worthy of liberties that they enjoy and decide what sacrifice is too much but the liberties they enjoy now was paid for in someone else's blood...who's to say that sacrifice wasn't too high?  Liberty is a cause worthy to live for and to die for.  It is something as our president wisely said is not just some human freedom but a gift from God to the entire human race.

Continuing on with Isaiah chapter 54 we come to an exciting part where we've seen some of the promises that God is offering and more than that He's describing His relationship to us as a marriage relationship.  Today's society makes the marriage vows seem cheap often because it has no value as a lasting commitment neccesarily.  God views this entirely differently.  He speaks of marriage as something which is permenant and very strong indeed!  God here is speaking as our husband and therefor His name and His power is also something which belongs to us.  He calls Himself in verse five our Redeemer...it's capitalized here...He means business.  Redeeming something to me always shows of something being returned to it's original purpose.  This is huge for fallen human beings in particular.  We receive Jesus Christ and the law of sin and death no longer hold us.  We still die physically but spritually when our physical bodies pass away our spirit goes to be with the Lord and that's life for sure.  Paul describes this well when he speaks in 2nd Corrinthians and says that when we're absent from the body we are present with the Lord (2Corrinthians 5:8).  This still serves great purpose when we're alive as well because God redeems us from the times we could be wasting with our own will...which so often is in rebellion agains the Lord...even when we think it's innocent.  Doing what God says instead of arguing endlessly is a good example of redemption but even more it's something that covers every aspect of our lives if we will allow it.  Finances that are redeemed aren't wasted on things outside of God's purpose, health that is redeemed doesn't wallow in self pity when sickness comes our way but fights, redeemed thoughts bring us peace of mind...many are the benefits of redemption!  Next in verse five still God says He's God of the whole earth..sealing redemption to all people who will believe.  This is powerful for us as Christians because we know for sure that we belong to God and He to us as believers and it should give us a strong drive to tell others since this belongs to everyone in the world that will believe.

One of the single greatest difficulties in my life is looking at past mistakes and allowing that to shape what I will do in the future.  Shame isn't just a little word or something that makes your face get a little red, this is something that has a powerful influence over your life.  It can literally keep you from fullfiling the plan of God by keeping you constantly out of faith.  The worst thing is we often feel wise because we don't try again after making a mistake...we feel that this cautious behavior is the path of reason.  The problem with this whole line of thought is that it prevents you from getting up and working again at something that God really wants to bless you.  Once again I find a fantastic promise in Isaiah chapter 54.  Verse 4 begins by saying "Do not fear nor be ashamed: Neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; For you will forget the shame of your youth."  I don't think there's anything wrong with realizing that things you've done in the past aren't the best nor is it smart to forget the mistakes of the past to try and avoid these mistakes in the future however there's a point where remembering the past and being limited by the past become the same thing.  The Word says it well in Micah 7:8 when it says:  "Rejoice not against me O mine enemy, when I fall, I shall arise when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me."  This shows how it's not the fall that's as important as getting up again and why, because the Lord is with us and will help us to do it right.  We can't be so bound by fears and mistakes that we don't ever move out again.  The fact is that for me many things that I thought were a terrible mistake at the time ended up bringing me to a place where I was able to deal with some problems in my life and be better able in the future circumstances.  Where the Devil seeks to bring limitation God wants to put some steel in our backs and make us un-afraid to face the challenges of the future.  Where are you at?  Are you afraid to be challenged for fear of failure?  God has a promise here that we won't be ashamed...if we quit, if we surrender we are a shame indeed but to never give up and to press towards the mark...this is honorable and has great reward.  Today isn't the rest of your life it's just today.  Use the problems you've had as a stepping stone for the rewards God has for you.  He never gives up on any of us and requires that we also don't surrender.  The bible talks about spiritual warfare and we just sort of smile and move on but this warfare effects us all.  It challenges our faith...it attacks our families and just because we decide to give up doesn't mean that our enemy will leave us alone.  The Devil has no problem hitting when your down and using your lack of faith as a weapon to take you and your loved ones down.  We must fight not just to survive but to overcome.  Faith is for more than existing.  Faith requires that we are ever reaching to the next big thing that the Lord has for us.  The ministry provides vision bigger than we ourselves are...to throw this away and stand in hopelessness while there's such a beautiful vision before us is to not only accept defeat but to turn the generations to come over to an apathy that brings total death.

Now for me as a father this particular part of the scripture catches my attention right away.  There are actually some people that think that travel abroad just doesn't mean anything to them and isn't relevant but I challenge anyone saying that.  I don't think that anyone that has ever traveled outside his or her own country would ever say such a thing.  I can never forget how my little world expanded when I first set foot in another nation.  Africa was a turning point in my life that I'll never forget.  A person usually thinks of being a missionary as something where you change other countries but for me being a missionary has often changed me as much, if not more than the nations I've been to.  This happens on many levels:  spiritually it shows you that though there's other Christians out there they may do things differently, praise and worship God differently...using different instruments and languages...it kind of rattles your cage in a good way.  The services are entirely different every country I've been to and being a part of that shakes you into finding God in a different way...in a word to me it's beautiful.  I could go on forever about it but let me just say that everyone needs to go out of their country and experience it...it's a good thing and I want that for my children.  We have this promise from God in Isaiah chapter 54 verse 3:  For you shall expand to the right and to the left and your decendants will inherit the nations...  I love this!  God has plans that are bigger for us than just our community.  The fact is I find it hard to believe that you can be a blessing to your community unless you have a vision that's expanded by traveling outside and seeing how big the body of Christ really is.  No matter what your situation I believe that there's a place for you to do something outside of your own country.  There's nothing wrong with local ministry at all but local ministry can inhance your missionary work and your missionary work can and will expand your local work in the church.  This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes!

This part two of what I've starte to talk about out of Isaiah chapter 54.  I like this one because it is really the next plateau of faith and it's exciting!  This part instructs to enlarge the place of your tent.  It says to stretch out and not to spare!  I really love this because it's exactly what I hear God to be saying right now.  Naturally speaking it doesn't look like a good time to be stretching out at all.  Finances appear to be at a low point (again) and there seems to be no way to get out and expand but as usual the eyes of faith refuse to see limitation of the natural things.  What I like about the language here in particular is the picture it paints when you think about it.  It says to expand to the right and to the left...to put the stakes out there.  I see that God is really saying to me that to put your faith out there is the best thing to do because if the stakes are there the material will follow.  This has a promise as far as finances are concerned for sure but also everything else that is needed to fullfill the commandment of God!  There's always an element of risk if you want to get out there for the Lord.  Nominal Chistianity requires no risk but also has no reward.  Many look at the natural limitations of life and let that limit their spiritual walk but God requires us to use our spiritual life to stretch out our natural life into something beautiful that He can use.  This is beautiful enough on the personal level but when put to the whole ministry at large it becomes far more powerful than any single persons ministry could ever be.  I see the promise for Eagle Ministries here and it's a wonderful thing to see!  I love how this speaks of expansion in the middle of what seems to be shrinking opportunity and doubt.  There's a large vision out there and if we let God open our eyes it will carry us along to awesome places!  Why should God expand our finances if we have no vision?  Why should He take us places when we have no intention of walking in Faith and sharing His message?  This is the hour of God and this is hour to expand the kingdom of God!  God is reaching out to any and all that want a part of it...don't let Him pass you by!

I have been really working in prayer along with the rest of the leadership in our church about the vison of the ministry which is significant because without a vision there's no hope and without hope there's no chance of survival.  I actually was searching for scriptures for the financial needs of the ministry and was trying to break through my own unbelief in this area when I was struck by the scriptures in Isaiah beginning in chapter 54.  It starts by telling the barren one who hasn't had children to break into song...to actually rejoice.  This has significance to me on many levels.  Many things in my own life has struck me as terribly high priced for the end result.  Overseas ministry is the joy of my heart and many of these missions have been very costly in many ways only to appear today as though they were doors that are closed forever.  I hear God speaking to me about this where being childless is concerned.  Spritually I could say that having a lasting work in the nations we've visited as being 'off spring'.  I know that it can be hard to look at the future with any hope if the past is bent out of shape.  We must see things through the eyes of faith in spite of personal failures or things we perceive of as being failures and see that covenant relationship with God is about not our weakness but His strength.  God knows our short comings and in His awesome mercy offers His strength via a covanant relationship that begins when we receive Him into our hearts.  He doesn't come to point out all the failures but rather offers His help.  The problem is we don't often view His help as being help at all.  It's a great leap of faith to be comfortable enough with anyone that you can actually admit that you've done wrong...this can be doubly difficult with God whom we can't see.  I remember an commercial about addiction where it said that admiting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.  This is true not only for the addicted but for us as individual people before God.  We can't receive help from God if we are unwilling to admit we need it in the first place.  To see the 'blessing of the barren one' in this scripture you have to be able to admit that you have nothing apart from God...you might think that this leaves you with no self esteem, nothing at all but rather you surrender your 'righeousness' or self esteem if you will and take on the righteousness of the Lord.  This has benefits on so many levels that it would take a library bigger than the world could contain to even begin to describe it but here I will mention one awesome thing that it does:  it looses you from the impossible burden of holding your self worth together in a selfish and fallen world where you'll never be accepted fully by anyone and puts you in the position where God, the creater of everything there is says that He loves you, He cares for you and you are his very own son or daughter!  This is massive on a personal level and essential on a ministry level!  Most of the things that we've done wrong on a personal level are painful enough but to see that you've actually hurt others as well is even more difficult to handle.  We fall as people, as mothers, as fathers, brothers and sisters, as ministers of the Gospel but the promise of God's Word being mentioned here in Isaiah 54 is so much greater that this!  It shows not only the forgiveness of mistakes past but present and furture and moves beyond that with the promise of fullfilling a great future destiny with the help of God Himself!  This is the beginning of a series I want to cover here but for now what can I say but:  PRAISE GOD!!!!

I found my reading in an interesting place today:  Ecclesiastes.  Nobody can describe the hopelessness of life apart from God better than Solomon!  Here is the wisest man in all the earth and no doubt one of the richest yet to him life has no flavor and all seems to be worthless!  The key to this whole scripture lies in chapter two verse 24 where he says that all pleasure in this life comes from God.  I really like this because often Christianity is portrayed as boring or something that sucks every ounce of joy out of life but the truth is that nothing in life can be complete apart from God.  It reminds me of the scripture which says:  what is it if you gain the whole world and lose your soul? (Matthew 16:26).  There have been some really good things that come our way in life but to truly enjoy the blessings tha life brings we must know God.  I know that for me personally wether in bad times or good having God in my life has been and ever will be absolutely essential.  I've heard that happiness is realated to what's happening to you but joy is something eternal not based on what's going on and can only be given by God.  The best moments in my life usually had very little to do with how much money but rather having a deep sense of God's care for me and for those I love.  I thank God for this ability to know more than fleeting moments of happiness and rather possess the joy of the Lord which is our strength as Christians!  None of these things can be appreciated without faith and that's just one more reason I'm so glad to be able to have a church to go to tonight.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17)!

Yes, I admit that title makes me laugh some!  I was just reading something very valid there though (Acts 9:5).  We can see here that Paul has a dedicated life, one that he believes is being lived for God all the while he's pursecuting the church of God.  Finally Jesus confronts him on the road to Damascus and asks him why he's pursecuting Him.  Paul asks only who is speaking to him and what he should do.  I wish that we had that attitude when the Holy Spririt tells us that what we are doing is being counter productive to the Word of God and His plan in our lives.  Sadly many of us feel that it's a sign of strength to do things our own way or to 'stand alone'.  The truth is that as Christians we have a different life style than the world and it's not a strength to forsake God's councel and to ignore the experience other brothers and sisters in the Lord have for us.  I've found that great strength is found in submission to not only God and His will but others in the ministry whom I'm attached to.  It seems a contradiction to submit to someone and get stronger from that if you don't know what covenant is about.  Today in the offering taken by Rev. Frank Farr he mentioned how in covenant we exchange our weaknesses with God's strengths.  This is really quite profound.  Rev. Rose mentioned in her teaching that this is not an earned privledge but one which Christ died for that we might have access to the throne of grace.  We have taught this in our church for sometime and it's such a tremendous truth!  If you can not submit to God and you can't work with people or respect anyone you can't say that you want to be a minister in all honesty.  I know that in my own life Eagle Ministries has been nothing but a strength in my life...but only as  I yield to and respect the annointings on the people there.   The days of the lone ranger are over you might say.  A man that's on his own and unwilling to submit to anyone is indeed kicking against the pricks and straying from where God wants him to be.  Seeking to be free from God's reign in your life is to seek destruction.  Nobody is master of his or her own destiny.  Seek those whom God has placed in your life...bind your will to God's will and find the true secret of a powerful life!

I have just been studying for tonight's service and ran across John 8:32 which says:  "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."  This is one of those often quoted or misquoted scriptures out there.  We often see truth as sort of a benign thing that is not really confrontive and certainly not abrasive.  We often feel that we can be associated with it and not really feel threatened.  The thing that strikes me here is the word "makes".  This doesn't seem all that important until you take it in context...the truth makes you free!  There is no choice implied here...truth actually seems aggressive in it's power to change you.  Many of soften this by saying that the truth will set you free but I prefer the text as it is.  Making you free!  Truth is not something that is relative as many would have you believe.  Truth is something that can only be seen by knowing God.  We often feel that we have the right to define truth according to our experiences but only God has the right to define truth.  We so often run from truth or get angry when confronted with it but if we really want to be made free we must embrace the truth.  I've said before that I've never been able to open the Word of God without being confronted...this is because it's not something I'm searching to find agreement with my point of views...this is God's Word...if it all just agrees with me then I'm not seeing something.  The Word of God inspires change, it makes free.  I've heard many say that they find the Word of God boring...this displays a tragic lack of understanding about the bible.  If it's just a history book or man's wisdom then of course it's boring but if it's the living, breathing word of God that makes free...how could it be boring?  We can't afford to judge God or His Word with the limited judgement of mans' wisdom...it's divinely inspired and not just a Word.  The lack of respect that comes from all over the world today comes from this point right here.  We feel that the only way we can destroy prejudice is to equalize everything.  God's ways remain above ours and His thoughts also above ours...can't say that's the same as the Koran or Buddhist philosophy or any other religion or 'wisdom'.  God seeks to make us free but man seeks a quick fix that doesn't require change at all.  Athiests hate to hear that there's something out there that would make them accountable for the choices they'd make in life.  I challenge this kind of thinking.  If you're free to do whatever you want apart from consequence  and 'free' from thinking about how what you do effects others...that's not freedom but anarchy and that means that another man's freedom becomes another's bondage.  Contrary to many people's ideas about the bible...it's isn't offering bondage but a truth that makes us all free.  The Word of God is the true north in the moral compass...we're lost without out it.  Not everyone can be right apart from the Word of God...you either agree with it or you're not free and you're certainly not right.

I've mentioned before that our new house is right out here on the edge of town.  We've not been here for very long, not even a year in fact.  One of the things that has been really nice about this house is the things we didn't really expect.  Long ago when I was a little kid we lived near an undeveloped field and I used to love the occasional Meadow Lark that would sing...they really do have a beautiful song.  Here in this house I had hoped to hear maybe one or two but instead every day is filled with many songs from them and it goes on all day long!  We have many antelope, deer and foxes that visit right outside our fence.  I hope they don't develope things out here too quickly.  I have some hope because a rancher owns a large portion of the land behind our house and in fact has several cows that create quite a peaceful scene as well.  I know that it was a quite unexpected gift of God to have these things.  I look out there and see beautiful sunset after beatiful sunset and when I see a huge crane spread it's wings and land next to the ditch near our house I just know that there's a God!

I don't have too much that I'm going to say about this really because my wife already has an excellent entry on her blog but I do have to say something here.  There is nothing really like seeing your child perform on the stage and do well.  I found myself feeling a huge rush of emotion over her performance.  We were there for several hours and we had Mike and the baby with us.  I was so proud of them too because they were so well behaved.  I know of very few people that could bring a five month old baby that could ever manage.  My daughter Danielle really did display a tremendous amount of grace and poise.  If I didn't know better I'd never guess that she hadn't been on the stage many times before.  Billings isn't a huge town but the concert hall was sold out and it was an amazing night.  I went with my usual skepticism but left with a real joy that I'll not soon forget.  My wife has some pictures on her site and I encourage anyone who wants to see to go there using the link here on my page.