Kingdom of God Archives - call me pasturescott

GUEST POST: A Lion Named Jack

You don’t know Jack.

But you will.

Jack’s one of my “young lions” (you’ve read and met several of them on this site over the months and years): guys in their 20’s who are interested in more than just the “American Dream” for their lives. They have spotted a treasure in a field⁽¹⁾ and are spending these seminal years gathering their ‘talents and minas’ so they can buy that field. No holds barred. Nothing held back. All for King and Kingdom.

These are young men who, like Jack, are violently struggling to stand against the current tides of culture, and seeking the ancient and apostolic faith that turned the world (in their era) upside down. They are just foolish enough to believe the same can happen in their time.

Recently, Jack approached me to mentor him weekly and in one of our earlier meet-ups I asked him to compose a mission statement for his life.

The very next week he came prepared, and as he read his personal manifesto, I was admittedly moved and asked if it might be reproduced here for my readers. He graciously obliged. As you read, remember that there’s an entire ‘army’ of Jacks being called out of the earth whose passion is to live out these very things for the glory of Christ.

Does it encourage you? It certainly does me.

Mission Statement

To learn,

to observe,

to trust,

to love,

to exemplify.

To obtain knowledge but let it access my heart and not just my head.

To remain teachable, humble and vulnerable to correction by both leadership and the Holy Spirit.

To use my gifts to glorify God,

edify the body,

and speak truth speak truth myself.

To love with no expectation.

To challenge the mundane.

To show compassion to the hurting.

To keep my eyes open to serve.

To honor those in authority in every area of my life.

To embrace grace and profess truth.

To speak life into dead situations.

To be joyful,

grateful,

and show people the unreserved love that God demonstrates to me daily.

To be less, and have more of God.

To be everything God sees in his son Jack Roper.

To create a life of peace with those I encounter.

To understand those who don’t believe.

To not choose when or who I want to serve, love and show grace to.

To grow more in love with the Lover of my soul,

my Father,

Creator,

and Purpose,

my best Friend.

You’ll be hearing from Jack again pretty soon. He has a harrowing personal story that is his to tell – a story of devastation, depression, and hope leading to overcoming faith and forgiveness. You’ll want to stay tuned.

Oh, and pray for Jack this weekend. He’s been asked yet again to speak at Vida Nueva of North Georgia, a gathering of teens who have already expressed their own desire to live out the very ideals Jack expressed.

Oh for a sweet, sweeping, and lasting move of God!

⁽¹⁾Matthew 13:44

How Lame

If I were alive in, say, 1611, I would bear the label “lame.” Today we describe things that are lacking or unsatisfactory as “lame.”

“That show was lame.”

“The 80’s were so lame.”

Far, far back before English translators took a stab at the Greek, the word could mean anything from ‘lacking a foot’ to ‘limping around’. As I said, if I was in the time of donning powdered wigs and sporting knickers and hose, my English peers would point at me and say, “He doth be so lame-eth.” But I am not hobbling around on a weak leg nor am I missing a foot. My legs and feet are fully intact, but they are ‘useless’ per se. They appear to have life but they are unresponsive to the command of the “head”.

See where I am going with this?

When our First Parents skipped around the Garden naked and unashamed, they had face to face communion with the Lord. They had really cool talks about life, history and destiny with pre-incarnate Jesus in the cool of the day. There was no veil. No disconnect. All the heavenlies were opened to their adoring eyes. Continue reading How Lame

Selah: An Active Rest

Selah. Say-lah.

While the Hebrew word is difficult to translate, most believe it is a musical term that means “pause” or “interlude.” I’ve also read that it could be a worship leader’s direction to change the tempo. For instance, to have the instruments and singers s l o w d o w n, or, in some cases, pick up the cadence. If you dig even deeper, you find the word is also understood to encourage reflection. Like the applause sign in a live studio’s taping session, some suppose it signals to the listener “there is something hidden here; do not miss it…listen very carefully…”

Oh, and a really neat tidbit about “selah” is that it is used in thirty-nine of the Psalms, which is, as you well know, equal to the number of books in the Old Testament. And what is the Old Testament? It is the history of the people of Israel that is written down for our benefit and teaching. You’ll find that hidden little gem of a truth in 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Twice.

Look it up.

The point I am making is that we have been called to a “selah” life. Sometimes we pause. Sometimes we pick up the pace. At times we rest overnight. At other times, we park at the foot of the mountain for a year or so. We sing (“alamoth” at the beginning of Psalm 46 is thought to indicate a choir solo for all the sopranos), we dance, we bow, we kneel. When our Director tells us, we pack up our tents and get a move on. And when He tells us otherwise, we make camp and get our groove on. There is marching and there is standing still. He speaks and we listen or He is silent and we wait.

Right about now some of you are moving into an “aha!” moment. You’re thinking, This is starting to sound like hearing and following the Voice of God and you would be right. Life is way too harsh and unforgiving to attempt on our own. Three million (or more) people moving as one through the desert can get noisy and distracting, so you can see how weekly sabbaths and daily selahs can turn a march into a journey. Likewise, as you and I journey through life, we must be constantly attuned to those inner prickings and promptings from the Holy Spirit:

“Make camp here for awhile. I have something I want to teach you.”

“There is an enemy afoot. Be on guard.”

“Turn here.”

“You need to let go of that. It will be a snare. Give it to Me.”

“You need to spend some time today with her. I will give you words that will encourage her.”

“Wake up. There is much to do.”

The “selah” life is the Spirit-led life. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons and daughters of God,” the Apostle Paul says. As we pass through this wilderness on the way to Promise, every step walked in faith is a lyric to the Almighty. Every mile is a stanza of praise. Two or three walking together is a church hymn. Tribes and nations journeying as one is a cantata that the angels want to add to their repertoire. As for me, I cannot wait until the grand finale: the Hallelujah chorus!

Selah.

    ⁷O God, when You went forth before Your people,
         When You marched through the wilderness, Selah.
    ⁸The earth quaked;
         The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God;
          Sinai itself quaked at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
                                                                           Psalm 68:7,8