Sept 28, 2009 Random ramblings

Its been a while since I posted anything, so I thought I would write a little. Life has a way of getting busy and time passes before you even realize it. There is really nothing profound going on... lately it seems like, work, work, work and more work. Amen, it is in these seemingly quiet times that God is usually up to his most profound work. And so we wait patiently for Him to be revealed, in His time.

Blabbing

So,
Today is another day, and I just trying to wake up. I am realizing how chemically dependend I am - as in STARBUCKS. Lets face it, The best part of waking up is NOT Folger's in your cup.. Its STARBUCKS! :) Actually, the best part of waking up is discovering you an go back to sleep for another 4 hours!

I find I have a tendency to over commit myself. I take on some simple projects, that turn into major nitemares... nest thing I know I am in over my head. I am sure we all have tendencies to over estimate our abilities, and underestimate what it will take to do the task before us.

Can anyone relate?

Selflessness

Selflessness

I have recently been pondering how we as believers are so often obsessed with being selfless. Let me be perfectly blunt: every one of us came to Christ for completely selfish reasons. We didn’t want to face hell in the future, we were convicted of our rottenness because of sin, and wanted to be restored to God in right relationship. Our reasons were all for self. Has anyone ever come to Christ for His sake? Yet, Jesus has met us in our totally self-centered condition and accepted us there.

We are created in the image and likeness of God, but we are also distorted because of sin. God’s desire is to be the center of all things but not for the same reasons that we are self-centered. It’s not for His gain; He desires to be the center of all things for OUR good. He is not like us! (See Psalm 50:21) In our fallen distorted condition, we also desire to be the center of all things – for our own benefit, not for the benefit of another.

The life of Christ is selfless, but in my flesh I am selfish. When I set out to be selfless, I end up being even more selfish because it is ME in the flesh trying to be something. The only reasons I have for being selfless when I walk in the flesh are to promote my own agenda, my own reputation, my own kingdom, my own glory, and my own righteousness. I love others in order to gain acceptance, significance, recognition and approval of men, and to be loved in return. In other words, when I attempt to be selfless in the power of the flesh, I am nothing but pure pride and am more selfish than ever. I am not thinking of my self less (often); I am thinking more about me!

So how do we overcome this? Who can save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God for Christ Jesus His Son. Christ’s life is selfless. If I will walk in Him as I have received Him – for selfish reasons -- turning to Him to meet all my selfish needs and desires, He will fill me up. His life will begin to flow out of me and I will become more characterized by selflessness. But it will not be me doing it; HE will be doing it through me. The reality is, the more obsessed I become with Him, and the more I turn to Him to meet my own needs, the more open I become to Him. I live with my heart open and my ear tuned to Him. When He speaks, leads and prompts, I respond to His leading because I cannot help but do so. However, I am so wrapped up in my life with Him that I am strangely unaware of how selfless I am becoming, and the excellence is of God, not us. I’m just an old earthen vessel – an old cracked pot – but I am full of rich treasure. I am speaking of a great mystery, that is, “Christ in you, the hope of Glory.” (See Colossians 1:27)

John 5:44 CJB How can you trust? You’re busy collecting praise from each other, instead of seeking praise from God only.

I John 4:19 CJB We ourselves love now because He first loved us.

1 Thessalonians 3:12 And as for you, may the Lord make you increase and overflow in love toward each other, indeed toward everyone, just as we do toward you…

Galatians 5:25 Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day.

http://livingcovenant.com

The Anchor

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…" (Hebrews 6:19a)

Having Jesus as our anchor is such a blessing. No matter what we are facing we can have confidence that He keeps us held fast and sure.

Christian songwriter Ray Boltz sings a song that says even though our ship has been battered and the sails are torn, the anchor holds, in spite of the storm.

Have you ever thought about what is holding you?

Desire?

Desire?

After preaching a sermon on a Sunday morning, a woman asked me a question about our nature in Christ. She wanted to know why we have desires that go against Christ’s nature; If Christ’s life is now my life and He is my very nature, then why the struggle?

We often believe that temptations and desires are the same thing. As a result we buy a lie and live in struggle and defeat, wondering what is wrong with us. If temptation is the same as desire, then Jesus Christ must have been the most wicked man who ever walked the face of the earth; He was tempted in ALL ways! Yet we know He was not the most wicked man because He is the Son of God and He knew NO sin.

Temptation is simply something attempting to lure me into unbelief and self-effort. No matter what it looks like, the result of choosing this route is sin – either un-righteousness or self-righteousness. As believers, a desire is what flows from the very heart of God. Christ is my deepest heart’s desire, and anything that would be His desire is also the desire of a believer’s heart. A believer may not act according to his or her desire, or even be aware of his or her true desires, but that does not change the reality. Jesus is in the process of moving us toward greater and greater belief, teaching us that His desires are our desires and our desires are His desires. In fact, when we act contrary to our God-given desires, it is because of our unbelief on this very issue.

I sensed chains breaking as the Lord ministered to this sister in Christ. Tears welled up in her eyes and there was an overwhelming sense of wonder and joy evident on her face.


“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

“Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.” Hebrews 13:18

“Here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted (indeed, it is for this that we toil and strive): we have our hope set on a living God who is the deliverer of all humanity, especially of those who trust. 1 Timothy 4:10

“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and save them.” Psalm 145:18, 19

Flesh, Failure, & Success

These past few days have been a real struggle, and as a result I fell into depression and anger in very real and tangible ways. I know that a major factor has been physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion, but never-the-less there is no excuse for a believer walking in the flesh.

Yesterday the Lord reached out an took my eyes off of myself just for a few minutes, and it was such a blessing to realize His joy and peace again. Today I am thankful for Him letting me fall in to the flesh - the contrast truly shows a revelation of His life within! He truly DOES cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him!

"And we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power would be of God, and not us." (See Corinthians 4)

How has He been revealing Himself to you through your failures????

Personal Update

Enough (Part 3)
By Mike Rule

It’s been a while since I have written. Life has been busy to say the least. I have had tons of counseling and other work to keep up with. I was in Canada March 27-29 to lead LCMI's Biblical Studies. It was a great weekend of seeing God movin in people and in His collective body, but it was a very quick trip.

Tomorrow I leave for Houston, Texas to do a week of intense counseling (April 8-14). My time there will be chock-a-block. The schedule is just starting to fill in, and there are many unknowns. But I know God has a plan for the time, and He is preparing the hearts of people who want to meet with me. (If anyone in the area wants to meet with me, please contact the LCMI office right away.) Houston is a new venue for us, and I am excited to show up and see what God is doing in that area.

I will only be home for a few weeks then I am off to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (May 4-8) Again, it will be a week of intense counseling. I am already receiving calls from people wanting to meet with me. I have worked in Milwaukee since 2000, and God has done so much there over the years. It almost feels like a second home to me.

But, that is enough of the updates. It is time to get on to more important things.

I am realizing more and more that our hope cannot be in what God is going to do in our situation. It cannot be in Him changing the circumstances; it cannot be in Him changing us IN the circumstances. Our hope can only be in Him, and Him alone. I teach, preach, and counsel that Jesus is enough, but in daily life I really struggle to believe it when God makes so little sense. Amen. I am glad to participate in His life, to be involved with a God who is not predictable, who really is not safe. But I am so thankful that He is good, all the time. However, there are SO many times when it does not FEEL like He is good.

Recently, as He and I were having a discussion, He point blank said, "Mike, I love you as you are. Flesh and all. Stop expecting yourself to change. Stop expecting me to do some miraculous thing to save you from your circumstances. Stop expecting me to do so miraculous thing to save you IN your circumstances. Am I not enough for you?" As I have continued to walk this journey and argue with God, I still continue to pray as He has led, "ENOUGH". During one of these discussion/arguments, He recently revealed something very profound. One of the Hebrew names of God - Shaddai - is translated into English as, "Almighty God", but it can also just as easily be translated to mean, "That's Enough." I find that interesting to say the least. The timing of His revelation is quite profound to me and not a coincidence I am sure. What does it all mean? I have no clue. In the past I would have made many assumptions about what it meant. Now? As I said, I have no clue. However, I trust Him to teach me in spite of all my kicking and screaming and cussing.

We all want so much attention from God. We want Him to make things go OUR way. We have huge temper tantrums when God does not do things the way we want, in the time we want. Most of us have made God into an idol, and we attempt to craft Him after our own designs, but He cannot be crafted. He cannot be forged. He does not play the game according to our rules, and so often He does not play the game according to our perception of His rules. Did it ever occur to you that your frustration is a revelation about your situation?

Can you take up the challenge to embrace this God who is untamable? It will be the greatest challenge of your life. He will not necessarily change you; He will not necessarily change your circumstances. Isn’t it arrogant of us to think He even wants to? We stress and fuss about our circumstances and think they are the problem. But the problem is rarely if ever the problem. WE fuss and stress about ourselves too, we conclude that maybe WE are the problem. Did it ever occur to you that it may not even be about your comfort or happiness.

Again, I ask, can you take up the challenge to embrace this God who is untamable? You will learn things about yourself that will make you shudder in revulsion. You will learn things about Him that you will not like. Yet you will also find encouragement and hope in spite of it all. Is it worth it? Honestly, I don't know. For me, the verdict is still out. But this I can say... just as the disciples said to Jesus, "To whom else can we go? Only You have the words of eternal life" Amen? Amen!

I am sure there will be a part 4 coming soon. Thanks for your patience as I work out my salvation and take my time in writing to you about my experiences.

Shalom!
Mike

Update

It's been a while since I have posted, or even had time to peruse the blogs. Life happens too often. But amen, we make our plans, He directs our steps. It has been impressed upon me to share a recent prayer the Lord laid on my heart.

The word the Lord has given me to pray is "ENOUGH!!!!" Let me explain what that means....

We are receiving more and more requests for ministry all around the U.S. as well as around the world, but there is just no money to meet our basic ministry expenses, much less to begin traveling again. I have had to cancel my last three domestic trips due to lack of funds. Again, His word is "ENOUGH!!!!" He has give me a sense that there is a spiritual block somewhere that needs to be prayed about, so please partner with is in prayer, that whatever is hindering His provision from coming through would be removed. He is telling me that it is time, the enemy has had his way long enough, and He is calling us to pray with power like we never have before, "that is ENOUGH!!!!" It is time for His provision to flow as He intends. We desire His will to be done in ALL things. I will be excited to share how He answers that prayer in the coming weeks.

Thanks for your considering this before Him.

Shalom,
Mike

Weeds

I decided to post something I wrote for a Living Reflection a while back...
Enjoy...



We all have pressure coming at us from many directions: relational pressure, financial pressure, religious pressure, self-expectations, etc. Let's just sum all of this up as the worries and cares of this world. There are so many things in this world that clamor for our attention. Each one of those things has roots that reach deeply into our human flesh, meaning the worldly residue that has accumulated in our mind and emotions.

As I have walked this path over this past decade, I have seen things that are both amazing and disturbing. When the pressures of life build, even those who appear to have it all together have come crumbling down. I have seen this in myself as well. My question to the Lord has been, "Why?" Especially since I have seen things come out of myself that I thought were long dead and gone. As I have reflected on it, the Lord has begun to renew my mind.

First, the struggle reminds me that flesh does not improve. It will always be flesh. Who I am at my worst is the true condition of my flesh. Secondly, I have seen that there are deep rooted weeds in every one of us. These are things the Lord leaves in us until the proper time. Sometimes the worst thing we can do is pull the weeds out from around a plant. Until that plant is deeply rooted and established, it cannot handle the stress of having the weeds removed. If they were to be removed too soon, it would kill the plant. Other times, there are roots that lie dormant under the surface. For whatever reason, something triggers fast growth and they come raging to the surface attempting to choke out the life of the plant. Again, the wise gardener knows the proper time to deal with these issues.

As I have seen the weeds grow in my own life, it has been tempting to rip them out immediately. Yet, in and of myself, I know there is no way I can really do that. It has stretched my faith beyond measure to trust the Lord to deal with things in His proper time. He has not done things the way I thought He should and there have been other things that have grown up as a result. At times it has felt like an endless cycle and the weeds have seemed to all but choke out the Life of Christ in me, yet I am learning more fully that He does all things in HIS perfect time.

The weeds are the worries and cares of this world. As you see weeds in your own life, be encouraged that at the proper time, He will deal with them. But not until the Life of Christ that is in you has taken deep root. In fact, the stress that comes from worrying about the things of this world is a weed in itself that He wants to deal with in each one of us. Rest in Him and trust His timing in all things. It takes greater faith to leave weeds alone when they seem to be killing the plant than it does to rip them out prematurely and damage or destroy the life of the plant.

Verses For Reflection

Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, it happened that indeed some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and ate it up. And another fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth. And it sprang up at once, due to not having deepness of earth. And when the sun rose, it was scorched. And because it had no root, it withered away. And another fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And another fell on good ground and yielded fruit, going up and increasing. And one bore thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundredfold. And He said to them, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And when He was alone, they who were about Him, with the Twelve, asked Him concerning the parable. And He said to them, To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to those outside, all these things are given in parables so that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. And He said to them, Do you not know this parable? And how then will you know all parables? The sower sows the Word. And these are those by the wayside, where the Word is sown. And when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts. And these are those likewise being sown on stony places; who, when they hear the Word, immediately receive it with gladness. But they have no root in themselves, but are temporary. Afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the Word's sake, they are immediately offended. And these are those being sown among thorns; such as hear the Word, and the cares of this world, and the deceit of riches, and the lust about other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. And these are those sown on good ground, who hear the Word and welcome it, and bear fruit, one thirty, one sixty, and one a hundredfold. (Mark 4:3-20 MKJV)

He put out another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade had sprung up and had produced fruit, then the darnel also appeared. So the servants of the householder came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Then where have the darnel come from? He said to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Then do you want us to go and gather them up? But he said, No, lest while you gather up the darnel you also root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the darnel and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my granary. He put out another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches. (Matthew 13:24-32 MKJV)


Copyright © 2008
Living Covenant Ministries International

Update

Today is a bitter cold Michigan day. It started out with frozen pipes in the house. Up at 6 AM to get water so my family could get going for the day. Amen. The weather is once again a reminder that we are but weak frail vessels, and the thin line between life and death is evident in how dependent, and exposed we really are. We live in the illusion of independence and strength. But weakness, and fraility is a blessing, it reminds us that God is truly taking care of us and giving us everything we need for life as well as for Godliness. AMEN.

Happy Gnu Ears

Just a short post to wish everyone a Happy New Years. I'm back in the thick of things again and up to my ears in work. I'll post something soon...
Shalom
Mike