Have you heard of the priorities list? Many churches teach it to help people know how to allocate their time according to the right set of priorities. It usually goes something like this:

First God
Second Family
Third Church
Fourth Work
Fifth Yourself

I have heard this taught in a myriad of ways for decades. Here is a confession: I have never liked this list. I have never taught anything like this for as long as I can remember. The problem is that I don’t know how to practically use this list to run my life.

For instance, there are times I have to work a lot of hours at work in order to keep my job and to pay the bills. Work is definitely first at those times in terms of focus and hours. But this list says that I am putting my fourth priority first when in actuality I am doing it because I love my family. If I were single I would definitely be doing something else.

As a pastor there are times I have to spend a lot of time doing ministry. For instance, there may be a death in the church or a wedding to officiate or crisis counseling sessions. Should I not do these and make these people wait because they are the 3rd priority? Sometimes maybe, but I can’t do this all of the time.

What happens when I go on a family vacation for a week and don’t spend as much time in devotions? Am I putting God second?

You get the idea. To me ranking what I do as first, second, third, etc. is the wrong approach. What is first in terms of my time is constantly changing depending on the needs of the moment. Yes, God should always be first in my heart but in terms of quantity of time this may not always be the case.

I propose a set of new rules on how to live. I don’t rank these rules as first, second, or third, etc. I don’t think that is the right approach to allocating time. I propose that you live these 4 rules all of the time to the best of your ability:

Always Listen to God
Always Love Your Family
Always Work Super Hard
Always Live Your Passion

Your thoughts?

In my early 20’s I was at one extreme where I didn’t believe demons could ever bother a Christian. Deliverance was so out of my ministry grid that I had trouble spelling it.

Then in my late 20’s I became a full blown card carrying member of the Charismatic movement. You may know that in the 1980’s we were all learning that we had demonic activity in our life and there was something called a deliverance ministry. At that time getting deliverance was the answer to all of our problems. Something wrong? You must need deliverance!

During this time we thought that the louder you yelled at demons the faster they would go. I remember after my first time of ministering deliverance one night I couldn’t talk for the next 2 days because I was so hoarse!

25 years later and many deliverance sessions I have come to realize that either extreme is not the most effective in helping Christians. I have found that it is a combination of 3 things. Let me share with you those three things and what I believe is the right combination to get delivered from what oppresses us and others.

So here goes, here is the recipe to get someone delivered from demonic oppression.

Mix the 10 parts below to get Deliverance from the Enemy:

7 parts – Pour In Biblical Principles : Put in mixer with your mind and apply until it is renewed. Deliverance can’t help what we won’t walk out.

2 parts – Mix In Inner Healing : Stir in to the bowl with your emotions until resentment, wounds, and offenses are healed. Spice up the mixture with liberal amounts of forgiveness as needed.

1 part – Cast out Demonic Spirits:  Remove demonic activity through deliverance from the batter of your body until it is pure and white.

I am not an expert at cooking in the deliverance ministry but I have used this recipe to see many people free and tasting good.

What are your thoughts?

McDonald’s is the largest restaurant chain in the world. It is very desirable to be this big to a lot of people. Nobody would say their food is at the top of the review charts but big is always good isn’t it? McDonald’s got big because of the franchise concept. The franchise concept is where other people own the restaurant besides McDonald’s but they have to follow strict systems and procedures to insure consistency of experience. Go to any McDonald’s restaurants in the world and they are basically all the same.

I am seeing this same philosophy in the Church world. There are many conferences, denominations, and individual Churches telling us the franchise formula for how the biggest Churches in America does things. So since they are big we assume that it is the way to go. Our success depends almost solely on being big. Right?

We are told there is a formula of ‘rightness’ in America that if you follow it you will be big like the biggest churches. We don’t ever stop to evaluate whether our criteria for success is even right. We just go to more conferences and read more books hoping to find the next thing to ‘tweak’ in the system that will ensure lots of people come in the door to get another Big Sermon or Quarter Pounder Youth program.

I have studied this model quite extensively. It’s not bad. The biggest Churches in America implements this franchise formula. I can within about 5 minutes of visiting a Church tell you if they are following the franchise formula. Again this isn’t necessarily wrong, but surely God has something better in mind than all of us trying to copy the few successful Churches in America. The fact is that most Churches that implement the franchise formula never see the success they desire.

The Church franchise system imitates the same 4 core principles that McDonald’s uses. They are: Predictable (No Surprises), Fast, Convenient, and My Way. My Way means that while you can’t order Spaghetti you can order a standard product like a Big Mac without pickles.

We can build a Church with these 4 core principles but the problem is that God doesn’t live by these principles. If we insist on a Christianity with these 4 core principles we will get some American hybridized version of Christianity that the original Apostles would never recognize.

Jesus the head of the Church is not predictable. He never did a prayer or miracle or healing the same way twice, creation is incredibly varied; even people are quite different all over the earth with different personalities. Here are the McDonald’s values being adopted by Churches vs. God’s model for Churches (in my opinion).

McDONALD’S VALUES                   GOD’S VALUES
Franchise Church                             Creative Church

Predictable                                                Orderly – But Not Predictable
Fast                                                             Slow Cooker vs. Microwave
Convenient                                                God’s Time Table Not Ours
My Way                                                      His Way vs. My Way

What would Christianity in America look like if we did away with the Franchise mentality and asked Jesus how He wanted to build each individual Church? What would they look like if they were orderly but not predictable, events happened on His time schedule, and we adjusted our lives according to His timetable?

It is much harder to do it this way but you will get a better meal. Don’t you like visiting those out of the way restaurants that the locals rave about? I know I do. But it will take creativity, risk, and breaking out of what is the definition of success.

Which kind of Church do you want to be a part of? Do you think it is possible to build a specialty Church like this?

Your thoughts?

The last 2 years have been a time of consolidation. A time of figuring out where we are at, gathering ourselves together after many battles, and taking stock of who we are. In many ways it has not been a time of moving forward per se but a time of regrouping after several years of moving forward. This has been a hard time in some ways but it has also been a time of relative peace.

This year God is going to bless all of the dedication and sacrifice that you have made over the last several years. A lot of what you have been doing is getting yourself into a new position to move forward with the peace and confidence of God on your side. You have to reposition yourself regularly to receive more of God. Those of you who have been faithful to do what God has asked you to do are going to see movement this year.

What do I mean by movement? I mean that you are going to start seeing new things and new directions in seed form come into your life. There will be excitement because you are planting new seeds in the ground that you have never seen planted before. Some of you have been dreaming about these seeds. This is the year that you will see some of them put into the ground and joy will return. Movement forward will come into your life in 2012!

Garden Of Eden – We knew God the Father as Sons and Daughters. Joy filled our hearts.

Sin Came Into the Garden – It broke relationship with the Father and made us Orphans. We lost contact with Him and wandered.

Books of the Old Testament – Shows what happens when we are Orphans. Alone, bound, with little joy.

Jesus Came – Jesus Knew Him so He came to reintroduce us to the Father.

Books of the New Testament – Shows we can now know the Father again as Sons and Daughters. Joy is back.

This Christmas spend time with your Father. That is the joy of Christmas.

Lesson Done.

BEFORE I go on with this blog I want to make it CLEAR that I like getting these and I enjoy reading them! I am not being Scrooge here and saying we need to stop these. Sadly, in many cases these family newsletters are the only contact I have with some people so I do cherish them.

Disclaimer aside this is what I have noticed in most of the newsletters I have gotten. They are all oriented around what was accomplished by us and especially our children this year. You know what I am talking about: Jimmy made varsity football as both quarterback and center at the same time, Susie got elected to Student Body president and has transformed the school administration into a kinder friendlier place, Johnny made the Honors Roll in school and is now headed for Harvard Uber Law Academy, Momma and Daddy just completed an around the world tour, etc.

This has gotten me thinking. This blog is called Thoughts after all

I am thinking that these blogs are a reflection of our performance oriented culture where value comes solely from what we accomplish. People want you to think they are successful so they write their blogs in this way. For instance, when was the last time you read that their youngest son spent most of the last month in juvenile jail?

Now I am a big proponent of accomplishment. I love accomplishment. We are made to accomplish. But my value should first come from who I am and secondly from what I accomplish.

If we are not careful, performance orientation reinforces the world’s external values of wealth, beauty, power, and fame. Even in some of these simple family newsletters the values being applauded are these external values. Think about it. These are not biblical values. Now I am all for wealth, beauty, power, and fame. May more come our way and we use them wisely for the Kingdom of God. But these are usually the only values the world appreciates.

As Christians we are not to be of the culture but a counterculture.  What are some of the kingdom’s values? Hmmm…

I wonder if it’s time I start writing an end of the year family newsletter? Maybe next year? If I am to do this I guess I need to be on the lookout for what my children do in the area of generosity, gratefulness, humility, and even servanthood.

I wonder if anybody would want to read a newsletter like this?

Would you?

I believe that the number 1 cultural hinderance to hearing God is…

Media.

Blogs, Tweets from my followed celebrities, Facebook news feeds that never end, TV episodes that everyone says you must watch, YouTube viral videos of the week, 24/7 News Channels, 2500 Texts a day, emails ad infinitum.

How do we hear God?

Only when we are quiet. Even then He usually speaks in a whisper.

Quiet? Are you kidding? Only losers sit without an internet connection to keep them occupied. That’s why I got an iPad! I don’t even have to get out of bed now to log in.

Think about it. We can’t hear God because a new news feed from the Huffington Post just hit Google Reader interrupting my 13 seconds of Godly meditation that was occurring against my will because my wireless connection had a slow down.

Maybe if God had a Facebook account we could hear Him better. If He would only post to my wall what He wants me to do that would be prime. Then I could ‘like’ Him.

I am ending this blog now because you already have 3 instant messenger beeps and 4 texts to respond to. I know you are busy.

Busy with media.

Moses’ tabernacle in the Old Testament illustrates these 3 locations because it contained 3 places people could see God. First, there was an outside area called the outer court. In the center of the outer court there was an enclosed tent that had 2 rooms. The first room was called the Holy Place and the inner room was called the Holy of Holies.

The Israelites could not go into the 3 locations at will. They were told where to go and see God based primarily on birth family and gender. They didn’t have a choice in the matter. Whatever location they were assigned to that is where they stayed their entire life.

Israelites 3 Locations of Seeing God

Location 1 – The Outer Court : People in this location could see God in nature around them by viewing the sky and mountains. They also heard truths about God from the Priests. But they could not meet God face to face.

Location 2 – The Holy Place Room : People who got to go into this room could actually read about God themselves from the scrolls and they also got to tell the people in the Outer Court what they read about Him. But they could not meet God face to face.

Location 3 – The Holy of Holies Room : God Himself resided here and the High Priest alone got to meet God face to face.

When Jesus died on the cross the curtain dividing the 2 rooms split open telling the world that no matter what location you were born into you could now go into the Holy of Holies. Everyone could now see in and was welcome to meet God face to face. It was God’s original plan for mankind for us to spend time with Him face to face.

Why then do I resign myself to a far away location and call it good when I now have a choice? I do have a choice just like the Israelites, I can choose to view God from:

Christians 3 Locations of Seeing God

Location 1 – Just experience God through the things He has created and listen to a good sermon on TV or at church given by the speaker.  This location is where the largest crowd of Christians hang out.

Location 2 – Choose to read about Jesus myself by reading the Word of God and even share it with others. This location is made up of the group of people that are willing to minister to others.

Location 3 – See, talk, and know Him directly – face to face – spirit to spirit.

Location 3 is awesome – at least the times that I have been there!

Why don’t I go there more? I know it is not a crowded place. Is that the reason? Am I scared to go where the crowds don’t go? Why don’t the crowds move from location 1 to where God’s full presence is? Why do I spend most of the time in location 1 and call it normal Christianity? Why don’t I want to talk to God directly? Why do I want to get all my news about Him through others?

Not sure why I struggle with these questions so, but I pray I never stop struggling at the least and embrace His face to face at best.

Do you struggle with this same thing?

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. ”

Seriously. I don’t.

Think about it – if you want God’s peace then you have to give up understanding. It’s not a given that you won’t understand, but you can’t make it a requirement either.

OK, I am going to throw a tantrum. Picture me laying on the floor kicking and screaming, “I want to understand, I won’t to understand, I won’t to understand!”

What I am learning the hard way is that if you have to understand then:

1. You Don’t Get Peace

2. You are being Led By Your Mind and Not Your Spirit.  The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14).

3. You Can’t be Led by a God You Don’t Understand. This means you will have to bring Him down to your level which is an extremely hard thing to do.

But doesn’t He want me to understand? Yes. But He wants you to trust first. Trust in Him as a Father, as a good God, not because He is logical to you and His plan meets your approval.

My battle is described in John 6:61 “Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?”

Yea it offends me! My mind doesn’t like being left out. It gets mad, desperate, and fights for control.

Am I the only one?

Revelation by Spirit before Understanding with the Mind

Do you John take Jane to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish till death do us part?

Were your wedding vows similar to this? They are almost universally used in the Western world in secular and spiritual weddings. Today I propose these words never be used again. They are too nice. They are too King James Version sounding. They are more a pretty decoration for the sake of the ceremony than they are practical. Very few people pay attention to them on the day of the wedding let alone years into the marriage. They have become powerless.

What has got me on this subject today? Well, now that you have asked I guess I am obligated to tell you.

I heard last week on the Focus on the Family radio show that 1 out of 5 Christian Men – 21% – have had an affair. Shocking isn’t it, but actually I knew this number, or something similar to it. This didn’t surprise me, what shocked me is that 1 out of 5 Christian Men have had an affair in the last year! That means that in the average church that 1 out of every 5 men I meet on Sunday morning has had an affair in the last 12 months. Statistically, that means a whole lot of those 21% of men are having an affair right now! The other statistic was that 16% of Christian women have had an affair in the last year.

This statistic is simply unfathomable to me. I can’t understand the level of sin, deception, and lying that is going on. There is no difference in marital fidelity between men who call themselves Christians and men who don’t!. On this same radio program the counselors said that one of the number one excuses for the infidelity was that the person committing adultery said they had married the wrong person and God finally led them to their soul mate.

So there you go, our sin being justified with the God led me lie. I want to warn you before you continue in this blog that I am taking the gloves off. This is not a politically correct blog. So stop now if you are easily offended.

Let’s be blunt, God had nothing to do with us becoming liars let alone adulterers so don’t try to make it right by bringing Him into the picture. Nobody is fooled not even you if you were honest.

Liars? Yes, men and women who take the pretty sounding vow above and then have affairs are liars. When we get with another woman or man we are not being led by God but our hormones and in the process we break our promise and become liars. It’s as simple as that. Your spouse may be a jerk or a witch but you made a promise and now you are breaking it. I wonder if anyone thinks when he or she commits adultery about the wedding vows they said at their marriage? That is why I am now proposing a new set of wedding vows, a set of vows that use modern language to make our covenant clearer and to the point. What do you think of these vows at the next wedding ceremony?

John, do you today swear by your word the following to your girlfriend Jane, to never have sex with anybody else for the rest of your life, that if she becomes paralyzed from an auto accident that you will still never sleep with anyone else, that if she can’t remember your name anymore because she has Alzheimer’s disease it does not give you justification to satisfy your manly needs with someone else, that if the two of you become bankrupt and get kicked out of your house it does not mean she is the wrong woman for you but it is your problem. John, if your wife gets a terminal disease and is bed ridden and she can’t get out of the bed, will you change her diapers, stand beside her, and do your best to make her journey bearable. John, do you promise these things to Jane today or forever be known as a liar and as a man who puts his convenience before honoring his word?

Hmmm… Not poetic and pretty sounding. These words will probably clash with the tuxedos, white dress, and flowers being held by Jane. The mother of the Bride may go into shock but it will be less of a shock than years down the road when she gets a call from her little girl that she found the man she is standing beside now at the altar in their bed with another woman. Maybe a vow like above will mean something and those that will not honor their word will never say them to begin with.

Thoughts?