April 2003
Page 1 - Gethseminary by Paul Anderson
Page 2 - "Let Anyone with Ears to Hear, Listen!" by Dallas Willard
Page 3 - Report from the Mid-Year Equipping Conference
Page 4 - The Process or "How do we get there from here?" by Paul Anderson
The Process or "How do we get there from here?"
by Paul AndersonJoseph and David were seventeen when the Lord gave them prophetic words about their future. Thirteen years later the prophecies were fulfilled. The words contained nothing about the process they would go through. Between a word spoken to us about where God is taking us and the fulfillment of that word is the journey, the process. Living words, like the dream to Joseph and the prophetic word to David, fill us with joyful expectancy.
The process, however, takes us out of the heights and into the depths. Receiving a word is one thing; walking it out is another altogether. The revelation happens at a point in time. In the process we must put one foot in front of the other-slowly, deliberately, often painfully. The mood of the process is different from the mood when we received the word. It is the difference between going to a conference and getting blessed by new revelations of truth and waking up the Monday after and realizing that life is back to normal. Eureka! The light went on. We felt lifted, emancipated by the epiphany, but now we need to go to work. We need to integrate new truth into our lives, walking it out until what is in our head becomes incarnated reality.To help us process truth, we need to know that…
The event and the process are different. St. Paul said, "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him…" Reception, like birth, is an event; walking, like growth, is a process.
Truth is two-edged. God doesn't speak the whole truth in one word. He cuts with this side of the sword, then the other side. Balance comes with the integration of the word into our lives. Jesus used shock treatment so that truth could break into hard hearts. He spoke of the need to hate one's father and mother in order to be a good disciple. Did He literally mean to hate mom and dad? No. His word required proper interpretation, just as any breakthrough word does.
Teachers like Graham Cooke speak with a prophetic edge, constantly challenging the status quo, and we must listen to the message with that in mind. When we feel devastated by a breakthrough teaching, it worked. We need our hearts plowed up so the seed can be planted in good soil. We must be careful that we neither over-react nor under-react. God's word often comes as a corrective to where we are living. Even when it is judgment, it comes as encouragement, as the writer of Hebrews says, "And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: 'My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you…'" (Heb.12:5). So we neither despair from the words we hear, nor do we disregard them. To despair is a soulish response, which puts the requirement for growth with me, taking myself too seriously and God not seriously enough. Truth comes as both judgment and mercy. To hear only the judgment is to be killed but not revived. Some don't want the judgment because they don't plan to change or they believe they are unable to. To hear only mercy means that there is no death, and therefore, no resurrection. Both are needed, and yet "mercy triumphs over judgment," because the seed that has fallen into the ground brings forth abundantly.
Truth that liberates kills. The first commandment calls us to the slaying of idols. A breakthrough teacher is an instrument of destruction. Graham went after our sacred cows, like church buildings, vision statements, pastoral leaders, organizational structures, models, answers, and techniques. He was the spokesman of the God who says, "I kill and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal" (Deut. 32:39). If we are slain by the word of God, then we can expect the resurrection to follow. As a friend of mine says, "God offends the mind to reveal the heart." This is a new concept for many of us, because we were raised by kind pastors. The prophets have been conspicuous by their absence in our upbringing. The church desperately needs the five-fold ministries!
Truth has its time. Prophetic words need to be weighed not only for their truth but also for their timing. We are on a journey. To get from point a to point d, we must first go to point b. Some prophetic words are not meant to be applied in the present; they are words of hope for the future. People are sometimes dismayed by prophetic words that appear to have no reference point in the present and no hope for applicability. Biblical truth sees time as having content. The Greek word for time as content is "kairos," while the word for measured time is "chronos." When the Scriptures say, "The time is fulfilled," it is speaking of time as kairos. Every prophetic word has its kairos time. We don't force a fulfillment by our planning; we wait for the right time. The agricultural analogy, so common in the teaching of Jesus, clearly shows the processing of truth and the divine initiative in its outworking: "All by itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head" (Mk.4:28).
We walk by faith. We don't hop. Walking can be boring, but it gets us there. We can't do everything at once. The more powerful the teacher, the more devastated we can feel, as we realize that our realities are miles apart. We must humbly pray, "Thank you, Lord, for revealing yourself to me so that I can move into my inheritance-one step at a time. Show me what the next step is. Give me patience to walk, not run. I believe that You gave me this truth to put courage into me, not to take it out of me. I will begin where you show me. I will not despise the day of small things. I celebrate the destruction of sacred cows that needed to die-obsolete structures, overused ideas, and outworn techniques. I choose to walk this journey, like Abraham, in faith of what is before me."
The journey begins with repentance. John and Jesus both preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." A good place to start after a conference is with repentance. Burying our cows means that we won't trip over them. We acknowledge that we have often depended upon the wrong things, found security in our systems, made decisions out of expediency, and listened to people more than God. We commit to living by revelation, waiting upon God, and finding our security in Him. This brings the kingdom near.
We are traveling with friends. I am not good at processing; I need my friends to help me. I can't do it alone, nor can any leader. We need each other at every stage of the journey and, certainly, in the processing of new information.
