I grew up in the CRC, and am still here, along with my family. I'm married to Daryl, who has a construction business. I had a CPA license for 10 or so years, then I added EX to the front, and MOM to the back, so now I'm an EX CPA, MOM =). I am MOM to Duncan, Ian and Samantha. Our family also owns a raspberry farm, and in the summers we get to work out there together.
that was Dallas Willard, as interestingly, I just read about that concept in a book earlier today =) he considered silence and solitude the 2 most radical discplines of the Christian life. and Henri Nouwen said that "without solitude it is almost impossible to live a spiritual life."
interestingly the Native Americans tended to live in sync with their natural rhythm but it is not looked upon with much affirmation and usually to their detriment by those that don't follow their natural rhythms... most of us would quite likely get fired and lose our jobs if we did live in accordance with our natural rhythm... if you are self employed, you have much more flexibility with your work schedule...
what was fascinating to me from my reading today, and I had never thought of this before, was that while the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they worked 365 days a year, every day was the same, there was no Sabbath and the command to honor it had not been given yet... it was after they were freed that God gave them the gift of a day of rest via Mt. Sinai.
When I saw the comment yesterday re the BOT's request, I had an immediate burden to pray for them... I don't think I've ever prayed specifically for the CRC BOT...often pray for the pastors and elders and council and teachers and leaders in general and Synod come every June...but not specifically for this group...
I cringe when we try to use intellectual "human" ways to orchestrate Kingdom dynamics instead of letting the Spirit guide us with fasting and prayer...Have we ever tried selecting our leaders after prayer AND fasting?!?! (Acts 13:1-3, vs2 - As they ministered to the LORD and FASTED, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.")... not very intellectual, but amazing results (trust me, our elders did this last year with calling a new pastor)... I just weep in desperation that we will become far more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and fasting does help us be more sensitive as well as other things we don't understand... Listening to the Holy Spirit blows our intellect to bits... Be still, listen for that still, small voice... and then obey!
I know merit is a starting place for leader selection, but as followers of Christ, we need to go much deeper than that and look at eligible leaders from a spiritual perspective...ie. are they Spirit led, men and women of prayer (like 2+ hours a day -no, the Jesuits spirituality on the run of 15 minutes a day does not usually cut it, unless that is a specific call God gave you), with a close relationship with Jesus, that have been obedient in their walk with the LORD... we often assume this of course when someone is talented and successful, but do we actually ask about their prayer life, what is a recent testimony of God working in their life, how they are growing in their relationship with God... and then after prayer and fasting, listen for the Spirit's leading...make sense!?!??! hahahaha...only in a God way....
Rich, rich, rich discussions... somehow missed this one last month =), but that 's ok... It was immensely encouraging to read it now! Wonderful stuff!!
one comment on hearing the "Voice" within. a year or so ago, I was driving out in the county, and passed a farm, that I knew the family that lived there like 25-30 years ago. As i drove past, i thought about them, but then I kept thinking about them, which made me think, "LORD, do you want me to pray for them?" Well, I thought, if it's the LORD, or if it's me, it doesn't matter, because prayer is almost always a good thing, and definitely lines up with scripture, and in this situation it definitely won't hurt. So I spent a few minutes praying for that family, it was very vague because i hadn't seen them in over 20 years. and then forgot about it when I got to my destination.
The very next day, I ran into one of the daughters that I had gone to school with. and then had the opportunity to pray with her. Hmmm... somehow God was preparing me to meet her the very next day... haven't seen any of the family since.
Love the additional insight of "listening" with other believers... That is so what we're missing... because we haven't been "taught" how to hear, how to discern, how to test and how to confirm.
Love the addition of experience. I often share with people, that the Holy Spirit is an experience.
Love the comment about our emotions. King David was the most emotional guy there was, and the only person in the Bible called a man "after God's heart"! brings up our fear of "emotionalism" which is something we need to better understand the difference between experienceing our emotions and "emotionalism. Fervency is ok in at sporting events and concerts, but not in worship =(
Looking forward to and praying for the day, when we are more enthusiastic about worshipping the Sovereign, the Almighty, the LORD of Hosts, and our high praises ring out, and the sound will be "heard a long way off" (Ezra 3:13)
Hey James KA Smith... I remember reading your article in 2008 or 2009 and contacting you back then, because the few "reformed charismatics" seemed to be fairly isolated, and so was thankful that i wasn't the only one, or so it seemed...
just curious what you have experienced in the last 3 years since you wrote that article, but maybe I'll just have to get a copy of the thinking in tongues book.
One of the things that's on my heart, that when i re-read the dancing article, i was reminded of, is "high praise". For some reason, which I have yet to discover the why of it, the niv omitted the adjective "high" which I understand was a very specific Hebrew word "rowmemah" in Ps. 149:6. There are a few other instances where it seems the intensity was decreased in this translation, ie. Jude 3 contend for the faith, vs. earnestly contend found in the NKJV...
As someone pointed out, I think it was in one of these replies, we have been practically "binitarian' therefore minimizing"/quenching the Spirit. I hope that finally, after 40 years of not embracing the Holy Spirit, even though we had confessionally refuted cessationism in 1973 (Thank God! we did at least do that), I hope and pray that "now is the time of God's favor..."
This is one thing I struggle with, that there is no place/table, if you will, in the crc structure for the gift of prophecy to be tested/shared in a safe way. I call this cessationist residue. The council might be a place, but if you are a woman, and there are no women on the council, we are potentially missing 1/2 of the prophetic gifting available to the church. This is totally separate from women in office. It is about the prophetic gifting.
Hey David... first welcome to the network... and next... your post here and your info on your personal page are fascinating to me, as one of the things on my heart is this dance between the charismatics and the more traditional streams... as we dance in step with the Holy Spirit... thx. for sharing your thoughts and experience...
both lines are biblical. (MVL... the PCUSA suggestion is "the love of God was MAGNIFIED!")
Isn't the wrath line in agreement with Romans 5:9 (and other scriptures as well)? and one of the most powerful and prevalent lines of scripture is His mercy/love/chesed endures forever... the contexts of when this line is quoted in scripture is incredible
His anger is but a moment, and His mercy/lovingkindness is eternal... He will not harbor anger forever.... but His love endures forever...
so whether we focus on His wrath or His love... thank God,along with our brothers and sisters in the PCUSA that our eternal salvation is in Christ alone! Worthy is the Lamb!
maybe for every one time we sing it with wrath, we should sing it 5 times with love, or just sing the verse 2x alternating this line
I might sing it the suggested PCUSA way next time =)
This is not good news, and I find it a disturbing trend. We/the crc are suppose to be a fairly mature denomination of believers. This does not indicate that. This indicates heart issues (faith formation?) that need to be addressed. It seems we have made many other things a priority, other than the Kingdom. I know there are many reasons why we can not be in church every time the doors are open, some are valid, some are not, but God calls us to seek His Kingdom first. This is one indicator that we are not. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind... I know we will never perfectly attain this until we get through heaven's gate, but this is an indicator that we are not and instead maybe we are treating Jesus more as a "mascot" instead of as our "Monarch". (see David Bryant's "Christ is ALL" p.12-14)
The level of prayer in the North American church is another indicator of our lack of investing our resources into the Kingdom (95% of believers pray 5 minutes or less a day).
The giving level of believers at 2-3% of income is a significant indicator, and lack of fasting another indicator. These are all serious problems in the Church. Why? We have significantly missed the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit for a variety of reasons. I'm not saying we have totally missed it, but we have to a significant extent.
I appreciate John's comments. and I would love to see the Church gathering on a daily basis at various levels... I think the Koreans gather every morning for prayer...
Why is attendance important? It's one indicator of our heart's desire to love God with all our hearts, souls, mind and strength, it is one indicator of seeking His Kingdom first. That God and spending time with Him is our top priority. God tells us over and over again to seek His face, worshipping together is a key way.
Why are we not meeting daily like the early church? I would love to see this happen. Curious as to when and where did we lose this rhythm?
under the emotional investment... whatever we do is first unto the LORD! He is our audience of One! I help lead an extended time of worship, and it doesn't matter how many people are there, because we are there for Jesus! Because He is worthy of our praise. God takes the pain of poor attendance and lack of enthusiasm to spend time with Him far more "starkly" than we ever will.
Posted in: Working with Our Natural Rhythms Instead of Against Them
that was Dallas Willard, as interestingly, I just read about that concept in a book earlier today =) he considered silence and solitude the 2 most radical discplines of the Christian life. and Henri Nouwen said that "without solitude it is almost impossible to live a spiritual life."
interestingly the Native Americans tended to live in sync with their natural rhythm but it is not looked upon with much affirmation and usually to their detriment by those that don't follow their natural rhythms... most of us would quite likely get fired and lose our jobs if we did live in accordance with our natural rhythm... if you are self employed, you have much more flexibility with your work schedule...
what was fascinating to me from my reading today, and I had never thought of this before, was that while the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, they worked 365 days a year, every day was the same, there was no Sabbath and the command to honor it had not been given yet... it was after they were freed that God gave them the gift of a day of rest via Mt. Sinai.
Posted in: The Love of God in Belhar?
maybe this is really simplistic, but I'm good with Isaiah 58 for our confession on justice :)
Posted in: The Love of God in Belhar?
When I saw the comment yesterday re the BOT's request, I had an immediate burden to pray for them... I don't think I've ever prayed specifically for the CRC BOT...often pray for the pastors and elders and council and teachers and leaders in general and Synod come every June...but not specifically for this group...
I cringe when we try to use intellectual "human" ways to orchestrate Kingdom dynamics instead of letting the Spirit guide us with fasting and prayer...Have we ever tried selecting our leaders after prayer AND fasting?!?! (Acts 13:1-3, vs2 - As they ministered to the LORD and FASTED, the Holy Spirit said, "Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.")... not very intellectual, but amazing results (trust me, our elders did this last year with calling a new pastor)... I just weep in desperation that we will become far more sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and fasting does help us be more sensitive as well as other things we don't understand... Listening to the Holy Spirit blows our intellect to bits... Be still, listen for that still, small voice... and then obey!
I know merit is a starting place for leader selection, but as followers of Christ, we need to go much deeper than that and look at eligible leaders from a spiritual perspective...ie. are they Spirit led, men and women of prayer (like 2+ hours a day -no, the Jesuits spirituality on the run of 15 minutes a day does not usually cut it, unless that is a specific call God gave you), with a close relationship with Jesus, that have been obedient in their walk with the LORD... we often assume this of course when someone is talented and successful, but do we actually ask about their prayer life, what is a recent testimony of God working in their life, how they are growing in their relationship with God... and then after prayer and fasting, listen for the Spirit's leading...make sense!?!??! hahahaha...only in a God way....
Posted in: The Love of God in Belhar?
Here's the Banner article (March) re. spirituality on the run....Catch Your Breath: Parque Central
http://www.thebanner.org/departments/article/?id=3144
Posted in: What is a Reformed Charismatic?
Rich, rich, rich discussions... somehow missed this one last month =), but that 's ok... It was immensely encouraging to read it now! Wonderful stuff!!
one comment on hearing the "Voice" within. a year or so ago, I was driving out in the county, and passed a farm, that I knew the family that lived there like 25-30 years ago. As i drove past, i thought about them, but then I kept thinking about them, which made me think, "LORD, do you want me to pray for them?" Well, I thought, if it's the LORD, or if it's me, it doesn't matter, because prayer is almost always a good thing, and definitely lines up with scripture, and in this situation it definitely won't hurt. So I spent a few minutes praying for that family, it was very vague because i hadn't seen them in over 20 years. and then forgot about it when I got to my destination.
The very next day, I ran into one of the daughters that I had gone to school with. and then had the opportunity to pray with her. Hmmm... somehow God was preparing me to meet her the very next day... haven't seen any of the family since.
Love the additional insight of "listening" with other believers... That is so what we're missing... because we haven't been "taught" how to hear, how to discern, how to test and how to confirm.
Love the addition of experience. I often share with people, that the Holy Spirit is an experience.
Love the comment about our emotions. King David was the most emotional guy there was, and the only person in the Bible called a man "after God's heart"! brings up our fear of "emotionalism" which is something we need to better understand the difference between experienceing our emotions and "emotionalism. Fervency is ok in at sporting events and concerts, but not in worship =(
Looking forward to and praying for the day, when we are more enthusiastic about worshipping the Sovereign, the Almighty, the LORD of Hosts, and our high praises ring out, and the sound will be "heard a long way off" (Ezra 3:13)
Posted in: What is a Reformed Charismatic?
Hey James KA Smith... I remember reading your article in 2008 or 2009 and contacting you back then, because the few "reformed charismatics" seemed to be fairly isolated, and so was thankful that i wasn't the only one, or so it seemed...
just curious what you have experienced in the last 3 years since you wrote that article, but maybe I'll just have to get a copy of the thinking in tongues book.
One of the things that's on my heart, that when i re-read the dancing article, i was reminded of, is "high praise". For some reason, which I have yet to discover the why of it, the niv omitted the adjective "high" which I understand was a very specific Hebrew word "rowmemah" in Ps. 149:6. There are a few other instances where it seems the intensity was decreased in this translation, ie. Jude 3 contend for the faith, vs. earnestly contend found in the NKJV...
As someone pointed out, I think it was in one of these replies, we have been practically "binitarian' therefore minimizing"/quenching the Spirit. I hope that finally, after 40 years of not embracing the Holy Spirit, even though we had confessionally refuted cessationism in 1973 (Thank God! we did at least do that), I hope and pray that "now is the time of God's favor..."
Posted in: What is a Reformed Charismatic?
Sam, I would like to know of these scriptures... do you have a link or document or something as a resource on this? Thx.
Posted in: What is a Reformed Charismatic?
This is one thing I struggle with, that there is no place/table, if you will, in the crc structure for the gift of prophecy to be tested/shared in a safe way. I call this cessationist residue. The council might be a place, but if you are a woman, and there are no women on the council, we are potentially missing 1/2 of the prophetic gifting available to the church. This is totally separate from women in office. It is about the prophetic gifting.
Posted in: What is a Reformed Charismatic?
Hey David... first welcome to the network... and next... your post here and your info on your personal page are fascinating to me, as one of the things on my heart is this dance between the charismatics and the more traditional streams... as we dance in step with the Holy Spirit... thx. for sharing your thoughts and experience...
Posted in: Orthodoxy and In Christ Alone
both lines are biblical. (MVL... the PCUSA suggestion is "the love of God was MAGNIFIED!")
Isn't the wrath line in agreement with Romans 5:9 (and other scriptures as well)? and one of the most powerful and prevalent lines of scripture is His mercy/love/chesed endures forever... the contexts of when this line is quoted in scripture is incredible
His anger is but a moment, and His mercy/lovingkindness is eternal... He will not harbor anger forever.... but His love endures forever...
so whether we focus on His wrath or His love... thank God,along with our brothers and sisters in the PCUSA that our eternal salvation is in Christ alone! Worthy is the Lamb!
maybe for every one time we sing it with wrath, we should sing it 5 times with love, or just sing the verse 2x alternating this line
I might sing it the suggested PCUSA way next time =)
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
This is not good news, and I find it a disturbing trend. We/the crc are suppose to be a fairly mature denomination of believers. This does not indicate that. This indicates heart issues (faith formation?) that need to be addressed. It seems we have made many other things a priority, other than the Kingdom. I know there are many reasons why we can not be in church every time the doors are open, some are valid, some are not, but God calls us to seek His Kingdom first. This is one indicator that we are not. We are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind... I know we will never perfectly attain this until we get through heaven's gate, but this is an indicator that we are not and instead maybe we are treating Jesus more as a "mascot" instead of as our "Monarch". (see David Bryant's "Christ is ALL" p.12-14)
The level of prayer in the North American church is another indicator of our lack of investing our resources into the Kingdom (95% of believers pray 5 minutes or less a day).
The giving level of believers at 2-3% of income is a significant indicator, and lack of fasting another indicator. These are all serious problems in the Church. Why? We have significantly missed the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit for a variety of reasons. I'm not saying we have totally missed it, but we have to a significant extent.
I appreciate John's comments. and I would love to see the Church gathering on a daily basis at various levels... I think the Koreans gather every morning for prayer...
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Why is attendance important? It's one indicator of our heart's desire to love God with all our hearts, souls, mind and strength, it is one indicator of seeking His Kingdom first. That God and spending time with Him is our top priority. God tells us over and over again to seek His face, worshipping together is a key way.
Why are we not meeting daily like the early church? I would love to see this happen. Curious as to when and where did we lose this rhythm?
under the emotional investment... whatever we do is first unto the LORD! He is our audience of One! I help lead an extended time of worship, and it doesn't matter how many people are there, because we are there for Jesus! Because He is worthy of our praise. God takes the pain of poor attendance and lack of enthusiasm to spend time with Him far more "starkly" than we ever will.