Update

Hello again friends.

Life has really gotten away from me this week, so let me fill you in on a few things and then update you about the (possible) future of this site.

Ministry wise, things are really cooking at both IHOPE and the Vineyard. IHOPE just hosted a state-wide House of Prayer conference in Des Moines and we are leading another HOP conference in Omaha, NE in the next couple of weeks. God is definitely giving us a pretty large stage to be able to talk about the House of Prayer and what that means for us and our country.

Additionally, I have taken on responsibilities as the Director of Prophecy and Healing Ministry. Amy and I share these responsibilities jointly, but since I work at IHOPE throughout the week, I am taking on scheduling and advertising, while Amy helps to write out our formats and assign teams.

We are also working on some curriculum for our next internship, this coming summer. The goal is to have some of our own material in place to be able to lead and teach this coming group. Along with this, I am collaborating with Q (the assistant director at IHOPE) on a discipleship curriculum and training program that we hope to launch this year.

The Vineyard is equally busy, but I do have a cool announcement. It was decided at the Leadership Retreat earlier this month that the church will take the necessary steps in order to license and ordain me into the Vineyard Church! I don't have a "for sure" date at this point, but it looks like things will be official come the end of February or the beginning of March. Needless to say, I am super excited.

I have also started a Bible Study on the Gospel of Luke that meets on Thursday nights. There will be more on that later, because this brings me to the future of this site...

I am hoping to launch a new website for Amy and I. I do not have a domain name yet, but you will know as soon as I do. I love this blog, but it is very limiting as far as being able to upload audio of my sermons or my teaching notes. More than that, Amy and I have simply outgrown the confines of a "blog only " website. We need a little more freedom to write, create and promote and that has all lead to the decision to create our own page. If you have any expertise in this matter, I would LOVE to talk to you. Thank you SO SO MUCH!

We love you all, have a great day.

Prayer Meeting Last Night

I know I am getting away from Luke, but we will be back. I have a really cool story to share with you. As you may know, Amy and I lead prayer meetings at our church on Tuesday nights from 7-8pm. There was another meeting going on at church, so we switched locations, but were able to invite some foster kids up to our prayer meeting. It was awesome. Here is Amy's recounting of the story....

"Tonight at the Vineyard there was another meeting going on while the prayer meeting was happening. This other meeting happened to draw some youth to the building. Ben invited some of the older kids upstairs who were eavesdropping on Amy warm up her guitar and voice in the Upper Room. There were 5 youth who came upstairs. We told them what we usually do for prayer meetings and then we sang a worship song. After the song, Amy felt led to talk to them about who Jesus is and a few realities about the Kingdom of God. They all listened intently and then Ben spoke for a few minutes. We asked if anyone wanted prayer and one girl did. We prayed with her and asked her if she had a relationship with Jesus. She said no, not really. Amy asked her what she thought about everything Amy had said earlier - she said "I think that it is really cool." Amy encouraged the gal that all she needed to do to start a relationship with Jesus was have a "yes" in her heart towards Him. The gal said "yes" to Jesus and then we prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill her with love, peace, and a sense of God's heart towards her. Her other friends prayed while we did. One of the other girls asked how we can love God if we can't see him or touch him so we talked about that for a little while and that ended the prayer meeting. It was a good night! Thank you, Jesus! "

It is kind of hard to explain, but there was abundant grace to testify about Jesus to these youth last night. I get in my own head about evangelism and what it is supposed to look like, but this was very natural, very real. I think that God wanted to show these foster kids that He is their Father and that He loves them very much and that they can cling to that Truth even though their life circumstances may not seem like it. And then to have a girl give her life to Jesus - well, that is simply extraordinary. I was so privileged to be a part of that.

I think this is only the beginning. Things seem to be stirring up in Waverly and I am super excited to see what God has in store.

Meekness and Prayer

A brief break from Luke...

One of my goals for 2011 is to self-publish my first book. I am writing the book on the subject of "Meekness" since it is my favorite character trait and one that I think is essential to the Christian life. In the course of my research I have discovered the following. Please excuse the tenses, I just copied and pasted it from my facebook page.

"So, I just found out something that got me really excited. If I transliterate the greek work for "meek" into english it looks like this... "prays". Now, I don't think there is anything linguistically earth shattering about this, but I like to think that living meekly is, in and of itself, a prayer to God.

Conversely, "to pray" (pros+euchomai) literally means, "at what should we be wishing?" So when the disciples as Jesus to teach them to pray, they are, in effect, asking, "Jesus, what should we be wishing for? What do you want to do in this world?" Daydreaming of God's Kingdom to come on earth - that sounds about right for prayer."

I hope that excites your spirit as much as it did mine.

Ben

Temptation of Jesus: Part Two

"The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So, if you worship me, it will all be yours.'

Jesus replied, 'It is written: Worhsip the Lord you God and serve him only.'"

Satan's next temptation was the easy way out. Having failed to plant a seed of doubt concerning Jesus' identity, Satan's next attempt was to plant a seed of doubt concerning Jesus' mission.

"There has to be an easier way than the cross," Satan says in essance. "Worship me and you can have it all."

But Jesus saw through the Father of Lies. And Jesus was after more than the power and authority that the world had to offer, he was after our hearts. Though he might have gained power and respect, Jesus would have failed his mission - to take away our sins and open the way for love to rule instead of law. Satan simply doesn't understand. God isn't looking for people to scrape and bow and follow His every whim (He has angels for that), God wants lovers. He wants people who will love Him voluntarily, people who will challenge Him, people who will stir His heart and rouse Him to action. Think that is far fetched? What about Abraham bartering with God about sparing Sodom? What about Jacob wrestling and overcoming the angel of God? What about Moses pleading with God to not destroy Israel after their idolatry with th golden calf?

I, personally, think that this was the easiest temptation for Jesus to resist, because he was looking ahead in time to you, to me. He knew when he came to earth to put on skin what the end result would be. He knew he would create a people for himself, solely devoted to him and in love with his character and that he would reign with them throughout eterninty. With that in mind, what does Satan really have to offer?

I think we would have an easier time resisting Satan's temptations if we had an understanding of eternity similar to Jesus. What is temporal power or wealth when I know that I will reign as a king for all of eternity? What is the temporary pleasure of sin compared to the eternal and superior pleasures of the Gospel? What does Satan really have to offer? Nothing, nothing but smoke and mirrors. But we don't really believe that, not deep down - and that is why we continue to fall, time after time until Jesus renews our minds and understanding.

Lord God, would you please come and give us a revelation of Yourself and what You have in store for us? To the Glory and Praise of Your Name, Amen.

The Temptations of Jesus: Part One

I am still meditating on the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness (Luke 4:3-13). I think the various tests put before Jesus are the very same ones that Satan tries to use on us today. And, obviously, Jesus' answers show us how we can resist Satan's attempts to derail us.

The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread." Satan begins by attacking Jesus' identity, "If you are the Son of God." Satan always wants to plant a seed of doubt into our minds. He never wants us to understand who we are because we are beloved children of God. We are those who delight the Father's heart and those whom He has chosen to rule over creation. Satan is terribly envious of the glory bestowed on us and he seeks to steal and destroy it as much as he can, his main tool is doubt.

Satan wants us to believe that we are nothing special, that the promises of Scripture which give us our identity are lies. I know, personally, that Satan tries to question my gifts and calling to be a pastor. He wants me to believe that I am unworthy of this calling and that because of my doubts and weak faith I am disqualified and unfit for service in God's Kingdom. Did you know that the best lie is always a half-truth? The Truth be told, I am unworthy to be a shepherd of God's people, but that does not revoke the call of God on my life. It is He who lives in me and who equips me for every good work. It is my weakness that glorifies His strength and ability.

The second half of the first temptation "turn this stone to bread," is especially devious. In one statement Satan questions God's ability to provide and provokes Jesus to use his power for his own comfort, pleasure and gain. This is not how Jesus uses power. The power God gives us is always to serve, always to advance the Kingdom and give light to those in darkness. We are never called to use God's gifts for our own advancement or profit, but rather for the edification of the Church and the glory of God.

Jesus, of course, knew this and he didn't rise to the challenge. He reminded Satan that there is more to life than food and that God's Word is more certain than our own subjective feelings. The truth that Jesus was God's Son was not invalid because Jesus was going through a difficult time and was hungry, weak and tired. He rested surely on God's Word.

And this is what we can be sure of, that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised again to Glory. If we share in his sufferings and in a death like his, we will surely share in a resurrection like his. Though we may face trials and tribulations of many kinds, though we may doubt and question in times of hardship and trouble, we rest secure in the words of Jesus, "Behold! I am with you surely, even to the end of the age." We are never left alone, never abandoned. God's Word is everlasting and True. We are always His children, always His Beloved - wether we feel that way or not. Amen, let it indeed be so!

Good to be back

Hello friends, it has been a long time.

The holidays are behind us and a new year has begun. I am filled with anticipation about what this year could have in store. But New Year resolutions are for another day. Today I am meditating on fasting.

Fasting is, probably, my favorite Christian Discipline. It is amazing to me how doing something so small can have such great rewards. I confess, it is difficult for me to pray sometimes. I get discouraged, or lethargic, distracted and impatient - fasting brings immense clarity for me.

My hunger pangs (though I have done some research and it appears they are not hunger pangs, which start in starvation mode approximately 36-48 hours after your last meal, but rather my body's addiction to an insulin response) are my reminder and transport into prayer. With as active as I like to be, fasting makes me very mindful of God's presence. I get weak and that instantly catapults me to the place of prayer, asking for God's strength to be glorified in my weakness.

All of this intro is to talk about the beginning verses of Luke chapter 4. I will be working through Luke in the coming weeks, so you can track with me if you would like. I am aiming for 4 or 5 posts on the blog each week, so we should work through it rather quickly.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. (Luke 4:1,2)

Jesus had just been baptized by John in the Jordan and was full of the Holy Spirit. And it was the Holy Spirit that led him into the wilderness, the place of trial and temptation. In the wild, Jesus was tempted by Satan for forty some days. Only three instances are recorded in Scripture for us, but I would venture a guess that there were many more.

What fascinates me about these two verses is what is mentioned and what is not. For forty days Jesus was tempted, but we have no record that he rebuked Satan, read the Bible or prayed for extreme amounts of time (though it is more than likely that he did). What is recorded for us as Jesus' primary mode of resistance is fasting. He ate nothing for forty (40!) days. Jesus chose to fast for the trials and temptations he would face. It is only after this period that we have the recorded temptations and Jesus' Scripture-based rebuttal.

And then, when Satan tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread, his response is "Man does not live on bread alone." Jesus clearly had the power to turn stones to bread, but he chose not to. He chose to live as a human being, dependent upon God for his provision. But in the same way, he also acknowledges that there is more to sustaining a human than food. Jesus' god was not his belly.

Fasting brings clarity like nothing I have ever experienced before. I very quickly realize what I am (human, weak, dependent), who I am (irritable, cranky, and yet still loved by God) and where I am (in the wilderness of the world, waiting for Jesus come back and make all things new). It puts me in proper place before God Almighty and because of that, makes communication with Him clearer than when I am full up with the goodies that the world has to offer.

Those are the thoughts of my heart this morning. I pray you begin to look at fasting in a new way and even begin asking God is fasting is something He wants you to do.