The Other Side Of The Cross

Other Writings ...

2011-07-29T13:47:00.003-04:00

For those of you who may be interested. I write a daily devotional called "God Journey ... Knowing God and His Word" for our TeenFire group on our website listed above in the logo.

Peace.

Derek

The Cruelty of God

2011-07-09T00:50:00.015-04:00

"I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?"
— C.S. Lewis

I love this quote, and it has everything to do with the discourse happening in my head and with my family these last few weeks. We have been bombarded with opportunities for deep intercessory prayer - dear friends who are suffering so much after a horrible accident with their son, another college friend who is watching his premature baby fight for his life, and then a choir member who struggles to recover from a simple outpatient heart procedure that went terribly awry.

Each scenario flirts with tragedy. Each day is a roller coaster of hope and despair, alternating viciously with huge drops and violent twists upward. It's too much to bear, but as we fall on the mercies of a God who promises to never leave us, He still seems to be so far away in this time when we need Him the most.

It's cruelty to get one's hopes up, only to have them shattered . . . at least that's what we've come to believe. The question looms so large that it threatens to block out any redeeming thought ... "How can God perform miracles one day and then pull those miracles out from under us the next ...?"

We are left feeling foolish for praising God in a seemingly false victory, and our faith is threatened as we struggle to believe in any future possibility of healing.

It seems like a mean-spirited set-up, to be completely honest. God seems a bit cruel at the moment, if we are transparent enough to admit it.

Job was.

He lost everything. His family, possessions, and health. And did he ever have something to say about it! I'm reminded of his journey, and I'm also remembering the conclusion of his discourse with his family, his friends, and then with God Himself.

Job also praised God in calamity, and things just got worse. Job also felt what we are feeling now, and yes, even went so far as to say that God was being cruel to him ...

Job 30:17-- "You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me."

The largest part of his story was spent dealing with the tragedy, with the accusations, and with the aftermath and thoughts of the unfairness of it all. It's easy to see God as cruel when you are in the middle of a living nightmare.

But to accurately see God, we must do our best to put our perspective and faith outside of our storm. We cannot look at the chaos and properly see Him for who He is. This was Job's problem and is now ours. In our humanity, we take our struggle and place it as our point of perspective. And from this point we see cruelty and sin abounding more.

But this cannot be. We know His grace abounds much more! Therefore we must place our point of perspective in the person of Christ, living in us, who reigns over sin and disease and tragedy. He is our Savior! He is our Deliver and Comforter! And He draws us continually to Himself, bringing us to the point where we, like Job, can eventually say "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you!" Job 42:5

And with this renewed view of God, Job found healing, and we start to see the cruelty of God for what it actually is ...

Compassion.

His ways are above ours, but His heart is immense in its love towards us.

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2011

Putting Away The Cross

2011-05-03T10:37:00.007-04:00

The above picture is a picture of our Church's garden, where TeenFire has our Crucifixion Scene each year on Good Friday.

I took this picture this morning. It has rained almost every day since Good Friday, and I'm waiting on a 3-day stretch of sunshine before I take the crosses back up to our Church attic for storage. We don't want them to warp and mildew.

Standing there, looking at this scene, a quiet realization hit me.

This is what so many of us do. We play the scene, put on the drama, learn our lines, and revel in the Easter moment.

But then we take our Cross . . . and we put it away. Back it goes to its storage cabinet in the corner of our closet called tradition.

This is why our churches are full on Easter Sunday. The visual effects are moving. The communion we take feels cleansing. The story is inspiring.

Why, then, do we move on unchanged?

I'm starting to see the dark side of tradition. Ritual was never meant to take the place of Relationship. Ritual is meant to remind us of the Relationship!

But instead, we place our own Cross away, keeping it in its place, to bring out when it suits us.

But this must NOT happen.

The Cross doesn't go away. God sees it every time he looks at us. He sees it when He discusses our offerings with His Son. He sees it when we lay our burdens at its base.

And He calls us to carry it . . . daily.

"He said to them all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory..." Luke 9:23-26

"And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost..." Luke 14:27-28

"Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.'” Mark 10:21

"For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame -- who set their mind on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body...." Philippians 3:18-21

Are you following Christ? He doesn't give us any luxury at all to follow two paths. We must do as He says, if we are to follow Him.

Do not set your mind on earthly things.

Keep the Cross upon your shoulder, and keep moving forward.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2011

Acts 3:19

2011-04-02T00:18:00.004-04:00

Acts 3:19 "Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away."

Let's break it down:

1. "Now . . ." - Do it now! (that's pretty clear!)

2." . . .repent of your sins . . ." - this literally means "change your mind about your sin". Where you once blindly chose sin as a pleasurable and worthy investment of your time and soul, you now see your sin for what it is. You realize it's falsehood. You see it's temporal nature and its true face.

Sin is like cheap jewelry. It looks good until you put it on. You can fool some people, and even look good doing it. But YOU will always know it's a facade.

3. " . . .and . . ." - while you are changing your mind, you are also changing your focus. That is what "changing your mind"/"repent" means. You are looking to something else. This simple word "and" adds this magnificent subject of our renewed focus . . . GOD. :)

4. " . . . turn to God . . . " God offers you Himself. The REAL. This verse is tell us to repent of sin and to repent to God. Change your mind about sin, and you therefore change your mind about God.

So what we're doing here, with this verse, is leaving the facade of sin for the fortune of Heaven. The cheapness of sin cannot compare to the treasures of the Holy life.

5. " . . . so that your sins may be wiped away . . ."

Once you hold real diamonds in your hand, the allure of the cheap knockoff is instantly gone. It's wiped away.

So we are now at a paraphrase of this rich verse!:

Now change your mind regarding sin's paltry value, recognize the supremacy of God, and He will take your sin and replace it with real value that makes sin instantly lose its appeal.

This will change your life . . .

2011-03-19T15:44:00.007-04:00

Why I'm Giving Up Lent for Lent . . .

2011-03-17T10:17:00.017-04:00

First of all, do NOT let this post throw off your Lent plans. That's not my intention, nor do I think I am important enough to change anyone's mind about anything. I don't want to discourage anyone from participating in any time of repentance, commitment, or a deeper focus on the the person of God.

This is just my viewpoint, right now ... today. The funny thing about perspective is that it can always change. You just have to move a little . . .

Recently I posted a thought on my twitter and facebook that stated Maybe we should reverse Lent. You know, ignore God for 40 days, and THEN humble ourselves and pray for the other 325...

This garnered a few comments and an "ouch" or two.

But I'm really thinking about this differently this year. No, I'm not advocating to ignore God for Lent! My point is that our current culture really tends to ignore Him in everything except tradition and ritual.

For some reason, and I think I know what it is, tradition and ritual have once again replaced relationship.

We've come full circle. Things are little different now than when Jesus first came to us incarnate. The only real difference is that we now have a definition of freedom that didn't exist then, and this has caused us to feel free to live whatever way we want to live . . . oh, and to keep the traditions, of course.

Our churches are filled to overflowing on Christmas Eve, Easter, Holy Week, and yes ... Ash Wednesday. Where are we the rest of the year? Where is our commitment on February 2nd, or the Fifth Sunday of May?

This isn't about church attendance. This is about being part of the Body of Christ.

Last Tuesday, I spent time, as I always do, with our TeenFire youth group. We have reserved a large gym in our town, and we play basketball and volleyball, listen to loud music, eat pizza or hot dogs, play Wii on a giant white wall, and then gather for the most important part - what we've used all of this activity to draw them for - our Word OUT moment (an evangelical message geared for these teens, many of whom are unchurched).

This week, I called them to the bleachers, and gave them my opening mantra, which goes like this . . . "Alright, everyone repeat after me . . . I give you food, fun, and friendship, and YOU give me ten minutes of your time to listen. Listening means that you do not talk, and that you look at me and pay attention to what I'm saying. Capice?"

And they all agree, most of them mouthing the words as I say them.

I did this little routine this week, but with a twist. After I let them know I was beginning (and they DO time me:), I fumbled in my Bible and looked here and there for FIVE MINUTES. Five minutes of me just standing there, reading my Bible and turning pages.

They stayed silent for about 12 seconds. A whisper started up, then one person asked me a question (which I didn't answer), then two people said they were hungry (we had just eaten), then one guy got up to go get a drink (5 joined him), and before 4 minutes had passed, the gym was in chaos again.

Which proved the point I was about to make, and what I am writing to you now.

Commitment isn't something you speak. Commitment is something you DO.

Looking at my small town alone, I see (myself included) a group of people trying to either fit in or stand out, and most of us don't know which one we should be doing. I see us caught in a life of busy-ness, trying to provide for ourselves and our families. I see us reminded occasionally, when a holiday or calendar tradition approaches, that we REALLY should be spending time on the things of God.

So we show up. We say the responsive reading. We speak the words. We smile and nod. We walk forward for Communion. We receive the mark of Lent . . .

But we live unmarked lives.

Nothing changes. In reality, we are just passing through, stopping to look at the sights, but not staying long enough to meet the Savior.

We wear our chains so fashionably. So much so, that they now accessorize our life.

God have mercy on us! I don't want the above scenario for myself, or anyone else. I want real change and a real Christ. 24 hours per day; 365 days per year.

So . . . I'm doing something unusual, and in a way, paradoxical. I'm giving up Lent for Lent.

I'm leaving the rote and ritualistic for the revelation of a real relationship.

God work in me and through me. I need you so! I repent of my apathy and lack of focus!

Change my heart today . . .

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2011

The Bottom Line ...

2011-02-05T21:45:00.007-05:00

It doesn't make you more attractive or happy, and it won't bring peace to your life. It can't strengthen your ministry or repair your marriage. It doesn't help the poor or feed the hungry, and it certainly won't make make you become more selfless. It won't bring you closer to God, enable your maturity and, regardless of what most believe, it can't even keep you safe!

It won't get you to Heaven, or keep you from Hell. It doesn't pick you up or give you courage in a trying time. It can't love your family or help you forgive those who treat you spitefully, and there's no way it can coincide with kindness.

It tears you down, limits your gifts, destroys your talents, and ravishes your soul. It feeds on your uncertainty and in spite of our best effort to coddle it and keep it fed ... it always wants more.

It doesn't enrich you in anyway. Fear is useless ... unless you give it value.

BE UNAFRAID.

Here's why ...

“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4).

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7)

“Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?’” (Luke 12:22-26, NIV).

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones” (Proverbs 3:5-8).

“…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:26-28).

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 11:23-12:10).

“So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:6).

“…put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 131:1)

Be UNAFRAID

The Invasion

2010-12-25T01:50:00.000-05:00

"A silent night
Shepherds watch their sheep
A picture of a tiny town asleep
All Heaven stands
The angels spread their wings . . ."

Take some time today to just stop.

Get alone and think the Christmas story from another angle, from another viewpoint if you will. Look at that Silent Night through the eyes of Heaven, and remember what His story really tells us . . .

The Roman empire had grown enough to allow the province of Judea to be ruled by a semi-independent ruler, Herod the Great. Politically, the Jews still fell under Roman rule.

Spiritually, however, the earth had been bound too long by this Silent Night. In fact, the silence was deafening! The fallen Dragon had painted a facade of sway over man and creation. Many lived in despair, and the hope for deliverance was fading.

A few still clung to the prophet Isaiah's writings, and prayed for the Messiah to come. The Scribes and Church leaders kept close tabs on royalty and the lineage of King David, looking for an overthrow of power; a conqueror. This seemed the logical place to look for the Messiah. King Herod himself was even watching . . .

They didn't really know what they were waiting for, and how could they? God always has plans that are bigger than our limited vision or assumption. They were looking for a conqueror over their current physical circumstance. God is more concerned about our eternal spiritual abundance. They were looking for an end to their earthly oppression. He came to bind the broken-hearted. They were looking for a new government. He was interested in freeing them completely.

That Silent Night seemed like any other dark, forsaken night. But there was something Holy coming . . .

Silence. Soft gusts of wind. The movement of the herd in a slow, relaxed churn. Low conversation. A campfire reflected off of a pair of shears. The creak of beams from the nearby holding pen. Stars shining in the Heavens, one noticeably brighter overhead. The shift of armor. A shepherd boy unfolds his evening meal from his leather pouch as the others discuss the day's events. Angels unfold their wings. Drowsy eyelids flutter to stay awake. Heaven stands to attention. As one, the sheep raise their heads, alert. The boy exhales as he thinks of what tomorrow brings. A solitary Angel inhales as the massive choir gathers above the flock . . .

Light! An immense stranger stands among them. Fear! Do not be afraid. Pronouncement! Good News! Singing! Glory to God in the Highest! Great Joy, for ALL people. He is born today!

As a sign, you'll find Him in the most unlikely place . . .

A manger?

Not exactly the planned entrance that Church leadership of the day had predicted.

Not the palace.

No royal midwife.

No proclamation of an heir to an earthly, temporal throne.

Not the obvious . . . but in a manger.

A lowly manger.

A mother's physical pain.

A smelly, lowly home for beasts of burden.

A step-father's feeble attempts to comfort.

A mother's joy!

Shepherd's worship.

A baby's battle cry.

An Invasion.

The facade of dark power begins to crack.

The War had changed. The King was here. In a split second, the tide had turned!

News of a virgin birth caused a deep shudder to go through the Kingdom of Lies.

Light had come, and the Silent Night was gone forever.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

Bah Humbug

2010-12-04T19:48:00.010-05:00

Tonight, I am doing what I love most ... I'm spending time with the kids. I am forcing myself to take Saturdays off, and it's such a needed thing.

Tara is with Lauren at our high school watching "The Nutcracker", and the rest of us are sitting in the living room watching "A Christmas Carol" (2004). .

Scrooge just said this about the poor ... "Let them die, and decrease the surplus population".

This chilled me. I know people like this; who live this mindset.

I'm reminded of the Cheezit commercial ... "get your own box!" Some of us live this Scrooge mentality. Life is a big "Bah Humbug" and if you are poor and needy, it is your own fault. Get your own money, your own health, your own clothes, your own food, your own drink ... because your problems have nothing to do with ME, as Kelsey Grammer (Scrooge) so masterfully sings in this film.

Sitting here, watching this classic, I'm reminded that God is not pleased with an ungrateful heart. He chooses our heart as His vehicle of choice to deliver His love to mankind. It is no small thing that the image of a heart is a universal symbol of love!

But an ungrateful heart locks the door to this mighty redemptive God and His prevenient grace in our life, and what a horrendous thought this is! Why would anyone want to remove God from their life? Where God is not . . . quickly becomes hellish. Not only do we rob ourselves of His blessings, but we rob souls of His Kingdom.

Each year we enter the Christmas Season repeating those famous words of Tiny Tim, who says "God bless us everyone!"

And God does. Honestly, His prevenient grace works regardless of what we do, but only because of who He is.

In Luke 6, Jesus says “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that."

"And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

Those of us who ignore this command run a great risk, as Scrooge does in this Christmas tale. Scripture tells us that many are called, but few are chosen.

We find out what this means when we read Matthew 25. Jesus tells us who will be invited into Heaven. Those who feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, give clothes to those who are without, tend to the sick, and visit those who are in prison.

It's that simple ... and that sobering.

There are no Scrooges in Heaven.

I vote we amend Tiny Tim's speech with this addition:

"God bless us everyone, and have mercy on us! We repent of our ungrateful hearts, and pledge our giving to match our gratitude."

See ... your giving does always match your gratitude. And it has nothing to do with the amount you give. It has everything to do with how you give. Paul's letter to the Corinthians specifically tells us that we can give everything we have, but if it's done without love, then it's useless.

Gratitude tells God and allows others to see that you know your place. You realize that no amount of money, power, or prestige makes you better than the "least of these".

Gratitude makes you choke back the tears as you write a check for a stranger's groceries, for you know how kind and loving God has been to you, even in your sin and wickedness of the past.

Gratitude opens the door to blessing, both in your own life and in the lives of those God brings you in contact with.

So the question presents itself .... are we grateful enough to sacrifice our own personal comfort and prosperity to allow God to use us? God keeps tab of those who do, saying we not only will gain Heaven, but we also build treasure there through our sacrificial giving.

How grateful are you? Do your actions mirror God's blessings, or are you clinging to the pitiful shillings of a "Bah Humbug" life?

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2010

God's Doing Good Things In The Darkness

2010-11-25T22:58:00.002-05:00

This is from a friend of our family, Carol Hobbs. Good thoughts I want to share with you:

Several nights ago I remembered my poinsettia.

It was a gift to me a year ago after Daniel’s dad’s wedding. The day after Thanksgiving to be exact.

It was one of two at the front of the church for Daddy and Daryl’s very beautiful Christmas wedding. Please take it home with you, they’d said.
It was a huge, gorgeous poinsettia. It even survived the trip from Ohio to Pennsylvania in the back of our Suburban. In the cold. Nestled among suitcases.

And I enjoyed it all through Christmas.

Fast forward six months.

It spent the entire summer on my front porch. It was watered. Not very regularly, I must admit. For part of the summer I was even red-neck enough to let it sit on the porch below the air conditioner sticking out of my dining room window and let the condensation drip into the pot. Lazy woman’s watering can.

You get the picture. I kind of wanted it to live, but I really didn’t give it too much attention. It even survived the mini-tornado whose high winds removed everything from the front porch.

When it started getting cold I decided to bring it inside. It was still big and leafy and green. Not looking very Christmas-y at all. But I’d heard somewhere that it needs to be in a dark place.

Ah ha! The basement dungeon we’ve got would be just the place. I took it down and watered it well.

And promptly forgot about it.

I’d meant to check on it every week and water it. You know, check in on it and see how it was faring. Didn’t happen. For me it’s “out of sight, out of mind.”

Until that night I mentioned several days ago. Oh no! I’d forgotten all about that poinsettia! By now I was kind of hoping that somehow I’d be able to coax it into blooming. For Christmas.

Today I remembered to check on that poor, forgotten plant, deep in the hidden recesses of my basement.

And there he stood. Tall. Green. Not wilting a bit. With a few whitish leaves on the top and a few just starting to turn red.

I was shocked, to say the very least.

Something was going on. There. In the dark.

In the dark and damp of my basement, the poinsettia retained moisture in its soil that light and warm air would have stolen from it. And somehow, the darkness is causing changes in its leaves. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll have a blooming poinsettia for Christmas.

What is God doing in your darkness?

It’s far too easy for me to curse the darkness. I want bright sunny days. Beautiful breezes. Warmth. Light. Fresh air.

But in my dark and damp God is keeping my soil from drying out too quickly. I water it regularly with tears. And He knows that deep inside the heart of the plant, darkness is necessary to produce the most beautiful blooms.

Is my basement a lovely place? Nope. The part of the basement where I put the poinsettia is pitch black and has a gravel floor. It’s a little damp. I don’t love to go there. It’s not a good place for many things.

But it’s a good place for my poinsettia.

But not for long. Only for a period of time.

Then, up he comes. Back to the sunlight. Back to the warmth of my home. Back to the pedestal where he can sit and be admired. Hopefully sporting beautiful blooms.

Remember, your darkness won’t be forever. God’s only keeping you there so your roots can drink deeply. And so the darkness can cause you to bloom.

I’m wanting to rest in my dark place and let God do His stuff. Care to join me?

New blog . . .

2010-09-06T11:22:00.005-04:00

Hey everyone, I'm currently taking part in a 90-day challenge Bible exploration with some other church leaders. I'm blogging my thoughts at http://derekhickman.wordpress.com

What lies beneath ...

2010-08-28T00:55:00.009-04:00

I'm reading a book about the simple life. It's not a simple book. The more I read, the more convoluted the solution gets. In fact, I'm starting to realize that life is actually NOT simple at all. Life is a bowl of cherries, without the cherries. We work so hard to get what we think is going to make us happy, but we keep ending up with cherry stems in an otherwise empty bowl. There's always someone else who gets there first. There's always some other thing to do or some hoop to jump through. Nothing is new under this Sun, and all this activity is pretty much useless vanity.

I've heard it said that we are so much more than what we do, but from my perspective I've had enough of hearing how valuable I am.

I live my life. I know my screw-ups.

And so do you.

It's time to take off the costume we're wearing. It's time to dig down until we get to what lies beneath.

I'm convinced that we are guilty of using "activity" as a ruse to keep us and anyone else from seeing who we really are. This fast-food society we live in is our grand illusion. We say "look at what I'm doing!" but on the inside we are whispering "Please don't look at who I am". The church's divorce rates are the same as the rest of society. Our moral failings are rising. Our young people are leaving our congregation.

We've forgotten who we truly are. We believe we are still fallen, and we are acting like it.

I think this is why the Church at large is impotent. We are too scared to look in the mirror, repent of our failings, and then move into the truly simple life of Grace.

The enemy is among us, and he claims that Activity has replaced Identity.

Activity is our security blanket. We wrap it around us, and take solace in it when we are depressed. We crawl into it when we can't bear to look at our marriage. We add another layer when we feel the cold wind of loneliness in our relationship with God.

What's the first thing we say to someone's question of "How are you?"? I catch myself saying "Crazy busy!" What kind of answer is that?

We can be so busy . . . and so alone.

The Spirit of God states that Identity must replace Activity for our activity to be effective for the Kingdom.

I'm realizing that life is NOT SIMPLE, but I am.

I am simply a creation in the hands of an amazing Creator. So are you! He is molding us, individually, into what He plans for us. He wants to do the work. We just need to surrender to the plan.

What lies beneath all of these self-made layers we hide under? Maybe it's time for you to find out.

Take a break from your busy-ness and take a look in the mirror. God has a plan for you. It's simple, powerful, and effective.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2010

A Song For The Fallen . . .

2010-08-04T01:46:00.003-04:00

The Incredible Reality of Redemption

2010-07-31T19:40:00.001-04:00

I never get tired of a discussion about Redemption! It’s such an incredible concept. When you think that we are so small, and God is so big. We are so tainted, and God is forgiving. We are so lost, and broken, and undeserving, yet God came to us . . . He thinks we are worth dying for. You are worth dying for. I am worth dying for. That blows my mind. I can’t really comprehend that type of sacrifice, where someone so unfathomably Perfect lays down His life for someone so . . . broken.

The significant loves the insignificant. The Triune loves the Trivial. The Relevant loves the irrelevant. The Creator loves the created. And that’s really what it’s about isn’t it. We find our worth in what our Creator thinks of us. He alone has the say so as to what our worth is. He alone can give us value. Nothing and no one else can. As hard as we try, as far as we search. . . we can never find our worth anywhere else. And so we discuss and discourse and try to wrap our minds around this incredible reality of Redemption, caught up in these three simple, almost childish words . . . “Jesus Loves YOU”.

Reality place a huge part in our redemption. It is based on Truth, and Truth sets us free. But unfortunately we know that reality is a rare thing to find today. Our enemy throws everything he can at us to get us fixated on ourselves, our accomplishments, our hurt, our triumphs, our tragedies. And so focused on our selfish desires, the sacred sometimes becomes laughable. We can hear Truth, and laugh in its face, which is exactly what our enemy wants . . .

Everywhere we look we see the headlined version of reality, based by what one tries to sell to the other. Reality shows are the craze, the fad, but recently it’s been admitted that they too are staged. We hear, from all directions, the call to this diet, to that car. He will make your life complete. I can’t live without her. Romance is where it’s at. Wealth is the answer. Hollywood has “the life”. This style is in. That celeb is out. There’s something for everyone and NOTHING SATISFIES!

Do you ever get tired of it? I looked up the term “rat race” the other day. The term “Rat Race” is a term used for an endless, self-defeating or pointless pursuit. It conjures up the image of the futile efforts of a lab rat trying to escape while running around a maze or in a wheel. In an analogy of modern times and cities, many rats in a single maze run around making a lot of noise bumping into each other, but ultimately achieve nothing (meaningful) either collectively or individually (Wikipedia).

Do you ever get sick of this life, this pace we are living it? The pain, the suffering, the searching, the loneliness. Nothing satisfies. And no one sees this more than a person in ministry. A minister’s job is to show the real against the facade of life.

But we’ve replaced the REAL for the Rationalistic. The Real for the Ruse. The Real for the Rudimentary. Our moral code has been replaced by an mtv culture that even demands we believe that there is no REAL! Really, there is no real . . . and we start to lose our logic. We start to embrace the facade.

We’re all caught up in it! Don’t think you’re not. To some extent we all are. The effect is overwhelming.

We live in a fast food society. We want what we want, and we want it now. We have replaced the formula of Desire + Hard Work = Success with a formula that reads Desire = Success. We have created a ladder of Success with one rung and then wonder why we feel so empty and disillusioned. We want what we want, with an immediate order of self-worth. The more we indulge ourselves though, the sooner we become like the writer of Ecclesiastes. We realize that NOTHING SATISFIES in this world.

And it starts to affect us spiritually.

Our churches are now filled with people who have no idea what Redemption is. Many of us go to church for years, without the slightest clue about our real spiritual state. We are inundated by the facade. We are overwhelmed by popular culture that points to everything but the REAL. Some of us come across the Law, and are convicted. Some of us try to go to church. To live right. And we wonder why we constantly fail. We have taken the mirror (the Law's true purpose) off the wall and are trying to clean ourselves with it. In Reality, Redemption is brought about by the Forgiveness that’s been offered, and our realization and the resulting repentance we must have. We must live the life of the Changed Mind, which is the true meaning of Repentance.

But we pass by the Cross with glazed eyes. We don’t see the Law of Life and Liberty that Christ’s death has given us. So we dive deeper. We forget the teachings of our fathers. We turn a deaf ear to the call of God in our lives. We go farther until we find ourselves in danger of depravity.

Because Truth is not benign. Truth is not a neat idea that works for some and not for others. No, Truth stands regardless whether we "buy into it" or not. Truth stands though the world recoils in hatred. Truth stands and will never be affected by whim.

We can do nothing to it, but Truth will always do something to us. There must be a reaction to it. We must respond, and either accept it in humility, or reject it in disbelief and pride.

The Apostle Paul says this in Romans 1:25 – “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator . . . For this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions (desires), for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of a woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men, committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error."

"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which were not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding . . . “.

Sound familiar?

Seen this on television lately?

It’s relentless. And for a reason.

Our enemy is scared to death . . .

See, we are born with a desire for abundance. God built that into our holistic makeup, otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have offered it. He came to give us Life and Life more abundant!

That means Christ is standing in front of us saying, "I am here to give you more than what you have. I am THE REAL! I am here to show you what life has only pretended to be!"

And our enemy is scared to death.

He’s scared that the glimmer of Grace will catch our eye.

That for one second we will stop and turn our focus on the Cross.

That for one hour on a Sunday morning we will hear about a God who was and is and always will be REAL!

That for one moment we will hear the song of the redeemed. That for 5 minutes during a lunch break someone will tell us there’s more to this life.

That one person will break rank and demand that a church practice what it preaches.

That love will be shown to the undeserving.

That prayer will creep its way back into schools.

That righteous action will speak louder than hollow words.

That people will start praying for miracles.

That minds will be changed in repentance.

That hearts will be healed.

That chains will be broken.

That strongholds will be shattered.

That marriages will be restored.

That the divorce rate will go down.

That husbands would love their wives.

That wives would become Godly women.

That teenagers would say “NO” to the damaging pressure, and demand more from their peers.

That forgiveness would come out of pain.

That our eyes would be opened.

That we would see Jesus.

That the meek would inherit the earth.

That the oppressed would find relief.

That we would see the love of God for what it is.

That the facade will crack.

THAT THE TRUTH WOULD BE REVEALED!!!

THERE IS A REAL!

And our enemy spends every moment in this chaos he’s created, desperately trying to believe his own lies, throwing everything he has at Creation to convince us likewise.

There is a Real. Satan knows it. Scripture says that even the demons believe . . .

There is a Real, and it’s based on Truth.

The Psalmist said, “The sum (the entirety, the total make-up) of thy Word is Truth” (Psalms 119:160)

John 1:14 says that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . full of grace and truth”

In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man comes to the father but by me.”

In John 8:31 and 32 Jesus says, “if you continue in my Word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”.

The Truth, the REAL is found in Jesus. No other place can we find our redemption.

No other place can we find our worth.

Our value and our Life is found in His death.

And when he says he is the only way, he’s not being arrogant. He’s being incredibly helpful! Let me explain . . .

Many years ago, in my teen dinosaur years, I went with my dad and brother on a caving tour. We were traveling through a certain area of the country, and we heard of a cave tour that went three miles down into this massive cavern. So we thought we would be cool and “live the dream”.

We arrived at the cave. I can still remember the time, oddly enough. It was 3 p.m. when the tour started. We walked and walked and walked until we were sooo far down. The walls were incredible with the colors and reflections of the tour guides' light.

When we reached our destination, we were in a large cavern. To the right and left were passages going off into the darkness. Our tour guide then made us close our eyes, line up single file and turn each other around several times, starting with the first person being turned around by the person behind him. It ended with the tour guide turning the last person around. He then told us to open our eyes.

Total darkness.

Some of the girls in our group screamed half heartedly. My dad grabbed each of us boys and told us to stay with him. Several guys in the group ventured a weak “hello”.

Total silence from our tour guide.

And just at the scary moment when panic enters the back of your neck and makes your hair stand up, the tour guide laughed and turned on his light. He then cheerily informed us that if we were cave diving like some kids did many years ago, and our torch went out, we would be entirely lost in the passages of that cavern. There would be no way we would ever find our way out. We would die alone and probably try to eat each other.

Then he turned off his light again . . . but just for a second. :)

I’ll never forget that feeling . . . when the light came on. The feeling of relief was indescribable.

It's an epiphany of Trust.

When he told us to follow him back up the right passage to the light of day, no one ever thought to question his word. No one told him "no thanks, we'll find our own way". We followed, knowing that he had the light. He was the way out.

And certainly no one accused him of being arrogant.

This is Jesus. Standing before us. Saying I am the way. I am the Truth. I am the Life. I am REALITY.

He’s not being arrogant. He is just stating Truth. He IS Truth! And those that are desperate enough, those that feel His spirit on them, those whose eyes are opened to the light . . . follow. Trusting. Believing. Acting on the Truth He gives through Himself. Through the Word.

We’ve all seen plenty of counterfeits. Here is the Truth on counterfeiting . . . You can’t have a counterfeit without a real!

Any person who has counterfeited currency knows that you ultimately have to start with the real thing. A counterfeit is just a copy of the real. It’s meant to deceive.

This is our enemy.

Are you living in reality? Are you holding the real, or are you wondering in the dark?

Some of us are believers. Some of us are non-believers. Some of us are skeptics.

Some of us are hypocrites.

Today is your day.

Some of you are believers who are questioning everything right now. Life has been cruel. The facade has beaten you down for the last time, and you are standing at a decision point, at a crossroads. Throw in the towel, and create your own facade of “I’ve got everything under control” or are you going to admit you have issues with your issues. That you are NOT alright. That you need to re-evaluate. Do NOT let your questions and issues with almighty God build walls between your heart and His love. Instead, let those issues and questions and anger and hurt build bridges to His throne. He will embrace you, and love you, and walk with you, just like he did when he lived among us. If you’ve fallen, then JOIN THE CROWD! You have an advocate through Jesus Christ our REDEEMER. He will be a friend closer than a brother . . .

Some of you are non-believers. You don’t believe there’s a God, or if there is He certainly is not concerned about your life. Don’t believe the lie. Don’t fall for the facade! Question everything, and walk the path of belief. He loves you enough to show you Himself. Through people. Through His word. Through talking with Him. Talk to Him. He's not afraid of your questions. He has the answers if you are willing to listen. Make the choice to find Him. Otherwise you will continue your journey in the dark . . .

Some of you are skeptics. Agnostics. Waiting for proof. Now is your chance! Step out today and see what He can do! Prove Him wrong, and good luck trying. Step out and make the declaration. He welcomes your disbelief because HE HAS THE ANSWERS!
God is bigger . . . bigger than our failures. Bigger than our fortunes. Bigger than the strength or the weakness we live in. No matter the walls that you’ve built to resist Him. No matter the choices you’ve made. There is a God! And He cares for you. No matter what . . . !

Some of you are hypocrites. You enjoy the power that comes with being in Church leadership. Being on the “inside”. But you know, deep inside, when you look in the mirror each night that you don’t live the redeemed life. You are not part of the REAL. The love of God is not in you, and your fruit is rotten. You are in the most precarious place of all. You run the danger of incurring the wrath of God more than the rest, because you pretend to be what He IS.

Just like our enemy.

And that is a very dangerous place to be in. You know the truth and reject it.

You're taking your chances in the dark . . .

I John 1:4 - 2:8 says,

"These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete."

"This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin."

"If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

"If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."

"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected."

"By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."

"Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard."

"On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining. "

Jesus loves YOU.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Overcome - A Song for Bellevue

2010-07-25T23:15:00.005-04:00

Here by the river we gather together,
to lift one another, to carry this cross.
Love has a way of turning disaster,
of binding the broken, of healing our hearts.

Its an anthem . . . calling us to sing . . .

Overcome.

There's hope for tomorrow.
A comfort in sorrow, rise up and believe.
As one . . . we stand here together
with heroes among us, the whole world can see
there is healing. Healing!

Overcome.

So here in this moment we lift up our faces.
We hold out our hands to a neighbor in need.
Tragedy stings but redemption is sweeter.
The song of the fearless brings fear to its knees.

Can you hear us? Hear us calling out . . . yeah!

Overcome.

There's hope for tomorrow.
A comfort in sorrow, rise up and believe.
As one . . . we stand here together
with heroes among us, the whole world can see
there is healing. Healing!

Overcome.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2010

Christian Humanism

2010-04-14T22:01:00.011-04:00

Many Church members today are Christian Humanists.

There is nothing wrong with community programs, Sunday School promotion, or even a focus on Church Development. However, when anything takes the place of true worship, we lose our vision and end up at a place where we worship ourselves in the name of Jesus . . . a lifestyle that I call Christian Humanism.

We've done this to ourselves. In the Western Church at large, the importance of the lay person's level of spiritual growth has been bypassed to a certain extent, both by design and unfortunate apathy. We look to our pastors and lay leaders to set the tone for worship. We leave our definition and promotion of worship to planning committees. We fail to realize our place in the body of Christ, let alone what and how our spiritual gifting should be used.

What happens when leaders fail to lead?

I've got news for you. They have.

What happens when planning committees end up becoming war zones of opinion and personal preference, and real worship is not even tabled for discussion, let alone as the the foundation of our planning?

Welcome to the Church at large.

What happens when we substitute personal worship with positive programming?

We end up with positive programming.

We become the children who would much rather play in the street with our mud pies than go in to the feast that is made for us.

But with all of our programs and ideas, we have found that the Body isn't functioning properly.

We are sick, and what we are doing simply isn't working.

Twenty-five years ago, we realized something was wrong. So we looked for something different; something that would attract people.

And the Prosperity Gospel was born on a mass scale. Christian Humanism at its finest.

But now, people are starting to feel an unease. There's a rising discontent with the "Me, Myself, and I" evangelism, like that feeling or lump in your throat when you've realized that you've really done it this time. We are in trouble, and many of us are looking to find out why.

And it's here we find the problem. We find here that we've left something out; we've forgotten the oxygen for our oxygen tank . . . and we're suffocating ourselves. With a deprivation of God, we quickly lose our ability to function in a clear and rational way, and this is what is happening in the Western Church.

So, the question presents itself . . . How do we change? How do we retain, once again, the understanding and focus of true worship? How do we get from our Self-centered Christianity to a God-centered LIFE where our adoration and voice is lifted to God?

How do we stop the madness?

C. S. Lewis has such a great view of this when He states that true progress often involves moving backward. We must go back to the principles and Truth that we left behind.

Worship is a lifestyle, not a day of the week.

We must once again pick up the yoke of spiritual responsibility and ownership. We dig deeper into the Word. We give, pray, and fast. We meet corporately having already, in our private place, fervently asked for God to show up! We lift our voices in congregational singing with thankful hearts. We actively search for ways to apply the Word to our hearts, minds and lives. We serve our community through the Spirit of Unity.

We turn back to God as our Creator, and once again see ourselves as the Created.

We bank on that.

And we become distinctively Christian again.

Psalm 100:3 - "Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves".

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2010

Free to Surrender . . .

2010-03-11T12:58:00.005-05:00

We cannot do the work of the Creator, because we are the created.

Our responsibility is to be thankful enough to surrender to His process . . . this truth alone should free the majority of us from the dismal way we see ourselves, and God.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2010

Have A Heart . . .

2010-02-26T02:21:00.004-05:00

Jesus never said "I am the way, the law, and the life" because the law cannot free us while at the same time condemning us. You cannot tell a man he is free as you continue to sentence him to death.

Truth sets us free because it reconciles the law to redemption.

The law is not part of the Gospel. It's the entire reason why the Gospel is needed.

Some have asked "Isn't the Law the heart of the Gospel?" and "Didn't Jesus come to fulfill the Law?"

I don't think the Law is the heart of the Gospel. I do think it is most certainly the mirror God uses to show us our condition without Him.

I think that the heart of the Gospel is Love. Matthew 24 talks about this when Jesus says that the entire Law hinges on loving God and each other. ...

The law hinges on the Gospel. Not the other way around. In fact, we could word it as such . . . the heart of the Law is the Gospel.

For without the Gospel, the Law has no heart at all.

So, I guess one could say that Christ fulfilled the Law by giving it what it lacked . . . a heart.

:)

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2010

My Letter to Shawna Taylor

2010-02-18T13:56:00.003-05:00

Hello Shawna,

I'm a youth pastor here in Winchester. I, along with many members of my youth group, have been saddened to hear of your death. I don't know you, but I know our paths have probably crossed at DQ many times!

I took the opportunity to look at your facebook wall today.

I’m amazed.

Your death seems so senseless and tragic, and to our limited view, it is exactly that.

But I’m noticing, as I scroll down the dozens of comments left on your wall, that there’s something much more going on here . . .

So many of us, as teenagers, live life far from where God wants to place us.

But you didn’t.

A life lived well leaves a legacy and an impact that death cannot steal or destroy. Right now we mourn, we ask “why”, and we remember your smiles and the way you were.

Your legacy, however, will be what your LIFE gave us, not what your death was about. Death IS senseless and tragic, but strangely irrelevant and small when compared to LIFE’s grand, eternal picture.

Your LIFE is what we remember. Your LIFE is what gives your loved ones hope for a grand reunion. Your LIFE is what changes our focus to what matters. Your LIFE is what inspires us to live like you did.

What an amazing achievement . . .

Thank you for living.

There's A Deeper Life . . .

2010-02-02T14:16:00.020-05:00

There's a deeper life, there's a higher call
There's a giant sleeping in us all
There's a God who gives rest to the soul
There's a deeper life than the one we know

I was recently reading Mark 9:14-24, where Jesus turns his attention to a crowd of people who are obviously in a moment of chaos and confusion. Jesus goes to them and asks what is going on, and a man steps forward and says, “Teacher, I brought you my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it."

Jesus chides his disciples for not being prayed up enough to cast the demon out, then turns his attention to the father for the largest part of what follows. He asked him, "How long has this been happening to him (the son)?" And he said, "From childhood. It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!"

And Jesus said to him, " 'If You can?' All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief."

This father figure embodies where I'm at on my journey.

“I brought you my son” . . . the real question was not whether he believed. he already believed. There’s no other reason he would have bothered to bring his son to them, unless he believed there was a chance for healing. His real crisis was accepting that it would be real for him, that God would even want to meet his need.

It actually doesn't seem too hopeful at first, does it?

“I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it” . . . The miracle didn’t happen. You could say that his first attempt at faith failed miserably. Nothing but more of the same bondage and failure.

Have you been there? To be honest, I am there right now. Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the difficult circumstances that my family and I face, and right now, this story hits close to home! Sometimes the curse of ministry is that you have to struggle alone; that you have to constantly have the right answers and attitude. We have to be the strong ones, they say.

I’m not strong right now. Honestly, I’m beat down, depressed, and feeling like a massive failure. My struggle isn't even close to the anguish this man felt, but when you consistently fail at something, no matter how small, it grinds at you. We all struggle with unbelief, and I’m just like this father who has believed, but is now looking at a wall of confusion. I’m the man who musters up the courage to bring my need to Providence. I’m that man who is waiting for the miracle, and nothing is happening. Nothing but more of the same . . .

I sympathize with that father. He must have been so frustrated! Scripture says that the commotion was so great that it caught Jesus’ attention.

This is a guy who’s incredulous! He’s seen miracles all around him. He knew that this Rabbi, this Teacher, had the solution to his problem. Jesus was constantly healing and casting out demons for others, so why not him?

He had tried so long to provide for his family, for his hurting son. He had summoned the strength and courage to endure the stares and ostracism as he carried his shaking boy through the crowds of people, working his way to where Jesus was, stopping occasionally to hold his son while he seized . . . keeping him from hurting himself or others.

He had belief. He goes through all of that to get to the disciples. His belief carries him so far, all the way to the inner circle . . . just to be told “I’m sorry, it’s not working for some reason!” Can you imagine the humiliation?

He lost it.

Can we blame him? If this was all of the story, I would give up. I’d throw in the towel because I couldn’t take the realization that providence is preferential – that somehow I didn’t qualify.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Thank God.

This wounded soul lost it, but that doesn’t mean he was giving up, and that is the lesson learned here. It would have been easy to accept that he wasn’t worthy. we all do, to a certain degree.

But there was no way he was quitting after all he had just gone through, after carrying his son, enduring the comments, and seeing the devastation the enemy was causing.

No way.

He was going to have his say, and he was going to find answers. He was NOT going to be satisfied with “I’m sorry, it’s not working for some reason”!

So he stood his ground. He demanded an audience.

And God showed up.

Where does your faith take you? To Sunday School? To Church? To Counseling? To Accountability Group? To Scripture?

Those are such good resources for our progress, but understand this clearly:

There will come a day when our faith is taken to a place of discomfort, to a place of darkness, and to a place of doubt.

You will feel alone.

You will feel unworthy.

You will wonder where God went.

Take heart and grit your teeth. Stand your ground. Demand an audience. In our dark places, sometimes we fail to see what is right in front of us . . . a door.

This is the door of the Deep.

This is where God takes us to the end of struggle, and to the beginning of rest. This is where He waits for us to call out, to stand our ground, to cause a commotion!

Romans 12:12 says "Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer".

James 1:2-3 - "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance, for perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything".

Does God want us to be halfway filled, halfway effective, or halfway redeemed?

No, He doesn't.

Our pain is our path to progress. He is faithful to complete us, in the work He calls us to do.

We just have to persevere, to stand our ground, to remain faithful, and to demand an audience.

This is when God shows up.

This where we surrender our spiritual inferiority and put on His infinite worth.

This is where Belief no longer stands on a precipice.

Here, in the dark, I'm reaching for the door . . .

Join me.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2010

The Little Things . . .

2009-12-23T00:08:00.011-05:00

Ah! We've done it again. Constantly shooting for the lowest possible denominator, and shooting ourselves in the foot instead.

I agree that the little things are to be looked at with gratitude.

But what happens when we stop looking for the big things?

You know?

No one's writing a book called Low Expectations.

Because no one would read it. And why should we?

We already live it.

I don't like that kind of focus. It feels claustrophobic. For most of my life, I've had this nagging thought and inescapable feeling that there's more . . . that God, as our Father, is waiting for our wildest dreams to arrive, but all He ever gets from us is a last minute request for help with a late mortgage payment or a difficult boss.

I think that the little things need to be put in their place. Be thankful for life's small blessings, but expect greatness from each day. It is shocking, but many times we ask more from our earthly fathers than from our Heavenly Father.

We are His children, and we need to realize that we must approach Him as a child approaches his earthly father. We must expect that He wants to provide, protect, and give to us abundantly. There is wisdom that says, "With great power comes great responsibility". I agree, but I say something else, "With great expectation comes great reward".

The world is only ever changed when our focus changes.

Look up. Empower your prayer life. Seek massive health, wealth, and wisdom; always to be used for the Kingdom and glory of God. God never says for us to be focused on just the little things. In fact, He tells us to be faithful in the little things, and then He will make us faithful in much. The little things are to be used to get to the true abundance!

Be faithful in each small task, and expect more . . . God wants to give us so much!

Live long and prosper . . . :)

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Terminal

2009-11-29T20:41:00.000-05:00

Death is terrifying because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time.
~ Susan Cheever

There's a story about a man who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. He had little time left on this earth.

It was interesting to see him start to make amends with people, to start thinking about his legacy. He sold most of his belongings and gave the money to the poor. He started mentoring young people at a youth center. He volunteered his time at a local hospital. The word "on the street" was that he had found God.

Those who knew him were amazed at the difference he made in such a short time, and he often lamented the fact that he waited so long to change. But he said he was ready to go, and at peace with the inevitable. Everyone marveled at his strength.

However . . . there was one small kink in this storyline . . .

He didn't die.

Misdiagnosis.

He didn't have the disease he thought he had.

At first, he was overjoyed with his new-found lease on life. He told everyone at the hospital he volunteered at. He threw a party at the youth center. All was well, and life was good!

You'd think that this would be another life-defining moment for him. You know, a lesson on the power of positive thinking. Good karma, so to speak.

But an interesting thing started to happen.

He stopped giving to charity, and said he didn't have time to volunteer at the hospital anymore. Before long, word spread that he quit mentoring at the youth center. He got a new job, and someone overheard him mention that he had to plan for the future, to take care of his retirement and savings now.

Before long, those principles that were so important to him disappeared, just like the rest of his story, fading into oblivion.

Don't get me wrong. I don't blame him for any of this. It's so easy for us to judge sometimes, but truth be told, we are all unfocused.

This story has me thinking. C. S. Lewis said that God yells in our pain. I agree. Any one of us who receives a tragic diagnosis looks at life much differently. Things that were important are no longer even on the list of priorities, and age-old truths about the importance of God, family, and others quickly jump to forefront of our thoughts and actions.

Our spiritual lives are marked by the equality of the Gospel. Our physical lives are marked by the equality of death. We all possess a one-way ticket to Tombstone. When you think about it, we are all in this together . . .

We are all terminal.

We have all been diagnosed. The question is, "How do we handle it?". What are you doing with the time you have left. No one knows when or how the end will come, but everyone can see where this diagnosis is pointing, that subject of great importance . . .

Living.

Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day . . . There are only so many tomorrows. ~ Pope Paul VI

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. ~ Norman Cousins

Have the courage to live. Anyone can die. ~ Robert Cody

Life is an occasion. RISE TO IT! ~ Mr. Magorium

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

The Worst Has Happened

2009-11-11T10:52:00.015-05:00

An active and growing relationship with God will lead to an enhanced discovery of human nature's depravity because God will faithfully reveal the massive gulf between His holiness and our corrupt and ever-polluting heart. He will make us conscious of the distance and coldness of our love, the surges of pride and doubt, and the lack of fruit we produce. - John W. Ritenbaugh

Joy is the serious business of Heaven. - C.S. Lewis

These statements beg a deeply introspective search and an honest assessment from every living soul. This is the paradox of Christendom: The Joy of the Lord is our strength and Blessed are those who mourn.

As I look at today's church, I am troubled. We are not deeply rooted. We are not bound by the Word of Truth. We are not bond-servants to our God. There is missing the marked finality of our decision to serve, and we have such a casual attitude toward the incredible pain and suffering that the pleasures of this "season" bring to real people all around us.

Most of us are so satisfied with our facade. We attend our local country club church, we are involved with some charity work here and there. We live our lives. And we are satisfied with that. Do not mess that up, and all will be just fine.

But come face to face with the actual monster - a teenager who kills herself, another who cuts himself, a father who molests, a wife on drugs, a pastor who has an affair, a middle school girl who gets pregnant - and we have no strength, no answer, and no help.

Because we do not know our Strength, our Answer, and our Help.

We have become quite masterful at developing a worship sequence for Sunday morning, but, because of our perfunctory relationship with Him, we are wretched failures at implementation on any other day of the week.

The mark of a Christian (a bond-servant of the Most High)is a life lived by Joy, and an ever-growing recognition of what a monstrosity sin is. There is a sober strength of a heart that consistently puts itself on the line to reach the lost and hurting, knowing that we are woefully inadequate, but still leaping by faith into the deepness of our Father's embrace. He is our Strength, our Answer, and our Help.

I don't see that in today's church, and it is because our relationship with Him is so trivial. Most of us treat the Bible like a self-help book. We are tiny, weak water bugs. We skim across the surface of what He offers with no clue of the massive depth of Joy and Godly Sorrow we must plunge to so we can be properly used.

We are not marked.

We are not strengthened by JOY.

And we do not mourn.

Therefore, I am afraid the worst has happened.

We are desperately frail . . . and happy about it.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

For All The Men

2009-11-02T18:25:00.015-05:00

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling ("IF")

This poem resonates with me. Regardless of the theological qualms some may have with parts of what Kipling is saying, there is a visceral understanding and reaction in the man who reads this, because this is what we all long to see and become.

In an age where manhood is constantly nullified and scorned, we look for men who live with virtue, righteousness, fearlessness, and yes . . . who define masculinity in word, thought, and deed. We look for those who will stand for justice, and we look for a man to know the difference between good and evil and then choose good.

We look for someone who will live LIFE, when all others fail; who will point the way to Truth in the face of scorn and ridicule. We long to be able to LOVE regardless . . . and that yearning is God-ordained.

Alas, there are few to look to. In fact, we all fail so miserably in our own strength.

It reminds me of what I read today in Isaiah 59:

. . . our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities:

Transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words.

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.

Yes, truth is lacking; and he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.

Now the LORD saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede . . .

So He came Himself.

He showed us what true manhood is, and does, and suffers for Truth's sake. He is our perfect example, reconciling men to be real. We can now live up to our design.

That yearning we feel inside?

That's just our natural, instilled desire to be like Christ.

That's where we find it.

That's what a man is.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Why Do You Doubt?

2009-10-17T01:06:00.037-04:00

Matthew 14:29-31, "And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

I can't blame Peter.

I mean, after all, I lose my focus so often that sometimes I wonder if I need spiritual glasses. Let's face it. Neither you nor I are stellar examples of steadfast faith.

And we can't blame Peter for being afraid.

I've always wondered though, how many steps did Peter get before he looked down? How long did he last? How far did he walk? A step? A yard? Twenty yards?!?

Sure, he was afraid. Yes, he sank like a stone. I know, He went belly-up, so to speak. Fear gripped him, paralyzing his faith. He could just imagine tomorrow's headlines, "Peter sleeps with the fishes".

Yep, I'm aware. I've heard all the sermons.

There's no denying he did all of that . . . after he walked on water.

I'll say it again . . .

after He walked on water.

The guy walked on water!

Did you ever think about what was going through the mind of Christ?

When I look through the eyes of God incarnate, I feel a huge joy swell up within me. Here is a big fisherman who, after everyone else screams and runs for cover, has the guts to test the Master of the Storm.

"Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." "And He said, "Come!"

And Peter got out of the boat.

Peter got out of the boat.

I love this verse! He defied fear, doing what nobody else would do. He opened a door between the supernatural and the natural, showing us a reality we could not see before. He performed a miracle of faith in the middle of the worst possible moment, the worst possible scenario, the hardest proving ground in the vicinity. He succeeded where everyone else failed.

He did more with those few seconds than anyone else in history could boast of . . . and that's why I'm impressed; that's why I'm inspired; that's why I love Peter!

And that's precisely why Jesus responded the way he did.

"You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

An accusation? An indictment on Peter? If we go with the age-old consensus, then yes, Peter is the proverbial black sheep of wave walking.

But I think there's more here. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I can't see every one's point. Sure, He failed. He sank. He cried for help.

But if there's an indictment on anyone, it's on the other eleven disciples.

It's an indictment on us.

Peter's the one who got out of the boat. He's the one who had faith, small as it was! More importantly . . . he acted on it.

And Jesus acknowledges that. "You of little faith . . ."

The other disciples had none.

See, the problem wasn't Peter's faith. His faith was just fine, at first.

Three chapters away from this moment, Jesus explains. "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you."

Peter's faith was powerful! He was planting mustard plants with every step! He believed and he acted. At that moment, the impossible became the possible. At that moment, for those few seconds, someone other than the Son of God stood on water. That amazes me.

And it is here that we see Jesus' statement for what it was. "You of little faith". With this, He both acknowledges the power of what Peter's faith was, and chides him for what it became.

Why?

Because the problem wasn't his faith. It was actually working quite well for him. The problem was what happened next.

He looked at the waves, at the storm, and he listened to popular sentiment that said, "This shouldn't be happening!!!!".

And he sank.

Jesus asks him a very direct question, "Why did you doubt?".

No beating around the bush. No exasperation. Our Savior had a way of getting right to the heart of the matter, as He always does.

Why are you doubting? Where's the logic in stopping now? You were already living the miracle! You were already doing the impossible!

Why. Did. You. Doubt?

Shakespeare sums it up nicely for us . . . “Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win".

Doubt's only purpose is to destroy the miracle.

Why would we allow that?

Why do you doubt?

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

We Are Priceless

2009-10-12T17:15:00.024-04:00

Fear does not become us.

We are made to shine, just like a diamond. The pressures of life, even direct attacks from our enemy, can actually work in our favor; molding and shaping us to the desired perfection that is preset to our design.

We are made to be brilliant, and the only substance that is capable of dulling us is fear.

It's so unfortunate and tragic in the truest sense, especially when we catch a glimpse of the situation from God's point of view.

The idea of fear overpowering us is like trying to break into Fort Knox with a spoon. It's preposterous . . .

but that's what happens to us. We are so magnificently made, but we so willingly hand over the keys of our worth, because of fear.

We do it to ourselves. We buy into the facade, and it's so easy for our enemy. All he has to do is present the world's most popular question . . . "What if".

We do the rest to ourselves. We have become masters of internal sabotage; shooting ourselves in the foot, so to speak.

And it's so unnecessary.

It's like finding the biggest diamond in the world, then choosing to paint it orange and call it a pumpkin. There's no logic to it.

Fear does not become us.

It doesn't make us more attractive. It doesn't make us happier. It doesn't bring peace to our lives. It doesn't strengthen our ministry. It doesn't repair our marriages. It doesn't help the poor or feed the hungry. It doesn't make us become more selfless. It doesn't bring us closer to God. It doesn't enable our maturity and, regardless of what most of us believe, it doesn't even keep us safe! It doesn't enrich us in anyway.

It's useless . . . unless we give it value.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

The Monster Under Your Bed

2009-10-09T00:52:00.024-04:00

There's a Monster under your bed.

At least that's what I was told at the tender age of five.

My family and I were staying at my cousin's house one summer while we were on vacation. I can still remember it so clearly. My Uncle and Aunt lived in a white parsonage on the side of a hill by a little country church. I think it was in Pennsylvania, or maybe Eastern Ohio. We were visiting from out-of-state, and it was a hot, muggy week.

While the adults visited, my cousins and I played at one end of the house by the stairs going down into the basement.

I can still see the doorway and the brown wooden hand rail leading downward into the gloom, the stairs dropping off into the darkness, lit by a solitary light bulb hanging high over head. I can even smell the familiar aroma of canned vegetables and dusty jars, and remember feeling trepidation because of what the older kids were saying.

They were telling me about the Monster.

They said he lived under the stairs, and every night before we went to sleep he would slither up that hand rail and glide down the hall into our room and under our bed where he would wait for us to come . . .

He wanted a snack. And five-year-old boys are a delicacy, or so they say.

I was more than a little concerned. Yes, we had stairs at home too, but I could stay away from them indefinitely. I was really worried about my bed.

I liked it. My bed was cool and comfortable. I could lie awake at night and create imaginary worlds and scenarios, usually involving me being a cowboy with six-guns that, miraculously, never ran out of bullets and bad guys that were always caught. After my Dad or Mom tucked me in, I was good to go!

But now I had something entirely different to worry about. I was no longer safe. How was I going to get in or out of my bed now, without him grabbing me?

He was under there, and he was waiting. It was horrible.

I tried to forget about him! I pulled the covers over my head, but that didn't work. I sang songs . . . nope, still there. I was stuck.

Forget about getting up in the middle of the night to get a drink or use the restroom! No sir, that wasn't an option at all. If it did get so bad that I couldn't resist the urge to go, then I would line up on one side of my bed to run and jump off as far out of reach as possible. Then I would run back in and jump from as far out as possible to get back in. I didn't want to be grabbed and pulled under.

I took great precautions to stay away from him.

Fortunately, my Dad eventually saw my antics and informed me that there was no Monster! It didn't help much though, because I didn't really believe him. For months after that I would make him look under the bed when he tucked me in, just to make sure . . .

I'm a father now, and yes, I've had to look under the bed for my children several times! But as we grow older, we tend to lose that fear and are able to put the fable to rest in the proper place of mythology and fairy tales of children, and that's fine. We forget the terror we felt, and lock the memory away for good. I guess it's good to be able to put these things in their proper place.

But I've lately been reminded of another Monster who slithers into our lives, and waits for us.

He's hungry.

He's been here a long, long time.

And he's very real.

Revelation 12:7-9 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

Ephesians 6:12 - "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens."

I Peter 5:8 "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

He's here, he's real, and we're on the menu.

But I'm afraid we don't see the danger. In fact, I'm convinced we have placed our true Enemy in the world of myth, fable, and fairy tale. "Legend has it . . ." we say, but we don't really believe there is a Satan, a Dragon, or a Serpent.

And that's extremely dangerous, because he does believe. James 2:19 says, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder."

He does everything in his power to destroy us with our own apathy. Our human condition dictates that we grasp and take advantage of everything good from our Messiah, but we scoff at the Monster. We dismiss him. He's not really that important right? After all, the war has already been won! He was defeated at Calvary! His heyday is over! Right?

Then why are we dropping like flies? Why are there wounded and bleeding warriors all around me? Why does this world look and feel like a war zone?

Because it's not over until it's over.

We call a person who denies the existence of God an atheist. What do we call a person who denies the existence of Satan?

This time, the Monster under our bed is real, but for some reason we keep pulling the covers over our head! Therefore our view of sin has changed, and so has our standard of holiness. We live a prosperity gospel in a world of opinion, fable, and fancy.

And that's when we are the most delicious.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Our Deepest Fear

2009-09-26T02:47:00.001-04:00

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” - Marianne Williamson

My mirror has cracked. One by one pieces are falling onto the floor, with a soft, wet thud in the darkness at my feet. I'm confused, because with each piece that falls I brace myself for the loud shatter of glass.

But there is none. Just a muffled, damp thud . . . thud . . . thud.

My identity is skewed, and I panic because I can no longer see my reflection . . .

Something's happening.

I can now see that behind my mirror is another . . . this one somehow different. The person I see is still recognizable as myself, but the colors are brighter; the darkness that enveloped me before is now gone, replaced by a light so beautiful that it glows out of the frame and into the room.

And in this new light, I can now see the reason for my confusion. My cracked mirror wasn't a mirror at all, but a painting of sorts, fastened over the reflection of my true self. A painting fashioned by my own hand. A self-proclaimed masterpiece of dark impressionism, where the subject is hinted at and the truth about my identity has been made relevant to the point of absurdity . . . almost to the point of treason.

And I've been comfortable with that . . . until now.

But now my facade has been broken.

My last-ditch attempts to control my own image have been supremely thwarted by the very One who created me.

He wants to show everyone my true reflection . . . of His glory . . . in me.

I have been hiding behind what I used to be, finding a sick, twisted comfort in the familiar rags of MY painting, but that will not do.

He is exposing me for who I am NOW.

I am Royalty. A child of Heaven. A shining witness of Redemption to all the world.

My deepest fear is realized.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

I Then Shall Live

2009-09-23T13:59:00.002-04:00

I have found no other song that encapsulates worship such as this one:

What a message! What an incredible glimpse at what worship in Heaven could be like!

Heavenly Hugs and A Father's Heart . . .

2009-09-11T08:53:00.000-04:00

It's early. I've already walked three miles with my friend Kevin and have been sitting in my chair in the living room, enjoying my quiet time, consumed in my thoughts about the day ahead.

Reagan just padded down the stairs a minute ago, and came teetering over to my chair, his eyes still sleepy and a smile on his face. He reached for me and I picked him up and gave him a big hug. Whatever I was thinking of, quite honestly, disappeared. My day stopped and we just enjoyed loving on each other for a few minutes, father and son. It was quite heavenly!

I have learned to cherish these moments, because they are becoming such a rarity. Once he wakes up, Reagan becomes a tour de force of energy and toddler mayhem! Life must be conquered! Toys must be broken! Walls must be written on! There's so much to learn and do! Busy, busy, busy!

To be able to hug him during the day is a lesson in futility.

And right in the middle of our heavenly hug, it hit me . . .

This is what God wants to do every day with us. He wants to love on us too, just as a father wants to love on his son or daughter. Scripture tells us that His mercies are new every morning, because of His great love!

Read it for yourself.

Lamentations 3:21-23 says, " Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

But sometimes I see myself in Reagan. I get up, and before I know it I'm off! Things to do! People to see! Places to go! Toys to break!

And I forget about my time with my Heavenly Father.

Just yesterday, somebody was talking about the intricate details of showing our love to God, and praising Him with this decision and that worship song. That's fine, but we also need to know that God wants to love on us too!

Forget about the theology of worship for just a minute, and instead view God as our Father who wants to spend time with us, whose great love is renewed every single day for YOU and ME.

I love the lyrics to this song:

There he was just waiting, in our old familiar place.
An empty spot beside him, where once I used to wait
to be filled with strength and wisdom for the battles of the day.
I would have passed him by again but I clearly heard him say

(chorus)

I miss my time with you
those moments together
I need to be with you each day
and it hurt's me when you say
you're too busy, busy trying to serve me.
But how can you serve me when your spirit's empty?
There's a longing in my heart
wanting more than just a part of you.
It's true, I miss my time with you

(verse two)
What do I have to offer?
How can I truly care?
My efforts have no meaning when your presence isn't there.
But you'll provide the power if I take time to pray.
I'll stay right here beside you and you'll never have to say..

(chorus)

I miss my time with you
those moments together
I need to be with you each day
and it hurt's me when you say
you're too busy, busy trying to serve me.
But how can you serve me when your spirit's empty?
There's a longing in my heart
wanting more than just a part of you.
It's true, I miss my time with you

- (Larnelle Harris, "I Miss My Time With You")

Take some time today to let your Heavenly Father love on YOU.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Mind Games

2009-08-30T19:09:00.001-04:00

2 Timothy 1:7 - "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Fear becomes sin when we refuse to take it captive to the obedience of Christ.

It is a very effective weapon waged by our enemy in the battle for our soul (our mind, intellect, emotions, etc.) This is where the Christian's battles are fought (as you well know!) Fear tempts us to let go of belief; to turn our backs on faith.

This is partially why Paul tells us, in 2 Cor. 10:3-5, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses."...

"We are destroying SPECULATIONS and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ".

Fear is what stands in the way of obedience and is the ultimate enemy of our faith. It's primary purpose is to DESTROY our faith by producing, in us, disobedience.

When we refuse to take it captive, we sin. We tell God, "I don't believe You are bigger".

We idolize Fear.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Prayer

2009-08-22T00:20:00.000-04:00

Most of us do NOT have an effective prayer life.

I'm convinced this is our reality because of our lack of understanding in the process of prayer. If we do succeed in praying daily (which is becoming so rare these days), for the most part it consists of us telling God what we need and want.

Then we go and live our lives.

What a travesty! We become guilty of a casual or perfunctory prayer life without realizing that our outlook determines our outcome. We must have a proper view of the process of prayer, and this includes a mental platform or foundation made up of a principled mindset. There are several key realizations and beliefs we must have to actually have a real prayer life.

In Scripture, we find many uses for prayer, such as prayers for covering, strength, blessing, healing, peace, rest, praise, petition, tearing down of strongholds, and more. The first realization we must have, however, is that we are in a Spiritual War. We pray through Jesus to God against our Enemy. Every prayer encapsulates this process.

Secondly, we must be blameless before God. After our initial prayer of repentance, our prayers must be consistently lifted from a holy life and mind of Christ. We must be holy as He is holy, and this can only be imparted to us through the Holy Spirit working in our surrendered body, soul, and spirit. This is a huge reason we are ineffective in our prayers. Many of us either live with sin in our lives, or we refuse to give full control to the Holy Spirit. We must be sanctified entirely! This empowers us, and makes our prayers effective. "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16)

The third realization we have is that God is bigger. Bigger than what we either know or don't know. Bigger than our limited view of His will. Bigger than anything we can imagine. This realization alone allows us to compare our earthly fear against the backdrop of His nature. "The Fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether" (Psalm 19:9)

Earthly fear loses. Period. And once we live our lives without fear, we start to see the freedom God gives. The abundant life . . .

God is BIGGER.

You can illustrate this point by finding a picture on your wall in your house. Walk up to this picture and put your eye flush against it, as close as you can. Without previously knowing what the picture looked like, there is no way you can discern what the picture is. You are simply incapable of seeing the BIG PICTURE. God reveals to us parts of the picture, as we mature and walk with Him, but His revealed Word is primarily about the Gospel, which is more than enough for now.

He is BIGGER.

And this brings us to another important realization so vital to our mindset of prayer.

It’s not about what we want, only because our wants are so limited. Our view is simply not big enough to even be able to see what we should want.

Our will is not irrelevant, however. No, it is actually the most powerful tool in the makeup of humanity. We do matter in this equation, because and only because He chooses to take our surrendered will and use us, through that choice we make, to do HIS WILL. His will is all-important, and our entire fulfillment, the reason we enjoy life, is found through HIM using US.

He is Trustworthy. For us to realize this in our prayer life, we must give up control. This is so hard for us, but it is vital to our success. We must trust Him with our life. We must lay it down voluntarily for Him to take it up again. This is what the Father commands. What helps us in this process is the growing realization we have that He loves us so much. Couple that with our knowledge that He is bigger, and we have a recipe for trust.

We are to pray Expectantly. Scripture tells us to come boldly to the throne, and why wouldn't we? If we believe and know that He is God, and we have the proper mindset, then there is no reason for a faithless prayer life. The Father's will be done, and we speak through Jesus our intercessor, in His name and for His sake . . . BOLDLY.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen"

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

The Impotent Gospel and the End of the Gospel (notes)

2009-08-18T15:21:00.000-04:00

When we reject the Truth God gives, we take the pardon He offers, this way out of our Monstrous Mess, and we trample it, nullify it, and render it useless for the saving of our soul. We reject it. We render it IMPOTENT. The definition of impotent means “To be powerless: lacking strength or power; being unable to perform the function designed for.”

We render the Gospel Impotent when we try to live it without the empowerment of the Spirit, and we render it impotent when we reject Truth.

But why would we want to? The insanity of sin. Professing to be wise, we become the fool!!!!!

The Gracious Gift of God . . . miscarried . . . The Impotent Gospel.

There is the Equality of the Gospel. We have all sinned, thus making us equal in our sin and equally important to God in His redemptive nature.

There is also the Effectiveness of the Gospel. We cannot be effective communicators of the Good News until the Holy Spirit takes full residence in our beings. We cannot be effective until we are empowered.

The Equality of the Gospel. The Effectiveness of the Gospel.

Then finally, in the truest sense of Word, there will be an Ending of the Gospel.

There is coming a day when the offered pardon of God will end. There is a terrible finality coming that we cannot imagine. No more second chances. No more do-overs. No more mercy, renewed and refreshed each day. No more offer of Forgiveness. No more prevenient Grace. No more call to the Gospel, and no more rejection of the Gospel, because it will be GONE, out of reach to the one who refuses to believe and follow.

This is a day when Truth is shown to be what it has always been – the ultimate deliverer for those who stand with it, and the damnation of those who have already rejected it.

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

The Gospel Incarnate

2009-08-04T13:23:00.001-04:00

This is what I'm preaching on Sunday . . .

Our Perfunctory Pastime

2009-07-02T00:55:00.000-04:00

Our nation is desperately in need of spiritual awakening. But our emphasis on evangelism apart from doctrine will certainly not do it. The Great Awakening was the result of solid doctrinal preaching that addressed both the heart and the mind. It was preaching that dared to expose sin in the church. And God used it to sweep thousands into his family. Perhaps it is time that we dug again these old wells and learned why their waters flowed with life so fruitfully and bountifully.

- Warren Wiersbe

I recently read about a preacher who lost his church and local ministry. He had pastored there for twenty-one years, but due to some changes he asked for there rose a conflict. For two years debate raged inside the walls of his parish, and in the end he was asked to leave.

His faults? Well, he used imagination in his preaching and was devoted to his congregation. He also loved theology, but recognized that he had to first address the matters of the heart before the mind was changed.

But the real nitty gritty happened when he started to address sin openly. He started to ask for accountability and a Christian lifestyle that bore fruit. He started to examine customs and traditions, such as the partaking of Holy Communion by non-believers. He had a deep desire to see people have a personal relationship with God rather than a "country club" of tradition and ritual. . .

and that's what did him in.

He refused to accomodate his theology just to get results, and it cost him so many friends and his position. He cared too much about siding with truth for the good of his congregation, and even though he was deeply wounded by their rejection, he stayed true to his doctrine and continued to write and preach about the possibility for each of us to have our own spiritual awakening.

Our own personal relationship with God.

Our own sins forgiven.

Our own passions awakened for the Divine.

Our own ability to hear the call to ministry and to follow.

And when I read that story, it chilled me. We are in such a dangerous place in today's world. Our society has come such a long way from the good ole' days it seems.

Or has it?

Not really.

See, that pastor I just described is none other than Jonathan Edwards. THE Jonathan Edwards. One of the most influential Christian minds in American History. An instigator in our nation's own historical Great Awakening.

And the year he was thrown out of his church?

1750.

259 years ago . . .

The place?

Northampton, MA.

He took over the church in 1729, and immediately found a society that treated church as a perfunctory pastime. It was so bad, that they had what were called Halfway Covenants. This was for people who had been baptized as a child, but made no current profession of faith. They were considered to be baptized into the family of God, but couldn't vote. They sinned openly, but were part of a covenant with the church.

Many of the local preachers were persons who attended schools of religious study, but they themselves had no idea or concern for a personal relationship with God or abstaining from sin. George Whitefield, a friend of Edwards', said of the current situation, "the reason why congregations have been so dead is because dead men preach to them". (I see this happening today, in current economic conditions, where the Masters of Divinity program is currently at the top of the list for people who are going back to graduate school.)

So these churches were filled with people who spoke the lingo but had no idea about what it meant to be saved and to actually LIVE the life and abundance Christ offers.

Sound familiar?

I'm amazed at how little has changed. I'm both encouraged by what Edwards later became and a little disheartened by what he had to go through. Sometimes we think that these champions of the faith were untouchable, but in reality they were you and I. They simply did their best to believe, follow, and disciple. And it was rarely easy like we want to think that it was.

The perfunctory pastime approach is still alive and well. Some of us still play church. We show up on Sunday. We smile. We hide our true emotions. We do our best to keep the preacher from speaking to our hearts. We sin without guilt. We try to keep Christianity an intellectual idea only, so we can rationalize a million other things to prioritize before it.

And then we wonder why we can't breathe.

God never asked to be one of our priorities. He is our LIFE. Our AIR that we breathe, in a spiritual sense.

The funny thing is that all of this is for our own good. The mind of Christ, the wonder of baptism, the personal relationship, and the accountability is for our own good. Jonathan Edwards never spent a day asking himself, "what can I do today that will bring irreparable damage to my congregation?". Neither does your pastor. They are simply living the doctrine. Living the evident Truth. Shining a light into darkness.

All of it is for our own good, and for us to reject it is like a child throwing a temper-tantrum. We hold our breath, and kick until we pass out. Only to wake again to the same questions, the same principles, and the same Gospel staring us in the face.

It's time to breathe again. Be an instrument of change in your church. Live your faith! Present evangelism based on sound, biblical doctrine. You may get thrown out, but you can also change the world!

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Pretence becomes Reality

2009-06-27T12:44:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of my life that I find myself a full-time pastor.

I have left my job as an investment consultant, and I am now the Minister of Music and Youth (my official title) at the Winchester First United Methodist Church. I am excited about the opportunities in these ministries. They have so much promise . . .

But I'm also feeling trepidatious, to a certain degree. That is normal, I guess, but this week has been especially difficult. The Church will pay me well, but not quite enough for us to live on. So I was waiting on news of a job in town. The interviews were promising, and I felt I had a good chance to get the job.

I didn't.

Lots of people were praying and fasting for me. Tara and I have been prayed up and obedient. Things were looking up, but God said "No", and that's ok. Our testimony isn't really viable if we can't trust Him with the big picture.

But that doesn't mean it's not difficult. Sometimes we all get tired of trusting, and would REALLY like to just know what is around the corner.

So right now, life is an adventure that we really haven't signed up for. Honestly, everyday has been an exploration into finding where our next meal is coming from. And every day, God has provided for us in really weird, unexpected ways.

This morning, I was coming back from the store, and I was talking to God. In the middle of our conversation I had an "aha" moment and said something like this . . . "God, there is one area I feel that you have no idea what it's like to be human, and that's the area of our limited view. I feel that you can't really understand what it's like to not know how you are going to pay your bills next week, or how you are going beat back depression when your electricity is shut off while you are walking out the door to go to church and minister to people."

We've all been there. Let's just be honest. We put on our masks and tell everyone that we are doing great, but that's not true all of the time.

And yes, pastors go through this stuff too!

So, sitting in my driveway, I ended my conversation with God by getting what I thought was the last word. I said something like, "Even Jesus Your son, God in the flesh, had no sin, no fear, and no worry. He knew your will for Him, and that excludes 90% of us because we don't really don't know. It is constantly being revealed, day after day after day . . . and we have to try our best not to sin, or fear, or worry"

Then I went inside to eat my bologna sandwich with the family.

After lunch, I talked with Tara about our plans for the day, and then I walked into the living room. We have a book cabinet there, where our favorite books are kept. Without knowing why, I walked to the cabinet, opened it up and removed a devotional called "A Year With C.S. Lewis".

I haven't opened that book in over a year. I opened it up and it literally fell open to today's date, June 27th. Here is what I read:

Pretence Becomes Reality

You see what is happening. The Christ Himself, the Son of God who is man (just like you) and God (just like His Father) is actually at your side and already at this moment beginning to turn your pretence into a reality.

This is not merely a fancy way of saying that your conscience is telling you what to do . . . for you are no longer thinking simply about right and wrong; you are trying to catch the good infection from a Person. It is more like painting a portrait than like obeying a set of rules . . .

The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to "inject" His kind of life and thought, His Zoe, into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man.

The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.

- from Mere Christianity

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

The Problem With Grace

2009-05-09T22:57:00.000-04:00

This is difficult for me to write. Not because I'm the only one. If I were the only one, then maybe I could accept it a little easier. I could try harder, and dig in a littler deeper. I could discipline myself more. I could will myself to change. I could chant "Yes, we can" over and over and it would actually help. But it doesn't.

I'm not alone here. In fact, I'm one among many . . . I'm one included. We are all together in this scenario. No exceptions.

We are united by Grace.

That fact presents a different mindset and at the same time gives us an epiphany on the human condition.

We can do NOTHING to improve our image or reputation in God's eyes. We are valuable only because He places value on us. Nothing we do can ever change that.

To be sure, our choices do have consequences, and we pay dearly for the good or the bad things we do, and also for other's choices (unfortunately). Everything we do has an effect. Our actions are so powerful to even change the world!

But they can't change Grace.

By Grace, God gives us an equality without human measurement. Grace is so amazing, and I know the blessings we all receive from His goodness. So, since we all enjoy the same placement, you'd think I'd be more OK with the situation? But to be honest, I'm not always OK with it. Sometimes I struggle to accept the fact that I cannot change God's view of me.

When I look at my torn, ragged record, I despair in my flesh. I want to do everything I can to fix my past, to right my wrongs. But Grace says I can't do enough to deserve its favor.

We are so conditioned by our culture. We have all been well-indoctrinated in the intricacies of justice, fairness, and personal responsibility . . . and choice . . . and consequence.

So on this side of the discussion, the hard facts of my life dictate that I constantly prove myself. I do my best to take care of my family. I work hard to make money. I set an expectation of excellence in what I do, and review my strengths and weaknesses to see what I need to work on.

I'm in control.

But then comes this new formula that nullifies that mindset, and obliterates my hard work = success ethic. In fact, this formula nullifies my entire ethical process. I can't be ethical enough to get the desired result. There's no way for me to have X + Y = Value.

That's the problem with Grace.

It is entirely based on His view of us . . . that intrinsic value He alone gives. We can't manipulate the numbers in any way to promote ourselves. He alone works the formula. It is simply beyond our concept.

Grace tells us that God gives us more than we can ever earn, and that offends our flesh because our physical rules of engagement require nothing but the works of the flesh.

It's just another classic story of Freedom vs. Pharisaism.

Thus, the reason for my discomfort.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

This Place Is Death!

2009-02-16T01:16:00.000-05:00

This year, 2009, has been a year of Death.

Six weeks ago, we heard the tragic news of a college friend who lost his wife and two young children in an accident. His whole family gone, with no goodbyes . . . no warning.

Yesterday we received the news that this friend, devastated by grief, has taken his life.

Just this week, a local business man lost his life to cancer . . . his young family is in so much pain.

A lady lies dying in a hospital bed tonight. Her heart is failing her. My father is her pastor. Two years ago, her husband walked around the back of his house to their shed. He hung himself. No goodbyes. No warning. She's been living with this every day . . .

Three weeks ago, another college acquaintance lost his 7-year-old daughter to tragedy. She coughed really hard, went to her mommy, and died in her arms.

Tragic. Devastating. Senseless. Illogical.

We ask the obvious question, "Where is God in tragedy?" "Why does this happen?"

I was watching the series LOST online the other day, and I was struck by the title of the episode - "This Place Is Death!" With everything going on in our lives, with all of these tragic events, I identified with the character who, in the throes of madness, begs the people around her to stay far away from this place, to never come back.

This Place Is Death.

I am a youth pastor. This year we are tackling the hard questions each of these teens are facing. I asked that all of them write down a question that they or one of their classmates have been struggling with. One of the questions was, "Why does God allow good people to die?".

I don't know.

Of course, I can come up with a theological answer that includes "we are all appointed to die" or something about rain and the just vs. the unjust. But the truth is that I'm not God, and I don't have a clue why good people with great futures and wonderfully effective ministry's are taken.

I am grieved, but when that happens I have taught myself a peculiar habit . . . I try to see the situation through God's eyes. This is dangerous if we are not ready and willing trust Him with what we find, because we so often don't know Him like we think we do. In difficult, tragic situations, the answers we find are more often than not extremely demanding in their nature. They can require a level of trust that we may not necessarily be ready to give at this time. Many times we must finish the grieving process before we can delve deeper into Who God is in this situation.

The World Death Rate is cycled as follows . . .

1.78 people die each second

107 people die each minute

6,390 people die each hour

153,000 people die each day

56,000,000 people die each year

3,900,000,000 people will die during our lifetime (average of 70 years)

Think about these numbers . . . they are staggering aren't they? Look at them again; slower this time. Now think about this . . .

God sees every one of them, and not only does He see them, He cares infinitely about them in a way you and I can never fathom. He is with each one of those people every second of their life. He is loving each one of them at every choice, with every relationship, at every belief opportunity, in every trial, during every triumph . . .

in every tragedy.

Where is God in tragedy?

God was with my friend's wife and two children when they breathed their last.

He was with my friend as he sat in his car, clutching his child's stuffed animal, grieving to the end.

God was with our local businessman as he succumbed to cancer, his family by his side, our church's prayer vigil outside his door.

God is with my father's parishioner as she lays dying tonight.

He was with her husband as he hung himself.

God held that precious 7-year-old girl as she lay dying in her mother's arms.

Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

2nd Corinthians 4:17 talks about this "lightness". It says, "For the lightness of our present affliction works out for us a far more excellent eternal weight of glory".

The finite being compared to the infinite.

It boggles my mind, and it's so hard to comprehend! How can tragedy be compared to the "lightness" of a burden? But we really have to believe that either God is an insane lunatic puppet master in love with the macabre, or He is wiser and bigger and more loving and merciful than we can comprehend.

Things are out of balance. Things are off-kilter. We see so well that Life is not what it should be because this is us compared to the redeemed world we long for. But this is where we are NOW. This is what we know. We see the emptiness, the hole, and despise the tragedy. We see the offensive and the pain, and our reaction is to do everything we can to immediately right the wrong. We do our best to reverse the curse. We live in a fallen world, and so desperately want to lift ourselves out of this darkness. We see the downside all to clearly. And we mourn. We sob. We ask where God is in all of this . . .

God is here. He, who walks with our loved ones through The Valley of the Shadow of Death, holding their hand, is also here in our pain. We mourn because we lose. We lose someone we love so much, and ask how He could allow this.

Then we see through God's eyes.

We see Christ on the Cross.

Normally this image would bring a mixed sense of joy and awe, because of what we know about our Savior . . .

But then we see something different. We see the shift as God turns his back on the very sin that is killing His Son. We feel the incredible shame that sin brings, so heavy that it turns day into night. We see a child ask His Father "why?". We feel the deafening silence.

And then we realize that God knows . . . He knows what we go through. He knows what a parent goes through when a child dies. He knows the agony a wife feels when confronted by the tragic suicide of her husband. He knows the betrayal we feel when we have been torn apart by others, because He went through it.

Christ knows because He has tasted death.

And it is here that we have an incredible opportunity! We can now see both sides of the the death experience.

A Father's heart broken, and a Son's heart pierced.

We now have an advocate on both sides of sin's curse. And we start to understand what He sees when He hands us the keys to Comfort.

2 Corinthians1:3-4 says, "What a wonderful God we have. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does He do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us."

2Thessalonians 2:16-17 says, "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself AND God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting comfort and hope which we don't deserve, comfort your hearts with all comfort, and help you in every good thing you say and do."

In my grief, I'm trying to see through God's eyes.

I see God's mercy. I see God there with us each second on our journey to and from tragedy. I see His goodness triumphant through us, as we take our experiences and use them to comfort others. I see that tragedy turns to triumph, lived out in our Hope.

I see sin in a constant state of defeat.

I don't know why good people are taken by tragedy. I don't know why the innocent are buried way too soon. Some may say this place is death, and they would be right. But in no other place is death more symbolized than in an old rugged cross at Calvary.

And it is there I see Deliverance.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

Peace! Peace? Peace. (Re-post)

2009-01-29T11:17:00.000-05:00

This is one of the first blogs I wrote, back in 2007. It seems appropriate right now in my life to re-post this. I feel a little like I'm in a dream, and peace is somewhat elusive these past few days. I find comfort in the following Truth:

I have found that in our life, with its ups and downs (emotionally, physically, spiritually, etc), there are different punctuation marks in our times of peace, or different types of peace we have.
There are the highs of life, when all is working well, where family and friendships are good. These are times when peace is an exclamation point on a great day or week or month. These are times when favor is bestowed upon you, seemingly out of nowhere. People love you, life is grand, and success lays out the red carpet. I enjoy these times because they are so few. Their effect, however is felt and remembered for years. Aaahh . . . . Peace!

Then there are the parts of life's timeline where we wonder where and what peace is. When nothing seems to go right. When we wonder if being a colossal failure at everything is just our lot in life. When we wonder, "Could this be all there is? Am I really this weak and stupid?" These are the times of conflict when we are tempted to believe God doesn't care. These are the times when we feel "out of favor" with our Creator. These times are hard to pull out of. The question mark looms over us . . . Peace?

Finally, if we are faithful in our highs and lows, we come through them to a deeper knowledge of who God is. If we continue to get up when we fall, to still obey when we struggle, to trust when we can't find immediate answers, we will have survived the mental tests and realize what God-given peace actually is.

This is a peace that rests in the knowledge of who God is, not what He does. This peace finds Truth in any situation, good or bad. This peace is a plain statement. Nothing affects its place. Nothing moves its meaning. This peace remains a straight line, as unchanging as God Himself, because it is sent from God Himself.

This peace is the best kind, because God is happiest when we can look up through the smoke of spiteful circumstance and still trust. We can look up when have been blessed with success beyond our wildest dreams and trust Him WITH IT. This peace says "God is enough", regardless. In this time we now know what true peace is. It is peace . . . period . . . Peace.

This timeline is part of our process. God leads us to and through each phase, building us as we go, leading us to what He wants us to become. It does take time, but the time it takes is really different for each person, and God ordains it. He knows all and plans all. Sometimes I become frustrated when I am not "learning" fast enough, compared to others. But I have come to realize that God is leading each of us individually, at His pace.

He uses everyone, and surprisingly enough, the weak are his first choice. Take heart in whatever part of your life you are. He will lead you to His fulfillment.

Peace.
© Copyright Derek Hickman 2007

Apples, Crumbs,and Intrinsic Value

2009-01-05T02:07:00.000-05:00

I'm sick. It's one of those feverish, achy, stomach churning viruses that wears you out but doesn't let you sleep. I think the fever's gone, but the stomach thing won't let me go . . .

So I'm sitting here. On the floor. Looking at my computer screen. It's 2:19 a.m.

Around me are the markings of a 22-month-old.

Next to my computer, on the coffee table, are the scattered remains of Reagan's bedtime snack, or "Chux" as he calls the Chex cereal we put in a bowl for him to munch while he plays with "MommyDaddy". On the floor next to the coffee table lies a bag of apples he dragged in from the kitchen, demanding "mappels". I know, the kid can eat. You have no idea . . .

I love him so much!

When he smiles, the room lights up. When he cries, his precious cheeks are stained with tears of deep sorrow, or so it seems to him! I pick him up and kiss the tears away no matter what, no matter how deeply wronged he feels he has been by his older siblings.

My heart aches when he actually does get hurt, and I can hardly stand to let him learn "the hard way", although sometimes it has to be done . . . for his own good.

Sometimes I feel like a child myself when I help him with something so simple as putting his shoes on. Sometimes I see God in his little face, in his action, and in his wonderment. I've seen the hardened faces of strangers soften when they look into his curious eyes. I've seen the stern gaze of a great grandpa turn to warm affection when Reagan smiles at him. Even on my most discouraging days, the thought of him brings joy, and even peace to me. He loves me unconditionally . . .

He's my boy. My beloved son. I would die for him in a heartbeat. No hesitation.

Not because of how successful I think he will someday become. Not because he's good all the time. Not because he's perfect. He's not. Yes, he's adorable and incredibly cute, but that's not the reason either.

He's my son. My "Creation" if you will. His value is intrinsic and God-given. I also love him unconditionally, as any Father does. I place value on him because of what he means to me. He's mine.

Sound familiar?

Tonight I saw a 28-year-old woman get robbed. She was scammed, destitute, and totally hopeless. Stranded by the very person she had just helped. He took her purse, some other incidentals, and a huge part of her self-worth. She was dirty and worn from traveling for hours. She had no money to get back home to Mississippi. He had promised her payment for a ride that had now cost her everything.

Sitting at the stop sign, I saw it happen. I watched him and some friends take everything she had, hurriedly shove it in another car's trunk, and drive off while she was in the station buying coolant for her radiator.

I watched her come out of the store and totally lose it when she realized what had happened. I saw her devalued. I saw her devastation. I saw her lose hope. I saw their actions telling her what she had been trying so hard to fight, for so many years now . . . "You're worthless" "You're a loser" "You've failed again" "Nobody cares".

And I thought of God . . . the Father.

She is His. His beloved daughter. He would die for her in a heartbeat. No hesitation. In fact, He already has.

Not because of how successful she may someday become. Not because she's good all the time. Not because she's perfect. Not because she is happy and has an attractive personality. To be honest, she wasn't in the best frame of mind at the time. Not because she's made all the right choices with her life. She obviously hasn't.

She's his child. His "Creation" if you will. Her value is intrinsic and God-given. God loves her unconditionally, as any Father does. She has a place of value because of what she means to Him. She's His. She is valuable. No other reason is necessary!

I helped her as best as I could. We put her up in a hotel for the night through our church emergency outreach. I helped her report the crime to police, since I had seen it and was fortunate enough to write down the license plate number of the getaway car. I gave her some money for food and gas to get to Mississippi.

That was the least I can do, and probably the last time I will ever see her. I helped her temporarily, but that's not what impacted her the most. What mattered most, what softened her hardened face, what dried her tears, what changed her hurt and anger to hope . . . was when she looked into the face of another child and saw God.

"You are special to me" "You are worth it" "You are incredibly valued" "You are loved . . . unconditionally".

So sitting here with the crumbs of my life around me, I realize so deeply the love of our Father. We are so valuable to Him. Not one of us is better or closer or more deserving than anyone else, no matter what we've done, good or bad. Our intrinsic value doesn't change in His eyes. Markets fall and rise, circumstances come and go, but our value stays the same.

Romans 5:8 - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us".

You are worth it.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2009

"I Can't . . . ."

2008-12-03T17:10:00.001-05:00

I've been thinking about the phrase "I can't . . ."

We use this phrase so often to describe something that we actually can do. We just don't put out the effort to actually do it, for a variety of very logical reasons. So we just say "I can't . . .", and no one bothers to question the validity of our statement.

I can't lose weight

I can't pay my bills

I can't eat healthy

I can't love my spouse like I should

I can't afford to give

I can't play with my children

I can't discipline my children

I can't clean my house

I can't create a budget

I can't live like I want

I can't live like I believe

I can't be nice to him or her

I can't be entirely faithful

BECAUSE (And then there's the excuse that follows)

I don't have the time

I don't have the energy

I'm sick

I'm too busy

I can't get any help

I'm too scared

I'm not smart enough

No one cares

I'm too poor

I'm too stressed

They won't let me

Some of these reasons/excuses are true at a specific point of time, but should never be used to explain away an entire area of life that should be managed wisely. We can be healthy. We can manage our lives. We can love each other. We can pay our bills. We can do all of these things, but an incredible thing has happened. We have lobotomized ourselves as a society. In this "fast food" era, we have become more enamored with the Reward than with the Requirements of the reward. We look at something we want, and say "I'll have that please, with a side of self-worth".

Then we wait . . . and wait . . . and wait, and the longer we wait, the more disillusioned we become. We go about life, all the while becoming more frustrated and depressed, and we don't really know why. We really are sheep!

It's asinine. We are becoming a people who wait for what never comes. It's like a farmer walking out to his fields at harvest and saying, "Where's my crop?" while having not planted a single seed.

This society has refused to play by the rules. We have asked for the equation of life to be disassembled. We only want the result, when the reality is that the principles of success remain constant. Simply put, X(desire) + Y(work) = Reward! It doesn't read X(desire) = Reward! That formula is totally devoid of logic, and that's exactly where we find ourselves today. We have thrown away the steps and are devastated that we can't reach the top.

Yes, it's absurd, but the fact that we have such a large membership roster allows our absurdity to hide behind the chaos. We are the vast majority, so it is hard to see forest for the trees, until an occasional person stands out. Then we notice. Then we are in awe of his or her SUCCESS. The real absurdity is that our chaotic lives are a direct result of our lack of principle and standards for living. In fact, one could ask where all the standards have gone. We refuse to acknowledge these all-important axioms, therefore many of us feel stupid and miserable, like the universe is plotting against us.

Self indulgence can create an epidemic of apathy . . . an "I can't" mentality, and we all are effected. The successful few are those who break away and take the phrase "I can't . . ." to put it in its proper, logical place:

I can't live like this any longer

I can't accept any thing less than what God gives and I know there's more

I can't accept apathy in my life, my family, or my church

The successful person understands the equation, that there are God-given principles that guarantee our success. I would actually go so far as to say that these principles play a role in the abundant life that Christ has promised us . . . at least to a certain extent in the physical realm. Paul even talks about running the race before us when applying these concepts to our Spiritual journey. The successful person is one who trusts that these principles work and believes them to be axioms of abundance, self-evident truths that work when applied to our belief systems and therefore affect our actions and produce abundant results. It's simple . . . on paper. In real life, it takes a disciplined mind to go against the flow, to say "I can't take this anymore!" and "I will change!" instead of joining the chorus of defeatism.

If we want to lose weight, then we exercise and eat right. We can do that. If we want to have healthy relationships with each other and God, then we put in the time to spend on other people and the Kingdom. We can do that. If we want to be financially independent, then we pay off our debt through hard work and sacrifice, and live a slave to no man. We can do that.

We have to apply these axioms to our lives. Yes, it takes time. Yes, it takes work. But look at your life now. You spend lots of time and work really hard . . . for what? Depression? Frustration? "I can't"?

I love this song by Switchfoot . . .

Fumbling his confidence
And wondering why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he's bet for more than arguments
And failed attempts to fly
Fly

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside

Dreaming about Providence
And whether mice or men have second tries
Maybe we've been living with our eyes half open
Maybe we're bent and broken
Broken

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside

We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than this world's got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life
Yeah

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live
(We were meant to live)
We were meant to live

For God and King!

Peace.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

I Believe . . .

2008-11-26T09:35:00.000-05:00

Belief is so important, and so is Perception. Both, however, tend to make reality a relative concept, and have absolutely no effect on what is actually True or False. Truth stands regardless of what goes on around it, or what we believe or perceive about it. It just is. It is factual to the nth degree . . . and farther.

In the current hurricane of opinion and relativism, Truth remains unmoved, unbending, and unaffected. However, when everything else is moving and shifting, we can get caught up with the current wave of thought, and lose our vision. It is because of this lack of focus that we sometimes have trouble discerning Truth. This is why it is so important to have a proper foundation of thought and focus. Our beliefs and perceptions must be founded on Truth, otherwise we lose the race before we even start our engines.

Recently, I had additional cause to examine my Belief System. Someone, who has been reading my blog, suggested that I may have some foundational issues based on my writings. I am open to constructive criticism, which I know this was, and thought about their comments long and hard. In fact, I really appreciate what was said, because it reminded me that my writings are always based on my perception and beliefs, and those perceptions and beliefs are not always placed on the page for all to see as the foundation for my comments. I stand by my words that I've written, but am aware that they can be viewed in different ways based on (once again) different perceptions and beliefs. So this became an opportunity to review my foundation, to examine whether or not my Belief System is founded on Truth.

Here is what I've come up with so far (off the top of my head):

I Believe

-There is one TRUE God above all gods, Creator of Heaven and Earth and all there is.

-In Jesus Christ, His only Son, who died and was resurrected from death to (1)Pay our debt in full as a complete propitiation, and (2)Heal our broken hearts, thus giving us complete wholeness for living an abundant life in and of His Spirit within us.

-That our hearts are healed by the redemption of Christ, but that our minds must/will be changed over time by the Spirit's leading. Repentance = A change of Mind. I believe this is what Romans 12 is talking about. We can surrender all to Him, and should, but the value of total surrender is solely defined by what we actually know to surrender. In my life this is a continuous process. God leads us and shows us by revelation the areas of our minds/beliefs/perceptions that need to surrender to Him. He is so patient with me! Through my daily sacrifice of my will and by the faith He has given me, I am being transformed to show what He has made me for, as a part of His perfect plan.

-That God is indeed know-able, but only as far as He reveals Himself through the Word and the Spirit. This again, is a process that He leads us through . . . and I'm convinced that this process will last forever! That's how unfathomably deep He is.

-That we have an enemy. He is the prince of this age, and seems so powerful compared to our physical strength. It is important to realize, however, that his wickedness is not to be placed on the opposite spectrum of Gods' Holiness. My father used this riddle to prove this point when I was a child. "Black is to White as Satan is to _______ ? Everyone I've asked that question of has answered "God". The answer is Michael the Archangel(a powerful angel who has battled Satan in the past. Some believe he is the angel mentioned in Revelation 20, who throws the dragon into the abyss). Yes, we have an enemy, and we must fight him, but we must never equate him as an equal opposite to God. Nothing is or can be.

-That denominational religion is an overall absolute failure because we have ended up focusing on each other and our personal preferences for ministry instead of being led by God's Spirit to love the world and present the true Gospel. The word denomination means "walled fortress" to me, a place that creates a great separation between believers, let alone the huge chasm between the church and the lost. We are divided as Christians because of this. I have yet to see two churches communicate and work together without these "walls" playing a powerful role.

-In the total inerrant Truth of Scripture, and its absolute viability in any circumstance or time period.

-We live in a fallen world that God is constantly redeeming to Himself. Christ's death not only started His redemption in us, but cemented the process of "using all things for the good of those who love Him". Our planet, our ecosystems, our circumstances, and our personal lives are all used for His glory and our good!

-We reap the rewards of our actions.

-People are extremely valuable. It doesn't matter what you've done, what you look like, what you believe, what your perception is, how we feel about each other, how we see God . . . we are all extremely valuable because He has placed value upon us. No other reason suffices. He loves us regardless of . . . anything. We are valuable to Him, therefore we should be valuable to each other.

-Everybody is on the same level when it comes to spiritual opportunity and worth. No one is better than the other. Rich or poor, popular or behind the scenes - God loves us all. We have to have that approach to be effective in ministry. Always remember where you come from, what you've done against God, and how He's forgiven you.

-Our beliefs affect our thoughts, which in turn affect our choices, which in turn affect our actions. Belief Systems are incredibly powerful, which is why Jesus tells us to repent and believe the Gospel. . . The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Turn around and welcome the Kingdom of God! Change your mind and see the Kingdom at hand! Base your Belief System on Truth . . .

-I am a total failure but for God's grace. I've proven it true! I am constantly learning about myself through His amazing patience and Spirit. I can do nothing good without His blessing.

-That faithfulness is the key to being blessed. Do what is righteous no matter what the circumstance. God searches for the faithful. He blesses those who are are. This directly ties to the principle of giving. The more you give, the more you receive.

-I am able, through God's help, to live faithfully, for His glory, at each decision point of my life.

-That my issues with God (yes, we all have issues . . . admit it!) are a direct result from my limited view of His will and overall picture. I used to allow my issues to build walls between us, but He has shown me that I need to use those issues to actually build a bridge of discussion instead of a wall of silence. This belief alone will most likely save my soul. Silence = No relationship, and a prolonged focus on the issue, not Holiness. Discussion = Relationship and the ability to learn and conform to the image of Christ.

-I am loved.

-I love you.

Peace.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

Caught In The Middle?

2008-11-13T10:25:00.000-05:00

I am constantly amazed. We know so much about our fallen nature, yet still struggle so heavily with the idea of Self vs. Selfishness.

If you really think about it, there is a constant un-civil war going on in our souls (our minds, insight, emotions, and wills). Everything around us tells us to either "man up" and take charge of our destiny, or to give up and give in to fate. We are being tempted . . . by pretty much everything around us.

How do we live "in" the world and not "of" the world? I think I have a pretty good grasp of this concept, but then God shows me more of my true Self He wants, and the current regime doesn't line up very well . . . I'm trying to control my control, and find myself having issues with my issues.

This song blew me away this morning:

Somewhere between the hot and the cold
Somewhere between the new and the old
Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Somewhere between the wrong and the right
Somewhere between the darkness and the light
Somewhere between who I was and who You're making me
Somewhere in the middle, You'll find me

Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender
without losing all control

Fearless warriors in a picket fence,
reckless abandon wrapped in common sense

Deep water faith in the shallow end
and we are caught in the middle

With eyes wide open to the differences,
the God we want and the God who is

But will we trade our dreams for His
or are we caught in the middle

Are we caught in the middle

- Casting Crowns ("Somewhere In The Middle")

We have failed to trust Him with everything. Logically, it makes perfect sense to surrender ALL to the God who wants and gives the best for us. But we still struggle with our flesh, with our need for control. We still want to call the shots.

God gave me this verse earlier this week:

I Peter 1:13-17 - "Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth."

I am deeply convicted. I am ashamed. I repent.

I surrender.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

We Don't Know Him . . .

2008-10-24T12:02:00.000-04:00

I have come upon a disturbing realization. We have been misinformed. We have been duped. We have been given tainted information . . . by ourselves.

We don't know Him. Not really. Not at all like we know each other. We think we know Him, and that is a big mistake. We know things about Him; things He has specifically given us to have a proper relationship with Him. That is entirely different than knowing Him. Even a relationship with Him is different than our earthly relationships. Much more trust is involved on our part, simply because we are far too limited to grasp who He is, and what He is capable of.

I cringe when I hear preachers unequivocably promise His intervention in our tragedy, in our pain and suffering, in our circumstance. I am troubled by the "prosperity" gospel I am hearing. We don't know Him well enough to promise things on His behalf. What if He chooses not to intervene? He has and He will. More often than not, tragedy continues. Pain and suffering are alleviated occasionally, when He wills it. We live in a fallen world. Sooner or later our perceptions meet the reality of WHAT WE DON'T KNOW. We don't know Him well enough to predict deliverance at this or that point of time. His ways are not our ways. His plans are not our plans. Our picture is totally different than His picture . . . it's not even comparable.

The problem is, we think we do know Him. That's where we dupe ourselves. That's where the "Sunday School Syndrome" comes into play. Remember all of the great stories we heard as kids in Sunday School? Those are great examples of God's power and might, displayed in Scripture. We enjoy these as children, smile at them as teenagers, then cling to them as adults.

We cling to them selfishly. When we can't pay our bills, when we can't feed our family, when we can't get what we wanted or expected, we point at Him. We ask why. We wonder where He is. Where is this God who takes care of everyone else? Is there something wrong with me? Why is He allowing this to happen?

This sounds harsh, but we need to get over ourselves. It's not about us. It's not about our ill-bred perceptions. It's about Him and His glory.

The only sure thing we have to cling to is the Gospel. His Word has become flesh and lived among us. We have seen the revealed Christ, our Messiah. We cling to that. We know that. We can stand on that. The rest is Him being who He IS. He doesn't fit in our box; not even in our book.

We know He loves us. That is unquestionable, and the resulting salvation is the foundation for our worship. He sent His son to die. He offers freedom from ourselves and sin. He is our Creator. These things we know from his Word. But we don't know Him like we think we do.

He's not the pious, soft, starchy God we so often think He is. No, He's wild. Untameable. Unpredictable. More than we can imagine. Just because He loves us so much, doesn't mean He is in any way "lesser" . . . even though we are. That's the great mystery of Grace. It is in no way safe, yet provides us the ultimate safety . . . from His wrath.

C.S. Lewis says, "'Safe?'...'Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. but he's good.'"

He's good.

Take a weekend off and away. Look upward on a clear night. Stand face to face with a wild elk. Better yet, walk on the moon, as some have. It won't take long to see that we don't know Him like we think we do. He's bigger, and it is in this fact that I find my comfort. We don't know Him. We can't, really. He's bigger than our thought process. We are so small that we can't even be compared to Him, yet he compared Himself to us, even so far as to allow Himself to taste death . . . for us.

The Relevant loves the irrelevant. The Triune loves the trivial. The Creator loves the created.

We don't know Him . . . but He knows us, and loves us regardless. And this truth eliminates all fear.

That's enough for me to say "Thy will be done".

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

Teen Fire

2008-10-08T20:01:00.001-04:00

Those of you who know me well know that some of my greatest joys in life are found in music and youth ministry. I have recently, as of September 1st, taken over a youth program at the Winchester First United Methodist Church. I'm usually the kind of guy who hits the ground running, so that's exactly what I did.

In the last month, we have added our own version of small groups to Sundays, calling it the "Sunday Night Breakaway". It is there that we practice team building and our Word Up moment (a short devotional focusing on our relationship with God), followed by small groups that split the girls and guys up by grade level. Here is the banner I just had made to hang on the outside of the church:

Our main campus (the First UMC church building) has developed a satellite church at our local theater across town on Sundays at 9 a.m. Our Teen Fire logo is based on their logo:

We have also "taken over" the local coffee house on main street from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday nights. The owner is a lady I know from singing there occasionally. She was so kind to let us come in and be loud and boisterous. I call it "The Tuesday Night Special" and it is an informal 2 hours of table games, music videos, great food, great coffee, wii on the big screen, loud music, and a Word Out moment (a short delivery of the Gospel, focusing on our relationship with each other). Rob Bell's NOOMA videos are great, as a side note. We've had numerous kids coming in off of the street to check us out. Last week Brent Vernon, a good friend of mine, was kind enough to come and minister to us. Once per month I have what is called Band of the Month (or artist). Three of us local crazies have formed a band (right now we are calling ourselves The No Names) and we started everything off by performing on 9/23. Brent came on 9/30 and REALLY got us started. His friend Sam was a little rusty but was a smash hit! :)

I've heard that the devil is in the details. Not true. God is in the details. I'm dumbfounded by the incredible amount of work that goes into a successful presentation of Christian fun and outreach. I love the results! Our motto is "Upword Focus, Outward Friendship". I wholly believe that we are all ministers of the Gospel, and that the most effective way we promote the Good News and bring others to Christ is through personal relationship. The whole purpose of the Great Commission lies in Christ's words, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples . . ." (John 13:34-35)

Our motto is based on His words again, when he quotes Leviticus 19:18, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and will all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself". Upword Focus . . . Outward Friendship.

In the wings, I am also working on a skateboard ministry to local skaters. We have about 200 roaming the streets in our little town. Our High School has about 1800 students. I'm working with the powers that be to create a place where these kids can come to skate; a place that's sanctioned and safe. I'm calling it "Project 360 X Ministries" and will focus on the X-game generation.

All this and two days per week to do it in. I'm busy. Saturdays will come for the X Ministries. That's three days. On paper it looks exhausting. When I'm doing it, it is my joy. When each event is over, I crawl home to rest, then plan for the next one.

Just in what I am now doing, there are three demographics of young people I have to reach out to. I've got:

1. My existing kids, who are churched

2. Those kids who are un-churched, coming in off of the streets on Tuesday nights.

3. The X crowd - the bmx and skater kids.

God is good. I thank Him for the opportunity!

Peace.

Derek

The Holistic God

2008-08-27T10:15:00.000-04:00

The more I read, study, listen, and discuss, the less I seem to know. While that can be frustrating (if that's all I focused on), my mind has been continually renewed regarding the incredible nature and nurture of God.

We all know that transformation of the mind is often, and necessarily, painful. That is a transforming concept in and of itself! Once we realize that God is continuously redeeming the chaos of fallen nature, man's strife, our violence, the Enemy's chaos, life's tragedies, sickness . . . . basic pain in general . . . Once we realize He redeems it for our ultimate good, we see through different eyes. We understand. We bear our cross more willingly. We endure because we see the purpose for the pain, which is our ultimate pleasure in God.

I have long studied the body, soul, and spirit. I have come to realize that when one area suffers, every area suffers. I have seen this in my own life, and to be honest with you, I have felt like a 5-year-old trying to juggle steaknives. Disaster!

I recently led worship for a Healing conference with Tommy Hays (Messiah Ministries). Tommy has an excellent insight with Scripture and many of the things he talked about went right along with what I have been studying. I give him credit for opening my eyes to see our "holistic nature". I had some thoughts while I was at the conference and wanted to blog them for discussion.

The term "Holistic" means "emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts". Interdependence means "Mutually dependent on one another for survival". The importance of the whole summed up by the interdependent parts. This easily represents our different areas of our "person", the whole summed up by our different parts. A scripture comes to mind.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, "May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ". In my studies of each of these areas of our "person", I can think of numerous commands, principles, and expectations found in Scripture. For example: Jesus gives us three commands/expectations of a Christian.

1. When you pray . . . do so in secret.

2. When you give . . . do not let your right hand know what your left is doing.

3. When you fast . . . do so privately

Why these commands? Why these expectations? Why are we to do these secretly? Why in private? So that what we give the Father in secret may be rewarded in public. So that He can be honored by our wholeness.

1. Praying sets apart/sanctifies our Spirit (allows the Spirit of God to manifest)

2. Giving sets apart/sanctifies our soul (allows our SELF(mind, emotions, etc.) to surrender)

3. Fasting sets apart/sanctifies our body (allows our flesh to be crucified)

What we are commanded to do is to consecrate all three areas of our life to God . . . all the time. To be honest, many of us control our own politics, finances, health, relationships, desires, religion, and keep our Church life separate. I have been guilty of that. We try so hard to "control" ourselves, to be "good stewards" of our lives. We fail miserably unless we first consecrate ourselves, setting apart each area to God, giving Him full control. Only then can we be effective and happy . . . and joyful . . . and at peace. Period.

I have come to realize that we are made in the image of God to the greater detail than we can even imagine. A Triune God has created us in His image, with our own "triune nature" if you will, stressing and "emphasizing the importance of the whole and the interdependence of its parts".

You who are sick, you who are shallow, you who are enslaved by sin, you who are hopeless, you who are wounded . . . let the God who wants you to be WHOLE and AT PEACE sanctify you through and through, healing your entire Spirit, Soul, and Body. This is where true Healing is found . . . at the end of our control.

See, God doesn't want your control. It's like my 18-month-old when he wants to open his sippy cup and fill it with more juice. He can't do it. He tries and tries. Sometimes he cries. It won't happen. I wait until he gives it to me. I fill his cup. God knows you can't do it all. He is waiting to fill our cup.

Our responsibility is NEVER to control our lives. It is ONLY to give Him everything, and He will wait until we do. We must let him sanctify this "triune nature" created in us, so He can make us blameless. We must live up only to these expectations: We must pray. We must give. We must fast.

Let us repent of our pride. Let us repent of our fear. Let us repent of our gluttony. Let us be found blameless. Our God, The Holistic God, yearns to give us Himself . . . entirely, so we can be entirely whole.

Peace.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

S.T.A.N.D. (The Importance Of Pain)

2008-07-28T09:22:00.000-04:00

Lately, I've been examining CHANGE in my life. Earlier this year (2008), I told my wife that I felt that God was preparing my heart for something to happen. I told her, "This will be a year of change for us". We felt hopeful and encouraged that maybe God was starting to move in our lives in a new powerful way. We had been praying for His will expectantly, but up to that point nothing had happened (that we could see).

We're still waiting . . . and to be honest, life has been a tad difficult since we felt that initial encouragement. I have learned, however, that God gives us inspiration in spite of our circumstance and that true, effective CHANGE can only come out of CONFLICT. What we are always struggles with what we need to become. This is how life is designed to work in a fallen world. This is how God salvages Creation, using "all things" for His purpose. In fact, the Fall of Man and the resulting gift of Reconciliation is the supreme fulfillment of this principle.

Pain finds its purpose in Pleasure. Failure finds its purpose in Success. Conflict finds its purpose in Change. In this, our Enemy wounds himself. What he means for evil, God gives it a new purpose - to mold us to His image.

God gave me this acronym over a year ago. I'm just now finding where to place it in my life.

S - stop living in Fear of pain or failure
T - take massive action to implement right principles
A - accept each moment as an opportunity to learn and move forward
N - never give up
D - demand ongoing excellence

See, most people know what is right. In fact, the overwhelming frustration I hear when talking about this subject is the fact that we all know what to do - we all know the principles for success - but, for some inexplicable reason, can't force ourselves to do it! I have found that I fear the pain. I fear the failure. I fear the conflict. I never really get to the principle.

God is using this year to CHANGE me, and as usual, it is in an unexpected way.

S.T.A.N.D.

Derek

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

There Is A God

2008-07-15T21:19:00.001-04:00

I love it when God moves in and through us. It is our deepest fulfillment to have that happen. In my experience, God uses us for two purposes. He uses us to minister to each other as the body of Christ (whether to exhort, admonish, or teach), and He also uses us to show the world who He IS (either by His Story, His Gospel, or our Example).

My fulfillment for several years has been in the area of exhortation. God has used me to encourage other brothers and sisters in Christ towards praise and thankfulness, introspection, and true worship. I love what I do, and for quite some time have longed to do it full-time. God will someday open that door, for sure. Until then, however, He is constantly stretching me, opening my eyes to new avenues of ministry.

Another aspect, less known, has been my ministry to our town's youth. I grew up as a violent, oppressed young man, enslaved by sin and vice. When God changed me, I was drawn toward youth ministry that reached the hardened hearts of the "problem" kids. I remember one of the biggest questions I had was whether or not there even was a God . . . and I was a preacher's kid! Today I frequent the streets of Winchester picking up whoever wants to come to our church. I try to develop those all-important relationships that are necessary for us to impact their hearts and minds.

Some of you know that I've been leading worship at First Fire at Movies 9 on Sunday mornings (for two weeks). That is going well. My prayer is that someone will find God this coming week. I think I'll sing this on Sunday.

There Is A God

(Verse One)
A thousand lonely beacons, a thousand points of light
A thousand burning hearts are reaching for the sky
A million different reasons for us to question why
As the whole world searches for a sign

What if we find Him, what if He's really listening?
What if our sin is what's keeping us apart?
What if the answers are found in Jesus?
What if He's here to heal our hearts?
I know . . . you know . . .

(Chorus)
There is a God, and He cares for you
No matter where you're coming from or what you're going through
There is a God, and He knows our name
He can take this shattered, broken life and make us whole again
When you need someone to love you through it all
There is a God

(Verse Two)
A million different people, a million points of view
A million different reasons, so many things to do
A thousand different roads are here for us to choose
And the whole world searches for the truth

What if we find it, what if we really see Him?
What we start to know this Holy God above?
What if Salvation is only found in Jesus?
What if belief is up to us?
I know . . . you know . . .

(Chorus)

(Bridge)
No matter your failures, no matter your fortune
No matter your strength or the weakness you live in
No matter the walls that you've built to resist Him
No matter the choices you've made

(Chorus)

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

What Would Happen If . . . ?

2008-06-20T15:24:00.001-04:00

What would happen if we believed, really believed that God uses us? What would happen if we actually fed the hungry? What would happen if we clothed the poor? What would happen if we left church on Sunday and lived by the Spirit’s leading? What would happen if we came to church consistently? What would happen if we gave up our jobs to become exactly what God made us to be?

What would happen if we stopped tearing down people with our words, and instead tore down those strongholds in our minds and hearts; those strongholds that keep us from moving forward . . . that keep us living *life*, instead of living LIFE abundant. What would happen if we prayed for each other’s healing, both in body and spirit? What would happen if we started making right choices with our time and money?

What would happen if we set a precedent of behavior for our family that honored God above all else? What would happen if we said that no matter what, our house will serve God? What would happen if we led our children to the throne on a daily basis? What would happen if we used our incredibly powerful gift of will to dictate how we will live in the world, but not of it? What would happen if we tested God by actually giving tithes and abundant offerings? What would happen if God became our very breath, our very life, instead of a priority that is reserved for Sunday mornings? What would happen if we prayed? What would happen if we lived a spiritual life in a physical world?

What would happen if we started a children’s bus route in the poor section of town? What would happen if we stopped sinning? What would happen if we thought more about clean hearts and minds instead of a clean church? What would happen if we prayed? What would happen if we gave up all of our independence to live in total dependence on God through the Spirit of Christ? What would happen if we would stop being so hard on ourselves?

What would happen if we decided to actually fight in this Spiritual War that we are in? What would happen if we lived on PURPOSE in a PRECARIOUS society? What would happen if we confessed one to another? What would happen if we stopped moving God between a box and a book, and actually allowed the reality of His Kingdom to permeate our mind, body, and soul? What would happen if we really did surrender all?

What would happen if we acted on Truth? What would happen if we actually ran from temptation? What would happen if we took a stand, not as a Condemning church but as a Conduit to Calvary in a world that needs the good news of the Gospel? What would happen if we actually spread that Gospel? What would happen if we developed deep relationships with our neighbors before we asked them to come to church?

What would happen if we stopped watching television programs that promote sin and vice? What would happen if we taught our girls to be modest? What would happen if we taught our boys to be respectful? What would happen if we beat our inner child, you know, the one that screams and cries to have what we want, and when we want it, regardless how stupid it is . . .? What would happen if we became disciplined?

What would happen if we got rid of the need for control found in the hierarchy of Church denomination and instead lived in unity as brothers and sisters in Christ? What would happen if we really got saved and lived a transformed life? What would happen if we used our spiritual gifts? What would happen if we actually had a relationship instead of a ritual, both with God and each other? What would happen if we believed, really believed, that God wants to use us to change our world? What would happen if we changed our mind?!!

What would happen if we put works with faith? What would happen if we put action with belief? What would happen if we perfected faith through works? What would happen if we practiced pure religion and visited orphans and widows in distress? What would happen if we kept ourselves unstained by the world? What would happen if we repented? What would happen if we had a different view about what a church should become? What would happen if we looked past our differences to real, true change? What would happen if we stopped offering mud pies of complacency and started giving God our best?

I saw a T-shirt that showed a sign on a church door. It said, “Church closed. Gone fishing for men. Will return when boat is full”. What would happen if we went fishing?

I heard someone say, "I want to live what I believe!" We already do. Our actions come from our thoughts that come from our beliefs. Take a close look . . . are you happy with the way you live? What would happen if we looked for, chose, and lived the right beliefs?

“Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Bob, why are you resisting me?” I said, “I’m not resisting you!” He said, “You gonna follow me?” I said, “I’ve never thought of that before!” He said, “When you’re not following me, you’re resisting me.””
– Bob Dylan

“God is a verb.” – Buckminster Fuller

Be transformed . . .

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

The Real Revolution

2008-04-20T07:39:00.000-04:00

The word "Revolution" is one of the most interesting words I have studied. It is a noun, but its very essence is based on action, movement . . . verbage. There are several different meanings, depending on the context of this word. The root seems to be "revolve", which means to spin in a fixed pattern - usually focused on a central object which it "revolves" around, e.g. the earth's revolutions around the sun. In this context, the word "Revolution" takes on great significance, a very important action that sustains life, that gives opportunity for growth. Since I have become a believer in Christ, I am constantly aware of how the natural order we see is really a supernatural design that tells us so much about who God is and what He wants for us.

But enough of that. For now, I want to dwell on another meaning of this word.

Once again, "Revolution" is a noun that, in its essence, embodies action. However, in this context, it means "The attempt to overthrow one government, and replace it with another". I want to examine this with a spiritual light.

There is an overwhelming majority that still believes we live in a world dominated by the Prince of Darkness. I hear or read on a frequent basis about this church or that youth group hosting a Revolution party or conference with its focus on overthrowing this dominant sin culture we breathe in on a daily basis. Honestly, I don't see any harm with doing that. In fact, if these events help us to retain our focus on our King, then more power to them. However, there is a constant trend in these types of movements that bothers me to some degree. Here's why . . .

I see myself, my family, my brothers and sisters in Christ as being part of a Kingdom. Specifically, a conquering Kingdom where our loyalties lie with Christ our King and High Priest. I know of the "great debate" regarding the Holy Trinity, but let's just simply say that we do our best to glorify our Father by allowing the Spirit of Christ to dwell within us and lead us daily. In essence, we have already won the war and are now being entrusted as stewards of the spoil.

However, I strongly believe we are not living the reality of what we believe and are a part of. I do not think we fully grasp our place and significance in this Kingdom. I know . . . it IS hard to see what must be taken by faith. However, our anointing, our empowerment can only come by a proper belief system about who we are. Let me explain further . . .

Not too long ago, I was part of a meeting with some of the best salesmen in our company. We spent a better part of two hours discussing and debating how we can provide the best possible experience for our customers while getting our goals met. Anyone who knows great sales ethics knows that our goal is not the all-important dollar or selling a product just to sell a product. We believe that giving the customer an excellent experience builds loyalty, and loyalty is what brings money in.

After listening and discussing for quite some time, I got up and walked to the marker board, grabbed a marker and wrote a phrase for all to see. It went something like this, "I believe that each customer who I talk to today wants efficiency from me and excellent direction." I then said, "ladies and gentlement, we can have the best products, the best call flow, the best language to use . . . but if we don't have the right belief system in place then true excellence has once again eluded us." People buy what you believe in.

It all comes from our foundational belief system. Tony Robbins calls this "The Birth of Excellence" in his book Unlimited Power. Scripture calls it the Brain Revolution!

Romans chapters 12 and 13 tell us where this revolution takes place. It starts in our mind, develops into a belief system, affects our actions, and then changes the world. My favorite scripture verse is Romans 12:2 - "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The next two chapters then go on to describe how a Christian should live in this world, but not of it!

The most powerful force on earth is our belief system. Transform your mind, transform the world. The writer of this passage knew what he was talking about. Changed from a torturer and murderer to a believer who traveled the world, he was bitten by poisonous snakes, was stoned to death and raised again, flogged, brought a dead teenager back to life . . . that is transformation! Paul knew the power of revolutionary belief. This is why I do not cringe or bristle when I hear of Teen Challenge or FireStarters or any other crusade center its theme around revolution. I think that, for the most part, these themes are centered around the revolution of belief. I support that. However, I do question what beliefs are being taught.

I would like to see more "revolution" centered on who a Christian actually is. What movement or force does he or she actually belong to. This brings me back to my point on us being part of The Kingdom of Heaven. Remember, we can have the best language, the best format, the best visual effects, the best life style, the best witness . . . but have we talked about who we are? Unless we know who we are in Christ, a facade can form and eventually crumble. This is why we hear of those "saints" who are caught in sin, sometimes sins that have been committed for decades! The facade is not the real. They are unbelievers. They do not see their place in the Kingdom of Heaven because they have bought into the Kingdom of Self.

We can be transformed by the renewing of our beliefs. In a spiritual sense, the only real revolutionary is Satan. I mentioned at the beginning that many of us believe in his Kingdom. Many of us believe and count on a belief that he is the prince of this world, that he has all power, and that angels are constantly battling to rest God's children from Satan's grip. This is not true. Yes, it was true, to a point, before Christ came. However, there are at least two scriptural references pointing to a shift in that power upon Christ's death. I am talking about Rev. 1:18 where Christ tells John, "I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades."

Also, Matthew 28:18 says, "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth"". This happened after the crucifixion. Yes, Satan is still powerful and is still the "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), but the Bible specifically dictates where and to whom Satan has dominion over . . . . sinners; those who disobey and disbelieve. There it is again. That word "believe" is powerful, even when it's being dissed! If there is any real attempt to overthrow a spiritual government, it is actually our enemy who is the revolutionary. We have already won! We are rulers, conquerors, ministers of the Gospel showing every nation a Heavenly Kingdom here on earth, preparing for a greater Kingdom to come. Wickedness is trying to overthrow us! We are the ones in power, not vice versa! Why else would we be tempted? Why else are we attacked? Why else do we have an enemy.

The Bible is pretty clear about this. In fact, we easily buy into our enemy's fall. His disgrace. We see him tempt Christ and fail. We see him defeated time and again through heroic stories of Biblical proportions. We see him lose and lose and lose, and we even hold an annual holiday celebrating our Lord's resurrection, our enemy's ultimate beat down . . . then read a few verses in Scripture regarding his earthly power (yes, he is powerful in an earthly sense) and beat a hasty retreat, giving him the mile when he's desparately fighting for an inch.

We would do well to take our mind off our enemy's temporal kingdom and focus more on the permanent Kingdom of Heaven to which we belong. Let us transform our minds to the incredible truth of being leaders in the Kingdom to come. Let us teach our children and young people. Let us start new believers on the correct path, showing them what they were and now are in Christ. We are loyal subjects to the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the One who brings us our victory!

Let's "man up" and stop living defeated lives. We are more than conquerors.

For God and King!

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

The Importance of Real Gratitude

2008-01-16T12:52:00.000-05:00

Several months ago, I saw a story about an 11-year-old boy who was caught in a crevasse in California. He had been playing on the beach with his friends, running and climbing on the coastal rocks, when he slipped and fell into a crack in one of the large rocks he was playing on. The harder he struggled, the deeper he slid down until he was wedged so tight that no one could pull him out. It had gotten so bad, that with every breath he took, he inched lower and tighter. He was literally dying from lack of oxygen when the rescuers got there. The rock was smothering him.

At first, his helpers did not seem to understand the situation, but soon realized that his breathing was so shallow, he was in and out of conciousness. Their efforts quickly became more animated when they realized the life and death struggle they were in. They worked for over an hour trying to pull him out, to no avail. Then, a firefighter had the idea to pour motor oil all over him, to try to lubricate the rock enough to allow them to pull him free. It worked.

What happened next will stay with me for the rest of my life. When the men pulled him up to the top, he kept reaching out and saying "Thank You, Thank You" over and over again. I have never seen gratitude like that in a person's eyes before. I was looking into the eyes of a soul who was on the brink of death, who was dying right in front of us, when suddenly he was pulled free to live, to breathe freely.

And right there, it hit me. That boy is all of us. That is exactly where where we are as unbelievers. I remember that suffocating feeling of being trapped. My hatred of others, my desire to break all the rules led me to the edge, and I fell in. We are all trapped by what we think is on that rock of temptation - esteem, all that money can buy, the self-worth that the taboo promises- only to find out afterward that we are slowly dying, we have failed to stay away from the edge. We slide down into the crevasse. We become more and more uncomfortable until we are barely alive. Death is near . . .

No one truly knows what gratitude is like the person who has been snatched from the grip of Death. Those of us who have been saved from Hell should always have that sense gratitude. The deeper you are, the more thankful you become when you think about what you have been saved from. I want to say "Thank You, Thank You" to my Savior. I am saved! Those of us who believe: We are saved!! We can breathe again. Thank You Jesus!

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

The Importance of Proper Questioning

2008-01-05T01:27:00.000-05:00

Asking God "Why?" may be one of the most pointless and asinine things we can do in this lifetime. If we cannot, with our own God-given logic and intelligence, find the answer in a proper amount of time, then the "Why" may not be at all what God wants us to obtain from the present circumstance. "Why?" focuses on what has already happened, not on what the next step should be.

And while He is perfectly able to answer us as to why something has happened, the chances of us understanding the answer are so incredibly small anyway that it is really just pointless to even start the whole exhausting process by asking the question in the first place. Asking God "Why?" is like a crowd of would-be art lovers who, in their enthusiastic love of the abstract, marvel and celebrate the latest masterpiece, only to find out later it was just the easel.

Our understanding is not His understanding. Our view of the picture is not at all His view of the picture. In fact, most of the time we are focusing on the Easel of Circumstance instead of looking for what it holds - The Masterpiece of Grace.

The most essential question we ask of God should be "What?". The Who, Where, and When come later. "What" grabs hold of the point. It defines for us the Message. It allows us to be part of God's work of art.

I also strongly believe that this question of "What?" should always be followed by an offer of personal involvement. "What do you want me to do?" "What can I learn from this opportunity?" "What can I do to react in a more Christ-like manner?" By asking this question we are showing God that we are following two of the most important principles of spiritual progress. When God answers (and believe me He will!) we must have the Ability to Listen and the Willingness to Lead.

Scripture is full of these types of interactions. A good example is found in the story of I Samuel 3:1-10. God called Samuel's name three times in the dusk of the afternoon, while he and his mentor priest Eli napped. Twice Samuel ran to Eli to see why he had called. The third time, Eli realized that God was speaking to Samuel and advised him to ask a "what" type of question of God. "Speak Lord, for thy servant listens". I am listening God. What do you want me to do? God wanted him to Lead, and the rest is history.

I believe that, by asking the proper questions, we obtain the best answers. Yes, in our deductive process we sometimes need to find out why something has happened. God gives us that intelligence and reasoning capability. However, "why" something has happened can only be profitable in guiding us to "what" our next steps should be, and is often not a necessary part of the process. In fact, "Why?" is more often than not a tool used by our Enemy to stall us, to humiliate us, to yank our focus from what God is trying to mold us into to a place where all we can see is the tragedy or uncomfortable circumstance that has just happened. Yes, I know that in our humanity asking "Why?" is sometimes inevitable, but when we cannot find an answer to "Why", we must move on to "What" God wants for us. "What?" is the question that allows us to Listen and Lead for the Kingdom.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2008

Coming Up To Breathe

2007-12-10T22:28:00.001-05:00

I have never really thought myself especially worthy to hear God speak. Moses I am not. However, there have been a few times when God has spoken to me in the most clear voice. It is actually hard to put it into words. To try to describe it, I would say it is sort of like being in a dimly lit room. A person can see shapes and even discern, with a small degree of guesswork, who people are. When God speaks it is like that room instantly becomes lit, with every detail brilliantly shown.

Do not mistake what I am saying to mean I am not led by the Spirit. That happens to me far more often, as it should be. Those of you who know can attest to this. Being led by the Spirit gives the believer a degree of certainty, regardless of whatever circumstance plagues us at the time. It is really a Supernatural certainty, no matter what the course of action is. Being a minister of music, I have felt that many times when choosing the path of worship in church. Other times, I have felt that when witnessing to a person, or going out of my way to do something. That certainty is special. It is that incredible indwelling relationship that a redeemed person has . . . the Spirit of Christ in us.

While being led by the Spirit gives us certainty, hearing God speak is enlightenment. And upon retrospection, I have found that He more often than not speaks to me in times of question and crisis. When God speaks, you lose that sense of "what if" and "why".

God spoke to me last Friday. I was driving home, in a stand-still traffic jam on 75 South. On these long drives home (2+ hours), I usually find in my thoughts an undercurrent of what really is affecting me and my life. To be honest, underneath my "professional smile", regardless of my positive attitude or do-it-myself philosophy, I am really just a struggling seeker who is just as screwed up as anyone else out there. I used to think that Christians have it all together. Truth is, we don't. The only thing different between a believer and a non-believer is who we serve and what we believe. Thus, the terms believer and non-believer. Nothing else changes. Stupid choices always bring painful consequences. I am almost thirty-four and often wonder if I'll ever get that one figured out.

God spoke to me, right in the middle of my turmoil. He said, audibly from my own mouth, using my own thoughts, " . . . I have to stop focusing on who I want to be, and start focusing on who You are".

I had lost my way, and God was kind enough to let me know why. Integrity, Purpose, Character, Wisdom, Knowledge . . . all of that comes secondary, and is so much more difficult without the peace that God gives. Focusing on who God is like being drawn to a magnet. Once we turn our focus towards Him, He draws us in.

However, we must never place God as our top priority. That doesn't work at all. Priorities can be changed, as you can see from the above example of my own crisis. God must be our LIFE. Like the air we breathe. We can only go without air for so long. Once we lose our way, or breath, we flounder. We lose our vision. Everything becomes blurry. All quickly seems lost, and we even fight what tries to save us, as a drowning person so often does. There have been humans who have went up to seven minutes without air. Most of us can barely squeeze out one minute before we start to panic.

In the middle of this fight, God spoke to me. It's simple really. Too many distractions of life. We don't make time to focus on Him and His will, and we start to lose our breath. We stop breathing the breath that our Creator breathed into us. Quite literally, he is our breath . . . our life. We lose our focus on Him. We flail. We struggle when He tries to intervene.

God spoke to me, and I thank Him for it. My Integrity and Character will continue to be shaped as God walks with me. I have started to breathe again, and nothing feels so good to someone.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2007

The Importance of Hell

2007-12-03T01:06:00.000-05:00

Several years ago, I was given a white cassette tape by my pastor Greg Makcen. It was called "Hell's Best Kept Secret" by a guy named Ray Comfort. I remember sitting with him in his little grey van and listening to it for the first time. I have since then listened to it at least a dozen more times.

Some of you may know the name Ray Comfort. He is currently in ministry with Kirk Cameron. Their ministry is called The Way of the Master, and you can see their program on TBN, and locate the website at www.wayofthemaster.com

Through this tape, we are questioned as to the Importance of Hell in each of our lives. To be more specific: Is there a place in our belief system that places any importance on Hell whatsoever? Do we even think about Hell? Do we think about our Enemy? Do we think about Heaven vs. Hell? Do we think about the possibility of going to either place, and what it would be like? Do we believe there is a Hell? or Heaven?

In his message, Ray Comfort asks the question, "Why do we become born-again?" What is the motivation behind our choice to accept the Gift of Salvation? Years later, with his video cameras rolling, I have heard Ray ask this question to people on the street (this is a huge part of his ministry). He asks this question to both believers and non-believers. I was surprised at some of the answers. Several of the Christians gave this answer, in one form or another: "God will make your life so much better, and totally free you from the pain of sin. Life is awesome when you choose Jesus!"

Wow. Let's examine the essence of this answer:

1. "God will make your life so much better" This is NOT true. No, God is not mean or spitefully looking to make your life worse when you become a believer. It's just that logically this couldn't be true at all. When you make the choice to follow Christ, you are enlisting in the greatest war of all wars - The war for our souls. God's priority is not this life, but His Kingdom to come. Therefore, He wisely makes no promise to make your life better, but instead promises pain, heartache, persecution, battles, and strife. Just like a good General tells his troops before shipping out to war, "Men, I promise you nothing but blood, sweat, and the likelihood of death. We have an Enemy. Let's give 'em Hell!" There's no promise of anything but pain. If good happens, thank God for His providence, then dig another foxhole.

2." . . . and totally free you from the pain of sin" Hogwash. I am still suffering from past sins. Sin makes you pay, and pay, and pay. The chinks in my "armor" are caused by my past sins. What salvation does is free you from the power of sin! No longer do we have that diseased, Satan-created part of us that is enslaved to sins call. Our hearts are healed and we can stand, as warriors, and say "NO" to temptation and tear down those strongholds with God's help.

3. "Life is awesome when you choose Jesus!" The only thing "awesome" is the Hope we have as followers of Christ. Our eyes have been opened to the Kingdom to come. Paul calls it "that blessed Hope". Hope is what makes war possible. No one goes to war hoping to lose. We fight to win. Every ounce of strength and integrity is given to this battle. We must WIN. We must stay faithful! A soldier has hope above all else. The power of Hope. That is what is awesome.

So, getting back to Ray's question. What is the motivation behind a choice to follow Christ? We have already determined that it surely isn't to make our life better! Actually, the answer lies at the end of a process.

1. We must see ourselves for what we are. We are sinners. The way to find that out is to look at the Law of God. The Ten Commandments are a good measurement. Have we sinned against God when we review these? You bet. Paul says the law is a mirror to show us our place in God's eyes. We are guilty of treason.

2. We must know that there is a Heaven and a Hell. Heaven is what God has created for those who trust and obey Him, fighting the war to win, for the cause of Hope. Hell is created for those who reject God's authority, believing there are other ways to obtain salvation or prominence. We must realize that by our sin, we deserve death and Hell.

3. We must believe that God loves us so much, He sent His son Jesus to die for us. This is the ultimate, one-time-only sacrifice necessary to free us from sins power. All we have to do is believe and follow Him.

Through this process, we start to understand that the answer, our foundational motivation for following Christ, is that we understand the Importance of Hell. Our hope is based on the fact that our salvation from Hell is Christ and His sacrifice.

No, we do not become believers so that our lives here will be better. Instead, picture yourself as a drowning man. You are all too familiar with what drowning entails. You feel the pain. You are dying. You can't breathe. Then you see a hand . . . reaching for you. With a sudden realization, you know that this hand is your only hope. You cling to it, ignoring the waves, the sounds, even your pain. You cling to your only Hope. This is what Salvation is. Your only Hope.

Ray Comfort gives a now famous illustration:

Two men are on an airplane. They both order coffee and are about to settle down when a stewardess comes to the first man and asks him to put on a parachute. She tells him that this parachute will make his flight a much more pleasurable experience, and give him freedom to enjoy himself to the fullest. He gladly puts it on, based on her promising words, and settles back to take in this new sensation.

The stewardess then goes down the aisle to the second man and hands him his parachute telling him to put it on quickly, that at any moment the plane could go down, and this parachute will save his life. He thankfully puts the parachute on and settles down to await his moment of escape.

The first man starts to feel rather uncomfortable. He can't sit back fully because the parachute is on his back, making him awkwardly hunched over for the trip. Soon he begins to notice other passengers pointing at him and laughing at his situation. Finally, after what seems like forever, he painfully stands up and throws his parachute off, cursing himself for believing the stewardess in the first place. He emphatically states that he will never again put on a parachute. It is all a hoax, he believes.

The second man feels uncomfortable, but doesn't mind. He isn't even bothered by the jeers and laughter of the other passengers. In fact, he tries to get the stewardess' attention so he can get parachutes for them also. He is focused on the danger and the possibility of tragedy. He turns to tell the others what could happen. He painfully stands up to show them how to put the parachute on properly, explaining what could happen at any moment. He believes that parachutes will save them all from death.

This is Salvation. A reaction to the threat. This is The Importance of Hell to a Christian. We see the danger. We see Hell for what it is. Death. Eternal Death. Salvation is offered (our parachute). We must tell others.

Unfortunately, those who answered with the "awesome" Jesus experience are partakers of a Prosperity Gospel that is sweeping our nation. Pastors across our country are touting God-given principles of living as their message of Salvation. Do this and you will be favored by God. Live this way and you will have a "windfall" of grace. God given principles work in the natural order of things whether we are saved or unsaved. If we manage our money wisely, we will prosper. If we make wise decisions, we will have optimum results. These are natural, God-given principles given to mankind to live by. These are not the make-up of true repentance and Salvation!

We have gotten away from The Importance of Hell. This must be our motivation for the parachute we put on. Unless we realize our sin, and its hellish consequence, we cannot properly know the true reason for our salvation. That is why these "prosperity" converts throw God off when hard times come. They say that they will never take Him back. They curse those pastors for convincing them that life would be better. They become disillusioned and Hopeless. They have not seen The Importance of Hell. Therefore, they never truly see the Hope of Salvation.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2007

Does Jesus Care?

2007-11-06T18:18:00.000-05:00

“Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth and song?” The words to this song ask a very relevant question in the lives of many people today. Does God really care when we are facing times of hardship and suffering? We cry out to Him to deliver us from the painful tunnel we are crawling through. We have no idea how to get out of this situation, and the heavens are like brass. God is silent. Does He know? Does He even care?

Yes, He does. However, we may be surprised at what He really cares about. Here is a poem:

God does not care about our circumstance, whatever it may be.
He cares for His creation, especially you and me.
Circumstance is just a tool He uses to make new
the way we understand His love. He works to change our view!
So when you feel you’re all alone without a hope or prayer,
when you’ve reached your darkest place
God’s already there.
Patiently He waits for us to praise Him in this night.
With great care He walks with us until we see the light.
-Anonymous

The weapon of Circumstance is used by both sides in this war for humanity. The same circumstance elicits an incredibly different response by one party versus the other party. This is simply because of the differences in each party’s belief system. This alone should awaken us to the extreme importance of having the right beliefs and values. They literally affect everything we do, from the top to the bottom.

Our Enemy uses circumstance to destroy us because he hates God. His ultimate goal, in using circumstance as a weapon, is to force our attention away from TRUST and RELATIONSHIP to the OBSTACLE in front of us. The interesting part of this is that he doesn’t care whether this is a hardship or blessing. He simply wants to use it to destroy us, thus taking away part of God’s creation. He would love to “bless” us with wealth and prestige, if it meant our damnation. Many times we think only our hardship is his tool. Not so. Our times of abundance and content are often even more effective. Hardship will many times force us to God. Our Enemy would much rather lull us to sleep, taking our focus away from God.

Lucifer, once the Worship Leader of Heaven, lives enraged at our importance in God’s eyes. Even though he loves chaos and mayhem, he will still use the most effective method in damning our souls, because he hates God even more than chaos. When examined, the Church today is being lulled asleep . . . quietly . . . with great abundance and content. Many times, the chaos we see in our church is actually God trying to wake us up, to change us from that Comfortable congregation to a Changed church!

God uses our circumstance in an entirely different way. His ultimate goal, in using circumstance as a shaping tool, is to force our attention away from the OBSTACLE, whatever it may be, to TRUST and RELATIONSHIP! Interestingly enough, it doesn’t really matter to Him whether this circumstance is hardship or blessing. He simply wants to use it to draw us closer to Him, and to teach us to give Him glory at all times. This is the measurement of a “tiny Christ”, a Christian, giving glory to God at all times. Yes, many times God does use hardship to shape us. Pain is often the most effective way to learn something. However, we are mistaken to think this is all He uses. God blesses us enormously, but He does this only to enhance his Kingdom and increase our ministry opportunities. Our hardship, our abundance; both have a two-fold purpose: To build our FAITH, and to enhance the Kingdom. That’s it. Consider this passage from Luke 8:23-25a:

"But as they were sailing along He (Jesus) fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, "Whew! That was close! Did you see that last wave? We could have capsized out here! What is my Father thinking! It's a good thing I took matters in my own hands! We could have drowned! I have to get alone for a bit to talk with Him and see if this was an oversight on His part!"

Interested that I took such liberty with Jesus' response? If He had cared about the circumstance, He would have reacted like that in His humanity, scared out of his wits, focusing on the storm. However, being filled with the Spirit, He actually asked the freaked out disciples one question, with four powerful words that let us know exactly what He cared about. He said, "Where is your faith?" Another passage, in Mark, phrases the question as, "Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

The storm was just a tool, a test of their faith. Where is our faith? What are we concerned with? Is it the storm around us, or are we secure in the knowledge that this storm is under the control of an Almighty God?

Does Jesus care? Yes, He does! God cares about you and me. He cares that we become molded to His image. This is for our own ultimate good. What we need to learn is that God does everything for the ultimate good. Nothing is done for immediate gratification, especially when that gratification will eventually harm us. He uses our circumstance to shape us into warriors for the Kingdom. He cares that we learn how to fight against Spiritual wickedness. He knows that WE HAVE AN ENEMY WHO WANTS TO DESTROY US. He uses those attacks to make us stronger. However, circumstance is just that . . . circumstantial. All around us, we see the circumstantial evidence of a war for our very souls.

If our eyes could be opened, we would surely be surprised. Not so much by the hosts of Heaven, for we might expect them after reading and hearing Bible stories. That would certainly be awe-inspiring, for sure. No, we would be surprised at what we see when we look behind us on the path that we have been walking. Littered on this path, and around us where we stand, are misshapen lumps, some small, some large. At first, we wouldn’t recognize them for what they are, due to their condition. Then we would start to realize the features of past problems; a sickness here, a financial hardship over there, a failure at that juncture of our journey. These are our circumstances, ultimately used by our Father for our good. They are misshapen because God has taken what has been meant for evil and has formed them to mold us in the image of Christ.

Does Jesus care about us? Absolutely, in the truest sense of the word. Absolute. Unchanging. Ever-constant. Immovable. Total. Complete. Unconditional. Unlimited. Supreme. Fixed. Unmodified. Unadulterated. Pure. Perfect. Unquestionable. Utter. Conclusive. Resolved. Firm. Definite. Final. These are not words on a page. Christ DIED for all. This proves the point.

His love is our Solution, our Answer, our Resolution, our Truth, and is given freely to all who believe.

Does Jesus care about our circumstances? I think not. He can use anything to form us in His image. Even dirt (Genesis 2:7).

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2007

The Process Of A Changed Church

2007-10-22T21:02:00.000-04:00

Every church has what I call the “usual suspects” when it comes to personality conflicts. There are actually stereotypes of personality that each church has to a degree, different windows we all look out of, our belief system of how a church should work. These are conflicts that every church must deal with, and the most successful churches are churches that have stated some ground rules for their members to follow in regards to these very conflicts. We will discuss these later.

Church conflicts do not usually occur until there is some measured degree of success either already happening or on the horizon. If you look at a church where there is no growth, no outreach, and no real life, then for the most part you find a contented, warm, familial, wonderfully maladjusted and dangerous church. This is the type of church that is content and happy to minister to each other’s needs, and actually is quite uncomfortable at the thought of “strangers” coming into their sanctuary to disturb their comfort. In fact, sometimes they view their group and building(s) as an actual sanctuary from the outside world. This is why we will call them Comfortable Churches. Interestingly enough, these Comfortable Churches can be big or little. It is the mindset of a congregation and their leadership that details what type of church we attend, not necessarily the size.

Comfortable Churches are relatively conflict-free until that dreaded individual we all have heard about, and hoped was just a myth, comes to work for us – the Naïve Pastor who actually believes in the Great Commission! Shudder the thought.

Success, either imagined or real, has a wonderful way of screwing up a Comfortable Church, and it is always amazing to see how it happens. Usually that Naïve Pastor, poor sod that he is, will follow God’s leading and call for us to reform our thinking, to change our views of what community means, and to start a local outreach program. Some uninformed person actually believes what he preaches and, without the consent of the rest of our congregation, actually goes into the highways and byways and invites people to come. People actually do come (sinners are always searching for Truth), and the vicious cycle starts. This is where conflict begins. The idiot member(s) that actually started this mess is/are automatically shoved to the outside, along with any of the “strange” people that have started coming. The dirty, the sinful, the unclean; these are all a huge “cause” of the “effect”, which is conflict. How do we handle these loud, unchurched kids we have been busing in? What about the dirty looking family that stops by and asks for money? Help? Why in the world would we help them? And then the blame game starts. Accusations fly and unkind comments are made. The Comfortable Church has been awakened and it’s not a pretty sight!

Of course, our Enemy loves Comfortable Churches . . . but he loves the Conflicted Church even more. This is where he can do the most damage if he plays his cards right. Sure, in a Comfortable Church, he has lulled us to sleep, but with a little gambling (and he is, above all, a gambler at heart) he can actually destroy a Conflicted Church. He can smash its hope, create disillusioned non-believers, destroy marriages, ruin friendships, and hopefully kill the ministry of our leadership. By this gamble, our Enemy hopes to shoot the moon, and take everyone down.

Once a Comfortable Church becomes a Conflicted Church, it is hard to go back. The damage is done and once we are awake, we need to deal with the issues at hand. Now, this is not to say that we won’t try to go back to the way things were. In fact, a Comfortable Church’s first reaction is to frantically smooth over any blips or bumps in its “security blanket”. I have worked in several churches, and the surest way to do this is by using the ultimate weapon every Comfortable Church seems to have – Short Term Missions! Let’s sweep that sense of community under the rug by going 2-4 weeks per year to a foreign country and help the locals! We then come back and cry, telling the whole church how our lives are forever changed, and that we will go every year from now on to help the poor people in (insert-any-country-far-away-from-here).

This is the greatest weapon of a Comfortable Church, not because a short-term mission trip is a bad concept, but because we do not fulfill the purpose of what a short-term mission trip is designed for. What we must realize is that the short-term mission trip was originally designed to promote two things in the hearts of the people who go:
1. To create a foundation for a call, with God’s leading, to a mission field.
2. To create a passion for the lost in our own community.

As a Comfortable Church, we have actually used the Short-term mission trip to quiet the call to local evangelism. We use it to appease any guilt for not being active in our own community. Our Enemy loves this weapon, and does everything he can to help us use it. It is very effective in destroying the original purpose of Short-term missions.

Of course, now that we are a Conflicted Church, it is harder to use this weapon that has worked for us in the past. Now, instead of being content with the testimonials and tears of mission workers, there are those in our congregation who are calling for us to do the same in our community. Incredibly, this is where the conflict gets most intense. This battle is not specific to any denomination. It is fought in any church. Some of those same people who are so “changed” by their experience in (insert-any-country-far-away-from-here) are the same ones who cast an eye of disdain at the poor and needy who have started coming into our Sanctuary, eating our food, using our facilities, and messing up our Sunday school rooms. The Conflicted Church now grinds to a halt as those involved start to take sides.

Taking sides. Ah, there’s a concept. Whenever a side is taken, and there are two or more sides, there is war. So, the question arises, “What side do we take and what are the results?” There are some that choose to leave the church instead of taking sides. They do this to protect themselves and their family from pain and heartache. They go to another Comfortable Church, where life is good. Whatever church you are in at this time, remember that the side you take determines your outcome, and we must want what God wants for our church.

Knowing what we now know about the Comfortable and Conflicted Churches, let us now look at what can happen. There are two ultimate paths from this point. We see the conflict, and can estimate what will happen if something is not done to intervene. To win this battle, we must be aware that this is not at all a war of flesh and blood, no matter how ugly things get. Those who are destroyed will lose sight of this fact, and fight in the flesh. That is our undoing. This leads to the path of destruction, our first path we will discuss.

To walk this path, we must lose sight of what God wants for this Conflicted Church. We must promote the unbending, unwavering viewpoint that we are right and they are wrong. We must believe that this is their entire fault, and that we are fighting a certain group of people. We must NOT see the spiritual war that is actually taking place for the rights to our church. We must NOT pray or seek discernment on how to proceed. We must accuse others of wrongdoing. We must play dirty so that WE can WIN. We must NOT pray for the other side.

That path’s destination is pretty easy to see: Total failure. What then of the other path? This path is a path that God wants us to take. This path leads to repentance. This path leads to the Church of the Changed Mind.

The word repent, in the dictionary, means “to change one’s mind”, and this is really what God wants for us as a Changed Church. The really great part of the process of going from a Comfortable Church to a Conflicted Church, and hopefully to a Changed Church is that God is part of this. Many times we get disheartened as we fight, losing sight of His role in this battle. Sometimes we need to be reminded to fight the battle God leads us to, and let Him win the war. We must remember that a well-trained soldier does what he is trained to do best – he or she uses the weapons given us. These weapons are what we will discuss now. By using our weapons, and knowing that God is in control, we can be heartened and fight harder.

When examining a Changed Church, I have found several universal weapons that have been used, parts of a strong foundation that keeps a Changed Church going forward. These weapons are what can transform a Conflicted Church to a Changed Church. Here they are:

1. A Changed Church has a unity of purpose. Everything this Church does is done with the underlying intent to bring our community to Christ. Every program is developed and utilized with the intent to support the mission of the Church. Every member is well aware of the mission and the overwhelming majority supports what that mission is. Therefore, the key step is to develop a simple, effective mission purpose, and then to overhaul each dept. or program in the Church to align them with this statement.

2. A Changed Church is only transformed by massive amounts of prayer! This is what stalls and sometimes defeats the efforts of the saints. No prayer = no change. I would suggest setting up two areas of prayer. 1. Ask for people each week to pray and fast for our Church needs and services. 2. Develop a prayer team who will pray during the weekly service on Sunday morning. Some key points to pray for are lost souls to come and be changed, the anointing on our leadership and congregation, and for changed hearts and minds.

3. A Changed Church hears the Word being preached in love. Truth sets us free, and is a vital starting point to the renewing of our minds. We cannot be a Changed Church without an anointed Pastor who administers the Word to us each week. A Pastor needs prayer and physical support from the other leadership in the church.

4. A Changed Church is a church whose people are changed. Each successfully Changed Church requires a foundation of a personal relationship with Christ and each other. Knowing God and loving each other is key to the Conflicted Church being transformed to a Changed Church. Some suggested methods are to have small groups within the church, and to promote relationships between the groups. All of this is implemented as part of the recognized Mission of the church. Part of this process can also be a public renewal of our commitment to Christ, or a weekly time of testimonials geared to inform each other of what God is doing in our lives.

5. Quarterly Evaluation. We must be intelligent enough to evaluate our progress in a physical sense. Every Quarter, meet with your department and program heads and evaluate what has been done, deciding if it is in unity with the Church’s mission, and what needs to be tweaked to make it more successful. Once again, this is done on the recognizance of our Mission.

6. Be prepared to constantly change. The Changed Church is a church that understands that the only constant is change. We must be prepared to constantly move forward, to never become a Comfortable Church again. “No apathy allowed” is our motto! Progressiveness in our Bible study, Outreach, and Prayer is an absolute necessity. Progressiveness in our Relationship with God is a must.

7. Finally, we must remember we fight Spiritual Battles. Satan’s greatest weapon today is usually Circumstance. He uses it in all of our lives very effectively. It is always interesting to see his reaction to a Changing Church. First he attacks the leadership, doing his best to throw us off track with our own circumstances and daily grinds of life. If he can do that, he doesn’t need to worry about the rest of the congregation. Shepherd-less sheep are easy to pick off. Secondly, he tries to turn the congregation against each other, doing his best to get us back to being a Conflicted Church. It is always funny to see how two or three people’s spite can make you feel like everyone’s against you. Statistically, this is simply not true. Do not give into the temptation to fight back against these small skirmishes and darts. Go back to Principle #1. We fight Spiritual Battles. Like the saying goes, “Get on your knees and fight like a man!” Pray, pray, pray. Talking to the Commander in Chief allows us to see the true tactics of a truly desperate Enemy.

Since we know that we fight a Spiritual battle, we learn to look at this through God’s eyes, and join the side of Change. Keep the faith! No matter what stage of church you are in . . . Comfortable, Conflicted, or Changed . . . remember that God is walking with you, and that His hand is actually behind this whole process. Sure, it’s painful. Change usually is. I point you to Romans 12:1-2.

© Copyright Derek Hickman 2007