By Dave ShieldsAfter posting my blog post yesterday, I wanted to seek counsel from some of my trusted mentors, so I reached out to them. A few were pretty close, such as the pastoral team at my church, but a few I had to dig for, including the pastor who mentored me when I was in Oklahoma during my last major spiritual shift.
The conversation continues with them, though I have received some feedback to help clarify. Many seem confident that God calls me to do something new, but the specifics are still fuzzy. Since I am still unclear on the finer points, I have returned to God’s Word, and today, He has been very chatty.
First, I continued my study of Philippians, being sure that the few things I read yesterday were just the beginning of what God wanted me to learn. I was right. God brought some key verses to mind that are helping to paint this picture more fully.
For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives unti lthe day of Christ's return.
- Philippians 1:10, NLT.
Okay, it seems that before God moves me further down the path, he wants to set a few things straight. I agree because spiritual battles are tough if you go in half-cocked or wholly unequipped.
"Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me."
- Philippians 1:17, NLT.
This one is more challenging to understand without making a few assumptions. I don’t yet know who these “others” are. However, it seems that whomever God wants me to start speaking to has been hearing the wrong things for a long time. This label could be added to so many people, but I would be dealing far too much with human assumptions if I did that.
"Don't be intimidated in any way by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God Himself."
- Philippians 1:28, NLT.
Wow! That is a pretty powerful God statement. What I understand about this situation can only help me assemble so many pieces. Whatever this next thing is, the enemies are already waiting for me. They may even be around me now, and I do not know it. I have experienced this in the past, where everyone seems friendly until I start talking about these big God changes. Suddenly, everyone has an opinion about how stupid I am or how I am not doing what is right for my family. I must be very attuned to God’s voice for this stage.
"Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too."
-Philippians 2:3-4, NLT.
Okay, this one requires me to be a bit more pensive. God could be discussing how I carry myself around the “others” I will meet. However, it could also be a reminder that while I am getting amped up in this significant change, I cannot forget about the people in my family or my life as they are essential to this new path as others. I tend to always put the interests of others above myself (or at least I hope so), but perhaps this is also a message about their counsel.
"All the others care only for themselves and not for what matters to Jesus Christ."
- Philippians 2:21, NLT.
Okay, now we are back to these “others” again. I am unsure who they are, but God has much to say about them to me. I have to continue exhibiting immense caution here because the moment I try to classify who these others are, I am corrupting what God is telling me. If I assume it is a particular group of people, I will likely make a huge mistake.
"For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We do not put faith in human effort."
- Philippians 3:3, NLT
This is a lot to unpack. I can only make some basic assumptions without overstepping God’s message. This seems to be another reference to these “others” that God wants me to work with. Perhaps they are following a false doctrine, maybe even a legalist doctrine. This could include SO many people! Sure, we could look at Jews, Muslims, and others, but this could just as quickly describe Christians in my very own church. When my small group studied Galatians a while back, I settled on the term of “Jesus+” meaning that any doctrine that tells you that faith requires Jesus PLUS anything else is false. No, I don’t mean that repentance, heart change, etc., are false, but rather anyone who says you have to accept Christ and dress a certain way, or follow a specific political party, or only like the KJV Bible, etc., are wrong. They are demanding that we take Christ’s word and add a mechanism of man for it to be true, and it simply isn’t.
Next, God refocuses my mind on the importance of solo Christi or “Only Christ.” None of the things I may try to do on my own accord have merit if Christ does not drive them. Even if I flew to the deserts of Africa with only the clothes on my back, if Christ isn’t in it, I am not doing any good. That is because my human effort has nothing to do with God’s results other than allowing myself to be driven by the Spirit in these situations. It’s a good thing I am asking God for more details because I don’t want to do this part alone.
At this point, I finished reading Chapter 3 of Philippians and felt that I had reached the end of what God wanted to tell me in the New Testament for today. However, I could tell God wasn’t done talking to me yet. Remember the post from yesterday about listening for a suggestion to drive me to different books in the Bible and ignoring it? NOT TODAY!
So where did he want me to go? I felt that God wanted me to start reading Ezekiel, a book that I have always dreaded when God sends me to it. Why wouldn’t I want to read Ezekiel, you might ask? Well, my friends, that means you have never read the book of Ezekiel, or if you did, what you read was blocked in your mind. The very first part of this book describes the terrifying Seraphim coming down from Heaven.
Do you know those memes you see about how pretty angels are, and then the camera pans over to see this massive thing with many eyes, feet, and wheels? Yup! Those are the seraphim! They often appear in the Old Testament when God wants to overwhelm a mere man with His voice because of the vital message He is sending you. This is God’s way of saying, “WAKE UP AND LISTEN CLOSE!”
Also, Ezekiel is not a ‘feel-good’ part of the Bible—well, mostly. It is a book about God’s wrath reaching a fever pitch because we stubborn humans do something God doesn’t like. It’s a book about God sending a speaker (Ezekiel) to judge the people and tell them how much God wants them to shape up. It is a hard book to read at times, and I am still reeling from the powerful description of the Seraphim.
But this time, I noticed something that helped me be at ease. Mixed within the scary thunder, fire, and tumult, the Bible says a calmness followed before God’s voice spoke. I can only explain that this calmed me because I feel like God made this loud noise yesterday to get my attention. I was so wrapped up in the ins and outs of life that I had not given God the attention He demanded. Now that all the excitement and fanfare is over, God can finally talk to me.
The following verses that God brought to me, and there are many, is where things get… weird. Okay, maybe “weird” is the wrong word. How about “oddly specific”? Oh, and spoiler alert! You remember those “Others”? Well, God talks about them here, too.
(speaking of the Seraphim)
"They went in whatever direction the spirit chose, and they moved forward in any direction without turning around."
- Ezekiel 1:12
This is an example of how reading verses at different times can yield different effects. This section discusses the manner in which the seraphim moved. In other readthroughs of this section, I was still overcome with the power of these remarkable beings and their unsettling appearance. Because of this, I didn’t understand how they were relevant. But now, it is obvious! These were God’s welcoming party. They traveled out in front of God to say, “Make way for the King!” No matter their direction, they ‘moved forward’ and ‘without turning around.’ God will do what He wants, and He does not take kindly to us questioning the direction or turning to look at the past. Remember how that worked out for Lot’s wife?
(now speaking about the Israelites)
"They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says!' And whether they listen or refuse to listen - for remember, they are rebels - at least they will know they have a prophet among them."
- Ezekiel 2:4-5
I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can feel comfortable saying that God is talking about the “Others” now. He describes the kind of people with whom He wants me to interact. Now, I want to pause and explain that I believe the term prophet can be tricky. There is a distinction between a Prophet and a prophet. How? I think that the original writers of the Bible are the only Prophets with a capital “P” giving them a title. When I see a modern church saying they are led by “Prophet Joseph Doe”, I think this is a bit out of turn. This implies that someone is of a different class than another. It also conjures up images of a false teacher who claims they have “New” or “Special” wisdom from God beyond the Bible. When this happens, I cry “foul!”
While it is true that we humans can present a new message to the people, it must be based on the Bible and not some miraculous saying of an unspecified being. However, a prophet with a lower case “p” is every one of us believers. God has given us the bible so that we can read it and share messages that God has given us through its reading. So, in this verse, God is saying that he is putting someone (maybe me) among these people willing to share what the Bible says in a new way.
"You must give them my messages whether they listen or not. But they won't listen for they are completely rebellious."
- Ezekiel 2:7
This verse is both comforting and terrifying. As I read it, I first focused on the fact that God says these “others” won’t listen to me. My first inclination is to say, “Then why would you want me to talk to them to begin with?” However, I assume my way is better than God’s, which never works. I can interpret this to mean that whomever God wants me to talk to will be entirely set in their ways and that getting the message across will be a struggle. The peace, however, comes from Him saying that even if they don’t listen, I am doing my job by trying to make them listen.
"I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you do not understand. No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen!"
- Ezekiel 3:5-6
Read that verse again for anyone who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor! So, I can assume he doesn’t want to send me to a foreign country right now (even though my wife and I have talked about being world travellers when our kids graduate). That is somewhat of a relief because I don’t feel equipped to go overseas right now. However, God also says that the people He has in mind for me are HARDER TO REACH THAN FOREIGNERS! Whomever these “others” are, they are definitely in a rut. If I were to go to another country, God would actually make it easier for me. Unfortunately, that’s not what He wants right now. This next stage will be a struggle if these verses have anything to say about it.
"Then he added, 'Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself. Then go to your people in exile and say to them, "This is what the Soveriegn LORD says!" Do this whether they listen to you or not."
- Ezekiel 3:10-11
Okay, now God has a caution for me. I need to “Let all my words sink deep into your own heart first.” This leads me to believe that this is not something God wants me to do tomorrow. The overall message is “not yet.” That’s a relief in some ways because making a sudden shift in my life at this very second would be very challenging. But it also assigns me a big job – keeping myself in the Word right now. Don’t let up! God has lots of things to tell me before this next thing happens. You better believe I am more motivated than ever to keep studying. Yet, there is also that calm reminder that once this process takes off, I should not judge myself by some metrics about how many people hear what I say and make a change in their hearts. God is the one who will take care of that piece. It’s my job to tell them what to do and let God take over.
"If you warn them and they keep on sinning, they will die in their sins, but you will have saved yourself because you obeyed me."
- Ezekiel 3:19
At this point, God is reminding me that whenever He sends me on this next quest, I may be surprised that there is not much fruit. That can be a challenge for the pastor or teacher because we want to see the results of our labor quickly.
As a youth pastor many years ago, I was responsible for a group of teens numbering 10 or so. It was a small church (with around 25 adults attending on Sundays), and many of these kids had been friends long before I showed up on the scene. I had all these big ideas that I would make some significant changes in the youth group and see this sudden upshot in growth. I also thought I would speak to these guys and make all these lights come on and start them being on fire for the Lord.
Of course, that is not what happened. Yes, I did make some positive changes, and the group had some positive growth, but I also did many dumb things; many were random ideas I had come up with on my own and not sought God’s help. The group had some booms and busts but stayed almost the same overall. Six months had passed, and I felt that I had blown it. I had come out with all this energy and pizzaz. I was met with crickets.
Or so it seemed! But near the end, a young teenager, who had only come to youth because his girlfriend wanted him to, had a significant heart change. He pulled me to the side after our youth night once and said he had never had someone tell him about God as plainly as I had. The fact that I used a Pink Floyd song (Money if you are wondering) to drive home a Christian principle was something he had never seen before. This approach made him open his ears, and he felt like he was hearing all these things for the first time. He started attending every session, even if his girlfriend did not. Finally, right before I left the church, he was baptized. I was angry that the lead pastor refused to let me do the baptism since it was my work that had brought him to Christ until I realized (only later) that it had never been about me at all.
One person coming to Christ in six months is a big deal in God’s timeline. So, even if the people I am sent to do not make sudden changes, the Spirit will work in their lives. I won’t do anything, but God will do something… maybe many somethings, I just have to be willing to go and speak.
I wish I knew what all this means, but God is giving me a lot more information now that I am asking correctly. I will keep using this blog to post updates. However, I think it might be time for a facelift.