The Building Permit is the Father’s Blessing
In August, God gave me a dream that highlighted how he is building pure, high-quality works in this season.
All through the night, I saw scenes related to working on ministry. In one part, I asked another leader why they weren’t certified. And what they expected others to receive from them if they hadn’t received certification.
Ultimately, the main message of the dream was “The importance of receiving”. I realized that taking time to dwell with God and receive his blessing is the building permit many leaders need to break new ground in this season. Those who have taken time to receive throughout the pandemic are emerging this Fall with pure, high-quality ministry expressions of the Kingdom. They are not focusing on expanding a previous model, but are pioneers still working in semi-hiddenness to provide healthier resources for the generations of the nations.
Waiting Period
In many ways, August felt like a waiting period, a last time of strengthening and testing before things God will initiate this Fall.
In a specific context, I needed to wait 40 days (and am still waiting) for dynamics to shift. During this time of testing and transformation, God did a lot of heavy lifting.
- From Solitude,
- Having complete freedom over how I develop friendships in Seattle
- Having complete freedom over how I use my gifts in Seattle
- Accepting more readily that I may be further along in the internal work process than some
- Increased joy, gratitude, and freedom in hiddenness
- Increasing forbearance, faith, and dependence on the God’s timings
- Increasing gentleness, comfort with discomfort in navigating change or conflict
- Increasing hope and faith that God will provide “peace on all sides”.
- Joshua 21:44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD helped them conquer all their enemies.
- 1 Kings 5:4-5 4 But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. 5 And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’
- 2 Chronicles 20:30 And the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God had given him rest on every side.
Worship
This month was full of deep peace and rest. Half the time, I worshipped God privately and just gave myself time to enjoy his presence.
Names of God
Each month, I give God a name that aligns with scripture and how he revealed himself to me that month. This month, I spent the majority of time knowing him as,
- “Jesus, my Easy Company”
Verses
- Isaiah 51
- 1 John 1:8
- Romans 9:15, Exodus 33:19
Music
Media
Books
Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis
“That is why I often find myself at such cross-purposes with the modern world: I have been a converted Pagan living among apostate Puritans.”
p83
This quote reminds me of the solidarity I feel with Seattle, in demonstrating that Jesus doesn’t pertain to a specific Christian subculture, but is for all cultures and people. He has the range to meet them where they are. He doesn’t expect them to conform to overly narrow cultural standards (Colossians 3:11). Rather, Jesus invites them to belong to a Kingdom that has its own organizational structure and is built on relationships.
“From the first moment in the schoolroom at Chartes my secret, imaginative life beganto be so important and distinct from my outer life that I almost have to tell two separate stories. The two lives do not seem to influence each other at all. Where there are hungry wastes, starving for Joy, in the one, the other may be so full of cheerful bustle and success; or again, where the outer life is miserable, the other may be brimming over with ecstasy.”
p94
C.S. Lewis’s description of inner and outer life in his chapter “Rennaissance” is very clearly inspired by his experience of hiddenness and external visibility. And by the upside-down nature of life in Christ.
3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
2 Corinthians 6:3-10
Lewis’s contrast between the outer and inner life reminds me of a dream I once had related to the internal healing and strengthening process. In a beach scene, I saw my inner self with Christ, vertically diving under the surface of the water in a shared direction. In the same scene, I saw an external version of myself walking horizontally into the water towards the Sunlight (God’s presence, holiness, etc). I received feedback from people around this time that I was visually lighter, lit up. But the part that God hid from most people was the deep dives I was taking with Jesus to receive clarity, peace, and hope for specific elements of life and ministry. Altogether, I cannot imagine life as I know it now without this process of hiddenness and recovery. The most important things are usually behind the scenes.
Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys By Dr. Richard Twiss
While I didn’t read this book this month, I kept reflecting on its influence on my leadership in August. I recognize the way that this community of scholars “gradually met, became friends, and coalesced into a relational network over ten years” (228) has become the inspiration for how the relational network design of Generations of the Nations. I loved how this group of scholars came alongside indigenous local leaders to develop culturally relevant discipleship, new traditions, and rituals rooted in their own cultures (45). This book demonstrates how relational leadership provides a safe foundation for innovation. It also demonstrates how when local leaders deeply encounter Jesus, they can lead the way in determining how to reconcile their nations to Christ. This degree of transformation and redemption is only possible through love.
The great sin against our dignity is answered by a love that brings arrogant violence to its knees.”
Richard Twiss, page 230
The Patchwork Girl of Oz by L. Frank Baum
In this story, a boy named Ojo commits the crime of plucking a 6-leaved clover from the territory that belongs to the ruler, Ozma of Oz. The scenes related to his trial and sentencing demonstrate so much about mercy and judgment in the Kingdom of God.
“And am I a prisoner?”
“Bless the child! Of course.”
“Then why is the prison so fine, and why are you so kind to me?” he earnestly asked.
“We consider a prisoner unfortunate. He is unfortunate in two ways–because he has done something wrong and because he is deprived of his liberty. Therefore, we should treat him kindly, because of his misfortune, for otherwise he would become hard and bitter and would not be sorry he had done wrong. Ozma thinks that one who has committed a fault did so because he was not strong and brave; therefore she puts him in prison to make him strong and brave. When that is ccomplished he is no longer a prisoner, but a loyal citizen and everyone is glad he is now strong enough to resist doing wrong. You see, it is kindness that makes one strong and brave; and so we are kind to our prisoners.”
“Again, the soldier put upon the boy jeweled handcuffs and a white prisoner’s robe. Ojo was so ashamed, both of his disgrace and the fault he committed, that he was glad to be covered up in this way, so people could not see him or know who he was.
The inhabitants of the Emerald City were polite people and never jeered at the unfortunate; but it was so long since they had seen a prisoner that they cast many curious looks toward the boy and many of them hurried away to the royal palace to be present during the trial.”
Prayer Requests
- For peace on all sides
Age of the Unexpected 