Rain Your Word In Me

By pastorbillwalden

Higher than the heavens are Your thoughts, Oh God
Far above the earth are Your ways
As the rain from heaven comes down
Bringing life to lifeless ground
So Your Word in me
So Your Word in me

Speak to me of things that I can’t understand
Promises and plans You have for me
For my prosperity

Bring Your Word to me like Heavenly drops of rain
Wash away the pain and barrenness
Heal my brokenness
Father rain Your Word in me

We Played The Flute For You

By pastorbillwalden

Perhaps I read too much from the multitude of burgeoning experts regarding this thing called Church.  I am finding sprinklings of truth emanating from many voices, but the conflicting suggestions and accusations from these analysts are getting to me.  The light bulb just went on. They… are… getting to me.  Time for a course adjustment. 

I am a pastor.  I am a preacher.  I am a teacher.  Among other things, I am called to explain and proclaim the truth of God’s Word, as I understand it, and then urge people to embrace those truths in such a way that their lives are changed for their good, for the good of those around them, and for the glory of God.

Unfortunately, I have recently found myself preaching from a defensive position, or at least that’s what it feels like.

The bloggers, authors, interviewers, and analysts are coming to many conclusions about me and my clan.  They are also offering suggestions or demands about how I/we ought to change.  Some of what they say is true for some of us, but we are increasingly being analyzed in such a way that one is prompted to respond to the analysis in order to prove that “I am not that way”.

This kind of reactionary thinking from the Body of Christ isn’t good.  I think the tail is wagging the dog.

By being a Christian and a pastor, it is assumed that I hate gays, that I have an unintelligent faith, that I unilaterally support the nation of Israel, that I am a Republican and a social conservative, that I am closed minded, intolerant, unloving, and don’t have a worldview that includes anyone but my clan.

Those accusations are true about some in the Church, but not all.  Public opinion, however, is increasingly aligning itself with these analysts, and I am feeling the pressure of being misunderstood more than ever before.

Anyone else out there feeling it?

The purpose of this article isn’t to whine and say how unfair life is.  What I want to emphasize is this: I cannot allow myself to become simply reactionary in my life.  (You too, if you follow Jesus.)  I cannot respond only to the accusers, the analysts, the “former Christians”, the victims of the church, etc.  There are legitimate complaints to be made, to be sure, but that cannot and must not shape my life or the life of the Church.

I believe that Jesus faced this same kind of “dead end” analysis from his contemporaries.

He said…

Matthew 11:16-19 “But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, 17and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

Regardless of what Jesus did, He was criticized.  Christians are not unique in this.  Everyone goes through it: politicians, soccer coaches, school administrators, etc.

But my world is Jesus, His Church, and how we are to live in the world, so that is what I am feeling.

What is the solution for me and my tribe?  It is the same as it has always been.  Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Answer the honest questioners with gentleness and respect.  Know when to move on to the next conversation.  Make sure that God is the One we respond to, and not the critics, regardless of their motivation.  Be led by the Spirit, and not just by the analysis of a rock star.  Be counseled by the Word of God, not by an “ex- whatever”.  Follow the leading of the Spirit, not the latest trends.

I do not discount the fact that God can and does use the public opinion to reveal truth to His church.  The problem with public opinion is that it is fickle, changing, incomplete, and biased.  Eat the meat, spit out the bones, and realize that there is only One Voice that leads us.

Thoughts on “Fixing People”

By pastorbillwalden

Christians have unique struggles when it comes to dealing with people. 

By God’s grace, we have been granted insights into wonderful truths about God.  His indwelling Spirit helps us discern truth from error.  His Word gives us wisdom beyond our natural instincts.  His Presence within us brings tremendous healing.

We then encounter people who have problems, and we are rightfully eager to share the truths of God with these people that we care about (or ought to care about).

Often times, we can inadvertently be so eager to help these people “do better”, “be healed”, “see the light”, etc., that we rush ahead to the goal of what must feel like to some, “fixing a problem”, instead of  “loving a person”.

I fall into this mentality at times.  I don’t mean to, it’s just that I am “in a hurry”, and I need to quickly “dispense the medicine” and move on to whatever is next. I don’t mean to be that way, but sometimes I am.

Now the Holy Spirit blows like the wind (John 3:8), and no two situations are ever exactly the same, but consider this as you may be trying to help people…

We need to genuinely love them, listen to them, and not be in a hurry to “fix them”.

Unbelievers are often quick to love folks without trying to fix them, or at least that has been my experience.  I am sometimes amazed at hearing how unbelievers spend countless hours helping friends, loving kids, doing good deeds, etc.  It is no wonder that many folks are attracted to those who show such acts of love with no strings attached.

Christians know that man’s greatest need is a relationship with Jesus.  All the good deeds in the world will never replace salvation through Jesus Christ.

I am not suggesting that we love people so that we can “earn the right” to speak into their lives.

I am suggesting that we love them because Jesus loves them.  Period.

Just some thoughts….

That I May Know Him

By pastorbillwalden

Philippians 3:10 “That I may know Him…”.

To know Him must be our controlling desire as Christian believers, even as it was with Paul.  He cannot be known just by hurried snatches of two-or-three minute “prayers” in the morning or at bed time.  We must somehow get unhurriedly alone with Him long enough and often enough for Him to fulfill that promise of John xiv.21 “He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and manifest myself to him”.

To know Him thus must be our deepest and dearest ambition.

Think how men have been mastered by the passion for money, the passion for power, the passion for knowledge, the passion to discover, to invent, to achieve.  Then reflect how pathetically lackadaisical most of us are in this holiest and heavenliest pursuit of all!  How easily we give way to discouragements and interruptions!  There is a place for human resolving in this matter of knowing Christ.  Spasmodic outbursts of prayer can never take the place of regular, daily withdrawings into His presence.

It is as Hosea vi.3 tells us:  “Then we shall know, if we follow on to know the Lord…”.

Excerpt from “Going Deeper”, by J. Sidlow Baxter.