OPC

Recently, Time Magazine named their "Person of the Year" as "The protester." And you know how we've all seen the initials "OWS" emblazoned in recent newspaper articles and headlines, and heard them as TV newscasters race to cover the latest antics of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters and their affiliates around the country in recent months? Well, the Holy Spirit weighed in on this matter during my prayer time this week, so I thought might share with you some of the interesting points He shared with me about this situation.

The way He got my attention on this matter is kind of funny...in fact, at the time, it made me chuckle. I haven't really gotten anything new to blog about in my recent prayer time because I've been focused on trying to hear from God on how to accomplish the most recent project He has given me to work on, which is to try and establish a presence in social network media (such as Facebook) for the Prayer Directed Life Ministries, like something akin to The Jesus Daily fan page. Anyhow, I was closing up my computer at the end of my prayer time Friday when those initials, OWS, caught my eye momentarily in a Yahoo story; almost immediately, the initials OPC popped into my spirit and just kind of hung there for a few seconds as I tried to comprehend what the initials meant and why were they coming into my spirit now. As I mentioned earlier, I had a good chuckle when the Holy Spirit told me what the initials OPC stood for: Occupy Prayer Closet! But as I meditated on this concept and how it related to the OWS movement, He began to reveal some interesting and important truths that we - especially we Christians - need to get a hold of if we expect to see the world change for the better.

Have you ever noticed that this element of today's way of life is conspicuously absent from any description of the life, times or teachings of Jesus Christ and His disciples as presented in the Gospels and the Epistles of the Bible? Oh, believe me, there were some juicy social and moral issues to take on and protest at that time, but the only Occupy Israel activity going on at that time was the brutal and oppressive occupation by Caesar's Roman Empire. For instance, the killing of unborn babies was not so much an issue, because unwanted or inconvenient babies were just "aborted" after they were born...much easier that way; kinda like they do in India today. (Recall that King Harrod had all male children under the age of two in Bethlehem and the surrounding area "aborted" after he learned of the birth of the King of the Jews. [Matt 2:16-18] Yet no protesting or rioting took place, less the whole town be killed for "exercising their 'rights'.") Yet, Jesus led no anti-abortion rallies or "Thou Shalt Not Kill" protests against the ruling authorities to start the ball rolling on getting change. Then, there was the capital punishment issue: Both the Roman and Jewish authorities were very creative in establishing ways to slowly and painfully kill a "criminal"...or a "sinner." Yet Jesus never condemned those authorities or led his followers in anti-death penalty protests. And if you think there is a difference between the "haves" and the "have nots" today, the average American citizen can't begin to imagine the well documented conditions of intense, widespread poverty that existed then; and the "government" didn't care whether your basic human needs were provided for or not, in spite of the fact that everyone had to pay taxes or go to jail (or, in the case of the Temple tax - required annually of every male over age 20 - be excluded from Synagogue events) ...including the poor! Yet, once again, Jesus did not organize a group to "occupy" the town square or the Synagogue to protest the "one percent" who owned and controlled everything. In fact, He dined with both the rich and the poor, the upper class and rulers and the lower class and beggers; His words and actions in Matt 17:24-27 even suggests that Believers will be provided funds to pay their taxes, even when they are exempt from them, in order to "not offend the authorities." Interestingly enough, the one person who joined up with Jesus and His disciples because he thought Jesus was going to lead a "revolution" for societal "change" - that be Judas - helped have Him killed when he realized that He had no intention of leading or promoting that kind of change. Jesus wasn't a rebel...Everyone else was...and is!

Could He have amassed legions of followers to mount effective protests? You bet He could have; consider the huge gatherings at the "Sermon On The Mount"(Luke 6:17), the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 (Mt 14:15) or the miracle of the feeding of the 4000 (Mt 15:32). But Jesus knew that it is often futile and usually fruitless to try badger people into "changing" by assailing their ideologies, life styles and philosophies: such attacks always provoke negative responses...whether it be defense, flight, or counterattack.

Jesus was clear about His mission on Earth: He came to change hearts and to establish and build a spiritual Kingdom, not to change minds, destroy nations and build an earthly kingdom. You see, the only thing Jesus Christ wants to "occupy" and "change" is men's hearts, one heart at a time; because when a person's heart is changed to want to "love your neighbor as yourself" in all that he/she does, the heart of human nature is vanquished, and the fuel for protests and rebellion is neutralized. And the primary way for us to hear how Christ wants to accomplish this mission through our lives is to "OPC", Occupy our Prayer Closets, early and often!

A NATIVITY REVELATION

My favorite Christmas hymn is "O Holy Night"; I am often overcome with emotion when I hear the hope filled lyrics soaring amidst the initially serene, then triumphant notes of the musical score of the hymn. This year, on the first day of December, I came upon the most beautiful rendition of that hymn on YouTube that I have ever heard by Celine Dion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jr-2eyRtV4&feature=colike), and decided that I was going to listen to it every morning during my prayer time until Christmas Day to remind me of the real reason for rejoicing and celebrating the Christmas season. I shared the video with my family, and my daughter sent me an amazing music video of "O Holy Night" she found on YouTube based on scenes from The Nativity Story movie (2006) and sung by Josh Groban (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zh-yR0pbmU&feature=colike), which absolutely blew me away; so I decided to alternate renditions of the hymn in my new seasonal daily ritual.

You know how after reading or hearing or seeing something over and over again you begin to notice a lot of things that you did not pick up on the first few times around? Well, after listening to and watching the nativity scene video for about the 12th time, the Holy Spirit gave me a revelation which amazed and overwhelmed me, which I believe He wants me to share with you, and that we really need to get a hold of. Before I share this with you, would you take a few moments to watch that Groban video? I included a link above.

Here's what hit me all of a sudden about this video that I believe the Holy Spirit was trying to show me: All the actors in the video except one did such a wonderful job of acting in portraying their characters that they make the event of Christ's birth come alive. The one exception was the actor who made it all come together, but who wasn't acting: He was the baby who portrayed Jesus...who's name is not even revealed in the IMDB.com credits. What I mean is this: The baby wasn't acting...he was just doing what babies naturally do; he had no idea of how many "takes" he was in or what was going on around him, nor did he care. He just totally and unknowingly trusted in the people around him to take care of his interests, and went about being a baby, not acting like a baby. And then, the significance of what I was seeing washed over me...The same scenario existed for the infant Christ-child in the real event! An all-knowing God became the all-unknowing baby Jesus, totally dependent on the very humans He created, and their dependence on His heavenly Father, to provide for His every want and need; a baby - the perfect example of a most important spiritual concept: A "faith being", as opposed to a being "acting" in faith.

Jesus demonstrated His teaching to Nicodemus in John 3:1-8 ("I tell you the truth, no one can see the enter the Kingdom of God unless he becomes born again") and the answer to the question about who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God that He would teach about later in Matthew 18:1-4 ("I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."). Our whole life is is spent growing up and distancing ourselves from childhood - physically, mentally and spiritually. But then, in chapter 3 of the Gospel of John, Jesus tells a man who has matured to an adult - physically, mentally and spiritually according to the world's terms- that in the spiritual realm, he must become "born again" - become like a baby again - to enter the Kingdom of God; and then, according to his teaching in Matthew 18 (and corresponding verses in Mark and Luke), stay as innocent and dependent as a child in that realm in order to reach its pinnacle.

Wow! For me, that adds a new dimension to the Christmas celebration. Christmas is all about the baby Jesus, joyful children with excited expectations and becoming like a kid again...the perfect example of what our spiritual life should be!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Substance That's More Valuable Than Gold

Recently, my beautiful, Spirit-filled wife came into my prayer closet and asked if she could share an interesting and timely Scripture with me that God had pointed out to her in her prayer time. The passage she cited was from 1 Peter 1:7, which reads as follows:

"These (from previous verse, "all kinds of trials") have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (Please take a moment to read the whole chapter when you have a chance.)

As we traded thoughts about the significance of the scripture, the Spirit of God revealed an important extra dimension about the reference to the "genuineness of your faith" being of "greater worth than gold."

Before I go on to share with you the significance of the reference to faith and gold in this scripture to us, and hopefully to you, in today's tumultuous times, please allow me to give you a little background into the significance of gold and its pricing in today's worldly economic picture.

Since almost the beginning of recorded history, gold has been a universally important and valued commodity because of its beauty and scarcity; for perspective, it is said that all the known stores of processed, pure gold could be contained in 60 normal size tractor trailers. Gold has been found and mined on every continent of the world except Antarctica, and almost every country, so that in spite of its scarcity, it is available universally, which helped to make it universally acceptable as the commodity of choice for bartering, trade and commerce between most all nations of the earth. However, as time went on, it became obvious that do to it's bulk and weight, it wasn't very practical or safe to carry enough around for any but the smallest of transactions, so countries began to mint coins out of cheaper and lighter metals to be used among their citizens and neighboring countries; the value of these coins were based on the reserves of gold controlled by the countries' treasuries. Eventually, with the advent of the printing press, countries began printing paper notes of various styles and denominations to represent larger quantities of coins for ease of transport and security in larger transactions, once again based ultimately on the amount of gold they owned or controlled.

However, as you can guess, the big problem with the paper money and substitute coins thing is that when more money is printed or minted by a country without acquiring control or possession of a corresponding increase in gold, or when counterfeit money is surreptitiously introduced into the a country's money supply, or when questions arise concerning who is in control of a country's gold supply, the substitute paper and coins become worth less, which of course results in a corresponding increase in the value of gold. This situation inevitably occurs during times of inflation, insurrection, instability and war...People would rather have valuable metal than worthless paper money and coins in exchange for their goods and services; and when citizens' money becomes worthless, and they don't have gold (or similar commodities of value, like silver or food or petroleum) to meet their basic needs, they resort to theft, violence and rioting to obtain what they need or want. Unfortunately, this is the scenario we find both our (USA) economy and the international (or global) economy at present time, and the situation is escalating relentlessly! In fact, in a mere three years the price of gold in the international market has more than doubled, from $700 an ounce to over $1600 an ounce, and one needs only to take a look around us to see that "the natives are restless".

So how does all of this relate to the reference in the scripture from 1 Peter to the "proven genuineness of your faith - of greater worth than gold..." and to the prayer directed life in general? Simply this: If the value of gold has more than doubled in few short years, and if, according to Scripture, genuine, solid faith is worth more than gold, then hasn't the "value" for possessing a strong, "refined" faith in these times increased accordingly? In other words, hasn't the importance of having a proven, genuine faith increased tremendously in just a few short years to deal with the very same factors that are driving up the price of gold?

My Brothers and Sisters, the Bible tells us that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."(Rom 10:17) Doesn't it behoove us during these times to be devoting some of our prayer time on a regular basis to reading (or hearing) the word of God and listening to Him for what it means, and how we can use our strengthened faith to "bring us through" the difficult times we are facing in today's world? Isn't it incumbent upon us to be prepared for "the worse" by exercising our faith in God and His word early and often when troubles appear...And perhaps laying in a little gold, too, if that is what God is telling you to do? (Keep in mind, the scripture says that it will perish, leaving only our proven faith.)

Finally, there is a line from a song from Hillsong called "It Is You" that expresses the most important end result of exercising our faith according to the scripture. It says:

"This Treasure that we hold,

More than precious gold,

It is You,

Jesus it is You."

The final part of our scripture from Peter infers that WE will receive praise and honor and glory on the Day when Jesus Christ, who lives in us and is the source of our faith, is revealed to all! How AWESOME is that?!

As always, thanks for reading my blog. I hope you can take a few moments to share your thoughts on this topic with me; I look forward to reading them.

The Dentist's Office

I was having lunch with my son the other day when I was given a very interesting and, I must submit, saddening vision as a result of a conversation we were having. He was telling me that at a recent Sunday morning service where they attend church (one of the larger Christian denomination churches in this area) the theme and sermon was focused on the subject of prayer and praying. Towards the end of the service, the minister did something very unusual and remarkable: Through the miracle (no pun intended) of technology, he arranged to have the large overhead projection screen in the sanctuary set up so that members of the congregation could text prayer requests with their phones to a certain address and the request would instantly scroll across the overhead screen as he conducted the benediction and altar call at the end of the service. My son said that he was overwhelmed with what happened after the pastor gave the word to start texting.

He said that during the last 10-15 minutes of the service the overhead screen was inundated with scrolling petitions; some desperate, many heart-wrenching, all heart-felt and personal, and none repeating...FOR 15 MINUTES! He said he looked around at the himself at the smartly attired, peaceful, happy looking congregation and thought to himself, who ARE these petitioners baring so many desperate circumstances on the overhead screen?

Just at that moment, a closeup picture flashed into my spirit depicting a beautiful mouth with an open lips smile revealing a flawless row of pearly white teeth, quickly followed by a dentist's full mouth x-ray of the same set of teeth revealing ominous shadows of cavities and pockets of infected tooth decay. Having spent many hours of my life in a dentist's chair, I cringed at the sight of this vision. At first, the vision saddened me, as I begin to comprehend the significance of what I was looking at in my spirit; and then, its significance began to make me angry.

As you know, a good dental hygiene program requires three primary elements: A good diet, a consistent and conscientious program for cleansing the teeth and the mouth and regular visits to the dentist's office. Ignoring any or all of these elements put our teeth at significant risk. Once bacteria find a way to enter a tooth, most often through a weakness below the gum line, teeth are pretty much damaged or destroyed from the inside out, not the other way around. Of course, they can be damaged and broken from the outside by things like accidents and bad oral hygiene, but like so many other things God created for our amazing bodies, they have a phenomenal resilience to everyday wear and tear, in spite of us sweet-eaters and fair-weather flossers...And that's even before man adds some the protections and oral hygiene plans he has developed with God's help.

But internal tooth decay is a whole new ball game! When even the smallest of cavities begins its campaign of destruction, it is virtually impossible to stop its relentless and inevitable outcome in the natural; and the thing that is really insidious about the whole process is that until the decay destroys enough of the tooth to get to the nerves in the core or roots of the tooth, you have virtually no clue of the destruction that is taking place. There will be no pain and probably no discomfort, until...One day while you are merrily chomping away on your favorite food or savoring a mouthful of your favorite ice cream, a periodontal earthquake goes off in your head, measuring at least 9.0 to 10.0 on your nerve center's richter scale! It's then that you suddenly realize that you have a real problem: It's way too late to promise to change your dental hygiene practices and a dentist is about to become your new best friend, because, trust me, your brain will have nothing to do with the rest of what you or your body wants to do until that pain center is alleviated. And at the end of the day, there are only two things that are going to save that tooth, if it can still be saved: A miracle or a dentist - or sometimes both!

As I listened for the Holy Spirit's interpretation of this vision over the past few days, here is what I believe He is trying to show me to share with you about its meaning:

The beautiful mouth with the beauty queen-like smile revealing a perfect set of dazzling white teeth represents the congregation of a typical Christian church. From a spiritual standpoint, imagine that the church sanctuary is represented by a dentist office, that the preacher or pastor is represented by a dental hygienist, and that the dentist is God. Under ideal circumstances, the teeth are cared for at home by eating properly (eg, studying the Bible), and brushing and flossing (eg, self examination, prayer time) on a regular basis. During regular visits to the Dentist's office, the dental hygienist provides professional assistance with the exterior care of the teeth (Bible studies, Sunday school) and uses light, mirrors and, yes, x-rays (sermons) t0 help evaluate the individual and overall condition of the teeth and the effectiveness of their care, after-which the Dentist is invited in to remove cavities and decay, and to repair the damaged teeth and restore them to health.

Folks, I believe that what the Lord was showing me about all this is that the problem is way too many "mouths of teeth" are making it to the Dentist's office without ever getting in to see the Dentist! Sadly, and all too often, that's the result of the dental hygienists either not handing them off to the Dentist or trying to do the cavity repair work themselves. So, whether the allegory applies to congregations or to individuals, may I suggest that if you're not getting in to see the "Dentist" at your "dental office", then you need to find another "dental hygienist" or "dental office"...or both! By the way, this "Dentist" does make house calls if you can't wait for an appointment! And be careful about what you're "eating"!!

(*A note concerning the picture posted above: One day, as I was working on this post, I noticed a smudge or shadow on my screen to the right of the edit box that had not been there previously...and was blown away by what I saw when I looked more closely. I took a picture of my computer screen and posted above for you to see what I saw. Look closely at the shadow in the right side of the picture of my screen; it's an almost perfect image of a tooth! Boy, talk about confirmation!)

The Prayer Dojo

(Pre-Blog note from the author: I wrote this blog from the perspective of a martial arts instructor, or which I was one for several years. I hold black belts in two different disciplines of Tae Kwon Do: Chang Moo Kwan and Chung Do Kwan.)

Grasshopper (hoping you recall Kwai Chang Caine from the TV series "Kung Fu")*,

The concept of self defense utilized by a martial artist against a physical foe runs very parallel to the self defense techniques we utilize against our mental and spiritual foes.

The self defense moves of the martial arts disciplines use a combination of physical, mental and spiritual techniques to control and overcome the enemy, whom in your mind's eye is already vanquished and bested. For instance, in developing the skills to break and escape the holds of an attacker, the student is confronted with these important questions: What is an effort to successfully break a hold without knowledge? What is knowledge to break a hold without determination and heart and commitment? What is determination, heart and commitment to break a hold without practice? What is practice to break a hold without CONFIDENCE...Knowing the battle is won before it even begins?

Here's what I mean: In teaching you how to break a wrist hold, I will first introduce the idea of escaping an attacker's grasp by repeatedly demonstrating to you how it is done (knowledge). Then, I have you try it; does it work for you the first or second, or even the third time when you then try using the technique? Probably not! But as I work with you on things like how to get your wrist bone "just so" against the weak spot of the attacker's hold and how to leverage your body position to give you just the right application of speed and power to escape the hold and you did the maneuver over and over again (practice) so that muscle memory kicked in and you didn't have to think about doing it...you just do it; and as I begin to emphasize over and over how you need to be mentally and spiritually calm and focused so you can ignore the fear that is trying to grip your soul like the attacker is gripping your wrist and be able to explode with the right amount of knowledge, technique, heart and determination to not only escape your predicament, but also to carry through with additional techniques to prevent recapture (determination, heart and commitment), you get the idea, and it works every time, no matter how powerful the attacker. Then, an awesome thing happens: One of the most important elements of a warrior's, and a winner's, being - CONFIDENCE - kicks in, and you realize that no one will ever be able to grasp and hold your wrist against your will again! How many peoples lives could be saved if they knew and understood this one little technique of self defense?

Have you ever done a word search on the word "confidence" in your Bible? It's loaded with some good results, but the one I like the best is found in 1 John 5:14-15 of the NIV: "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him."

You see, Grasshopper, the complete Believer, just like the complete martial artist, is one in body, mind and spirit, so that an attack against any one part is an attack against all three; likewise, the self defense against that attack involves the concerted effort of all three. Therefore, the method for dealing with an attack in any one realm is the same as for all three. In addition, the Believer has more than just his inner strength or some mystical force to call upon in responding to adversity...He has the almighty power of God dwelling in him. In fact, his "Sensei" (Instructor) actually dwells within him, providing knowledge of the attackers' weaknesses through prayer and His word, while bolstering his determination, heart and commitment though His indwelling Holy Spirit, and helping His student build confidence through providing daily "opportunities" to practice his "self defense" in preparation for the "real" (or major) attacks.

So head to your dojo (term for "martial arts studio") and practice those routines and techniques... They're guaranteed to break "icy grips"!

Facebook Church?

Last week I was driving down the road, minding my own business and listening (the radio was off), when an interesting phrase popped up in my head/spirit: Facebook Church. What was really intriguing about this event is that lately, for some reason or other, I've been really struggling to understand the whole concept of Facebook, since it and its counterparts have become such a pervasive part of our culture, in order to come up with ways to integrate it into my spiritual mission to spread the Good News of the Gospel and bring people into the Kingdom of God. Now, all of a sudden, I'm hearing "Facebook Church" and I'm wondering, is the word "church" in this case talking about a place we go to worship, or is it referring to the "real" Church, the Body of Christ...the population of Believers? And how does that tie into Facebook?

As a Baby-boomer, I grew up in an environment where one's privacy was paramount, or at least, guarded and protected...Accidental, or even intentional, expose' of one's private thoughts or goings-on was obnoxious, if not scandalous. Before everyone had clothes dryers, even hanging one's freshly washed laundry out to dry was exposing more about one's self and family then one cared to reveal. Here's a good example of the pursuit of privacy: The first telephone my family had was on a "party" line, meaning that 3 or 4 families were on the same phone line; the way you knew if a call was for your family was by the number of rings in each ring set. The problem, of course, was that anyone could "accidentally" pick up the phone and listen in on the other parties' phone calls; you didn't mind listening in to hear other people's conversations, but you certainly didn't want them listening in on yours and picking up on guarded truths about your private life! So you can bet that AT&T (Ma Bell) was pressured into working overtime to develop a network of private lines for everyone, and that customers quickly found the funds to acquire and maintain them. Even tapping someone's phone line became a crime, unless you had one of those infamous "Federal" warrants.

But then along came the internet and mobile phones, and an amazing inversion began to take place...almost imperceptibly at first, but now increasingly prolific. As phones became "unplugged," access to private conversations, albeit mostly one-sided, moved from kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms to restaurants, ball games and shopping areas. And as we "plugged" into computers and the internet, our sphere of influence and relationships moved from family, church, school and workplace to social network sites, chat rooms and forums, websites and, of course, "Tweets," with their seemingly infinite number of contacts extending into every region of the earth. But as this phenomena began to take hold and take over our lives, an interesting transition began to take place: As individuals, we went from being fish in a pond to being minnows in a sea, and that doesn't sit well with our basic human psyche. Whether we admit it or not, a basic need of all "normal" humans is to be recognized, accepted and appreciated (or some variation of those themes) by the members or potential members of our social spheres. (I think this is graphically illustrated in the explosion of tattoos, piercings and wardrobe anomalies we are experiencing in our culture these days in an obvious attempt to declare one's individuality.) As a result, the "amazing inversion" which I mentioned is taking place is this: Whereas we used to use privacy to maintain our individuality and attract other members to our "network", we now increasingly use the opposite, i.e., public exposure of our private things, to do the same thing!

Unfortunately, the insidious risk of this behavior is the trident of the Facebook phenomena: 1) We risk exposing ourselves to nefarious people who would do us harm; 2) Too little information about ourselves invites misinformation and disinformation; 3) Too much information about ourselves can unintentionally alienate those we are trying to attract. And yet, we accept the risk in ever increasing numbers, like moths hovering around a warm, open flame, in order to "connect"...and be "accepted"...and be "noticed." In fact, this urge is so strong that more and more frequently we hear in the news of yet another famous politician, pop singer, actor or other already public personality risking all that they are and everything that they have by placing the most intimate of photographs and videos of their private parts and and sexual activities on the internet without considering the inevitable outcome: That eventually someone will discover their post and expose it for all the world to see. Tragically, the ultimate dive into the pool of self-esteem results in nothing more than a leap into a dry hole cloaked in the mirage of one's ultimate importance...One that leaves us bloodied and broken and wondering, "What happened?" And yet, what is happening is clearly described in God's Word, the Bible; Matt 10:39 says, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

So how does all of this tie into the concept of "Facebook Church"? I still don't know for sure...I'm waiting and "listening" (praying, if you will) for some guidance from the Holy Spirit. In my own research, I came across an interesting article titled "How Facebook Killed the Church" by a Richard Beck, a Professor at Abilene Christian University [(http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-facebook-killed-church.html) hope you can take time to read this article and resulting comments and let me know what some of your thoughts are about it], which convincingly argues that Facebook has effectively killed the traditional church, at least among young people; and yet, in contrast to this article, I bet you didn't know that the #1 Most Active Page on Facebook is the Jesus Daily Facebook Page by a physician named Aaron Tabor. Anyhow, I'm throwing all this out there because I would be very much interested in hearing your thoughts and suggestions on the matter, especially if you can help me to better understand the dynamics behind the whole "social network" thing. Believe me, your input would be greatly appreciated.

The First Epistle...The First Teaching

I think I would be safe in saying that the one thing that drives us to prayer more than any other reason is "trouble"...That which creates conflict and trials in our lives. Recently, during my prayer/study time, I was reading and meditating on a fabulous blog my daughter had written on how the Bible teaches we should respond to the trials of life, when the Father revealed to me an awesome nugget of interest which I have never heard taught before. So what I would like to do is reproduce her blog entry here (hopefully, with her approval) for you to consider, and then, at the end, lay out what the Lord showed me about the epistle and the base verses that my daughter references in her article.

Here, then, is her blog entry:

Last night I was reading an article about a creative hero of mine, the writer/director/producer J.J. Abrams. I have always admired his work -- but now I admire him for who he is behind the work. This is the passage in the article that has created a paradigm shift in me:

"Abrams has been able to survive the rigors of marathon writing and production schedules, while also packing school lunches and tucking his children into bed...by keeping things fun in a process of constant discovery. "Most of us are just trying not to die, but J.J. flourishes because it's always fun for him.'"

Fun?? Pressure and problems and writer's block can be FUN?? As I was noodling this incredibly foreign and unnatural sounding idea, a scripture popped in my head. I remembered it from James 1:2 as going something like: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face troubles of many kinds. That's a paraphrase, and I'll share some of my favorite translations of this scripture in a moment, but first I just have to say how convicted I felt about the article and then what I remembered of a scripture that I have obviously known for a very long time -- but have somehow forgotten, and worse -- completely ignored. When I face troubles and problems (especially in my work, but also with my health and in relationships) I have never found it fun or considered them joy! I have raged, freaked out, cussed, cried, melted under the pressure and even quit at times -- but I don't think I've ever thought of it as fun. And yet here's this guy in Hollywood living the scripture that I was supposed to know so well. That's when something changed in me -- what if I could live that way too?? Oh how I want to!

And so this morning, I went to my J.B. Phillips translation of the bible and read James 1:2-5:

"When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, do not resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realise they have come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let this process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character and the right sort of independence." (Of course the terms "men" and "man" here is used in the human sense, not gender specific.)

Now, just as I was beginning to wonder how in the world I can take on such a monumental task of not resenting troubles, but treating them as friends, I saw that the scripture goes on with some advice on just that:

"And if, in the process, any of you does not know how to meet any particular problem, he has only to ask God -- who gives generously to all men without making them feel foolish or guilty -- and he may be quite sure that the necessary wisdom will be given him."

WOW! What hope that gives me -- and what joy too. it almost makes me giggle at the thought -- I can have fun with problems. We all can! Here is the scripture in a few other translations...each one of them filling out the full picture to me of what is really being said:

The New Living Translation: "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

The Message: "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it."

And finally, the one that popped in my head, the NIV translation: " Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

And so, with God's help, I am going to embark on a new journey -- to stop resenting, being afraid of, getting angry at and resisting challenges, trials, troubles and problems -- and instead try to be welcoming, seeing them as a gift, a joy...and yes, even fun -- knowing that they will help to make me the best version of myself. It is a challenge, to be sure...but I'm starting to believe, it might just be a joy too:) (End of daughter's post...if you prefer to check out her blog site yourself, here's the link: joydelightsinjoy.blogspot.com)

Now, here is the amazing nugget that I believe the Lord was showing me about the Epistle of James and the wonderful teachings about conflicts, pure joy and asking for wisdom in chapter 1, verses 2 through 8:

Although the order of the presentation of the epistles in the New Testament of the Bible was certainly inspired by the Holy Spirit, it was certainly not based on the order in which they were written; in fact, several of the epistles were written before Paul's Book of Romans, and indeed, even before Luke's Book of Acts (which was actually written after Romans). So, guess which epistle is considered to be the earliest of all the New Testament writings...That's right the Book of James! Do you see what the significance of that fact is? It means that the very first teaching scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit after the death and resurrection of Christ was written by Jesus first brother, James (who did not initially believe in his Savior Brother), in James 1:2-8, which begins with the words, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance." I believe this emphasizes the importance, in God's view, of developing a strong and unwavering faith based on the joy of the Lord (that's the only "pure" joy). [In fact, the whole Book of James, is like a litany of the Fruit of the Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control..."Against such things there is no law." (Gal 6:22-23)] Given the Holy Spirit's priority for this teaching, we all would do well to embark on that new journey my daughter has embarked on.