The Power of Pink IV

Teaching Men How to Fight Like a Girl

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." Ephesians 6:10

When the Psalmist, David, wrote about "the valley of the shadow of death" I doubt that he had cancer in mind. Still the truth remains, the specter of death has always cast a shadow of fear over people. Regardless of the century, or our wealth, status or position in life, death is the great equalizer. It comes to everyone with a relentless finality. When David walked through his valley, he turned to God and developed a face to face intimacy with Him that moved him through the darkness of his fear and into the light of His Presence.

I have read the 23rd Psalm many times since I was a child. It was one of the first passages of Scripture I committed to memory. It has been judged to be the most familiar passage of the Bible, and it is the one that is turned to most often when people plan the funerals of their loved ones. It is no wonder that it is what God used to call me to Himself when Dana and I were processing the initial shock of the words, "It's cancer."

Those words are everything people have said they are. They strike fear into the heart of everyone who has heard them spoken to them or stood by when they were dropped on the ones they love. They are like a sledgehammer to the chest, and leave a person breathless with panic. They send the mind racing ahead on a road of speculation that takes a person to every worst case scenario that the imagination can conceive.

Worry and fear are first cousins in the family of emotions, and they conspire and cooperate with one another to take people who are facing a fight with cancer to the city limits of "What if."

What if we have waited to long to discover Dana has cancer.
What if we cannot find out where it is.
What if we cannot find the right doctor.
What if they remove her breasts.
What if she loses her hair.
What if they cannot get it all.
What if she does not recover from the surgery.
What if the cancer comes back.
What if our insurance does not cover the cost.
What if she loses her job.
What if she loses her insurance.
What if she loses her life.

There it is. Worry and fear keep taking a person step by step to the place that the enemy wants them to go. Death is the ultimate destination that a person find at the town square in the city of "What if."

I am a sucker for a good book title. It grabs the attention and sets the table for the feast that the author has prepared for the reader. One of my books on Lincoln is entitled, "Tried by War." Lincoln would not have become the man we know today if it had not been for the crisis of the Civil War. It fell to him to find a solution to a problem he did not cause, and heal a country that tore itself apart during his presidential administration. War does that. In the midst of all the death and destruction, it creates life. The life of Abraham Lincoln would be profoundly altered by the impact of the War Between the States.

David had his valley of the shadow of death. Lincoln had his. Dana and I were beginning to realize that we were walking through a valley that would introduce us to a series of events that would profoundly change our lives. Nothing would ever be the same again. Life would not return to normal. It could get better, or it could get worse, but it would not go back to the same predicatable game plan that we had come to expect and enjoy.

When the movie, "Fireproof" was released by Sherwood Pictures, it contained a statement that was worth the price of admission. One of the characters referred to the crisis of his life as "the new normal." I will be forever grateful to the Kendrick brothers for their insight on this concept that they shared through this movie. It took a while for me to get there, but after about a year of resisting what God was allowing to come into my life, I began to settle into a realization of this "new normal" and to release my right to have God restore what Dana and I had lost. We were going to learn that God was giving us something else to replace it. To receive it we would have to let go of what we were holding on to with a whiteknuckled grip. Our predictable, carefully prepared plan and perspective for our lives was a poor substitute for what He had in mind.

Cancer had not been on my "To Do" List. It had not been in my plan for our lives as a husband and wife. I would not have wished this on my worst enemy, much less the woman I loved with all my heart. I did not have the same kind of faith that Dana had when she heard the words, "It's cancer." She called it her "Great Adventure." I called it something else. Can't tell you what I said, but God heard it. Over the next two and a half years, God was going to hear alot of things that I cannot put in print. However, in all honesty, I have to tell you that I would say things to God that I never thought would come out of my mouth. Not proud of it. Not bragging about it. Just telling the truth. I do not have the same level of integrity that David had. I wonder if David meant to have all those prayers of his put in print. I sometimes wince when I read them, and think he should have had an editor remove some of those lines like, "O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth." Psalm 58:6 Probably not going to see that one on a plaque at "Hobby Lobby."

Cancer has a way of releasing our grip on the pretentious piety that sometimes passes for proper Christian behavior. It cuts through the carefully created image of who we think we are in Christ and reveals a much less flattering picture to us. It brings us to the end our ourselves, our resources and our reserves. Any Christian maturity that I thought I had developed over the previous five decades of walking with Christ was going to be put to a test that I did not want to take. It would take me places I did not want to go, and trigger reactions in me that I could not believe I could express to the God I loved.

Fortunately, I would discover a God of grace I had never met before. I would be ministered to by a Spirit of comfort that I had studied about, but had never had to lean on for that level of strength. Jesus would emerge from the shadows as a close companion who would come to me in the middle of the dark crisis and make sense out of the things that confused my mind and struck fear in my heart. I would learn more about my wife than I had ever known was there. I would be humbled by her fighting spirit, and her persevering faith. I would wear pink as a tribute to her and the women who faced this enemy with a toughness that tenderized my heart. I would shave my head to identify with what she was going through and to laugh at the very thing the enemy wanted to use to bring tears of shame.

The valley of the shadow of death was a reality to David. It is still a reality to us. Satan will still make sure that we are reminded that Dana's younger sister died of this same disease. This means we never let our guard down. We refuse to face life in our own strength. We stand firm only because we kneel. We have learned it is not always a bad thing when life knocks you to your knees. If you pray while you are down there, you will be stand stronger and fight harder when you get up. The call of God is to stand in the strength of His might. Bending our knees is the way we have found to yield our will and to stand our ground in the fight of our lives.

The Power of Pink III

Teaching Men How to Fight Like a Girl

"Prayer is the intimate communication between the Heavenly Father and His child." Don Miller

One of the toughest assignments I have ever faced as a Dad was meeting our daughters to tell them that their mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. I don't know why it bothered me so much. Dana was more than able to handle the situation without me. My wife has an inner strength and resiliency that seems to flourish in the midst of a crisis. I have seen it in many women who have been hit with the news of about cancer. It is an awesome sight to behold.

When we arrived in Southlake Town Center, we were a little bit ahead of Ashley and Allyson. It gave us time to walk, and talk and pray. Little did we know that we had fallen into pattern that would serve us well over the next two and one half years. As we walked south from the Barnes and Noble Book Store, I could see our daughters in the distance. It was late afternoon and the bright sun threw a shadow across their faces, but I could see the outline of their bodies as the approached where Dana and I were standing. Both of them are college graduates, beautiful, accomplished women who have great strength and poise, but they looked like two little girls as they held each other and made their way to us. The scene broke my heart, and my eyes began to flood with tears. My mind was swept of all the words I had been practicing to say. My cell phone rang. It was a friend 60 miles away who called to let me know that he had just heard the news. I had walked with him and his lovely wife through his six month old son's brain surgery, and he wanted to let me know their thoughts and prayers were with us. He said,"I'm not that good at this, but you were there for us and we are going to be there for you. As much as we know how, we are going to pray for you and Dana and be there for you through this like you were there for us." I was in full melt down at this time. I responded with, "Start praying! Our girls are about 20 feet away and I have to tell them the news, and I don't know how." He promised to pray and we hung up. In the short length of that phone call, Dana and the girls ran to meet each other, and they threw their arms around their bodies in a group hug and wept. They knew instinctively that they were about to hear bad news, and Dana responded with a powerful, maternal instinct to protect her children. I walked over and wrapped my arms around all three of these precious ladies, and just started praying aloud for them right there on the sidewalk. It was a short prayer, and the words I prayed do not come to mind, but I know our first response was to place this news in God's hands. I asked Him to take this out of our hands, and do something with it only He could get credit for. I unashamedly asked for His healing touch on Dana and His ability to stand along side of her as she faced what was coming her way. We then walked hand in hand to the gelato shop and ate Italian ice cream. Sounds a bit silly now, but ice cream really helped get the bad taste of cancer out our mouths.

I was beginning to learn the truth of a statement made by a travelling companion of mine. In March 2002 I was heading to speak in Florida, and had to connect with a flight out of Atlanta. When I got off of my plane in Georgia, I knew I had very little time to catch my next flight to Tampa. Imagine my relief, when the gate that I needed to reach was right next door to my arrival gate, and I just walked right on the plane without having to run or wait. I sat down in my seat and I must have said, "Thank you Lord." The man in the seat next to me said, "Oh, you know Him too." I was a little taken aback. I had not realized I had said it aloud. I was grateful, but had not intended to use my prayer as a conversation starter. He asked what I was going to do in Tampa. I told him I was on my way to teach people how to pray. His words put a chill in my spine. He said, "That's easy. Tell them to get cancer!" I know the look on my face had to be one of shock and awe. This stranger had invaded my space and dropped a real bomb right in my lap. He said, "Don't be alarmed. I am not being flippant. I just didn't really take prayer seriously until I got cancer. After I got that piece of news, prayer became very important to me, and Jesus and I have become very familiar with one another." You can't make this stuff up. I have to admit that I have fallen back on this statement many times over the past two and half years.

That night we drove home, all the while calling family and friends with the news over the 70 mile journey. By the time we arrived at our house we were exhausted with repeating the report over and over. All we could do was hold each other and cry. We didn't know what was next. We still had a lot to learn about the fight against cancer that was ahead.

We knew when the sun came up we had to find and oncologist and outline a battle plan. There was so much to do, and yet life still went on all around us. We were pastoring a church and in the middle of a building program. We were both on the Volunteer Fire Department of our city, and I was about to begin a two year term as member of our city council. People all around us expected us to meet some expectation they had of us, but we were in need of help ourselves. We were overwhelmed by the news we had received,and intimidated by the new vocabulary words we were having to learn.

I remember thinking as I put my head on the pillow that I would get up if the sun came up in the morning, but I did not have any other plans for the day. Thank God we did not know what was ahead of us or neither one of us would have slept that night.

Like many people who have faced crises over the past centuries, the 23rd Psalm came to my mind. The turning point in David's walk with God did not come from a mountain top experience, but from a valley. We were in a very deep, dark valley, and the words that came to my mind were, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." I don't know what David went through before he wrote these words, but somehow God became someone he talked to rather than he just talked about. His references to God were all in the third person until his crisis became so personal that it forced him to talk to God. I was a preacher and I was equipped and experienced at talking about God. Cancer was taking me through a valley that was filled with changing shadows and shifting light and exposing a vulnerability in my soul that could only be protected by talking to God face to face. There is a huge difference between preaching and praying. That is because of the distance between talking about God and talking to God. One requires informaton and a moderate degree of intelligence. The other is a personal intimacy that is cultivated in what Oswald Chambers called, "the valley of humiliation." He said, "God gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. God has to take us into the valley...until we get to the place where He can trust us."

Dana and I have prayed for over 30 years that God would allow us to be part of something only He could get credit for. We had no idea how big a part cancer would play in answering our prayers.

The Power of Pink II

Teaching Men How to Fight Like a Girl

"Man's extremity is God's opportunity." George Whitefield

One of my heros of faith is the 18th Century Evangelist, George Whitefield. He traveled seven times from England to the United States, and preached up and down the eastern seaboard of what was then the American Colonies. He was responsible for starting and supporting an orphanage outside of Savannah, Georgia that is still in existence today. He wove together the various Christian denominations into a strong quilt of brotherly love through his powerful evangelistic messages. He has been credited with giving Americans their sense of being part of a country made up of many parts with a common bond of Christian brotherhood. He was a friend to America before she became a nation, and often wrote members of the British parliament to let the thirteen colonies grow and prosper without undue interference from the government back home. When he died his preaching and praying had made a huge difference in how Americans viewed themselves, and thousands had been brought into the Kingdom of God. I have often read his journals, and encouraged by his capacity to trust God in difficult days. When facing a crisis, I gain comfort from his profound proverb, "Man's extremity is God's opportunity."

Platitudes and pats on the back from well meaning people were an inevitable response from people who tried to bring comfort to us after Dana was diagnosed with cancer. For some reason, people felt compelled to give advice freely or to share graphicly how a friend, family member or someone they knew had recently died of the very kind of cancer that has just attacked my wife. They seemed to be prompted by a voice whispering to them from the pit of hell. They were oblivious to the impact their words had on Dana and on me. Thank God had other people just listened, exercised the ministry of presence, and the power of prayer. They heard what we said, put their arms around us and prayed. It was great comfort and counsel.

After Dana and I received the news about her cancer we made our way to a restaurant to wait for our daughters to get off work. They were going to meet us so we could process with them personally the doctor's report. I had to get up from the table, and walk outside. The food tasted like cardboard, and the tension in my chest and the crisis induced brain fog had returned. I tried to prepare myself for the meeting with our daughters, but I was losing ground fast. On the front porch of the restaurant, I scrolled through my cell phone until I came to the name, Michael Catt. I have known Michael since we were young gun student pastors in 1977. The thought had come to me to get the word to him and have him place Dana's diagnosis of breast cancer in their prayer room. I knew the people of Sherwood Baptist Church would begin to pray for her. Like many pastors, he had more than enough to do in the day, but I thought I could leave a message on his voice mail. This seemed to help relieve the stress of not being able to do anything about my wife's conditon. It was a divine appointment when Michael answered the call. I don't remember saying hello, but I do remember blurting out, "Michael, Dana has just been diagnosed with breast cancer and I am trying to get ready to break the news to our daughters. I don't know what to say to them. I can hardly breath and I can't think clearly. Will you pray for us?" The sound of his voice, not the words that he spoke are what touched my heart. There was an immediate expression of tender concern. There were no platitudes or war stories. He immediately took our request to the Father. His prayer was not powerful because of the phraseology of it, but because of the theology of it. He took us to a loving God who could make sense of of this "extremity." God was more than able to handle His opportunity. As Michael prayed a calm began to come over me, and a clarity to my mind returned. I wept as he prayed, and did not add anything when he finished except words of gratitude and the promise to keep him and his church posted as the steps we were going to take became clearer to us. I returned to the table. We finished our meal, and headed to meet our girls.

When someone tells you that their wife or loved one has been diagnosed with breast cancer, this is not a time to pull out a grisly war story from your morgue of memories. There is no comfort in being told that others have died from this long before your wife found out she had it. What they did not know is that her younger sister died of this same disease several years earlier, and Dana had plenty of up close and personal experience with what breast cancer can do to a person. We hardly needed to be reminded by people who could not control their urge to process with us their worst case scenarios and family medical history. It made me want to punch them in the mouth to make them stop the flow of life-sapping sewage.

On the other hand, it is not much help to hear, "Oh, you ought to be glad its just breast cancer and not anything really serious. They have made a lot of progress in treating it, and its not that big a deal anymore. They can just remove it and hit it with chemo and radiation and she is going to be just fine." Then they would order dessert or start talking about the weather. It seemed that many people were content to push us into one ditch or the other, but did not have the capacity to come alongside and help us down this difficult road for any length of time.

The greatest lesson we have learned from hearing the news about cancer is contained in the four little words, "TALK LESS! PRAY MORE!" The more we talked about cancer or other people gave us the barrage of their personal experiences, cancer seemed to grow into an undefeatable giant. When we prayed or others prayed for us the giant began to shrink in the presence of God. The IMPOSSIBLE became the HIM-POSSIBLE when we were led to give it to HIM in prayer. It was then that our extremity became the opportunity God used to prove Himself faithful to walk us through the "valley of the shadow of death." Prayer would never again become a ritual or a daily devotional exercise that we would check off our "To Do List" in order to get on with what we had planned for the day. Prayer would become the air we breathed or as G. Campbell Morgan would say, " the way we set our sails to catch the wind of Heaven."

The Power of Pink I

Teaching Men How to Fight Like a Girl

"Finally be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." Ephesians 6:10-11

Nothing hits harder than the sneak attack of a relentless enemy. "It's cancer." When Dana and I heard the doctor speak softly this short, simple statement she handled the diagnosis much better than I did. March 2008 began a two year journey on the road of learning how to fight like a girl.

When I was growing up in the "Happy Days" era Dallas, Texas in The Fifties, the ultimate put down that could be made between two guys fighting for their territory on "The Blacktop" at O.M Roberts Elementary School was the burn, "You fight like a girl!" We had no idea that we were actually paying a compliment to our opponent. No man has learned to appreciate the tenacity, the stamina and the spirit of a woman until they have stood by them through their fight against cancer.

Dana was diagnosed with Stage 2B breast cancer, and her first response was, "Well, I knew it. I am just going to have to beat it." For my part, I was in a fog. It was a kind of crisis-induced coma brought on by the head on collision with cancer. Nothing optimistic or pugilistic came out of my mouth. I don't even remember how we walked from the basement of the hospital exam room to the parking lot of HEB Methodist Hospital.

Dana was on the cell phone contacting our daughters, Ashley and Allyson and setting up a meeting with them in Southlake. We were going to break the news to them in person, but by now they were well aware that we were not bringing them a good report. Between conversations with family and friends, she was giving me directions. I was useless. I had spent close to 30 years in the Mid-Cities, but couldn't fathom how to get to Southlake. It was as if a giant hand was squeezing the breath out of my lungs, and I could not get my mind to function. It was much like one of the brain concussions I have had over the years. I was awake, aware, but awash in an almost other world kind of feeling. I was grasping, gasping and drowning in a sea of denial. I had to ask Dana several times how to get out of the parking lot, how to access the road to Southake, and what exit to take. Nothing looked familiar to me. In truth, nothing would ever be the same again.

In the middle of the fog of war, my cell phone rang. It was Ricky Griffin, my pastor friend from the Panhandle of Texas. Grif and I had not talked in almost a year. His first words were a mixture of exhuberance and exasperation. In his patented Panhandle French, he said, "Man, I have had you on my mind all day! What is going on?" It was a question of genuine concern, not just a casual "Whazzup?" I began to spill my guts to Grif, and blurted out, "Ricky, Dana was just diagnosed with cancer, and I am overwhelmed!" His voice was a gift from God. He told me that his wife, Pam, had been diagnosed with the same kind of cancer a year before. He established an immediate bond with me. He knew exactly what this felt like. He told me to hang up the phone, and keep my eyes on the road, and leave the rest in God's hands. He said he was going to start praying and enlisting others to do the same. His last words were, "This is a battle you can win." The call ended and the fog lifted.

Don't misunderstand me. The enemy was still before me. The fight was still ahead, but now I could see Jesus standing in the line of battle. He was not waving a white flag. It was a good sign. Dana asked who had called, and I said, "I think we just heard from God." Thank God and Grif! We were not alone. We were not defeated. We were not victims. We were just in the fight of our lives.

Since March of 2008, Dana has referred to her fight with breast cancer as her, "Great Adventure!" She has been a tremendous encouragement to many people who have found themselves faced with the same challenge. What I have seen in her has humbled me and challenged me. She has taught me how to fight like a girl, and it is not a task for the faint of heart. It has caused us both to make a commitment to challenge people to form a long-lasting, life-changing support sytstem for their spouse, mother, sister or friend. To do this requires a full fisted attack that hits the enemy with the all five fingers of a joint task force that includes...

1. Believing Prayer: Take your place in the battle line along side of the Person of The Risen Christ. He is ready when you are to get right in the middle of what you fear the most, and make sense out of it.

2. Positive People: Toxic people should not be given permission to take you on a detour or sound retreat from the place Jesus has called you to stand.

3. Proper Nutrition: Knowing what to eat and giving your body what it needs to fight is not a spectator sport. It requires persistence and discpline to turn food into fuel for a fight not comfort for a retreat.

4. Regular Exercise: Stress is a real killer because it weakens the immune system. The body was meant to move. It is God's design to get rid of toxins that rob us of life.

5. Medical Science: Fighting the battle against cancer requires a commitment to learn a new vocabulary and to ask alot of questions. God is the Divine Healer. There is no other kind of healing than the kind that comes from God, but He has provided people with scientific insight into the nature of cancer.

Over the next few weeks, Dana and I will be taking an in depth look at these five things that people do have control over in their fight against cancer. The most important is prayer. It is the thumb of the hand in this fist of furious faith. The other four are weakened severely if the people who are entering this fight do not take their stand alongside The Intercessor, Jesus Christ.

I have developed an even greater respect for my wife, and for the women who are a part of this unique pink sorority. During the past two and one half years, I have come to a new understanding of the phrase, "You fight like a girl." I would be proud to wear it as a badge of honor, if I could ever match the courage that Dana has brought to this fight. Until then, Dana and I will share with others what we have learned through her "Great Adventure" and help others focus on the five things they can do to resist the temptation to run for the tall grass. There is no need to focus on being a victim, when we have been called to take our stand in the strength of the Lord for the victory that has already been won.

The Great Escape

Praying til Penetecost Day 49

"Be saved from this perverse generation." Acts 2:14

In the "Fifties" our family would often take pre-interstate trip across the United States. From Dallas, Texas we travelled west to California, and east to New York City. On one occasion in the we even led a caravan of cars from Dallas to Ridgecrest, N.C. for some kind of youth camp. That was a lot of traffic lights, speed traps and "Burma Shave" signs. In spite of all the delays behind slow moving tractors in small towns and unsynchronized lights in big cities, we made it back with all cars in tact and every teenager accounted for. One of my memories of these trips across the country is the numerous signs declaring, "Jesus Saves!" One weary traveler must have had too much time on his hands. He had taken a brush to one of these signs of salvation, and added in bright green paint the words, "GREEN STAMPS!" I have to admit that I was amused by the irreverent humor. I don't remember my Dad laughing at it, but I still smile when I think about it 50 years later.

For the uninformed and much too young, "Green Stamps" were a marketing tool that was used to attract customers to the gasoline station. The merchant provided stamps to the buyer in exchange for the gasoline they purchased. The stamps could be placed in books, and then taken to a "Redemption Center" and exchanged for merchandise. The gas station attendant even pumped the gas for you. It was a great system. You would keep you eyes peeled for the "Green Stamps" sign outside of a station, and then pull up to the pump, and say to the attendant, "Fill it up with Ethyl." Before you paid for the gasoline, he would ask if you collected "Green Stamps." If you were interested in them, then he would tear a portion of them out of a large book, and hand them over to you. As a kid, I had more than one episode of "glue sickness" after spending the next several miles licking them and placing them in the book. Good times!

After Peter's message at Pentecost, the people in the crowd said, "What shall we do?" They were told...

• "Repent...
• Be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins...
• Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38)

The account in Acts tells us that Peter kept on encouraging people to...

• "Be saved from this perverse generation." (Acts 2:40)

The word "saved" can also be translated "escape, deliver, protect, do well, heal, preserve, make whole." It carries with it the concept of saving oneself by getting away from danger. The King James Version uses the word "untoward" to translate the word that the New American Standard Version calls "perverse." Both of these translations can be clarified when we understand that the word used here is the primary source for the word we know in English as "scoliosis." It is transliterated from Greek to English with virtually no change. This word is used by the medical community to describe a spine that is winding, and crooked. Without correction scoliosis will bend a person into a pretzel, and force them into a grotesque shape that is a far cry from the original function of the spine.

The first step to salvation is to admit that you are crooked and in need of correction. The word "crook" is used today to describe a person who willfully strays from the law, and flirts with the dangerous consequences of his behavior on a daily basis. An unrepentant sinner is bent on having their own way in life, and refuses to choose Jesus Christ as the only way to escape the judgement of that awaits an uncorrected life. Unsaved people need to escape from the winding, crooked, perverse, untoward, and wayward world around them. The longer they walk in the way of the world, they become more bent over by the consequences of sin.

The hope of the world is wrapped up in this initial call of the church, "Be saved!" There is a way of escape from a life of sin. There is a way to correct the crookedness that the consequences of sin brings on any life. The person who has had their heart pierced by the truth of God's word can find healing, and be made whole by the Presence of Jesus Christ taking possession of their life through the Person of the Holy Spirit. There must be a time when and a place where the decision is made to get back on course for what God had in mind from the beginning. There must be a willful choice to receive forgiveness from Jesus, and fullness from the Holy Spirit. There must be a turning away and a separation from the danger that comes from walking with people who do not see how crooked they are.

Filled

Praying til Pentecost Day 48

"And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit..." Acts 2:4

These simple words have caused a great deal of discussion. They mean what they say, but what do they mean? There are some who believe the Holy Spirit is a liquid additive who can be used up or evaporate over time. They teach that a person must be constantly taking in more and more of the Spirit or they will be empty of His Presence. Others teach that a believer does not need more of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit needs more of the believer. They offer the concept that the Holy Spirit enters in all His fullness into the heart of the believer at the new birth. They say that the responsibility of the believer is to offer the Holy Spirit constant and consistent access to every room of His heart if they want to know His fullness. Some hold a theological position that teaches there is no evidence of the Holy Spirit's Presence unless a believer can give evidence of their ability to speak in other tongues. Some say that this manifestation of tongues ceased in the first century, and to add anything to the saving work of Christ as a sign of His finished work on the cross is tantamount to heresy.

Words do mean something. Too often their definitions are ignored or they trigger a misunderstanding that leads to conflict with people we love. As a boy, I laughed at a cartoon I once saw in a Reader's Digest magazine. It pictured two men at a bar. One of the men was a big Texan in a cowboy hat who was pounding the daylights out of the other man dressed in a business suit. The man being attacked by the Texan had made an insulting remark. The caption read, "I said, 'I hate TAXES! I hate TAXES!' " There was an obvious misunderstanding between the two men. The man being pounded at the bar had said something that he sincerely meant, but it was not said with a hint of insult. To the man who overheard his remark, it was insulting all the same. See what I mean my misunderstanding. You have to wear a hard had when talking about the Holy Spirit. It is dangerous work.

Sometimes there are misunderstandings that happen even when good people try to offer up their description of what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Much of the fog can be cleared away by a simple look at the Scripture record. When we bring cultural or theological prejudices to the text, the confusion and conflict begins afresh and anew.

The evidence of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit is very clear. "But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them." (Acts 2:14) After Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, he began to speak boldly about the Person of Jesus Christ. The same man who had denied Jesus was transformed into a bold spokesperson for Him. The man who had led the disciples in the upper room in a ten day prayer meeting was empowered to speak to people about the crucified Christ. He was a changed man. A bragging coward had been turned into a courageous preacher. You can't make this stuff up!

The word used to describe the work of the Holy Spirit, "filled," is translated from the Greek word for "fill" which means literally or figuratively to imbue, to influence, to furnish or to supply. In the simplest language, the Holy Spirit exercised His influence over the praying disciples, and they in turn began to speak with "other tongues" so the people gathered in Jerusalem were able to hear the Gospel in their own language. This emphasis upon known languages being spoken by people who obviously did not know them made a profound impression on those who heard them do it.

The chain reaction of the Holy Spirit's work had begun. The text goes on the describe the response of those who heard the message of Peter and the other apostles.

• "Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren, what shall we do?"

The Holy Spirit convicts people of their separation from God, but more importantly He leads them to do something about it.

• Peter said to them, "Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Repent means an about face, a turning around to the face of God, must take place in the life of the believer. Immediate obedience to the command of Christ to be baptized reveals evidence of this new sense of direction. The gift of the Holy Spirit cannot be received by people who are still moving in the wrong direction. It is not a change of vocabulary, but a change of direction that is evidence of the Spirit's fullness.

• "For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."
  
  The call of God is not limited by national boundaries or racial prejudices. God calls those who are far off to draw near to Him. Their response to His Word is evidence of the Spirit's work in their lives.
   
• "And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation.' "
  
  The voice of God remains the same regardless of the changing centuries or cultural complexities. He provides a way of escape from a sinking ship through the Person of the Holy Spirit.
  
  What happened next in the lives of the early believers is a time capsule that must be explored to appreciate the unchanging work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people today.
• "So those who had received his word were baptized...
• They were continually devoting themselves
• to the apostles' teaching
• to fellowship,
• to the breaking of bread
• to prayer
• Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many signs and wonders were taking place through the apostles
• had all things in common
• sharing with all, as anyone might have need
• day by day continuing with one mind in the temple
• breaking bread from house to house
• they were taking their meals together
• with sincerity and gladness of heart
• praising God and having favor with all the people.
• And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Acts 2:41-47

Later, the Christ chosen apostle Paul expressed the influence of the Holy Spirit in this way...

• "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit..."
• Speaking to one another...
• In psalms and hymns and spiritual songs...
• Singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord...
• Always giving thanks For all things...
• In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ...
• To God, even the Father...
• And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ." Ephesians 5:18-21

For a person to be filled with the Holy Spirit means that a believer is under the influence of a new authority in their life. Fullness is evidence of the Holy Spirit making a profound transformation in a person's sense of direction, their list of priorities, and the content of their character.

Suddenly

Praying til Pentecost Day 47

"When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place, and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. " Acts 2:1-2

Perspective is everything. It is possible to be so close to the truth that it is impossible to see it. There is a great deal of wisdom in the old saying, "Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees." Taking a step back can sometimes help a person take a step forward in gaining a fresh perspective on a truth that has been in front of them for a very long time.

Every thought and every insight I have about God has been given to me by the Person of the Holy Spirit. I have never seen the physical Person of Christ. I have been dealing with the Spirit of the Risen Christ from the first moment I met Jesus. The Holy Spirit created a hunger in my heart for a love relationship with Jesus. All I know about the Son of God has been provided to me by Spirit-inspired Scriptures, and explained to me by the Holy Spirit. In spite of this 54 year relationship, I always enjoy going back to the Day of Pentecost for a review of that moment in time when the consistent, constant, comforting companionship of the Holy Spirit was offered to believers.

The Day of Pentecost was not the birthday of the Holy Spirit, but it was the birthday of the church. The local church remains the hope of the world as long as the people who gather within its walls are filled with the Holy Spirit to the degree that the message of the Risen Christ overflows their lives and splashes onto the lives of those outside the walls of the church.

"The day of Pentecost..." - This was a very popular Jewish feast. The Jewish calendar scheduled it to take place 50 days after Passover. Devout Jews from all over the world would return to the city of Jerusalem for the celebration. After the Holy Spirit had done His work, thousands of transformed people would go back to their homes with a Spirit filled message about the resurrection and repentance. Leave it to God to be right on time with the right message.

"They were all together in one place..." - The 120 disciples gathered in the upper room had been praying and waiting for 50 days. For 40 days the Risen Lord appeared to over 500 disciples and taught them about the Kingdom of Heaven. As always, a remnant gathered to pray about what they had heard. They had done all they could do, and now they were waiting for something that only God could do.

"Suddenly..." - This is one of my favorite words in the Bible. It is only mentioned three times in the New Testament. It is used here to describe the arrival of the Holy Spirit in the upper room. Secondly, it describes the appearance of the Risen Lord to Saul on the Road to Damascus. Finally, it describes the sudden death expected to happen to Paul when he was bitten by a viper on Malta. This was meant to provide a picture of fast and immediate action that caught people completely unaware. The Holy Spirit manifested His Presence and power unexpectedly and without warning. This was a total and complete surprise. His movement was marked by unprecedented speed and unnerving sound.

"There came from heaven..." The Holy Spirit's Presence and power was not a result of the work of man. He was sent down from Heaven by God. Any time prayers are lifted up to God for a movement of the Holy Spirit, they should not be thought to contain the power of persuasion to trigger an explosion of the Spirit. Praying people benefit from the grace of God. God's delayed response to the prayers of His people does not mean He has deserted their cause. His swift response does not mean that they have finally hit on the magic words that God has been waiting to hear. Prayer is simply how we set our sails to catch the wind of heaven. Without prayer we are dead in the water. Praying people are not proud of themselves when God begins to move. They know that a movement of God is more about Him than it is about them. When they rush to take credit for what God is doing, the next rushing sound they hear is the Spirit leaving the scene.

"...like a violent and rushing wind..." - Life in Tornado Alley of Oklahoma gives people a perspective on violent rushing wind like few other places on earth. It is not unusual to hear about people who prepare for the worst by putting on helmets and wrapping themselves in pillows in a safe room when they hear the sound of the sirens. The experience of the early disciples reminds us that the upper room is not the safe room. They were not prepared for the speed, the sound, or the scale of a movement of the Holy Spirit. No matter how long or how much they had been praying, they were still caught unaware by something only God could do. People are never able to prepare themselves totally for what God is capable of doing in their lives. The upper room is never a place to run from the storm. In truth, the upper room may be the eye of the storm. It is still the safest place to be in spite of the all the fire and the fury swirling around a movement of God.

"It filled the whole house where they were sitting..." - Whether the disciples were standing on the promises are just sitting on the premises, the Spirit of God descended on them. His movement was a total saturation of the praying community. The picture of people sitting portrays them as waiting people. The position of their bodies may be a key to understanding the condition of their hearts. They had been been told to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Promise of the Father. The longer they prayed about the commission they had been given, the weaker they must have felt to carry out the task. By coming to the end of themselves, they came to the beginning of God.

"And there appeared to them tongues of fire..." - The wind and the fire that represented the movement of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost are often used as images to promote a contemporary spiritual awakening. My father, Don Miller, has often warned me about expecting power and warmth from "painted fire." This is what he calls man-made efforts to generate a God-sent renewal of His church. The logos, and web sites of many churches are marked by computer generated graphics that stir the imagination, but they seldom produce the heat that can thaw out a heart that has grown cold in the winter season of unrepented sin.

"Distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them..." - The tongues of fire were moved by an unseen hand and landed on everyone in the room. There are no exemptions, deferments, or exceptions to a movement of the Spirit of God. Praying people should expect to be heard, and then expect to be touched by a movement of God. When God's Spirit moves into a community, there is no place to hide. A movement of God often results in some very unexpected leaders raised up to carry out assignments, and achieve victories that only God can get credit for.

"And they were filled with the Holy Spirit..." - This is the result of a movement of the Holy Spirit. He fills people with His Presence. He is not a liquid additive. He is not a mere fluid, and He is more than a majestic force. The Holy Spirit is God. He is Jesus. He is not a junior partner in the Trinity, or a replacement for the Risen Christ. He has not moved Jesus off the scene, but has come to lift up the name of Jesus. People who are filled with the Holy Spirit are under the control of the character of Christ. They speak more about Jesus than they do about themselves. They live more for Jesus than they do for themselves. They are filled with the Spirit, but they lift up the name of Jesus.

"And began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance..." - The book of Acts tell us that these "other tongues" were not ecstatic utterances or guttural, child-like gibberish. These were intelligible languages that were understood by the people of existing nations who were in the city to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. God used this remarkable expression of His love to widen the circle of His love to include people who had never heard the truth of the Gospel. They would take this truth home with them, and it would become the seed from which future fruit would grow. God has always had a world on His heart, and people who are filled with His Spirit will have a concern for those who have never heard the Gospel.

The Twelfth Man

Praying til Pentecost Day 44

"And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all me, show which one of these two You have chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they drew lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles." Acts 1:24-26

One of the most inspiring contributions to Texas football is the story of the Texas A & M "Twelfth Man." It is a healthy combination of truth and legend. The result has been the development of a fan base that is second to none. I'm glad you can't hear me choking as I write this, but it is still the truth. My personal athletic career reads much like a Greek tragedy, and my six decade long love affair with Baylor football has not given me much to cheer about. However, I can still recognize what an asset the "Twelfth Man" is to the eleven men who are on the field playing the game. The Aggie yell leaders are experts at whipping the spectators into a full-throated throng of active participants. They can be heard. They cannot be ignored. They make a difference.

I wish the same could be said of poor Matthias. He was chosen to be the "Twelfth Man" to round out the team roster of the eleven disciples. He got the position, but he never seems to have received the power to be a game changer. He was good man, and highly respected by his peers, but He just didn't happen to be God's man for the hour. Perhaps that is because, Jesus had already selected Paul to be the man who would take the place of the betrayer, Judas Iscariot.

Notice that the prayer offered up to the Lord gave proper deference to the Lord's prerogative to choose His own men. They prayed the right way, but they refused to wait for the right answer. They used a tried and true method for the selection of leadership, but it did not have the anointing of God on it. It was an early attempt of the church to put new wine in old wine skins. God was up to something new. The earnest but sincerely wrong disciples were using an old method to get a fresh movement. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is a form of insanity that has plagued the church for centuries.

Not to be too harsh on the disciples, their hearts were in the right place. They wanted to reach the world for Christ in obedience to the Great Commission they had received. They did the math and figured out that all they needed was one more man on the team to win the world. What they needed was the power and the Presence of the Holy Spirit. That is what they were put in the upper room to pray for and to wait for. In their impatience to get on with the work at hand, they turned a prayer room into a board room and a prayer meeting into a business meeting. Perhaps this is where we get the Landmark belief that the Baptist church can be traced all the way back to the first century. Talkin' and not prayin'! Just sayin' !

Some may disagree with my assessment, but Paul certainly believed he was the "Twelfth Man." He said, "And last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me did not prove vain, but I labored even more than all of them, yet, not I , but the grace of God with me." (I Cor. 15:7-10)

When I was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1974-1978, they were proudly pronouncing their newly achieved status as the world's largest seminary. One of the speakers at chapel brought a new perspective to this unique honor. He said to us, "Preachers are a lot like manure. When you spread 'em around they do some good. But when you get 'em all crammed into one place for too long, it can be a real mess." The students in the audience responded with good natured laughter, while the administration squirmed uncomfortably in their platform seats.

When I shared this story with my pastor, Dr. W. Fred Swank, he laughed and responded wryly, "God has to call three thousand of them to get one good one." He went on to say, "In the last 42 years I have called a bunch of them, and God has called a bunch. His bunch has always seemed to do better than mine." It was one of the most insightful pieces of information I have ever received on the call of God. When God's grace is placed on a person for ministry, there is a huge difference in the quality of the ministry that is accomplished. When His grace is withheld, His results are impossible to produce. Man made substitutes for God's grace may make a name for a minister or a ministry, but they do not make a world of difference.

The daily temptation of the earnest Christ follower is to get on with the task without getting with God. Praying and waiting til Pentecost is a model for contemporary disciples to follow. God calls us to Himself first, and then He empowers us for ministry. Get with God before you try to get on with His work.

Countdown

Praying til Pentecost Day 40

"These with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers." Acts 1:14

Made for TV movies usually include a classic scene in any hospital trauma drama. The camera pans the worried faces of people gathered in a hushed waiting room. The door of the operating area abruptly opens, startling the despondent and anxious people out of their seats. Out walks an exhausted physician dressed in hospital garb, fresh from his battle with the forces of death. He removes his mask, looks down at the ground and then into the eyes of the family and friends of the patient. Then he speaks the dreaded words, "Now, all we can do is pray!" The reaction is priceless. It ranges from shrieks of horror to sighs of hopelessness. The scene closes with despair and despondency plastered on the faces of the actors. The camera fades away along with the hope of those who had expected more from the masked, miracle man. AAAANNNND SCENE. That's a wrap.

There is one thing that is common to almost every Hollywood version of this scene. NO ONE EVER PRAYS! The doctor gives the prescription, but no one ever fills it. People are caught in the paralysis of analysis. They come to the reality that, "It has come to THIS?!" Prayer is not picked up as a weapon of warfare to prepare for victory, but the prelude to an impending disaster. The message is simple and clear. When people finally have to turn things over to God, and depend on Him to do something about it, then things must be really be out of control.

The Risen Christ walked for 40 days among His followers. His final words pointed His disciples to pray and wait for what only God could do. They would wait for ten days before they received The Promise of The Father. In the grand scheme of things, this was a short stint in God's waiting room. Even then, they had a difficult time staying on mission. Any kind of delay usually causes people to doubt God is going to really come through.

One of the more repeated maxims of Christianity is, "God is never late. He is always on time." I would suggest that there should be an addendum to this. "He is seldom early." Waiting on God is an exercise in believing in the dark what you knew to be true in the light. Doubting in the dark usually leads to some form of despondency. The picture of the disciples gathered in the upper room is a tremendous encouragement to me. They obeyed the last thing Jesus told them to do, and God honored their dependency on Him. They were in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.

Prayer has a way of turning despondency into desperation. That is a good thing. Desperation is not the same thing as despondency. Gasping for air, and sighing in despair are too different things. One leads to the victory of new life, the other wanders into the tall grass that hides the trap of victimization. When the disciples gathered in the upper room to face life without the Presence of the Risen Christ, they received the Presence of His Spirit. The same thing happens in the lives of believers today. Jesus promised that He would not leave His followers without a Comforter. The Comforter who comes to Christ followers is not a "baby blankie" for hopelessly despondent people. The Comforter brings an invasion of the character of Christ into the lives of people desperate for a courageous change that only the Holy Spirit can provide.

The key to victory is found in the desperate realization of our true condition. The safest place in the world is when we come to the place in life marked by the sign, "All we can do now is pray!"
 

Follow

Praying til Pentecost Day 39

"What is that to you? You follow Me!" John 21:22

Every generation tries to give new meaning to ancient words. When generations clash, the sparks usually fly around any change to venerable vocabulary. The surest sign of age taking hold in a persons life is their anger level at the introduction of new words to describe old beliefs. On the other hand, the clearest picture of an aging "hipster dufus" is the constant effort on his part to remain hip by patronizing the younger generation with his adept use of their language.

I remember trying to convince an aging pastor that he could no longer tell the young ladies of the church that he couldn't wait to "make love" to them. He was shocked, embarrassed, and not a little angry when I informed him what the words had come to mean. He had been a pastor of the same church for 42 years, and his intentions had remained honorable to the end. It was the meaning of the words that had changed, not the content of his character. It was a difficult encounter for both of us, and I still get a tightness in my chest thinking about this lesson in changing vocabulary.

In the past three years, I have become a fan of the Turner Classic Movies Channel. I have to admit that I need a glossary of terms to understand some of the lingo. When the old gangster movies roll out the thirties and forties jive talk, I find it quaint and a bit disturbing. Every generation thinks they were the first to discover a unique language. Listening to Cagney, Bogart, Robinson, and the rest of the gang using such rough and unknown tongues makes me laugh. "You dirty copper!" has really lost its sting over the years.

There are buzz words that come and go in every generation. Some have the shelf life of a bag of "Twinkies." Others have the life expectancy of a fruit fly. While they remain, they are marks of "with it" people. In junior high I remember there was a word, "JUSTICE." I don't know when it invaded the halls of Gaston Junior High in Dallas, Texas. I was not privy to the original unveiling or the press release of its definition. I just recall that it could be used as a response to almost anything. Shortly afterwards, it was replaced in Bryan Adams High School with, "RIGHTEOUS!" When someone gave you good news or you saw something you liked, the proper response was, "RIGHTEOUS!" Another phrase that marked the late sixties was, "RIGHT ON!" It was meant to voice agreement, and encouragement. Who can forget, "AWESOME, DUDE, TOTALLY, WHATEVER, CHICK, PSYCH, WOMEN'S LIB, THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT, IT NOT MY BAG, and many others expressions that have marked the hipster from the dipstick.

The church is not immune from the invasion of a new vocabulary. Today it is not enough to call oneself a Christian. That ancient word is no longer clear enough to point people to what you are saying about yourself. Now a person must be called a "Christ follower." Don't get me wrong. Actually, I like this expression. In 1960 I was a Southern Baptist kid growing up on Long Island, New York. To be a Christian in that culture simply meant that you were NOT Jewish. It is probably not a bad thing for the church to take a periodic review of its vocabulary and see if what they are saying is understood by the people around them.

The changing of words does not necessarily mean a changed life or a change in conditions. The doomed people on the "Titanic" could have spray painted "Unsinkable" over the name plate of the ship, but it was still going down. When denominations and churches change their names, they would be wise to make sure a substantive change is taking place along with the stationery.

The Risen Christ did not change his vocabulary for His followers. He pointed them to their roots. The first words Jesus spoke to the men he called to be His disciples, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19) His last words spoken to the same men on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. "Follow Me!" had to be a flash back to their first response to the same words they heard from Him three years earlier..

The words "follow me" mean today what they meant then. Jesus still says to His followers, "Accompany Me, join Me, walk with Me, come here after Me." Fellowship with Jesus is still all about "followship." It is not enough to take on the title of "Christ follower." From generation to to generation there must be evidence of the time spent actually following Christ.

How much time are we talking about here? The answer is based on how much of a difference do His followers want Jesus to make in their lives. Peter wanted to make sure that he would not be called to do more than the guy next to him. The Risen Lord rebuked Peter when he asked, "What about John?" Jesus called Peter to follow Him regardless of what was asked of John or anyone else. Christ followers are always focused on the sense of direction that only Jesus can provide. They are not influenced by the Christian celebrity of the moment or the book of the month. They take their marching orders from "The Way, The Truth and The Life." They focus their eyes on Jesus and move toward the sound of His voice. This journey begins with a first step, but it is not so much about a destination as it is about a destiny.

Practicing His Presence is still the best way to follow Jesus. His Spirit provides His Presence. "Praying til Pentecost" is not a mere fifty day journey. It is a call to a life time of followship. Praying prepares our hearts for a life time of waiting on God, and following His Son.