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My Two Cents
by Rev Chuck Behrens
January - February, 2014
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Past Articles |
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Not long ago I was
conducting a workshop at Hospice House right on Lake Erie. We had our work
all spread out across the tables we were working on. The tables became
messier and messier as the day went on. You know how those meetings go.
And, after several hours of our, shall we say hot air, the room was ready
for some ventilation. So a couple of fellows went over and opened the
windows real wide, and oh that felt good. And then, a big Lake breeze came
up and blew through the room. Some people thought the wind was just what
we needed. But some of our work started to blow around, and some thought
it was suddenly too cool. One man got up and loudly slammed those windows
shut! It seems as if there are always those who want to shut the window
when the wind is starting to blow.
Isaiah 43:18. God says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the
past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive
it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Now, it
seems like what God is saying here is, "Don't get stuck in the past. Don't
get stuck in the way God has 'always done it'." He says, "Don't dwell on
the past; forget those former things. I've got a whole new thing I want to
do. I've started doing it. Can't you see it?" He often has this new thing
He wants to do because He's very creative. He doesn't stay inside our
boxes we build for Him. He seldom repeats himself. The problem is that we
are what I call "rutnicks". We get into a rut and we stay there.
I heard about a road in Northern Canada once. It's actually kind of where
the roads run out and there's a big sign there that says, "Choose your rut
carefully; you will be in it for the next 50 miles." Well, that's pretty
much like we are. We get in this rut, and we stay in it for at least 50
miles. We're "rutnicks".
We get into a way of thinking that God is always going to work. We get
into a status quo and we hang onto it for dear life. The problem is that
the wind of the Holy Spirit is blowing through, trying to rearrange things
and refresh things. We get a wind of change and we get up and shut the
window. Maybe God's trying to do a new thing in your life and you're still
trying to hang on to the status quo. At one time that status quo was God's
new thing. But now He's got something different. He's got greater plans
for you now. It might be a little risky, but it's so much bigger, so much
better. New Years are a great time for that, huh?
I know that God is trying to stir His people right now for revival, but
we've got Him in our denominational boxes, our theological boxes: He's
always going to sound like this. We've got methodological boxes: He's
always going to operate like this. He's going to operate within these
boundaries. I think God wants to explode into our lives as believers in
powerful ways that we've never dreamed of or we've never experienced. In
worship He wants to do a new thing. In your family He wants to do it a new
way. In our witness He wants to wake us up to the lost. In supernatural
results He wants to deliver something new instead of the best that we can
think up with a little assist from God. He wants to take us into a new
significance of our life, as our life becomes more eternalized as we
become involved in His rescue mission on earth. He's saying, "I don't want
you to just sit around and be a receiver. I want you to be a giver. I'm
doing a new thing."
Be open to that new wind of the Holy Spirit. "Forget the old things" He
says, "and open up to the streams that He wants to make in the desert. Is
the Spirit trying to blow through your life, your church, or your
organization with a bold, new breeze? Well, don't slam the window! Or any
real NEWNESS that 2014 will unfold before you. Happy New Year! INSURE IT
now that He ASSURES IT!
See you in Church,
Rev. Chuck
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