Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

I try to recommend only the very best of the best in terms of books to read. Three books that I think every believer should read are The Shack by Paul Young (mentioned recently), Dialogue with God by Mark and Patti Virkler, and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero. I can't emphasize enough the potential for transformation that is contained in this last book.

Pete Scazzero does a masterful job of blending principles that lead to genuine emotional health with the disciplines of contemplative spirituality in a way that can literally change your life even if you have been stuck for years and years. Let me quote from the cover of the book. "The Christian faith is supposed to produce deep, positive change, isn't it? So why doesn't it seem to work in real life? This question screamed at Pastor Peter Scazzero when his church and marriage hit bottom and every 'Christian' remedy he tried produced nothing but more anger and fatigue. As he began digging under the 'good Christian' veneer, he discovered emotional layers of his life that God had not touched--layers he had carefully tried to conceal from everyone. The resulting emotional immaturity had left him spiritually immature--and it nearly cost him everything. But for Scazzero, finally realizing the critical link between emotional and spiritual health turned the failure of his dreams into the beginning of a journey that would forever change him, his church and his relationships."

Okay, so I know that every Christian book claims to be life-transforming! But this one really is. Get this book, read it and then let me know what you think. I don't believe you can read this book with an open heart and mind and not be changed.

And now, on another note, I ran across the following as I was cleaning out some files. Call it "Reflections on Brokenness." These are all from my "Secret Place" Journal.

From December 25, 2006

Ah, Father, as I look at your face, I see how your love is indeed steadfast and constant. It is your most powerful weapon, pushing inexorably into every crevice of our lives and hearts. And it will always pursue, always reach. But it only reaches into the hearts of the broken, the humble, the soft. If we are broken, the oil of your love can seep down into the cracks. If we are soft, the oil makes a softer still, seeping down into the pores of our lives as lanolin does into leather.

Ah, Father! Brokenness seems inescapable! Second Corinthians 4:10-12 drills me with its clarity and inclusiveness. Paul's "we" here seems to include every believer, and to the degree that we can embrace "dying," to that degree we are life-bearers: "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed (manifested) in our body. For we who are alive or always been given over to death for Jesus sake (through, because of Jesus), so let his life may be revealed (manifested) in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life isn't working you." -- And all this is possible only because of what we find in the context on both sides of these verses: gazing upon your glory; and eschewing any confidence and self; renouncing shameful, and deceitful ways; incomparably great power in us; faith; daily inner renewal; eternal, unseen perspective.

And how do we live like this? Part of the answer is below from a word to me on January 16, 2007.

"Yes, little one, to whatever extent you choose to trust in your own ability or understanding, to that extent my work, my power is diminished. You cannot force anything, you can only follow. That is why Finney, Wigglesworth, and others would minister -- indeed live life -- only when they knew that my anointing was fully upon them."

May we all find the journey into emotionally healthy brokenness!

Tom, the least of Abba's children.

Simple Church--One Stream of Several

I thought that I would actually write about simple church this week! Actually, I am writing about simple church as part of a larger picture that I know many of you also see and which I wrote about in my very first post back in February.

What triggered my return to musing about simple church? Several things. First, I recently read a book that addresses with wonderful clarity and creativity issues such as intimacy with God, what the real church looks like, etc. The book is called The Shack, and Eugene Peterson suggests that this book may become the Pilgrim's Progress of our generation. And although I have a few reservations about some of the theology (on page 136 the author has God saying that cancer is "good" for some people--something I don't buy for a moment but understand why he says it in the context), I do recommend that you read it and wrestle with it (it will definitely stretch you!). You can order pre-release copies at the author's website www.theshackbook. com.
The second thing that triggered my musings is that I started a simple church (designed ultimately to train and release several simple church leaders). As we have started to grow together as a group and have started hearing one another's stories, it has become obvious that God has brought us together around more than just meeting in a home or doing church in a simpler, more participatory format. Again, the same themes that I have been discerning for quite some time are arising again: intimacy, simplicity, supernatural ministry, ministry in the marketplace, a fresh wave of emphasis upon inner healing and deliverance, etc. Hmmm, I think God might be saying something right now...!
The third thing that triggered my musing was a picture that the Lord gave to me during my time with Him this morning. I saw a river delta with many streams flowing out of one large river that was coming out of some mountains far away. The delta ended in a dead lake, like the Dead Sea. People were moving out from the dead lake upstream on the various streams to green areas where the water was good and there was life, not death. Many of them stopped along the way and camped not too far along the streams, far from the source which was much higher up. It seemed that many of the people camped once the conditions improved enough for them to survive. This did not seem to be what was intended for them, though, and some people pressed on farther and higher to where the water was purer and "wilder" and the air cleaner, where everything got better and better. As I looked at main river, I could see that as far as my vision extended upstream whatever I saw became "more and better." I also saw that some who camped along one of the streams actually built tall, white edifices. I am thinking that perhaps they have built these edifices to heal the people who are on the journey before they continue on upstream. But I fear that some of them have built these edifices because they did not see what was farther up -- they could not see that their stream was only one part of a much larger picture.

Now here's my interpretation of what I saw. I think that this picture represents what God is doing in the church, and simple church, the return to intimacy, the restoration of the supernatural, the restoration of marketplace ministry, etc. each represent only parts of what God is up to right now. And although some people may indeed be called to camp along the way in order to heal folks on the journey to farther in and higher up, God's desire is for most to continue on upstream where the smaller streams merge into His larger purposes. I also believe there are also some of us, hopefully many of us, who are called to keep on climbing higher without stopping and from that perspective to encourage and admonish others to continue on the journey and not settle for just one small stream when a River is flowing farther along. Just a thought!

Before I saw the picture this morning, the Lord said to me, "I am challenging all of my children to ask me to close the gap between my Word and your experience. Let the tension between Word and experience call you to faith, to ruthless inquiry. Remember, child, that I told you more than once that everything that can be shaken will be shaken, and that includes your theology and paradigms. But don't ever be afraid, beloved son, because you will know in ‘your knower’ that it is I! The best is yet far ahead of you, but you are right on track." So what do you think? Is there more than one stream? Are we all supposed to be careful not to settle along the lower places? I wonder...

Stay lost in His love,

Tom, the least of Abba's children

p.s. Let me know what you think of The Shack!

Removing Some Common Obstacles to Healing

I promised last week to write up some of the lessons we learned as we prayed for people for healing in Brazil. Please note that I write as a novice in all this; there is much that is still a mystery to me (and mystery will always be a part of our walk with God, of course). But there were five things that seemed to pop up a lot as we prayed for people which once addressed allowed God's healing touch to flow into people's lives. I want to share these briefly in the event that they may prove useful to you. I will list the five obstacles and then turn them around into positive things we can encourage people with as we pray for them.

The five hindrances we saw were 1) unforgiveness; 2) hidden, unconfessed sin; 3) idolatry (trust in something other than God or unrenounced allegiance to other entities); 4) curses put upon the person by someone else or even themselves; 5) unbelief (failing to recognize God's goodness). Now let's turn these into positive steps for receiving healing. I will put these in the second person because I am quite certain that some of them may apply to you :-)

First, forgive everyone you can think of--anyone who has ever hurt you. The Bible is quite clear that failure to forgive others hinders the flow of God's forgiveness to us (see, for example, Matthew 6:14-15, 18:21-35, Mark 11:25 and others) and surely this means that other things from God will be hindered as well. But many people have been hurt deeply and repeatedly by others and find it difficult to forgive. What do we say to people, for example, who were repeatedly abused physically and/or sexually as children? What I have discovered is that for severely hurt people, explaining that forgiveness is a process that can start now but will continue for as long as necessary helps them to see their first decision to forgive as just a first small step in a journey that God will faithfully take them on. Another huge help that I used often in Brazil was simply to pray for the person, asking God to heal their broken heart enough for them to start the forgiveness process. Time and again when I did this with someone, the Holy Spirit would come upon them, they would start weeping profusely and then reach a point of release where they were indeed able to forgive. This should not surprise us, of course, since Jesus will indeed always supply what we need to obey Him, so if He tells us to forgive others, He will enable us to forgive others.
Also in the area of forgiveness, be sure to include forgiveness for self. Anyone who hasn't forgiven him/herself for something can't possibly feel worthy of receiving any blessing from the Lord.
Try this, folks! It works. I cannot recount how many folks received physical healing or deep inner healing and deliverance after forgiving those in their lives who had hurt them.

Second, bring out into the light any unconfessed sin. Again, scripture speaks of this with clarity; see James 5:14-16. I have pondered this much--why do we need to confess our sins in order to be healed? Aren't we forgiven already? Yes, of course Jesus died for all of our sins, and they are all covered by His sacrifice (even the ones you haven't committed yet!). But when we fail to bring our sins out into the light they have a way of eating away at our faith for healing. Hidden stuff seems to cause a general sense of unworthiness to hang over people. And my experience with most folks is that, at least in the North American church, we don't really confess our sins at all--not even to God (as mentioned in 1 John 1:9). Thus we have this hidden backlog of guilt and shame that needs to be brought out into the light.
Again, try this! Especially in the area of inner healing and deliverance, and even for physical healing, we found that many people were healed once things were brought out into the light through confession.

Third, renounce any allegiances to "other gods." In Brazil this often meant having people renounce past involvement in various forms of witchcraft or the occult either personally or by a family member. Even in the US renouncing occult involvement is becoming increasingly necessary (I am sure you know this!). And beyond that, Paul even defines greed as idolatry (Ephesians 5:5), so I encourage folks to renounce anything that they have put their confidence in besides God (hmm, what am I really trusting in????). In this area especially, I encourage you to ask God for discernment when praying for people. Many times people don't know that great grandpa was a Freemason or that grandma used to dabble in the occult, etc., but the Holy Spirit knows and will reveal these facts as we listen to Him!
Again, untold numbers of times, healing came only when people renounced ties and allegiances with the occult, with witchcraft, etc.


Fourth, break any curses that others or even you yourself have placed upon you. In Brazil, many times we had to trust the Holy Spirit to reveal curses put upon someone by a relative, an enemy, etc. It is no different anywhere else. Even in the US, although witchcraft type curses may not be as common, I have discovered that many people were cursed repeatedly by words spoken over them (for example: "You are always sick!" "You are so worthless!" "You won't ever amount to anything!" etc.). Curses, regardless of their origin or type, do hinder the flow of God's healing (inner and physical), but they are easily dealt with. I wrote about one example of this in my longer Brazil report. My partner and I were getting nowhere in praying with a lady until she remembered that her husband's mother was a witch. Once she revealed that, we broke any curses off of her in Jesus' name, and she was very powerfully touched by God.

Finally, ask God to reveal His goodness to you! Most unbelief boils down to us not trusting in the love, kindness and goodness of God. And since someone's faith, at least, is required for God to release His gifts, it's important for us to eliminate unbelief by asking for a increasing revelation of the wonderfully blessing character of God. To the extent that a person is convinced that God truly is loving and totally good, to that extent that person will trust God for healing. If there's any doubt that God wants to bless, wants to heal, wants to reveal His goodness, then healing is usually hindered. Note, too, that this unbelief may not be on the part of the person receiving prayer. If the one praying is not totally convinced of God's goodness and God is requiring faith from the one praying (which He does!) then how will healing happen? Now here's the good news: God won't require more faith from you than you currently have, whether you are the one praying or the one being prayed for. And I have discovered that we can literally pray as I have suggested: "God reveal more of your goodness; Holy Spirit pour your love into his/her heart!" God always seems eager to answer that kind of prayer, and as He does, faith for healing rises to meet God's goodness and healing occurs.

Obviously, I could write much more about this (which in fact, I am doing), but my prayer is that this will be a good start for you in seeing some common hindrances to healing being removed from your life and from the lives of those you pray for. Let us hear from you, please, as to your experiences once you put these into practice--I know we will hear many good reports!

Until next time, stay lost in His love,

Tom, Abba's least child

Reflections From My Brazil Trip

Thank you to any who read this blog and who prayed for me during my trip to Brazil. Below is the first part of my reflections from the trip. You can download a 4 page version of my reflections from my web site, or email me for a longer version.

Tom’s Up Front Note: These notes are personal reflections and are not in any way intended to promote me or what happened in and through me. I am deeply humbled that God should have touched anyone through me, and I recognize that I am a mere toddler in the supernatural realm. Others on the team saw far more happen than I did, and I truly rejoice with them. But I wanted and needed to make a personal reflection. And some folks requested a copy of this simply because of their interest in the things of God. Soli Deo gloria! (Latin for “To God alone be the glory”).

Trip Overview: A total of 80 team members, including Gary and Kathi and their support staff went to Brazil to train pastors and leaders in healing the sick, deliverance and inner healing and to leave an impartation for accessing the supernatural realm more fully, etc. We served the people of Brazil in two locations: Joinville (sponsored by a Foursquare Church) and Londrina (sponsored by Casa de Davi). We also visited a couple of orphanages in Joinville and received impartation and teaching in Londrina from Mike Shea and the others who are part of Casa de Davi (an incredible prophetic ministry in Londrina that focuses on preparing the Bride of Christ and emphasizes 24/7 worship, etc.).

Sessions each day included training/ministry sessions for pastors and leaders in the morning and more general teaching and healing sessions in the evenings. We concluded our time in each city with impartation services where we laid hands on people for impartation, starting with the pastors..

General Personal Reflections

The level of worship and the level of God’s power were something I have never, ever experienced! I learned more about healing, deliverance and inner healing in these two weeks than I had in the previous 10 years—it was like an ultimately accelerated course. All of us also received several personal impartations—I spent almost all of my time on the floor worshiping, repenting, receiving, etc.

God did some amazingly deep healing work in my own life even as He flowed through me to minister to Brazilian people and to some of the team members. One huge breakthrough for me personally was a revelation of God’s love for me that was more complete than any I have ever previously experienced. The combination of others loving on me and praying for me (especially some young ladies from Dallas and Dave Duggan’s prayer one afternoon) plus deep encounters with God while in worship and while alone, brought some kind of breakthrough that I am still processing. Another surprising thing that happened to me was that I was asked to be one of four speakers in Londrina, speaking to four different churches on four successive nights. God had told me that I would be speaking in Brazil, but I didn’t believe Him until Gary came up and asked me to speak. I am humbled and awed by God’s favor and trust that something of God’s goodness flowed through me.

Personal Lessons Learned

• I am more convinced than ever that everything flows out of ever increasing intimacy with Papa God!
• I am in anguish for the US church after experiencing what I did in the sponsoring church in Joinville. Rare indeed is the US church that enjoys the level of freedom and power that I saw in Joinville.
• I continue to be challenged by God to minister only from the place of His compassion. I am appalled at how easily distracted I am while ministering to people so that I lose sight of God’s compassion. I am convinced that if we can minister from a place of rest deep within the Father’s heart, flowing in His compassion, we will see our faith rise to unprecedented levels that see the full release of God’s Kingdom power.
• I will never be the same because of the repentance Mike Shea brought us to and because of the impartations I received from Gary and Kathi, from Davi Silva and from the Casa de Davi team and from other members of our ministry team.
• I marvel at the many Kingdom connections that came on this trip for so many of us: Mike , a college professor (department head) was one; my roommate, Drew, was another, etc. I know beyond any doubt that this trip was the specific one I was supposed to be part of—something many others would also say.

Corporate Lessons Learned

• The reality of the spiritual world was brought into bold relief during this trip. Western Christians are generally terribly naïve about how real the invisible world is and how it is the primary source of influence on our lives. This truth was brought home in a myriad of ways: the obvious spiritual conflict that was occurring all the time; the need for deliverance and breaking witchcraft before healing could occur, the teachings by Mike Shea; the presence of angels and the abundance of supernatural visions, words, revelation, etc. Wow!
• The connection between the emotional, the spiritual and the physical became undeniably clear. I cannot recall praying for anyone who was physically healed who did not need to forgive someone or renounce something or have something broken off of them. Everyone seemed to need at least one of these, if not all of them, before being able to receive healing (physical or inner).
• Mike Shea’s teachings on praying for the transformation of a city, on the Lord’s prayer, on the worship of the four living creatures need to be heard by everyone! Too much here to recount, but I plan to make his messages available to everyone (he gave us permission to do so).
• The connection between unbridled worship—led by true worshipers—and the spiritual breakthrough that follows was forever cemented in my heart.
• The need for everyone to continue to experience in deeper ways the Father’s love was also powerfully brought home to me. Related to this is our own need to minister only from love and compassion. I can’t count the number of people who asked me to pray for them to have the same kind of love and compassion that they saw in me, and I am just a tiny beginner in this!
• Faith is a matter of the heart, not the head, and faith is something we must grow into. I know in my head that God wanted to heal people in wheelchairs, the blind, the little 5 year old paralyzed girl that I prayed for, but the level of faith in my heart wasn’t there yet. But growing confidence in the goodness of God, coupled with what healing we do experience, causes faith to move from head to heart. “More, Lord, more—for your honor and for the blessing of your people!”
• Listening to the Holy Spirit is the most important part of praying for folks, whether for physical healing, inner healing or deliverance. I find that I am often too quick to start talking or asking questions of the person rather than tuning in to what the Spirit is saying. “Change me, O Lord!”
• Every miracle is a wonderful kiss of love from a loving Father and a lesson to be learned from (as Pastor Bill Johnson often reminds us!).

I will write next time about what I learned about some hindrances to healing that we saw as we prayed for people. For now, I am off to a week of vacation!

Stay lost in God's love.

Tom, Abba's least child.

The Shield of Faith?

     I leave for Brazil tomorrow for two weeks of "signs, wonders and miracles" in Joinville and Londrina (near Sao Paulo). I am one of 80 team members going down with Gary and Kathi Oates (their website can be found at www.garyoates.com). Before I leave, here's a thought that came to me as I was memorizing Psalm 91 (at God's nudging). This thought completely rearranged my thinking about the armor of God mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18.
     Psalm 91:4b says, "His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." That started me thinking about the "shield of faith" that Paul mentions in Ephesians 6:16 as the means by which we can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the enemy. I have always thought that this referred to my/our faith, but a quick study of the word "shield" in the Old Testament revealed that Paul was almost certainly not thinking about our faith but rather God's faithfulness. In the Old Testament, either God or one of His attributes is always the shield for God's people, not their faith. And since the Greek word in Ephesians 6:16 can just as easily be translated "faithfulness" as it can be translated "faith," and since the OT references to shield were probably foremost in Paul's mind (Paul was filled with Scripture), I am thinking that Paul had God's faithfulness--not our faith--in mind when he told us to take up the shield.
     Some of you may be thinking, "Why make a big deal about this minor difference?" Let me elaborate... If my faith (or perhaps "our faith") is what shields me from the enemy, I am in deep trouble. Why do I say that? Because my/our faith seems to be fairly small potatoes compared to the infinite faithfulness of God! We are told often in Scripture that God's faithfulness reaches to the skies, is endless, etc. So...which shield would you prefer: your faith or His faithfulness? One that is limited to your earthly perception of things or one that reaches to the skies? (His favor, according to Psalm 5:12, also surrounds us as a shield--I like that one, too!).
     For me this insight was huge! Instead of trusting in my ability to work up faith to fend off the enemy's attacks, I simply get to rest in God's faithfulness. My faith is therefore a response to God's infinite trustworthiness, and this shifts my emphasis from me and my very limited perspective to an infinite God with infinite knowledge, love and power. Personally, I prefer to have God between me and the devil, not my personal ability to believe or trust God. I am thinking that you will agree with that.
     So...when you suit up with your armor (I recommend doing so each day), may I suggest that you try this new, much larger shield? I am quite certain you will find its protection much more to your liking.
     Pray for my trip, please, for God to hugely bless the Brazilians we serve and for Him to pour out love and power through all of us. Thanks!

Stay lost in His love (or get lost in it if you haven't already!).

Tom, the least of Abba's children

Intimacy and Mission (part 3)

Meet Thomas R. Kelly.
Thomas R. Kelly wrote a number of essays before his death in 1941 that were collected into a book entitled A Testament of Devotion. Many years ago I tried to read this book, but I was unable to understand what the author was talking about! Now, years later, as I have been drawn into a growing place of intimacy with the Lord Jesus, I am beginning to understand just a little bit of what this man wrote about so many years ago.

For most of his life, like me, Thomas Kelly was a very driven man. But in the last few years before his death at age 47, he discovered a way of life that brought amazing peace, a life of intimacy with God that he wrote about during those last years. The little collection of essays that he left behind has encouraged, inspired and changed many people. Let me introduce you to just a few thoughts from this remarkable man, yet another person who discovered that "mission" flows from intimacy.

In an essay entitled "The Simplification of Life" he says the following.

Many of the things we are doing seem so important to us. We haven't been able to say No to them, because they seemed so important. But if we center down, as the old phrase goes, and live in that holy silence which is dearer than life, and take our life program into the silent places of the heart, with complete openness, ready to do, ready to renounce according to His leading, then many of the things we are doing lose their vitality for us. I should like to testify to this, as a personal experience, graciously given. There is a re-evaluation of much that we do or try to do, which is done for us, and we know what to do and what to let alone.

Let me talk very intimately and very earnestly with you about Him who is dearer than life. Do you really want to live your lives, every moment of your lives, in His Presence? Do you long for Him, crave Him? Do you love His Presence? Does every drop of blood in your body love Him? Does every breath you draw breathe a prayer, a praise to Him? Do you sing and dance within yourselves, as you glory in His love? Have you set yourself to be his, and only his, walking every moment in holy obedience? I know I'm talking like an old-time evangelist. But I can't help that, nor dare I restrain myself and get prim and conventional. The fires of the love of God, of our love toward God, and of His love toward us, are very hot. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength." Do we really do it? Is love steadfastly directed toward God, in our minds, all day long? Do we intersperse our work with gentle prayers and praises to Him? Do we live in the steady peace of God, a peace down at the very depths of our souls, where all strain is gone and God is already victor over the world, already victor over our weaknesses? This life, this abiding, enduring peace that never fails, this serene power and unhurried conquest, inward conquest over ourselves, outward conquest over the world, is meant to be ours. It is a life that is freed from strain and anxiety and hurry, for something of the Cosmic Patience of God becomes ours. Are our lives unshakable, because we are clear down on bedrock, rooted and grounded in the love of God? This is the first and the great commandment.

Do you want to live in such an amazing divine Presence that life is transformed and transfigured and transmuted into peace and power and glory and miracle? If you do, then you can. But if you say you haven't the time to go down into the re-creating silences, I can only say to you, "Then you don't really want to, you don't yet love God above all else in the world, with all your heart and soul and mind and strength." For, except for spells of sickness in the family and when the children are small, when terrific pressure comes upon us, we can find time for what we really want to do.

There is a way of life so hidden with Christ in God that in the midst of the day's business one is inwardly lifting brief prayers, short expressions of praise, subdued whispers of adoration and a tender love to the Beyond that is within. No one need know about it. I only speak to you because it is a sacred trust, not mine but to be given to others. One can live in a well-nigh continuous state of unworded prayer, directed toward God, directed toward people and enterprises we have on our heart. There is no hurry about it all; it is a life unspeakable and full of glory, and the inner world of splendor within which we, unworthy, may live. Some of you know it and live in it; others of you may wistfully long for it; it can be yours.

Now out from such a holy center come the commissions of life. Our fellowship with God issues in world-concern. We cannot keep the love of God to ourselves. It spills over. It quickens us. It makes us see the world's needs anew. We love people and we grieve to see them blind when they might be seeing, asleep with all the world's comforts when they ought to be awake and living sacrificially, accepting the world's goods as their right when they really hold them only in temporary trust. It is because from this holy Center we re-love people, re-love our neighbors as ourselves, that we are bestirred to be means of their awakening. The deepest need of men is not food and clothing and shelter, important as they are. It is God. We have mistaken the nature of poverty, and thought it was economic poverty. No, it is poverty of soul, deprivation of God's re-creating, loving peace.


Well, that's enough for this post. Perhaps I have written enough to pique your interest in this man's writings. Note well I do not endorse everything he writes in this book--he is too generous at times in his opinion of men apart from Christ (typical for Quakers of his period). But his experience of the Presence of Jesus and his call to make intimacy with Him the center of everything, commend his works to all who wish to live life from the Center as God intended.

Grace to you,

Tom, the least of Abba's children.

Intimacy and Mission (part 2)

The following is a continuing of the thought from my last post and also the concluding part of my longer article on this topic. You can download the entire article at my website listed in the links to the left.

It’s fairly common these days to hear the Western Church compared to the Church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22). There we read of a lukewarm church whose works are neither hot nor cold. It is a church which is deceived into thinking it’s healthy because of external appearances while it is in fact living in abject spiritual poverty. I personally don’t doubt that there are many parallels between the contemporary Western church and the Laodicean church: materialism, consumerism, self-centeredness, lack of mission, etc., all jump out as we read this passage. But I have yet to hear anyone suggest the solution that Jesus suggests for the Laodiceans’ desperate condition. Usually when someone addresses the problems of the Western Church they speak of a return to being missional or a change in structure or something similar. The general thought seems to be that that if we can just change the behavior of Western believers and get them to try harder then the Church will become healthy.

There are two problems with this solution: First, it’s not the solution Jesus offers; second, because of reason number one, it won’t work!

So what solution does Jesus extend to the Laodicean believers? In a phrase: a return to intimacy. After describing the Laodicean problem in verses 15-17, Jesus counsels His people to come to Him to get true riches, clothing and healing (v. 18 His words here echo Isaiah 55:1-3), to return to Him in response to His loving rebuke (19), and to open the doors of their hearts in a return to intimate fellowship with Him (20). Interestingly, return to intimacy with Him is also the solution Jesus gives to the very “missional” and active Church in Ephesus (3:1-7)! This certifies that a mere return to mission won’t solve our problem!

It is quite plain, I trust, why we need to apply Jesus’ solution to His broken Western Church. A mere change of behavior or even a change of format (wineskin) will not cure our desperately bankrupt condition. Without a return to experienced, continuing intimacy with God, the best we can hope for is a new wineskin full of striving, discontented Christians living in uncomfortably close community with one another, trying unsuccessfully to fulfill a mission that has always required intimacy with God at its very core.

Does anyone else out there hear Jesus’ invitation? “Here I am! I stand at the door of your heart knocking, waiting for entrance into the deepest parts of your life. If you will just open the door, I will come in and we will share the deepest and richest of foods together in the most intimate of settings!” (Revelation 3:20 TW paraphrase)

Drawing closer...

Tom, the least of Abba's children