I Don’t Know!

I remember our first youth pastorate position, in Kansas City in1979.  An official from that denomination we were a part of, came to teach us the ethics of being a pastor.  The main point was, Never Admit you don’t know the answer or show weakness!  If someone asks a question that you don’t know the answer, affirm them that their question is a great one, then instruct them to research until we meet again next week.  In the mean time this gives you the time to find the answer.  This was a tough one for me to swallow because I felt dishonesty and taking a position of superiority was wrong.

Being my first pastoral position, there was a ton I did not know.  So my insecurity of not knowing much along with the pressure to pretend exhausted me. 

I’ve always been driven to learn more and discover answers, and am constantly pushed to stretch and grow to be more capable of serving people.  But more importantly, within this scary space of honesty and choosing to pretend, lies the chance of missing a divine moment.  In this terrorizing moment, I now believe it’s a set up for the miraculous.

In my life I’ve always wondered if I could find a Scripture that gives me guidance and direction to hear the whisper, feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit?  Is there a Scripture telling me what to do to cover my blind spots and experience something glorious?

I’ve gained great insights from Romans 8 on this subject.  Paul says that we know that all of creation is frustrated by its’ bondage and decay, and groans for the sons of God to discover their redemptive and restorative calling to be agents of freedom, wholeness and change.

Later Paul says, and we know that all things work together for the good to those who love Him and are called to His purposes.

But wedged in between all of this knowing, Paul says, but I don’t know how to pray!  Then he goes on to say, but the Holy Spirit knows the prayers of the Father and anxiously waits to pray them for us and through us!  Reading this I am trying to put myself in Paul’s shoes and grasp how this new found truth must be bouncing around the edges of his mind?

Do you see this in between spot of Not Knowing Something, and Admitting It? Paul discovered the potential of stepping into this insecure place that would become the very spot of God’s Glory, just from honestly admitting you Don’t Know!

Imagine a desperate, low moment becoming a magic moment from simply and openly stepping into this in-between place!  Paul knows much about his past, present and future; but in this very honest, vulnerable place, he refuses to pretend and admits, I Don’t Know!

Imagine never allowing yourself to go to this in-between place with no frame of reference of the Glory of God sweeping you off of your feet, taking your breath away, where the miraculous encounters that embarrassing place of insecurity.  It has to be from experience that Paul says, “In my weakness He is made strong!”

So, Paul doesn’t know how to pray, verbalizes his dilemma, pauses, takes the leap, and here comes the Holy Spirit with a prayer purely from Father. 

Reminds me of the time Brennan Manning put his hands softly on each side of Carol’s face, during a hurtful stuck place in her life.  As he looked into her eyes he said, “The Father is so very fond of You!”  These wondrous, surprising words became the marker that propelled her forward in her journey of healing, wholeness and hope.

What do you think keeps you from going to that place of, I Don’t Know?

Have you ever had trouble hearing God’s voice in seeking direction or making a major decision? 

Don’t let self ever keep you from admitting, I Don’t Know!

Dry Places

We walked the Camino through Spain.  Using our guide book for direction, we were able to make it to the next resting place to refill our water bottles.  Running out of energy, one of the most painful moments was arriving and seeing a sign, Water Unsafe to Drink!  Dehydrated and Dry, we were forced to keep going in spite of our unwelcome situation!

Have you ever found yourself in a dry place?  Mt.12:43 says the devil seeks out dry places...  

But Jn. 4 it says when we turn our dry places into worship and setting ourselves toward God, we discover that the Holy Spirit is attracted to water, and causes rivers of living waters to overflow our dry places!

So, If the devil's getting ready to walk your property, pull out your water hose.  Get ready for a miracle and listen for the sound of the abundance of water and watch your dry places transformed into an oasis!

Where Is The King?

Where is the King? Where is the King?
All eyes on the throne
yet where is the King?
Isn't this where He ought to be sitting?
Observing His Kingdom
His face, strong, stoic and statuesque
A testament to holy silence
Enthroned in heaven upon glory, eternally vibrant
Where then is the King?
heavens throne abandoned
How can this be?

Don't be afraid
O eyes do you see?
Behold the King walks
He walks among the living
Ruler of all, his residence among the
Unseen, unheard and unknown
No crown, no scepter, only royal humility

Feet muddied by desert clay, knee deep in poverty
The same knees bent to reach the oppressed
The broken, sick and abused
To His right and His left
Gentle hands outstretched
Near to the brokenhearted and grieving
Behold, Our King, the Lord, with them He is weeping
Divine tears mingled in the dust of human pain
Eye to eye with the lame, perfection close enough to the guilty, daring to be stained
Majesty meeting men in the midst of their shame

Our King stirred by compassion, Love led Him to action
The Most High swept low
What no mind could imagine
A kingdom brought to life by death
!For the King rose, freeing Grace to ascend
His reign established by what He gave not by what He took
It was Love's pain that unlocked Heaven's gates
Open to all, The Kingdom awaits

For He is infinitely more connected to you
than He is to His crown
And should your voice cry out,
to his throne He's not bound
Surely He shall come, should His children cry out

God close the distance, extinguish the dark
come near o King of Kings,
Come near to our hearts

God close the distance, extinguish the dark
Come near o King of Kings
Be King of our Hearts!

Fear! Really?

As I was reading Hebrews 4:1, it seemed to jump off of the page at me; “Let us fear lest you miss the promise that comes from entering His rest, and you come up short of entering it.”  “Let us fear?” Doesn’t  God say, “Fear Not, be not dismayed, for I with you!” and, “we have not been given a spirit of fear, but love, power and a sound mind!” but this text says, “Let us fear!”  The Message Bible says, this resting in Him pulls us on to His goal for us, so we should fear that we are disqualified or miss out.

This is not a contradiction but a collaboration of truth.  Which means….there are things you are not to be afraid of.,… “don’t be afraid of their faces, I will make your face like flint!  Stand Up against them!  But there other things that we should Fear!

So what should we fear?  My first thought was, death.  But I’m not afraid of death as long as I live first.  What I’m afraid of is if I live without living!  The worst thing would be to live and die like the Children of Israel in the wilderness, and not go in and possess the promised land. 

Carol and I see so many people living life with uncertainty, no purpose, not sure, would have done it different, could have had it, afraid of success or just not even trying!

I know we all grow up hearing, Don’t run up there!  Don’t touch that!  Don’t do that, you’ll fall!  But….to live and die and not know your purpose?  Settle for mediocrity?  Settle for less because you are more afraid of your opposition than the One who empowers you to be Amazing!

So what I believe the writer in Hebrews is saying, you need to fear living life by just existing.  I can’t imagine any of you living and dying without fulfilling all you were created to be! 

Think about this question: What leaves people stuck in a place where they never touch what they were called to do or be?  Is it intimidation?  I don’t thing so!  I believe it’s refusing to dare to live life fully alive.  It’s failing to get up everyday ready to fight against the fear of falling short of your greatness, or settling for less!

Faith is not only a noun but a verb!  You must work it!  When will you say things like; Enough is Enough?  I’ve lost enough stuff?  Nothing and No one will steal away my marriage?  I will not give up on my children?  I will do whatever it takes to land that new job?  I refuse to be a Passive Christian!  Enough is Enough!

I love Blind Bartameus, yelling, and with everyone around him telling him to be quiet, but No!  He keeps yelling for Jesus to Help him!  Faith is not passive, but aggressively at work yelling, “See Me Jesus?”  You don’t’ need to show Him that you’re cute, but that you are a mess.  “See what I lost while I was trying to get to You?  See Me Lord?”  I love the fact that Jesus noticed and gave him what he desired.

Don’t be afraid to yell, scream and chase Jesus to get a Miracle!  It’s no wonder God says, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life!”  Part of this happens because we fear doing nothing and letting life kill us.  We must rise up and take back everything that has been stolen!  Reverse every curse that has been placed upon us.  Defeat and destroy everything that was meant to take us down! 

Later in Hebrews it says to be diligent to press into that place of rest and promise.  That’s what God wants for us as His children; let’s get aggressive and go after it in the Name above all names, Jesus!  

Push to Win or Walk Away

Push to Win or Walk Away

Last summer I was captured by so many magic moments at the US Open.  There were so many moments over it’s two week period that I watched the body language of so many of the players who were on the verge of defeat, go deep to some inner mental battle to either press on to win or walk away.   This inner conversation with self, “Do I press beyond the ceiling of pain, refusing to quit or give up, and go to the next level, or just accept this is my best and walk away?

The power of the mind is only recently more fully understood through medical and scientific research and discovery.  They have found that thinking is much more important then previously thought.  The Bible says, “As we think, so are we!” 

I followed Djokovic more than usual, not only in his championship match with Roger Federer, but the matches leading up to achieving number one.  Not one of his last matches were easy.  He could have lost four or five times, but instead he reached down deep into the mystical reservoir within and made a decision to push into that inspiring miraculous supernatural place.  That place where you draw the strength needed to push forward and own the win.  But it started in his thinking.

Dr. Leaf says it’s only a myth that genes shapes us.  Scientifically it has recently been proven that thoughts shape our genes and cause them to do what they do.  In other words, we are not at the mercy of our genes, but our thoughts.

I believe there is another ingredient that is even more important.  It is faith.  Many times in my life, thoughts alone have come up short, but when I exercised my faith to invade my thinking, a normal moment turned into a miraculous memorable event. 

Faith is God’s gift to us.  I value that gift because to follow Jesus, takes fait to tap that arena where dreams are reached.  The benefit of trusting and exercising our faith, moves us into this reservoir of provision to see an overwhelming impossible situation transformed into a stepping stone into a future filled with hope.  Jesus told us why He came!  He said, I came that you might live life abundantly and fully alive and accomplish the impossible.

Faith mixed with our thinking is powerful.  Love Sting’s words; “You may say I lost my faith in the Holy Church.  You may say I lost my direction.  But if I ever lost my faith in You, there’d be nothing left for me to do……Lord, help me not to loose my faith in You!”

Jesus gave up His life so we could have ours back.  He died like us so we could live like Him.

Have you lost hope, lost direction, lost trust?  Feel angry, out of energy, stress has pushed you to make a decision to walk away?   Go to that deep place and gather your thinking power, and believe that Jesus will join you, and push on to a win! 

Decide to take responsibility, evaluate your performance, and assess why you are failing.  Affirm the truth, embrace it, think on it, allow these thoughts to shape you, and believe and determine you were created to be a winner.

Blessings Upon You,

Dr. Paul Morgan

Next blog I will catch you up on what Carol and I are presently doing to build up people and the Kingdom.

Is there Purpose in Chaos?

My experience in giving my life fully to Jesus as Savior and Lord, and Ruler of my destiny has been quite an adventure.  Learning to follow the leading of the Spirit, as hard as that is to understand, has opened a world I had no idea existed, shattering my small world view.  

Following Jesus definitely leads to a life of caring for and serving people which often ends up in misunderstanding, jealousy and stressful chaos.  The surprising discovery is realizing it’s all a set up for the supernatural to operate in full swing destroying all logic and reason.

In reading Acts 3:1-16 this morning, the story of two disciples set out to be light and salt, having been trained by Jesus, are on their own because He is physically gone.  This leads to a whole new paradigm.

Here’s the chaos of this story.  First, the religious leaders who killed Jesus, are sewing up the veil, reestablishing the institution, preparing themselves to defeat and destroy this rag tag bunch of men and women ecstatic about this supernatural Good News.  Secondly Peter and John are on their way to the temple to promote this Good News.  Thirdly, there is a lame man, crippled from birth carried by his friends to the Gate called Beautiful.

The leaders of the Temple are ready to protect and defend a Dead Institutional Machine; Peter and John are coming to prove Jesus is alive and well; while the lame man is there because he possesses the best place in town to get hand outs.

Reality hits the fan in this situation through Peter’s words to the beggar, “I don’t have a nickel to my name!” 

Now a fourth party steps into the story.  Peter says, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, get up and walk!”  The man’s body snaps into wholeness, and he begins to dance all the way into the temple in the midst of overwhelming chaos.  It’s a set up!  These temple leaders have resisted Jesus a long time.  This lame man didn’t even ask to be healed.  He is accustomed to his situation and found a place to capitalize on his handicap.  Peter and John are on their way in faith, without Jesus’ physical presence for the first time wondering if their mantel as Jesus’ representatives really works.  It’s a Set Up!  God has orchestrated this whole chaotic moment in the midst of insecurity, desperation, manipulation, strong arm politics and loving redemption.  That combination spells Chaos!

Do you presently find yourself in a situation that has some form of chaos?  Has it forced you to step out in faith only to realize you are being shaped by a loving Father for a new arena of existence to trust the Holy Spirit to empower, provide, guide and turn your chaos into dancing?  We all have pain, unmet expectations and disappointments from the chaos that crowds into our lives, but is it possible that you are faced with an opportunity to not only step into the supernatural but be a huge part of change to the world in which you live?  

I encourage you today to not only remember that things turn out good in the end, but right now Jesus intends to be glorified in your situation!  Take advantage of the present opportunity!  Worship through the chaos!  Worship connects your heart and mind to be overtaken by His presence, wisdom and the miraculous.  In faith, turn on some music!  Worship the One you are trusting to cause your chaos to become the place of unleashed supernatural astonishment.  It’s a set up for you because you are so deeply loved. 

Can’t wait to hear about your dancing within the ultimate story you have been invited into!

Bless you, Paul

Christmas is that bright time of the year we slow down and take in the glory of God loving us so completely that He sent His Son to change the course of our pointless lives.  Carol and I have had a year of surprises, opportunities out of no where, miracles beyond explanation, just around the corner was waiting an opportunity to experience the fulfillment of giving, loving and caring for precious leaders.

It has been a year of watching our children flourish, be blessed, impact their world with the Good News of hope, courage and empowerment.  They make us not only proud but cause us to rejoice in the Lord that uses our family in such mighty ways.  Our grandchildren are growing physically, spiritually with a passion to become world changers.  And of course Matthew and Sasha gave us our sixth grandchild.  Evangeline Grace McKinney.  She so beautiful and lovely.  Another note, Brock has spoken for years at Youth Specialties, and this year for the first time on Main Stage.  We always knew he was destined to speak into the lives of Youth Workers all over the World on how to impact this difficult culture with success.  Vangi is cancer free, while her and Jason’s church is growing so rapidly that whole city of Sandy has taken notice.  A year of surprises, wonder, caught off guard, a basket full of Suddenlys.

It makes us think of the shepherds outside Bethlehem caring for their sheep when suddenly an Angel shows up in their ordinary lives and says, “Don’t be afraid, I have good news for you.  Today in Bethlehem a Savor is born.  You’ll find him lying in a manger.”  Many Angels appeared singing, “Glory to God in the highest, and Peace to everyone on earth.”

God is the Master of Suddenly!  Remember in Acts 2 with one hundred and twenty bewildered people feeling they are drowning in wonder, fear and doubt, and Suddenly the Holy Spirit fell upon them.

Put yourself in Moses’ position.  He has been thrown out of a future he thought was secure, and dumped into a desert forced into survival.  Imagine the mind games that plagued him!  Where is your God now?  I thought there was a king inside of you!  All of these years have been wasted and now you are left out in this desert to waste away with sheep.  When Suddenly God showed up in a bush.  Take off your shoes, you are standing on holy ground!  Have you thought why the ground was holy?  It was because God was there!

God is the Master of Suddenly, when all of a sudden your life takes a turn.  Suddenly one phone call.  Out of no where a meeting.  Unexpected job advancement.  One person, one time, one day and your life changes.

God has you on the verge of something great.  Your present situation is a set up!  It’s time to take the next step into your future and destiny.  Whether educated or not, sometime we find ourselves in a place where you never quite fit in.  But this is part of God’s plan.  He never intended for you to fit in.  It was investment to give you the frame of reference needed for the promised land.  If you fit in, you would have built a house and become stuck.

The Bible says, “the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord!”  Take another step.  God’s bringing you a Suddenly!  God is not finished with you, take another step!  There’s nothing you have been through that will be wasted!

I pray for this Christmas to slow you down long enough to realize you are standing on Holy Ground. God is with you to lead you forward, bless and prosper you, and cause your life to become a light for others to follow.