Root Bound

By Rebecca Brogan

Never claiming to know it all, I have assumed much in my life and about God and in that assumption lived out what I have assumed. 

I enjoy growing trees and plants… and as they grow I have to put them in bigger pots so they don’t become root bound or pot bound.  Root bound or pot bounds means they don’t have enough potting soil left to give them the nutrition they need to grow because the roots have taken up all the space in the container or pot.

 “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit. 17 And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. 21 May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen.”  Ephesians 3:16-21

In a very real way God needs to take us out of the pot we have put ourselves into so we may grow in the fullness of Him not some varying degrees of Him or human rational of Him.   You see we can become pot bound in our understandings of God.  We can assume that just because we haven’t experienced anything different of God that “this” is the way it “is” or is suppose to be -not realizing outside the pot of our understanding is a universe God wants us to discover and experience and live in. 

ROMANS 1:21-23 "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures… ROMANS 1:21-23

We do not worship Buddha or the creation or worship some Hindu god but in what ways have we “professing to be wise, become fools, exchanging the glory of the incorruptible God for something more suitable to man’s liking?

 ”You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,  ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me^.  Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’” MATTHEW 15:7-9

We claim to be wise in the things of God yet we deny the very things God wants us to know and experience and we ignore, do away with  and replace them with versions that we think are sound for this day and age.  We do so to make others and ourselves feel more comfortable yet estranging them and us of God and the things of God.   We claim God is the same yesterday, today and forever yet…some churches say God doesn’t have people work in the Spiritual gifts anymore…  

“‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
¹⁸ Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy. Acts 2:17-18

“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. ⁸ To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge.⁹ The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. ¹⁰ He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. ¹¹ It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.”  1 Corinthians 12:7-11

What do you suppose a Pastor works in if he doesn’t work in the gifts given to him by God?

If he just works in “himself” … is his teaching done in Spirit and truth?

Jesus said, “ ….. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” JOHN 6:63

Jesus also said, “God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth."  JOHN 4:24

For we know when a Pastor preaches it should do what?  His sermon should address the spiritual needs of God’s people.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”  2 Timothy 3:16-17

You are living what if not in Spirit and truth?

If it is raining outside and you say it is sunny outside – are you lying? If you are living in denial because of your want to sin does that mean you are not living in sin?

 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word.   I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” JOHN 8:34-38

Ask yourself people of God: Do you have room for Jesus word in your hearts?  Or is it crowded and filled up with your own understanding?  Are you pot bound? Whose word do you go by- God’s or man’s?

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
    By living according to your word.
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
    do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.
¹² Praise be to you, Lord;
    teach me your decrees.
¹³ With my lips I recount
    all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
    as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
    and consider your ways.
¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
    I will not neglect your word.”   Psalm 119:9-16

Are you just living in your pot of understanding?  Are you doing so because you have not considered all God’s ways, have you not considered all his decrees? What He said would happen and what he had done from before we know as the beginning?  Are you neglecting some of His word?

Have we become comfortable in our own understanding of God that we unwelcome God fully in how he wants to work in His people?

 "Then Jesus told them, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.” And because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief." MARK 6:4-6

Think about it?  I don’t think God is amazed of our unbelief but he wants to unbind us of the understanding and unbelief and plant us in the marvelous soil of His love.

Does God Challenge You? 5

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EXPECTATIONS

Recently others and myself were challenged again when God sent Pastor Onesmus from Kenya Africa to our little church in the hill country.

Sunday, the day of Onesmus' arrival I received this word….

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on our own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6

Yes… I know I have read this many times… I got it… but did I really get it? Did I really take it to heart the way I should have? 

Ever come with expectation to something? How about a movie, a destination, a new purchased item, a project, a new member of the family?

We set high expectations and low expectations.  We even set expectations of unbelief. We write them down with our invisible pens as if we are authors of our days and when these expectations are broken we are usually either discouraged or pleasantly surprised.

But then again there are other times when they are just… challenged.

I think expectations can be good but expectations we set up in our mind about how God works verses the complexity of how God really works can be hard hurtles to cross over at times….  Especially when God does the unexpected.   

Again…. If you think you have figured out how God works… watch out!!!

  

Expectations need to be on God and God alone.... not your own preconceived notions of what may or may not happen. 

EXPECTATION MEET THE UNEXPECTED

I am not certain what my expectation was... I knew there was going to be some "unconventional" happenings with Onesmus' visit but I was challenged by what God had Him do.

Some of the things seemed down right cruel and rude and MORE unconventional then I expected. 

Onesmus, hands COVERED in olive oil, began to do as directed by the Spirit, the congregation – some who came all the way from Arizona, Houston and Austin, prayed.

Onesmus would not just speak to the ailments but he would have the sick themselves speak to the ailments.  In his Kenyan accent he would say, “Cancer go back to your father!”  Deafness go back to your father! Confusion go back to your father!”  He would refer to the sickness as the devil.   “Devil go!”  He would have the people repeat after Him…

He would do all kinds of unorthodox things such as blowing on people, spitting in one person’s eyes, pouring olive oil in a person’s ears and then pouring water on their back, rubbing his hands on their body, and some would scream in terrible pain…. 

Yet when these seemingly cruel, rude and strange things were over- people were healed of their ailments, sicknesses, solicitations and oppressions.  And they had smiles on their faces...  What smiles?  How could this be?  What just happened? 

Does God Challenge You? 2

THE UNTAMED GOD

It isn’t uncommon to hear about a pastor who experiences the gifts of the Spirit to be asked to step down or even leave the church. 

People filled with the Spirit have been asked to refrain from such actions or leave the church for far less… such as raising their hands during worship, speaking in tongues and even coming to the alter to pray… and it’s the alter for crying out loud.

Why do you suppose this is?  One explanation is no matter if we like to admit it or not, people like to control.  We like to stay away from anything that might make others feel uncomfortable or look “messy” or “out of place.”  We control for reasons from power to comfort to erroneous thinking.    And what we can’t control or doesn’t fit within the confines of our worldly doctrine or religious doctrine we want to get rid of.

JESUS CHRIST is LORD and SAVIOR.   He is the only way to heaven- to the FATHER. 

 Jesus said to him, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.”  JOHN 14:6

He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” HEBREWS 3:18

Does God do ANYTHING that is unorthodox in your understanding?

Ask yourself- Do you honesty think you know how God works? – Do you really have Him ALL figured out?  Do you think any man or woman has Him ALL figured out?

Thus says the LORD:

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the Lord.
 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.” JEREMIAH 17:5-6

"Then Jesus told them, 'A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family.' And because of their unbelief, he could not do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them.   And he was amazed at their unbelief." Mark 6:4-6 

Is there also any root "Unbelief"?  Is there unbelief in the church?  Is Jesus, our LORD, not fully honored amongst HIS own relatives and own family (The children of God)? 

How have you and I excused, rationalized and explained away the things of God?

Again…. Why do you suppose we do this?  Does it go against what we feel God should do or not do?  Are we fearful of what we don’t understand?  Are we more comfortable in the religious doctrines of man then what God wants to reveal and show us outside the doctrines of man?  Do we not have the faith?  Are we putting emphasis on us then on God?  

I was telling a brother in Christ about a present day pastor who suddenly began to speak in tongues from the pulpit.   He was just as surprised as anyone else but the leadership of the church told him to step down and leave the church.  After the pastor left, God told him to share the gospel in the streets but he was barely making any money… so he decided to go farm.   He and his wife both received visions telling him to go back and preach the gospel in the streets but he stubbornly refused.   God seeing the man’s stubbornness, sent an angel before Him that put a double edge blade to his throat and said, “You will do as the Lord as commanded you to do or you will die!”

This idea of God sending an angel to put a blade to someone’s neck challenges our traditional thinking of God.  We want to claim it is a lie or a trick of the devil because it doesn’t relate to our understanding of a “loving” God.  And yet we say we believe God is the same yesterday, today and forever but do we really believe it?  

What was the purpose of this pastor in God's plan?  What is just about the pastor or the people God wanted to save through the pastor's words? 

My brother in Christ wanted to dismiss this challenging idea but then the Spirit of God quickened inside of him and reminded him of Balaam.  

Balaam in Numbers 22:31-33 

 ^“Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.

“Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me.  Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.”

 

These challenging awakenings break the walls of our understanding about God.   We see just how little we know about the ways of God… We think we have Him somewhat figured out but we don’t.

This same modern day pastor was confronted in the streets by those practicing witchcraft.   They told him, “ If you don’t leave we will kill you…”

The man of God rebuked them and told them,” No! You will die if you do not leave”.

The next day those who threatened to kill him were either found dead or gone.    

This sounds like something out of the Old Testament but it is from this day and age yet God challenges our understanding and we want to disregard it. 

We read, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of all wisdom” Proverbs 9:10. 

So what kind of rational do we characterize as fear of God/the Lord?  

Where on the scales of the human mind do you weigh the fear of the Lord?  What kind of “loving” bias do we think God has towards us when we read in his word, “God has no bias?”

 ^“For God does not show favoritism.” Romans 2:11