The Big Mo'

I know I haven't posted anything in a while, but Wedndesday I began a new series called The Big Mo'. As I thought about it and what it has meant in my own life as I walk through the valley I thought other valley experiencers might want to know about it as well.

The Big Mo' is about momentum in the life of the beleiver. When it comes down to it momentum in the life of the beleiver is the unimpeded force of God in his or her life. "What does that mean?", you ask. Great question!

It means that the force of God is unobstructed, unhindered, unchecked, and unrestrained. In its most simple of term it means granting God complete and unlimited access to your life. Now, before you start nodding your head in agreement and wanting to virtually high-five me and giving me the mental "Amen" in your most churchy internal voice STOP! Think about what this means in the life of the beleiver. Think about the implications. Think for a moment of the depth of what this means. It grants God complete - entire, whole, nothing left out - and unlimited - not just once a day, once a week, or once in a while - access to every part of your life. You ready for that?

What I have found out about the valley experience is that I want to hang on to or hide some of me so I can justify feeling sorry for myself or being angry at someone else or make me feel superior in some goofy way. Can't happen if you want to experience the unadulterated force of God.

That leads to another question. What's the force of God? I believe it's the love, passion, truth, mission/vision, assignment and all the dynamics of God and who he is lived out in our lives. To tell you the truth I'm not sure I can give you a definition, but I can tell you what it looks like. It looks like men and women of God who are lifted up by the rest of us and made role models for us who say, "That's what the force of God look like." The problem is that most of us would rather wish for the force of God and point to others, than do what it takes to experience the unimpeded force of God.

OK, ok, ok. I'm getting to the questions you are probably really wanting to know about.
Why do I need the unimpeded force of God? and
How do I experience it?

First, Why do I need the unimpede force of God in my life? We need the unhindered, unobstructed, unrestrained, unchecked force of God because it keeps us...
1) moving forward (even when we don't feel like it)
2) experiencing the refreshing presence and power of God (not on a weekly or even daily basis, but on a moment-by-moment basis)
3) doing great and might things for God (even when we don't realize it)

I came found these to be true in my experience and in the experience of a man named Joshua, son of Nun. Read Joshua 1-6. Through Joshua's expereince you will see a man who allowed God to have complete and unlimited access to his life and in doing so we find a man who kept moving forward, experiencing the power and presence of God in his life, and did great and mighty things for God.

Now, the second question, How does one experience the complete and unlimited access of God? I go no further than Joshua.

First, you must have courage. No less than three times in the first 8 verses of Joshua did God tell him, "Be strong and courageous." Why? I beleive Joshua felt like a lot of valley experiencers - What in the world is this?! He was just doing his job. He was simply being faithful to what God had appointed him to do. He was just an assistant, an apprentice. NOW he was going to be the leader of GOD's people to claim their most prized possesion (next to the Ark of the Covenant) - land of their own, for the first time in their history as God's people.

Courage - Winston Churchill said it was the quality on which all other human qualities are built. In other words, without courage you can't have integrity, character, bravery, leadership. The Duke (John Wayne) said that courage is being afraid and still saddling up. Way to go Duke! Did you get that? In the midst of the valley most of us are scared/afraid of something, but courage is still getting up in the morning, it is continuing putting one foot in front of another, in spite of the fear, in spite of the circumstances. Courage makes us do stuff like listen and obey. When we have courage we will stand when no one else will stand, we will go when no one else will go, we will do when no one else will do. Courage makes us look stupid to the rest of the world, but to God we look wonderfu. AND . . . we begin to experience the unimpeded force of God in our lives.

With me? Check this out: Courage leads to obedience!

Obedience. Joshua, Moses' assistant, apprentice, helper, is put into a place of leadership - one that cost his leader and friend his chance to see the promise land. In the book of Joshua we read of God telling Joshua to remember the teachings of Moses; to meditate on them day and night, and to "obey" them. You can't have obedience without courage. Why? because to experience the unimpeded force of God you will have to act like a "barbarian" sometimes. You will have to go against cultural norms and church traditions. When you are obedient to God, you will look insane to others. Don't beleive me check out Moses - what do you think people thought when the Eqyptians were coming and they saw their "fearless" leader standing and pointing a stick toward's the water? Or what do you the neighbors (and probably some family members) thought of a guy named Noah when he began building a boat for the "rains" that would come. Oh, by the way, there had never been rain up to that point. Or what the people of Israel thought when a barbarian named Elijah said, "pour more water on the offering. Pour water until the offering is soaked up and water fills the pores of the ground." Or what about the time when a young, teenage girl said "Yes!" to an angel when she was told she had been chosen by God to have his baby?

Obedience leads us to do some wild and crazy things for God. Or at least it appears that way to others. But it is obedience that opens the floodgates of God's unhindered, unobstructed, unchecked, unrestrained power and presence in our lives. It's when we obey God that we step out and go on that mission trip, or pack up everything, load up the wife and kids and go to an unknown land to minister to a people group, or take a position in a ministry that doesn't even exist, or asks a friend/neighbor about his or her relationship with Christ. THAT'S when God's power is free to flow into and through us!

The problem is we in the church have become comfortable with regulations and rituals. These are what make us comfortable. I beleive in the valley we have to become uncomfortable again so we CAN experience the unimpeded power of God. I believe that churches have forgotten what it's like to stand when when no one in our community will stand. I beleive we, the church, have forgotten the excitement and passion that comes when we step out in obedience for God. I believe the church is in desparate need of some momentum: the need to move forward, to experience the refreshing power and presence of God, and to do great and mighty things for God!

Those of you in the valley, don't wait! Have courage, be strong and courageous, and obey the living creator God. Open up and give God complete and unlimited access to your life - don't hold anything back from him. Then experience what it's like to move forward in your own journey, to experience the refreshing power and presence of God in your own journey, and know what it's like to see God do great and mighty things in your own life. Experience momentum - the unimpeded force of God in your very own life!

Feelin' the force,
Mike