Hi all,
The Lord's will is most often found in the mundane routines of life. Therefore missing His will also happens in the midst of the mundane things of life.
 
We must obey His will in the mundane before we can expect to be led in the big things in life. It includes loving your neighbor who is obnoxious and messy and so outside of your comfort zone you are repulsed when the Lord tugs at your heart to take them a plate of cookies. It includes things like inviting that back-biting co-worker to lunch, and keeping your mouth shut when someone rubs you so the wrong way you'd like to tear their head off, at least verbally, in response. 
 
In Acts 9:10-19 the Lord appeared to Ananias and told him to go lay hands on Saul of Tarsus, but he objected, stating that Saul was arresting believers and the Lord was therefore asking Ananias to risk his life for the Lord. But he went. It was outside his comfort zone, but he obeyed. Ananias grew a little bit in the Lord that day. 
 
This is how the call of God works on a day to day basis, small decisions that on the surface mean absolutely nothing. 
 
How do we get that heart of love with no strings attached? Through a series of seemingly small and insignificant decisions...
We have the benefit of seeing many small decisions Peter made, and they relate so perfectly to decisions people make today when following the Lord - or missing Him. 
 
The decision points were these:
1) Peter's brother, Andrew, introduces Peter to Jesus, who prophesies his name will be changed to Peter, petros in Greek, a small stone. John 1:41-42
2) Jesus uses Peter's boat to speak from, and in payment provides a catch of fish requiring 2 boats to handle. Jesus invites Peter to follow Him. Luke 5:1-11
3) Jesus stays at Andrew and Peter's house, and heals Peter's mother-in-law, then heals and delivers those who came to the door of the house. Mark 1:29-39
4) Jesus speaks a hard to understand parable to weed out those who were following Him for wrong motives, and many leave Him. Peter stays. John 6:22-69
5) Following #4 above, the feeding of the 5,000, Peter makes his 2nd statement that Jesus is the Son of God no matter what others say. Matthew 16:13-20
6) Peter is used by the devil, trying to persuade Jesus not to go to the cross, and is rebuked for it. Matthew 16:21-28
7) Peter denies the Lord the 3rd time and Jesus immediately turns and looks directly at Peter. Luke 22:60-62
 
There are certainly more than 7 events the gospels show us of Peter's life, but these 7 each involved a small decisions Peter made at each crisis point that led him to becoming more deeply involved with Jesus. That is how it is for us as well. When Jesus told Peter he would be a fisher of men, He didn't also reveal to him at that point that he would die a martyr's death some 35 years later. He allowed Peter to grow into his destiny, giving him every opportunity to decide whether to go deeper, or to draw back. 
 
1) Peter's brother Andrew introduces Peter to Jesus.
This exchange is found in John 1:41-42 when Andrew says to his brother, "We have found the Messiah." Andrew then brings Peter to Jesus, who merely says "You are Simon the son of Jonah, but you will be called Cephas (Greek; petros, a small stone). 
 
That's it - the key is Andrew's claim 'we have found the Messiah'. What did Peter do with his brother's claim? What did you do when someone started talking to you about the Lord? Peter thought about it, that's what. The Jewish culture believed the Messiah would defeat the Romans supernaturally and restore the greatness of Israel. Peter had to examine his expectations about the Messiah, and what finding Him might mean to his life.
 
You and I did the same thing - is this person crazy, needing a crutch in life by becoming religious? What would my life be if I believed in Jesus like they keep saying? Would He change my life, isn't religion for weak people? Why would I want God...yes I want to go to heaven, but really, can I know that before? Don't we all just sort of find out after we die? What if I did follow Him; how would that change my life? Would He make it better, or would I end up in the mental institution?
 
Peter didn't recognize it at the time that his response to his brother's claim would change the course of his life. According to Luke 5:1-11 Peter was a partner in a fishing business that had at least 3 boats - he was an up and coming entrepreneur. 
 
2) Jesus borrows Peter's boat to speak from, and repays with a load of fish. Luke 5:1-11
We don't know exactly what Peter's conclusions were about Jesus based on his brother's claim He was the Messiah. But the next time we see Peter it is after witnessing the miracle catch after Jesus spoke, and in response Peter fell on his knees telling Jesus in v8; "Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord!" From these 2 points in his life we can surmise Peter needed to see a miracle, some evidence Jesus was who Andrew claimed He was. After all, he was a busy business owner and didn't have time to wander the countryside listening to all this Man said. He worked hard and had a family and business.
 
At this point Peter realizes Jesus is the Messiah - just as at some point we also believed. When Peter repented Jesus' response was to say in v10: "Don't be afraid, from henceforth you will catch men." Peter was suddenly aware of his sinfulness and acknowledged it - but Jesus' answer was "Don't be afraid."
 
Don't be afraid
This is the point where a believer becomes a disciple (learner) - seeing their sinfulness, their lack, their empty life and the horror of it all - and going through that fear. Much of the discipleship process continues to consist of going through fear: The fear of something new. The fear of what if I forgive them but they get angry. The fear of stepping out to share something I think is from God but if I'm wrong what will they say? The fear of walking in love makes me appear weak and spineless. 
 
Being a disciple is a life of constant personal growth and internal change. We have no idea where each little decision through fear will lead us - that part is faith. Peter had no idea that tiny decision to believe what Andrew told him about Messiah would lead to Peter healing the lame or writing scripture - God's will is in the mundane and rarely announces itself.
 
A person doesn't make the decision to be a disciple just once in life, that decision is made repeatedly by each little decision to be more like Him.
 
We'll close this out next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
Life is a series of small decisions, and in the Lord those decisions involve either making us into the image of our Lord, or making the Lord into our image. Each decision is either a decision for growth and change, or remaining in the familiar and comfortable. 
 
This series is about how people miss the Lord's perfect will, and I'm starting with the call to discipleship - not just a believer, but a disciple.
 
Jesus is not seeker-friendly
We live in a church culture that says just 'accept' Jesus and He will make all things better in life, "invite Him into your life" means He will come into your life and change it for the better. Where is the gospel of the scriptures that tells us salvation is about us changing into His image? 
 
When a person makes the decision to follow Jesus based on the modern version of the gospel, when the time comes that He asks them to make a hard decision like forgive someone, or to take a step of faith and take a job or course of study that wasn't in their plans, they will most often remain in their comfort zone 'just a little bit longer Lord'. At that point they explain away their refusal to grow - 'When they pick up the phone and contact me I'll respond' - instead of reaching out to try to build a bridge. "I will do that Lord, as soon as I get the job and housing lined up", and when it doesn't happen they explain it away by saying it must not have been God after all, but really what happened is their love became cooler for the Lord, wanting to serve Him in the comfort - whether that be their familiar bitterness towards someone, or refusing to enter into ministry - they delude themselves into thinking they love the Lord just as much, for their refusal to grow proves otherwise.  
 
All the while He is faithful to give them His peace down in their spirit, signaling He has made the way if they will just step out...to forgive, to move, to reach out to that person...but so often they won't follow that peace - they love the Lord they say, but at that point they have become a hearer and not a doer. 
 
Last week we looked at 3 men which represented 3 categories of conditions people place on the Lord before they will walk in His perfect will for them: Comfort of knowing where they will live, financial security, and the support of family and friends. 
 
But look at other things Jesus said. To Peter He said if we want to follow Him we must take up our cross to do so. It was Peter's rebuke of Jesus in Matthew 16:21-26 suggesting Jesus not go to the cross that got the Lord's statement about carrying our cross, with the revelation to think otherwise is from Satan. Jesus said Peter cherished the plans of man rather than the plans of God, and that anyone who follows Jesus must crucify their own plans and carry that cross of God's plans for their life. That doesn't sound like Jesus conforming to our plans, but rather us crucifying (in a torturous process) our plans because we love Him so very much. 
 
In Luke 14:26 Jesus said if you did not 'love less' your extended family you can't follow Him. (Wife is not included in the Greek, and the KJV using 'hate' is not 'hate' in Greek, but 'love less', the sentence is a contrast putting love of Jesus so far above the love of those closest to you the contrast appears love/hate.) In other words - our love for the Lord is to be so white hot that in comparison our love for our extended family is far, far less. Is that true of us? Does our (your) extended family know you will follow Jesus' will for your life and ignore their emotion filled and reasoned plans for you if He asked you to do so? 
 
The conditions Jesus placed on following Him are very different from 'invite Jesus into your life'. The truth is, He is inviting us into His life, and it comes with a price: 
 
Total abandonment to Him in a life-long process of being conformed into His image, continuously affirmed by a life-long series of small decisions.  
 
We have millions of believers but relatively few disciples
Many people have a difficult time following Jesus in part because they approach His will in their lives in the same casual way they became a believer - hand raised, inviting Jesus into their life, praying along with everyone else in the congregation, and they were taught a gospel that says Jesus will conform to your life by healing your money, your body, and your relationships. So they approach their walk with Him in that same casual way, crying and whining with no backbone when He places before them what to them is a crisis-point decision, never having the drive to become the best person they can be in Him, conformed to His nature and character.
 
But Jesus is THE King and is the same Lord who made those statements in the gospels requiring totally abandonment of self to become a disciple. So when they say "I will follow you anywhere", He hears that through the ears of His statements in the gospels - and He will arrange things in your life accordingly. 
 
But when they say 'I will follow you anywhere', having come into the kingdom in that casual, hand raised easy gospel culture, they want to hold onto their plans and their (flawed, baggage filled character), loving the Lord only to the point Jesus makes it all better for them. Next week - a series of small decisions for Peter.
 
Peter's decisions...really, I will pick it up there next week...:)
Blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
In 1985 I was between churches - that sounds so elegant doesn't it? Between churches? That means the new guys came into power and I was fired from my position of Campus Minister of a particular ministry at the University of Colorado in Boulder, thinking they could do it better now that I had spent nearly 2 years bringing that ministry to balance out of a very destructive 'shepherding movement' direction that almost killed it. (They closed the ministry within a few months after they fired me)
 
So I was 'between churches' and delivering pizzas for Domino's Pizza just to put some food on the table and a roof over our heads. They asked me to go into management, and after much delay as I desperately wanted the Lord to open a church to pastor or anything in ministry, but needing to feed my young family, I agreed. 
 
As a manager I was making more money than I ever had in my life, $50,000 in 1985, which is the same as $114,640 today according to www.dollartimes.com, but my heart was still with full time ministry. At the time the Vice President for the company for everything in the US west of the Mississippi River lived in Boulder, and he hand picked me to go into troubled stores to fix them and make them profitable again - which I did as God's grace and wisdom was in me to do. 
 
My choice
Then the day came when I had to either move up with them or move out. They offered me a supervisor position over 9 stores in the area, which would have actually been a pay cut, or become a franchisee in any of several other states. They suggested a 23 store franchise to start in Englewood, California, or in Seattle which was just opening up and would have been my territory, or even Anchorage, Alaska. Franchising with them meant income in the high 6 figures, if not low 7 figures figuring bonuses and other franchising opportunities. 
 
I had a handicapped son who needed surgeries and special education, our 2nd son was born in 1982, and Barb was pregnant with our 3rd son at that time, so I could really better my family by franchising. Additionally, Barb and I both came from families that could be described as the 'country club set' - we had a lake house, an RV, my dad had an airplane, owned his own business and other real estate investments, and so on. Barb's parents owned a department store in town and were well known in the area. That was the life we grew up with, the social circles we knew. 
 
But when we came to the Lord as teenagers in love with each other and with Him, we went fully for Him - we said we would go anywhere and accept any challenge because of the excellency of knowing Him - and we meant it. Even as teenagers we had amazing experiences with Him because our hearts were fully with Him. If He said jump, we jumped without asking how high. 
 
That was then...
We declined the offers for a supervisor position and franchising because even though they were about to fire me for declining their offers, we knew Jesus wanted us in Colorado at that moment in time. Let me make that clear - I gave up millions of dollars and lost my job because we knew in our hearts Jesus still wanted us there in Colorado, though I hadn't a clue where my next job or church would come from. We had a mortgage, a car payment, all the usual financial commitments any young couple in their 20's with 3 young boys have - and we turned it all down simply because we knew where Jesus wanted us. That's how we've always lived.  
 
and this is now...
But today I so often see people who say they want to obey God, but they have conditions in their heart that qualify that statement. They will move where He wants, but only if they feel safe with their bank account first. They will change jobs because He is leading elsewhere, but will only move when the details have been worked out. At what point did Christianity get to the point we made God our servant instead of us, His? That shift into spiritual neutral happens individually first, then as a culture. 
 
Years ago when we lived in Colorado there was a couple who were going to retire, use their 40 acres of prime Colorado mountain land for a missionary and ministry training center, as well as offer a retreat for those in ministry. That was their retirement plan. There were prophecies confirming what was on their heart by men and women who knew nothing of their plans, showing their plans were born in their spirits of the Lord. 
 
But one day, faced with a less than attractive business offer, he said to me, "If I sold my businesses and paid all the bills and set up the rest in a fund for our retirement, I would only have about $750,000 ($1,719,601 in today's dollars) left over, and you can't do anything for God with only 3/4 of a million dollars!"
 
Opting out
Retirement seems to be a burden for many we've seen through the years - from medical professionals who talk of donating time to staffing clinics in needed places around the world, to doctors with skills to change the lives of children, to business people who talk of taking short terms trips to help fund digging wells or building church buildings - they end up buying an RV, remodeling the house, taking a cruise, babysitting the grandchildren, and never doing what God put on their hearts. 
 
Somewhere along the way the call of God on their hearts that was so strong a couple years before, got laid aside in the name of comfort and having all the details in place before they were willing to make that move or take that trip with God. Life happened and they opted out. 
 
While many focus on the Great Commission, and we see examples like Peter and John walking away from the ownership of their fishing business, and Matthew walking away from his profitable tax collection business, there were others who said they wanted to follow Jesus too. But as always, Jesus weighs the hearts, weighs the motives to see if they really had what it takes to back up the love they claimed for Him with their lips, with action. 
 
1 man invited, 2 asked to follow Jesus
In Luke 9:57-62 three men wanted to follow Jesus. The first man Jesus never invited, he simply told Jesus he would follow Him wherever He went. Don't spiritualize 'I will follow you', for in context the man meant he would literally follow Jesus and His merry band of disciples around, camping here and there, staying in homes when they could. All Jesus promised him was homelessness. Nothing would be nailed down for him. They would start the day very often not knowing where they would sleep that night. We don't know what happened to the man. 
 
But he was like the people above and so many more, who want all things figured out before they follow Jesus. Jesus just isn't always like that folks. 
 
The next man Jesus asked directly to follow Him. This man wanted to accept Jesus' invitation, if he could just go home and bury his father. In that age, burying the father meant the disbursement of the will immediately - we could speculate therefore he wanted to be financially secure with an independent income before he would follow Jesus into a future of unknown sources of support. 
 
But the outcome seems to have been a compromise between them - Jesus said, "Let the (spiritually) dead bury their (physically) dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God." Jesus at first said 'come', but upon hearing the conditions Jesus told him 'go'. The man wasn't in His perfect will, but rather His adjusted will based on what the man would give Him, living (presumably) off that independent income which was the stated condition upon which he would serve the Lord.
 
The last man is another one the Lord did not invite directly, like the first man he came on his own to Jesus with the statement "Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say goodbye to my family." Again in that context, he would have been saying goodbye to his parents and most likely he would have been launched into 'the ministry' with some fanfare. Jesus' response that anyone who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back (to his family with regret implied, a divided heart between extended family and God) is not even fit to be in the kingdom of God - forget the desire to follow Jesus - Jesus said such a man wasn't even fit to be part of His Kingdom!
 
This series looks at ways people miss the Lord's will. In modern times as in Jesus' day as we've seen in Luke 9 above, many prefer the gospel of comfort, the gospel where all details are known before. When the Lord leads He doesn't do so with a big neon light with a flashing arrow pointing 'this way', rather He suggests and reveals His will in the heart, and then steps back to see how we will respond. It is subtle - unless you are one of those white-hot in love with God people who tell Him they will go where He says, and have the character to prove that commitment in the heart by action - you may end up on a different path and be secure, but unfulfilled spiritually. 
 
A series of small decisions in the life of Peter - And we'll pick it up there next week, until then, 
blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
I've been talking about how heaven looks at earth, and began last week sharing 2 of the 3 authority structures He established and to what degree if any He involves Himself with. The first 2 were Creation and Families. I will start with final comments about families as God's main authority structure in the earth, asking:
 
Where is God when children become victims?
Starting with creation which is in a fallen state, and flowing to families born into a world that is fallen and flawed, we realize we are all born into a fallen world. That means things go wrong from DNA and chromosomal abnormalities in the human body, to injuries or disease that happen to babies and children. In this fallen world the innocent suffer, and at times God seems far away and uncaring. These babies who enter a fallen and flawed world are born into families who take care of them, wrenching the hearts of the parents and causing them to ask, 'Why me? Why us? Why our child? Where are you God?' 
 
The worst feelings we've ever felt as parents has been watching our oldest son who is handicapped, go through numerous surgeries and a stroke, and being absolutely powerless to help in any way at each of these events, not to mention powerless to heal his original brain damage from lack of oxygen in labor. He suffered brain damage in labor because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck in a slip knot - and he wasn't taken by C-section in time. What could or can we do? We are powerless. That's when parents turn to God to ask for help - and more often than not, there seems to be no response. 
 
Many of us were raised in the sliver of the faith that makes God out to be the Absolute Answer in all things - we hear messages that say He will heal, He will bless financially, He will save your family, He will save and heal and protect - but that isn't always fact, as seen both in the Word and in real life. 
 
The reality is that in Hebrews 11 which is the much exalted 'hall of faith', the author says in the middle and at the end of the chapter, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises" and "but saw them far off, and were persuaded by them and embraced them and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth." My experience has been that especially parents of sick or handicapped children are the ones to see the promises far off - but they don't get to see them a reality in life. We must gird our minds with the very real possibility that unlike those around us with 'normal' children, we and our child may die in faith not having received the promises. That makes us 'abnormal' and different from friends and extended family alike - and we often wonder what is the purpose, what is the plan.  
 
We have received the greatest promise of course, Jesus Christ, but  we may end up like those in Hebrews 11; they died not having received their own promises from Him. They received them in heaven, not on earth. When children are born and something goes terribly wrong and God seems so distant, we must know He will even things out in the end, and will walk with us and our child through the valley of the shadow of death. He won't take us out of the valley, He walks with us. That is faith. 
 
Families without God
Because the concept of family is a delegated thing, it means families can leave God completely out of their lives if they wish, and He must legally respect that - to the suffering of all, but especially the children - if they wish. All things were made by Him and for Him, but when someone abuses His intent, hardship and tragedies occur. 
 
Let us say a young girl or boy is molested when they are young. We might ask 'Where was God? Why didn't He protect them?' and the answer is above - He created the family to be the source of God's wisdom and ways in the earth, but parents don't always walk in what God intended. That means things happen in families where God is locked out; He is not a factor nor involved in those families. 
 
This means when that child cries out in anguish and hurt, though He sees their suffering and hears their cries, He often has to wait until a child is older and coming out from under the authority of the unsaved mom and/or dad before He can legally enter their lives directly. Having said that, I've talked to numerous adults who have told me when that abuse happened they called out to God and He gave them peace, or they had an awareness that somehow it would all be okay, but then years went by before they could actually know Him and walk with Him. Often this happens in high school or college, as a child who had been abused years earlier, is finally out from under the unsaved family's authority and the Father can legally become a large part of their lives. 
 
Governments
In Acts 17:26-27 Paul tells us God established the tribes and families and nations (Greek; ethnos) in the earth, and determined beforehand the times of their rise and fall, and even their boundaries. He says God did that in the hopes that each 'ethnos' would seek after Him and find Him. This means the Father's hope is that in their diversity each ethnic group would find elements of Him so that across the planet when viewed as a whole, mankind would see a composite sketch of the personality of the Lord - that these differences in ethnos would compliment each other rather than be points of contention. 
 
Proverbs 29:2, I Timothy 2:1-5 and other scriptures we are all familiar with tell us to pray for leaders that we may live in peace, and that when the righteous rule the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule the people groan. Why doesn't God intervene when His people are oppressed by wicked governments? Again, it goes back to authority in the earth. He established governments to walk with Him to bring His ways into the earth, and when they do at least some measure of that there is peace and prosperity. When they don't, people suffer and He an only work with individuals who walk with Him within the control of the (wicked) governments. 
 
Do you see the common thread in these 3 authority structures where God DOES intervene or become involved? That answer is: Individuals. 
 
He created earth, established a man and woman in the earth, gave them a home, told them to be good stewards over that planet, and walked with them in the Garden. He has always reserved the right therefore as our Creator because that is the first foundation, to enter the lives of individuals according to the degree each individual wants Him involved in their life. But these individuals may be under the authority of a family or government that doesn't let God in, so God can work in the individual's life, but He cannot directly intervene in the government or family. 
 
History of Roman Empire
When we examine the history of the Roman Empire and how Christianity came to be legalized in the 300's AD, some 300 years after the cross, we see it was from the common people up, a groundswell of so many individuals walking with God that eventually the wicked government had to respond. When you study the fall of the USSR it is a similar story, the groundswell of individuals, (many have written of 'revival' within the USSR as the primary catalyst) rising up to the point in numbers and voice the government had to respond. 
 
In nations where leaders are elected, people can post things in social media like 'God's will was done' and other things, boldly ignorant supposing God's will wasn't done in a previous administration, not realizing God moves through individuals to change families, and thence to change governments, and thence to change a culture and social norms. God isn't directly involved in an ungodly administration, but He is involved in individuals who walk with Him who move to change their government.
 
In the Great Commission Jesus never said to get people 'born again', that phrase comes from John 3 during a 1 on 1 conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus, at night, in private, and was never part of any teaching He did. He did say however to teach by letting others observe (in our lives) all things He told us to do and obey. That is the changing of individuals, who are part of families, which make up governments. As Jesus said to me in February, 2001 during a visitation: "As it was in the beginning, so it must by now. I'm moving in relationships." Amen. New subject next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com