September 21 -- Check the Forecast -- Kraków

Good Morning, it is a misty morning under a cloud covered sky.  Most of us regularly check the weather forecast.  Very few of us act like the young lady I observed last night.  Dressed in a thin lacy topped dress, she commented all the way from the seventh floor to ground level about how cold the weather has turned.  She then proceeded to walk out of the building with neither wrap nor jacket.  As my boyhood friend, Mr. King, would say, "She will catch her death of durn foolishness !" 

And yet, the Scriptures warn us about the impending spiritual storms that loom on the horizon.  Are we prepared ?  Are we even paying attention to the real world.  Or do we, like the young woman, live in a world in which our appearance is more important than our survival ?  What are we teaching those who follow us ?

I have a close friend.  I love him deeply and have for years.  But, he has a trait that I find disturbing.  Emotionally he simply cannot tolerate being told he is wrong.  Praise God, he is actually right most of the time.  But when he is wrong it is often in ways that are very hurtful to other people around him.  But, he simply cannot handle being told that he is wrong.  He explodes with anger.  He threatens to end our relationship.  He seems to live like the scripture that says, "A wise man embraces a rebuke." is from a satanic writing rather than from the Word of God.  I grieve for the pain his family and friends endure.  But even more I grieve for my friend and his tragic inability to receive the goodness that Father desires to pour out upon him and through him upon many others.

Many of us are going through similar places in our lives.  We have character traits that God desires to heal and mature.  Alas, we choose to turn away from the sources of help and transformation our loving Jesus is sending into our lives.  Jesus desires to work in our lives through the joints of relationship where He is connecting us into the Body of the Bride.  Most often the most effective healing happens through the relationships that require us to humble ourselves.  

Clearly and firmly, over the last several years Holy Spirit has been emphasizing the importance of our entering into closely bonded spiritual relationships that allow our spirits to genuinely hear the Holy Spirit speaking through our brothers and sisters.  Sadly, most of the people who believe they are part of the church continue to look more for the sand of meetings, titles, and rituals than for the bed rock of relationships of safe intimate Truth speaking.  And yet it is in such relationships that we find a safe foundation when the storms hit us.  The Scriptures are clear.  The storms will come.  The evil days will assail us.  We do not need a television to know the spiritual forecast.

Who are you genuinely connected with ?  When Jesus confused the crowds with words that sounded like eating human flesh was being required, His disciples did not leave Him because He had the words of spirit and life for them.  Who has those words for you ?  Are you building and nurturing relationship with someone who can affirm you when you are right and rebuke you when you are wrong ?  Or are you content with a tepid existence that never really challenges you to change and grow ?

His, thus Yours,

 Stuart