The Path of Purpose Part 4 - The Prison

The best analogy is this...imagine a prison. High walls, impenetrable walls with a large gate studded with heavy bolts and a sturdy lock. Imagine you have been convicted of a crime that means you are to be incarcerated in the prison for life, not just life but eternal life. You enter through the gate, then you are taken through a series of doors until ultimately you come to the door of your cell. The door swings open and you are placed inside. The door swings shut and the key is turned in the lock and there you are. This is the position of all who are born under the disobedience of Adam. On account of him we all are under the sentence of eternal incarceration in the prison of death.
In this place you are subject to the atmosphere of the place. Imagine it is cold in the prison then you are cold. If it is hot then you are hot. You cannot escape.
Wonder of wonders though one comes and enters in into the very place where you are and opens your cell door and says to you, "Come". You see this one has paid the price in full for your crime and has wiped your slate clean for the only reason that He loves you and has the ability to pay the price. You have the choice, you either come or you stay, the choice is yours.
Jesus stood at my door and called and I came out of my cell and into the company of the Redeemer. But we are still in the prison. I am still subject to the atmosphere of the prison although I have been redeemed from the penalty. There are still doors to walk through before absolute freedom comes at the imposing studded door in the wall of the prison.
What are these doors? One could be hurt, it was for me. One could be abuse, it was for me. It could be wrong programming, it was for me. Unforgiveness..., bitterness..., anger..., frustration..., jealousy..., disloyalty, the list could go on and on.
In the Bible is a verse and in it we see two Kingdoms, two Kings and two missions. The verse is found in the book of John 10: 10 and is spoken by Jesus Himself. Jesus says, "The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy; I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly."
The king of darkness is satan, the devil, the one who had a place of honour in the kingdom of God as an angel who served at the very throne of God but sought to usurp God and was cast down and fell to earth. We see this being in the Garden of Eden tempting Adam, and Eve, to disobey God. The mission then of the kingdom of darkness is to "steal, kill and destroy" and we see the results everywhere in the world do we not?
The Kingdom of Light is the Kingdom of God and Jesus Himself is the King. His mission is to bring Life and that abundantly. What is this life that we have the opportunity to have an abundance of? We can have an abundance of LIFE and Jesus is the Life because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We can have an abundance of Him and all the fullness of God dwells in Him.
All the doors of the prison that hold us in the cold, dark prison are the works of the mission of the king of darkness. But Jesus has come and we have the choice to receive Him and if we do and are willing He will lavish the blessing of His mercy and His grace upon us up to the measure of the fullness of God. Why will He do this? Because we deserve it? No! Because we work hard for it? No! Because He is Love and He loves us with a never-ending, unconditional love and that love cannot stop but bless us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus? Yes! That is it!
Jesus will walk with us through the doors and all we need do is look to Him. He will lavish upon us His love and none of the works of darkness can stand before the glory of His Light and so the doors before will melt away as we walk together towards freedom in Christ.
So April 2000 I took the hand of God and we began a journey towards the prison gate. The journey was at times hard and difficult and there were many obstacles be together, Jesus and I, we pressed on.
Next time...The Journey.

The Path of Purpose - Part 3 - The Prodigal Son

This is an aside to the story but it is immensely important for what is to follow...
In my last post I talked about the impact of realising that there was a God and He was interested enough in me to talk to me...can I state that again? God was talking to me. Do you not realise the immensity of that?
If you knew me at all especially in my 'away' years then you would be as astounded as me!
Now I have no interest in hashing over those years because there is no profit there but can I say this. If you have a son out there somewhere and you do not know what has happened, you are troubled and perplexed by his behaviour, maybe you are ashamed of him or perhaps you just see better for him than he is then take heart. All is not lost. Hope remains.You see I know my mother prayed. How do I know? Well I know because that's what mothers do and I just know that my Mum was praying. So Mums...keep praying! And...then there is the Father.
So I was astounded that God spoke to me. You should know at this point I should tell you that the statement God made to me that day in April 2000 was not the only thing He said. He said more but maybe I will share that another time.
The importance to me of this event in my life can be illustrated as follows.
In the Bible there is a story told by Jesus Himself. It is commonly called the story of the Prodigal Son. It is found in the book of Luke chapter 15. If you are able I would encourage you to read it for yourself.
It is about a younger son who decides he doesn't want his life as he knows it, in fact he would prefer it if his father would die because he wants his share of his father's estate. Usually you only get that when your father passes but this son wanted it now.
The father was so gracious towards his son and he divides his living with his son. Now if I read between the lines I feel that the father divided more than his property and wealth, he divided, in fact, himself because I am sure his heart was broken by the actions of his son. The son, despite this, takes his share of his father and goes into a far off country.
He then proceeds to blow the lot with parties, women, drink, drugs...the story narrative says 'riotous living'. That was me.
This young man was on a road that so very gradually led down. That was me.
Eventually he found the need to seek employment because the money had run out and all he found was work feeding pigs. Down in the pig sty his plight became so dire that even the food that the pigs ate became attractive as the young man struggled to fill the hole in his being.
Now there is something in this story that astounds me. You see as you read the story it becomes obvious that the father was so good and so loving towards his son because the father was waiting for his son to come home. Read on.
The young man hit the bottom. I hit the bottom. I was in debt. I struggled to go one day without a alcoholic drink. I was sacked from my job. I remember so clearly driving home after being released from my job under unjust circumstances. The route home took me past a wooded area were I on pleasant weekends would walk with my family, it was so beautiful and peaceful filled with the majesty of the trees of an English woodland but today those same trees called me to come and use their strength and height for another purpose. If I had had a rope in my car...
Th father was waiting. The young man decided that he would return home and repent of his wrong and seek to be added to the servant staff of his father's household. His thoughts were that the servants in his father's house have enough to eat and here I am hungry with no way to fill the void in my life. I know that feeling.
So the boy gets up and heads home. The father sees him. The father's heart skips a beat and then the father runs. He runs to the son, he throws his arms around him, he kisses him repeatedly, oh the joy of the father as his son comes home! What love! What desire!
The son begins his planned speech of repentance but his father sweeps this aside and calls for the robe of a son, the ring of a son, the shoes of a son and places them on him. The son had come back believing he was no more worthy to be anything but a slave but the father had never seen him as anything but a son. They had a big party to celebrate the son's return and I am sure the father and the son sat together and discussed together the future and the great plans that the father had for his son.
That day in April 2000 I sat in a church (it wasn't necessary it be a church for God speaks everywhere but for me it needed to be a church for all that was to come) and my Father welcomed me back. Not as a servant but as a son. And we sat and discussed the future together. Fathers don't take on the task of restoring the years that the locusts had eaten for a servant but they do it for a son.
My Father waited all those years and then when the day came He saw me a long way off and He ran to me...he came quickly just like he was rushing to catch a bus! There was no hesitation in him as the Children's Pastor embodied my Father and came rushing to me that day to welcome me home.
What was the essential thing for me? I never knew a God who was a Father. Oh don't get me wrong I knew the theory but the theory had not become truth to me. I lived under the law but the law had been fulfilled and God the Father now viewed me through the lense that is the New Covenant. The old was gone and a new day had come, the Day of Grace, the Year of the Favour of God.
Now I would be remiss if I didn't share this with you the reader. The story goes on to tell of the anger of the older son at his father's treatment and favour towards the younger. There is a lot that could be said about the reaction of the older brother but suffice to say this...culturally it would be the role of the older brother to go, bring back and restore the younger but in this case this did not happen. For me I needed an older brother to come and bring me back.
Jesus is my older brother who came to where I was and brought me back to the Father.
I found that I had a Father in God who loved me. I found a brother in Jesus who travelled a long way to restore me through His cross work. I found that I was part of the family of God, a son, because my Father did not receive me as a servant but as a son, put new clothes on me, a new ring of authority on me and new shoes...a new purpose, a new walk, a new direction...no longer the long, downward road but a new road of satisfaction, of purpose and of glory. I will explain that later.
So back to the story...

The Path of Purpose Part 2 - God's Plan Revealed

To continue...
As I already said there was no one sitting anywhere near me, in fact the closest person was at least twenty metres from where I sat.
Who spoke to me?
Well you maybe would accuse me of being drunk or perhaps mad but the fact is I was totally sober and in my right mind and I heard a voice.
Who can speak and not be seen?
Additional to that I later found out that the words spoken to me were out of the Bible and I now know that the Bible are the words of God given to man. The words were spoken with authority so who is most likely to speak with words from the Bible with an authority that sounded like the author?
It had to be God Himself.
So what is the point of this?
There are two things that impacted me.
The first is that God spoke to me. Me!
Now I had never experienced a God who was happy to speak to me. This was an immense thing to me because it gave me a major indication that God wanted to have a relationship with me.
Now I'm pretty slow but I do know that communication is a vital and necessary aspect of relationship. I was stoked that the God who I thought spent most of His time in condemnation of me (for my actions I have to say) was willing to speak to me. Is it possible He wasn't who I thought He was. Had I got Him wrong. Did He actually have an interest in me? This was my first encounter with a God who wanted me in His family. I knew the theory, Jesus is the way to God so I didn't need convincing of that. I knew all the fact that this was the only way to avoid a lost eternal future but that wasn't the point, this was my moment of salvation because this was when I found a God that cared about me and wanted to connect with me.
The word He used suggested that He did care. 'I will restore' suggested that He wanted to fix it. 'I will restore the years the locusts have eaten' suggested He was prepared to put it all behind Him. It suggested that He had something else in store. Was there a plan? A plan suggested that He was interested. Did the plan suggest something better? Was there a purpose for me? This was God, if God says He would restore surely it would be something good!
Hindsight gives me the opportunity to say this here but the wheels were in motion, not my wheels but God's wheels for me. We were on our way. After so many years of trouble and strife, disappointment and frustration there was the glimpse of something better. A life with purpose perhaps?
The following six weeks were momentous. When God starts creating things happen. Within six weeks my wife, never been to church in her life, except for special or unfortunate occasions, was also a Christian. That's a story in itself.
This post is entitled Cambodia WTL Incorporated. Remember it started with me alluding to what I have been doing over the last months?
The next event was in April 2001. I went to Cambodia. The church I was connected to decided they needed to do some 'mission' and a connection had been made with the church in Cambodia. Out of that came a mission trip to Cambodia which I could join.
I had no money but what I had I used to join the trip. I didn't know why. My wife was pretty mad and had her own 'conversation' with God about it. I didn't do much on the trip except carry the bag of the Pastor but there was an incident that I need to share.
God spoke again.
We were going to visit a church in Kampong Spue (good name!) and the road was of sufficient decay to require a 4WD utility vehicle. I sat in the back. It was baking hot and our Pastor had required that we wear long trousers and long shirt sleeves. It was very dusty. I forgot my hat although I did borrow a cap.
We were travelling along and this voice comes again. Now there were people nearby but I recognised the voice this time. The voice said "I am giving you this country as your mission field".
Pardon?
Are you sure?
I returned to Australia as one confused puppy.
My mind was filled with questions...How? When? Why? How? How? How?
Four weeks later a man came to speak at our church. He was a missionary. He got up and said words to this effect..."My message is it doesn't matter How, Why or When, your only responsibility is to be available...If anyone is available then come to the front."
I went. In fact Usain Bolt wouldn't have beaten me there!
In that one moment I was released of the burden of questions and made myself available to God's life of purpose.
So what happened next ?

The Path of Purpose Part 1 - Salvation Comes

Okay...
The last time I wrote I alluded to something that I was doing that could easily be 'watermarked' with the word 'Purpose'.
This blog after all is entitled 'A Life of Purpose'.
For me to properly describe what I have been doing I need to give you some background.
The year 2000 was a momentous year in my life. It was in that year that I heard the voice of God. I hear you mock...and mock you may but you are not me and you don't have my ears!
I know what I heard!
You know the most powerful thing we have to share with one another is our own stories. Our own stories tell everything about us because it is in those stories we can unearth our world views, our programming, the things we believe.
Now my birth was uneventful (at least I don't remember much about about it...perhaps it was pretty eventful for my dear old Mum!) but one thing that was eventful was that I was born into a family that attended a church, well you would call it a church, we called it the meeting.
This place was the meeting venue for people who had the desire to share their faith with anybody who came through the door.
I came through the door, not by choice but by virtue of my birth.
Now from my earliest recollection I was told that I needed to believe in Jesus Christ and if I didn't I risked the certain end of the hellfire of separation from God forever. I was very convinced that I didn't want to be separated from God because hell didn't sound very appealing to me.
Look quite frankly I was afraid and when I was about eight years of age I made a decision that I didn't want to risk it and so I chose to believe in Jesus.
Now over the next maybe ten or so years I made that same decision again at least once, and maybe more times. I tell you that to convey the idea that maybe there was something lacking in my decision. Well actually maybe that's not quite correct, maybe there wasn't anything lacking in the decision, the decision was sound, but my execution of the decision or more precisely my understanding of the truth of it seriously lacked.
Now I want to make the point that I was never told that God speaks to us in the 20th century as it was then. You see 'speaking' necessarily suggests relationship and I knew nothing about relationship with God.
I tried hard to live up to the life that the church, sorry meeting, said I should but I failed miserably. I was on a rollercoaster and the ride was very rough.
No relationship, nowhere to go with my real questions, no real connection, struggle, struggle, struggle...this was the truth of my life.
Oh if you had looked at me in the context of my life in the 'meeting' at that time you would have thought, Wow! that guy has got it together even if you thought I was a little wierd.
If you had seen me in the context of my life away from the 'meeting' you would have been confused, especially if you had the capacity to see me in both my 'lives' at the same time.
This conflict of lives was my big problem because deep in my heart I knew that what I was amounted to no more than hypocrisy.
For me this hypocrisy showed itself in me as immense frustration and dissatisfaction, and I had no one with whom to talk about it.
Now what to do? I took the brave man's approach and ran away.
I went overseas and stepped off my life as I knew it and stepped into another.
My life was a sham, I believed (or so I said) in a God with whom I had no relationship and who I thought would certainly not consider me as I had no worthiness before a God who gave me a list of rules that I had no possibility of achieving.
In hindsight I have to tell you that despite all I have just shared I actually stepped on a road that ever so slowly was heading downhill. You see despite my frustrations hidden in all my struggle truth waited to be found.
Now the gap between that and the year 2000 was about fifteen years.
2000. I was married for the second time. I was effectively an alcoholic. I had achieved nothing and I was nothing. I did have two children, one I had inherited and one I had fathered and even my fatherhood was seriously deficient.
One day I had a 'feeling'. My children needed for someone to tell them about Jesus. I wasn't going to tell them because I didn't know who Jesus was so I had to get someone else to do it. A friend gave me the name of the Children's Pastor of a church. I rang him and told him what I wanted to do and he was helpful. He then asked a stupid question, he said "...and will you be going to Church also?" Me? Are you joking? No way on the planet was my blunt reply.
He took that response well and we agreed that I would bring my children to him the following Sunday.
I didn't.
Five weeks later I arrived at the forecourt of the church which met in a school auditorium.
Now if I spoke to you on the phone yesterday, especially if the call was rather 'random', it is very unlikely that I would remember you.
So five weeks after this 'random' phone call I arrived with my children at the church and through the people waiting outside the church came a man striding as if he had a bus to catch.
He walked straight to me, thrust out his hand and said my name.
I was stunned.
Now you may not consider especially dramatic but I was stunned and this is my story.
While we got my two children into their various Kid's Church classes I was travelling in a state of bemused shock.
What to do?
Ummm...I better go in and see what this is all about...something wierd here, how did he remember?
I sat in the back. The pastor preached. No big deal.
Next Sunday found me sitting in the same seat.
I'm sitting there. No one sat anywhere near me but a voice spoke to me.
The voice said this...
"I will restore the years the locusts have eaten."
Now you think about that for a while and I'll get back to you...