In Situ

• Jenglander

I don’t think I can put into words the wisdom I have read from other people the last several days about living out our faith and trusting God while we are in essential free fall in the world (whatever the situation may be).

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I think the cores of what I have seen and read are:

  1. Faith that cannot be put into action is dead –  James 2:17. It’s a dead battery. You can’t get the car to jump start. The engine won’t turn over. Because this basically means if we don’t trust Jesus enough for him to take us from a quiet, safe zone into a place where there is uncertainty, where we don’t know how to get to a good ending, where there is the potential for fear and even intense anxiety, and not believe that he controls our life situation, we have trust issues in him. It signals we struggle with understanding that he is God. And as God he can do whatever he wants. However, his heart toward us is good and he does good toward us in all things (Romans 8:28). This is all to answer the question of our relationship with him in, Do we really love and trust and believe in him enough to be in free fall and trust that he will catch us, even if there’s no safety net below, no parachute and only his promise that he will appear and move before we hit the ground? When physics and our eyesight of the ground rapidly approaching tells us that we are about to be smashed to bits, do we still trust his words and promises?
  2. What do we really want with God? – Do we seek deeper intimacy with him? If so, are we willing to walk through trials to deepen that dependency and trust with him? Are we willing to be in situ and not waste the day, instead using the current day to press deeper into his arms? We can use the current crisis (whatever that may be for you) to draw us closer to his chest, hiding our eyes from the lie of the world, or we can choose to look out into fear, and not believe he is with us. Do we want him, do we desire him? Do we dare do things that may be scary in order to deepen intimacy with him? It’s a Gethsemane type problem.

I’m in situ in this in my life. I’m in free fall. And after all the conversations with other people I have had over the past several days, I’m realizing I’m not the only one. I woke up to see that there are so many of us falling toward a hard ground. But we have this promise that Jesus will rescue us, he will save the day. Just as he did with the Israelites right before the Egyptians caught up to them to attack them.

So…let’s love Jesus wholeheartedly, to the point that if we are tested, our hearts will be shown to be true and faithful, just as he is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11)

Hope you are having a wonderful day! I would LOVE to hear about where you are at with Jesus right now and would really love to pray over you if you’d like 🙂

Hope that Jesus puts an extra smile on your face this afternoon (or evening or morning, depending on which hemisphere you are in). Because you are awesome. He definitely thinks so!!

30 thoughts on “In Situ”

  1. Very neatly and concisely put, but a few comments from a leatherneck veteran:

    1. Genesis to Revelation is a journal of God’s failed plans, ruined by man. All is well only for those who live within His will. People take Paul grossly out of context. You may be doing the right thing right in the right way at the right time for the right reason, but other people in the process may err and ruin it.

    2. Jesus provides through people who ruin it if they don’t obey His Spirit. People around you should have been stoning you by now, with hard cash, gas, food, etc. Where are they, are they keeping God’s property to themselves?

    3. Praise Him through your storm. Even if you cannot, still do it.

    4. It isn’t what we want with Jesus. It is what Jesus wants with us, from us, for us. His will be served,not ours. This crucial bit is the clincher here.

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    1. Thank you for the comment Pete. I wholeheartedly agree with 3,4 and thank you for 2, but I have to humble myself here on that one. I would not ask for anything when there are so many hurting in the world. But I thank you for your heart in your words here:)

      As for 1, I think yes and no. Yes I agree in that there are many, many places where God’s initial plan was ruined by the people he was setting up for good. Including giving of money and resources to the needy. I’m not sure I understand the context you are referring to with Paul, I’m guessing it’s Romans 8:28…the context was about the universe waiting in angst and us too for our glorification in Christ. I think the context meant was everything works toward our good, culminating in glorification at the resurrection. Also the finality of his plan in his return is the culmination of all this work, so it succeeds in the end.

      Also fast forward to Romans 9, God makes different vessels for different purposes. Some for wrath, some for glorification. Plus he predestined us to this good, Ephesians 1:11. So did he really ever fail ever? I have to disagree, though in places when he gave control to the people they often chose to rebel and God makes course corrections to continue redemption as a parent disciplines disciplines a child after a temper tantrum (eg God doesn’t give Israel and king and they throw a fit so he gives them Saul, when Israel whined for meat and God said they would eat it until it comes out your nose and you hate it – Numbers 11)

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      1. It isn’t God who fails, it is us. Creation was good, man soiled it to the point where He regretted having made man. Paul is not the authority but God is. The Pauline Christian many times misinterprets Scripture. The verse about “all things work together for good” is misunderstood, misinterpreted and mistranslated. The erroneous dogma of predestination is easily put into context by anyone who knows the rest of the Bible outside the teachings of Paul. Both the Tanakh and life experience prove Paul wrong. On various occasions, it is clearly shown that even God doesn’t always know what is inside a man, what he will do next, which is just one of many reasons why He puts people to the test. I sent you an audio clip on this with just one out of at least a few hundred case studies ou5 of my own life. I do understand Matthew 7:21-23 differently because I have been there, done that. A lifetime with Job and Job comforters have proven them wrong and me right. I am not boasting but,for the sake of understanding, have to say that this guy have been around the block a few times more than most. From practice first, later reinforced by study, Paul was proven wrong. When you learn when some of his stuff was written, also altered and by whom this was done, the picture becomes clearer. There is a whole Bible beyond Paul. English Bibles are wrongly translated in so many places for various reason#, just one being that certain things cannot be translated within its original context simply because the language lacks the capacity. The gent calling it “inerrantly breathed” wasn’t even a true believer but his inroads into the occult and other perversions alone disqualifies him. The original manuscripts have been destroyed around the fourth and fifth centuries and altered texts are all we have today. One simply cannot pick up any Bible and take it at face value. When you really research how the Bible came about, you’d be in for a shock. Your personal relationship with Jesus need to be rather intimate as your faith will be shaken and tested to the core. Ecclesiastes, for instance, contain much that contradict Jesus simply because it was taken from the Epic of Gilgamesh. And someone else, not Moses, floated in the basket. That story existed very,very long before Moses was even born. As for Paul…..rather take advice from Jesus. He is God, after all and Paul a mere human like you and I.

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      2. I really have to complete disagree with this. It sounds like you have come to this conclusion and decided this is what you want to believe, so I will not argue with you. But I disagree completely and have plenty of evidence against this.

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  2. The thing I get reminded of by the Holy Spirit is … God is not a genie in a bottle. So many fall from faith if there is no healing, the marriage doesnt get any better, no decent job outside of flipping burgers LOL, … no magic wand. His Will, will be done period … for me its humility. I “hear” humble yourself daughter, frequently. I think its this present culture, my mom who is a hard core feminist … neither of which is humble, and He is teaching it to me.

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    1. Amen to that. His first purpose is not to be Santa Claus, it is to be worshiped day and night. And he is also growing us up in Jesus to be like him, which takes work. Lots of work.

      I love that, humility. I think that’s a wonderful state to be in. This culture is all about the worship of the seld, it’s a shame. So definitely Jesus let us be more humble in your eyes.

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    3. How we treat people who are in need, has a major influence on their destiny and even of their children a!d their children. Has Christianity lost the plot,has it become a loveless, egocentric beast? From my perspective, very much so. Love in action is just an idea, nowadays. Four decades ago, nobody had an I-phone or lived in MYspace.

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      1. About 10 yrs ago we were homeless in L.A. My spouse, recovering drug addict, had a wild hair to go out to Harvest ministries. He got saved basically watching Greg Laurie and wanted to serve at that church. Former drug addicts dont think like everybody else. So off we went, with 4 kids aged 8 to 3. He had work skills and I could wait tables but not w/o an address. We were judged harshly. Stayed in no tell motels while the spouse worked. He had went in and asked for help w food. They thought it was a big deal to give us left overs that had been sitting out on an outdoor table for several hours, and a box of pancake mix w weevils. It was horrible. I salvaged what I could. People were going to that church who owned entire empty apartment buildings tithed to the church. I needed an address for one month so I could work until we got up on our feet., and we could even pay some rent, just not enough. Church is big business these days. I even had a lady wipe her hand off after shaking mine when she discovered we were living around prostitutes. It wrecked my husband and I stopped going to church for several years after. It was painful. We never went hungry so God was faithful in spite of his people.

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      2. Been homeless for long, tod@y our children are estranged from us. We had similar experiences as you. God provided, my own parents interfered repeatedly, as did other reborn Christians who did not listen to His Spirit but followed their own human understanding. We lived in toy tents, I am disabled. Churches around us showed NO love. Worst of all were Life Church in Sea Point and Hillsong of Cape Town. No, Jesus isn’t there.

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      3. Lots of dead churches. You know a church has life when the surrounding areas are being positively impacted. Its sad!

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      5. We never went hungry yet we never had more than just the basic. To this day, I cannot fulfill my calling because of damage done through widespread disobedience.

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      6. Oh goodness, I’m sorry you had to walk through that. Jesus is perfect, but there are a lot of Christians who aren’t Christians. A lof of the church has fakes, or as Jude put it, “I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches…When these people eat with you in your fellowship meals commemorating the Lord’s love, they are like dangerous reefs that can shipwreck you.[e] They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness.” (ch 1, v4, 12-13). Not all Christians are like this, but there are a lot of them out there that wear the badge of Christ follower but do not have him and are only filled with selfishness.

        I would never wipe my hand off after shaking your hand 🙂 That’s horrible and I’m so sorry you and your husband have had such awful experiences with God’s family. His real children should never act like this.

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      7. I was a fairly young Christian back then. It seemed really horrible at the time but I learned a lot. I could sail through that test now LOL Our current church has things that are similar and I just stay away from those people. Many equate financial poverty with being a bad person and it just isnt so. Women in general are catty, jealous, and territorial creatures … much more so than men. Ive been treated very poorly by other women Christian or not unless they are the real kind of Christian for some dumb reason or another. Im probably not as nice in some ways that I used to be, but as soon as I identify a woman getting treated poorly for no good reason, I go out of my way to befriend them now. You learn compassion and other things. Suffering exposes the evil in humans. Im all good now, but it was tough and I wouldnt wish it on anyone.

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      8. So two things there I’ve seen myself: 1) financial poverty is equated culturally in our old church with a more dramatic personality, which equates to childish behavior. And they essential say, stay away from drama. So they ostracize people who are financially distress. The church turned into a frigging country club. We were out! I’m not doing that! Then 2) I’ve seen women do the same thing. They judge based upon appearance and immediately make up their mind which bucket that woman falls into, whether A) middle class, typical mom/woman B) upper class, typical mom/woman, maybe a little snooty but seems popular so definitely someone to befriend, C) lower class mom/woman, probably a little dramatic, might have some issues, don’t have time to invest in her right now. And then the occasional D) lower class woman/mom who seems like she has her stuff together, on her way to financial success (usually married college students).

        ^There ain’t nothing Biblical Biblical about that! But But it’s everywhere in middle class US churches

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      9. I had a dream one time where Jesus was looking at me and laughing and said, “You are like garlic” And I got the message that one garlic is strong, medicinal and people either love or hate me 😂😂 Can not change what I am but I am respectful. Im just not a tea and cucumber sandwich crowd, if anything is false in somebody I see it immediately … Its Pharasitical on the side of parasitic … our church likes big tithers. We tithe, but we can’t tithe a condo or building. I dont worry too much … I stay busy with the little hood mice on my street, the occasional vagrant that asks out right for food because they havent eaten in two days, or treating dramatic lower class women like people. God knows whats up LOL!

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  3. My “situ” is that my church is headed into a major change. Our pastor has accepted a position elsewhere, and this weekend is the “big reveal”. As one of the elders I expect to be really busy this fall. There will be a lot of grief to lead people through (meaning I go through it as well). There will major decisions, and day-to-day little stuff to deal with. Should be a real challenge, but one I face with the Spirit of my Master coming along side me. No worries!

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    1. I will pray the transition goes smoothly Matt!! That can be a shock to the system in a church. Is it a big church or smaller one? You seem like a very wise man of God so I am sure you will be a great vessel for God to work through in this time of change! And as you said, no worries!

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      1. It’s small, about 300 on a good Sunday. Terrible givers though, indicating a shallow faith. Issues with smaller churches mean personalities have more influence, which can be good or bad depending on the person. God reigns though, regardless of the influence. He’s still King.

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      2. The smaller churches definitely do have a tendency for the personalities to shine through. My grandparents used to go to a small country church years ago and I would attend. You could see the smaller room allowed for more bumping into each other as well as more sharpening.

        Amen to the reign of God though, he has many churches, big and small!

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    1. Thanks sister! I thought A LOT about what you said to me on your last post. Everything you said cut to the heart of the matter. Seriously. It was insight from God.

      Love reading you too sister!! How are things on your end down in AZ? Hope its good! I keep you and your husband in my prayers, especially for work!

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      1. All glory to God! Thank you!

        Well, you know, practice starts this week so football pressure is On. But we are so hopeful, keeping our focus on being thankful for everything and rejoicing as much as we can in the process.
        Thank you for your prayers brother! I am keeping you in my prayers also. Knocking until something opens. It will open!

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      2. I’ll be praying the week goes well! Hope the season goes well too!!

        And thank you! I got a text from my recruiter a few minutes ago that I got my first interview next week 🙂

        Let’s go innovate, right?! 🙂

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