by Jim Burgdorf | Jul 19, 2024 | Uncategorized
I am more convinced than ever that the greatest undeveloped area in believers’ lives today is not their ability to pray or stand in faith or quote God’s Word or resist the devil or walk in love or evangelize or… but it’s being able, when the going gets really tough, to seek and find peace—to locate and access a secret place with Father! …The ability and personal resolve to simply and genuinely set affections on things above, to exercise loving the Lord our God with all heart, soul, mind and strength—to cultivate sanctuary in the midst of the fire.
When under great pressure, most of the church is powerless to seek and find true refuge, to re-focus the desperately distracted heart amidst utterly consuming circumstances—to genuinely worship!
I’m not minimizing other areas that similarly need strengthening … just proposing that while those other subjects are regularly discussed and championed, this area is not only most vital to our foundation, but the most “under the radar” …the most overlooked and foreign.
Really, when embattled, I cannot effectively function in any other aspect of my Christian walk until I’ve crossed this bridge—until I have identified and addressed this core issue. I can’t resist effectively until I re-connected my heart to the “power source.” Truly standing in faith, praying authoritatively and confidently, loving others unconditionally, resting… all are hopeless if the power remains unplugged.
“Father, You will show me the path of life: in your presence is fullness of joy!” Ps.16:11. (Thank you David, it couldn’t be said any better.) Selah. \o/
by Jim Burgdorf | Jun 27, 2024 | Uncategorized
Facing crisis, the natural tendency of human frailty is to retreat or if possible, ignore… to seek a diversion and any path of less resistance. Ministry leaders typically offer guidance that nicely blends psychology and social remedy with God’s Word. As believer’s, we are generally schooled to persevere, to take courage, to stand and face challenge with resilient defiance and be proactive—to attack! While noble and socially applauded, this misses a much greater point.
When life seriously appears to be coming apart at the seams, with adversity seemingly on every side and ‘Murphy’s Law’ the apparent rule-of-the-day, do not immediately begin gritting your teeth, frantically quoting scripture, waving your Sword wildly and hoisting your shield of faith. Time out!! Peace. Be still! Take just a moment and …wait. Collect yourself, refocus your heart and set your affections on things above! Worship.
Isa 40:29 AMP He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; 31 But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.
Apparently, renewed strength, eagles wings and not fainting or being weary are blessings reserved for those who “wait” on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord is not a description of inactivity… It is the fundamental basis of spiritual pro-action, of truly standing—and at its core, it’s worshiper-talk. Selah.\o/
by Jim Burgdorf | Apr 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
The greatest challenge facing the church today is NOT a lack of cultural relevance. It is this: recognizing that there is a vast difference between discussion about God and genuine encounter with God. The church must re-prioritize between group therapy and personal encounter. Even in the “good” churches our services tend to focus primarily on instruction about kingdom principle and about principles for righteous living (all noble and valid) rather than becoming a laboratory—an incubator for encountering God face-to-face! The tragic result is that for any believer to truly discover the treasure of a secret place with God, they must virtually do it on their own, having heard rumors about it at church, yet never truly experiencing…
Is the purpose of the church to instruct about glorious God-encounters or to actually pursue them? …To discuss the depths from the riverbank—or to launch out into the deep? In truth, the “depth” of the discussion and revelation means nothing if it fails to inspire and compel a fervent personal pursuit.
God’s Jer.29:13 guarantee does NOT read, “You shall seek me and find me when you search for me as an appetizer to the main event, when your search is an hors d’oeuvre—a snack before the main course of learning more about the kingdom. ‘Missing the mark’ is how the Bible characterizes sin—an unfortunate description of the focus of much of the church today. Selah! (Reprinted from recent Selahgram)
by Jim Burgdorf | Mar 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
The greatest challenge facing the church today is NOT a lack of cultural relevance. It is this: recognizing that there is a vast difference between discussion about God and genuine encounter with God. The church must re-prioritize between group therapy and personal encounter. Even in the “good” churches our services tend to focus primarily on instruction about kingdom principle and about principles for righteous living (all noble and valid) rather than becoming a laboratory—an incubator for encountering God face-to-face! The tragic result is that for any believer to truly discover the treasure of a secret place with God, they must virtually do it on their own, having heard rumors about it at church, yet never truly experiencing…
Is the purpose of the church to instruct about glorious God-encounters or to actually pursue them? …To discuss the depths from the riverbank—or to launch out into the deep? In truth, the “depth” of the discussion and revelation means nothing if it fails to inspire and compel a fervent personal pursuit.
God’s Jer.29:13 guarantee does NOT read, “You shall seek me and find me when you search for me as an appetizer to the main event, when your search is an hors d’oeuvre—a snack before the main course of learning more about the kingdom. ‘Missing the mark’ is how the Bible characterizes sin—an unfortunate description of the focus of much of the church today. Selah! (Reprinted from recent Selahgram)
by Jim Burgdorf | Mar 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
Heaven’s center-stage will not be filled with orators. The centerpiece and attraction of our Heaven-experience will not be a star-studded lineup of the spiritual voices and icons of the ages. ‘…Tomorrow afternoon will feature D.L.Moody, followed by Billy Graham, 45 min. w/ James the Apostle, then Charles Spurgeon, Abraham and Charles Finney.’ Wow, what a selection! …Can’t wait!
No! For many, this is their perspective of church — a showcase for eloquence, simply a platform for articulate, persuasive and motivating lecture. …Or at the very least, an arena for distributing and propagating beneficial information.
Yet, heaven won’t be anything like this. Heaven’s heartbeat, the atmosphere at its core, will be thunderously different! Its heartbeat and the joy of heaven will be all about “giving” not “receiving”!
God’s primary intent for the church is not as a mechanism to introduce us to compelling speech and convincing arguments … simply an instrument to keep parishioners better informed about God and kingdom principles. His foremost desire is as an incubator to prepare us for the lifestyle of heaven—a giving, not receiving perspective.
I’m reasonably sure heaven will include an education process (orientation) for every participant and for many this will require rapid and significant growth. We will all suddenly have “doctrinal revelation” & perfect clarification (illumination) of things we’ve been so doctrinally sure of. Eph.2:7 speaks of us being the example of His grace, “that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Doubtlessly, our spiritual growth process begins here. However as with heaven, we must learn to see church from a giving not just receiving perspective—from a passion to worship, not merely to be better informed (equipped). Indeed, it is better to give than to receive and this is not money-talk; it’s worshiper-talk. We were born to be givers! Selah.\o/
