In season’s like this, where fear and uncertainty spread like a virus through the masses, it’s easy to see why the words “do not be afraid” appear in the bible some 365 times (depending on the translation). Though I once questioned how “believers” can live in even the most mild state of fear, I realize now that I was sometimes attributing fear to other instinctive emotions that are not necessarily signs of doubt, but can actually be the activity of genuine faith in a time of danger. For that, I repent of my former arrogance and ignorance concerning this matter, and I simply pray through my own times of deep concern… and always find peace in the very moment I clear my my heart and mind and soul of all earthly matters and set my all back on Christ… asking Him not simply to take care of the issue, but far more… to take over all of ME, so that I never again return to a place where I had to reset myself. I pray the same for you. In a faith where His ways are all that matter, I pray for you that His presence in you is truly ALL that matters. From there, as the Beatles quoted mother Mary, “let it be.” Words of wisdom indeed.
I’m in a season of tremendous busy-ness right now… with lots to “let be.” Thus the low activity at JesusDNA over these past few months. Times like these remind me of how grateful I am for the Old Testament record… and for the epistles… and history books and archaeology that prove the incredible obedience through great hardships so many have endured to ensure we would each be blessed with the Gospel… to prepare for similar hardships of our own. So I press through, and thank God that I truly love the type of work I do, as any real artist should, as any true believer should. And I trust that soon — Like Paul during his post-Demascus Road years as an inconspicuous tent maker — God will move me out of this busy-ness into the full activity of preaching the Gospel… from rootops, from temple steps, from seaside boats, from grassy hillsides, from underground caves, and from devices of modern design. I know this work He has me doing now is His will, for reasons of His own, and though I believe I can see His threads weaving through my work, I know it’s far more important that I “live” the Gospel through this season of busy-ness… for the sake of my staff, and my partners, and my friends and family, and for anyone else who may be watching. I believe it was St. Francis Asisi who said (to paraphrase), “In everything I do I live only to preach the Gospel, and sometimes, I will speak.” I get it.
I’m working on a web project that should offer a “rooftop” for every person who lives in my little town of Charleston, SC. It is at GreaterCharleston.com. Give it a look, and maybe it will speak to you as a “proof” of His movement in me, but at very least it should prove that “considering the birds of the air and flowers of the field” are as much a Gospel effort today as they were when He compelled us to do so from that grassy hill at the sea of Galilee. For this, I simply do what He made me to do, and though I weave, I do not spin. Though I clothe, I do not dress up. His beauty is all that I see (see Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8). Cheers in your own season of busy-ness.
I encourage everyone who breathes to read an article that was published yesterday in The Christian Science Monitor titled The coming evangelical collapse, by Michael Spencer. It is powerfully important, and worthy of some sort of response even if you disagree. For a sampling, consider these excerpts from Spencer’s essay:
This collapse will herald the arrival of an anti-Christian chapter of the post-Christian West. Intolerance of Christianity will rise to levels many of us have not believed possible in our lifetimes, and public policy will become hostile toward evangelical Christianity, seeing it as the opponent of the common good.
The evangelical investment in moral, social, and political issues has depleted our resources and exposed our weaknesses. Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.
We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we’ve spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of Christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures.
Despite some very successful developments in the past 25 years, Christian education has not produced a product that can withstand the rising tide of secularism. Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.
The ascendency of Charismatic-Pentecostal-influenced worship around the world can be a major positive for the evangelical movement if reformation can reach those churches and if it is joined with the calling, training, and mentoring of leaders. If American churches come under more of the influence of the movement of the Holy Spirit in Africa and Asia, this will be a good thing.
Despite all of these challenges, it is impossible not to be hopeful. As one commenter has already said, “Christianity loves a crumbling empire.” We can rejoice that in the ruins, new forms of Christian vitality and ministry will be born. I expect to see a vital and growing house church movement. This cannot help but be good for an evangelicalism that has made buildings, numbers, and paid staff its drugs for half a century.
Please Click Here to read the full article. Then please, pass it around. I truly believe most if not all of Mr. Spencer’s essay to be a word from God. You be the judge…
February 8th is my birthday, and though I’m not one to get all jazzed up about special days, this one deserves special attention not for me, but as a celebration of what my Mom endured to bring me into the world on this day (Thank you Mom)… and also because it “just so happens” to be the date of maybe the most important single page in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, which — if you know me — is in my opinion the most God anointed writing of the modern era. If you search Utmost on my site you’ll find a larger post about the book, but I encourage you to go to Utmost.org and read the book for yourself, free online. For your consumption, here is the post for February 8:
The Cost of Sanctification
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23
When we pray, asking God to sanctify us, are we prepared to measure up to what that really means? We take the word sanctification much too lightly. Are we prepared to pay the cost of sanctification? The cost will be a deep restriction of all our earthly concerns, and an extensive cultivation of all our godly concerns. Sanctification means to be intensely focused on God’s point of view. It means to secure and to keep all the strength of our body, soul, and spirit for God’s purpose alone. Are we really prepared for God to perform in us everything for which He separated us? And after He has done His work, are we then prepared to separate ourselves to God just as Jesus did? “For their sakes I sanctify Myself . . .” ( John 17:19 ). The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God.
Are we prepared to be caught up into the full meaning of Paul’s prayer in this verse? Are we prepared to say, “Lord, make me, a sinner saved by grace, as holy as You can”? Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him, just as He is one with the Father (see John 17:21-23 ). The resounding evidence of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life is the unmistakable family likeness to Jesus Christ, and the freedom from everything which is not like Him. Are we prepared to set ourselves apart for the Holy Spirit’s work in us? ~Oswald Chambers
I was speaking with a good friend tonight, Shanna, and she said something that moved me to tears. Her father is a missionary and former pastor who has proven himself to be the most legitimate/steadfast believer she has ever known. When she speaks of him it’s like listening to Mary the sister of Lazarus speaking of Jesus. (more…)
I often work with freelance artists from around the globe. Many live in third world nations, but most live in impoverished areas of the large second world nations of Asia. Protectionists would say I should hire only Americans, and though I might if I could (there are many reasons why I can’t find suitable American artists), I’m grateful for these incredibly bright, amazingly gracious colleagues of mine. They’re beautiful people. They work tirelessly, they stop to praise God in pure un-contrived moments of honesty, and the way they express their appreciation for life and the humble blessings of good work from people like me who live on the other side of the planet is nothing less than inspiring… and often much more than that. Quantities of money that the average American teen would blow in one evening at the movies is enough to set up some of my global colleagues for a full week or longer. And when I send a bonus, no matter how small, they beam with gratitude (albeit across the internet). I’m humbled by their inherent intelligence and childlike modesty, and I’m moved by their genuine kindness and grace. These are good people, and today they reminded me… in Christ, every day is a Good Day, and so I too am grateful… and poor of spirit, and humbled at heart. It’s a good day.
I’m deep into the development of a new web magazine project called GreaterCharleston.com, and I love my partners. I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire life, dating back to elementary school, and of all the divinely arranged partnerships I’ve enjoyed… and there were many… this team takes the cake… or the bread, I should say. We all recognize the hand of God in this project, and since it’s an organic publishing opportunity where artists and writers of all ages will soon have their first and hopefully best works published, we see clearly how God has brought us together, and even some of the reasons why. There is still mystery to it… and that’s beautiful and exciting… so we praise Him in this season ordained to celebrate His birth as a human and thank Him for our burgeoning fellowship. It’s a good time to be in such a high octane creative mode… but I believe there is no bad time for that. So, in lieu of topical study or discussion of new visions, I’d like to share a short video montage of images I’ve captured over the past two months for Greater Charleston. The 3 minute music video centers on the seaside beauty God has painted on the canvas that is my home, Charleston, SC. Everyone knows Jesus was a carpenter by trade, but we also know He was a fisherman and sailor who lived by the sea, taught on its shores, and walked on its waves. For this, I’m quite sure He favors this tiny oceanside pearl… and the beauty 350 years of believers have enjoyed in the mystical ‘Holy City’ of the Carolinas. Merry Christmas…
As I was celebrating Thanksgiving today I felt especially grateful for life. It’s been an absolutely amazing year, and God has been with me for every step and every breath, just as He’s here with me right now as I type. So if you are reading this, please, feel His living presence in you… really feel Him… and if you can’t instantly converse with Him and express your gratitude for His presence… if other concerns are fighting for your attention, ask yourself why this is so. Then go somewhere you can get alone with Him, and ask to tangibly be “one” with Him. Talk to Him, right now, in this very moment. Happy Thanksgiving.
I was more than just a bit confused when I first read how Jesus refers to those of us who hope to be among the chosen (those who enter the kingdom of heaven) as His “bride.” And while most men hurry past Jesus’ marriage parables without fully embracing the depth of their message, I’ve noticed that most women rush past them as well. It’s obvious that most of us have trouble viewing God as a romantic interest, and before I was born again, I was definitely among that majority (more…)
In part 1 I spoke of complete “obedience” to God as evidence of belief in an all-powerful and worthy God, and used the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (Matthew 25:1-17) to illustrate that total obedience is required of those who truly love Him. I also identified the dilution of the English language as a primary cause for the lack of understanding in Christendom, and nowhere is this dilution so damaging as it is with the word “love” as a physical and spiritual activity offered to Jesus Christ as God. (more…)
Today the popular Christian music website JesusFreakHideout.com (great name, eh?) posted a review of my album “Gospel Project” in their Indie Music Spotlight section, and I was greatly moved. While the reviewer (Rob Tyson) was tremendously complimentary of every element of the project including much deserved mention of producers Michael Brown and BJ Brown and guest soloist Quiana Parler, the following excerpt meant more to me than any of the kind words Gospel Project has received in past reviews…
“Lyrically, the record would be labeled as “Worship,” but this is not the stuff of the [traditional Sunday morning fare]… These are modern day Psalms; the plea of one man who has walked a long road to find that God has redeemed him, regardless of the writer’s own failings.”
Through all the artistic expression and excellence the band and I poured into Gospel Project, none of it was of any value to us if the message was lost. Thank you Rob, and thank you Jesus Freak Hideout, for hearing this stone cry out my heart and soul to the Lord. To read the entire review, click here, or go to www.WayneCaparas.com to read all press reviews since the July release.
I was speaking with a good friend tonight, Shanna, and she said something that moved me to tears. Her father is a missionary and former pastor who has proven himself to be the most legitimate/steadfast believer she has ever known. When she speaks of him it’s like listening to Mary the sister of Lazarus speaking of Jesus.