The New Free Thinkers

“Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”  These are the words, spoken by God to Samuel, that singled out David for Kingship.  An anointing, a calling, a ministry: often I have thought of these as a place where one arrives sometime in the future.  To a certain extent, this is true.  However, I believe there is another, more immediate calling.  I like to call it “The Right Now Calling.”

When I look at David’s story, I see a life full of ups and downs.  A giant slayer turns into a javelin dodger.  A killer of 200 Philistines turns to a groveling mad man.  Yet through the ups and downs there is an interesting pattern in David’s early life.  David was summoned from herding sheep by Samuel to be anointed future king.  Apparently David goes back to shepherding after that. The next time we hear about him, he is again “with the sheep.” This time he is called to soothe Saul’s spirit through his music.  Despite these two incredible experiences, David kept on shepherding his life away.  Then for the third time the Bible says he “left the sheep.” This time he is off to bring parched corn and other goodies to his brothers.  The man has the anointing of a king and is still herding sheep.  David was fulfilling his Right Now Calling.

Multiple times throughout my childhood people prophesied that God would use me at a “young and tender age.”  I do believe that, in some ways, these have been fulfilled.    But over the years I have had many wrong concepts about how, when, and why. Today I have fewer answers than ever.  But this excites me, because I am no longer limiting God to my finite plans.  As I continued to grow physically and spiritually, I wondered why it seemed that God wasn’t doing anything special with my life.  Doubts and fears raged like a western wildfire.  I now realize that God was maturing me spiritually; He was teaching and strengthening me in ways vital to my existence.  God is teaching me to chase lions so that one day I will laugh at giants.  It was, and still is, a process.  But not everything is merely preparation for a future event.  I have a Right Now Calling.

My Right Now Calling is simply this: To seek His face.  It is a slight, yet radical attitude change.  God has confirmed this to me over and over again.  No matter what happens I know who I am and what I am supposed to be doing: seeking His face.  It’s a Right Now Calling.  David said, “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face” (Ps 24:6).  Late one Saturday night, lying in my bed, God used that scripture to reconfirm my Right Now Calling:  To be the generation that seeks Him.  Not “please let us be that generation” or “maybe some day we will rise to that status.”  Rather, “This is.”  It’s a radical change of attitude.  Interestingly, the next morning, the scripture reader read that Psalm.

I believe that you, too, have a Right Now Calling.  It may be a universal calling, like praying or witnessing.  But this is the bottom line:  it’s not something you will do tomorrow, but something you can do before you go to sleep tonight.  I believe everyone has a calling to fulfill today.  It’s your Right Now Calling.

It’s Monday morning. The alarm goes off, and you groan in disgust. You wonder why Mondays are always the hardest. After pushing the snooze button twelve times you throw yourself out of bed, already expecting the day to be slow and agonizing.

Sound familiar? What would happen if Monday mornings weren’t like that? What if we treated every morning as what it is: a gift from God? What do you expect every day when you get up, when you go to work or school, and when you interact with those around you? Do you expect great things, or do you expect the ordinary and mediocre? Do you have faith that even if the day is horrible, God is still good and in control?

The story of Ruth is too often overlooked as carnal or unimportant. But if we take a closer look at Ruth’s life, we see that Ruth was not an average woman. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, was an Israelite widow. Her sons had taken Moabite wives, Orpah and Ruth, but ten years later these women were widowed as well. Naomi began the journey to her home country with Orpah and Ruth, but she reasoned with her daughters-in-law to return to the houses of their mothers and find husbands again. Orpah was convinced to return home, but the Bible says Ruth “clave unto [Naomi].”

“And she said, Behold, they sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods: return thou after thy sister in law. And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:”  – Ruth 1:15-16

The remaining chapters of Ruth show that she was obedient to all of Naomi’s instructions. She went out and worked to provide for Naomi and herself. It would have been easy for Ruth just to go home to her house where she would have been treated well, but she stayed with Naomi. Even in the midst of adversity, Ruth expected great things of the Lord. She had no reason to stay with Naomi after the death of her husband. She had no reason to go to a new land where she would not be honored as a foreigner. Ruth didn’t have much; she could have whined and complained about the responsibility. But she expected great things of God. She continued to press through, to work diligently, and to remain obedient and respectful to Naomi. Webster’s dictionary defines expectant as: “being marked with expectation.” All who saw her knew that she was a “virtuous woman.” Ruth did more than just act the part. She was identified as a virtuous woman.

“And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose,”  – Romans 8:28

Sometimes it is hard to remain optimistic in hard times, or to stand up for yourself when people question your faith. But if you pray for faith, God will not only give you faith, but also the opportunity to exercise it. One way to do that is to expect great things of God. That doesn’t mean that everything will happen the way we think it should; Ruth must have been devastated when she lost her husband, but God had a greater plan. Later in the book, she marries a man named Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi’s family, and eventually carries the line of David and Jesus. If she hadn’t trusted in God, she wouldn’t have married Boaz or been the great-grandmother of King David. If you think about your life, do you waste your energy worrying about things you can’t control, or do you use that effort believing that God can pull through?

God is ready to do great things in all of our lives. Do you believe and expect that He will?

Unity is something we hear about quite frequently, and not just in church. This concept of unity has lent its name to organizations of all sizes, including microelectronics companies, colleges, and health insurance providers. We have already discussed the critical importance of unity with God, with each other, and the effects it can have on our lives. So, how can we take this information from our heads to our hearts, making a positive change in our lives?

Have you ever seen an orchestra perform? As many as one hundred of the highest caliber of musicians are there, tuning their instruments. Standing in front of these experts is one man. Armed with the same sheet music as every other performer, he taps his baton on the music stand and all the seasoned professionals wait. Why? Every one of the musicians is more than capable of playing as a solo artist. Everyone in the orchestra can read their own sheet music, thank you very much. How dare that one man with a stick try to tell them how to interpret it! Yet all their eyes are on him, and when the baton is lowered they all play together as one. Together they achieve something they could never reach on their own. The fusion of all their efforts can only truly be experienced when you are there, in unity with the orchestra.

This unity, this state of being one, is not an easy thing to achieve. Like a master musician, we never outgrow the need for it and we never cease to reap its benefits. Without it we have division, which cannot coexist with harmony. Paul even instructs us to avoid those who cause divisions (Romans 16:17). In order to grow, we must learn to live in unity. With unity, we can accomplish more with synergy than we could individually. Unity is imperative.

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!”  – Psalm 133:1

People around the world find it within themselves to unite with each other and accomplish things that would be impossible for just one. Feats of precision and skill are carried out faithfully because of their devotion to craft, culture, or community. We should certainly recognize these accomplishments, but they should also cause us to examine ourselves. If others can live in unity for the sake of perishable human creations, how much more should we be willing to work for unity as the servants of God?

What is unity?  Have you ever wondered that?  In this article I would like to share my experiences and understanding of “unity” with you.  According to Princeton University’s online lexicon, unity is “the quality of being united into one”.

I cannot think of many ways to explain it unity better than through the experiences I have had. A few times in particular stick out. I can remember being in prayer meetings when the power of God was so present that it brought our young group of believers into a place that surpassed every ethnic, economic, social, and gender barrier.  We were able to enter into a place where it did not matter what the person next to you was doing. This move of the Spirit brought us into one mind and one accord. The power was amplified many times over as the spirit directed us to intercede, to worship, to enter into warfare, or to just be in awe.

When this happens, the Spirit guides each of us to surrender individually, and bond corporately. The rest is inevitable; as we draw closer to His will, we will all work together towards the same goal. It is an act that overcomes every obstacle and lets us be a part of something much bigger.

One instance in the Bible stands out as an instance of a time when great things happened because everyone was in unity. The book of Acts recounts when the Holy Spirit was poured out in the upper room. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.  And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4)

That is an example from the Bible of what happened when the believers were unified. I believe that there are going to be great things that occur as we are unified under Jesus in this coming year!

Have you ever been in the army or another armed force? Then you have learned something about unity. All armies work together to defeat an opponent. Human armies, unlike God’s army, rely on physical weapons like guns and bombs. For comparison, God could destroy us with a word — though He won’t, because He loves us so much. God said that He loved the world so much He gave His only son to die for us. I don’t think there is any greater expression of devotion and love than that. If it were not for His love, none of us would be here to see a speck of dust [or to scoff at Him, or to pretend we know more than He does.  -Ed.]. So God’s army is clearly more powerful than a human army. But what of unity?

Well, an army is a complicated system. Every officer must answer to another, higher-ranking officer. Battles are confusing and a disjointed. Many men end up killing their own comrades without even realizing it. Some battles become outright massacres if the officers do not coordinate properly. Spiritually, if we do not keep our lives straight we will be in danger of a massacre: total destruction at the hands of our enemies. God has a place for us in His army to destroy those enemies instead, and guide us through our problems. He wants us to join with Him in the fight against our foes.

If we will only put our trust in God, He will guide us through the battle. When we cooperate with Him like a soldier cooperates with their superiors, we are in the undefeatable fortress of God. [Clearly this requires, well, cooperation.  -Ed.] I need to be aware of my mental, emotional, or even physical enemies so He can direct me. If I don’t follow directions, my day is not going to be easy. That’s not to say that following directions is always easy — it’s difficult for many people — but He’s still our superior. And maybe we’ll mess up from time to time because we’re not perfect, but that’s why we have a God to catch us if we fall. Psalms 119:105 says that God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. This means that God will direct us where we need to go: all we need to do is follow.

A faithful soldier who communicates with his superiors is far preferable in the eyes of a general to a “lone wolf”, whose unguided attacks may hinder his own comrades. Likewise, if we are spiritually active but not in agreement with God, we may do more harm than good. Victory over our personal enemies — whatever they may be — is dependent on our unity with God.

The religious world seems to have thoroughly co-opted the word “unity,” for it is not used in modern English vernacular. Commercial interests use it rarely, and even then it’s usually a brand or label of some sort that might as well be any other string of syllables, like the name of a computer processor or a type of soap. But unity has specific and important meaning to people of faith. Jesus gave a clear description of unity in John 17:9-11:

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Unity is a successive step, an extension of the Mosaic Law. Jesus stated both simply: the law of Moses teaches us to (1) love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and (2) love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37,39). He stated the principle of unity as ‘one-ness’ with each other. He implies identification, communication, and mutual support with these phrases. If God’s laws can be distilled to principles of love, then unity must be a side effect, for it displays the effects of an atmosphere of brotherly love.

If the above argument has not convinced you that unity is an important part of being an effective Christ-follower, I encourage you to search out every Biblical mention of unity’s opposite: division. You will find that there is no place in the house of God for divisive attitudes or actions. There is plenty of room for discussion and even disagreements without being divisive about it. Without unity a group of people will scatter to the wind; with unity that same group can remain when all else has fallen. We will revisit the effects of unity in later articles.

The New Free Thinkers also think that unity is important to a successful spiritual life — so much so that we are sponsoring a series of prayer meetings in the Northeast United States to encourage church youth groups (and others) to get in unity with each other. This project, called Unitiative, will endeavor connect groups of Christian young people to God and to other young people who share their desire to live for God. To find a meeting near you, or to volunteer to host a meeting, visit:

JoinTheUnitiative.com

As you may know, our first year of articles has been collected into the book “Reformed”. It is our pleasure to offer these books online through our home church, Acts II Ministries. It’s all the encouragement and thoughtful reflection of the year, plus a full chapter on the names of God, in one 104-page package.

Visit the Inspirations Bookstore at the above link or send your friends to NewFreeThinkers.com/book to order a copy.

Unshed tears stung my eyes. Wishing I could just wipe them away, I rubbed them ferociously. Clenching my fists in exasperation, I tried to block out the pain that was finally resurfacing after years of burial. Step by step I made my way to the altar. With each step forward feelings of shame, resentment, unworthiness, anger, and betrayal weighed heavily on my heart and left a bitter taste in my mouth. My past was being resurrected. Emotions I had hidden deep down inside of me started to boil over. Tears fell freely as I felt God’s gentle love beckoning to me. Falling to my knees, I let Him take control. The pain was overwhelming, but that made me grasp His hand a little tighter. Uncontrollable sobs shook my body. My mind was a blur. I couldn’t understand why this was happening, yet somehow I knew it had to be done. Something wonderful was being accomplished at that altar that night: God was taking my pain and was transforming it into something greater that he had planned for me. The change was deeper than I could fathom, and it took just one moment of absolute surrender.

When I was very small I was always daddy’s little girl. We were inseparable and he was an important part of my life. When I was just 4 years old, we made a gigantic move that would change my life forever. The trip to Massachusetts started off as a 2 week vacation but would ultimately turn into a lifelong move. I was taken abruptly from my home and placed in a new environment, one with my mom and siblings but not my dad. An emotional burial began in that moment. Someone who was a very important part of my life was no longer there, and I had to fend for myself to replace the father figure I once knew so well.

This is not a story to complain about my life — it’s just that as the years went by with no contact, my heart decided to do its own thing. Unforgiveness, resentment, and anger fell into my heart, straining my relationships with others. I craved the love that only a father could give, a love that I didn’t know anymore. Everything was being buried deep down where I barely acknowledged its existence. But God knew, and he longed to fill that void that had been created in my life.

So He led me to that day at the altar. With each step I was surrendering my own will and my own emotions that held me back from experiencing the love of my Heavenly Father. He knew of the pain that I didn’t acknowledge, and he brought me out of it and onto a solid foundation. He transformed me that night, and it will carry on for the rest of my life. I have my dad again, and I know he will never leave me. I am in the arms of my Daddy, forever.

One Thursday in May, not too long ago, I got home from my brand new job and opened the new game I bought on eBay. I was in a rush to get to my cousin’s house to try it out, and my Mom wanted to pick something up at the store, so we left the house early. Less than a mile down the road, a large SUV swerved onto the opposite sidewalk, narrowly missed a fire hydrant, then over-corrected and hit our minivan head on.

I could write hundreds of pages about the aftermath of the crash, but I’ll simply say that it was catastrophic. I made it out of the car as soon as I regained consciousness and watched medics work tirelessly to get my mother out of the mangled car. When she was finally out and on a stretcher, I realized that my collarbone was in two pieces. By the grace of God, I was able to use my arms normally and did not feel any pain, even though I had crawled on my hands and knees when getting out of the car. While waiting for an ambulance of my own to arrive, I was seated for a short time in the front seat of a police officer’s SUV. Sitting there, holding my shoulder in place, I felt the peace of God in the most powerful way. I sat there and worshipped and sang, staring at the twisted piece of metal that used to be our car.

When I got to the Emergency Room, a doctor came in and began to tell me that I should get ready to say good bye to my mother — that she was going to die or be severely brain damaged. I could feel myself starting to panic, but I asked God for more of his peace and could almost feel his arms around me in that hospital bed. I calmly refused everything he said to me, telling him that I knew everything was going to be all right. Eventually I asked him to leave and thanked God for healing when all I heard was death.

Just one hour after the accident, a nurse came in and told me that the waiting room was full, and they were all there for me. I was surrounded by my blood family and my church family, even though hospital policy said they could only come in two at a time. In that little emergency room, two at a time, they reminded me what the love of God looks like. They prayed with me. They told me it was going to be ok. They made me laugh. They made me cry “happy tears”. They brushed my hair. They stole an extra blanket from the next room when no one was looking. I don’t need to know why bad things happen to good people. I’m glad God cares when bad things happen.

A week later, the day I graduated high school, my mother started breathing unassisted again for the first time. As Salutatorian, I thanked God in my speech for his healing. My mother has made a miraculous recovery, and we are trusting God for complete healing of her leg, which was shattered in the accident. Just like God told me in the E.R. that day, she has no brain damage and we are doing great. Though I could go into much more detail about our physical healing, the most precious thing I carry with me from that accident is absolute confidence in the love of God, even in what seems to be the most disastrous circumstances.

I was born with severe chronic asthma. At the age of 5 months I was put in the hospital and placed in an incubator to keep me alive. A while passed and on a Sunday morning at the age of three, my brother and I were playing on our couch. All of a sudden he yelled that I was turning blue.

My parents ran into the room, and when they saw I was having an asthma attack they immediately put me on the nebulizer, but even with all of that medication I wasn’t getting better. So my mom told my older brother and dad to go on to church and that she would stay home with me. After they left, my mom sat down with me and started to pray. My dad and my older brother asked the whole church to pray for me.

When my mom finished praying, she said that I changed from blue to a reddish color. When the church found out that God healed me they praised Him and thanked Him that I was alive. When I went for a checkup the doctor told my mom that my asthma was completely gone — not a trace of asthma! We told the rest of my family, and they all praised God and thanked Him again for what he had done.

Today I am still asthma free. Ever since then I have reminded myself again and again of what He did for me. God has helped me through great problems. Every time I think about it, I thank Him, for without Him I would not be here today. One lady I related this story to said that it was the most amazing story she had ever heard.

God has blessed me in many ways. He has shown me things that I have never seen before. I am thankful for what He has done for me, and more importantly I know that He loves me always and I love Him.