Survivors float

The last two weeks have been intense.

A bomb goes boom.

What do the two statements above have in common? Both are accurate, but neither conveys the impact.

After two intense weeks, I’m strewn – and numb. My mind careens in every direction except the subject at hand. It refuses to make a to-do list. It runs, screaming, from thinking tasks. It goes into blank-screen mode when told to focus.

Happily, even without a to-do-list, I’ve done some things. I dusted the living room and dining room, washed a load of clothes, swept and mopped the kitchen floor. My hands now gravitate to tasks that can be tackled without engaging brain. My brain applauds all this productive activity, delighted to remain thus unengaged.

Meanwhile, my emotions won’t identify themselves. “Come out now!” I cry. The answer? Silence. I know they’re in there, hiding behind bolted doors, getting into mischief, but I can’t locate the key. Two outcomes seem possible, and equally frightening: that my emotions will stay locked in there indefinitely or that they’ll burst out in unexpected places and ways.

“This is grief,” a kind friend says.

“You’re experiencing post-traumatic stress,” another observes.

Having themselves walked through trauma and grief, these two women know what the scenery looks like along the way. One of them said to me, “I’m praying that during this time you’ll float.”

Her remark sounded random, laughable. But I didn’t laugh.

Instantly, I recalled long summer days of youth, spent at a local swimming pool. Hour after hour, I swam, dived off the diving board and played water games with my friends. Sometimes, though, I simply lay on my back in the water, floating. Without effort or struggle, I stayed atop the water.

The Amplified version of Genesis 7:18 speaks of a huge, wooden, animal-laden vessel that did likewise: “And the waters became mighty and increased greatly upon the land, and the ark went [gently floating] upon the surface of the waters.”

The Message paraphrases the same verse this way: “The waters kept rising, the flood deepened on the Earth, the ship floated on the surface.” The story continues: “The flood got worse until all the highest mountains were covered — the high water mark reached twenty feet above the crest of the mountains. Everything died. Anything that moved — dead. . . . every last one of them, gone. Only Noah and his company on the ship lived.”

When the rains came down and the floods came up, who survived the trauma and grief? Those who floated. Of course, Noah and company didn’t lie on their backs in the water. No one could have done that successfully during such a cataclysmic and lengthy flood. Surviving the flood required taking refuge in a vessel designed to float.

While floating, Noah and clan didn’t twiddle their thumbs. They had a daily routine. But the daily ark routine – the floating above trauma routine – wasn’t the same as their daily routine before the flood. Oh, no.

Once the bomb goes boom, what was previously normal is no longer even in the picture. Over time, floaters sort the scattered pieces until a new normal emerges.

Floating isn’t denying. It isn’t escaping. It’s what John 15 calls remaining in Christ. However strewn, however numb I am, I stay in the one who will not sink . . . and there ride out the flood.

(c) 2007 Deborah P. Brunt. All rights reserved.

Treasure hunting

Sometimes God hides jewels for us in unlikely places. Then, he gives us a clue.

The clue may be anything. It may look, sound, smell, or taste any number of ways. It may be blatant – like a bush that burns but doesn’t burn up. It may be subtle – like a song segment sandwiched among a pre-movie mishmash of ads, celebrity trivia, reminders to turn off your cell phone and warnings not even to think about recording any part of the show.

Yet as varied and creative as God’s clues may be, they all have one thing in common: They hit us Spirit-to-spirit. They touch us in the deepest part of our being – and, usually, come as a gentle nudge. In our loud, hurried world, it’s incredibly easy to miss those nudges – and incredibly important that we don’t.

Movie night last weekend, I caught a whiff of a song – heard the essence of its melody and a tantalizing hint of its lyrics:

“What am I to do? I’ve broken my parachute
So if gravity happens, then I’ll fasten wings to my shoes”

Then, the pre-movie mishmash continued, followed by the movie itself and the rest of the weekend’s activities. Yet on Monday, I still heard those two lines replaying in my mind. I still felt the nudge they provoked in my spirit. So, I went on a treasure hunt – and found “Gravity Happens,” by Kate Voegele.

I’ve downloaded the song. Every time I play it, it touches something deep in my spirit. What a gift from my Father!

Today, our Father in heaven wants to remind you: He has jewels for you too. If you long to recognize his Spirit-to-spirit nudges, you will. But remember, his nudges usually don’t bring you the treasure. Rather, they lead you to it. To claim your jewels, you have to push aside everything else clamoring for your attention and move toward whatever God has used to trigger a chord in your innermost being.

Your Father has reasons for requiring that you seek the jewels he’s prepared for you. He knows a treasure sought is a treasure treasured. Please do not miss out on the astounding gifts he wants to give you, because you think you’re too busy to pay attention to his inner nudge.

To treasure hunt now, click the link and see whether “Gravity Happens” is a jewel from God for you too.

Tabor

The header photo for this blog shows a fiery sun hanging in the sky near Mount Tabor in Israel. From that mountain, Deborah sent Barak and his troops into battle with these words: “Go! This is the day the Lord has given Sisera  [your oppressor] into your hands. Has not the Lord gone ahead of you?”

Gazing on Tabor, let God speak deeply into your spirit. Let him identify the oppressor he has given into your hands today. You may think first of people. Ah, but the real oppressors, whether operating from within you or from within someone else, are spirit. We identify them based on the way they oppress. Their names include (but are not limited to): Fear, Addiction, Greed, Rejection, Bitterness, Lust, Denial, Control, Pride.

Barak and his people had been cruelly oppressed for 20 years. When they cried out to the Lord, he delivered them. But Barak couldn’t just sit back – and experience God’s deliverance. Barak had to face down what had continually defeated him in order to see the Lord’s victory over it. Barak had to go out against a daunting army in God’s timing, at God’s command.

You may have been overcome for years by cruel oppressors. You may have thought that’s how you have to live the rest of your life. It’s not.

The first step toward freedom is this: Cry out to the Lord. Cry out to the one whose name, Jesus, means Salvation. Call on the one who speaks Spirit-to-spirit to all who are his.

The second step is harder, but just as crucial: Face down each oppressor God identifies in the time and way he specifies. When your Lord summons you, rise up. When he announces the victory, step out in his name toward that thing that has robbed and shackled you for so long.

Believe the Spirit of God when he speaks into your spirit: “This is the day the Lord has given your oppressor into your hands.” Hear as he identifies that oppressor by name. Know: The Lord himself has gone ahead of you. Stop hesitating. Go!

Judges 4:14 NIV

A decisive letting go

Since the first of the year, the Lord has been saying to me, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Sounds sort of sweet, sort of trite. But the God who wants me to know HIM has shown me that the Hebrew word usually translated “be still” is not the word for resting quietly. Rather, it’s the word for a decisive letting go, or an abrupt cessation, of something strenuous that you were doing. One picture that comes to mind: suddenly releasing a tug-of-war rope.

Some English translations try to capture this meaning:

“Desist, and learn that I am God, supreme over the nations, supreme over the earth.” (CJB)

“Cease striving [Or, Let go, relax] and know that I am God …” (NASU)

“Let go of your concerns! Then you will know that I am God …” (GOD’S WORD)

“‘Stop fighting,’ he says, ‘and know that I am God …’” (GNT)

“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God …” (MSG)

One tug-of-war rope which I’m decisively letting go in this season is named enmeshment – a counterfeit for intimacy that wreaks havoc with identity and boundaries. How I got enmeshed in enmeshment, I don’t yet understand, but its destruction in my life, I clearly see.

Identities, like snowflakes, are unique. The creator God gave every person a custom-tailored, one-of-a-kind, identity to embrace and to live to the fullest in Christ Jesus. Your identity – yes, yours – is exquisite, a masterpiece!

Identities, like toothbrushes, are not to be shared. Ever. They cannot be shared successfully. When we try, we do not gain the identity we’re trying to assume. Instead, we start a tug-of war that no one wins. Wherever enmeshment encroaches – wherever identities and boundaries get confused – everyone involved is diminished and hindered from becoming who they were created to be.

Dearly loved of God, I bless you in the name of your Creator and Redeemer with seeing any places that enmeshment has encroached into your life and relationships. Be blessed to: Desist! Cease! Stop! Let go! Even if it’s a matter of others trying to latch onto your identity, something in you has allowed it. Whichever end of the rope you’re holding, release it! Step away from the confusion and exertion. Be still. Be blessed to take a long, loving look at God and, in him, to become the masterpiece you are.

Looking up

It’s hard to look up when you’re lying prostrate. Sometimes, it seems impossible. If confusion, hurt, and anger are pummeling you without mercy, you may be very tempted, when you do look up, to shake your fist. Suddenly, God is not the God you thought you knew, and you’re not sure why. Is the situation too big for Him to handle? Has He made promises He can’t keep? Has He gone to sleep or turned His back on you at your moment of greatest need?

However impossible the task may seem, your job now is to lift your head. As you do, raise your voice if you must, but not your fist.

The God you thought you knew is past knowing. You will never, with confidence, be able to predict what He is going to do in any given situation. You will never know anything of Him that He does not choose to reveal to you.

Yet, He invites you to know Him better. He offers to reveal Himself, if you will seek Him. Sometimes, when He seems the most hidden or the farthest removed, He is preparing to show you more of Himself than you have ever seen.

Let your situation prompt you to turn toward Him. Seek Him now. ↑

excerpted from Things Fail, People Fall, by Deborah Brunt – available at keytruths.com.

We Confess! – the book

Lately, my columns and blog posts have been erratic, not because I haven’t been writing – but because I have. Now the ebook edition of the work I’ve labored so long to bring to birth is live on Kindle and Nook!

This, my fifth book, is different from anything I’ve ever written. My guess is: It’s different from anything you’ve ever read. I pray that it will evoke deep, astounding changes in many lives.

Check out We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church on Kindle from Amazon and on Nook from Barnes & Noble.

You can order the softcover and hardcover editions of We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church from Amazon or from keytruths.com. (Copies sent from keytruths.com are signed and special offers are available.)

It’s a book! (almost)

God is revealing what we haven’t wanted to see, so we can become who we truly are.

Here’s a sneak peek at We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church

(softcover, hardcover, ebook)

How could a church culture that lifted high the name of Jesus make covenant with the Confederacy? How did the Southern Baptist Convention lead the way? How do divided hearts and unholy covenants still hinder awakening in the conservative US church? What dramatic changes will a spirit of grace and supplication bring?

We Confess! The Civil War, the South, and the Church uncovers the answers, historically, biblically, Spirit-to-spirit.

“My Beloved, much of what you think and feel is rooted in who you are not—but have mistakenly believed you are. Try as you might, you cannot see clearly; you cannot step fully into all I have for you. Binding entanglements keep you from it. Generational bloodguilt keeps you from fully knowing me.

“Come to me. Lay aside denial and offense. Stop being ruled and misled, beaten up and torn apart by logic and emotion. Come to me. I will release you.”

Honest, compelling, courageous, redemptive, this remarkable look at the conservative church culture rooted in the Deep South explores such topics as:

• king cotton and mighty oaks;

• the fast God has chosen;

• spiritual bulimia;

• spiritual schizophrenia;

• blood covenant;

• cleansing from bloodguilt;

• an undivided heart.

Identity, validity, personhood

I am a person. For awhile, though, other people didn’t see me as one.

The delegitimization peaked in my 40s. I had no clue what was happening, or why. When you don’t know what’s happening, or why – or even when you think you do – here’s a good rule of thumb: Follow the Lord. Listen to his voice. Find his eyes up ahead of you on the path. Go that way. He’ll take you the right direction even when you can’t figure out for the life of you what is going on.

I did not know that the narrow, windy, precipitous path where God took me led me back to full personhood – or rather, into true personhood as I had never experienced it.

Somewhere along the path, I began to realize that Jesus was establishing my identity. Then, it became clear that Holy Spirit was affirming my validity. But only now do I see: Father was doing an even more basic work. Identity and validity mean nothing except in the context of personhood.

Read more of the Key Truths article, “Personhood (Part 1)” . . .

The LORD is with you, mighty warrior

a few words, an anointed song

In Gideon’s day, the Midianites had oppressed Israel for seven years, repeatedly destroying the crops and impoverishing the people. Intimidated and overcome by an army as thick as locusts, the Israelites hid in caves while the oppressor ravaged their land. At some point, the Israelites began to cry out to the LORD to free them from the Midianites. In response, God sent a prophet to say: their divided hearts had opened them to oppression. God called to them to return to him.

Then, the Lord appeared to Gideon—a fearful man, threshing wheat in a winepress in order to hide from the Midianites; a man angry with God for seeming not to care; a man with no credentials for leading an army except the credentials God himself supplied.

God began the conversation by speaking his own Name. In one brief greeting, he revealed his identity. He revealed Gideon’s identity. And God revealed the relationship by which Gideon would become who he was: “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior” (Judg. 6:12).

Immediately on telling Gideon his true identity, God gave him a new mission. “The LORD turned to him and said, ‘Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?’” (Judg. 6:14).

Gideon would do that impossible mission the same way he would become a radically different person. The LORD said: “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together” (Judg. 6:16).

When Gideon wondered, “So how do I know you’re really God?” the Lord confirmed his identity to Gideon in the same way he showed himself on Mt. Carmel to the people of Elijah’s day: God sent fire to consume Gideon’s sacrifice. He revealed himself to Gideon, not only as JHVH, the God of the covenant Name, but also JHVH Shalom, the LORD Is Peace.

Relying on the Lord’s wild plan and miraculous power, Gideon did free Israel from the Midianites. But first God commanded him to tear down his father’s idolatrous altar and to build an altar to the Lord.

When Gideon obeyed that command (by night because he was afraid), the people of his town demanded Gideon’s death. But his father intervened, saying to the crowd, “You’re defending Ba‘al, are you? It’s your job to save him? . . . If he’s a god, let him defend himself!” (Judg. 6:31 CJB).

Remarkable: The one who owned the idolatrous altar was the first to let it go! Yet Gideon’s father didn’t give up his idols until his frightened son made a violent renunciation of those things his family and community had allowed to usurp God’s place in their hearts. And Gideon didn’t smash the idolatrous altars until he met and bowed before the LORD.

The LORD is with you, mighty warrior. You may hear yourself replying, “Who, me?” But Adonai hasn’t gotten the wrong address. He hasn’t approached the wrong person. He sees in you an identity you do not see. He’s prepared exploits for you that will free the oppressed and bring great honor to his holy Name.

Click, listen and respond spirit-to-Spirit as Rick Pino sings over you: “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”

excerpted from We Confess! The Civil War, the South and the Church

God of the covenant Name

Covenant is both lasting and all-encompassing. It binds two parties together more completely and more permanently than anything else.

Preparing to make covenant with the Israelites, the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush and announced that he had come to deliver the nation from enslavement in Egypt. “God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.”’” (Ex. 3:15).

Where we read an impersonal title, “the LORD,” God revealed his personal Name—the Name no one today knows how to pronounce. The Jews considered that Name so sacred they would write only the consonants, transliterated JHVH. Instead of speaking the Name aloud, they would substitute Adonai (“my Lord”) or HaShem (“the Name”), or sometimes they would say the four consonants, “Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh” (pronounced yude-heh-vahv-heh), as we might say a person’s initials. Today, this inscrutable Name is sometimes rendered Jehovah or Yahweh. In most English Bible translations, it’s rendered “the LORD” (all caps). But it is not a title. It is the Name that most profoundly reveals who God is.

All God’s names reveal his nature. But this unpronounceable Name is the one by which God most emphatically seeks to be known. Again and again throughout the Old Testament, he repeats the refrain first introduced in Exodus (insert your pronunciation of choice): “Then you will know that I am JHVH” (Ex. 6:7). “The Egyptians will know that I am JHVH” (Ex. 7:5). “They will know that I am JHVH” (Ex. 29:46).

This is the Name God himself has linked in the strongest way possible to his covenant relationship with his people.

When Pharaoh at first would not let the Israelites go but instead made their work harder, Moses complained to the Lord. In answer, God identified himself three times by the Name: “I am JHVH.” “I am JHVH.” “I am JHVH” (Ex. 6:2, 6, 8). In the midst of that threefold proclamation, Adonai emphasized the connection between the Name, the covenant, deliverance from bondage and intimate relationship with him:

“I have remembered my covenant [the one made hundreds of years earlier with Abraham]. Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God’” (Ex. 6:5-7, emphasis added).

With our minds, we can only guess at how to pronounce this intimate, covenant Name of God. Yet in our inmost being we can know his Name.

Yahweh has determined to present himself so clearly that anyone from any nation can know his covenant nature: “And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD” (Ezek. 38:23).

What’s more, HaShem stands ready to breathe his Name, Spirit to spirit, to those with whom he has entered covenant. He delights in showing his Bride aspects of his nature that he reveals to no one else. In Isaiah 52:6, he says, “Therefore My people shall know what My name is and what it means; therefore they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks; behold, I AM!” (AMP).

excerpted from We Confess! The Civil War, the South and the Church