MikePaschall.com

“The golden objective of God’s love is not our worship.  That would make Him a narcissist and God is not a narcissist.  It is not  our obedience.  That would make Him a controller and God is not a controller.  The golden objective of God’s love is for us to love Him back.  It is that simple!”  Anth Chapman

Make your way to the following website:    www.ecf-mcgregor.com

Anthony Chapman compiled lots and lots of incredible teaching into 2 sermons on the New Covenant.  Feel free to drop in and download those messages!  We (the Body of Christ) desperately need the understanding and freedom of this word!

-MDP-

Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.” Proverbs 10:12, NAS

I’m convinced that there is nothing more confusing to the world than the message of the Gospel on the lips of people who have anger and hate in their heart.  Even our zealous control and any disposition towards that not “in” agreement with our theology or brand of spiritual knowledge has to be perplexing to say the least.  We have the best news in the world market, but we don’t seem to be able to deliver the goods on the appropriate plate.  Love is still the core of the message and until we can figure out how to lead with love, it might be best that we keep our efforts of evangelism and propaganda inside our own tribal backyard.  We have so much to learn from the unconverted about how to lead with love.

“Love covers”.  The word is kâcâh, kaw-saw´ and it means to plump up, fill up the empty spaces, or protect with concealed safety.  People have gaps that are reserved for love.  When our life is enriched by the “stuff” of love, we can be changed deeply with lasting effect.  Nothing touches us like love.  Nothing reveals the God in us like being love to someone else.  The number of ways to express such love is without containment.  When love shows, it’s almost always a surprise of some sort.  Thus, the power of its appearance can be stealthy, but deeply effective.

Paula D’Arcy tells the most amazing story about a transition she made from Texas to California.  She had her Hill Country dream home for sale for about seven months as she prepared her heart for this new thing that God was asking of her.  Everyone in that small town knew that she was trying to get on with the mission, but she really needed to sell that home.  Paula’s travel ministry had gotten crazy and she had come home for a couple days to wash clothes and open mail.  She stopped by to see her acupuncturist for a treatment.  He lived two hours away and worked in her town only a couple days a week.  When she entered the waiting room, Dr. Ho, who was Buddhist, greeted her in the waiting room and asked her if she had sold her house.  Paula had grown weary of the question.  He briefly told her, “I think I would like to buy your house.”  She thought little about the comment and took her treatment.  She had had many discussions with Dr. Ho about the philosophy of life, love and what it means to really live.  They had become close.  When she went to pay her bill, he asked when he might see the house.  Later that evening he dropped by and walked through the house, but never really said much about the layout.  After a couple hours he said, “Paula, I think I will buy your house.  What do you need to realize out of this transaction for you to go and do what you believe God has asked you to do?”  Paula explained, “That isn’t how it works.  I have an asking price.  We bargain.  We make a deal.”  He asked again, “What do you need to realize out of this transaction for you to go and do what you believe God has asked you to do?”  Then he added, “I think it is better for you to go and do what you believe you are supposed to do.  My wife and I love you.  That means that we do what we can for you.  Keep the keys.  The house is yours to enjoy as you can, but you need to go.”  Dr. Ho took a third mortgage on a home that he had no intentions of ever living in!  There is no way to explain this except…  Love blankets!

-MDP-

“An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.”  Proverbs 31:10, NAS;  “A good woman is hard to find, and worth far more than diamonds.” Proverbs 31:10, MSG

“The kids were camped out at the neighbor’s house, so I lay in bed next to Anna.  She had been in and out all day.  Her breath’s had become shallow.  As I watched her chest slowly rise and fall, Anna gasped and gulped a bigger than usual breath.  I watched and told her once more, “Babe, it’s ok.  You can go on home”.  She didn’t breathe again.  I got out of bed and moved to the other side and looked at the woman I had loved for so many years.  She was full of faith until her last breath.  She had run her race.  It was over.” It was an unusual set of circumstances.  I was a new friend hanging out with his old friends, privileged beyond measure to hear this young father, who still has 4 kids to raise, tell his friends for the first time in 22 months, about the death of his best girl, his friend, his lover and sweet wife of 23 years.  We were in a crowded and active restaurant having dinner, but that place, at that table, in that time, became a holy and sacred space.  John poured it out for us without a tear.  I’m not sure I have ever swallowed down as much emotion as I did in those 15 minutes of his recollection.  My friends knew of the demons that John had stared down.  It hadn’t all been good or easy.  A part of himself had disappeared from his natural life.  It took a while to figure out how to walk with half of who he once was, now absent.   The counterbalance was gone.  The mystical sewing had unraveled.  Nothing filled the gap she had left in his heart.  Nothing.

I am absolutely convinced that God’s biggest “I love you!” to most married men manifests through our wife’s love for us.  My own wife has taught me how to receive and give love in ways I never imagined.  She has brought things to the surface that would have never come to light out of my heart’s shadow.  She has shown me the better way to be, live and love.  I am fully aware of the power in God’s atonement for mankind, but my girl has been “Jesus with skin” for 30+ years.  I know the cross was love.  I get it.  I know Jesus, I know Father God, and I know the Holy Spirit, and I see and understand His great love for me in thousands of ways.  But, back when I didn’t get any of those things, He loved me, took care of me, got my back, loved on my future by giving me the love of my life.   When I see her (and I don’t always see her) I understand how much God loves me.  I got a gift.  I thought I just married the hottest chick on the planet.  True enough, but in actuality, I found an excellent wife.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her” Ephesians 5:25, NAS. Guys, we need to pay more attention to the treasure He has given us.  Serve more, say the words “I am thankful for you” more, be more, do more… love more.  Do it while you can.  She deserves it.

-MDP-

“Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her, for she is your life.^” Proverbs 4:13, NKJ

“Grip it and rip it!” I hadn’t ever heard that one.  A kid, a frikk’n kid, who still holds a few NCAA Division 1 passing records, a gifted athlete, was taunting me like the baggie jeaned old coot I felt that I was during that round of golf.  I was about to hit my best shot of the day, off an elevated tee-box in the clean, thin mountain air, and the wind was at my back.  He had out drove me almost 20 yards on a consistent basis all day.  I was getting tired of this heckling.  As I approach my ball, I heard him, “Grip it and rip it!” The interpretation in my mind was, “Don’t have a heart attack gramps.  Go ahead, risk fudging your Huggie and swing hard!” So, I rehearsed in my brain, “normal swing… head down… good contact… don’t try to kill it” and obliged him with a smoking drive right down the middle.   I’ve been playing the game for most of my life!  My ball was easily 290-300 yards out there.  Daddy was feeling good!  So Cody tees it up next and I said, “Rip it yourself.” So he did.  About the time we drove up close enough in the carts to see that his ball was probably 35 yards in front of mine, Cody asked me, “Hey Mike, have you heard about the new Walmart that’s going to be built in this neighborhood?” I should have seen it coming, “No.  What about it?” With a charming grin and devil-like shark eyes glaring, “They’re going to build it on the parcel of land between where your ball is setting and where mine flew over.” Of course our cart partners are laughing their butts off.  I grunted, “That’s what this world needs, another smart-ass kid.” You would have thought he’d just won the Masters.  Long day.  Where the crap is that frikk’n beer cart?

“Grip it and rip it!” works.  Wisdom is the subject.  Solomon is talking to his kids and telling them to hold tight to the truth, build their lives around those precious helps and guard those delicacies of God as if their life depended on it.  I had Nicole (my eldest daughter) with me one time in Africa.   She was young, beautiful and quite the novelty.  I would get slightly nervous for her to be too far out of my sight.  When we would get into ministry situations where hundreds of people would line up for prayer, I would make arrangements with the pastor for someone to watch Nicole.  I couldn’t be in two-places at a time.  I didn’t think too much about my defensive posture while we were in Africa.  A couple months later, that same African pastor was in Texas at the church I had started.  He told my congregation, while laughing, that I protected Nicole in Africa like she was an egg.  At first, I thought that was a silly analogy, until I remembered that most of my compensation in those villages was eggs and chickens.  What they gave was indeed fragile, but precious to them.  My daughter was precious to me, so I’ll admit I could have been a bit paranoid and grossly over protective, but we usually take care with what is precious to us.  Solomon wanted his sons and daughters to clutch tightly to wisdom.  He knew the course that lay before them had challenges, traps and peril.  Wisdom is long and straight… right down the middle.  Keep your head down and ignore the chatter.  Focus.  Grip it and rip it!

-MDP-

I have a buddy that likes to post images that make him chuckle.  Most of it feeds his techno-warped dry sense of humor, and they are indeed funny.  I’m sort of the same way about statements that I read that unmask vain religious spirits.  I have a good radar for this sort of thing, because I have a closet full of this nasty stuff.  If I’m not real careful, I’ll pull those things out and wear them… until I hear God chuckle at me and I realize He’s not impressed.  I’ll hear Him say things like, “Doofus, that mask you are wearing is impressive.” That pretty much sends all the message I need to  hear.  Here is something that I read early this morning in my Rohr devo:

“There is no more effective way to run from God than to be overly religious, to be involved in pious and holy things only for our own sake.”

No reason for me to hammer on that.  Read it a couple times, settle your spirit, be quiet and the lessons will bubble to the surface.

Yeah, this is the stuff that makes me smile.

-MDP-

“He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.”  Proverbs 18:13, NKJ

I’m bringing personal baggage today, but let me lay down a disclaimer that I am working on this issue in my life.  Although I can pinpoint the trait back to how my family rolls when we get excited, the blame is squarely upon my shoulders now.  I know better and my sweet wife helps me keep it in check with loving critiques.  I’m referring to the nasty habit of talking over another person when they’re trying to make a point or just sharing information.  If I don’t pay attention, I’ll cut you off in a heartbeat with my own grand exposition.  Of course, what I’m talking about is of major importance, so it’s more important that you pay attention.  Over the years, I’ve watched how we (some members of my birth family) roll in communication.  It’s not that uncommon for everyone to talk at the same time.  Then, if we realize that no one is listening, the only tactic left it to just talk louder!  It’s quite comical but extremely frustrating at times.  Sometimes, you just know that needed phone call is going to require you to listen carefully and say very little to actually get through it without ripping the phone cord out of the wall.  It’s our way, but it’s not too effective.  As I said, I’m working on it.

Part of the problem is the “me monster” effect.  When that bad boy begins to manifest, people get offended.  Not everyone has the stomach for our kind of entertainment or drama.   Overall, we need to kill the “me monster” and genuinely get interested in someone else’s ideas, besides just our own. We have all this technology and means of communication, but it’s actually not helping our manners.   In fact, it may be inflating the problem.  My wife recently told me that she thinks people who do not respond to phone messages, emails, texts or any other attempt to be reached for communication, and I quote, “It’s rude!  Downright rude!” It’s like being in your house and a friend or family member drops by to check on you.  They ring the doorbell, but you won’t answer the door because you can’t take the time to be inconvenienced, all the while, your guest stands on your front porch, knowing you are in the house and you won’t come to the door!  She’s right, it is “downright rude”.  It could be that we have jammed our lives with so much chronos eating activity that we don’t think we can spare time for those we really do love.  It’s probably about time that we rethink the messages that we are projecting.

Solomon is laying down some real practical help here.  One of the side notes in the NET Bible, mentions that the Mishnah (the oral traditions of the Law) taught that a person who will not listen, over talks in communication, over states facts, and impatiently cuts off another person’s dialogue with their own responses, gives evidence to a lack of manners and culture.  Wisdom says, “It is shameful” and yes Ms. Patti, it is rude!  It definitely conveys the signal that we are too engrossed in our own ideas.  We need to do better.  “I’m sorry… what did you say?”

-MDP-

“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”  Proverbs 1:10, NAS

Solomon begins a twelve-verse warning (Proverbs 1:8-19) about negative peer pressure with the words, “Hear, my son… ” Proverbs 1:8, NAS. It’s the first time we hear Solomon bring the affectionate designation.  Solomon goes there again in today’s text, “My son… ” Proverbs 1:10, NAS. He is establishing the love connection between himself and his child!  He wants what He loves, to know deeply that truth before anything else is communicated.  Once that connection is solid with his son, the information can be relayed and received without controlling strings attached.

I began writing this devo a couple days ago, but multiple interruptions wouldn’t allow me past that first paragraph.  It is a few days later now, very early in the morning.  I had a dream last night and was lying in bed thinking through that dream, when suddenly He begin to remind me of the last couple of weeks of my life.  Patti and I currently work with a foreign missions organization and the bulk of our duties are pastoral in nature, which primarily manifest in mentoring and discipleship with the staff of the organization.  Although they have each other for hanging out in friendship context, our directives and personal life mandates have more to do with going spiritually and emotionally deeper with those who pursue that from us.  The more aggressive they are, the more permission we have to go deeper.  It frees us to “call them out” into a higher purpose!  We do “call them out”, but God is the only one that can get them to where they are supposed to go!  All of this to say, the Lord showed me a few scenes from this past few weeks that revealed what happens as we (the learner and the teacher, the disciple and the one who disciples, or the spiritual parent and spiritual son or daughter) go deeper.  I didn’t realize it when it happened, but it happened.  He showed me a few scenes where I actually called the person I was talking to, a name of affection, that is not their birth name.  My natural daughters, who are married women, rarely hear even now, me call them by their birth name.  They hear me call them, either a rendition of their birth name or another name I gave them in their childhood; a specific name that has more “heart” in it than anything else.  I remembered this morning, specifically using that “heart” name a couple of times while counseling a few individuals through some moderately painful processes.  I didn’t notice it at the time, but I’m guilty.  I did that.  I seriously doubt they or anyone else would ever get the “heart” in it, but this source gets it, loud and clear.

Patti and I are deeply southern.  We can dish out “Baby”, “Sweetie”, and “Honey” like fried chicken at a Baptist picnic!  We grew up in homes where guest, new friends and  old friends were greeted with a kiss and a Schlitz or whatever else the bartender had stocked.  Affection, kisses, hugs and lovey nicknames are just our way.  Our northern friends think we’re strange and religious  folk deem us bound, but we know how our Father greets us (let me assure you that it isn’t with a stiff side-hug) and what He calls us.  You’d blush if you really knew how the Lord addresses me when he wants to download.  It is so real and so un-religiously raw, it makes me laugh.  I forget sometimes that not everyone sees and hears like that also.

Have you ever believed that you live in a season that has a theme?  The past two weeks, there has been a reoccurring theme that keeps surfacing.  It prompts me to believe that most people do not know who HE says they are and more specifically, they don’t know their name of affection from the Father.  There is nothing more life altering than hearing what your Heavenly Father says about you.  Natural parents, spiritual parents, pastors, mentors, lovers, BFF’s and even soul mates, can only implant love and truth so deep.  We need to hear the whisper of the Holy Spirit, the voice of our Father, say our name.  After we hear our name, we can easily receive His deeper truths about who we are and where we are to go.

-MDP-

Nothing feels better than to watch and hear your natural and spiritual children bring Truth!  As the mother of three children herself, Lorna Hering has learned what it means to be a “good” daughter, regardless of the good, bad or ugly raising she got spiritually.  Patti and I actually point to her as the catalyst of our post-desert ministry!  We were floating down stream until she called us out again!  In truth, Lorna was born for this kind of stuff!  It is worth your time to listen to the message she preached at ECF on Sunday, February 27th, entitled:  DNA.  Sista girl went off!  Thanks Lorna!  You bless our heart!  -MDP-

GO TO THE ECF WEBSITE TO DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST!  CLICK HERE!

… another from the project.  – mdp-

“Understanding is a fountain of life to those who have it, but folly brings punishment to fools.”  Proverbs 16:22, NIV

I have to confess that I am having so much fun today as I write this entry.  I’m in the largest cigar lounge in Central Texas.  To make it even better, it’s in my hometown!  So, it’s the ultimate man-hang for a little God reflection!  This isn’t my first rodeo here and it is one of my happy spots.  It’s interesting what happens when you allow God to show his face in such surroundings.  The understanding, referenced in today’s text, is a little different from the standard words commonly used in the scripture.  This is understanding that is like insider trading, information that has gone deep and because it’s gone deep, it insures success.   The corollary of a person, who possesses this knowledge, has the chance to be a source or spiritual vitality to those who need it in the natural nasty now!  Stewardship of such a spiritual water supply means that you are “on call” 24/7.  You never know when God might want you to do a little gushing!

So, I was in this very lounge a couple nights ago.  Actually, it was Valentines and the joint was empty!  Patti was in another town and it was the perfect opportunity for me to flop on a big leather couch and partake of what makes the lounge so appealing.  I did what you’re supposed to do… I fired one up!  It was the ultimate chill, just hanging out, enjoying my alone time!  A couple puffs on my CAO, and a guy I’d never met or seen, walks in with his wife.  They had cigars and an iced-bottle of Champagne.  They nestled in a couple couches away and the guy starts engaging me in small talk.  Honestly, I was annoyed and slightly pissed that he wouldn’t shut up.  He needed to be lovin’ on his woman and I needed to be lovin’ on my stogie!  After about 5 minutes Sherman said, “Man, who are you?  There is something about you.  Do I know you?  What’s the deal?” I raised my eyebrows and thought, “Really dude, you don’t want to go there right now.” Then he said, “Are you a preacher or something?” I guess the busted look was a dead-give-away.  Before I could respond, “Would you come over and pray for my wife and I?” I looked around to make sure we were still the only ones in the place, set my cigar down, and started walking over to sit on the couch with them.  By the time I got there, Sherman was crying uncontrollably!  His wife’s hands were up and she was calling out Jesus’ name.  I placed my hands on his head and began to prophecy to him about his natural dad’s love for him.  “Your dad is proud of you… he loves you… you’ve done good Sherman… you’ve done good!” Come to find out, Sherman buried his preacher dad about a year ago.  He had serious doubts that his dad was proud of him.  He had been striving for a long-time to get his dad’s approval.  It hurts your heart to see such pain in a 57 year-old man.  He was pretty busted up and my cigar went out, but God showed up!  The deep fountain gushed.  That is what fountains are designed to do!  Our job is to let it happen, anywhere, at any time!