RETIRED?

RETIRED?

                My day usually starts around 3 to 3:30 AM, sometimes earlier. My first priority is to spend time with the Lord and with His Word in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I have a deep desire to know God and to be known by Him. It is not enough to know (about) Him, for even though I deal with a large number of subjects, my goal is to know Jesus and to understand His ways. As such I don’t just settle for a known set of parameters like a set of denominational doctrines.

                I want to know the “what’s” the “where’s” and the “why’s” with the goal of knowing the mind of God and of having the mind of Christ. And, of course, all of this knowledge and understanding is of little value unless we live it and allow it to transform our lives. If it doesn’t work to enhance our relationship with the Lord and with each other, then we haven’t really learned anything.

                Next in my morning I write whatever the Lord has put on my heart to write and I share it with you, because of a commitment I made about 8 years ago to share my journey with you, the good and the bad of it in the hope that we will all grow together in preparing to meet our soon coming King.

                Next in my day, comes time with Bonnie, a time of prayer for all the various people and needs that come both on Facebook and at church and family. We take communion together nearly every morning and every time we take it the Lord gives us deeper insights as to what it means to be in a blood covenant with Jesus, the Creator of the universe and the Savior of mankind. It never ceases to amaze us that God would choose to partner with mortal men… to share His plans with us.

                Bible prophecy is like our Creator sharing His agenda with us, giving us insights into how history, past, present and future, is unfolding and what His eternal purposes might be in all of it. We don’t have to go blindly through life, for the Holy Spirit, the very presence of Jesus is guiding us into all truth and the truth we learn is painting a detailed picture of Him.

                Well, after communion comes breakfast at around 9 AM. Bonnie and I try to get out for a 2 or 3 mile walk along the Lake at least 2 or three times a week and on Saturdays I meet with Zach for our 4 mile walk as we ponder the deeper things of God in the beauty of His creation. There is nothing like a marriage made by God and sealed in His Holy Spirit. Our marriage is a delight and in spite of our busy schedules, we spend every possible moment together and we love and treasure each moment.

                By now it is 10:30 or 11AM and time to spend a couple of hours learning how to run my iMac, since I have always used Microsoft windows for writing these articles. So Bonnie recently bought me this iMac with 2 Terabytes of memory in it into which I recently downloaded a Music recording program called Logic pro X. This is a vast music recording program often used in recording studios and way over my head, but Abishai is helping me to get the basics so that I can record my songs and save them on an external hard drive and then take them to his studio for mixing and mastering.

                Abishai has the same software and iMac and so we are compatible and can work on projects together. Abishai also plays keyboards on our worship team at church, so we have worship practice on Thursday nights and we do the worship for church as directed by Alice Akers, whom I am thrilled to announce will be adding her voice to my current worship project. Alice is an accomplished musician who could sing anywhere or record in any studio, in fact in the past she sang on the Gospel concert series at Dollywood. She is a Holy Spirit anointed worshipper of God and she has devoted her life to leading worship at our church. She is the wife of Curtis Akers who is our church Pastor and together they pastor and lead the church in praying for revival along with feeding the poor and ministering to the community in so many ways. They are indeed a blessing to us and to so many.

                Well, to add to my day I also had to acquire a new music keyboard. My old one was literally warn out and outdated since it would not interface with the computer and this keyboard, being a work station also has a 120 page instruction manual to digest, so my 71 year old brain is being taxed to the max so to speak. So I am learning to run iMac, and Logic pro X and a new keyboard at the same time and all of them contain vast fields of information to be learned.

                I am also making 2 or three trips a week out to Abishai’s studio in the hinterland. We have finished recording all 12 songs for the CD and we have a pretty good mix and now we are ready to add the female voices, which will be done by Alice and Janet, who have both worked with Abishai on previous projects.

                One thing I can say is that retirement has not been boring for me… in fact there just aren’t enough hours in the day. I average about 5 hours of sleep per night plus a nap in the middle of the day when I can squeeze one in. I also try to help Bonnie in the church kitchen on Wednesday nights where we serve the evening meal for the youth and the staff as well as serving in the kitchen for special occasions and banquets and meals for the homeless and poor on second harvest day when we serve between 280 to 300+ people as they come through for groceries. Our worship team sings for the people as they come through the dining room on their way to the grocery line.

                The good thing about retirement is that it gives one time to do the things that working people don’t often have time to do. In God’s kingdom, turning 65 or 70 only sets you on the launching pad to greater things and purposes. We need not fade into obscurity, for in truth, retired people can become a vital part of God’s work in the church and in the community. We have great potential not only for, say, Music, as in my case, but for mentoring younger Christians, praying for the sick, encouraging the discouraged, leading by example those who need a picture of what an actively mature Christian looks like.

                Retired people, if they set their hearts to love and to serve, can literally change the atmosphere of a church, loving and hugging the lonely, praying for people on the spot, making visitors feel welcome and loved, worshipping God like there’s no tomorrow, showing consistency of faith and sharing a lifetime of experiences with those who are perhaps floundering.

                Church is a huge mission field. We presume that everyone is a vetted saint and so we sit back and judge them for this and that, when in fact many people have unbelievable lives of sorrow, tragedy, loneliness, heartache, disappointment and or immaturity in understanding the things of God. So, rather than judging people, we should turn it around and begin to build up the Body of Christ, to lift up the hands that hang down and to make a straight path for those that are weak or lame. (Isa. 58:6-12)

                We are temples of the Holy Spirit and as such we can have rivers of living water flowing from our innermost being. (John 7:38, 39) Those rivers can bring healing and comfort and blessing to those who may be dry and thirsty. It is not our own power that blesses people but the presence of the Holy Spirit in us that speaks to the spirits of those who are so in need of spiritual food.

                Do you go to church just to fulfill some particular obligation to the Lord? Is it a legalistic thing with you that causes you to drag yourself to church on the Lord’s appointed day, or on Wednesday, or any other day or night?

                All of this can change if you will determine to become a vibrant participator in the flowing of the Holy Spirit. He did not fill you with the very presence of Christ, to sit around and to wonder what your purpose might be. If you will simply start by loving and serving others, your purpose will unfold before you. Doors will open up that you didn’t think possible.

                I have learned this one lesson and it has taken me a lifetime to learn it. If you chase after your dreams, you never find them… but if you chase after the Lord, He then leads you to fulfill your dreams. After all, He created you and equipped you for a specific purpose and He also gave you the dreams to fulfill that purpose. When you seek Him, it all comes together and it is really true what Jesus said. ”Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added to you.” Mt. 6:33

                I have also learned that it is not all about us. It is all about Him. It is His love… His salvation… His gift freely given… His glory… His soon coming… and it is really true what St. Francis of Assisi said:

                “For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

                It is at the foot of the cross where we lay it all down, the good and the bad, the things of the flesh, whether done for good intentions or bad… for even our righteousness is as filthy rags. So at the cross we die to it all for even the good we have done has been laced with impure motives and selfishness and greed.

                We have done much more than to break the Law in our lives. Our problem is infinitely greater than that. As fallen beings we fall infinitely short of the glory of God and there is not a thing in the world that fallen human flesh can do to remedy that. We need a far greater righteousness than our own. We need His righteousness!

                This is the covenant that Jesus has signed in His own blood, that whosoever will come to Him and enter by faith into His death, He will give new birth and a new spirit and a completely new kingdom to live in and He will not only cover us with His blood, but He will empower us by His grace to follow in His footsteps and to overcome even as He overcame. Rev. 3:21. Our goal is simply to learn to live by His Spirit and not by our flesh. (Romans 8:1-27.)

                “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the workings of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Col. 2:9-12.

                As long as we are filled with the resurrection power of Jesus Christ we are not retired, for even if your body can do nothing else, you are still a prayer warrior and an intercessor. Our body may be wasting away in bed, but our spirit is seated with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6) None of us is without purpose. None of us is unimportant in God’s kingdom. We have been bought with a price; therefore we may glorify Him in these bodies. (1 Cor. 6:19, 20) We are not limited to what flesh can do, for we have the Spirit and power of Christ at work in us. Our very presence in a room can change the atmosphere either for good or for bad. It can expose and flush out the demons and change the atmosphere into a house of prayer and healing and praise. (Mt. 21:13-16) Jesus showed us what He will do in our hearts when He cleansed the temple. He turned it from a den of thieves and into a house of prayer and praise where the children began to sing “Hosanna to the Son of David.”

                We have not understood our potential as temples of the Holy Spirit, for we have judged life in the flesh. We have not often seen beyond the veil of flesh. We tend to view our lives as a meaningless series of mundane events, when in truth things are a stir in the unseen realm and demons and angels either smell the stench of the flesh upon us or the fragrance of Christ. We draw either righteousness or evil to ourselves by the fragrance that we give off. Are we wearing the full armor of God? Is the sweet aroma of His presence upon us? Are we covered with the robe of His righteousness? Our lives can be gardens filled with the fragrance of the Lord. Demons will flee and our lives will become gardens of fragrant and colorful praise.

                It’s all about Him my friends and we can either dress in the full armor and the robe of Christ’s righteousness in the morning, or we can go out miserable and poor and blind and naked into the world. (Rev. 3:14-22) It is time to put on Christ, (Gal. 3:27) for victory is in Him… and whether we are running a business, or learning new software, or raising children, or digging ditches, or writing songs, or praying for others, it is all in His name and for His glory.

                Retired? Never!