Save some unanswered prayers

Earlier in the week we spoke of the to often missed joy of unanswered prayer. It reminded me of a very special moment in my spiritual walk with Father, (or Papa if you have grown to love that name as I have). I spent the majority of last summer tucked away in my office reflecting on and pleading with Father on a lifetime of issues. Every day I had been asking: Jer. 33:3 “Call upon Me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not,”. I left it open as to what God might want to reveal to me. Little did I expect the very special gift I was to be given. It was so wonderful I wrote in my journal that people might think I am crazy if I shared it. Since then I have found other wiser, grounded teachers of the faith who have discovered the same truths, men like Bounds and Chambers. I feel free to tell you today but I have to give you a little background to appreciate it for me so you can apply it to yourself. I’ll make it as brief as possible.
My Grandfather, Max E. Zimmermann was a wonderful godly man, strict, but totally dedicated. I wish you could have heard him pray. He knew Father well, really well. He died in 1982 and my saintly grandma in 1984. My mother died of cancer in 85 and my father, (who was also my best friend and closest confidant) went home in 1991. Deanna’s father, Troy, (the servant of all servants) followed in 2003. I could go on but can you see how my heart might be a little closer to heaven these days? One of the intellectual questions I was pondering at the time was how my life experience intersect with eternal heaven. I thought of it in a Trekkie way of a space/time continuum. (I really don’t know what that means either, I just like the sound of it). It was one year ago today, nearly to the hour that God gave me a treasured gift of understanding. You may already know this, I did not. I was reading at that moment from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
EPH 3:14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Paul was praying for all the saints, of his generation and ours to know the depth of the Love of God. That got me to thinking, Grandpa prayed for me, as did my dads and a whole lot of others. Not all of their prayers were answered back then, at least not in fullness. I don’t remember the words they used, only I knew then I was being prayed for. They were concerned about family things and ministry things, knowing they would not see the final pages. Then it came to me in an all but audible voice. What I was doing right at that moment was a fulfillment of those unanswered prayers of 40 years ago. Could that possibly mean they know now? Following is an unedited copy of part of my prayer journal from one year ago today:

Father your ability to draw threads of life together into a culminating event that spans generations is well documented in scripture but takes just short of a lifetime to experience. Yesterdays scriptures and words from the past culminated in an understanding of how eternity intertwines with the present and past. Paul prayed for future generations in Eph 3, Grandpa and Dad added to that prayer with me specifically in mind. Paul, Dad and Grandpa are with you and yet we are all still working together for the same eternal cause, the one YOU prayed for before the foundations of the earth were materialized. You told the powers and principalities around the throne to just watch. They watch and give you glory AZ time for what is happening, or about to happen at Grace Family Fellowship. No way is my family going to be left out of that. It brings glory to you there now. Ephesians 2 taught me years ago that Heaven is child centered. I have preached that the things we do now will bring glory to you and reward to us then. I see how it works. Paul, grandpa and Dad, grandma and Mom all prayed for me as a minister. I hope they have not seen the struggles but joined in rejoicing in others victories. Now they can see the fulfillment of their prayers in your eternal plan working through me which they asked you to do. I don’t remember the specific words, but I do remember the prayer times and I have the books and bibles. It happened, is happening and will happen. I can verify most every step from scripture and sermons I preached over the years. When revival comes you will say to the throngs around the throne, Look here at Max, 39 years ago he gave his grandson a bible with a prayer, from 2 Tim. when I called his grandson into ministry. Now look here at MY answer to that prayer. Another pentacost! Right there in deer valley. And everyone and every thing will praise you and grandpa will know he is vindicated for the years of abuse he took from his family when he obeyed at his call. Glory to glory. That is how heaven works, tying the threads of eternity to the present, all to the glory of God. What is god doing, weaving the prayers of the past into the power of the present for his glory and our good and it is not over. NO OTHER GOD OF ANY MANS IMAGINATION COULD OR WOULD DO THAT. You are one of a kind, the originator, author and sustainer of it all. To not give all to cooperate with you is the epitome of stupidity of which I all to often am the poster boy. I want to be a poster boy of another kind. I want to share what I know after you have proven it in our fellowship. IT could be the book I could transcribe. You are the author. I NEVER in eternity would have seen that, I am unimaginative in that respect. In a way it will be hard NOT to share, but I know that short of visible and viable evidence no one wants to hear it.
A small part of the evidence of revival sat in my living room last night. That created a sanctified ruckus amongst the angels, my overly curious Grandfather wanted to know what the ruckus was about and I know of at least 5 who were honored by Father and praising Father in heaven last night because of the answer to their to that moment unanswered prayers. What a glorious sight!

What did I learn that day?

1. Pray for things that I will see only from the other side with Jesus

2. My obedience today can link me to my family in heaven today. REALLY

3. Send something ahead in unanswered prayer that will give God glory in heaven when I can watch it personally unfold.

4. Sarayu loves this kind of stuff (for the readers of The Shack)

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL

In the industry this would be called a teaser. Tonight I will post my answer to how our actions on earth now effect activities in heaven in your time zone. YES you can bring glory to God in heaven right now AND your loved ones there will know it and rejoice? How do I know that? I will show you tonight, as close to the time of my personal revelation 1 year ago as possible. (I took really detailed notes)

Shack Discussion Guide Questions

Chapter 1
16 Could God actually send a person a letter?
22 What is your favorite name for God?
Mack told Nan I’m sure God knows what he is doing even though Mack did not personally believe it. Do you ever try to encourage people with things about God you do not believe? For instance? How does this help them? What does it do to you?

Chapter 2
The Gathering Dark
24 Mack’s companion was the Great Sadness. What is your companion?
25 How does your companion effect you?
28-29 How does truth, reality, legend, history mix in the story of the Multnomah Falls? Read Young’s blog on Truth, reality and Fiction and the story of the Good Samaritan.
30 What are the similarities between the Princess and Jesus?
31 How can we tell the difference between legend and history?
Why do people think God is mean? Is He? Why or why not?
32 How far will God ask us to go?

Hesitation

The other day an incident that happened while driving reminded me of our discussions of where we went wrong in our spiritual walk. Down the road from where I live is a European style round-about. You’ve seen the pictures of drivers going in circles. This round-about is a band-aid to ease traffic congestion caused by a four lane road narrowing to a two lane bridge. There are no stop signs and if you know how to use it, it really speeds things up. Much better than the same situation 5 miles north of here where they put in a traffic light…which to my knowledge has never seen a green light it likes. The people who lived near it protested a round-about because it is “to confusing”. Fact of the matter is, the first time you use it, it is…if you don’t know the secret. This is the only place in our state where the signs have you yielding to the Driver on the left! If everyone is going 20 miles an hour and yielding to the left traffic flows with ease. I remember making eye contact with a young female driver and she shot right out in front of me! WAY TO GO! That was exactly what she was supposed to do. Traffic flowed and I did not have to slow a bit. The problems come when a newbie approaches the circle and panics. They all do the same thing. They hesitate, confused not knowing what to do. There is plenty of room to go but they freeze up. That hesitation causes all sorts of problems. Seizing the opportunity to be helpful and instructive I give a short beep of my pleasant sounding horn. This is much more effective when driving my lifted one ton diesel truck rather than my Scion that more resembles a juice box or toaster. If the pleasant pleading of the short beep is not effective I will…for their sake and instruction…give a longer blast generally lasting as long as they are frozen. What else could I do?…and if I had the temperament to sit in silence and wait, I probably would not write blogs either. We each have to do our part for traffic safety, right? Hesitation can, at least in this situation get a person killed, or at least beeped at. There is another kind of hesitation that is more serious. Oswald Chambers explains it in My Utmost for His

The golden rule to follow to obtain spiritual understanding is not one of intellectual pursuit, but one of obedience. If a person wants scientific knowledge, then intellectual curiosity must be his guide. But if he desires knowledge and insight into the teachings of Jesus Christ, he can only obtain it through obedience. If spiritual things seem dark and hidden to me, then I can be sure that there is a point of disobedience somewhere in my life. Intellectual darkness is the result of ignorance, but spiritual darkness is the result of something that I do not intend to obey.
Do you ever get the sense that the Spirit is behind you HONKING? Me to.

Thank God for Unanswered Prayer

Some things hinder our fellowship with Father that really shouldn’t or wouldn't, not if we really understood. The country crooner enjoins us to consider the benefits of unanswered prayers. Let me hum a few bars to jog your memory. HUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. That help? My singing it would be just about as effective. In his case he realized at a high school football game that he would have ended up with the wrong girl if God had actually answered his childhood prayer. I’ll bet that happens a lot. I was just thinking (more directly asking the father to do incredibly wonderful things for a house for Heidi, Shauna an a job, Susie and her real family needs. I was dreaming of what I could do if I won the lottery…(I plan on finding the winning ticket, the odds of buying it and finding it are about the same). I was wish/thinking, just like you do, of what I could do with a ton of lottery money and for a moment wondering (somewhat judgmentally) why Father has not fixed everything already. He certainly could and does, but why not on a grand scale? Boy! (as in gee wiz or wow, not gender specific, don’t want to upset the PC police) what glory that would give Him to heal Jacob, give Heidi a home of her own, or financial security for Shauna. Father whispered in my ear, they love you and you have not done any of those things…they just love you and you feel so special because of it. OK, I get it. IF I were able to do all my heart would like to do I’ll bet I would have zillions of people who really love me…In China a century ago they were called rice Christians. Worship whatever god is giving the rice today. Father will certainly take care of every thing in a way that will not distort our, or anyone else’s love for him. Remind me to tell you what God does with “unanswered” prayer sometime. When you understand, you will want to have a few go unanswered. It is amazing. Father whispered it to me a while back and I am really lousy about keeping secrets.
Are we really trusting God or just giving Him our daily instructions?

Special request for Papa's Skee

Chapter 6 THE SHACK
88 Well Mackenzie, don’t just stand there with your mouth open like your pants are full. How does the earthy talk coming from God effect you? The story?
89 Is the real Holy Spirit full of surprises with perfect timing? Explain
Jesus had just told Mack he was free to do what ever he wanted and Mack volunteered he felt obligated to talk to Poppa. Jesus instructs: Don’t go because you feel obligated. That won’t get you any points here. Go because it’s what you want to do. What is the message here?
90 how does the creator value things given?
How can Poppa listen to music from a band that has not been born yet?
What does this mean in relation to how Poppa might view all of life’s experiences?
How is time different for us?
91 Would God really value all kinds of music? Why?
Why was Mack uncomfortable with Poppa manifesting as a woman? Why did Poppa manifest that way?
92 If you will let me Mack, I will be the Poppa you never had. How much does our earthly fathers effect how we view our heavenly father?
If you couldn’t take care of Missy, how can I trust you to take care of me? In the back of Mack’s mind would he also wonder why God did not rescue him as a boy too?
Why does God allow the great gulfs that separate us from Him?
Do all God’s children have wounds at some point in life that God needs to heal? Does anyone escape?
Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship. In real life, does relationship really triumph over answers?
93 What are the head issues that must be gotten out of the way that makes the heart issues easier to work on?
Is a relationship a head issue or a heart issue or some combination of both? Explain.
Why is Poppa a woman?
How big a part of the average Christian’s life is religious conditioning compared to genuine relationship?
List all the religious stereotypes (or non religious) of God you have heard of. Which are the most accurate?
94 If God is not male or female, why is he presented as Father in the Bible? Is his feminine side ever shown?
Agree or disagree: God is neither male or female because gender is part of creation and God is above and beyond creation but it is contained in him.
Does God’s prior knowledge of any matter effect our freedom to choose?
95 What are the limiting influences of life that limit freedom?
Why can’t freedom be forced?
How is a person ever truly free?
Where does freedom happen? Why there?
Why did Poppa have scars on her wrist to match the one’s on Jesus’ wrists?
96 Love always leaves a significant mark. What kinds of marks does love leave?
Was Jesus alone on the cross, forsaken? Was that in his humanity only?
Mackenzie I never left him, I never left you. What is the message and point here?
How did Jesus put himself completely in God’s hands? How do we?
Deep inside, who did Mack think God was?
97 What was man created for? What does that imply?
Can a person be loved with out feeling like they are loved? Why don’t they know they are loved?
When Poppa says that unlike man, his wings cannot be clipped, what did he mean he was free to do?
98 How do people make up their versions of God according to Poppa?
How much of God can man comprehend?
How can Poppa live in a state of perpetual satisfaction? What does that mean for sinners?
99 Man was created to share in…..?
Paraphrase Poppas description of the incarnation of Jesus.
What are the implications of the incarnation?
99-100 How does Jesus accomplish his life in the flesh according to Poppa?
Humans are not defined by their limitations but by the intentions I have for them…Clarify.
101 What was Poppas reaction to Mack’s not being able to comprehend completely the trinity.
Paraphrase Poppas definition of the trinity. How does it differ from yours?
How does love and relationship that exists in the trinity flow into the life of humans?
102 How does Poppa’s explanation, unless I had an object to love, or more accurately, a someone to love, if I did not have a relationship within my self, then I would not be capable of love at all…effect your understanding of his nature and the trinity?
What are the implications of the God who is….cannot act apart from love.
Is it reasonable to believe that humans cannot possibly comprehend why God could allow a tragedy such as Missy’s death.
103 If Mack had been the only human, why would Jesus still have died for him alone?

What to do?

Have you ever been in an impossible situation where it really did not matter what you did, it was not going to be enough anyway? But you still felt like you had to do something, anything. When I was 11 years old I watched my mother and a high school boy carry my father from his office to the car, the apparent victim of some heart ailment. Weeks later my father was declared permanently 100% disabled. He lay in bed months at a time. I remember my well meaning relatives telling me, you're the man of the house now. I believed them and that was the beginning of my ulcerative conditions that began showing up when I was around 13. Every one was always saying, is there anything I can do? I should have said yes, Mow, rake, weed, vacuum, trim the roses, paint, dust, I think you get the idea. No one ever did to the best of my recollection. As I look back on it now I have to wonder, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING! Did they really expect an 11 year old to DO what a man could do? Of course I could not and I do not seriously believe they intended it either. The Lord himself rescued me from my self, but that is another story. Nothing I could do was going to change his health. They wanted to strengthen and encourage me and that was the best they could think of....do something, anything, even if you really can't do it. Pretend, fake it till you make it. Something similar to this has happened in our spiritual lives.

The children of Israel went through a spell of that. They had just escaped Egypt after a series of 10 totally divine miracles that ended in the destruction of the first born of all Egypt. For confidence and comfort God provided a night light and an umbrella for what may have been 3 million people. Then God puts them to a test, actually a series of tests so they would get to know Him better. He had already demonstrated His incredible power but now He leads them to the spring of Marah, where the water is undrinkable. Later they would run out of food and have many other similar tests. The worst part of the test that they had trouble with was "what to do?" Where do you find enough food and water for 3m people in the desert? The hard fact was there was absolutely nothing they could DO to solve the problem,but DOING was not the test. The test was BELIEVING. Those that believed in every case were saved, those that tried to DO something...complain, make a new God, refuse to look on the serpent raised, or whatever failed the test and some paid the ultimate price. They struggled because they refused to understand the nature of the test. JUST BELIEVE ME, I will take care of you. And God did every time, miraculously.

We have been wondering together where we have gotten onto a side trail and lived "less loved" than what Father offers. We are struggling with the same affliction. When we don't know what to do, we panic, grumble, complain, worry etc. God is not asking us first to do, but first to Believe. Doing is a result of believing. is there something you are failing to believe that is causing you to live Less Loved? You will never do your way out of or in to anything with the Father. He does not leave that option. If your leery of sharing, just hit the anonymous button..