Pastor Barry Clair’s Blog

The Subjectivity of the Work of God

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 13:34:42 -0500

I’ve been to so many conferences, I can’t count them all. I’ve been to preaching, leadership, small group, church planting, revitalization, denominational, church growth, singles ministry, youth ministry, music ministry conferences and etc. People go to conferences and read books and publications to hear stories of how God worked in their lives or churches or ministries. We hope to gain some insight that we can apply to our own situation.

In the early 90’s God was moving in a peculiar way in the “Brownsville Revival.” One man in my church had been there several times and wanted me to go, experience it, and bring it back to our church and community. He offered to pay all my expenses. I declined because I didn’t want to be obligated to try to duplicate the Pensacola Outpouring. If I’ve learned one thing in all my conference experiences, it’s that God’s work is subjective. In other words, God works in individual lives in a personal distinctive process. He will never violate His word, but the way He achieves His purposes in our lives and churches and ministries is as varied as fingerprints and DNA.

I love success stories as much as the next person, I am encouraged and inspired by them, but I cannot afford to use them as hard and fast patterns for how God will work in my life. I know that God is absolute in His nature and character, but he is relative in how He deals with me. He is inflexible in His moral standards, but He is flexible, patient and graceful in teaching them to me. I’m trying not to try God’s patience or presume upon His grace, but I am thankful that His discipleship process is not like a cookie-cutter but rather a potter’s wheel. What metaphors can you use to describe the way God is working in your life?

Insights From My Fast Pt. 3

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 08:50:16 -0500

During my fast, I became very aware of the closeness of God. And now that my fast is over, I have been attentive to His closeness minute by minute. It’s not that He came close to me during my self denial, in fact, He was always there. I was just not in tune. I’m not fundamentally different, my sin nature is still alive, it’s just in constant proximity to God. His closeness doesn’t bring judgement or conviction, just intimacy. I sense His presence and that effects my thoughts and behavior.
I used to think of His presence as disapproving. He is so holy and I’m so...not! But what I’m experiencing is friendship. That’s not to say that He approves of everything about me, but the basis of intimate relationship is fellowship. I really think that God enjoys my company. He likes that I’m conscious of His proximity and it effects me. I’m not wholly holy yet, but I think I’m getting easier to live with. God’s presence transforms me. Yesterday, my wife raised the electronic window on my finger. It hurt and I wanted to yell at her (just until it stopped hurting) but I just sort of laughed. I choose to ignore it rather than milk it (this is huge for me). God’s presence changes everything, not because He’s intolerant, but because I know Him and I let Him effect me. I hope this lasts, I hope I never lose touch with how close He is to me.
What about you? How does your consciousness of God effect you?

Insights From My Fast Pt. 2

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 11:55:37 -0500

One of the benefits of fasting is practicing the discipline of self-denial. Let’s face it, we just don’t say “no” to ourselves very often. Many people indulge themselves to the point of severe indebtedness or obesity. If we want it, we get it. That makes those who live within a budget or eat within a weight maintaining diet the “morally superior” of our culture. But that has very little to do with the discipline of self-denial. It’s not hard to say “no” to things we can’t afford, that’s practicing the discipline of common sense. What is hard, is saying “no” to things we CAN afford. Even harder is denying ourselves things that we can afford, have earned by our hard work, and are even good for us, all for the sake of following Jesus.
I think it is important to deny ourselves just for the sake of the discipline, making sure that we haven’t been duped by the spirit of our age. The monster of more is the Goliath that taunts us. Fasting is a discipline that teaches us to say “no” to ourselves at the primal level. As with every indulgent habit, most people say, “I can quit any time I want.” The only true test is to prove it.
I don’t know if I will do it yet or not, but I’ve been praying about extending my fast beyond Sunday and into the second week. The problem is, Sunday we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Here’s my question, if you are fasting, can you take Communion? I’m open to your suggestions.

Insights From My Fast

Sat, 3 Jul 2010 11:46:40 -0500

Somehow I overwrote the first installment of the last post with the second post and the comments from the first post have disappeared. Sorry about that. Here is the post as it originally appeared. I hope you can sort it out.

I am in my 6th day of a water-only fast. I know that Jesus suggested that when we fast we should do it in secret (Matthew 6:17,18), but Scripture also talks about group, corporate and national fasts. I’m not showing off my spirituality here, I simply want to share my experiences which might be helpful to someone.

While I have fasted on many occasions in my life, this fast has been unlike any other I’ve experienced. By this point, I would should be past the hunger and the majority of the detox, sadly I’m not. I have had unusually strong hunger pains and much more voluminous detox. Typically by now, I would be reaping the strong spiritual benefits of fasting, as of this morning...not so much. So it was with much weakness and concern that I trudged to the gym this morning for a workout.

I was returning to my car to get my Kindle (I read on the elliptical) when I clearly heard the Lord say to me, “Leave the Kindle in the car, I want to speak to you.” It was like the fog was lifted, the static removed and a clean channel to heaven was opened. I began to realize at that moment that my fast had entered Phase 3. Only minutes into my workout, I was overwhelmed by God. The song Undone by Mercy Me came on my iPod and I became undone. I was ambushed by His presence, and I was broken. The tears running down my face matched perfectly the sweat staining my shirt. In those moments His face was close, His voice was clear and His presence was real, right there in the YMCA.

I don’t want to be melodramatic but God showed me in this experience that He is more than enough for me. He took away my anxiety, He dissipated my stress and stilled my troubled spirit. God clearly showed me that He is the Good Shepherd, I am just an under-shepherd, a steward of His church. You may reply, “Duh, I knew that.” But I have been carrying burdens I was never designed to bear. That truth had slipped beneath the load of care.
I am looking forward to more static-free communication with God for the remainder of this consecrated time of fasting. What about you? What has God spoken to you during a time of fasting?

The Lost discipline of Fasting

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:27:25 -0500

Even though the scripture is replete with teaching and instruction on fasting in both the Old and New Testaments, it seems that no one is practicing this lost discipline these days. In our culture today, it is not vogue to deny yourself any pleasure that you can think of and Christians it seems, have discovered a new freedom and are participating in things that were sinful when I was a kid.
I’m not sure when, but sometime after my freshman year of High School, God changed His mind and said it was okay to go to movies. As soon as we got the memo from Springfield, Missouri (headquarters of the A/G) our family jumped in also. It is now common to hear church members talk about R rated movies they have seen, casinos they have visited and a glass of wine that they enjoy now and again. I’m not judging, I’m just saying that in the midst of this new found liberty, it is not popular to preach on fasting. We are not interested in hearing that we should set aside time to deny ourselves when we are focused on indulging ourselves.
Scripture talks about the many spiritual benefits of fasting. In fact, times of fasting have preceded monumental changes in history. But as in every one of the spiritual disciplines, the work comes before the blessing. I’m not talking about fasting as a way to get brownie points toward salvation. I’m talking about the work that it takes to deny your flesh. Before you reap the benefits of a clear channel of communication with God and a closer, more tangible relationship with Him, you have to silence and in a sense crucify your appetites. And if you think it’s easy, you are in for a big surprise!
Here’s how the cycle goes. Phase One: For three days and three nights, you do painful battle with hunger. In this time, you are generally not closer to God, you are hearing the voices of the flesh and of temptation. You are thinking, “Why did I do this again? This is murder!”
Phase Two: The hunger dies. That’s right, the longer you fast the less hungry you become. It’s during this time that your body is detoxifying. You are becoming pure in mind, body and spirit.
Phase Three: The spirit rises. This is the part that we all want to come to in fasting and quite honestly, where most of us never get. It is here that we have an uncluttered, unfettered, unhindered channel to the voice of God. This is where intimacy with Him is experienced at deep levels never imagined.
It’s true. You have to fight to gain the benefits of fasting. It’s warfare but worth it. As our culture continues to gorge itself however, I’m afraid we will see less and less followers of Christ practice the lost discipline of fasting. And if we ever needed the benefits of fasting, we need them today.