Sleepless in Atlanta?

How well do you sleep?

Are you one of those who have problems falling asleep? And once you are asleep, is it hard for you to stay asleep?

If you’re like most Americans, you wrestle with some aspect of sleeping. Studies and statistics say:
• Almost 74% of all Americans do not get enough sleep each night.
• Most will feel sleepy or groggy during the week.
• 51% of adults say they have problems sleeping at least a few nights each week.
• Almost one third of Americans have trouble sleeping every night.
• Half of all Americans can not get up without an alarm clock.
• Alarm clocks interrupt sleep cycle causing, lack of energy, feeling unrefreshed in the morning.
• Those with sleep problems are twice as likely to feel stressed and tired.
(Information from National Sleep Foundation, 2002 Annual Sleep Survey)

As a result, sleeping problems are estimated to be the #1 health-related problem facing Americans (CNN, May 1997). Furthermore, experts tell us that sleep deprivation costs $150 billion each year in higher stress and reduced worker productivity (National Commission on Sleep Disorders, 2003).

So what is it that causes our sleeplessness…?

The answer covers a long list of reasons which would include everything from a son or daughter returning home late from a date, to issues involving physical, emotional or psychological disorders.

Short of one of these more severe cases, however, a significant number of our sleep-deprived friends would tell us that they simply have a hard time “shutting down their mind.” They go to bed still thinking about that project they’re working on, that paper that’s due, or the problem that has them puzzled.

Me…? I have no problems dropping right off to sleep. My head hits the pillow and I’m gone. My wife, Barbara, on the other hand, is a card-carrying member of the “I-can’t-turn-off-my-mind” club. Many nights she’ll lay there trying to will herself to sleep. Doesn’t work… Wanting to be a helpful husband, there’ve been times when – led by the Spirit of God, of course – I’ve suggested to her that maybe her sleeplessness has less to do with an inability to log-off and shut down her brain, and more to do with the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I’ve tried to get her to consider the possibility that perhaps she has some hidden, unconfessed sin in her heart, or a guilty conscience that needs dealing with. I mean, since I fall asleep so quickly – secure in the knowlege that my heart is pure and my conscience is clear(!) – all I can conclude is that God is keeping her from sleep in order that she might repent of whatever dreadful personal transgression she might have willfully committed.

Surprisingly, Barbara doesn’t always appreciate my “Spirit-directed” insight! In fact, sharing these “revelations” with her usually gets me smacked, whacked, or kicked out of bed (further evidence of her guilt, if you ask me!).

In Cyril Barnes’ little book, Words of William Booth, he tells the story of a particular time the Founder had problems sleeping.

Late one night, Bramwell evidently heard his father stirring, and went to the old man’s room to see what might be the matter. He opened the door and saw the General pacing the floor, unable to sleep.

Bramwell says to his father, “General, what are you doing up at this hour? You should have been in bed long ago!”

Startled by the interruption, the old warrior stopped his pacing, looked at his son, and answered, “I am thinking about the people’s sins. What will the people do with their sins?”

Let me tell you, that story convicts me more than you’ll know. Why? Because I sleep very well.

I wonder how many of us there might be who, while deeply concerned for others’ souls, aren’t troubled to the point that it has ever disturbed our sleep or kept us awake (kinda makes me wonder just how deep our concern really is!). The thought of someone without Jesus bothers me terribly. But it has never caused me to pace the floor at night. Am I burdened about people and their sins? Most definitely, yes! Am I that burdened? Well…obviously not (wow, that hurts to write!).

While I don’t recall where I found this prayer, it seems appropriate to close this posting with these words:

May God bless you with Discomfort…
at easy answers, half –truths, and superficial relationships,
so that you may live deep within your heart

May God bless you with Anger…
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people
so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with Tears…
to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough Foolishness…
to believe that you can make a difference in this world,
so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.

Here’s to God also blessing more of us with sleepless nights and a floor-pacing passion for souls!

Keep your altar ready and your fire hot...!

Willis

Hell? Yes!

I’ve recently gotten this small, pocket-sized, soft covered old-Army book, published back in 1909, simply called The Doctrines of The Salvation Army. I thought it was going to be laid out like my other antique Handbook[s] of Doctrine. You know, major sections, followed by numbered sub-sections, sometimes followed by points a, b, c, etc. This book is nothing like that. In fact, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. The whole thing is laid out in “question-and-answer” format, as if a reporter were interviewing some Army doctrine expert. Here’s a sample:

You say you have a soul. What do you mean by that?
That there is within a man a spirit altogether separate from and independent of his body. A spirit which thinks, wills, knows and feels, and by which he can
distinguish good from evil.

Will this soul die with the body?
No; the soul is immortal; that is, it can never perish.
(from here the “doctrine expert” goes on to quote Ecc. 12:7, and Matt 16:26 -- W)

Very interesting!

Anyway, just the other day, I randomly flipped it open just to show a friend the book’s unique layout. I happened to open to the chapter on Hell. I didn’t get beyond the first question in the chapter.

The “interview” for the topic started off with this basic question:

Do you believe in Hell?

I expected there’d be a simple, one-word sentence as the answer – “Yes”. But I found something else. Oh, the “yes” is there alright, but the punctuation after it is a comma, not a period. “Yes,” is followed by three other words that completed the sentence and rocked my thinking at the same time. Here’s how the answer read:

Yes, all the time.

Man, that answer stopped me short! Those last three little words – “…all the time.” – hit me like an Evander Holyfield right.

Do I believe in Hell? Sure. No brainer. I know in my head, and hold to a personal belief that there is a literal Hell. But do I believe in it “…all the time”…? I’m not sure I measure up to that. I mean, if someone were to observe my life for a week or so, would they come to the conclusion that I do? Do my convictions, or more importantly my actions, give evidence that I believe in it “all the time”?

Wouldn’t you think that an “all the time” belief in Hell would show itself in a person having…I don’t know…a strong, passionate sense of urgency about it all?

In a past issue of armybarmy’s Journal of Aggressive Christianity, I read an article by Commissioner Wesley Harris entitled “Wake Up.” It spoke of this “all the time” characteristic as being one of the things that sets the early Army apart from our present Army. See for yourself (I’ve added the emphasizing):

Generally speaking, one of the differences between early day Salvationists and ourselves is that we often lack their sense of urgency. They would be amazed at the way in which we often close a meeting with a perfunctory nod towards the Mercy Seat, and a passing reference to the possibility of someone kneeling at it. Perhaps we too easily assume that there are no unconverted people in the hall. Our forebears in the faith used language that had the ring of urgency. They spoke of prayer battles and taking prisoners and saving the lost. The unsaved were in dire danger unless they became awake and aware of their spiritual condition. Early day Salvationists took the eleventh of our Articles of Faith seriously. Do we?

When I was a young officer one of my mentors was Commissioner George Jolliffe who was at one time private secretary to William Booth and even lived in his house at one stage. I asked him what was the secret of the Founder’s drive and he replied, surprisingly, ‘It was his belief in hell!’ That was what led him to challenge the cabby or the engine driver or the donor about their soul’s salvation.

He saw people starkly in danger of a lost eternity unless someone could awaken them to their need of a Saviour. There was no time to lose.

That's it...! The “all the time” spirit that the Doctrine Book spoke about!

Tell me...where and how have we lost it? More importantly, how do we get it back?

The clock’s ticking………..

Keep your altar ready and your fire hot...!

Willis

Knock, knock....

We’ve all seen this classic Warner Sallman picture, Christ at Heart’s Door, right? It’s Sallman’s artistic rendering of Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…”

Fine.

I’d guess that it’s highly likely that at some point you’ve also heard some preacher, teacher, or corps officer point out some of the features of the painting. Like how the two arches over Jesus’ head combined with the light around Him form the shape of a heart, and how by looking into the small window on the door, you can see that this “heart” is dark on the inside. From there, it’s usually pointed out how this “heart’s door” Jesus is knocking on has no handle, doorknob, or latch on the outside – it can only be opened from the inside. And it’s usually right about here that the preacher, teacher, or corps officer pushes the point of application: “Have you opened your heart and invited Jesus to come in?”

Ken Callahan is an author, consultant, and friend of the Army that I’ve gotten to work with from time to time. Say what you want about Ken, but you can’t deny the man’s passion for the Church to be in mission, on mission, and about mission.

Ken looks at this painting and proposes that there just might be another, somewhat different interpretation of the picture. He suggests that we look at it from the perspective of, well, the church and mission.

In doing this, he starts off by pointing out a couple of the usual observations – the lack of a handle to anyone on the outside, and the dark interior. But when he gets to the “Jesus-at-the-door” part, he takes us off the well-worn path of the usual understanding of the picture. He asks us to imagine Christ knocking on the handle-less door not of some weed-crowded cottage, or symbolic heart, but of the Church.

Hmmm… Now there's something to think about.

I wonder…how hard is it for certain people – or better yet, certain types of people (like those we label as “outsiders” for any one of a long list of reasons) – to find a “handle” that will open the Church to them? Oh, they can easily enter our buildings, if they ever have a reason to, but that’s not the same thing as getting into the church or the corps, is it? Think about your corps or church… Is the “handle” of unconditional welcome, acceptance, and inclusion easily found and used by those “outside” your fellowship, or is it somehow hidden behind unwritten policies and unspoken requirements? To ask it more bluntly, when it comes to those who aren’t “like us,” does your corps or church have to be opened from the inside?

In coming back to Sallman’s painting, Callahan moves into even more provocative territory...

As if it’s not already controversial enough to think of Christ somehow locked outside the Church, having to knock on a no-handled door like some encyclopedia salesman, Ken puts forward the idea that maybe Jesus isn’t knocking on the door of the Church trying to get in. No, he wonders if it’s not more a matter of Jesus knocking on the Church door inviting us to come out! Out of our sanctuaries, out of our citadels, out of our offices, out of our comfort zones, out of our debates over music styles and form, and into the world where the people are because that’s where Jesus is! He moves and walks throughout the world, still concerned over those who are lost, ready to engage them where they live, work, date, search, divorce, hurt, fight, and suffer.

Interesting view, isn’t it?

In John 17:5, Jesus prayed to His Father about His disciples, and said,

I'm not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One… In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. John 17:15,18 (MSG)

If I’m reading this right, Jesus has always intended that our mission would be like His – to the world! To those who don’t necessarily come to us on our terms. To those who may not see things the same way we do. To those who need to be sought out and gone after.

That's hard to accomplish while sitting in a pew that’s bolted to the floor in a temperature controlled room, behind walls and doors – both the literal, physical kind of walls and doors, as well as the figurative kind.

So maybe Callahan’s analysis of Sallman’s picture has a bit of relevance for us to consider. What do you say about it? What’s your opinion?

As for me, I believe I’m going to sit down, turn on some of Chris Tomlin's worship music in the background, and just pray for all those folks on the outside of my corps.

Hang on…there’s Someone at the door…

Keep your altar ready and your fire hot…!

Willis

Comparing Prices

I’m sure it doesn’t provide an “aha!” revelation in your life for me to point out the fact that having a regular, intentional, relationship-deepening, power-producing prayer life comes with a time cost. Because this is a generally understood truth, many of God’s soldiers figuratively compare price tags and projected outcomes when it comes to how they choose to spend their time. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they compare what they determine to be the return on investment of a focused prayer time with the lengthy to-do list of all they need to do, want to do, and are expected to do in a day’s time.

Too often after checking these costs, personal prayer time – which let’s face it, isn’t exactly a “squeaky wheel” kind of activity that demands most folks’ attention – is put back on the rack in favor of what we consider the more urgent demands of life and time.

I wonder… Have we ever thought that not praying might actually be even more expensive, even more costly to us in ways we may not have bargained for?

Bramwell Booth’s wife, Florence Booth, while serving as the British Commissioner, warned officers about this very danger. In an address during an Officers’ Councils, she pointed out,

“What you are, to a great extent, your people will become, and you must be men and women of prayer in order to raise up a praying people. Officers who neglect private prayer must sooner or later fail. (emphasis mine – W)

“In some notes, ‘Half Hours with my Guide,’ Mrs. Brengle tells that as a young Officer, she was losing power and joy, and was asked by a comrade whether she was giving the necessary time for her own spiritual life and growth. She replied: ‘I can’t spare the time: there is so much work to do!’ (Can I get a witness?! Is there an “amen” from a reader or two? – W) The answer was: ‘Who will do your work when you have backslidden?’ From that day forward, Mrs. Brengle made time for the necessary secret communion with God.

“ ‘Who will do your work when you have backslidden?’ A wise question, wasn’t it? …Because you are so very busy, are you making the mistake of thinking that prayerless activity will suffice?” (GREAT question! How do you answer it? – W)
– Commissioner Florence Booth
Powers of Salvation Army Officers

You know, no one sets out to intentionally backslide. I’ve never met anyone who has said, “I think I’ll deliberately let my prayer life slip to the point that I’m completely powerless, and backslidden.” That’s just not a temptation the enemy puts in our path. What he does whisper in our ear, however, comes from a different angle but produces the same results. You see, he would have us buy the idea that skipping over prayer time is less costly than it really is. A missed day here, a neglected devotional time there… C’mon, it's no big deal, right? But the hidden cost of these lost meetings with God adds up like interest on an overdue credit card bill. Before we know it, we’re in a hole far deeper than we ever intended, wondering how we got there. Here’s a principle: Sin always costs more than the price tag advertises.

So next time you think that you can’t afford the time to meet with God, compare the prices.

Keep your altar ready and your fire hot…!

Willis