Chapter 11: Love, Rest, and Play

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Note: This is the eleventh in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. Once complete, I’ll combine them into a book. You can access the previous chapters here.  If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to make sure you don’t miss any, you can add your name here.

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I have been to every prayer school and intercession meeting that came into my orbit. I have pounded on heaven’s doors for the redemption of the world and for so many healings and miracles only to see meager results. I am rarely able to discern how he might respond? Can you help me understand how to engage God more consistently?
Tisha, 83-year-old widow who describes herself as a frustrated intercessor

Dear Tisha,

Unfortunately, I don’t think your experience is uncommon at all. It seems we both grew up in a time where being a radical follower of Jesus meant praying earnestly, sometimes hours a day in hopes of getting God to act on our behalf. For the first 40 years of my journey, I thought the key to an effective prayer life was intensity and desperation. That’s what we thought we needed to get God’s attention and ingratiate ourselves to him.

Groveling in repentance, repeating our requests over and over with a rising pitch, and trying to convince ourselves that if we believed enough, he had to give us what we prayed for. I spent countless hours in rooms full of people praying fervently, only to walk out having to convince ourselves that God was moved even though we rarely saw those times producing any fruit. Believing harder, praying harder, trying to live more righteous, didn’t endear God to our requests.

It appears you’ve been more tenacious in this than most, who gave up at much younger ages, convinced that they didn’t have what it took to engage God. I hope you’ll be able to take the passion you have had to discern God’s ways and perhaps channel it differently in a more effective way.

Gaze with Me

Four years ago, I helped start a gathering of men and women from different countries to pray about God’s work in the world. I’d known all of them multiple decades and had witnessed them making choices to follow Jesus even when it cost them deeply. We shared a concern for the growing delusion among many Christians, who were no longer following the heart of the Jesus but pursuing their own political and economic gain.

From the early days of our prayers, God revealed insights to us that has shaped many of us in our prayers together. Early on, he taught us how to gaze with him and not at him. That may sound like a small distinction but it’s not. In many of my prayers I would offer to God, the need I was concerned about, I would place before him, hoping to catch his gaze and by that get him to act.

Gazing with him was a different thing entirely. It was still bringing our requests to him but instead of them standing between us, he invited us to stand alongside him and view our concerns from his perspective. It changed us. Standing with him in his might and power altered our perspective and we learned to see our concerns inside his purpose instead of our desires. What would glorify his name and further his purpose in the world?

It’s difficult to be desperate when you’re standing inside his purpose, with all his resources at hand. Instead of praying out of our anxieties that God wouldn’t do what we hoped, he showed us the environment in which we best engage him, not only with our concerns but, more importantly, coming to know his. Three words summed up the spirit of our engagement with him—love, rest, and play. They became the watchwords of our engagements with him. Whenever we would lean toward anxiety or desperation, they would invite us back to the environment where our time with him offered greater insight and more effectiveness.

As we discovered the power of love, rest, and play, we spoke less to God as our adversary or as the reluctant rich uncle who needed to be prodded. Instead, we found a generous God deeply steeped in his desires to win the world into his goodness and drive out the darkness, not by the sheer force of his word, but by the gentle transformation of his people.

Jesus encouraged his disciples not to give into anxiety or the idea that worrying would add anything to God’s work. In the words of Eugene Peterson, he told his disciples, “What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving” (Matthew 6:31). What a shift in thinking! I spent forty years trying to get from God—get saved, get a healing, get a ministry, or get my prayers answered. Instead of working through my prayer list every day, I began to ask a simple question. “Father, what are you giving me today?” Who are you giving me to love? What do you want to show me about yourself? How do you want to resolve the crisis I’m in? Quite naturally, I abandoned my agenda and kept my eyes open for what He was doing around me.

Shifting from desperation to love, rest, and play is a steep learning curve. Nothing in my religious background prepared me for it and risking some of the methods of old made me wonder whether we were on a fool’s errand. It didn’t turn out that way at all. Instead, it allowed us to enter into his work with a relaxed heart that allowed us to see what he was wanting to say to us.

So how do you experience love, rest, and play with God? I’ll break it down for you in the rest of this chapter but, believe me, this is not something you’ll learn from an article, book, or seminar. You can’t mimic someone else’s language and hope to see results. This is a journey the Holy Spirit wants to take you on so that as a genuine expression of your own heart and life, love, rest, and play become the measure of your life in him.

Love

What Jesus accomplished on the cross was to prove how much the Father and Son love us, even when we struggle with sin or doubt. As beloved sons or daughters, we are welcome in his presence without the need to grovel for acceptance. Our invitation there is marked with confident belonging. We are loved by him more than we love ourselves, and his desires to work in us and around us have greater aspirations than our own.

If we come to God intimidated by his majesty, fearful that God won’t be enough, or that his way won’t be the best way, we have blinded ourselves before we begin. We may think we know what God wants, but so often we are wrong. While we want the direct approach to our comfort, God takes the eternally transformative route, which rarely means he wants to fix every hard or painful circumstance. I don’t believe for a minute that he causes hardship for us; he knows the world is dark enough to challenge us. He just wants to thwart that darkness, rarely by removing the challenge, but by using it to transform us ever more into his faithful children.

Learning to be confident in his love is a powerful process that can take significant time in our journey. As John described it late in his life, “And so we have come to know and come to rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (I John 4:16) Even though John was one of Jesus closest disciples he had a learning curve as well. Early on he wanted to call down fire from heaven to burn up the Samaritans not realizing that spirit in him seeking retribution was not the Spirit of God.

In time, though, he came to learn just how loved he was and how to live out of that love toward others. So much so that he also said that’s how you know someone is born of God, because they live out of love (I John 4:7-8). When you know you’re loved, then you can engage God about the things that concern gentleness. Desperation has no place because you know that his love will be big enough to walk you through whatever may come. And not trying so hard to get what I want makes it easier to see what he is already doing.

Living in love is a beacon all its own, lighting the dark places with the quiet confidence that Father is at work around me and wants me to participate with him. Trusting his love will even set us at ease when he seems quiet, because we’re confident of his working even when we don’t see him.

Rest

Even the Old Testament teaches that we are best able to know God’s heart when we are at rest in him. “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:15). For some reason we prefer to earn our own way, which is impossible with the things of God. That’s why he gave them the Sabbath, to remind them to trust God’s provision and not strive endlessly in their own flesh. Instead, they came to see the Sabbath as its own laborious taskmaster.

But the Sabbath rest in God’s eyes was about far more than to take a day off once per week; it was a way of life. Hebrews 3 and 4 underscore that reality. The writer said that Israel never entered into God’s rest, even with their preoccupation for all the Sabbath rules. So, he reminded the followers of Jesus that a rest remains for us to embrace where we “cease from their works, just as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:10).

How can we live at rest in his work? As he deepens our trust, we will come to rely on his power, instead of ourselves and our performance. Even the act of praying with desperation and “crying out to God” is an attempt for our efforts to impress God and compel him to act. False religious thinking almost always focuses on performance and proving ourselves worthy of the answer we seek. How many of us in desperation have tried to impress God by acting more righteous or more confident than we really were? As long as we invest the success of our engagement with God by our own abilities, we will miss how he works. When we finally realize that our human effort cannot accomplish any Godly thing and that “apart from him we can do nothing,” then we are ready to learn the power of engaging God already at rest in his work, instead of trying to push ours.

That doesn’t mean we do nothing, parking ourselves on a sofa and leaving it all up to him. He wants to share his work with us, and when you come to recognize how God works, then you will know what he wants from you. You’ll no longer lash out in fear and doubt hoping to manipulate God with your attitude or actions.

That’s where life becomes exciting because we don’t have to accomplish anything for God, just simply respond to him however he may guide you.

Play

References to love and rest are easily seen throughout Scripture, and knowing how they shape our relationship with God, it’s easier to see. But play is a different story; the only scriptures that refer to play accuse Israel of “playing the harlot.”

But one cannot read the Gospels honestly without seeing a playful Jesus, inviting people into his kingdom. Whether it’s with a Samaritan woman by a well, or a Pharisee late at night trying to understand what it is to be born again. And one cannot know God without realizing he is the most playful presence in the universe. I often see his playfulness in the unfolding of circumstances or “coincidences” that bring a smile to my face at the same time they speak safety to my heart.

For example, one day I was grieving the loss of a close relationship because of some lies spread about me. On my way to meet a friend at a restaurant, I struggled with what I should do to repair the relationship. I sensed he wanted me to leave it in hands and not fret over it. As I walked into the restaurant, signed up for a table and sat down, the refrain of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, which was playing over the sound system began to wash over my soul. “Don’t worry about a thing, ‘Cause every little thing is gonna be alright.” I smiled, certain that God was winking at me. And you know what, everything did turn out alright.

I don’t really know you can wrap your heart around this reality until you discover for yourself just how playful God can be with you. Some of the most humorous thoughts I’ve had seem to have come from him. And, yes, this is far, far away from my religious sensibilities as a youth. I used to be terrified of God, thinking he was austere and serious about everything and any attempt to bring levity into the presence of God was considered blasphemous.

Any good teacher will tell you that humor and play are the best ways to help people learn, just like any father would do with his children. Play connects us to intimacy while allowing us the distance of humor to grasp the power of truth. The Scriptures that help us connect with play are those that speak so positively about laughter, joy, and childlikeness. “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Children are always at play; humor and laughter draw them into a conversation, and if you can engage that way, you will be able to teach them far more than yelling at them will accomplish.

It is possible for us to become so serious about God and ourselves that we shuffle our way past what God wants to reveal to us. Why wouldn’t a light-hearted approach to God be more fruitful than a heavy-hearted one? I find when I come to him with a childlike heart, I’m more attuned to him and relaxed enough to recognize his thoughts as well as to enjoy the relationship with him. Being playful with God is not disrespectful or sacrilegious since it originates in him. That doesn’t mean God isn’t serious when the times call for it, but with his children he often plays them into his reality with a wink and a nod.

I visited a family outside Edmonton, Alberta, Canada one fall and I could not believe how many toys they had to go out and play with in the ice and snow, and how much cold weather gear filled the closets and garage. When I remarked on it one day, the father responded, “It is so cold here for so long that if you don’t learn to play in it, it will own you.”

The same is true of the darkness and brokenness of this world, especially as we approach the end of the age. If you don’t learn to play with God in the pain and challenge of it all, it will own you. I’m discovering that afresh in a recent diagnosis of bone cancer that has already destroyed a vertebra in my back and has landed me on chemo to bring it to remission. In times past I would have lain awake in tears and pleading with God to spare me this stretch of the journey. This time, I’ve been able to entrust it to my relationship with God, knowing I’m deeply loved, that he is at work in some way amid  this extremity, and that I can be playful with him while we see where this goes.

I can’t imagine any posture being more helpful at the end of the age than those who can navigate difficulties inside love, rest, and play, especially when we know the outcomes of all these things. In time, whether in this life or the next, all will be well!

So, Tisha, when you sit down with God or take a walk with him in the woods, cultivate the environment where you can be confident in his love for you, at rest in his work on your behalf, and at play with his goodness. This is where you’ll find yourself at home in him and he can at home in you.

There’s no better place to be attuned to his heart and able to see how his goodness is unfolding in you despite the situations that surround you.

 

_________________________

You can access previous chapters here.  Stay Tuned for Chapter 12.

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Featured Books: Finding Church and Beyond Sundays

Leave a Comment / Beyond Sundays, Finding Church /

With only a few weeks before the end of 2024, we continue on a guided tour through some of Wayne’s books with a couple of his “church books”: Finding Church and Beyond Sundays. Two for one!

Over the final three weeks of this year, we’ll continue to highlight (at least) one book per week, and offer bulk discounts on those, and a coupon for a 25% discount on any order over $75.

Today we’re featuring Finding Church and Beyond Sundays together! For the next week, both of these books will be 50% off, or you can order in bulk, and save even more. In addition, through the end of the year, use the coupon code 25off75 when you checkout to save 25% off any order over $75. Merry Christmas from Lifestream!

We decided to feature two books this week, even though we could have featured even more (See: The Naked Church, So You Don’t Want To Go To Church Anymore?, and also many of his Living Loved Articles). In these books, Wayne has put into words what many have experienced of Jesus’ church in the world and encouraged so many who have known there was more than a system, more than a building, more than Sundays. Finding Church and Beyond Sundays are an encouragement to all who are traversing these well-trod paths by baby steps or a full sprint toward the freedom of following Jesus.

Finding Church

What if the church Jesus is building looks more like wildflowers strewn across an alpine meadow than a walled garden with manicured hedges?

If, like many other people, you have questioned whether there is something more to Jesus’ church than the religious institutions we’ve inherited after two thousand years, you’ll want to read Finding Church.  Here is straight talk from a man who has sought authentic New Testament community for more than fifty years and who has discovered it in the most unlikely places.

Beyond Sundays by Wayne JacobsenBeyond Sundays

In the last few decades sixty-five million Americans who once regular attended a local congregation, no longer do. About thirty-five million of those no longer self-identify as Christian, but over thirty-one million still do. This last group has been tagged “The Dones”, those who still seek to follow Jesus and find real community but have given up hope that the local congregation is still relevant to their journey.

What do we make of this phenomenon? As one who has spent twenty years helping people explore the life of Jesus beyond our conformity-based systems, here are some of my thoughts about helping people explore relationship with God and his people beyond our conformity based systems and how we might participate in this conversation in a way that champions the unity of all of God’s family.

This book is adapted from blog postings I wrote from 2015-2017 that grew out of conversations I had in my many travels with people around the world who are dealing with these same realities. One thing is clear: people are abandoning organized religion in droves. Does that threaten the future of God’s work in our world, or does it open new opportunities for the God’s live to grow beyond our expectations?

Whether or you attend a local church or whether you don’t, responding to this phenomenon will have repercussions for generations to come. We can respond as we have for centuries in a way that further fractures our Father’s family, or we can embrace our Father in all the ways he works to bring people to himself and transforms them in his love.

Ordering Options:

If you’d like to request a custom bulk order, email us your order and we’ll get you a custom price.

NOTE: If you order by Friday 12/20, with priority shipping, we’ll do our best to get your books to you by Christmas!

This post was written by Greg Campbell for Wayne Jacobsen and Lifestream.

Hi, I’m Greg Campbell. Wayne often calls me “[his] Web Guy” probably because I have been helping him with all his “web things” for about 20 years now. While Wayne is recuperating from his recent surgery and taking chemo, we thought it might be a good use of this space to remind people of some of the amazing resources Wayne has made available through Lifestream. Would you like to help? Perhaps something Wayne has written or said has been particularly meaningful in your own life. Would you be willing to share it as a way to encourage others who might be in a similar place in their journey. Perhaps there is a blog series, book, podcast, or audio recording (e.g. Transitions or Engage) that Jesus used to help you on your journey. Here’s the request again: Would you mind writing a paragraph or two about it? We’ll make it available here on the Lifestream website. Thanks!

Featured Books: Finding Church and Beyond Sundays Read More »

For Such a King

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This quote popped in my inbox this morning from The Plough, taken from an article by Kelsi Folsom:

I am ignited with my own litany of longings: For a king whose miracles aren’t only for those who can afford them. For a king who will shut down hospitals because our healed bodies don’t need them. A king who will stabilize energy grids, food supply, and erratic weather systems. A king whose beauty and bounty dismantle the appeal of terrorist organizations and boundary demarcating. A king under whose rule no innocent would perish. A king whose everlasting peace marks the end of evil.  For such a king, I too have waited all my life.

That quote made me want to shout, “Me too!” I await a king just like that who does these things and so many more. Isn’t this what Isaiah meant when he said the government would be on his shoulders?

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

We are celebrating the very season where that King has already come to this earth—as an infant, a young man of tremendous power and wisdom, then offering himself as a sacrifice to win us into Father’s love against all the lies and lures of darkness, as the Resurrected Savior who can live inside each of us, and the soon-coming King who will subdue the evil in this world and make the kingdoms of this world his own. I have pledged my life, my honor, and all I possess to such a king.

For now, we can each allow that King to win this place in our hearts. He can have his way in our bodies, guide us through the horrors that the chaos of this age brings us,  draw us to himself with such beauty that no other earthly affiliation holds sway over our hearts, and lead us to rescue any innocent around us that our generosity and love might aid. In short, he can give us his Life internally, even amid the chaos of this age.

Soon, he will return to take the governance of his Creation on his shoulders, and those things we most long for will be true for all the world.

And the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”

 

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The artwork above is from Wayne’s book, A Man Like No Other, in collaboration with Brad Cummings and Murry Whiteman. It is our featured book this week at Lifestream this week, so if you’d like to get it at a unique discount, look here.

Kyle and I will have a new podcast entitled Survival Mode and Redefining Salvation tomorrow morning at The God Journey.

Medical update:  I had a great day yesterday and some good news on all fronts. My back continues to feel better every day. I can now walk a mile daily, which surprises my doctors. My oncologist is “very happy” with my numbers as we are halfway through the intense part of my chemo. I have two new book projects that have captured my heart, and I can work on them for 4-5 hours per day without growing weary. I still have a long way to go, and a hundred things could go wrong, but at the moment, everything looks very good, and Sara and I are grateful. Thanks for all your love, concern, and prayers.

I can also do almost everything to care for my own needs, so the load is growing lighter on Sara. She is exhausted, however, from the very demanding last two months. I pray for God to restore her strength and joy and get her back on her own track for healing from the trauma she suffered. Our neighbors have also blessed us tremendously. Even though we have only lived here for 17 months, the neighborhood is one of our communities. They keep an eye out for us, cheer me on toward greater healing, and come by to offer some delightful conversations that distract us from the challenges and renew us with words of love and joy.

 

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Featured Book: A Man Like No Other

1 Comment / Jesus /

We continue on a guided tour through some of Wayne’s books with one of his more unique books: A Man Like No Other. This is an illustrated life of Jesus, with paintings visualizing moments in the life of Jesus while Wayne, along with his friend, Brad Cummings, tell the stories of those images with words. It’s a large, hardbound book, so it costs a bit more, but this week it is discounted and is a wonderful gift for Christmas time. At Christmas we celebrate God becoming man, the man, Jesus—a man like no other!

We are quickly approaching the end of this calendar year, and as you know, we are highlighting several of Wayne’s books, available here through Lifestream, offering a couple ways to save a little bit, too. Over the last few weeks remaining, we’ll continue to highlight one book per week, and offer bulk discounts on those, and a coupon for a 25% discount on any order over $75.

Today we’re featuring A Man Like No Other: The Illustrated Life of Jesus. For the next week, this book will be 25% off, or you can order in bulk, and save even more (Box of 5, Box of 10, or Box of 20). In addition, through the end of the year, use the coupon code 25off75 when you checkout to save 25% off any order over $75. Merry Christmas from Lifestream!

Ordering Options:

If you’d like to order more than the Box of 20 option, email us your order and we’ll get you a custom price.

Book Description

71kHQ3msAwLJesus continues to be the most engaging person who ever lived, not only a man of compelling words, and incredible miracles, but also a man who treated others around him as they had never been treated before.

Now, through the brush of award-winning artist, Murry Whiteman, and the pen of authors, and collaborators on The Shack, Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings, experience the richness of the One who set the world on fire. In provocative paintings and insightful prose, these three unveil the life and teachings of Jesus to show how truly unique a person he was.

Discover afresh Jesus growing up and beginning to grasp his identity as God’s Son, living loved through the temptations and turmoil he faced, and finally offering his own life to rescue people he loved from the darkness and fears that held them captive.

Let him become more to you than just the character in a book, a name used by those who fight over doctrine, or an empty religious icon. In him the God of the universe came and took up residence in his own creation.

In the fullness of time, God spoke again into the chaos of darkness. This, too, was a word of creation and light, but this time it was not in a voice, but a baby—the Word made flesh now inside the creation. God sought to prove he was not distant and uncaring, by becoming one of us, embracing all that it meant to be human. Here he lived, he loved, he taught, he healed. He came to set us free, to invite us into the life-giving relationship that he himself enjoys with the Father.

He willingly gave up his life so that we and this world could be redeemed back to God. He came as a Son that he might reveal to us the Father. His life, who he was, what he did, and how he related to others exactly reflected of God’s nature. If you want to know what God is like, we have only to look to him. This is the story of that man, Jesus — a man like no other!

Genesis 1-3, John 1:1-12, Galatians 4:1-4, Hebrews 1-5:3, 2:14-18

A couple weeks back we asked for you to share something Wayne has written or said that has been particularly meaningful to you, and we’d post here. Today’s thoughts come from Mark, and mention (among other things) Wayne’s collaboration with other authors, which would include the book we are highlighting this week! Mark said:

I believe Wayne is one of the warmest, most encouraging, productive persons to ever walk the planet. His faith during his marital crisis was remarkable. His ability to not strike back at his enemies when he had every right to do so was inspiring.

The incredible amount of correspondence to so many people looks tiring to me, but he does it. Wayne’s writing is like the icebreaker in the Arctic when only specialized ships can do the task while the rest are allowed to follow behind once the way is clear.

His collaboration with other authors has produced a rich harvest of ideas for all of us to absorb. Wayne has endured many blows, and trodded through thickets of thorns, but has always come out the other side, smiling and unbroken by bitterness or resentment.

He can still give and receive love without thought of personal gain.

Many people live on an island of sorts of their own creation. Wayne has chosen to develop a multiplicity of relationships to sustain himself, as well as many others. His writing shows the inner growth these struggles produced, as well as how his long-term relationships have helped sustain him. Wayne’s faith in resting with his Father throughout his trials shows how a Christian life may be lived. “Jesus is the only weapon you will ever need.” Those words are a lodestone for my life. I have shared them multiple times in my work with others.

This is only a small part of what Wayne has done. Eternity will reveal much more. I am blessed because of his presence in my life. Thank you for allowing me to share.

If you have something you’d like to share, please reply to this email, or email me directly at webmaster@lifestream.org.

This post was written by Greg Campbell for Wayne Jacobsen and Lifestream.

Hi, I’m Greg Campbell. Wayne often calls me “[his] Web Guy” probably because I have been helping him with all his “web things” for about 20 years now. While Wayne is recuperating from his recent surgery and taking chemo, we thought it might be a good use of this space to remind people of some of the amazing resources Wayne has made available through Lifestream. Would you like to help? Perhaps something Wayne has written or said has been particularly meaningful in your own life. Would you be willing to share it as a way to encourage others who might be in a similar place in their journey. Perhaps there is a blog series, book, podcast, or audio recording (e.g. Transitions or Engage) that Jesus used to help you on your journey. Here’s the request again: Would you mind writing a paragraph or two about it? We’ll make it available here on the Lifestream website. Thanks!

Featured Book: A Man Like No Other Read More »

A Fresh Wave for He Loves Me

2 Comments / Behind the Scenes /

While I am sidelined with my recovery from back surgery and some chemo, God seems to be stirring something with my book He Loves Me. In the last week I’ve had numerous emails about this book. Some people are starting book studies with friends or doing podcasts about it. It’s so much in one week that it has made me ponder what Father might be doing in this season with a book that is almost 25 years old.

Also, someone sent me a link to two people who did a deep dive into He Loves Me, but they did it in 21 minutes. I was impressed, though, with their conversation because it covered the significant themes in an engaging and enlightening way. You can listen to it here.

I also recorded a podcast on Tuesday with Discovering God with Tacos. It’s a funny name for it, and I thought I’d have to recuse myself since I’m not too fond of tacos, but they were gracious to let me join them anyway and talk a bit of BBQ while we’re discussing my journey. I can’t wait to share it with you when it airs. I’ll have to let you know when it does.

Finally, I’m getting emails from various places around the world that want to do translations and reprints. This includes Israel, Russia, and Ukraine. That hasn’t been easy to do with Hachette holding the rights to the book; they don’t like people putting up the book for free downloads. However, I’ve always been more concerned about the message getting out than the financial return on this book, so we are entering negotiations with Hachette to have the book returned to us so we can pursue these requests. Please pray we’ll be successful here.

What to make of all of this? I’m not sure. But it seems God is letting a whole new audience discover that book and its message. I’ve often said it is the most important book I’ll ever write because there’s nothing more critical than moving from an appeasement-based view of God to an affection-based relationship with him. He loves each of us more than anyone ever has or ever will, and when we come to discover that we’ll find ourselves on the journey of a lifetime, not only coming to rest in his goodness but also learning how that love begins to untwist sin, shame, and religious effort in us so that we can truly live as his people on the earth.

You can buy it in case lots at deep discounts here if you want to start a study on it or make it a Christmas gift to your friends.

As for me, my recovery continues to progress. I don’t have much back pain these days from surgery, so almost all recovered there, and I can manage a lot more things for myself. However, that also means we can ramp up the chemo drugs to higher doses, so we’ll have to see how that goes. I’ve felt pretty good the last couple of weeks, though, and have been able to get back to some writing and thinking that God is inviting me into. I’m grateful for that, though my endurance is somewhat limited. I do hope I can maintain that with these new drugs. Sara and I are thankful for all the love and support from so many of you at this time. God is at work, though not in the same way I would have hoped early on. That’s often true for all of us. He does know best, however, and when we trust him more than we trust our perceptions, the road gets less strenuous.

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Featured Book: So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore?

1 Comment / Growing in Trust /

We continue on a guided tour through some of Wayne’s books with the book that first introduced me to Wayne Jacobsen. The “Jake Book”, as it was then referred to, was released online chapter-by-chapter, and after catching up with what was already released I could not wait for the next one. What Jake was experiencing so mirrored all that God was patiently walking me through as I pined for a life lived in simple trust of the Father who loves me, with fellow travelers on the same journey, following Jesus’ lead via his Spirit in me. I didn’t have a John, but “Jake Colsen” (Wayne and Dave’s nom-de-plume) provided a similar invitation to trust Father’s perfect timing and care.

Again, as we approach the end of the calendar year we are highlighting a few of Wayne’s books, available here through Lifestream, and we’re offering a couple ways to save a little bit, too. Over the next few weeks we’ll highlight one book per week, and offer bulk discounts on each of those, and a coupon for a 25% discount on any order over $75.

Today we’re featuring So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore?. For the next week, this book will be 25% off, or you can order in bulk, and save even more (Box of 10, or Box of 20). In addition, through the end of the year, use the coupon code 25off75 when you checkout to save 25% off any order over $75. Merry Christmas early from Lifestream!

Ordering Options:

Other purchasing options such as Amazon, Kindle, Apple Books (all without special pricing), are available on any of those linked pages above. And if you’d like to order more than the Box of 20 option, email us your order and we’ll get you a custom price.

So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore? by Wayne Jacobsen & Dave ColemanJake Colsen, an overworked and disillusioned pastor, happens into a stranger who bears an uncanny resemblance (in manner) to the apostle John. A number of encounters with John as well as a family crisis lead Jake to a new understanding of what his life should be like: one filled with faith bolstered by a steady, close relationship with the God of the universe. Facing his own disappointment with Christianity, Jake must forsake the habits that have made his faith rote and rediscover the love that captured his heart when he first believed.

Compelling and intensely personal, SO YOU DON’T WANT TO GO TO CHURCH ANYMORE relates a man’s rebirth from performance-based Christianity to a loving friendship with Christ that affects all he does, thinks, and says. As John tells Jake, “There is nothing the Father desires for you more than that you fall squarely in the lap of his love and never move from that place for the rest of your life.”

A couple weeks back we asked for you to share something Wayne has written or said that has been particularly meaningful to you, and we’d post here. Today’s thoughts come from Jeannine, who wrote this on Thanksgiving Day:

This day I am thankful for You Wayne! Your support, wisdom, counsel, kindness, compassion, and prayers have helped me become a better reflection of Christ in this lost and broken world. I can try to express how your book “So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore?”, your testimony, your ministry, and your friendship have helped guide me to a stronger relationship with Christ and a deeper desire to learn more about how to live in His eternal love… But I will leave it at this. God has blessed me with so much, you included. I live in the hope of all we have and ALL that is to come.

If you have something you’d like to share, please reply to this email, or email me directly at webmaster@lifestream.org.

This post was written by Greg Campbell for Wayne Jacobsen and Lifestream.

Hi, I’m Greg Campbell. Wayne often calls me “[his] Web Guy” probably because I have been helping him with all his “web things” for about 20 years now. While Wayne is recuperating from his recent surgery and taking chemo, we thought it might be a good use of this space to remind people of some of the amazing resources Wayne has made available through Lifestream. Would you like to help? Perhaps something Wayne has written or said has been particularly meaningful in your own life. Would you be willing to share it as a way to encourage others who might be in a similar place in their journey. Perhaps there is a blog series, book, podcast, or audio recording (e.g. Transitions or Engage) that Jesus used to help you on your journey. Here’s the request again: Would you mind writing a paragraph or two about it? We’ll make it available here on the Lifestream website. Thanks!

Featured Book: So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore? Read More »

I Will Miss You, Tony

2 Comments / Encouragement / / , , , , ,

Tony Campolo passed away last week, and though I’m a bit late, I want to acknowledge his powerful contribution to Christian thought around the world and to my own life personally.

I never had the chance to meet him or hear him speak in person, but decades ago, his books and recordings challenged and inspired me. If you’ve never heard It’s Friday But Sunday’s Coming (the whole thing is sermon is powerful, but the story I’m referring to begins at 50:20) or The Kingdom of God Is a Party, don’t wait any longer. Any of his books are a great treat as well.

As you’ll see, Tony Campolo was among the most humorous speakers ever. Inside that humor was a constant challenge to be mindful of the poor and to realize that our calling as followers of Jesus is to lay down our lives for the needs of others. Many evangelicals didn’t like him, calling him a “liberal” as a way to dismiss his message. Indeed, I didn’t agree with everything he taught, but that’s true of most people. I have no problem enjoying the chicken and spitting out the bones. He coined the term, Red Letter Christians, to help Jesus followers take seriously the words of Jesus in the Gospels about visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, and reaching out to those in prison.

Since we’ve been talking about the focus of justice and righteousness on The God Journey before we had to take a hiatus, I’m freshly aware of the link between the Kingdom of God with God’s kind of redemptive justice for the broken, the marginalized, and the wounded and how skewed our preoccupation with personal holiness rather than the injustice in a fallen world.

I know no better illustration of that than how Tony Campolo addressed many chapels at Christian universities. He would often begin his talk with a statistic about how many children died the night before from malnutrition and related diseases around the world, numbering in the thousands.  Letting it sink in, he would then add, “And most of you don’t give a sh*t.”

Of course, the room would be scandalized at such a coarse word in their imagined holy place.

When the room settled, he would point to the heart of the problem. “What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said ‘sh*t’ than the fact that thousands of kids died last night.”

He wasn’t always invited back. In my more legalistic days, I would have been more concerned about his use of a bad word than I would have been about a hunger problem that seems too large for me to fix. That wouldn’t be true today. Justice is holding a bigger heart for the poor and deprived. Policing the word ‘sh*t’ is just a misplaced, legalistic preoccupation with righteousness.

Of course, we can care about injustice at the same time we watch our mouths, but Tony was making a point here.  I hope you don’t miss the larger issue as well. People concerned with their piety are often disengaged from how their lives impact others. That’s why they can profess Jesus while viciously fighting a culture war with a moral superiority that leaves no room to love their “enemies.”  It’s why some can think of themselves as holy; they don’t use “bad words,” but they still gossip about others to destroy relationships.

That’s why I’ve come to see, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his justice…” (Matthew 6:33) as a better translation than the word righteousness. We can seek righteousness and not always get to justice, but you can’t seek relational justice and not become more godly. Treating others the way we would want them to treat us is where the kingdom of God advances in the world. Of course, they are not unrelated, but one fixates on our good, and the other focuses on the fulfillment of God’s heart by being a beacon of his compassion in a broken world.

Tony, we will miss you here, and yet the joy I’m sure you’re finding there is beyond compare. Rest in peace, my friend. You served him well in this world.

______________________

As for a personal update, my back continues to heal from fusion surgery, and though I still have to be careful while it heals, I’m almost pain-free there. I’ve been on a lower dose of chemo the last two weeks, so I have some really good days of late, but next week, they are going to be ramping up the dosage, and I’m not sure how I’ll be doing then.

Sara joins me on today’s episode of The God Journey podcast to share how our current challenge has also affected her journey. It’s called Expectations, Disappointment, and Hope.

I Will Miss You, Tony Read More »

Featured Book: He Loves Me

1 Comment / Encouragement, Living Loved /

As we approach the end of the calendar year we thought it would be good to highlight a few of Wayne’s books available here through Lifestream, and we’re offering a couple ways to save a little bit, too. Over the next few weeks we’ll highlight a couple books per week, and offer bulk discounts on each of those, and a coupon for a 25% discount on any order over $75.

Today we’re featuring He Loves Me! Learning to live in the Father’s affection. Originally published almost 25 years ago, this book has drawn so many around the world into a deeper, more full understanding of the Father’s affection for them. For the next week, this book will be 25% off, or you can order in bulk, and save even more (Box of 10, or Box of 20). In addition, through the end of the year, use the coupon code 25off75 when you checkout to save 25% off any order over $75. Merry Christmas early from Lifestream!

Ordering Options:

Other purchasing options such as Amazon, Kindle, Apple Books (all without special pricing), are available on any of those linked pages above. And if you’d like to order more than the Box of 20 option, email us your order and we’ll get you a custom price.

He loves me!He Loves Me by Wayne Jacobsen
He loves me not!

Do you find yourself picking through circumstances like children plucking daisy petals attempting to figure out whether or not God loves you? If you find yourself least certain of his love in those critical moments when you most need to trust him, there is hope for you.

Where? At the one event in human history that forever secured your place in the Father’s heart-the cross where Jesus allowed sin and shame to be consumed in his own body so that you could freely embrace a relationship with his Father. There you will discover that what he always wanted was not the fearful subservience of slaves, but the loving affection of sons and daughters.

If your spiritual life feels more like performance than freedom, like an empty ritual rather than a joyful journey, let Wayne help you discover:

  • A Father who loves you more than anyone on this planet ever has or ever will.
  • A growing confidence in his affection for you through whatever circumstances you face.
  • A vibrant relationship with him that will free you from the torment of shame while it transforms you to live as his child in the earth.

Last week we asked for you to share something Wayne has written or said that has been particularly meaningful to you, and we’d post here. Today’s thoughts come from Katelyn, who wrote:

Thanks for this email! I wanted to share what has most helped me from Wayne’s book, He Loves Me. So far I have read parts of He Loves Me, parts of Finding Church and all of So You Don’t Want to go to Church Anymore? I am also listening to the podcast more regularly and just received the 365 reflections book you all promoted last week… but this is the quote that stands out the most to me:

“There is no one God does not love with all that He is. His love reaches beyond every sin and failure, hoping that at some moment every person will come to know just how loved he or she is. There is nothing more important for you to know.”

The reason why it stands out the most is that I just feel like it underlines the truth that “apart from love, you can do nothing.” And not in a “duty” type of way but really, I just want to live in His love and flow from that place with the rest of my life and that is becoming the desire of my heart. Therefore I’m really grateful for Wayne and his stuff and the way God’s using it to transform me 🤍

If you have something you’d like to share, please reply to this email, or email me directly at webmaster@lifestream.org.

This post was written by Greg Campbell for Wayne Jacobsen and Lifestream.

Hi, I’m Greg Campbell. Wayne often calls me “[his] Web Guy” probably because I have been helping him with all his “web things” for about 20 years now. While Wayne is recuperating from his recent surgery and taking chemo, we thought it might be a good use of this space to remind people of some of the amazing resources Wayne has made available through Lifestream. Would you like to help? Perhaps something Wayne has written or said has been particularly meaningful in your own life. Would you be willing to share it as a way to encourage others who might be in a similar place in their journey. Perhaps there is a blog series, book, podcast, or audio recording (e.g. Transitions or Engage) that Jesus used to help you on your journey. Here’s the request: Would you mind writing a paragraph or two about it? We’ll make it available here on the Lifestream website. Thanks!

Featured Book: He Loves Me Read More »

An Angel at My Door

10 Comments / Encouragement / / , , , ,

If you haven’t heard the podcast from last week or read this blog, you may not appreciate all that’s happening here. I’m currently battling bone cancer that destroyed vertebrae in my back, causing me to have surgery there.

But yesterday, I think I caught an angel on my Ring camera.

I had been battling nausea for three days, so I could barely eat or drink enough to maintain momentum. I was physically weak and tired of the fight. Sara reminded me that we take one day at a time.

Soon, I settled in my chair, and Sara took the dogs out for a walk. A few moments later, my phone told me someone was at the front door.  I turned to look, but no one was there. I hadn’t heard anyone out there. So, I checked the feed from our Ring camera, and sure enough, a woman came around the corner from our driveway and dropped a small package at the front door.  It was not someone I recognized because the light was so intense behind her that her facial features washed out.

As she walked away, she paused at the end of our porch, raised both hands to her lips, and blew a kiss back at our house. Then she extended her hands as if praying for Sara and me. I was undone the first time I saw it; it was such an act of tenderness and love. God’s Spirit washed over me, and I felt her extended arms, conveying her prayer and the prayers of many people I know who are holding space before God for us.  It felt like an angel had come to my door.

When Sara got home, she recovered the package from the front door, and it was a small gift from a woman we have been sharing a journey with over the past few years. She’s become a very close friend and cares for us deeply. Did the fact that she was someone we knew change my view that an angel was outside my door? It didn’t. Sometimes, angels are the closest people to us, and God works through them similarly. And I know what I felt when she was there.  It was all the richer knowing it was someone who loved us.

Call it a coincidence if you want, but later that day, we met with our oncologist, and things changed dramatically. He made adjustments to my medications due to my symptoms, and I came home from that appointment a changed man. I’ve not had nausea since and have even looked forward to meals. It’s quite a change.  I’ve felt stronger and could even do a 6/10 mile walk this morning.

And then there was this: the doctor told us that the marker in my blood they are using to track the power of the cancer has decreased 97.5% in the four weeks I’ve had treatment. He said that drop is highly unusual and indicates they may get this in remission sooner than they hoped. Another great piece of news, though we have no idea yet what twists and turns lie ahead.  We are assured, however, that we are not alone on this journey and that he is faithful.

The last twenty-four hours are the best I’ve had in weeks, and we are so grateful.

And the lady doing a simple act of love toward us had no idea at the time how powerfully God was using it.  Remember, a simple cup of cold water in his name can yield incredible fruit. Don’t despise the small acts of caring or minor expressions of love; the impact is often more significant than we understood then.

Maybe Jesus has someone on your heart to love today by simply expressing your love and caring for them.

 

An Angel at My Door Read More »

Featured Book: A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation

Leave a Comment / Language of Healing / /

As we approach the end of the calendar year we thought it would be good to highlight a few of Wayne’s books available here through Lifestream, and we’re offering a couple ways to save a little bit, too. Over the next few weeks we’ll highlight a couple books per week, and offer bulk discounts on each of those, and a coupon for a 25% discount on any order over $75.

Today we’re featuring A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation. For the next week, this book will be 50% off, or you can order in bulk, and save even more (Box of 10, or Box of 20). In addition, through the end of the year, use the coupon code 25off75 when you checkout to save 25% off any order over $75. Merry Christmas early from Lifestream!

A Language of Healing for a Polarized NationAre you tired of the animosity and vitriol that fill our society at every mention of politics or religion, dividing us into two hostile camps on every possible issue?

So are we. We’re looking for others who want to change the dialogue from the rhetoric of polarizing animosity that is destroying the social fabric of our nation to a language of healing where honest differences don’t have to destroy friendships. Then we can seek a broader common ground based on mutual respect and compassion.

The Language of Healing will help you learn how to . . .

  • See disagreement as an opportunity for growth and discovery.
  • Change the temper of a hostile engagement or walk away.
  • Share mutual respect even beyond our deepest differences.
  • Become a peacemaker in your network of friends and family.

With another US election in our recent past, it’s likely we all have friends or family who are either elated or irate, and not playing nicely with “the other side”. Seems like good timing for a book that offers language for healing!

Ordering Options:

Other purchasing options such as Amazon, Kindle, Apple Books (all without special pricing), are available on any of those linked pages above. And if you’d like to order more than the Box of 20 option, email us your order and we’ll get you a custom price.

This post was written by Greg Campbell for Wayne Jacobsen and Lifestream.

Hi, I’m Greg Campbell. Wayne often calls me “[his] Web Guy” probably because I have been helping him with all his “web things” for about 20 years now. While Wayne is recuperating from his recent surgery and taking chemo, we thought it might be a good use of this space to remind people of some of the amazing resources Wayne has made available through Lifestream. Would you like to help? Perhaps something Wayne has written or said has been particularly meaningful in your own life. Would you be willing to share it as a way to encourage others who might be in a similar place in their journey. Perhaps there is a blog series, book, podcast, or audio recording (e.g. Transitions or Engage) that Jesus used to help you on your journey. Here’s the request: Would you mind writing a paragraph or two about it? We’ll make it available here on the Lifestream website. Thanks!

Featured Book: A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation Read More »

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