Isaiah 59:12

"And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Upcoming Trip to Uganda

Brothers and Sisters,

Over the last year, God has broken my heart for the fatherless and the abandoned children all over the world – especially ones that are sold into child slavery and sex trafficking. Due to this burden, I began praying about going to Africa into the Uganda/Sudan area to do ministry with orphans and child soldiers – as well as to work on church planting with fellow believers. God has used a multitude of believers around me to confirm this burden – including my parents, pastors, and mentors who have been helping me prepare to walk in this calling. God has also stirred the hearts of some people around me to join in this calling and accompany me to Africa in the Lord’s work. As we have prayed about this, God has started to piece together the first steps of our mission. This summer, we plan to take those first steps to walking in this mission God has burdened us with.

One of the main goals this summer is to make national connections with those who do ministry in Northern Uganda – especially those already working with Sudanese refugees. Our current contact in Uganda is a man by the name of Paul Busulwa. Paul is a native missionary who travels all over the country doing apostolic work. He has agreed to go into Northern Uganda and even to the border of Sudan with us.
My partners and I will leave to go on this trip late in June of 2011, and spend a couple of weeks traveling through Uganda and spending time up near the border of Sudan. We will be flying into Entebbe, where we will do some work with the orphanage already there, and then to Kamuli, where again we will do work with orphans. After Kamuli, our small team of three-to-five people will travel up to the border of Sudan and spend time making connections with pastors and seeking out what the Lord would have us to do there.

Financially, we need to raise about $3000 for traveling expenses (airfare, ground fare in Uganda, immunizations, visas, living expenses, and ministry expenses). More importantly, we ask that you pray for the Lord to give clear direction for this pioneering ministry, safety in the trip, and to open the hearts of the hurting orphans, widows, and refugees that we will be working with once we are there. Any way you can support this mission is greatly appreciated.

I sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this! Our work is being done in partnership with House of Friends ministry – http://www.houseoffriends.org/. If you have any questions for me personally, please email me at joshhulme@sbcglobal.net and I will be happy to answer them. If you feel led to support this ministry financially you can send those to:

House of Friends
PO Box 228
Alma, MO 64001

Please attactch a note specifying that the money you send is for Josh Hulme's mission trip to Uganda. Any donations made to House of Friends will be tax deductible.

Thank you so much for your time,
Stay blessed in the name of Jesus,

~Josh

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Why I Like My Glasses a Little Bit Dirty

This has happened to me twice:

You see, I'm near-sighted (I think). What I mean is, I can't see things that are very far away. So, yes, I wear glasses - especially when I'm driving or in a classroom or something. There have been a couple times where I was running around, goofing off with my buddies, and one of lenses of beautiful, clean glasses just...falls out (I don't get the most expensive glasses). Here's the problem: since I only need them to see things far away, if my glasses are perfectly clean, sometimes I won't notice that I'm missing a lens until I'm trying to see something that I normally can't. *boom* Here comes panic! But by then, it's too late. That lens is looong gone, usually to never be found again.

So from these couple of experiences, I've developed a philosophy: If I keep my glasses just a little bit dirty, I'll notice when there's not that speck floating beneath my left eye anymore; or that ever-so-slight ketchup stain in the corner of my right lens. And the best part? I normally don't have to TRY to dirty my glasses, it just kind of happens. As I walk through life and try to correctly see the things around me by wearing my glasses, they tend to get a little mucky.

Strangely enough, through my semi-clinically-insane approach to vision, God has taught me theology! As I was meditating over my dirty glasses the other, the Lord brought to mind the verse: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." -1 Corinthians 10:12

DISCLAIMER: I am BY NO MEANS endorsing sin or the pursuit of sin through the thing I'm about to say; I'm endorsing a radical pursuit of the Lord characterized by going deeper and deeper into our hearts and surrendering each part to Him.

Having the appropriate lenses in life is an important thing. Having a God-perspective characterizes followers of Jesus; it is required to have some sort of heavenly vision to call yourself a child of the Heavenly Father! I think that every born-again believer gets a new pair of glasses when they come into that blessed new life. These glasses are through the Holy Spirit, whom the Bible tells us reveals truth to us (John 16:13): it shows us right from wrong, real from fake, important from worthless, the Shepherd from the Wolf - without this new vision, we'd surely be destroyed quickly as babes in the Word!

But reading through the Psalms, there seems to be one more thing this God-vision does: it turns inward, revealing to us the things that are right and wrong. It reveals the true nature of our heart and reminds us what areas we ought to be warring in prayer for. One thing about this glorious light we receive: it reveals the disgusting c-r-a-p that's in our hearts. No fun! But beneficial, and important nonetheless.

John tells us in his epistle, "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." -1 John 1:10. I want to use this and the verse from Corinthians about "taking heed" to encourage us to all check our lenses once and a while to not be afraid to jump into the c-r-a-p in our hearts, and let the glorious truth of the Holy Spirit clean them out.

First of all, let's acknowledge a truth. We/you/I are/is not Jesus and can/will/may not have the blessing of living a life absolutely free from sin until the day we see Jesus and are transformed into his image. There is no earthly perfection; and if you think there is, you have pride - go repent. We are human, and we have a flesh that wars against our spirit (Most of 1 Peter, Romans, and 1 John 1:10). Unless our righteousness is as great as God's, we have sin. Period. Did you speak things into existence? Okay then, we have sin.

Now, if we are actively following the Holy Spirit and keeping our God vision, the bottom line is, we're going to get things on our glasses. We're walking out our faith in a dirty world, and things are bound to hop up there that we'll have to allow the Lord to cleanse us from. So if we ever find ourselves in places where we're walking through life and think our glasses are just perfectly clean all the time, we might want to make sure our lenses is still there!

I do not enjoy God bringing up new sin in my life, but I have learned to appreciate the fact that "whom the Lord loves, he rebukes and chastises." So when he goes deeper in my heart, shows me more change that needs to take place, teaches me new things to live out in the Lord, and shows me new areas to become more like him - I know I'm still following him, I know we're still going deeper, and I know I still have my lenses in! So I would encourage you, Beloved, appreciate the convicting words of the Lord - rejoice in them, and follow them! Never stop going deeper - and realize that when you do, things will get a little messy.

And this, my friends, is why I like my glasses a little bit dirty.

Monday, April 11, 2011

A Letter to Us Who Think We Know the Lord

In my College Composition class right now, we're talking about poetry and learning how to deeply understand a poem by re-writing it in a more personal form. I decided I want to do that today with a passage from the Word. Whenever I begin to feel exalted against the Lord, and my heart exalts itself in pride, I like/hate to go to Job 38 and read until I can't take it anymore. Today, I want to show how these words apply to all of us who think we know the mind of the Lord by simply writing out the message of Job 38-41 in accordance with other Scriptures. Let us remember who we are, that we are "but dust" (Psalms 103) and return to a heart of humility and learning before the King of the Universe.

Thus saith the Lord.
Who are you, Oh man?
That you would say you know my heart?
Who are you that speaks the truth without the Truth?
Where is your way?
For I AM the Way.
How have you enlightened your path?
For I AM the Light.
How have you discerned knowledge?
For I AM the Truth.

Prepare yourself.
For I will come - you must answer.
When I knock, I will be let in.
I will require of you the words you have spoken in vanity,
You will be held accountable for the advice you have spoken,
The "truth" you hold on to will someday meet I AM in perfection.

When I spun out the plans of the world,
When I prepared my ideals,
When I sad, "Let this be so,"
Did you advise me then?

When I spoke your life into existence.
Did you help me?
How then will you tell me why you are here?
Or did you join me as I formed you in your mother's womb?

Who gave you authority to build lives?
Who has endowed you with power from on high?
Have you so much perfection, that I cannot contain it?
Have you so much wisdom, that I cannot know it?
Have you so understood things,
As to teach what I have not taught?

Will your ministry go beyond the ministry of my Son?
Where then, are they which walk that were lame?
Where are the free, who were once bound?
Where are they singing, though they were once dumb?
Create a heaven, Oh man!
And redeem a dying race to live there!

Will your sufferings be so great,
That you cannot lay them at the cross?
Have you so much bitterness,
That I AM not enough?
Have you so much anger,
That my cross is of none effect?

Go now - and join with Satan, you Lucifer!
For you that have borne light,
Will see that the only light you have is mine!
Have you rebelled against my way?
Have you told me what I have said?
Have you formed truth in your mind?
Have you made laws of my heart?
Have you made cages for my ways?
Beware, Oh man:
For I will have my way.
I will fulfill my desire.
I will cause my truth to endure.
I will honor only those who have my heart.
And I will break your cages.

And you will know,
That I AM the Lord.

Forgive me, Lord. Forgive us, Oh God. For we have created our own versions of your way. We have corrupted the truth of the Gospel of Christ. We have required men to learn our ways, and have ignored the ways of the Christ. I know that you are coming in vengeance, only be merciful unto those who love you. Be gracious to those who have called on your name. Be slow to wrath, oh God! Quick to mercy - quick to forgive! We trust in Your goodness; in Your way: be the God who directs us, for we cannot direct ourselves. We are all blind, and the blind cannot lead the blind. But You, Oh Lord, You see! So lead us into all truth, into all love, into all life, into all grace. May we shed this phoney Kingdom of "God," and embrace the Kingdom of Jesus! May we break down our tower of Babel, in which we have said that we will reach unto the heavens, and be like gods! Forgive us, redeem us, perfect us, lead us - you are our Hope, our Saving Grace, our Love, our Everything.

I ask for this in the name of Jesus Christ - that your will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Amen.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Liberty to Love

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." --Galatians 5:16

I used to set out each of the fruit of the Spirit in list next to my bed: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. At the end of every day, I would go through each thing, and try to make sure I did something that lined up with each of the different fruits. Brilliant, huh?

I suppose it was if I was going go for figuring out if I was walking in the fruit of the Josh.

I had the most amazing revelation about these fruits of the Spirit the other day: They're the fruits of the SPIRIT! That means that as I allow the Holy Spirit to fill me and indwell me; as I quiet my soul and listen to his truth speak into my life - the fruit of the SPIRIT happens as a result of him being there - and me being ... well ... dead. "For I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..." -Galatians 2:20.

So yes, about two or three weeks ago, this concept really hit home with me, but it left me in a place of utter confusion: what do I do now? I've heard so many interpretations of what it means to Walk in the Spirit and how to overcome the fruits of the flesh and live out the fruit of the Spirit - but now that I've realized that my "righteousness is as dirty rags" and that I NEED the Spirit in order to walk in these fruits ... wow, what now? Do I sit around and pray for an indwelling to live these out? But what does that even need to look like? How can I keep my focus right? How can I walk in these things while avoiding turning into a law? And consequently, my pride and self-righteousness...

Truthfully, I'm still struggling with some of these answers in my spirit, but I want to share what the Lord hit home with me this last week. I meet with two other guys on a semi-weekly basis where we confess to each other, pray for each other, and read through passages of the Bible together - it's an awesome group, and I'm so thankful for them! Right now, we've been reading through Galatians. So for the last week or two, I've read Galatians about five times - it's a good way to get to know the book and allow the Spirit to reveal its depth to you! As I was reading Galatians five for about the fifth time, I began to have an epiphany about the entirety of the chapter and how Paul introduced the fruit of the Spirit! Go ahead and read Galatians five, and then I'll share my own little commentary on what the Lord taught me through it.

Now, disclaimer: this IS NOT the divine, only interpretation of this passage.... there are thousands. Good ones. One's probably like this and much, much better than mine -- but this is the humble interpretation of a goofy little Christian that's never had any formal education in Bibleness, I just like to read the words and try to figure out what they mean. So if you disagree, feel free! And help teach me. But I'll say this, after I realized some of these things, the freedom I felt in the depths of my heart reached a deeper level than I have ever experienced prior. And with all that said....

Reading through Galatians has taught me a couple big, important lessons: my flesh sucks, the law is dead, grace is awesome, and liberty equals love. Chapter five, verse one, is a call to "stand fast" in the liberty wherewith Christ has "made us free" - seeing the Galatian's problem, we understand that their bondage was in serving the law and man-made systems of righteousness. "Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" Mmm. No.

Paul goes on to tell them in verses 2-12 that this problem they faced of reverting back to their flesh in order to achieve righteousness...was..well, bad. Verse five, "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Paul even references the warnings of Jesus when he warns the 12 apostles of the pharisees works-based doctrine, "Beware of the Pharisee's leaven," in verse nine when he says, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

Just the slightest amount of works-based doctrine can REALLY jack up our faith and theology. When I start to say I CAN and God...uh... wait... where's God? See, when we think that our righteousness is in our own power, what's the point of God? I mean, honestly. So let's just establish this truth: In our flesh, we CAN DO NOTHING that is good, right, or perfect in the sight of God. NOTHING.

So how and where does the Spirit come in? Well, it makes since to me that if I'm inhabited by God that the things that are characteristic of him would become characteristic of me. So what does the Bible say that the Spirit is good for? "For by one Spirit are we all baptized..." - 1 Corinthians 12:13 - "Which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together... edifying itself in love..." - Ephesians 4:16 - "Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace..." - Ephesians 4:3 - "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in unity of faith..." - Ephesians 4:11-12. I see one MAJOR theme with the Spirit: brotherly love and unity.

So if this is one MAJOR characteristic of God's Spirit, it's probably a characteristic of those who walk in his spirit as well.... as a matter of fact, Galatians 5:13-14 basically reads: "You aren't in the law any more, you're in the liberty of grace and faith! But don't use this liberty as a chance to sin, but serve one another in love, edify each other - for all of the law you used to live by is finished and completed in this truth: love your neighbor as yourself." Whoa. So if we really think about this, we realize that we are walking in the Spirit, inhabited by the Spirit, in fellowship with the heart of God when we simply love our neighbors as ourselves.

Paul uses this phrase of the way we should treat each other to lead up to his famous, "Walk in the spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Why? Because the lusts of the flesh are TRULY, for believers in Christ, insults and accusations against the body of Christ. Even if it's just a lustful or bitter thought, I accuse my brothers before the Lord with my own sin - even just in my head! When I lusted after that girl, I caused dissension to the body of Christ; when I judged my brother, I cut off the finger of the Lord! That is why when we walk in the Spirit: selfless love towards our brothers for the point of edifying them and building them up: we CAN NOT fulfill the lusts of the flesh. I cannot lust after a girl in order to edify her; nor can I criticize my brother in pride to make him stronger.

I think John caught on to this same principle when he wrote the whole book of first John: how many times does he make the point, "If you can't love your brother, you don't really love God." Part of having the Spirit of God and walking in that Spirit is having a love for what God loves: his people and his children! Instead of focusing on ourselves: turn outward! See that walking in the Spirit isn't about a checklist, but a lifestyle. Not an action change, but an attitude change. This will truly give you freedom from the law, but also not provide an occasion for us to abuse the grace and liberty of God!

This is what the Lord is teaching me and pushing to the forefront of my heart right now: I hope you find this freeing and encouraging. Love one another, and walk in the Spirit, and stay blessed in the name of Jesus. Amen.