Somewhat Spiritual – lukegajary.org

Spiritual Gypsies

luke — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:54:43 +0000

In today’s charismatic Christian circles, there seems to be a strange trend of hopping from church to church to serve or “minister” in different places while neglecting to stay planted in one home for very long. ⁣
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I was burdened with this for our local community today in prayer, but I know it’s a more widespread issue. In fact, years ago I was talking about this idea with the worship pastor at our prior church, Keegan Sidhu, about this particularly in the worship circles. He mentioned it feels like people are trying to build their own individual artists platforms and influence rather than dig in and build the local church. ⁣
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This is not an issue exclusively plaguing worship leaders and musicians though, it’s many people – I’ve been guilty of it as well. We value opportunities and platforms over faithfulness and ditch digging. ⁣
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In prayer today The Lord began to speak to me about Gypsies and Rogue Agents in the Body of Christ. Did some research and found some interesting parallels. ⁣
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????Gypsies (or Roma’s) were nomadic in order to survive. They were heavily discriminated against and only hung out in an area until they were run off. ⁣
????They didn’t submit to any local government but held their own set of rules (hmmmmm).⁣
????They didn’t claim any one religion, rather they absorbed for a season whatever was the popular religion of the area (again, hmmmm… sounds like an identity issue, huh? Like many believers who hop around)⁣
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Then I looked up the word Rogue, the other word bouncing around in my head: ⁣
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“an animal of vicious character that has separated from the main herd and leads a solitary life. Ex: a Rogue Elephant”⁣
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Know anyone with “vicious” character who has decided it’s easier to do life alone and that planting deep isn’t worth it? That solitary life is more their style ? Same type of people that claim church isn’t necessary or who often quote things like “I love Jesus but not his people”⁣
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Another thing Keegan said was that often times people use the “I’m planted in the kingdom” or “I’m more about the Capital C Church” as justification for not truly planting themselves for the long haul or an extended period of time in a local church.

I Don’t Think The World Is Ending

luke — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 01:38:58 +0000

For as long as I have been a believer, I have noticed there are many preachers who prey on weaker or more immature Christians. They play into the fears many of us have, and much like the main stream media, they use fear and paranoia to bring in listeners and build an audience. Prosperity preachers play into our fear of poverty, and promise wealth and riches if we just give enough money to God. I’m noticing in the middle of this pandemic that there is a plethora of people playing into another fear – the fear of the end of the world. ⁣
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Sadly it’s very low hanging fruit, to simply say the world is ending and then share words as to why. You would think we’d recognize the fear mongering by now but for some reason many still fall for the latest viral sermon video , crazy dream someone had, or latest book on how everything is burning to the ground.⁣
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It’s one thing to share a prophetic word the Lord laid on your heart in the middle of a hard season, but it’s another thing to take this global difficulty we are experiencing and turn it into in ministry marketing campaign.⁣
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I worked in marketing for a mega ministry years ago, and it left me kind of cynical for good reason – Seeing the dark underbelly of how mega ministers turn good messages into money making machines is a little bit unsettling at the minimum (who knows , maybe I’ll write a book about that one day ????). ⁣
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Maybe the world is ending and we’re in the middle of it. Maybe it’s not. Either way I’m not a huge fan of preying on people’s fears.

Lessons from a Leak

luke — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 03:56:53 +0000

Sometimes the most productive way to solve a problem is be silent and give God a moment of your attention.

A few days ago, I got a text from my neighbor while we were out and about.

“Hey man. Some water is leaking out of the bottom of your driveway, just wanted to let you know.”

I blew it off as not a big deal – I had drained an ice chest earlier and thought that’s what it was he was seeing…and I told him so.

“No, it really seems like it’s flowing more than that. It’s coming from below the actual driveway it looks like.”

Shoot. I sighed. Yay home ownership! I texted back:

“Okay man, thanks for letting me know. I’ll look at it when we get home this evening.”

I took a look a few hours later when we arrived home, and sure enough there was a slow yet steady stream of water emerging from beneath the concrete at the base of my driveway.

I thought it was city meter leaking at first, because I had opened up the box and it was flooded. I called the city emergency line and they said they couldn’t send someone until Tuesday since it was the holiday weekend…that was 4 days away.

The leak wasn’t gushing at a high volume, so I knew it wouldn’t be detrimental or anything to wait – I decided to wait for the city rep to show up.

She showed up Tuesday morning as promised and said everything was fine at the meter – this is an issue at the house level. Just what I was afraid of.

I called two different plumbers to come give me two different opinions, the first of which was able to come Tuesday evening after my work day. Walter reeked of cigarettes…his grey hair and leather skin spoke that he had experience and was man that knew how to work with his hands. He spent some time looking at the leak and gave me a quick run through of his estimation as to what was taking place. He had determined the direction of the main pipe heading in to the house, and showed that based on where the water was coming from, the pipe under the driveway was burst or a seal was leaking.

A driveway leak meant the home warranty company would not cover it – I was out of pocket for the repairs.

He told me the repair would require busting up half of my driveway, replacing a pipe, and re-pouring the driveway. He gave me a written quote for $2800, shook my hand, popped a cigarette in his mouth, and while climbing in his van told me to call when I wanted them to start.

I folded the estimate and put it in my back pocket, letting out a discouraged sigh. We keep an emergency fund of a few thousand dollars for just this sort of thing, but I was still very overwhelmed by the thought of such an unexpected hit.

I went to my daughter’s bedroom to give her a kiss, as I had gotten straight home from work and dealt with the plumber right away without greeting my family. She was happy to see me but quickly ran out of the room to go do something fun on the other side of the house. I had her room to myself for a moment, so I took the silence as an opportunity to wade through the stress of the bomb the plumber had dropped on me. I sat on my daughter’s bed and put my head in my hands, and whispered to God for help. I just sat in silence for a moment, frustrated.

Then I heard a faint rushing sound coming from the other side of the wall – like a shower was on or a toilet was running…but I knew neither of those were the case. My wife came in to see what I was doing, but I asked her to hang on a second as I stepped out of the room. I checked the toilet in the bathroom that backs up to my daughter’s room, and it wasn’t running or leaking…Hm.

Then I remembered that against that very wall on the outside of the house was our water hose that was used for washing our cars and watering our front of the house landscaping. In fact, I had used that hose a few days prior to hose down the sidewalk and our front porch area. I stepped outside to check the hose and sure enough…

…the spigot wasn’t turned all the way off, and it had been slowly leaking for 4 days! I felt stupid and relieved at the same time – if this was the cause of all the water dumping out at the base of my driveway, I would sure feel like a moron! Relieved though, because that meant the only expense would be the water bill and the $39 site visit fee for the plumber.

I shut the water off – for sure this time – and cleaned the mud at the site of the leak. A few hours later, all the water had evaporated from the site and proved that this was in fact the issue all along!

I know this is a bit of a stupid real world example, but in all honesty, this incident taught me two profound lessons that I wasn’t expecting.

Getting silent before God in the midst of stressful circumstances can really bring solutions in ways we can’t manufacture on our own.

If I had not sat in silence for 90 seconds, bringing this stress to the Lord in my daughter’s bedroom, I would not have been able to detect the faint rushing sound of the hose that lead me to the source of the issue. I am in no way comparing the magnitude or severity of my driveway leak to the issue of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt, but I was reminded of the verse in Exodus when Moses is speaking to the people as they’re escaping Pharoah. They’re stuck in front of the Red Sea, and God speaks to Moses. Moses then comforts the masses, saying:

“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Exodus 14:13-14

My best and most effective response to the problem at hand was literally sitting and doing nothing.

Secondly, it also showed me what can happen to our hearts when we allow unchecked attitudes and sin in our lives.

The hose on the side of my house was not gushing water – there was not a floodwater or rushing rapid going down my driveway. It was a slow drip, and the leak was not realized at the source, but rather 75+ feet away at the lower point of my sloping driveway. I was perplexed by this at first, because it didn’t make sense that the ground in my front yard would be dry, if the water had to pass through that area to get to the driveway.

Here’s a rough sketch to show you what I mean:

You didn’t know that I was also a world class artist, did you?!

The grass, sidewalk, and driveway on the surface above the routes of the water were all dry! Yet the leak was flooding water in to the sidewalk and street at a steady rate. My father in law is a big gardener – he spends a lot of time in the yard and meticulously cares for his landscaping. It shows: they have a beautiful yard and gorgeous property. He told me that in order to properly water trees, you need to place a slow drip, so the water can seep slowly far down below the surface and into the root system. This allows the water to seep to where it needs to go, to the roots. Essentially, that’s what was happening with my hose – it was seeping DEEP beneath the surface and flowing out of the lowest open point it could find.

Isn’t that a mirror image of what can happen when we allow hidden sin, deceit, gossip, or poor attitudes to seep into our hearts? Above the surface there may appear to be no damage, but there is a slow leak that, left unchecked, can cause a big mess. Two scriptures immediately leapt to my mind when I pondered this:

Proverbs 4:23
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Luke 6:45
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

In the end, I’m thankful that the mess was fixable and containable – my own error in leaving the hose on caused some issues and stress…and I hope to encourage you today. Let the Lord have your stress – sit in silence and let Him work. It may not be as tangible or instantaneous as what I experienced last weekend, but He really is great at helping us. Finally, guard your hearts. Don’t let slow leaks cause visible problems simply because of unchecked heart issue that was allowed to drain below the surface for a long time without consequence. Check the hose!

You Need to Rest

luke — Sat, 08 Apr 2017 04:07:18 +0000

Rest is extremely underrated in today’s American culture. It’s funny, you don’t often see images in online success social media accounts using the word “Rest” over a screenshot of Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happiness” or Leonardo DiCaprio in “Wolf of Wall Street”. Instead, we’re bombarded with mantras like:

“Hustle. Grind. Repeat.”

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.”

Don’t hear me wrong – I love hard work and I consider myself pretty well versed in the art of the hustle.

But…we all need one day a week where we disconnect, unplug, and shut the world off – including our hustle.

Brady Boyd, in his book Addicted to Busy, calls it a “Pajama Day”. Have one day a week where nothing requires you to change out of your PJ’s.

God calls it a Sabbath.

Whatever you call it, you need to do it.

If you knew a guy who was cheating on his wife every week, yet attending church and considering himself a strong Christian believer, you would have a real problem with his blatant disobedient to Godly living.

Yet almost all of us willingly and regularly disobey the command to a Holy Sabbath rest day!

I’m trying to get better at it – I’m not perfect but I’m getting there. My father always strongly modeled this principle growing up, but it’s still a fight to maintain a personal culture of rest. Here’s a few tips and resources that I find helpful for a successful sabbath:

– iPhone users, enable “Do Not Disturb” mode for the whole day

– Read “Addicted to Busy” by Brady Boyd (I read this every year. A Must Read!) .

– No errands – no grocery shopping or Costco runs allowed.

– Watch “Take The Day Off” sermon by Robert Morris: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2fSDgzz6ZU

– Read “Simplify” by Bill Hybels

Be with your family, shut things with screens down, and RELAX. The hustle and grind can wait.

Jesse, Samuel, and this weird thing we all do.

luke — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 02:25:42 +0000

We all have this innate tendency to show the world our best side and position our lives as more attractive than they really are. It’s always been a part of our humanity, but it shows through a little stronger these days thanks to social media – it’s easier than ever to show off the “highlight reel” but hide the “bloopers”.

Let’s rewind the clock a few thousand years to the age old story of David and Goliath…and then go back a few steps from there. I thought about this story in a different light recently, 1 Samuel 16:

Samuel, the prophet, the man of God, arrives at a man named Jesse’s doorstep. God spoke to him that the next leader of the nation was among Jesse’s family, so Samuel showed up ready to anoint and appoint. It wasn’t that far-fetched – Jesse’s boy’s were salt-of-the-earth, solid, proper, and attractive young men. Easily “leader” material!

Jesse does what we all do – he positions his family in an appealing way to impress the man of God. He shows off the highlight reel of his boys.

Raise your hand if you’re guilty of this too!

We make assumptions of what we think people want or need to see in our lives. We don’t allow the whole picture to be seen, because of course no one wants to see the real & raw stuff.

One by one, Jesse’s boys pass by Samuel.

At each pass, Samuel leans in to hear the Lord confirm if he’s the one.

As he listens, each time, the answer is “no”.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

At the end of the line, Samuel sighs and turns to Jesse. “Is there anyone else?”

Turns out, there was one more that no had imagined would fit the bill. Quiet and unassuming, the boy with the sheep, David.

You know the rest of the long and crazy story to come from that, but my point is…

Don’t try to position things that you assume the Lord or others want to see tidy’d up and perfect. If you truly want to make an impact, don’t present the world the filtered version of your life. Make the whole thing open and available to God, you never really know what He’s going to choose to use.

“Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.”
Romans 12:3 NLT

Prophetic Words for 2017

luke — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 14:10:13 +0000

A Handshake with Darkness

luke — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 20:26:51 +0000

Yesterday in church one of our worship leaders, Pauline, shared a bit from her heart during one of the song transitions.

She spoke of our “marriage” to Christ as believers, and how you abandon all other relationships once you find your true love in Jesus. She gave a call for us to break covenant with other distractions, other loves, but she used a phrase I’ve never heard and it has rattled in my head ever since she said it:

“Some of us have made covenants with the enemy, but sometimes, many of us even just exchange a simple handshake with darkness.”

A handshake with darkness!

How true! A handshake isn’t necessarily a loving embrace or a sign of long term commitment – but it’s an exchange that signifies “I’m comfortable doing brief business with you” or “nice to make your acquaintance”.

Likely not many reading this are actively engaged in witchcraft or blatant demonic activity…

But how often we shake hands with darkness!

Thoughts, small actions, TV shows or movies we allow into our home…

What timing for this phrase, too, on halloween – as many self-professed believers and spirit filled saints participate in these “handshakes”!

I’m not going to tell you what you can or can’t do with your family, but I would caution you to be careful what you engage with and what you allow to influence your family.

I see seeds of fear being planted in my two year old’s heart by the decorations and spirit of this “holiday”…I hate it, I feel as a piece of her heart is tampered with by darkness as we walk through Target and she cowers and whimpers while I try to rush past the skulls and witch hats.

As believers, we claim to have the light of eternity on the inside – the bright and morning star! Why would we embrace themes of darkness at the same time? We can influence the world and impact our communities yes – but engaging the culture is one thing, participating in “handshakes with darkness” is quite another.

I Can’t Shift Out Of Park

luke — Sun, 11 Sep 2016 02:54:03 +0000

A couple of days ago, my wife’s SUV decided to stop shifting out of park. We wrestled with it, checked fuses, stomped on the brakes, turned it off and on again – nothing. It would not budge except for the occasional “lucky” shift.

We just had the transmission replaced last year so this little glitch made me nervous.

I hit the owner’s manual and found a shift lock override feature as a temporary fix, then dug deep online to try to find a solution. The most common problem that I could find among other owners of this vehicle was this little thing called the brake switch. It’s a little sensor that detects if the brake is pushed, and then tells the car it’s “okay” to shift out of park. It’s literally just a little button that releases when the brake is pressed, so it can fail if the electronics in the button go out.

I found it hard to believe that this little part could be locking up the whole car, but my dad always taught me to hunt down and solve the cheapest, fastest potential problems first and go from there. So that’s where I started.

AutoZone had one left, $25.99.

I found a YouTube video of someone replacing theirs on a similar vehicle, then headed to the garage armed with only a crescent wrench.

Seven minutes later I emerged victorious with a now-working shifter and made sure my wife knew what a stud of a mechanic I am.

Seven minutes and one bolt was all it took to fix a problem that was immobilizing the entire vehicle.

A $26 switch.

It reminds me of how James wrote about our tongues:

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

James 3:4-6 (MSG)

Amazing how one little part of our body can do so much.

It also makes me think about action, or lack of it, in my life. What are areas that I’m allowing to be shut down entirely because of one little “switch”?

What about you?

Are there businesses you haven’t started because someone broke your switch with their opinion?

Are there goals you have frozen in limbo because your own fear broke your switch?

Are there conversations waiting to be had because your “what ifs” won’t let you shift out of park?

Are there job opportunities bookmarked in your web browser but unapplied for because your perceived shortcomings broke your switch?

Are there ministries or churches waiting to be started but a lack of faith has broken your switch?

Ouch.

I’ve got my list. Let’s go to the garage and replace some switches.

Then shift out of park.

Celebrating Marriage

luke — Mon, 02 May 2016 01:40:27 +0000

A strong marriage is worth celebrating!

Not a perfect marriage, not an instagram-worthy marriage, but a strong one in the midst of challenges and “I-didn’t-know-it-would-be-like-this” moments.

Funny thing is, we start off marriage here in America with a huge planned party with friends and family (and sometimes people you don’t necessarily love but know they’ll bring the Vita-mix).

We often rack up a ton of debt to throw this barn buster, pull out all the stops and spare no expense (said in John Hammond’s voice).

Then we spend 10-14 days in a paradise of our choice, living a perfect fantasy (creepy wink) with the love of our lives.
Every moment has lead to this, it’s perfect, and the celebration feels so right

Then life hits. Sometimes in the first year, sometimes later down the road, but it gets tough at some point.

People told you it would get tough, you just didn’t know what it would FEEL like.

Guess what?

It’s still worth celebrating.

Maybe it’s tough, but it’s yours, it’s incredible, and it’s worth it.

So to all the married’s out there, fighting through the tough stuff right now…

…I just want to spend a status celebrating you and your marriage!

And to all those who have fought long and hard and are walking in celebratory seasons right now…party on!

Here’s to strong, storm-proof marriages.

Visiting with Lucifer

luke — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 04:14:53 +0000

“You’re kind of a geek, you’d like it! Check it out, it’s hilarious.”

Based on the recommendation of a co-worker years ago, I remember watching the TV show “The Big Bang Theory” for the first time when it was in Season 2. I loved it. I found it was hilarious, totally nerdy, and had just the right amount of “sitcom cheesy”. Bazinga!

As season 3 started up, I noticed the show taking an increasingly dirtier turn. There’s always a level of crude humor that we sort of accept as the price of admission with network television, but I noticed the producers seem to increase the number of inappropriate jokes & unsavory scenarios… and decrease the amount of clothes Kaley Cuoco was wearing.

I hung on for the rest of the season, hoping it was a “phase”…but realized that this seemed to be the norm for this show now, and took my exit off before I fell more in love with the show.

I’m certainly not perfect in this area — I can improve my filtering process when it comes to entertainment, for sure. For example, here’s my transparent confession: I loved The Office, despite the constant “That’s What She Said” jokes.

I’ve seen the promos for the new show Lucifer – causing quite the uproar on my Facebook feed! Make no mistake, there will be zero viewing of this show in my home.

However, I’ve seen tremendous amounts of outrage and absolute disgust at how “blatantly the enemy is allowed in our homes” and “how can we allow this garbage on TV”. While I agree with the sentiment of that…

“Lucifer” hasn’t barged into our homes by violently knocking down our doors. We’ve let him in every week for a few nights, for 30-60 minutes at a time. His blatant invasion shouldn’t come as a total shock…because we let him visit every once in a while anyway.

Strong sexual & perverse content in a show? “It’s okay, there’s so much funny, it’s worth overlooking.”

Lifestyle choices that are making a mockery of the Christ we serve? “No big deal, the lead actor is incredible.”

Award shows with near-pornographic outfits and musical performances? “Well, I’m just trying to stay in touch with culture.”

Entire franchises based on adultery and lying? “It’s just where society’s going, we may as well get used to it…”

Hear me – I believe the show Lucifer is very wrong, and the whole concept being popularized is very disappointing. I’m not suggesting that it’s okay to watch because there’s already so much rubbish on TV.

Just don’t act surprised or outraged when shows like this are produced, when all along we’ve been tolerating small doses of the same exact medicine.

(I’m preaching to myself as well, trust me!)

Fight to keep immoral content out of your home – you cannot be passive.
Moniter what your kids are in to – yes, be THAT parent. My parents were and I’m thankful for it.
Cancel your visits with Lucifer and cut ties with some entertainment that needs to GO.

“What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.”

– John Wesley

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. 4 Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.”

– Ephesians 5:3-4 NIV