Thanks for the teachers

I appreciate teaching. Maybe because I am a Redemptive Gift Teacher and it so permeates me that I have always leaned in that direction. When I was younger I wished at times that I had pursued being a teacher. I find it hard to give a simple answer - there must be an explanation. I make my daughter crazy with long answers. I am unsettled when there is a question yet unanswered and I will talk around and around the subject until finally I either have found a satisfactory answer or am forced to acknowledge that I will have to wait til the answer reveals itself.

I love the teaching process - the line upon line, precept upon precept process. I even love that it takes years sometimes for subject to be taught/learned.

I've had some teachers in my life that I really appreciate. I appreciate my Father for always bringing the teacher I need at the right time.

I don't mean my school teachers. None of them made much of mark. Maybe Mrs. Hood. But then she was also my Sunday School teacher so maybe I felt a connection. A good teacher knows how to reach the student. Think of the movie "Mr. Hollands Opus". Or would that be a gifted teacher. Of course, I didn't understand HOW to be a student either - in school, I mean. I know now that if you know how to be a student then the teacher doesn't even have to know he's teaching.

Specifically I mean the teachers that Father brought into my life at different times to deal with different stages of my growing.

First let me speak of the two pastors I had in the early years of my Christian life. I didn't really learn anything about Christianity until I was married. So I was a blank slate for Brother M. and Brother B. continued where he left off. Thing is, I wouldn't walk to closely to either of these men now. They remain part of the institutionalized church that I no longer relate to. The more I learned to think for myself the more I understood that I was really in disagreement with these men and often, back then, I couldn't have really told you why. Still there's no denying that to the baby me and the young me the things they taught made a difference. People that you disagree with actually contribute a lot to your growth because they make you test your theories and ideas so even as I was exiting relationship with them I was growing in understanding. So I am thankful for them.

Besides them there's actually three that stand out to me among the many. I can see the progression of learning as I review in my mind what these teachers taught.

First one - Watchman Nee. A Chinese pioneer pastor who died before I was born. His sermons on various subjects were compiled into - usually - small, easy to read books. I loved his mode of expression. While I do believe he was a pastor in the traditional sense, his teachings in the books I read (save one) had nothing to do with church. He opened up to me the reality of the kingdom and my spiritual self. He challenged me to see beyond the facade of the natural world that my eyes see to see what eyes of faith see. I was reading his books during my last years as a traditional church going Christian and I'm sure that his teachings helped me to learn to think - to weigh what one person was saying against what another person was saying and then what the Holy Spirit was saying within me.

Second one - a couple named John and Paula Sanford. God revealed many things to them concerning the inner landscape of his human creation - what makes them weak and what makes them strong. What HURTS and why. They ministered and eventually taught to the body at large what we call inner healing. It was their teaching that God turned me to when I said to Him that day - "I didn't think Christians could be depressed but you say that's what this is, so show me how I got here and show me how to get out". The first thing I read was a chapter called the forgotten functions of the spirit. Who knew that journey would take 10-15 years? God did and I believe still that that prayer I prayed was breathed by him. He could have healed me quickly but then I wouldn't know what I know now. I have read or listened to much of what they taught and it gave understanding to my journey.

At the same time I began learning about deliverance from many teachers and I applied those principles to myself and sometimes others - mostly to myself.

Third and present one - Arthur Burk/Plumbline Ministries. When I speak of the redemptive gift this or that, it's something I learned from him. I love this man's ministry very much and I think it's because he comes with the revelation of a fearless prophet and speaks with the order and clarity of a teacher. He is not afraid to go to uncharted places in the kingdom. He looks in every corner he can think of for more understanding and his approach to living all this out is very much in agreement with the way I think it should be. He's never left one area of knowledge of the kingdom for another he simply incorporates all that God has taught him over his lifetime and blends them - or not - as needed depending on what God wants to accomplish at the moment. He doesn't tell me how to live, he simply reveals the kingdom and lets me and God work it out.

Besides these three there have been many others - Books I've read, Tapes I've listened to, Someone in my life for a period of time and then they're gone, One time in one place hearing someone speak a word that was timely for me, That prayer that lady prayed over me that one time in that one service. I cannot tell you how impacting the wisdom of that one prayer was for me and how it resonates in my life to this day. Always Always the Holy Spirit breathing into that which he wanted me to absorb and learn from. He's the real teacher - without him to empower the words of the others there is only confusion.

God is a father who is in the business of instructing his children on how to live as citizens of the spiritual kingdom that we see with eyes of faith. He heals us and transforms us and brings us deeper and deeper into this place called heaven. We live there now if we desire and the quality of the life that we live there is dependent on our embracing our understanding of what it's all about. That's what teaching does for me. It gives me that understanding I need to live.

So thank you Father for the teachers.