Baroni Bloggin’

I originally called this article: “Needless Arguments Over a Multifaceted God.” That sounded too fancy-shmancy, hence the current title.

Many of you are familiar with the story of how 5 blind men were placed into close proximity with an elephant and asked to describe the elephant.
One man grabbed the elephant’s tail and said, “An elephant is like a rope”.
Another man ran his hands along the elephant’s side and said, “No, it is like a wall!” Yet another blind man felt the huge leg of the animal and described the elephant as being like a palm tree. You get the idea. All five men were accurate, yet very limited in their understanding of what an elephant is like by their perspective.

That’s how we get into arguments about God. We all have limited perceptions of Who God is. The Apostle Paul said that “we look through a glass darkly.”

There are some people who have wonderfully discovered Jesus as their Savior. This is the main aspect of God that they emphasize. Obviously this is a very important attribute of the Lord, but He is more than a Savior. Others see God as Father. Indeed, He is; however He also nurtures like a mother. Still others are in love with Jesus as their heavenly bridegroom. Scholars and others emphasize God as the Master Teacher. Scientists may zoom in on the “Creator” aspect of God.

The fact is, all of the above are right and yet only seeing just a part (however important) of Who God really is. In my own life I have gone through phases of relating differently at different times to this multifaceted God. In one season I have leaned on (and still do) the Fatherly aspect of God. In another season I became intoxicated with the thought of Jesus as the Lover of my soul, my Heavenly Bridegroom and I wrote songs of intimacy (as some derisively say- the “Jesus is my Boyfriend” kind of songs.) From one who has been on a quest for real intimacy that was severely thwarted by abuse in my childhood, this facet of God is very important to me. But that, by far, is not all that God is.

He is the Creator, the Sustain-er of that creation. He is Redeemer, He is Teacher, He is Healer, He is the Mighty Warrior. (For awhile we in the church focused almost exclusively on that aspect of God.)

We could save ourselves a lot of time and energy if we could learn that, like the blind men with the elephant, God is bigger than we individually could describe. Let others focus on the trunk or the tail or the side or the leg for awhile, and trust that God will help them get to know Him in other ways. Hope that they also will be patient with you, because, like it or not- believe it or not, your view of God is limited too! Let’s all extend grace to each other and honor each person’s process of getting to know the Lord.

After all, I will eventually get around to an aspect of God that you are also discovering and we can rejoice that God is so vast that it will take eternity to get to know Him!

Check out this excerpt from a recent message “The Great Unveiling”

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I was having coffee at Starbuck’s with a friend and fellow musician today when the conversation turned to one of his favorite jazz recordings: Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea doing a lot of improvisation- free flowing spontaneity within a very loosely sketched, skeletal arrangement.

I told him that spontaneous flowing musically and spiritually is a metaphor to me of how our relationship with God should be. We flow with what we hear from the Lord, willing to lay down our preconceptions of how life is supposed to play out. In involves receiving the gift of faith and the grace to trust that God is faithful and really is working… “all things out for the good of those who love Him, who are the called according to His purposes.” I call it the “victory of vulnerability”, when we step out of the boat on a Word from God.

Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” As Paul the Apostle wrote “Now the just shall live by faith.”

It takes a degree of trust to launch out with other musicians into the unknown waters of spontaneous composition. Our tendency, especially as Greek-mindset influenced westerners who rely on empiricism- that is, on what we perceive by our natural senses- is to lean too heavily on the sheet music. It seems safer that way, we like structure.

But does our structure make room for God? He dwells not in temples (structures) made with human hands. He came in the unlikely womb of a young virgin… to the natural minded a woman of reproach. A King? Yes, but born in a stall surrounded by smelly animals and lower class shepherds. The Word was made flesh… the Eternal/Invisible clothed, indeed bound Himself with Time and the Physical so that we who were blind could finally, by faith, see the Father.

The church is a wineskin for the Kingdom of God, not an inflexible piece of pottery that crumbles under the intoxicating pressure of the
flowing wine of God’s grace and Presence. I am not advocating that we have no structure, no wineskin, only that the new wine of the Kingdom of God is poured into the accommodating wineskin that the church is meant to be.

“He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” And as the Message translation of Psalms 40:3 goes on to say:

He taught me how to sing the latest God-song,
a praise-song to our God.
More and more people are seeing this:
they enter the mystery,
abandoning themselves to God.

Godrest and Godspeed
David Baroni

P.S. My book “The Jazz Preacher” has more on this topic. You can order your copy at www.davidbaroni.com

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““If you could see you how I see you says the Lord, it would free you to be you. Then you would know me for I will show you Who I Am and who you are.”

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Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. Hebrews 4:11 (KJV)

A preacher friend of mine said years ago: “Where you find a paradox, you find God.” Some famous paradoxes are in the words of Jesus- “when you lose your life for My sake then you will find it,” and “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit.”

Jesus was asked by the people “what shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”

He replied (and I can just see some of them getting their quills ready to write it down in numbered list form) “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” What a letdown for the listmaking human “do-ers!”

Imagine yourself in a canoe floating down a stream that is flowing in the direction you want to go.
All you have to do is sit in the canoe for awhile, admiring the scenery, waving at the fellow boaters, delighting in the sight of a fish leaping gleefully in front of you. You smell the sweetness from the fragrant trees on the shore. Perhaps you are enjoying a cool drink and a bite to eat. The current and the boat cooperate marvelously to facilitate this journey. You are resting, yet still making good progress toward your destination.

How foolish it would be to suddenly grab a paddle and begin to over-exert yourself with stroking, thinking that it takes your effort to complete the journey.

Welcome to the world of the Believer who is (unwittingly) serving God in his (her) own strength.

As author Major Ian Thomas says in his wonderful book, The Saving Life of Christ: “Serving God in our own strength is like someone giving us a fine automobile, and we receive the gift thankfully, then proceed to get behind it and push it where we want to go!. We are sincere, we are going in the right direction, and we are… exhausted!” Why? Because the automobile was never designed to operate properly by being pushed!

And we were not created to live the “Christian life” in our own strength. As the Apostle Paul said: “I live, nevertheless not I, but Christ Who lives in me!”

Many times we grasp in prayer, asking for what we have already received. Sometimes we respond in a knee-jerk way to a need, instead of following the example of Jesus Who only did what He saw the Father doing. Even Christ did not minister out of His own strength!

Often I find myself striving, living in my own power. What is the answer? To put the paddle down, reach for a drink of Living Water and by faith appropriate- “put on” the Life of Christ. He is our Life! He is our Strength. Christ in us is the hope of glory!
Godrest and Godspeed!
David Baroni

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Where do believers in Christ go when they die? Why, heaven of course. Of all the beliefs that could (and do) divide people, this is not one of them.

This writing borrows a lot from Pastor Bill Johnson at Bethel Church in Redding CA. There is a biblical passage, John 3:13 in which Jesus states: “No one has ascended to heaven but He who descended: The Son of Man who is in heaven.” (emphasis mine)

Some translations leave off the last four words. That is unfortunate, for in those four words: “…who is in heaven,” there is a wonderful, empowering truth for those who have ears to hear.

Jesus was standing on terra firma, solid ground, fully present in the physical realm when He declared that the Son of Man…”is in heaven.” What could He possibly have meant by that statement?

Let’s go back to my first question. Where do we go when we die? When we die physically, we go to heaven. But what about before then? In Romans 6:4 the Word says: “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” We, through faith, died in Him and are raised in Him to new life. If He, Jesus, said He was in heaven while He walked on earth, and if we are in Him, then we too are, by faith, already in heaven!

Paul in Ephesians tells us that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
If that be true (and I believe that the Word of God is true), how shall we then live?

From heaven!

Again to paraphrase Bill Johnson: “Because we are born again and our old nature was crucified with Christ and we’re raised into newness of life we have constant legal access to heavenly realms… the realm where faith is normal. We, by grace have influence upon humanity through yielded vessels that is significant beyond all human talent and human ability.”

Again, one of my favorite passages in Romans talks about the entire creation groaning and travailing together in pain waiting for… the manifestation of the sons of God! We are more than we’ve imagined through Jesus Christ!

I hasten to add that being “in heaven” and on earth at the same time does not exempt us from the limitations of our physical body. Jesus Himself got hungry and thirsty and tired. But He operated in the realm of faith, in the realm of the Spirit. He saw the invisible, heard the inaudible and did the impossible- yet not Him but His Father in Him did the works! His meat (sustenance, agenda, passion, motivating force) was to do the will of His Father Who sent Him and to finish His work. We receive the peace that transcends the natural by merely, and profoundly, receiving and appropriating by faith His Very Life!!

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away- behold, all is become new!” In Him we have…
Godrest and Godspeed!
David Baroni

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If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away- behold all things are new! (2 Cor. 5:17,18)

Once again I am reminded of the two statements that Mufasa the Lion King thundered from the heavens to his struggling son Simba, who was at the crossroads of default or destiny:

“You have forgotten who you are.” and

“You are more than you have become.”

I read in a recent article an arresting statement about the calling and privilege that we have as saints to “live from glory.” The idea is that we, through Christ, have the ability to live in this earth realm as those who are empowered by the very life of God. Our life-source is glory!

What does that mean?

Dr. Myles Munroe says that the word “glory” means the “true essence, the weightinessy” of something or someone. The glory of God is the true nature of Who God is. We, by the grace of God and the incredible mystery of godliness which is Christ in us, the hope of glory, are become the sons and daughters of the Most High. We are not earthbound, led about by our natural senses, we live… from (out of) glory!

God is bigger than we thought and as near as the air that we breathe. Indeed, the Hebrew concept of heaven is not as some far-away escape, but the spiritual atmosphere that surrounds and indwells us. Again- Christ in us the hope of glory!

So let’s speak, sing, give thanks, see, hear, as the new creatures that we have been re-born into by the obedience, death, resurrection, ascension and indwelling of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

In 2009 and beyond, let’s be who we really are- the sons and daughters of God!
Let’s live… from glory!

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Rita and I watched one of our favorite movies again last night- “First Knight” starring Sean Connery as King Arthur, Julia Ormond as Lady Guinevere, and Richard Gere as Lancelot.

The film is filled with memorable and pithy quotes like “It’s in serving one another that we become free” and King Arthur’s comment about the traitorous knight Malagant: “He doesn’t care how many men he loses as long as he wins.”

The scene that impacted me most in this most recent viewing, however, was when Lancelot broke down and wept after helping to rescue some of the townspeople of Leoness who had been besieged by the evil Malagant. The helpless villagers had been locked inside a church, much as young Lancelot’s family had been, except that his family had all been burned to death, whereas this time the rescuers had come in time.

As Lancelot watched the thankful villagers express their love and appreciation to Lady Guinevere (who had, until recently, lived among these folks and counted many as dear friends) and to King Arthur and the other knights of the round table, Lancelot looked a bit lost and lonely. Then, a young boy walked out of the church and looked earnestly at Lancelot.

“Can I go home now?”

“What…? Oh, yes. Yes you can go home now.”

The next scene was of a spent Lancelot walking to his quarters and falling down and sobbing like he probably hadn’t done since he was that young boy’s age.

Why did he weep? Exhaustion? Surely that was a factor. Release because he had finally done something selfless? Perhaps…

I think the main reason, though, was the realization that he was alone. That, in his free-wheeling approach to life; not caring if he lived or died, traveling wherever he wanted, answering to nobody; he was profoundly disconnected from any meaningful human relationship. As he saw Guinevere look with love at her elderly mentor, as he watched the brotherly interaction of the knights, it must have dawned on him that in many ways he had wasted his life.

So he wanted to leave Camelot- but this time for a different reason than just his wanderlust.

He and Lady Guinevere (by this time married to King Arthur) had fallen in love and Lancelot nobly wanted to leave so as not to cause the city of Camelot, and more importantly the people he had grown to love, including King Arthur, any heartache. As he was saying goodbye to Guinevere, he told that he loved her too much to try to change her. Lancelot at the end of the story was a different man.

You can watch the movie for the poignant ending…
Godrest and Godspeed,
David Baroni

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“Beautiful in holiness awesome in Your praise
We marvel at the wonders of Your ways
We will never be forsaken, we are Yours forevermore
You are holy You are lovely and Your fiery love consumes us Oh Lord”

(from “Hear My Cry ( O Most High)” David Baroni/Meg Everhart

As I was thinking about the ardent affection expressed toward the Lord in the above song, I also thought about how some that don’t know Him would react to hearing or reading these lyrics.

Some people would think that the possibility of someone having a passionate, loving relationship with God would be unattainable, or if indeed if it was possible, the person that could be that close to God could only be that rarefied, one-in-a-hundred-million person that they would call a “saint”.

When you hear the term, whom do you think of? Mother Teresa? Francis of Assisi? Maybe Joan of Arc or the Apostle Paul?

Not to diminish the noteworthiness of those listed above, but the power of the Gospel is that it makes saints of all believers in Christ- and not just when we die!

Mufasa, the Lion King spoke from the stars to his searching son Simba one evening:
“You’ve forgotten who you are.” And “you are more than you’ve become.”

Our natural state as believers in Christ are that we are supernatural beings… we live by faith, led by the Spirit. We are separated unto God, “…partakers of His Divine nature.”
We are saints; even though we forget who we are, even when we don’t act like it.

This is not a reason to boast, our boasting is in the Lord-no; this call to be saints is a humbling one. A thrilling,sobering, wonderful reality… called to be saints!

Godrest and Godspeed,
David Baroni

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My Help Comes From The Holy One

My help comes from the Holy One
My hope is far above
When storms and darkness threaten me
I’m anchored in His Love

My Faith has found a resting place
In Jesus Christ the Lord
Beyond what mortal eyes can see
I live by God’s own Word

And who in heav’n or on the earth
Compares with God Most High
Who laid aside His kingly robe
Through Mary born to die

The only One both God and man
Proclaimed God’s Kingdom come
The good news of redeeming Love
The Father’s will was done

They buried Him in borrowed tomb
Such sorrow on that day
But oh the joy came on the morn
The stone was rolled away

Christ rose into the heavenlies
At God’s right hand He reigns
And now we are complete in Him
Oh blessed be His Name!

My help comes from the Holy One
My hope is far above
When storms and darkness threaten me
I’m anchored in His Love
I’m anchored in His Love

(2007 David Baroni/ Kingdomsongs Inc./ BMI/CCLI)

If you would like a demo mp3 and a chord sheet for this song, email me at david@davidbaroni.com
Godrest and Godspeed,
David Baroni

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While in Romania a few weeks ago, I heard two profound things. Early in the morning after I arrived in Timisoara, I opened the guest room window and heard… nothing! The sound of silence was stunning. No highway noises, people talking, horns beeping…nada!

As I tuned my ears to the silence, small sounds were magnified. A bird flew past the window and I could actually hear it’s wings flapping. This experience underscored just how noisy my life usually is. It was wonderful.

The second sound I heard was also early in the morning, it was also profound. It was a Sound of the Spirit… the Sound of Heaven.

In Genesis, Adam and Eve heard the “sound of the Lord God walking in the garden.” Some translations say they heard the “Voice” of the Lord walking…” I love that imagery. The Sound of Heaven is the sound of the vibrant praises of the passionate Romanian believers from the school of worship. It is the sound of the beautiful Ecuadoran dancers as they worshiped the Lord in Quito this past weekend. It is the sound of the Spirit- the sound of worship.

“Sound of Heaven”
David Baroni

Listen…. do you hear it?
There’s a sound arising in the earth
Growing stronger… in the nations
It’s the sound of worship it’s the sound of grace
As a desperate generation seeks His Face

It’s the Sound of heaven filling the earth
It’s the sound of freedom it’s the sound of Love
The Breath of God is blowing bringing life to these dry bones
Blow Wind blow
Flow River flow
Fill the earth… with the sound of heaven

Listen… can you feel it?
There’s a sound arising in this place
Getting louder… by the minute
It’s the sound of passion it’s the sound of joy
It’s the very Life of Jesus in our praise!

It’s the Sound of heaven filling the earth
It’s the sound of freedom it’s the sound of Love
The breath of God is blowing bringing life to these dry bones
Blow Wind blow
Flow river flow
Fill the earth… with the sound of heaven

It’s the sound of unity
And true humility
The sound of power
And healing in His name
You can hear it in the silence and the mighty rushing wind
The voice of God is walking in the garden again!

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