Kauchema  4/26/07

I was looking for the phone number of a church in our area and just couldn’t find it. I let the Yellow Pages do the walking…  they walked and they walked and they walked.  I finally called a friend, thinking she would know.  We sat in different towns, our Yellow Pages open at  “churches” and we were stunned by what we saw.  Just stunned. 

We told weak jokes about the wide variety of God.  But our laughter had a tinny sound, for we both heard what the Yellow Pages preached and it wasn’t funny. 

Somewhere, on this journey that is my life, that Yellow Page Trail has turned into a Trail of Tears.  My heart bleeds over the many listings…. so many denominations.  So many divisions within each denomination… so many.   I always wondered why people flock to cults instead of Christ.  I found one answer in the Yellow Pages.  Look under a cult listing and you will find unity.  Look under the Christian Church and you will be horrified.  I challenge you to look in your own phone book.  You will see division magnified. 

The Yellow Page message conflicts so sharply with the heart of God.
He says “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.”  Mt 12:25

This message beats in my heart…  United ~ we stand ~ divided ~ we fall.

You alone are God!  You are great and do marvelous deeds!
Teach me Your way, O Lord and I will walk in Your truth…
give me an undivided heart that I may fear Your name.   Psalm 86:10, 11 
United hearts make for a united household, a unity city, a united kingdom.

I understand we cannot be unequally yoked.  I’m not speaking compromise.
I understand that differing churches minister to differing people types.
I understand that God is creative and diverse, even with His church.
But I don’t understand how Jesus can marry a Yellow Pages Bride.
I don’t understand how Jesus can hold a lover who hates and rejects vast portions of herself? 
How can we be the church victorious when we often will not even speak to each other?
*****************************
And just as I began to cave into hopelessness, Father God said…  

 “Kauchema !”   

   Your confidence in other’s must grow.
   Your confidence in each other MUST grow!

Kauchema ~  Greek ~ that in which one glories, a matter, reason or grounds for boasting.
   to lift up the neck, to give out.

2 Cor 11:30  If I must boast (kauchema),
I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

Say it ~ Kauchema! ~ it is a living word.

God spoke Kauchema…. He said,

“Ride the Wind as you speak…. Ride the Wind …
when you see a defect in your brother (and you will)
your mouth must begin to boast of him. 
Kauchema!!
Boast of his strengths and of the love of God in him,
Not of his weakness… not of his weakness.
What is the “ground” of your glorifying him?
       
“Ride the Wind as you speak.. ride the Wind ...
It is the Wind of Life you want to sail.
 It is the Word of Life you want to speak.
Do not let your eyes behold the sins of your brother, but cover him!”

I went “tilt” for a moment. 
Had to ask Father for an example in His Word, which He did through brother Noah.

Obedience, ark, flood, offering, rainbow covenant

Genesis 9:18 ~ 24

Do you see the sin of your brother? 
Do you cover him with God’s garment of love, respect and honor?
Do you turn your face from your brother’s weakness?

Genesis 9:25-27   The curse and the blessing.

The blessing.      Japheth (God will enlarge) had 7 sons that became races; Medes, Greeks, Caucasians in Europe and Asia.

Shem (Name or Fame) had 5 sons that became races of men.
Jews, Assyrians, Syrians

The curse.      Ham was Noah’s youngest.  (Hot ~ it is not always a God thing to be hot)  
Ham had 5 sons who also became nations.
A delightful family tree, including Nimrod, Babylon, Nineveh, the Philistines and so on.

Ham’s youngest son was Canaan ~ which is where Noah’s curse fell.   
On Ham’s boy.

Canaan’s sons were the “ite” squad.
Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivities,
Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Can you imagine their family reunions ~ ?

Noah was God’s noble man.  The Lord’s Nobleman.
A righteous man and blameless among the people.  (Gen 6:9)
Noah obeyed God, built the ark, saved all life forms, and offered up thanks.
He was a very very good man.

Then Noah stumbled in the wine cellar.  
And his youngest son looked ~ at the stumbling.
And his youngest son spoke out ~ about the stumbling.

But Noah’s older sons did not look and did not speak,
Instead they covered Noah as he lay in his weakness.

This may not be good theology, but I get the picture God is painting.

When was the last time I “covered” a brother who lay in his weakness?
Especially one in Christian leadership ~ a pastor, teacher.. a 5 fold-er?

The way I see it, we curse ourselves and our children when we look at someone else’s weakness. 
Jesus’ New Testament standard is way higher that the Old Testament one.
 If we even LOOK we are guilty of sin.
If we look at the weakness of a brother, especially one who father’s, we bring a curse.
And if we speak about that weakness, we speak death to our own children.
 Birth children, adopted children, and most especially, spiritual children.  Ho.

We establish for ourselves an “ite” nation.  An “ick” kingdom.
A Nimrod warrior looking for faults, consumed with Evil Looking.

We ignite a family reunion that defies imagination.

“Kauchema” on the other hand, is the opposite of Evil Looking.
I concentrate on looking, for if we don’t look, we can’t speak. 
Kauchema is boasting of another, pointing to their strengths, drawing out their gifts.
Kauchema draws people into fellowship, into unity, into glory.
Evil Looking finds faults, displays weaknesses, recites failures.
Evil Looking brings division.  Great division, like the Yellow Pages, and death.
Evil Looking is following the Yellow Page Road, which leads to an “ite” nation.
 An “ick” kingdom.
So.. may His Kauchema reign.

2 Cor 1:13 … I hope
 that as you have understood us in part, you will come to understand fully
that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you, in the day of the Lord Jesus.

2 Cor 11:30  If I must boast (kauchema),
I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Kauchema… sounds like music.  Sounds like water running over stony streams. 
           Beautiful and full of life.

The Kauchema principle needs also to be put in effect over ourselves.
We are our biggest critics, our biggest defilers.  So often our thoughts, out words
about ourselves line up with the king of darkness rather than the King Of Light.
To be a kauchema person would be one who does not speak evil of anyone,
including themselves.    Impossible, unless we stay filled with who we really are.

(I make this decree over you!)    I boast about YOU, dear people of God.   Kauchema!
Everywhere I go, I speak the truth of His blessings over you, His favor in your situations,
His glory in your circumstances.  Everywhere I go, I call you the Hungry Lions
because you are lions of the Lord God Almighty and He loves you!   Kauchema!

At our house we sing this song…
We sing it in the good times and it increases our joy.
We sing it in the not-so-good times and it re-establishes our joy!

Sing…. Mom has, the very best kids, the very best kids in the world…. Whooo whooo!
  Mom has, the very best kids… the very best kids in the world!

It carries the heart of Kauchema, but I didn’t know that until last night, when God sang it over me.

God has, the very best kids.. the very best kids in the world, whooo whooo!
God has, the very best kids.. the very best kids in the world!

His best kids stand united.  His best kids love each other.  His best kids… that’s who we are.

Unite:  to put or join together and make as one.  Combine, consolidate, merge
the state of being one; in harmony, in agreement, in one accord.  Like-minded.

John 10:30    I and My Father are one.  That sounds like intense unity to me!

(I decree over you!)
I will boast in you, children of the Most High God.   I Kauchema you!
You ARE, the very best kids.. the very best kids in the world!
Lifting people up, riding the wind as you speak, releasing blessings and not curses.
You shine like STARS in the universe ~ holding out the Word of LIFE!     Phil 2:16

Joshua Mills sings a song ~ The Glory Realm…  the realm where we stand as one.

I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted
And the train of His robe filled the temple.    Isaiah 6:1
If we, being His temple, were filled with the train of His robe,
we would have much to cover our brother’s weakness with.
We would cover him in prayer.
We would walk together then in joy and love. 
We would see the Yellow Pages speaking a new message.
We wouldn’t NEED the Yellow Pages because everybody would know where we were!
We would become, we could become, a message of intense unity.

Again His words ring out….

“Ride the Wind as you speak…. Ride the Wind …
when you see a defect in your brother (and you will)
your mouth must begin to boast of him. 
Kauchema!!
Boast of his strengths and of the love of God in him,
Not of his weakness… not of his weakness.
What is the “ground” of your glorifying him?
       
“Ride the Wind as you speak.. ride the Wind ...
It is the Wind of Life you want to sail.
It is the Word of Life you want to speak.

Do not let your eyes behold the sins of your brother, but cover him
cover him with the train that lives in you, His Temple!!”

I think that our capacity to cover people is in direct proportion to our own infilling.
The more of His train we hold, the more likely it is that we will
be a Shem or Japheth to our Noah. 
How much easier it is to Kauchema, when we are filled and strong.
And the less of His train we hold, the harder it is to cover another’s weakness.

Repent for Evil Looking,  Evil Speaking. 
Repent for thinking anything less than the glory of God over yourself and others.
Eliminate the “ite” squad from our lives.

Restore relationship with brothers,
Especially any leadership people we have not honored.
Restore relationship with our own selves.

Reestablish “Kauchema” in every area of our lives.

To be esteemed is better than silver or gold.  Pr 22:1