The Walk of the Steward

Life as a steward is a peculiar walk because it is an unfamiliar walk in our culture.  I can't remember the last person who asked me about what it is like being a steward.  It is a lifestyle which few discuss or even ask questions about.  I don't think I have ever heard of a support group or club of stewards.

 It is more than  being accountable  or responsible.  It is more than being generous or interested in giving.  It is a mind and heart set on walking out the Kingdom Reality on a daily basis.  Oswald Chambers writes

"There is no thrill in walking;

It is the test of stable qualities

"To walk and not faint"  is the highest

reach possible for strength."

Not a lot of thrills in a determined walk.  One good thing about a walk is that one can make course corrections.  My course corrections happen mostly in my heart and mind as it gets off track through pressures, disappointments and failed expectations,  Corrections are most easily set by spending time with the master who reassures me I am on the right path because I am loving Him.

The Steward's Foreordained Work

"You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every mment was laid out before a single day had passed.  Ps. 139:10 NLT 


Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world.  Jer. 1:5  NLT  


For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Eph. 2:10

Eternity stretches before us, we are engulfed in it, and we came out of it with purpose and mission.  These are big truths to steward.  When I consider that the Steward is enwrapped in eternity, it changes the way I perceive what is given me and what is required of me.  From eternity the Master has been involved in Kingdom work within and without His creation.  And we are a small part of that work of Kingdom building as we seek to be on mission with Him.

I suspect that most of the time, I was unaware of that as I was about building a life, creating a "me", designing my life, and working on my marriage, family and personal skill sets.  As I developed a grasp of the Word, I began to recognize that life is more than simply putting things together "down here" with an eye to bringing God glory.

Giving everything over to the Master as owner and living under his direction according to the Word, brought new light on my purpose of existence.  "Ordained from before the foundation of the world" is a head trip to be sure and yet my spirit recognizes it's truth.  It causes me to bow before the wisdom and commandments of the Master with new humility.

"Who is man that thou art mindful of him?" and a Steward that would be involved in the building of an eternal kingdom using the tools and substance given by the Builder.  In my little part of the world, with my little hands, heart and mind, God is working His Plan.

The Steward in the Light of Eternity

The word, eternity, arrested my attention this morning.  The Scripture says that God has put eternity in our hearts...not in our minds.  Deep within us all is this nagging reality that there exists another world we are related to and that this life is definitely connected to it.  What happens here does not stay here, but effects the life to come.

A steward's lifestyle is impossible without this reality uppermost in both heart and mind.  The steward recognizes that building a life of eternal significance will only occur through operating in eternal truths as found in the Eternal Word.  So when things are not going according to expectations, I face the challenge of believing the Word, rechecking motivation and understanding, and returning to the place of rest and trust.  Doing the Master's work the Master's way is often difficult because it seems antithetical to the world's methods of success.

Personally, I like to blame, criticize, and go into self-pity.  Every time this opportunity arises it is because I cannot account for setbacks and roadblocks.  The Master is patiently working with my concepts of time and wisdom in teaching me to see things from the eternal perspective.  Today, this word, eternity, set my feet back on solid ground and is allowing me to reconsider why I am trying to push things that won't budge, bully through things that I have no control over, and cry about my own inadequacies.

The Lord Master will get His work done through me when I finally give Him back the calendar and the clock and recognize that I have all of eternity to consider.  Ain't God grand!

Note on Comments

I apologize that your comments are not available for public viewing.  They are stored on this Blogspot and are difficult to access.  I have opened the system for help on this issue and found many complaints by bloggers about this glitch.  The directions to release them are complex and are not very helpful as evidenced by the frustration of so many writers.  I might have to find a different blogspot when I have a minute of free time....did I say minute?  Forget it....it will require hours the way I work with computers.

I do appreciate the feedback you give me and thank you for the encouragement.  I am curious to know if you consider yourselves stewards as a calling, an assignment or a destiny in any way? Stewardship has taken a more defined lifestyle/calling as I have begun this project of rebuilding the Blessing House and directing all that I own into this adventure.  Writing this blog gives me a voice for myself as I work out the thought processes I am going through.

I have been a Christian, a teacher, a pastor, a leader and developer of lots of new ideas and ministries.  But, this concept of being a steward and owning nothing brings a new reality of heaven, a new reality of my relationship with God and a new recognition of the world system.

I heard once that one should set your goals high for the "person you will become in meeting the goal".  The goal is less important than the changes that have to happen within yourself.  It does seem that God works that way with dreams.  As this dream of a new BH as a legacy takes physical shape, I have never been so challenged to live by faith - the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  I am learning a lot about the ancient ways of Scripture through the lenses of the life of the Steward.  This is what I am trying to put into words for those who are like minded or want to follow.

The Steward is Organically Related to the Master

This theme of relationship continues as I come to grips with the Master who lived in the earth as a Steward and had to operate in the abiding principle that He taught  us in John 15.  Only as He lived, abided, internally allowed the Word into His heart as the creeds of His life was He able to live without self doubts, without letting the words of others direct his thinking, and stay on course in obedience to His assignment.  This is perhaps simplistic in the overview, but I find it helpful in directing my stewardship.

I tend to forget that this relationship is intrinsic and organic and tend to separate myself as the branch from Him as the Vine.  Then I feel withered, used up, ready for the dry wood pile and fruitless.  "Abide in my love just as I abided in the Father's love."  It is that love that removes all doubts and sweeps away the fog.

The Master lives within the Steward to direct His fruit producing ability.  A machine does work.  Only Life can bear fruit.  Work implies effort and labor; the essential idea of fruit is that it is the silent, natural, restful produce of our inner life.  So how does the Steward operate?

 I recognize that this life philosophy of fruit-bearing must be put to work.  Labor pains brings forth life and so I should expect that I will need to push and feel pain as new life is born...new muscle, new projects, new attitudes, new exploits.  So, I confess to the Master the truth of where I am and my inability to produce fruit on my own.  Confident that the Master hears my prayer and that help will be given because He loves me, I go to work.

 Recognizing my own shortcomings and asking for power to do better next time, I am neither passive nor self-reliant.  I do rest awhile and begin again.  Rest awhile and begin again as new Life flows  as the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.  The organic life of the Steward is not in words and beliefs only, but in fruit-producing labor.  Faith without works is dead.  As the statement I placed on my refrigerator for many years reminded me

"They might believe what you say, but they will always believe what you do."  True for Jesus, the Master Steward and true for me the Master's Steward.

The Tricky Sides of Stewardship

Today I am reminded that the work of stewardship is not solely mine.  I am reminded because the cords of anxiety and fear want to entangle my thinking that I "have to do it right, be perfect, and not make errors because I am handling the Lord's gifts.  It is easy to think that stewardship is my work given back to Him for all He has done for me.  Tricky isn't it.  Stewardship is a relationship of trust and expectation of divine enablement first, right?   I want to make it something I do for the Lord instead of with the Lord.  But, in its most subtle temptation....it is something He and I do together.  Can you hear the pride in even that?

When I get into states of anxiety about decisions and direction, I know I have taken this on as my work. I have found it easy to let go of my ownership of the "goods and property" only now discover that it is more difficult to give over the "work" to his ownership.  I am so afraid that it won't be good enough or that I will look foolish or that I will make a mistake.  I have full recognition that I am not skilled, gifted or educated in certain areas  and yet hold myself accountable for them.

Now this is the kicker.
 The Master reminds me humility and honesty are requisite for the Steward whom He has made to be "needy of others....besides needy of Himself".  I hate that word, "needy" which tells me a whole lot about myself as a "prideful steward" who finds it difficult to say to others, I can't do this and I need help.  I prefer divine enablement - not "human help".

O Lord, save me from myself!

A Steward's Prayer

Let not the vigour and freshness of the morning, or the glow of good health, or the present prosperity of my undertakings, deceive me into a false reliance upon my own strength.  


All these good gifts have come to me from Thee.  They were Thine to give and they are Thine also to curtail.  They are not mine to keep; I do but hold them in trust; and only in continued dependence upon Thee, the Giver, can they be worthily enjoyed.


Let me then put back into Thine hand all that Thou has given me, rededicating to Thy service all the powers of my mind and body, all my worldly goods, all my influence with other men.  All these, O Father, are Thine to use as Thou wilt.  All these are Thine, O Christ.  All these are Thine, O holy Spirit.  Speak Thou in my words today, think in my thoughts and work in all my deeds.  And seeing that it is Thy gracious will to make use even of such weak human instruments in the fulfillment  of Thy mighty purpose for the world, let my life today be the channel through which some little portion of Thy divine love and pity may reach the lives that are nearest to my own.


O God, give me grace, so far as in me lies, to serve in Thy Holy Name.  Amen

(This is a portion of prayer from my favorite prayer book, A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie)

The Steward's "muddlings" of the heart.

As I  write about the heart of the Steward, I am examining my own.  Seeking to peer into its chambers and discover what makes it throb with life or become sluggish and heavy, I desire to put feelings and decisions and thoughts into form that speaks truthfully.  Trafficking in unfelt truth is an occupational hazard for a pastor or teacher who presents things she knows nothing about.  To commend to others a life I have never lived or pose as a tour guide to territory on which I have never set foot would be both foolish and heartless.

I call these posts, "musings" - but perhaps a better word is "muddlings" because I am always surprised at what I find within my own inner sanctum.  I believe the heart is where the creeds are stored....those belief systems that have ruled our lives from hidden quarters.  These are hard pack fields that need "harrowing" experiences to dig down with a three pronged hoe so that the soil can be prepared for new seed.  Stepping out and risking new ventures will do that and I am sensing that the Lord Master is more interested in this process than He is in building the house.

My experiences with building this new Blessing House has exposed both hard packed aggregate rock  and swamps of muddy waters when it comes to faith.  This has surprised me, a woman of faith who has learned to live by faith in the Word of God against many odds.  But, now I recognize there is much more to learn about trusting God with things unseen.  I continue to struggle with "seeing" how God is going to provide and, therefore, carry the burden in sleepless nights.  But, each day I am renewed to take the next step casting the care of this project over on Him.

I am freshly thrilled at the thought that a mustard seed of faith has enough power to move mountains when it is spoken - mountains that lie without and within the heart.  So, it is my confession today that God has planted more than enough seed within my heart to break up the ground of my prideful and stubborn being and create the soil of a fruitbearing life.

The Spirit of the Master and the Steward is one.

Have you  ever thought of Jesus as the Great Steward over the household of God?  The word, steward, comes from "oikos", a house, and "nemo", to arrange = oikonomos...denoted primarily as a manager of a household or estate.

When I gave everything I owned over to the Lordship of Christ, I became the steward of his household called the Blessing House.   I remember doing that with my children and my marriage so that how I loved and cared for those He had given me was a form of stewardship.  I was responsible to Him for the care and keeping of all that was given me.   That must be the starting place of Stewardship - recognizing that all of life is a gift and gifts come in lots of surprising packages.

So, Jesus knows what it is like to have the care and keeping of the household of faith.  The Master knows what it is like to be the Steward because He also served by laying down His life as a ransom for many.  This is a new angle of thought that the Spirit of the Steward is the Spirit of the Master.  Somehow knowing that Jesus knows my experience is comforting today as I seek to be a good steward over my household.

The Steward's connection with the Master

The Steward's heart is of great interest to the Master who tends it as warm fire of coals.  My heart's intention is to be a good steward attending to the will and voice of the Master.

     Does it bother anyone that I use the word, Master?  It evokes many responses I am sure because it
      raises the implication that a steward is somehow a puppet in the hands of a puppet master.  It has a
      master-slave connotation that is uncomfortable.  It imagines a cold and unfeeling relationship of
      obedience and law with a lack of loving interaction.  There is an unfortunate relationship with the
      word because it is not used in our culture except in a negative way.

I find the word comforting and helpful because I know my Master is also, Father, brother, friend, Savior, Comforter, Wisdom, All Loving Presence, Light and Love.  We use the word, Lord, as an alternative nomenclature even though it is not a western cultural word:  yet, it has a deep association with our relationship with Jesus.

Perhaps if we were more accustomed to the word, Steward, the word Master would also become more precious because a Steward is attached, aligned with and in relationship to the one served. 'Master'
 helps me remember whom I serve and that He is the one in control whose Word is my desire to obey.  Independence has long given way to dependence on Him as I have lived enough years now to recognize just how little power one has.  "You can do nothing without me."  The Lord states.

That is a hard word to swallow because I specialize in "making things happen" and love the words, success and influence.  Yet, the only lasting work of a human being of any life changing significance would of necessity be attributed to the Eternal One who alone draws forth eternal value from our actions.   I could build a new Blessing House out of my own energy and will - but for what eternal value?  "Unless the Lord (Master) builds the house, one builds in vain" says the Proverb.

The Steward - Role or Relationship?

I forget from time to time that the Steward is not a job description but a character development - a way of responding and a reference point for decisions.  I struggle with the "pressure" of being a good steward with the Lord's property and plans.  It is easy to slide into that role rather than resting in the relationship.

 I am wondering about the analogy of the Sabbath which encapsulates all other days of the week and yet is separate.  The three days before the Sabbath are to be spent preparing for the Day and the three days after the Sabbath are to be spent in reflection upon that Day according to rabbinic teaching.  All the shoulds and oughts are set aside on the Sabbath so that we can enjoy a "want to" environment of rest and joy from the demands of the system.

For the Steward, living in the Sabbath is living in the presence of the King empowered with His joy and enthusiasm for life.  I understand that cognitively, but my reality is challenged by my own oughts and shoulds.  Handling this building project has derailed my "rest" and tested my stewardship because of the many setbacks and roadblocks created by the world's regulations and demands.

"Rest in God"  Abide in My Presence" " Hope in God" "Lean not to your own understanding..." are truly the admonitions for the Steward who finds no counterparts in the world system.  "GETTERDONE", "GETTERORGANIZED" "GETTERERFUNDED" GETTERRIGHT" have been echoing through my days and nights.

The invitation to return to the Lord as His Steward and rest in the work of each day - attending to the task at hand with anticipation of the Master's joy and empowerment falls like fresh rain.  Each day the Steward must begin again to live in that relationship.

When the Steward Faces Doubt

These past several weeks have been a roller coaster ride of emotions as I have faced the question of my ability as a Steward to accomplish the plan of the Master.  Right within that statement is the word, "to accomplish" and one can see where this is going.

"Why are you downcast, O my soul?  Why so disturbed within me?" questions David in Ps. 42.  "Let me give you reasons..., "I answer.  David says, " Put your hope in God, for I will praise Him, my Savior and my God".    David always says the right thing.

 I, however, have my eyes focused on the circumstances and barriers, roadblocks, and impossible imaginings.  "I can't do this.  Why do you think I can do this?  I do not have enough faith to even believe you will help me.  How did I get myself into such a mess?"  I am some kind of steward who has none of the skill sets required.  Can you hear my complaint?  I am down here with impossible odds and it is getting more difficult!"

After a long discussion with friend, Thomas J, I said....I simply don't have enough faith to see this building plan through.  "Well, can you muster up a mustard seed of faith?"  And he laid a tiny nib of a carmel candy in his big palm and we looked at it together.  Do you realize how much power there is in that tiny piece of faith?  Enough to move mountains when you speak to them."  Here is a man who has amazing talent in writing and singing; yet, has to live by faith daily to meet his basic needs of shelter and food.  He stopped in at the Blessing House, I believe, by invitation of the Master to re-screw my perspective.

I have been speaking to those barriers and roadblocks with my mustard seed faith intact and I have already experienced the power of God to change things.  I have at least a mustard seed of faith and that seems to be more than enough.

I am keeping that nib as a reminder of the power of God within the steward to complete the work given.

PS  Thomas J Denk is the man who wrote the song for the Blessing House DVD found on Youtube at theblessinghouse.com by Gail Berger

How does a Steward face difficulties?

As a young Steward, I learned to handle difficulties in my life through anger, regret, crying, ranting, and accusation.  Not very good stewardship of life realities.  I tried to "be happy" and ignore things, plus my favorite...apply the Christian virtues of long suffering, patience, forgiveness etc.  I compromised, took the guilt, control, and manipulation in attacking any threat to my happiness and well-being.

Many of these things worked for a while, but all that came home to roost as the enemy seemed impervious to my schemes.  It all blew up when I had to come to grips with the truth that the enemy had taken up residence in my family through addictions.  The Truth could no longer be explained away or  compromised and so I finally went to Alanon and began to learn what I was up against .  The greatest break through was discovering how the enemy had captured me in the co-dependent lifestyle which had me in chains as much as the addictions had my family members.

Facing truth - realities - and the barren scope of a problem is difficult for a Christian who wants as a good steward who applies Biblical promises and commands.  We want to see our lives through these lenses and ignore what we are up against.  "Speaking the truth in love" I believe is the greatest faith act there is because it is recognition that things are messed up in "Christian-land"  and our Christian testimony is left hanging.  If we told the raw truth, we are not sure if God can handle the explosion that we had carefully wrapped up in our "trying harder".

I experienced three separate lives this weekend that were so entangled in Satan's snares as to seem hopeless.  The roots went deep into their history and patterns of decisions and emotions swirled around them like storm clouds and lightening.  I had no answers.  Yet, as we talked and prayed together recognizing we were the chosen ones, beloved of the Father and clean in our spirit because of the Cross and Filling of the Holy Spirit, the enemy was exposed in his schemes within and without.  I left each one without knowing the answers to their dilemmas and discouraged about my stewardship of life-answers.  However, in facing the truth together in its bold faced reality, God was able to intervene on their behalf and within 24 hours they were calling with new found joy and answers.  Silly me.  I had forgotten how powerful the Master is when we look both at reality and the Word.

The Steward Works on Assignment

Although purpose and meaning are important in a satisfying life, the word, assignment, has become a more useful term because it is specific in time and space.  The over-arching purpose and meaning of my life as a Steward, finds its expression in a given assignment within a time frame.  This was highlighted in the readings this morning from Mark 13:32-37 and Mark 14:3-10.

"No one knows about the day or the hour..only the Father.  Be on guard!  Be Alert!.  It is like a man who goes away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task and tells the one at the door to keep watch...You do not know when the owner of the house will come back...What I say to you, I say to everyone:  Watch"

"She has done a beautiful thing to me.  The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.  But you will not always have me.  (For I am going away...John 14).  She did what she could.  She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial."

I struggle at times with guilt about all that I can no longer tend to  - all people related.  The Blessing House building project is task oriented, meaning I have to leave many people in the dust - all who come under my frame of meaning and purpose.  I am convinced that the assignment, to build the house on Lake Wassermann, is something to be done for the Lord as perfume poured out.  I have pondered if this is the best use of my time and resources since it demands my all to some neglect of "the poor, the ministry, the church, friends and family".  

I also wonder, what it might have to do with the "unknown hour when the Master returns".  Does the perfume I pour out have anything to do with preparing for the Master's return?  Some day I hope to hear the Lord say to me, as He did to Mary, "She has done a beautiful thing to me."  (Mk 14:6)

The Steward Has His Assignment

While purpose and meaning are the marks of a full-filling life, the word, assignment, has come to more helpful for me as a steward.  Assignment is more deliniated for a specific time frame.  The reading for today in Mark 13:32-37 and Mark 14: 3-10 were helpful for me because they spoke of specific tasks assigned by the Spirit.

"No one knows the day not the house....Be on guard!  Be alert!.  It is like a man going away; He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task and tells the one at the door to keep watch...What I say to you I say to everyone: Watch!"

"She has done a beautiful thing.  The poor you will always have with you and you can help them any time you want...but you will not always have me with you  (for I am going away John 14)  She did what she could.  She poured perfume on my  body beforehand to prepare for my burial."  (a perfume that was worth a year's wag

The Steward Belongs to Another Kingdom

My identity as a Steward has developed along with the sense that I do not belong to this world.  It is a feeling of being a stranger here - an alien, as the stranger in a strange land  (1 Peter 2)...of not being a native.  I mean to say, my physical existence in time and space is as though I do not belong here because my soul belongs to another dimension.

This was brought home to me especially when my son, Tyson, died and I realized he was alive in eternity and I was caught here in time and space.  That was the moment the Master spoke, "but you are eternal, for you have my life in you.  Zoe is the life force of God and it was given to you the minute you were born again."  "I have come that you might have Life (Zoe) and have it more abundantly."

So, I have a strong sense that I am eternal one even as I walk in time and space.  Without that reality, being a steward would not make sense.  The mystical world view belongs to two of my favorite authors, Blake and Pascal who are able to blow holes in the philosophies and kiingdoms tied to this world which are possibilities only in this world and can extend no further.

When Satan offered the "kingdoms of this world" to Jesus he could only offer powers, ideas, things that are corruptible, culpable and passing away.  Dust.  For all kingdoms are being shown up for what they are today as we watch the news.  There is only One Kingdom and there is only One God.  There is no other.  Satan is no god but a defeated foe who only works with deception - smoke and mirrors.

I was so aware of my own emotional response to the Royal Wedding - a longing for a kingdom where a beautiful King and Queen  govern with love and equity - peace and justice.  That is the longing in every person for that land, that place...that garden wherein all are safe, beautiful and free from dangers.  Even deeper is to be that king or queen.

But, even kings and queens are under stewardship training until they are given the right to rule.  The Steward is in training for rulership.  How one responds to the tasks and assignments in the earth as a good steward, will determine the placement in the Kingdom one day.  Luke 19:12

The Steward's Path

"Two roads diverged in a yellowed wood
and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler"  wrote Robert Frost in 1920.  This poem has become my  daily reminder that every day there is choice.  Malcom Muggridge posits that man's free will is governed by his passions and with each choice his destiny is confirmed.  That intrigues me because the path to the Steward's life is full of life choices that begins to narrow and expose what passions are at play.

This is a daily activity for me as I face my own ego's way (which is a dark cage of unclear motives) or  the way marked out by love's sacrifice.  Today, as I did my morning reading, I remembered that Jesus spoke of a broad way and a narrow way.  Many went the broad and open path - so inviting because so many were going that direction so happily.  But, it is the narrow way that leads to life and  few therebe that go that direction.  Perhaps that is because that way is decided on by the individual - alone- without (or even against) the force of the crowd.

The cross was the narrowest of ways, taken by the Master, alone.  Thousands dropped off the path the closer He got to Golgotha.  Could we say that He had been on the broad path for three years with the crowds and the excitement.  He had cut a wide swath over the countryside with teachings, healings and miracles.  Yet, none of that counted towards the changing of a single human being's nature.  At the end of 3 years, He could take no one to heaven with Him....He had nothing to show for all his heroic obedience to teach them Truth.  No man had changed intrinsically preparing Him to live the eternal life.  He had no fellowship with another Spirit-filled man.

There was only one way - sacrificial death that others might have Life.  I cannot compare my daily choices to the one choice that freed mankind from everything which kills him.  But, I recognize the daily choice of serving the Master with everything I have which extends Life to others or join the crowd and enjoy my own life which changes little.  As love for the Lord's gift of Life, His Royal Blood, grows, I know the passion to live as He did impacts which path I choose and moves me closer to my destiny.

The Steward's Beginnings

The roots of my thinking of myself as a Steward occurred in the late 1980's when I was feeling the pressure of living in a household with a husband and a son caught in the web of addictions along with a mother who was dying of a brain tumor..  After one particularly difficult day, I grabbed my coat and ran out into the cold winter blast for a walk to clear my head.  I found myself sitting in the sanctuary of my local church, alone and crying out to God in my distress.  I suggested - perhaps begged - to be able to stay in His house and just be the doorkeeper.  "I will clean and sweep and open the doors.  I will clean the toilets and wash up after everyone left.  Could I just be the "doorkeeper in the house of the Lord"?  It is too hard at my house!"

Silence was deafening.  No comfort, no direction, no sense of His presence let alone His hearing me.  In the dark I trudged home with the stinging wind on my face drying the tears even before they fell.  Up the drive way to the door, I walked with shoulders humped in the attitude of exhausted hope.

As I turned the handle, the Lord spoke clearly in words only my spirit could hear.  "This is the House of the Lord and You are the Doorkeeper."  In the twinkling of an eye, everything changed.  Not the circumstances, not the people in the house, but me.  This revelation opened the door to a new reality that I have lived ever since.  My home was the Lord's Sanctuary and I was the honored DoorKeeper.  Church was not to be an escape, because my home had become the place where the Lord resided.

Everyone in this story has since died...husband, son, mother.  Because the Lord changed my perspective, I was able to see them through to the end without complaint, bitterness or rancor.  The house became the Blessing House, even before so named, wherein dwelt hope, peace, and love even in the chaos and uncertainties.

Perhaps that is why in the summer of 1993, I could so easily give everything to the Lord with the great reward of being able to live there in the riches of my Lord and King.  

The Steward and Circumcision

I have always wondered what it meant when we are called the ":circumcision" (Phil. 3:3) and now I am realizing how that is an aspect of being a Steward.  The circumcision of the Jewish man was a private mark or cut that was hidden from the world unless discovered like Moses was.  The woman who found him in the basket noticed that the boy was an Israelite with one glance.

Jesus talked about the circumcision of the heart that occurs when one is born again.  True the heart is hidden from view, also, but it manifests the cut in the flesh life - the life of self-sustaining, self-interest, self-centeredness, self-ishness, etc. as one becomes a Steward.  The mark of circumcision in the life of the Steward is the fact that what the world holds dear not longer has value for her in comparison to the life given over to the Master's use.

Jesus was circumcised from all He "owned" when He left the Heavens to come to earth.  It was all cut away...the power, the glory, the position, the ownership as king, His name and wealth.  In the earth he was a no-name, born in poverty as an out of wedlock child, not recognized for his power and knowledge and title - who had his chance at fame, His three years in the sun, and then died broken, alone and defeated by the world.  Who could have known that a member of the supreme godhead would be so circumcized as to even having his very flesh cut off from the world.

Who could have known that in His circumcision, we, too, were circumcised of the flesh life only to rise to higher levels of life then unknown to a human being as we were also raised again all the way to Heaven's thrown..  Recognizing yourself as a Steward of the Most High God is recognizing that you have been circumcised of the flesh life and are called to live that publically - not keeping it a secret that all that belongs to this world is as dung compared to knowing Christos and the Life that comes with Him.

I am learning these deep truths, but I still struggle to live in the reality of them on a daily basis.  But, I am getting quicker at recognizing the fact that I have fallen back into old ways.  Knowing the truth is very important in recognizing the lie and deception, otherwise, a self-centered life seems normal, routine and happy.  And that is the greatest error we can live in.  I am ready for the fullness of resurrection life!

The Steward's Life Begins at the Cross

"Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" goes the song.  Well, according to the Scriptures, I was!

As that reality grows within my consciousness, I am able to process the shedding  of the chains of the world 's values and thinking.  One begins to let go of all that the world holds dear and knows the freedom of living in the eternal truths.  In fact, eternity is already within and not one thing that my inner man needs can I get from this world.  Therefore, I have freedom to walk away from the ownership of my life and live in the power of ZOE, the life force of God called eternal life in the Scriptures.

 "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet, not I, but Christ lives in me:  and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself for me."
 Gal. 2:20

"Know you not, that so many of us that were baptized, were baptized into his death...knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin"
 Rom 6

The Steward Spirit resides within the Lord and is released into us "when we are born again from "being dead in trespasses and sin." " Now we are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God  Rom 6:11  Until the Steward reorganizes her thinking along these lines, the self-life hovers and protects itself.  What is crazy about this is that the self-life doesn't even know that it has been crucified with Christ.

As you go through the Lenten week with Christ, can you imagine that you were on that cross and all the self life you have lived was crucified along with Him....dead and buried?  Can you imagine that you, also, are already alive with resurrection life that has power to cancel everything that rears its ugly head?  As that happens, one can live freely the life of the Steward.

The Steward and the Master Share the Same Spirit

This amazing truth, that the Steward shares in the same Spirit as does the Master, makes everything possible in the Steward's life.  When the Master was on the earth, there was no one else alive, ever, who shared in His Spirit.  That had to have been a lonely experience even though He had perfect communion with the Father in Heaven.  No one like Himself in the earth.

 He was the Seed that was alone unless He died (Jn. 12:24), was slain open so other seed could come forth. He was the Seed in which Life dwelt so abundantly that it would be enough to bring every person to God if they chose to receive that Life.  It...He...the Seed...had only to die.

 By the power of the Holy Spirit, He was able to die trusting in the promise of the Father to be raised again to new life with a new family waiting to receive the same Spirit.  No wonder He values fellowship in the Spirit.  He died to gain brothers and sisters of the same Spirit.

As a Steward of the Master, then, I am more than a servant.  He calls me friend and family.  We share the same Spirit!  It is this relationship that enables the Steward to let go of all that the world says is a "must have!" and know a contentment at every level.

 Being a Steward comes out of a desire born of the same Spirit that lived within Him as He walked the earth.  It is not a role one plays or a life-style or a career....although it includes those things.  It goes much deeper into the mystery of" apprehending what one is apprehended for" according to Paul in writing to the Philippians.

By that same Spirit, the Steward is able to die to "all that he has" and be raised again with new life free from the pressures of ownership.  Stewardship is a living spiritual reality of joy that can bring others life.  It is a great way to live!

The Steward's Unconventional Life

I have been musing over a visual God gave me this weekend as I sat in prayer with a friend of mine about the Blessing House.  I have come to understand that when all I had was given into the hands of the Father for His use, it became a sacred trust.  My hoe was no longer  just a physical place, but a spiritual house whose roof imparted spiritual blessings to whomever walked through the door, whose doors and windows opened into the spiritual realm, and whose paths and halls led people to one another and the Lord.  They slept deeply under blankets of protection and warmth and ate spiritual food upon awaking.  Conversation occurred whether words were spoken or not and worship flowed through their eyes as they walked the gardens.

One day the Lord said very clearly to me "This is the House of the Lord and you are the door keeper." which changed the nature of how I regarded what I lived in with my family.  The life of this Waconia Blessing House has laid a foundation of stewardship as a life style.  Now this year begins the building of a new Blessing House in Victoria which will cover 4 acres instead of a double lot.  It is an overwhelming task for me to do alone and the Master has begun gathering others who are excited about the vision to help.

The visual He gave me was stunning.  "I am bringing living stones together to build my house."  I haven't quite mined the depth of those words as yet.  They are found in 1 Peter 2 and describe those who have come to the The Living Stone which poured out refreshing water in the desert and is the Stone rejected by others, stumbled over by some and yet chosen to be the foundation stone of the spiritual house.  So, the Master builder is bringing living stones to the work of the Blessing House - ones who are  a holy priesthood who will offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

What does that all mean?  I don't know as yet, but I know it to be true because He is using unconventional resources to design and create this new place.

I have been musing over a visual God gave me this weekend as I sat in prayer with a friend of mine about the Blessing House.  I have come to understand that when all I had was given into the hands of the Father for His use, it became a sacred trust.  My hoe was no longer  just a physical place, but a spiritual house whose roof imparted spiritual blessings to whomever walked through the door, whose doors and windows opened into the spiritual realm, and whose paths and halls led people to one another and the Lord.  They slept deeply under blankets of protection and warmth and ate spiritual food upon awaking.  Conversation occurred whether words were spoken or not and worship flowed through their eyes as they walked the gardens.

One day the Lord said very clearly to me "This is the House of the Lord and you are the door keeper." which changed the nature of how I regarded what I lived in with my family.  The life of this Waconia Blessing House has laid a foundation of stewardship as a life style.  Now this year begins the building of a new Blessing House in Victoria which will cover 4 acres instead of a double lot.  It is an overwhelming task for me to do alone and the Master has begun gathering others who are excited about the vision to help.

The visual He gave me was stunning.  "I am bringing living stones together to build my house."  I haven't quite mined the depth of those words as yet.  They are found in 1 Peter 2 and describe those who have come to the The Living Stone which poured out refreshing water in the desert and is the Stone rejected by others, stumbled over by some and yet chosen to be the foundation stone of the spiritual house.  So, the Master builder is bringing living stones to the work of the Blessing House - ones who are  a holy priesthood who will offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

What does that all mean?  I don't know as yet, but I know it to be true because He is using unconventional resources to design and create this new place.

The Steward Has No Bad Day!

Waking up each morning with the shout, "Be not afraid!" is a good way to remind myself of the paradigm shift I have made as the Steward of the Most High God.  One must be intentional in knowledge and understanding of the spiritual realm and how the kingdom operates in the earth because it is easy to get sucked down into the culture and the perspective of the physical realm.  The spirit is to rule - not the body or soul which is subject to the winds and whims of feelings, circumstances and other people's words and reactions.

"Be not afraid" brings up the reality that I have an enemy and also that I am the enemy of the dark realm.
There are forces at work to kill, steal, and destroy the works of El Elyon.  But, more importantly, I have been given the powers and authority of the Kingdom which is established in Spirit and in Word.  The enemy must obey because he possesses no power over me unless I give into his deceptions, lies and smokescreens.

The Steward is capable of working in joy and freedom only to the extent that the spiritual realm and the amazing truths of the Word become the operating system by which she lives.  She scatters and  beats up the enemy to the extent of the power of the word working within her.  Once you know in your heart that your life is intimate with Christos so that He lives through you by the Holy Spirit...then you begin to take seriously the truth that all of heaven's resources have been poured out for you because you have been chosen from before the foundation of the world to be holy, blameless, forgiven through Royal Blood, adopted by Adonai to receive all the inheritance as a child of the Most High...a real nightmare to the enemy.  Good!  I hope to give him more than one black eye today.

I also know the mystery of the Father's will:
     In the dispensation of the fullness of times Father will gather together into one all things
     in heaven and earth.  And until then Father will complete the good work He has begun
     in me until that day of Jesus Christ.  Therefore, I am confident that the new Blessing House
     will be the work of His hands and give Him praise and glory in the earth.

Does this sound crazy?  Check it out in Ephesians.  Not my words - take it up with the Father.

It seems that Stewardship is less about accumulating wealth and more about utilizing it as a function of living in community.  Although I taught school for about 6 years before the children came, I have not been involved in the making of money since.  I functioned as a steward of the home and affairs of family, friends, church and community.

 However, I consider capital as any asset that produces benefits over time and that includes human capital.  Therefore, a good steward would preserve, increase and manage themselves so as to produce continuing benefits of their work.  I have no idea how much I am worth according to worldly figures and have no scale on which to value myself as a steward.  I live with the operation of heaven in sowing and reaping which covers much more than finances

Stewardship of my home and all of it's extensions into other lives enriched myself and others and created an environment that enabled my husband to focus on the financial capital.  With his death I was faced with the financial aspect of stewardship in a new reality.  I had great advantage with the Berger financial team handling the "making of money" so I was free to explore the M-Div and work in ministry.  But, even with the work, I made precious little.  My interest has always been in the utilizing of the "riches of life" to bless others. 

I believe that the function of capital is to enhance community because God created us as individuals who are meant for relationships in community. We are operating most like God when we reflect love in action among ourselves as does the Godhead.  Whatever capital of goods, finances, or talents, abilities, education, experience etc, we will all be accountable as stewards of whatever God has given us.  So the Steward keeps her eye on the prize of the glorious kingdom even while enjoying the riches of blessing that comes from the life of the Steward in the earth. 

Relationship delimnasB the Steward Faces.

Stewarding finances, home and personal care are within a Steward's purview - tasks, personal growth, maintenance and upkeep are physical things that can be put on a list or a calendar and given priority.  The most difficult stewardship I face daily is relationships.  At the end of every day there are people I have not called or met with, crisis and conflicts that surprise my schedule, difficult situations requiring time and energy and friends that I rarely get to see because of everything above.  I am sure everyone faces these challenges, but at the Blessing House I have greater opportunity to be involved with others in a unique partnership with the Master.

When someone enters through my door and comes under my roof, it is because God wants to bless them and so I have the privilege of watching God work in beautiful ways.  That is the stewardship responsibility of being in the Blessing House.

Outside the realm of the BH, staying current with friendships and knowing how and when to respond to the hardships many in the "BH family" are experiencing is where I stumble.  In the Covey ordering of life into four categories (urgent and important, urgent but not important, important not urgent, not urgent not important) there must be decisions about where relationships fit.  I am discovering again how much I must look to the Master for direction on when to say yes or no to a situation.  Every "yes" has a cost to it because one must say  "no" to something else.  I have not been able to figure it all out because I truly have no idea of the whole story being written.  Therefore, life as a Steward carries with it big gulping sighs of prayer for others, trust that God has many others to call on, and that He is constantly restoring, redeeming and reconciling our lives to one another.

Life is rarely boring for the Steward

I have been enjoying rereading an old book by Jake Barnett, Wealth and Wisdom (1987).  It is thick reading but it is speaking differently to me as a Steward.  The issue is ownership and the Steward. The Bible is very clear about our divine mandate of dominion which is spelled out in ownership of material things.  True, our ownership is, in reality, stewardship as God's image-bearer so that in relationship to God, we are stewards.  But in relationship to man, individuals are owners of property with God's blessing.  The Ten Commandments implies that in "thou shalt not steal" and "thou shalt not covet".  And the Scriptures never demean ownership as less than stewardship but gives many principles on how ownership is intended to serve the community.  One is not preferred over the other.

 Hence, the world of the steward incorporates both aspects because both carry privilege and responsibility.  Although I have given all that I own to the Lord for His use, I am not passive in the care and responsibility of my estate.  In fact, there is a greater respect for it because I want it fit for the Master's use.

The best way I have found to describe my life as a Steward/owner is to use the metaphor of  seed.  2 Cor. 9:6-11 are fast becoming my life verses.  Verse 10 speaks of God supplying seed to the sower and bread to the eater implying that we give some seed away into sowing...and keep some for our bread.  At the Blessing House, everything I have is used for sowing into the lives of whom-ever God brings.  In that, I have plenty for myself, but God can require whatever I have for His use. In the new Blessing House everything will eventually be given over to my church to operate as a living legacy of my sons and I.

 I am very conscious of this....but am not always in tune with it.  When I experience that freedom of giving it all, there is great joy and satisfaction.  However, I know when I have moved back into ownership because of a stinky attitude change usually brought on by over-extending myself.

The verse states that He gives seed to the sower...and multiplies the seed sown.  Because of this passage, I am confident that when I have sown everything into the kingdom, there will be others who will want to join in the adventure of expanding Life through the Blessing House.  More seed will come to maintain and extend the ministry of creating spaces for God to work.

 I have just come through a rough patch of ups and downs in this lifestyle of stewardship because I began doubting that others will join.  But, when it gets right down to it, I do not want to miss the opportunity of watching God work wonders whether others join or not.

There are a limited number of opportunities in life to experience something amazing.  The disciples never did walk on water like Peter who took a chance and got out of the boat.  I simply to do not want to miss the joy of living on the promises given to the Steward.

I just reviewed my library on stewardship

Keeping it Simple, Steward.

The challenge of the Steward is to concentrate each day on God's purposes.  Everything else is secondary.  When I focus this way, I come to the end of the day with greater joy and sense of accomplishment - even though the day seemed mundane and relatively unimportant.  The secular becomes sacred - the secular meaning the things that come from living in this world such as keeping a house clean or ordering the work  and tasks of everyday life.  These serve God's purposes as much as being involved with ministry opportunities.

I take my orders from the Lord whether it is preparing the fields, planting seeds or harvesting.  It is in the every day attention to what He has put before me that sows the reward and harvest of tomorrow  For the Steward, the Lord in our midst is all that's needed to do what must be done today - we project for tomorrow but maintain for today.  Because of His presence we are able to rest while working, press while waiting and increase for tomorrow while operating in today's portion. ( Shirley  Weaver quote)

The Steward's responsibility in tending her heart is choosing to focus thoughts and action on the priority God has put in her heart - the orders for today.  When I run ahead or reach too far ahead, my mind gets troubled, my peace is undermined, joy is stolen and my physical body gets beat up.  Being a Steward of the Master keeps things a lot simpler and brings strength and purpose for each day.

The Steward Can Stand Solid in Shifting Times

Is anyone else glued to the TV this morning as we watch Japan over-run with a 13 foot wave produced by an 8.9 earthquake?  Is the world breaking apart politically,financially, religiously, socially and physically?  All evidence described in the prophetic word is before us.  We live in wondrous times as we observe the Word of God painted on the screens of our home in real time.

As a Steward of the Master who has prophesied all these things, I bow before Him with greater desire to live according to His direction.  Mark 13:32-37 was my morning passage.  This quote comes from Generous Giving, a national organization of Christian philanthropists...

The Lord will return to examine our stewardship and judge us accordingly.  He "(puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task)."  Therefore, we are not to act like owners, but stewards, putting our talents and resources to use for his kingdom while he is "gone" so that when he returns, we may be found faithful to do our given work in God's timing.  We cannot delay in doing our work for his sake because we do not know when he will return, or if we will be given another day in which to be fruitful.


I do believe that to delve into the life of the steward intentionally, one must understand the largess of the spiritual realm and the reality of the physical realm as passing away, culpable and corruptible.  As one grows in that reality (let alone the nearness of the return of the Master) it is a lot easier to disengage - not from serving the needs of the earth and its people, but from the pressures of the world system that compress us into fear and anxiety.

Rarely does one let go of what one has, unless the greater thing becomes real.  Ownership is an entrapment that promises reward, but leaves us with sand that slips through our grasping fingers.  Stewardship frees us to stand on the rock solid promises of rich reward and crowns in the greater kingdom.

The Steward Lives by Radical Faith

The Steward operates in the new covenant with all the resources of heaven given and available
because of the atonement.  I know this in my head and teaching.  I am learning to live on the reality of these truths as I go forward step by step into a world and even a church that denies or dismisses the radical nature of the Word.

One of the greatest truths has to do with the righteousness given to us by God.  I walk in righteousness and I am the righteousness of God in the earth....as are you.  Mostly we walk as beggars, sinners, and orphans trying to stay on the good side of God when we are actually co-heirs with all that Christ has received from the Father and we walk the earth as Royal Treasure!  Here is a prayer/creed I found for those who want to live the radical life of the Christian. I am taking it from the writings of Shirley Weaver , whose ministry is called A Clear Trumpet Inc.
This speaks of the Christian as Christ created him/her to be in the new birth.  This is a prophetic word over yourself - a credal statement - a confession of faith that has the teeth of the gospel behind it.

"I have a righteous eye; a righteous eye has been given to me.  I have righteous interpretation and have put selfish perspectives away from me.  From all that is in my life for which God has called me to watch, I have righteous vision!  My strength for righteousness is increasing!  My expectation is high, not limited.  Stretching to fill the container He has called me to be does not distract me.  I am held tightly and protected by the Lord; by his hand He holds me close, and lifts me up!  Portions come from every direction to aid me as I proceed and even unexpected portions come to me.  Peace where God has placed me is my portion - strength there is my portion, with increase!  Lord, YOU are the strength of my life and my portion forever - my trust; I declare YOUR works are my portion - forever!"
Ps. 73:16, Ps. 16:5-6; Ps. 119:56-58; Is. 61: 6-8

Live Big on the Raw Word of the Gospel.

Is the Steward Naive to Trust?

The nature of the Blessing House is to bless whomever enters.
Blessing is given to whomever comes to the door because God has brought them to be blessed.  Blessing is given, not charged for.  To charge for a blessing is counter productive to the nature of blessing. At times those who come give a free will offering to the speakers or to cover food.  Often students bring food or supplies to replenish the Blessing House pantry.  But there is no charge for the blessing.

 The concept of blessing my world as a Steward is creating a conundrum within me. The new building of the Blessing House requires a business plan for the Private Foundation the sons and I have formed which means the legal realities demands an accounting of income.  Since I have never charged for activities (unless there is need for a speaker's remuneration) I have no idea of the value or costs associated with what I do.

Now, however, my question is..."How do I maintain the nature of the Blessing House to freely bless; and account for the needs and maintenance to run the place as required by law.  This will be a larger enterprise which requires more than I have to cover the monthly expenses.  The Blessing House is not the name of the ministry center....but a dynamic experience of blessing to whomever enters.  Charging for the blessing is contrary to the nature of blessing.  AM I BEING NAIVE, IRRESPONSIBLE OR OPERATING IN TRUST AS A STEWARD?

Can I trust that the Lord will cover the costs that I cannot from my own larder?  I have filled out the form that requires an estimate of how much the Blessing House will "bring in".  But, I have no reference point to expect that others will want to give to the work of blessing their world.  Isn't this an interesting place to be?  The Blessing has always been freely given.  If I start charging for activities, The Blessing House is only a name on a sign.

My expectation is that God is going to bless the Blessing House through unconventional ways so that it can continue to truly be a Blessing House.  I am reminded of the widow of Zarepath who cooked her last meal to give away to Elijah, only to find the miracle of abundant replacement  (1 Kings 17).  And the widow of Schunem whose oil was multiplied by Elisha so she could sell some of it to meet her bills.  She was able to serve him whenever he passed through town. (2 Kings 4)  I am a widow and expect surprising things from the Lord, my Master, so that I can truly keep the Blessing House a Blessing.  It is going to be exciting to watch.

The Steward's Secret Caches of Ownership

I am realizing that trust in the Master is highly influenced by my fear of failure.  God is uncovering another layer of ownership in me that surprises me even as I write about it.  Owning my own life domain, its reputation,  credibility and influence sets me up for failure.  It is sneaky how it works its way into the life of a Steward who claims to own nothing and to only work for the Master's glory.

If I fail, I fear that I would give the Master the black eye...but, really, it is my own "life" that is at stake.  It can only be "at stake"  if I am alive.  But the truth is that the Christian has been crucified with Christ and no longer lives.  Yet she lives, but the life she now lives she lives by the faith of the Son of God who loved her and gave His life for her. (Gal 2:20)

Death is the ultimate freedom from ownership.  I have known that life for a long time - I call it my coffin theology.  When I reckon myself dead to the world and alive to God, life goes  better.  When I could care less whether I succeed or fail because I have cast that care over on the Lord who invited me to, Life goes better.

The truth is I want to accomplish that which the Lord has given me to do - and in an excellent way.  But the way I achieve my goal, is trusting Him to empower, direct, correct and inspire me daily as I go about my work.  I am getting used to believing that He will deliver resources and people when I need them.  But, it is a new spiritual skill - one which I have never had to develop before.  I know how to make the most of what I have without having to expect more.  But this new building project is pushing me into new arenas of trust.

The Steward's Greatest Resource

The greatest resource given the Steward to govern is the Scriptures because it is the Master speaking.  His Word is like none other and is the Royal Treasure I hold in my hand every day.  One cannot know these things anywhere else because it comes from outside time and space.  I reread Romans 9-11 again this morning because of all the explosions in the Middle East.  Israel is in the middle of national volcanic action happening all around them and I wanted to read again God's perspective on Israel.

The landscape of the plan of God from the beginning is laid out with the valleys and mountains of His knowledge and wisdom with the river of grace running through the whole creation.  When I read how complete is His knowledge and plan, I wonder at how I can be so foolish in my own doubt.  Quite often lately, I ransack my own ideas about how poorly I perform and have misgivings about my own life management plan.  But, when I read again about the Master's incredible wisdom and power, I am so happy that I am a Steward and have no illusions about owning anything in this world.

He assures me that the landscape and mapping of my own few years in the earth are as much in His hands as the world's history.  Without this super-natural Word, I would not know that naturally.  Being a good Steward requires being an avid student of the Word because it reveals the One I serve.  The more I know of Him, the greater the rest in Him.

The Steward's off-day

I have had two days of waiting for others to come over, show up, call and/or attend a function here at the Blessing House.  Nothing turned out as expected and so it feels like I "wasted" two days.  What does that have to do with being a Steward?  I questioned if I stewarded my time and planning well.

I wondered if the Master simply gave me some breathing space by canceling all the appointments which is cause to give thanks.  I read that Jesus after riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with all the celebration, simply went to the temple, looked around and went back to Bethany  because it was late.  That struck me as odd after so much drama.  Maybe it was breathing space before the appointed week of Passover.  Seemed a bit anti-climactic.

 Here my weekend was all planned and nothing turned out the way I expected.  My stewardship was spent in naps, waiting, not accomplishing much.

This reminds me that being a Steward is first of all "being" and not "doing"  I am still not sure if being a Steward is a call or a choice or an action.  Not everyone thinks of themselves intrinsically as stewards of the Master and yet, I have come to know myself first of all as a Steward.  Not sure how that happened.  But, my thinking and reflecting is always along those lines.  Does anyone else think along these lines?

The Steward's Set of Realities

Once a person recognizes that she is a steward, the reality of the Master grows larger not only as the One to whom she is accountable, but, also to whom she must look for daily direction.  This means that the whole nature of the spiritual realm becomes relevant.  The principles of heaven, commands and covenants, resources and perspectives are hers to work with.  The Steward is to operate from the spirit realm in a physical world that is operating in a different system called the flesh.

The "whining complaint" I spoke of yesterday comes out of the operating flesh system and is a common experience of us earthlings.  It is of note, however, that even in the world, it is not welcomed.  As I was complaining about my "complaining" to a friend, he leaned directly over his food and said, "Do you think you are powerful enough to ruin God's day?"  Both my complaint and my complaining are all focused on me.  Getting my focus off me, who is not all that powerful anyway, is like a course correction.

Truly, the Steward's focus on Christos and His work changes the day.  I know how to live in the earth all by myself with some degree of success.  But, living in the earth from the living truth of heaven's realities requires a constant watch and attention to the Word, communication through prayer, and walking with the Spirit's eyes and ears.

Being a Steward requires a whole new set of realities.

A Steward's Thorn

I have been off-line due to delightful company here for the last four days.  Grandchildren who never stop playing, a poodle who wants to be held constantly, friends and family - plus our mission family from the Ukraine who blessed us with stories, witness and friendship during the long days of winter storm.  Life is full and abundant when one is in service to the Lord.

However, I do have a thorn in my side about this. Let me explain.

If someone were to ask me "How are you doing?", it is like falling into a pot -hole in a Minnesota road.  In the miniscule silence between the question and the response, I begin the mental calculation of all that "I have had to do."  Then begins that long description of how overwhelmed I am, how exhausting life is, and o yea - all that I haven't been able to get done.  I use the word, "tsunami" a lot and then a listing of my inabilities to even do the work God has graciously given to enjoy.

When I have finally have taken a breath and am able to ask, "So, how are things going with you,"  I immediately regret the last five minutes, feel the stinging poke of the thorn and inwardly acknowledge my complaining spirit.  The invitation to purge comes a lot and I am off and running at the mouth before I even think.

The Master has provided me with an exciting and stimulating life-style which includes many fascinating and exciting people who walk through my door.  It is what the Blessing House is for and why I love working for the Master.  So what is with that thorny problem of complaint.

As I sat before the Lord this morning, I realized the relationship between the thorn and my prayer life.  Prayer is, also, a stewardship for which I must render an account; for prayer is spiritual capital that I have been given to achieve, produce and create the life God has awarded me.  When I complain, I am splurging it on junk.

When I pray about each day and the people and events and tasks ahead of me....complaint has little room to manifest.  The Steward negates The Life and Love in each day by complaining.  The minute I have finished spewing, I know I have succombed to an old habit of sin that is poisonous to me and those who have to listen.

Taking my complaint to the Lord instead of others, changes the nature of the complaint into a conversation of confession, confusion and dismay which releases the tension and discouragement properly and allows the Holy Spirit to minister consolation, peace, and renewed hope like no human can.  All those who listen to me must be patient, long-suffering and probably fed up with my whine.  It does no good to anyone.

So, instead of asking me "How are you doing?",  ask me "What is God up to lately?"

The Steward's Battle

I could hardly sleep last night as I considered all the difficult decisions and events ahead of me to complete this project of rebuilding the Blessing House.  My heart quaked at the enormity of all that awaits me....all things I have never done before or know anything about.  Yet, I am the Steward and for all my passion for the work, I am starkly aware of  my inadequacies to make important decisions about things I have no experience with.  I take deep breaths and tears come because I am not sure why The Father chose such an inadequate workman.

I know a lot about many things....but selling a house, setting up financial plans, finding a new place to live and a storage place for all of my household belongings while the house is being built sinks my ship.  At the heart of my fear is that "God will not show up to help me."  That fear has its claws deep in me and I must stand against it and take authority to cast it out.

Once again the only antidote is the Word of God which I have to read again in the middle of the night to calm my shaking heart.  My fear has to do with the questions,"what if I make a mistake?"  What if I jump ahead of God because of my fear and make foolish decisions?"  The whole mess depends on trusting that God will intervene and bring about a good work anyway.  Stewarding things I have no control over brings fear.  So I must first Steward what I have - a heart and mind that is to be focused on the Lord and not circumstances.

I read in Ephesians about all things being placed in Christ for all that I need.  When I look at myself as a source of wisdom and knowledge I panic. Jesus is the source of all I need - spiritual and physical.  If this is not true, I am on my own to figure it out.  And "figuring" isn't the same as faith.

So, first of all I receive PEACE knowing that I am not smart enough to figure it all out.
Then, from Him, I receive WISDOM and DISCERNMENT by listening to the counselors He has set around me.  Their words will be received in my spirit as a yes or a no.  The Lord will confirm direction by several witnesses of peace, unity and clarity.

The life of the Steward is dependent on this .life-long process.

The Steward's Prayer

I have found that dependence and trust in God's promises is the most unnatural thing to do.  Every day I have to reorient my perspective and decisions with God's Word because my natural human tendency is to simply go my own way.  I know I am edging that way when anxiety and uncertainty creates waves in my soul.  This prayer helps me keep the perspective that I need when I am so tempted to panic and withdraw and waste time in figuring it out for myself.  This prayer is what I needed this morning as I contemplated all the details of selling this house.

Let me keep in mind that my mortal body is but the servant of my immortal soul:
Let me keep in mind how uncertain is my hold upon my bodily life:
Let me remember that here I have no continuing city,
     but only a place of sojourn and a time of testing and of training:
Let me use this world as not abusing it:
Let me be in this world, but not of it:
Let me be as having nothing yet possessing all things:
Let me understand the vanity of the temporal and the glory of the eternal:
Let my world be centered not in myself but it Thee.


With this dependence and trust re-established in the eternal perspective, I return to my work today without the pressure and stress of needing to make things work.  Today, I shall be in faith and trust that whatever I set my hand to do will be done in love and to honor the King.  I no longer need to worry about my day.

The Steward looks back.

Fourteen days between daily musings is a bit irresponsible for a steward.  Las Vegas and a week of catch-up certainly interrupted my routine but the Steward is not known necessarily for routine, but oversight of the times and events placed before her.

I read again about the defining nature of the Lord in the earth as a servant...a slave...one who was here strictly to do the will of the Father.  Thirty years, he served as an unknown with daily chores, relationships, work to accomplish and tasks that would prove His character through testings of all kinds.  The Father certainly is not afraid to take His sweet time in proving and defining His Steward.

 In Las Vegas I attended a megachurch that I interned at in 1996.  I was asked to become one of its pastors and had to refuse because of Jerry's death.  This  has been listed in my memory bank as a lost opportunity of "greatness".  This visit, however, after 16 years of a vague sense of loss, confirmed that the Master had protected me and directed me back to Waconia, back to a small church with a little teaching ministry in my home.

Place of service for the steward is of the Lord's plan.  I served Him as a wife and mother, neighbor and church member, community leader and friend.  I learned to steward all these roles and relationships according to the Word of God.  Then, after the death of two husbands and children launched,  I was released to be a teaching pastor who traveled the world after the age of 50.  The Blessing House, however, was divined of Him to be the focal point of my training and service in many of the Spirit's giftings during that whole period of time.

Each part of my life was training in the Word through study, prayer and obedience. Each assignment over the years was designed to teach me TRUST.  At this point, I have come to understand that the heart of the Steward is soaked in the realities of heaven's principles, laws and challenges.  The more my heart, mind and spirit are in line with the life of Christ as He walked this earth, the greater freedom I am experiencing from fear, confusion, and lack of direction.  The Steward has places to be and work to do that are ordained before time.  That gives me a lot of comfort, hope and joy as I look forward to the new challenge of redesigning four acres of Blessing House as a legacy for future generations.

The Steward's Gates into the Spiritual Realm

Thank you to all who have spoken to me or e-mailed your comments about the blog.  They are encouraging.  Do not be afraid to take issue with anything, however.  God uses the adversary to speak into my life at times, because even criticism has some basis in truth.  Friends don't always speak as freely as those who contend.

Writing is a form of confession - what I take time to write is more aligned with my belief than words spoken casually or private musings.  But, those things, once written, can be judged when read - both providing conviction in favor, or in opposition to what I have written.  Writing is a powerful tool for clarity as I record things gleaned from the Lord's presence.  Who knows but what I will need these revelations and credal statements in the days ahead.

The Steward operates in the physical realm through the principles and eternal truths of the spiritual realm - just as the Master did.  When I apply the principles of the natural life - the wisdom of our world system as written in many how-to books - I can get truly excited about making things happen for the Master.  Principles of organization, promotion, leadership and success have been my morning breakfast for years.  However, when they come to no end, or dissolve in frustration and resentment, confusion and lack of peace, my life as a happy Steward tanks and I consider some other calling.

Thankfully, I am learning to return to the reality that all the above mentioned principles are not wrong...but, if they are not applied in tune and time with the eternal realm ,it is wasted effort.  The spiritual realm is the guidance system through the instruction of the Word by the Holy Spirit.  If I am not able to "make things happen", it is a sign that I have once again turned to my own "highly developed methods and wisdom" instead of going to the Master.

This morning He instructed me according to Psalm 118: 19-21 on how to enter the gates of the eternal realm. These Gates of Righteousness through which I can freely go as a "righteous-one-made holy by the blood of the Lamb" are the gates of thanksgiving.  These are the gateways into the Kingdom of Righteousness wherein dwells peace and joy and abundance.  Jesus of Nazareth while in the earth walked through them all the time to receive instruction, direction and experience Love.

Gates into the spiritual realm are located on the path of thanksgiving that recognizes the loving provision already released in the Son of the Most High Father before the foundation of the world.  So, I am learning to go into my meeting with the King through the Gates of Righteousness.  As I bring my day or project before the dais, it is with thanksgiving in my heart for His provision, His love, and His ways of getting things done. But, is is not just in my heart.  It is expressed out loud in declaration of  2 Cor. 9:8.  I access peace and hope - joy and excitement for the day ahead as they all unfold before my eyes.  He is always at work overseeing all the things and people I cannot and bringing them into line with His will for my assigned project.  Ahh, the sweetness of the Lord's favor.

The Thinking Steward

I know I am  writing every day - and it is a bit much to read at any one sitting, let alone every day.  For myself, I am surprised that I am doing this in spite of all the other tasks of the day.  I believe it is important for me to muse daily, because it sets my thinking before my very eyes and helps me stay focused.

Becoming a Steward happens when you begin to think like a Steward instead of an owner.  Thinking runs feelings runs behavior.  Change occurs from the inside out and thinking is harder to change than behavior.

 When I  (speak) publish what I think, it begins to go from my thinking head into my thinking heart.  Behavior changes because my thinking changes.  For instance 2 Cor. 9: 6-15 are my motivational verses.  I know them in my head and think about them a lot.  But, when things are not going the way I planned, I revert to my thinking heart which has an evil creed of unbelief still lodged there.  It says, "God doesn't show up for me.  He isn't going to provide for me.  I am on my own to make it happen."  This is a lie that I have had to battle all my life.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he, says the Word.  So each day I must renew my mind to the Word of 2 Cor. 9 until it sinks into my heart and I operate from that place.  This blog helps set my mind and heart so they are in unity with my spirit and the Word.  When my consciousness becomes saturated with 2 Cor. 9, I will have defeated the lie about scarcity.  Then, I will become more like the Master I serve and He can move more effectively through me.

To become like Christos is to think like Christos and not like the world.  To become a Steward is to think like a steward and not like an owner.  Christianity changes us from the inside out.  Religion want to change us from the outside in through rules and regulations and rituals.  When the Steward has been changed inwardly, the Steward treats all things and people differently - that is with love and freedom.

The Test of the Steward

This morning I cannot get away from the subject of tithing.  I know that neither Jesus nor his disciples writing in the NT say anything about the commandment of tithing as in the OT.  The Christian has been given the one law of love which is the motive for giving generously.  However, I find, even now the dependence on money as the answer, as a competing law still operating in me.  I know it is showing its ugly face because I become anxious and resentful.  I even thought about reducing my tithe so I would have more money to spend on the new Blessing House Project.

For the Steward, tithing is a first step in training in trust.  Malachi, the last book of the OT contains these words.  3:6  I, the Lord, do not change....ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.  Return to me and I will return to you....
But, you ask, "How are we to return?"
Will a man rob God?  Yet you rob me.
But you ask, "How do we rob you?"
In tithes and offerings.  You are under a curse - the whole nation of you - because you are robbing me.  Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there might be food in my house.  Test me in this...and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."
As a steward, I read this with great weeping because I know that in this simple clear directive, the church has had no faith or trust.  I know all the arguments for and against....but, I am saying as a steward, this is a simple step in trusting the Master.  If you cannot hear this and obey - when it is loud and clear - why do you think that you can hear his loving whisper as He speaks in your spirit about other things.

This is not a rule of salvation, but a good rule of life that stands up to the spirit of mamon, the god of this world, and slaps him in the face and says...the law of money as security and identity no longer operates in my life.  It is the ruling passion of the day and all of government, business, and individuals bow to its power.  And you can see how effective that is in a fruitful life.

 The Steward that will not give up the tithe will hardly give up all else to serve the Master.  Do you want to give up time, labor or goods instead of money?  You have the choice.  But, as for me, it is the money
because it is the mammon spirit that sidesteps the tithe of money in favor of something easier.  The sacrificial life doesn't get to chose its altars.

God doesn't need my tithe - He is looking for the one in whom He can show Himself strong.  The one who trusts in His love in obedience to His Word is the one He can trust with His Life Plan for the world.

Lessons to be learned as a Steward

I read this morning that the most spiritual thing I can do each day is "to chose".  Silly me, I have been thinking it is waking up each morning and shouting "Fear Not!"  This command is given 365 times in the Scriptures  - one for every day.  Maybe the two go together because the Steward is faced with choices about a number of things that can produce fear.

Can I really trust the promises?  Can I truly build a life on the promises and not on what my 5 physical senses report?  Is it naive" to take God at His Word?  We have been given the freedom to chose since the Garden, but which choice will limit my freedom and which choice gives me freedom?  Do not be afraid to chose the Word, claims the Steward, because it will  always lead into a life of freedom.  Life is so upside down in the kingdom of heaven in which the Steward consciously lives.  Die to gain life.  Give to receive. Let go to find satisfaction.

Oswald Chambers reports that God nowhere tells us to give up things for the sake of giving them up.  He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having viz. life with Himself.  This is what I have had to do this last week.  Give up my agenda, my time table, my perspective and accept that even though it seemed that I was being a responsible steward, I had overstepped my boundaries.  I should have known that frustration, confusion, and growing resentment meant I was not operating in "peace".  And peace is what the Steward experiences when in line with the Master's will.  I was trying to make things happen because I am good at that in my natural self.  Unfortunately, the Master is not interested in my natural self, but in my developing spiritual self.

This is what I wrote last night.
I am a strange woman.
     alien to the earth
My permanent residence is in the dimension
     known as heaven
Yet, I have been located in terra firma for
 68 years and assigned to the region of Minnesota.


I am learning to operate from my eternal spirit
given to me by my Father during re-birth.
I am developing the spirit organs of hearing,
sight, speaking with the tongues of my homeland 
and responsive to the feelings and touch of holiness.
I am being changed by the Master Holy Spirit
to match the Christos who is YHWH enfleshed.
His glory and character are my inheritance along
with all the blessings found in heaven - even now
while earth bound.
New birth is already accomplished in my spirit in which
 is lodged all the powers and authorities of the Master.
The change points are in my soul and body as they 
come under the rule of the  Word and Spirit.  
I am known in heaven and earth as "a Father's Joy"
because I am named Gail.  My assignment as such
is Steward of the Blessing House.

The Steward's Antidote for Discouragment

The Steward is not immune to the slings and arrows of life.  This morning I awoke to feeling "stuck".  I am no further along in my project to reconstruct the Blessing House on 4 acres than I was months ago.  I don't know how to move forward when I am at the mercy of other people's schedules and my own inability to make things happen.  I am feeling miserable, frustrated, helpless, overwhelmed, a failure, confused, frightened and abandoned.

These are feelings - not right or wrong...they just are.  And I know that feelings follow my thoughts.  But, the Steward has the antidote for those lifeless, degenerating feelings that steal energy and joy.  The Word of God is my only source of re-establishing hope and interest and excitement for the work assigned - a path blazed out for me from before time.  This morning I read Colossions to redirect my thoughts - and therefore, my feelings.  The Master reminded me that what is written is written and has true authority over all my own perspective and feelings.

  I know the mystery which is, Christ in me, the hope of glory.  1:27
To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy which so powerfully works in me.1:29
I have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that I may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.2:2
As you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted, and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  2:6
In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and I have been given fullness in Christ who is the head over every power and authority. 2:9


I truly do not know how I am going to solve these difficulties.  I have hit a wall and cannot move without help.  But, my hope is renewed, my vision for the work strengthened, my energy restored so discouragment can be turned to useful work.  I am assured that it will be accomplished, the Master knows the situation and with His energy I will persist and persevere with thankfulness.  I am not alone or abandoned.  These are the prayer thoughts as I begin my prayer (conversation) with the Master this morning.

The Steward operates in a strange freedom.

One of the most surprising and yet satisfying experiences in my life as a steward happened this week.  My home, called the Blessing House, has been extremely significant in my life, because it was the one thing that I could depend on not changing.  I have had the privilege traveling the globe in missions to the Kenya, Tanzania, India and the Philipines plus many of the United States.  I could leave knowing I had a place to return that nurtured and cared for my needs because it was a source of joy.  Much of my life has been vested in a place that reflects who I am and has been the home-place of my family.  It has provided a safe, intact nest as we went through the deaths of two husbands and a son plus many other life changes.

Surprisingly, I am ready to leave this reality.  I no longer seem to require living here as a place of security and identity.  Over the past year, I have grieved and wondered if I was doing the right thing in building a new place in a different community.  Many others have wondered how I could ever leave such a beautiful and blessed setting on Lake Waconia. where all my needs were met and it required absolutely no faith to live here.

This week I showed my home to a family with three children because I need to sell it.  No trepidation at all in helping them imagine a life in this place....in fact, there was a joy that arose thinking that a family would find such a wonderful experience waiting for them.   This detachment and willingness to move tells me that I have truly become the Steward of all that I possess and not the owner.  It is the Master who has decided to move His Blessing House and has prepared me for the work.  "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Eph. 2:10

This encourages me because I took comfort that The Blessing House was one thing I could depend on my whole life as being my place in the earth.  But, I have learned that The Lord is my safety place....and if He wants to move the Blessing to a new place, I do not want to be left behind.  The Steward's training must include many opportunities of letting go of things and people on which the steward depended on for life, peace and joy and comfort.

As the love deepens for the Master, ties with this world system - a co-dependency of a sort - begin to drop away.  A view of the greater reality of the unseen realm begins to take precedent over this physical world so the Steward gets to operate in a new freedom from the pressures so many earthlings face.

Note to those who are reading this blog....

I have learned through the emails and conversations that many more are reading this than have signed on because of the complexities.  It seems that one must have a gmail, yahoo or twitter service.  Even then, Fred Hawkins reported that it was harder to post a comment than to break into  Fort Knox - so that is why there are no comments.  I don't know what to do about that as yet, but am looking into it.

In the meantime, I trust that there are readers who are resonating with this life of a steward and so I will continue to write into the great unknown because it is a good experience for me.  It is a chance to see what I am thinking about.  At times, I don't even know until I write it down that this is how I perceive life.  Blogging is a new experience and I am enjoying the process immensely.  Gail

The Steward Knows The Master

The life of the Steward is a lifestyle that is wholly dependent on knowledge of the Master.  Most humans are more concerned about knowing themselves, than knowing whom they serve.  That is because most of us are focused on ourselves and our welfare in the earth - even for an altruistic purpose of serving our loved ones, our country or even the church.  These are all powerful motivations for doing what we do - even for ourselves.

The Steward, however, is focused on the One served.  Our enemy really doesn't care whom we chose to serve during our lifetime as long as we do not serve the Mighty One.  If our mind is occupied with earthly service, however, we serve the one who wants to keep us deceived as to the ultimate end of things.  "Chose this day whom you will serve" challenged Joshua.  "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

I believe that many Christians have responded with a "yes" and then spend their life in service to the church, good works and worthy projects without ever spending time getting to know the One whom they serve.  That can get messy when our service is ignored, overlooked, dismissed, and not appreciated....or when it produces only discouragement, false pride, anger and control.  I know that kind of service.

I am spending a lot of time slowly going through the book of Mark with a closer look at who Jesus really is.  I watch Him work, read what He says and ponder on what kind of person God would make.  This is the Master whom I serve and bring my questions to.  Today, was the Transfiguration  (Mark 9) - the moment when Jesus metamorphed from His human flesh into His spiritual self.  The Greek words say that the inmost being of the Son of God was like dazzling white energy not known in the earth.  "Stilbe" is the word that means it was a shining that was active - a glory that was an inherent possession within the clay vessel.  He held a heavenly conference with Elijah and Moses and Father God was there in the form of a cloud - the shekinah glory that followed the Israelites in a cloud. ( The Father seems to expose Himself  to the world always in cloud and voice.  Psalm 18 convinces me He was at the cross in the dark clouds that  hovered over His son.)  My heart starts pumping every time I realize that the earthly dimension gets pushed aside whenever the unseen spiritual dimension of heaven breaks through.... operating right here even though we cannot see it.  That changes me as I go through my daily routine.

When the Steward grasps the truth about whom He serves....it changes the day because the Steward is highly aware that the Master is right on every count, His Word is unimpeachable, and obedience to what is written is not up for argument.

I had a lot of questions for the Master this morning concerning details of my day.  Because He gave me a glimpse of Himself and the nature of the One I serve, my questions are resolved.  As I go through my day, they will be answered as encountered, prompted by His Holy Spirit.  I rest - not in having my questions answered, but in trusting the One I serve.