LIFE: breathe

There are two instances in Scripture where God breathes. The first time is in Genesis 2:7 when the Father forms the first man and then breathes life into him. “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person” (NLT). An important distinction that must be made here is that the man did not come alive until after God gave him the breath of life. This shows us that Humans are integrally both physical and spiritual. I would even go so far as to say that we are souls with bodies, rather than bodies with souls. I know that I’m making a play on words, but I believe it is a subtle but important distinction. Life was not present in the physical body; life was in the neshawmaw (breath). The man came alive through the neshawmaw hakhaheem (breath of life). The spiritual neshawmaw fused with the physical dust and the first man became a living being. So, we must always see ourselves as both spiritual and natural people who were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27) and for His glory (Isaiah 43:7).

On a slight biblically tangent, followers of Jesus, Christians, will experience three types of embodiment. The first is now on earth as embodied souls: Genesis 2:7 “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person” (NLT). The second will come after physical death in the spiritual realm as a disembodiment: 2 Corinthians 5:8, 9 “Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him” (NLT). The third will come after the final judgment where those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will be burned in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15) while followers of Jesus will experience eternity in Heaven with God in a resurrection embodiment: 1 Corinthians 15:42, 43 “It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength” (NLT).

Now, the second time where God breathes is in John 20:22 “Then he [Jesus] breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit” (NLT). Not only does this speak volumes of Jesus’ divinity, but it also reveals to us that Jesus is the Giver of new life. When a person puts their faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within that person (1 Corinthians 6:19) and they become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). In meditating on how this new creation happens, I believe when a person puts their faith in Jesus a miracle happens, their spirit becomes eternally fused with the Holy Spirit and in this way they become a new creation. Now in being followers of Jesus, who have been equipped, empowered and commissioned by Him to be His ambassador in everyway while all creation awaits His return, we too are called to breathe life into every person we encounter and any situation we may find ourselves in. Where our prophetic words of Truth saturated with the anointing of the Holy Spirit have the power to release the presence of God, to release life wherever we are and with whomever we are with.

So this is my prayer: that the Lord would continue to demolish the strongholds within us that restrain the flow of Living Water that He has promised will flow out from the very center of our being. I pray the Lord would set ablaze the prophetic words of Truth that we speak, igniting life into people and situations moving them to give thanks and praise to our Father in Heaven because of us. In Jesus Name, Amen.


LIFE: creation

I’ve felt moved by the Spirit of God to begin meditating on life. So, in response to His leading I’ve read through the story of creation (Genesis 1 and 2) while paying close attention to signs of life. Overall, what struck me was God’s power over His creation. Never once while reading the text did I ever get the sense that God was really straining Himself to create. No, when I read the narrative, my sense of it is that God was thoroughly enjoying Himself during the creation process: He took great pleasure in creating because God loves life. Not only do I believe that God loves life, but that He also loves celebrating life. I couldn’t help but wonder about the joyousness that must have gone on while God was creating. After all, it was quite the epic event.

Reading through the creation narrative was a good reminder of the truth that God is the Author of life. This means that whenever and wherever we encounter life, we should be reminded of our Creator who is the Giver of life. I don’t know about you, but I spend far too much time gazing at Man’s creation (technology) than I do gazing at God’s creation (all living things). Maybe we can spend the next few days together watching creation while praying that God would help us to see the wondrousness of life and to celebrate creation as He does: “as very good.” This truth has not rung more true to me than now.

Currently, I have been given the privilege to serve the Lord in Tanzania, Africa for the next two months. When I look around at the quality of life here in Tanzania, I am arrested by the pervasive poverty everywhere. It is hard for me to see the goodness of creation because sin has marred creation and distorted the created order. But, the more time I spend being among the Tanzanian people, the more I’ve come to see not only the preciousness of people, but also the goodness of God’s creation as very good. God has blessed me to see that because everyone is created in the image of God, we are all precious, period. He has also blessed me to see the resilience in the Tanzanian people which I see as coming from God who proclaimed at creation that what He created was “good.” God doesn’t ever create junk and because of this, He has built into us a resilience to endure through great hardships. He is after all the master Craftsman.

So this is my prayer: that as we gaze upon creation, God, the Author of life, would bless us with redemptive eyes to see past the sin that mars and distorts all of life, and to see creation from an eternal perspective with the faith to believe that because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, He is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). In His Name, Amen.


along the Way

Well, I am gearing up to head over to Southern Tanzania, Africa for two months (January & February 2011). I will be travelling with a non-profit organization Global Family Rescue (GFR). I can’t tell you how excited I am about this opportunity to help apostolically shape GFR’s humanitarian aide work over there with the Gospel. God has placed a growing burden to not only care for the sick, poor and hungry, but to also confront the demonic oppression over their lives that perpetuates injustice and keeps people in bondage to poverty and sickness. When I read about the Way Jesus lived while He walked among us, I am always confronted with how He moved both in love and in power. Jesus met people right where they were at and released the presence of God into their lives where people experienced God’s unconditional love and His radical forgiveness for sins. But, Jesus also released the power of the Kingdom of God into their lives as well which set people free from sickness, demonic oppression and bondage.

This growing passion to follow in the footsteps of my Saviour King both challenges and empowers me all at the same time. But, if I step back from my life and give a prophetic eye to the journey Jesus has had me on since He saved me, this leg of the journey is right on time. Now, I’m not saying that I am fully ready for this, but I am not afraid. Though I am anticipating that much is going to happen along the Way while I am in Tanzania, at the end of the day I am going agenda-less. There are some things that I sense the Holy Spirit has placed on my heart to be prepared for, but what is most pressing is that above all else I need to just make myself, with the help of the Holy Spirit, fully available to Jesus and the Kingdom agenda that He wants to accomplish both in and through me. This means I will need to be consciously dying to myself, rather than trying to preserve myself (Luke 9: 23-25). So, please remember me in prayer over these coming months. I’m not sure on how much Internet access I will have while in Tanzania, but I will make an effort to keep you all posted. Also, if there is anything I can be praying for you all please let me know. I love praying for and with people and would be honored to join with you in prayer. 


livingWORSHIP

Lately I’ve been realizing that I am just getting this idea of living a life in worship to the Father. Though I’ve been saved almost 10 years now, have experienced many supernatural moves of God in my life, been through Seminary, actively involved in mentoring, discipleship and being on mission for Jesus, been in ministry leadership as well as starting a prayer movement, what I am realizing is that I am really only just grasping the concept of living a life of worship to the Father. More and more, Holy Spirit has been reminding me of Jesus’ words, “But the time is coming – indeed it’s here now – when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way”(John 4:23 NLT). The more I meditate on what it means to be a worshipper of Spirit and Truth, the more I am convinced that there’s a huge difference between doing worship and being a worshipper. I believe that everyone is capable of worship. If we realize it or not we are actively engaged in worship everyday. You don’t have to be a prophet to see how the world revolves around the worship of people and things. The worship of celebrities and political figures is nothing new, nor is the idolization of technology. Add to this equation the rising tides of addiction in the world and you have a recipe for even greater degrees of misdirected and distorted worship. It’s funny though worship is inherent to who we are because we have a Creator, why is it so difficult to live a life of worship to our Creator? The simple answer is sin. Sin has a way of perverting and distorting everything that we do. It’s not that sin makes us all as evil as we could ever be, but sin does have a way of twisting even our best intentions. Sin entangles us and keeps us from embracing being the true worshippers of Spirit and Truth that God desires.

Currently, I am in a unique season. The Lord is teaching me what is means to be His missionary. Over the last five years, I have been heavily involved in church ministry and leadership and have loved every moment. But, earlier this year the Lord impressed on me His desire for me to learn what it means for me to always be His missionary first and foremost. This transition has taken about a year and has meant stepping down from all church leadership, even relocating to another church. Embracing this new season, has inspired this current reflection on worship and service to the Lord. To be honest, this transition has been harder than I had expected. Always being God’s missionary has meant seeing life through a different lens. For the last five years I’ve looked at life through the lens of a shepherd caring for the flock that God has entrusted to my care. Now that this flock has been entrusted to others, I am feeling a bit lost. What I am realizing is that working in the barn is a bit different than working in the fields. When I was working in the barn (church), it was easier to discern the line between what was worship to the Lord and what was not. Learning to work in the fields (world) has meant redefining what worship to the Lord looks like. Working in the field has also meant having to be more intentional about making what I am doing as an act of worship to the Lord. Being in church ministry and leadership made it easier to see my service as a form of worship to God. It was easy to see what I was doing as “working for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23 NIV). Now that I am not actively involved in church leadership it’s like I now have to relearn what it means to be “working for the Lord.

I know I am still in the process of walking this out, but where I am leaning towards is rather than trying to make everything I do an act of worship to God I need to simply embrace more fully the reality that through Jesus I simply am a worshipper of the living God. If I try to make everything I do an act of worship to God, worship can very easily become reduced to a bunch of tasks to be checked off a list. I would end up doing worship all day, rather than being a worshipper where worship is inherent to who I am. On the surface, they may look simliar, but underneath is a world of difference. When worship is inherent to who I am, everything that I do becomes an act of worship because it is born out of love and devotion for the Father. Jesus fully understood this. His whole life was lived in worship to the Father because He understood who He was to the Father and who the Father was to Him. It must be no different with us. Our worship must come from a place of intimacy with the Father. The Pharisees lacked this intimacy with the Father and their lives where reduced to a bunch of external actions strung together with the guise of worship. But, their offerings of worship lacked the inward motivation that the Father desired. Everything they did had the external motivation of being seen and praised by men. They were continually projecting image, rather than pursuing intimacy. When worship comes from a place of intimacy with the Father, then a worshipper that the Father desires is born. And here’s the Good News: as believers in Christ we already have this intimacy with the Father, we just need to lean in and embrace this intimacy.


O great Comforter, comfort me.

Over this past month, I’ve been wrestling with the loneliness that has been holding my heart hostage. This loneliness has stolen much of my passion and motivation. I’ve been feeling extremely stuck. Hence, this past short break from blogging. Though it’s only been about a month, it feels much longer because before hitting this speed bump in my heart I’ve been in a pretty good rhythm of faith and life. But, as I have been wrestling within my heart, soul and mind with this growing loneliness I’ve come to realize that unless this loneliness is addressed it will continue to derail me and cause me to stumble You see, I have within me (as we all do) a sexual longing that seeks to be fulfilled.

In the past, I’ve allowed this sexual longing to control me which has propelled me to explore a variety of avenues to gain sexual satisfaction, none of which were at all pleasing to the Lord. Since coming to faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit has taken me on a journey of freedom. Freedom from all the many soul ties I’ve made with the various women of past relationships which have controlled me by keeping me living in the regrets of the past. It’s amazing how past disappoints and moments of rejection and betrayal can linger and fester in one’s heart. But, as Jesus has broken these soul ties and brought healing to my wounded heart, I’ve gained greater freedom to live in the peace of the present while looking forward to a future of hope. 

So, why am I still stuck wrestling with this loneliness today? Well, what the Lord has revealed to me (which has sparked this renewed vigor) is that I’ve been allowing my past relationships, regardless if they were healthy or not, and my inner fantasies of a future wife to comfort me in my loneliness, rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to be my Comforter. It’s not that I wish to live in the past, the Holy Spirit has done that good work of setting me free from the shame, regret and pain of my past, but rather in my loneliness I’ve been comforting myself by remembering moments when I wasn’t lonely to give me relief. I’ve also been finding comforting in fantasizing about what being married will be like, even what I hope my wife will be like which isn’t all that healthy either because both reminiscencing and fantasizing have a way of idealizing and distorting reality.

It’s amazing, I’ve read and prayed Jesus’ Words to myself countless times in asking Holy Spirit to be my Comforter (John 14:16, 26). But, what this recent revelation has revealed to me is that though Holy Spirit is my Comforter, I’ve shunned His comfort in leiu of my own self-constructed comfort which to be honest really hasn’t worked out so well. So, in response to this gentle and loving revelation, I’ve begun to ask Holy Spirit to help me let go of my self-constructed system of comfort, so that I can begin to embrace Him as my Comforter in my loneliness. So this is my prayer: Father in Heaven thank You that You continually pour out Your grace upon our lives. Thank You Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit, Who comforts, helps, intercedes, advocates and strengthens us in our weakness. And Holy Spirit, great Comforter, come and comfort me. In Jesus Name, Amen.


LOSTprayerLIFE

I have just recently celebrated another birthday. Since coming to faith, birthdays have had a growing significance to me because, simply put, birthdays celebrate life. For most of my life I’ve taken my life for granted. This has played itself out with the many years of living an extreme drug lifestyle where I cared very little for the well being of my own life, let alone for the life of others. To sum it up, I was shooting to live until about 30, that was my attitude toward life and the speed of my trajectory. When I look back, I believe it’s because very early on in my life the devil began to steal, kill and destroy any and all of my hopes and dreams. I can honestly say that it was around the age 10 that I slowly stopped caring about life. I don’t say this to escape taking responsibility for the life I lived, regardless of the extenuating circumstances I chose to live my life, my way. I wasn’t a victim (though it would be easy to take that position), but a willful participate.

The devil would love for us to think of ourselves as victims, this way he can keep us wallowing in self-pity blinded from seeing the strength and resilience that God has placed in us because we are made in His image (Genesis 1:27). Victims live in fear, but God created us out of love, for love and to love. He promises us that there is no fear in love (1 John 4:18). Are you tired of living in fear? Jesus says that though the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, He has come to give us fullness of life (John 10:10). Birthdays have had a growing significance to me because each birthday celebration reminds me that if it wasn’t for Jesus intervening in my life, I would literally be dead. To this day, I can honestly say that it is solely by the grace of God that I live today. Most people don’t see what I see when they look into the rearview mirror of life and I’m glad because I wouldn’t wish my life on anyone. I’m also so very grateful that God chose to have mercy on me, but this wasn’t always the case.

In the first year of coming to faith, I suffered from survivor’s guilt because I couldn’t understand why God decided to save me and not my friends. I can still remember asking God, “Why me?” But, I also remember God saying back to me, “Why not you?” One of the greatest mysteries of God is understanding His ways. Maybe you’ve heard the saying, “God moves in mysterious ways” which is from a poem titled the same by William Cowper. And though there is some truth to this, it’s not the whole story because God has given us the Bible and Holy Spirit, so that we can begin to understand His ways. Now granted God is God and we are not and His ways are higher than our ways, so there will always be some mystery in understanding God’s ways. But, we are definitely not totally lost here. “But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us” (1 Corinthians 210-12 NLT).

When it comes to understanding why some people choose to come to faith and others don’t (Arminianism) or why God chooses to save some and not others (Calvinism), will always be one of the great mysteries this side of Heaven. There’s plenty of reading on Calvinism and Arminianism out there where you can decide or not decide for yourselves which perspective is more persuasive. Personally, I believe that God chose to have mercy on me because His heart is for none to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) which translates into: God’s heart towards us is to heal, save, redeem and restore. I also believe that our prayers move God’s heart (Psalm 34:4; 120:1). A revelation that the Holy Spirit spoke to me, which I believe is a revelation that every believer needs to hear, happened one day when I was driving down the road. I was at a red light watching a person walk by when I very distinct heard Holy Spirit say to me, “Pray for that person because their name/image has never been brought before the throne of God.”

In that moment, God broke my heart for the lost. Since that day, I have made it a point to pray for strangers (people walking down the street, people driving in cars, people I see on TV or read about, people in restaurants or at the grocery store, etc.) because I may be the very first person to ask God to intervene in their life. I may be the very first person to pray that He would pour out His mercy and grace upon them. Think about it. How many people do you think are living right now that have never been prayed for? Just thinking about it, overwhelms me. But, I need to remind myself that it is not my burden alone, but the burden of all believers to be praying for the lost. I hope reading this has ignited within you a burning passion to begin praying for strangers. Who knows, the very next stranger you pray for could be the first time their name/image has ever been brought before the throne of God. 


FOUND lost in the shuffle

FOUND lost in the shuffle

by Gerald T. Ching

 

Wandering amongst the ruins of a decayed wasteland,

my eyes scan the debris and rubble, yearning

for answers. Digging

in the trenches, I search

for what I cannot have.

 

Within this perpetuation

I am bound to this obsessiveness

that leads me by the tip of my nose

through the fields within my mind, in addiction.

 

Against bitter swirling winds I am blown,

but still I press on. Little dogs nip

at the heels of my feet as I shoulder the wind. Running

at a snail’s pace I make my way towards destruction. Pulled

by invisible strings, I am

forever bound to this driven path.

 

Caught within the sands of time,

I melt into wickedness.

The barrier that has shielded me

for all of my years slowly starts to dissolve

into the aging decay of my darkened soul.

 

Beaten and scarred

with scarlet letters pinned to my breast,

the aura of my former self

suffocates in this dimming light

forever found wishing to be lost

once again to ignorance. All the many answers

to the simplicity of why, fill and clutter my head.

 

Confusion sets in

as the overload siren honks and hoots in the still air.

Anxiety sets in

as steam starts to pour from every orifice of my body,

draining me, leaving me exhausted, spent, and shivering in space.

 

Sinking in to the darkness of my shadow

that has become my soul, the tensionsof this heartache

eases; helping to soften the wrinkles

that spider web around my impure eyes.

 

Floating into a dreamscape of reality

I melt into deep slumber

and am set free into the cosmos

with memories of old coming to life,

filling the deepness of my heart.

 

In this weightless environment

all things become possible. The lost moments

that have haunted my wakened existence are relived in perfection;

impulsive decisions turn into thoughtful evaluations

as hindsight becomes foresight

with prudence reigning above all.

 

The should’ve, would’ve, could’ve procrastinations

become living assertive realities, while 

 the chest of regret that a lifetime has gathered and stockpiled

groans in defiance as it feels its demise come charging in.

 

The chains that have kept

these sorrows safe, snap like twigs

as an Angel of the Lord riding a fiery steed of Hope

blazes in on this vision, setting it to ash;

to linger no longer in the remnants of longing.


Yes, God still miraculously heals today!

On Sunday, September 27th, 2010, God supernaturally grew out one of my legs and then evened them out. Yes, a physical creative miracle happened. The back story on this is that over the last four or five years my lower back has been steadily giving me more and more pain. All of this culminated a week before when I flew from Los Angeles to Chicago (September, 19th). After the flight I started to feel a sharp pain in my left leg and it even started to go numb from time to time. On Monday, I rested as much as I could, but the pain was still there. On Tuesday, I was walking through a grocery store and in the back by the pharmacy there was a little stand where a chiropractic business was checking people’s balance. I filled out the form and let them know that I had ongoing lower back pain and that now my left leg had just started to hurt and go numb from time to time. So, they had me stand on two scales, one for each foot and checked my balance. What the balance test revealed was that I leaned almost 12 pounds (5.5 kg) to my left leg which normally should only be a 2-3 pounds (0.9-1.2 kg) difference confirming that added pressure was being put on my sciatic nerve and was possibly causing the numbness.

To back up a bit, the week before all of this happened I felt the Lord really challenge me while I was at a prayer meeting (Septmeber 15th) where people were praying for healing for a woman. I very distinctly heard Jesus ask me: “Do you really believe that the Father will give you anything that you ask of Him in My Name?” His voice wasn’t an audible voice, but I distinctly felt and heard His voice reverberate throughout the whole of my being. I heard it in my head and in my heart all at the same time. It was like Jesus was speaking directly to my spirit. So, for the next few days I really wrestled with this question. But as I wrestled, Holy Spirit kept reminding me that the only reason that I live, move and have my being in Him at all is because of God’s grace. All the blessings in my life are truly undeserved; be it healing, salvation, deliverance, redemption or restoration. As Paul so eloquently put it, “But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace” (1 Corinthians 15:10 NLT).

If you know my story, then you may think that if anyone should get this it’s me. But, though I have experienced many supernatural moves of God’s grace in my life, I still wrestled deep within my heart with a distorted view of God’s heart towards me. God’s heart towards us is to heal, save, redeem and restore, period. I mean He gave up His one and only Son, Jesus, so that He could accomplish all of these things through an intimate relationship with us for all eternity. That’s God’s heart towards us. He’s not stingy with His love, goodness, mercy and grace, but infinitely generous and compassionate when it comes to gifting, blessing and showing favor towards us. We just need to believe and receive His love, goodness, mercy, grace, gifts, blessings and favor. Coming to this revelation has really freed up my heart and mind to just receive from the Lord and allow Him to pour out the fullness of His grace upon my life. In my wrestling what I was confronted with was the belief that 1) I thought I needed to work for God’s grace, 2) I didn’t think that God wanted to show me more of His favor and 3) because I was too proud or too ashamed I would just plain refuse to accept God’s favor. But, the breakthrough came when I began repenting for these distorted beliefs of trying to earn God’s favor by working for it, of my own self-condemnation that I projected onto God thinking He didn’t want to show me more of His favor and of my pride and shame that refused to accept God’s goodness and blessings towards me.

Now back to the healing miracle at hand. After leaving the balance test, I began to think that maybe my left leg was a little longer than the other and because of this has effected my lower back over the years which is quite typical from what I understand. That night I had my connect group (small group) pray for my back, a couple people said they definitely felt like there was a spiritual component, one of them saw an image of a vine wrapped around one of my legs. When I woke up on Wednesday, the pinching and numbness was gone. Later that day I felt like I should try and measure my legs and ask for God to even them out. So, I sat on my bed stretched my legs out and placed my hands on my right hip and began to simple ask the Father in Jesus Name to even out my legs. Nothing fancy. Right away my right hip began to tingle for a minute or so and then stopped. In my spirit, I really felt like God did do something, but I wasn’t sure what. So, I thanked God for healing me and that was that. (I know this post is extra long, but I really want to give as clear and detailed account of everything that happened, so please bear with me. I promise you it’s worth it.)

Fast forward to Sunday, September 27th, 2010 around 8pm. I am at a teaching session on healing (through my church: CITC) at Chris and Nancy Whiteley’s house. As the teaching portion was ending, I asked the group to pray for my back pain. I didn’t go into detail of what had transpired earlier in the week, but did share that I felt like my back pain had a spiritual component, was possibly connect to a generational curse and that I felt like one of my legs could possibly be longer than the other. So, Nancy and Chris led me through a prayer of repentance over the generational curse over my family and then began prayerfully breaking in Jesus Name any connection that a spirit of infirmary may have had over my back pain and began praying for healing and restoration to any degenerative damage to my back. During this time I really didn’t feel anything at all. So, next they had me sit in a wooden chair with my lower back resting fully against the back of the chair. Chris then had me lift my legs and he held my feet together to see if they were different lengths. After the group looked at my legs they said that my right leg was definitely a little shorter than the left.

So, while Chris was holding my feet, Dave Foster put his hand on my right shin and began to invite the Holy Spirit to come and bring healing to my leg. Then Taylor Lyall, who had his hand on my right thigh began to command my right leg to grow out in Jesus Name. Here’s where it gets good. All of a sudden my right leg from the knee down began to tingle like crazy and then it felt like someone yanked really hard on my right foot and I literally felt my leg grow out from around my ankle area. Everyone there started screaming that my foot just totally grew out like an inch or so (maybe around 3 cm). Personally, it really felt like my leg had grown too much. I didn’t say anything but then Chris had Monica come put her hand on my feet and she began to pray that God would even out my legs. Then my left ankle area began to tingle too and it really felt like both my legs were shifting about. It was quite a strange feeling. I was literally holding onto the chair like I was about to take off or something. All in all, I think we prayed for maybe 10 minutes while I was sitting in the chair. Afterwards, when I stood up it definitely felt different.

Today (September 27th), as I am writing this the calf muscle in my right leg feels extra tight and my right knee feels a bit weird like it’s adjusting or something. I have no more pain in my lower back, but I do feel like the muscles back there are a tiny bit sore as well. Maybe my lower back muscles, nerves and tendons are also adjusting I’ll see over then next few weeks if I need more restorative prayer on my back. Over the weekend, I bought a balance board and ordered a Bosu ball because I wanted to work on resetting my balance. I’m glad I did because now I can work on my balance, not because I have one leg shorter than the other, but because God miraculously lengthened and evened out my legs and now I need to reset my balance because I have too legs that are the same length. God’s grace and goodness towards us is so amazing! So amazing!!!


ONEway

The basis for any theology must be grounded in the God man Jesus Christ. If it is not, than you might as well start a new religion based on any deranged egomaniac of your choosing. It is only through Christ’s redeeming finished work of His death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification that any one of us can call ourselves a child of God. As Jesus Himself said, “Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. . . . Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” (John 8: 43-45 NIV). Without Him we are truly blinded by sin and lost in total depravity due to the Fall (Genesis 3).

Because of our fallen nature we all have an obsessive and compulsive tendency to do evil and follow the devil. Paul not only confirms the words of Jesus, but he also gives us our hope in Him as well when he so eloquently states, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:3-5 NIV).

If we are to further God’s Kingdom here on Earth, our very identity must be in Christ (Romans 8:1) and we must go out in His name (Mark 16:15-18), who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 9:16). If we are not grounded in Christ, the Word made man (John 1:14), than our efforts will be purely humanistic, rather than for the Kingdom of God. In the end, we must recognize that we were created by and for Christ (Colossians 1:16) so that we could do good works in Christ (Ephesians 2:10). What else do we have to hang our hats on? If not the promises of God, that have been, are being, and will be fulfilled by Christ Jesus. Thankfully He will be with us always, even until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20b).


G(o)ODNESS

The heart of the Father is goodness towards us to heal, save, redeem, restore and deliver, but because we are caught in a war where the enemy is constantly attacking people and trying to destroy them (John 10:10a) many people confuse this suffering as actually coming from the heart of God. The last thing God wants is that people would suffer, His heart is that no one perish, but all would come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Now if you’re like me than the question that comes to mind is: “Well, if God doesn’t want anyone to perish, than why doesn’t He cause this to happen?” The causality of God is surely a mystery. I mean the causality of God has been on the hearts and minds of people for thousands of years. I’m not about to wade into this debate, but rather share how I find peace in the midst of this mystery of God.

For me, when I don’t understand something in terms of faith and life (which happens often), rather than question the character of God, I try to remind myself of what Scripture says about Who God is. I mean the Scriptures describe God as the Eternal (Deuteronomy 33.27; Romans 1:20) King (Psalm 95:3; Isaiah 43:15), Who is an infinite (Psalm 147:5; Job 11:7-9), unchangeable (James 1:17), Spirit (John 4:24), perfect (Matthew 5:48) in holiness (Isaiah 6:3; 1 Peter 1:15-16), Living (Psalm 42:2; 84:2), True (Jeremiah 10:10), wise (Psalm 104:24; Proverbs 2:6; Isaiah 28:29), good (Exodus 33:19; Psalm 63:2; 31:19), just (Psalm 33:5; 89:14; Isaiah 30:18), all-powerful (Luke 18:27; Revelation 19:6), and love (1 John 4:8). When I allow this to be my starting point, then I have a better chance of discerning between what is from God and what is from the evil one. I know this is pretty simplistic, but I’m becoming more and more convinced that in the midst of unbelief and doubt, childlike faith is the only way to go because kids don’t doubt the goodness of God.

One of my most favorite things to do during church is to watch the children during worship. A strong personal conviction of mine is to have entire families together for worship. This may by trying for some and may mean allowing the children more room to roam and play (if need be), but biblically speaking I believe this paints a better picture of the worship around the throne of God. This may sting, but I really don’t think there will be a separate area for kids’ worship. Also, in this way children actually get to see their parents actively worshipping God which is invaluable. Some things are better caught than taught, for kids, worship is one of those things. But, for adults like me, there is also the blessing of seeing the Spirit of God touch the kids, moving them to sing and dance in worship to God which helps me to better understand what childlike faith looks like. Again, some things are better caught than taught, for adults, faith is one of those things.

Thanks to Sin, life is complicated enough. So, the last thing we should do in the midst of testing is to complicate it with complex theology. Now, I’m not saying that theology is bad, I find that thinking theological can be very profitable. But, at the end of the day, all theology should lead to worship. If it doesn’t than what’s the point. The reason we study the Scriptures is to better understand the one and only Living God in Whom we worship. This should be at the heart of our theological study. When our pursuit of theology actually gets in the way of our worship, then we should probably put our study on pause in order to regain a heart of worship. If there is one thing that we will be doing for all eternity is worshipping God. Worship is forever.