Tag: Love

“he’s a bit tore up, but he’ll fly true”

March 17, 2010
callingGraceRedemption
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A verse of Scripture that encourages and touches every part of my being is 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”The reason I like this verse so much is that it not only takes into account my brokenness, but also my redemption. Just recently I was watching a movie and this line came streaming through, “She’s a bit tore up, but she’ll fly true.” He was taking about the plane they were flying, but how this line impacted me was that it made me long to hear God say this about me: “He’s a bit tore up, but he’ll fly true.” Again, the reason being is that it’s honest. I am a bit tore up (broken), but I will fly true (redeemed).

In our frailty, the very power of God is manifested. The more I embrace my brokenness (the reality that I am a jar of clay) the more I will realize just how precious and amazing this treasure that I have within me is (the reality that I am redeemed). So what is this treasure? If we look back to the second half of 2 Corinthians 4:4, we will see it: The treasure is “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Paul contrasts this with the expression jars of clay which would be familiar to the Corinthians because pottery was an everyday item. It could be found everywhere because it was used by the common person. We, just like the Corinthians have either seen or even used a ceramic pot of some sort. And if you have, you know that they hold water really well and are useful for many things, but that they are also easily broken.

Now, the connection that Paul wants to make here is that just like jars of clay, human beings are just as fragile and easily broken. Now I don’t know about you, but I can understand and relate to that. If you’ve ever held a baby you know what I’m talking about, or if you’ve ever broken a bone or know someone who has, you know what I’m talking about. If you’ve ever been in any kind of relationship then you know what I’m talking about because we are fragile beings and our hearts and bodies feel pain. But just as Paul marveled, we too should also marvel, because we have an amazing God who has entrusted us, weak vessels, with the treasure of the gospel of God’s glory that is revealed in Jesus. According to this verse, God does this to show that it is His all-surpassing power that is at work in all of us. To be more specific, the power that Paul is talking about is the divine power that enables him to preach the gospel while persevering through personal hardships and trials. Phew! I don’t know about you, but I am glad to hear that because it takes all the pressure off of us and frees us up to speak and be truth, life and love to people.

I believe with all my heart that God has called every believer to do great and amazing things for His Kingdom. But this means that we will have to lean into this power of God within us to 1) be the Gospel to strangers, friends and family and to 2) persevere through the hardships and trials that will come our way because of this. What helps me when I get fearful or discouraged is remembering that I don’t have to do this alone, but that God is always with me. He has given us His Holy Spirit to not only comfort us, but to also empower us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control and has also lavished us with some pretty awesome supernatural gifts. “Though I am a bit tore up, I will fly true” because the same Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead is also living within me.

TRUE ✞= ♥ LOVE

March 8, 2010
GospelGraceJesusLoveRedemption
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God is love (1 John 4:16) and if Jesus is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3) then Jesus also is love. So, His agreeing to go to the Cross for the sins of the world must be seen as a free act of unconditional love, both towards the Father and Mankind: ✞= ♥. 

I am longing more and more to love like Jesus. The deeper Holy Spirit takes me into Father’s heart, the greater the desire I have for selfless love. Just the other day, I was in the shower singing worship songs to God and praying (for me, showering the dirt off my body is always a good physical reminder of the spiritual reality that God is continually purifying my heart) when I felt Holy Spirit ask me: ” Are you satisfied with how you love people?” When I heard the question, I almost began to cry because truth be told, I’m not. I am so aware of my weak love and the desire to want to prove my love. But, true love is bold and never feels the need to prove itself because true love is secure and loves without question. True love just loves. That’s the kind of love that I see Jesus modelling when I read the Gospels. He engaged in relationships that transformed people: True love compels a person to risk and endure beyond themselves.

Prayerful intercession is an example of true love in action. When I pray for others, I am sacrificing my time (both with God and others) in order to cry out to God on behalf of another. Let me explain, I see prayer as a time to let God directly love on me. So, oftentimes I will spend most of my prayer time alone before God with an open heart and a quiet mind,  eagerly listening for His Words of grace and to feel His heart towards me. So, when I spend time in intercession for others, I sacrifice my time with God (where He loves on me) and with others (because I am alone). That’s why I believe there needs to be a good blend of talking with and listening to God. My times of listening fuel my intercession. The more that I understand God’s heart and mind towards me, the way He feels and thinks about me, the greater this increases my capacity for true love. His love sets my heart free.

I need to constantly remind myself that God knows all the burdens in my heart and life and that God not only loves me, but He likes me, too! He loves spending time with me. This is not to say that I don’t spend time telling Him my burdens, but I find it much easier to be in constant communication with God throughout my day, rather then at set times. When a situation arises I don’t wait to tell God about it later, I let Him know right there what’s going on with me in the moment and oftentimes I will ask Him to  intervene. So, in the moments that I actually get to be alone with God, I spend that time listening. I trust that He has heard every prayer offered to Him, either vocally, mentally or within my heart alone, so far in my day. I try to remember that God is God and that He does hear all my thoughts and heart cries and so I wait to hear His words of encouragement, guidance, comfort and blessing. I believe with all my heart that God desires good for His people, but too often we spend way too much time talking, rather than listening. 

In my desire to love more like Jesus, I believe that spending more time just listening to Father’s heart and mind towards me, the way He feels and thinks about me, will strengthen my weak love and lessen my desire to want to prove my love. I will just simply love. The more I receive God’s love, the more His love will transform my love to be more like His true love. How often do you spend time just letting God tell you just how crazy in love He is with you?

the pull of the world

February 19, 2010
GospelJesusLove
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Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to pour into quite a few young men. Each one was unique and had their own set of hardships and memorable moments. But, the common thread that streamed through them all was God’s main purpose for bringing me into these men’s lives, which was to help further solidify their identity in Christ by speaking truth and life to them. Most of our time together was focused on untangling them from their affections for the world which was directly related to their continual addiction struggles.This affection for the world made them believe the lie that the world had something to offer them that was greater than what God could offer them.

 

It’s like in 1 Samuel 8, where the Israelites demand that Samuel appoint them a king because they wanted to be like all the other nations (v.5). But, the Israelites were supposed to be different from all the other nations because the Lord had chosen them to be His own treasured possession (Exodus 19:5; Leviticus 18:30; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 18:9; 26:18; Numbers 23:21). You see, what was really happening was the Israelites were rejecting God as their King. But, God is still patient with His people. He’s not reactionary, but purposeful as He tells Samuel to prophetically warn them of how this coming king will rule over them.

 

“So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them as his chariots and charioteers, making them run before his chariots. Some will be generals and captains in his army. some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take….” (1 Samuel 8:10-14ff).

 

The passage goes on, but I think you get the point. The picture these verses paint is that this coming king will basically enslave the Israelites where he will claim ownership, not only of their bodies, but also of everything they owned, to do with both as he pleased. I used to think that God was like this, a heavy-handed God who did whatever He pleased because He was God, even if it meant by force where service and worship is born out of fear, rather than love. But, the more that I experience and encounter the one and only living God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, the more I realize that He is nothing like this worldly king who simply uses the people of his kingdom. God desires our unconditional love and He will never force us to love Him. His desire is that we choose Him over and above all the other loves in our lives and of the world.

 

Even when God warns them of this dictator king, the Israelites still want and demand a king other than God. The text is pretty clear, the Israelites wanted what they wanted and they wanted it now: “But the people refused to listen to Samuel. ‘No!’ they said. “We want a king over us” (v.19). There was no reasoning with them. There was no speaking any sense to them. Their minds were already made up. They had their hearts and minds set on becoming like all the other nations (v.20). I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all at some point in our lives wanted something so badly that there was no talking us out of it, even though deep down we knew that what we wanted probably wasn’t the best thing for us.

 

From my perspective, ministering to people who are struggling with drug addiction can be extremely frustrating at times because, more often than not, the addiction has become so ingrained into their identity, in how they relate to themselves and others, that it disrupts and distorts their value system. So, when that urge comes to indulge in their drug addiction, their whole thinking process gets turned upside-down. When this happens, there is no reasoning with them. The addiction takes over. Now I’m not saying that I think that the Israelites where on drugs, but I do think that they were addicted to the world.

 

1) How strong of a pull does the world have on your own life?

2) Do you believe that what God has to offer is better than what the world has to offer?

3) Does your life reflect that you are a citizen of Heaven or a citizen of the world?

4) What needs to change?

hospitality of soul

February 10, 2010
Body of ChristGospelGraceLove
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Over the past couple months, one of the books I have been slowly reading through is “Radical Hospitality” by Father Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt (Paraclete Press, 2002). As God’s divine timing would have it, the chapter that I’m on is entitled: companionship and intimacy (the two things that my heart has been longing for in overdrive lately). Reading this has helped me gain a clearer and fuller understanding on both.

“Hospitality is not a call to unquestioning intimacy with the whole world….Hospitality is a call to revere what is sacred in every person ever born” (p.139).

The world equates sex with intimacy. But, there couldn’t be a more shallow misunderstanding of the true nature of intimacy. As the authors explain, “When we confuse intimacy with sexual relations, we imply that sex is the only means to closeness, and we devalue the growing together that two people need to do before they become sexually involved. To imply that our deepest needs are met only by sexual encounters has set up a whole generation to be disillusioned (p.141). I couldn’t agree more. In my own struggles with desiring love and pursuing intimacy that’s how I understood it. But, as I have been learning both through my relationship with Jesus (through the presence of the Person of the Holy Spirit) and through some very deeply authentic and life-giving people in my life today: I am unlearning my misguided notions of love and intimacy.

Intimacy includes so much more than just the physical, it also includes emotions (heart), thoughts (mind) and the will (spirit). I love this next statement, “When I experience genuine intimacy, I know to the bone that I am not alone. This knowing comes through relationship….Intimacy is the deep experience of knowing another human heart” (p.141-2). Some of my fondest memories are the ones where I’ve connected with a person on a deeply spiritual and emotional level, so that when we see each other, without saying a word, there is this unspoken bond and understanding between us. Maybe the reason I cherish these moments so much is because I long to be fully known and fully loved. Isn’t that every person’s heart cry: to be able to tell our deepest secrets without anyone gasping with horror; to be able to share our victories with others and have them truly rejoice; to be able to be in our pain without them trying to rush us through it; to be able to be fail and not feel judged; to be able to make mistakes and still be trusted; to be able to be who we are without excuses.

Intimacy comes when we share all of ourselves with another. But, we must understand that at its core, intimacy is more than just a constant level of relating. Intimacy is the experience of sharing life together. The only way to be fully known is to share your life with someone. Sure, I can tell you everything that I may know about myself, but there is so much more to me, if you just watch me for awhile.

Lastly, “No matter how intimate a relationship might be, that single relationship is not enough to satisfy the human hunger for love. No human being has enough love to meet such needs. Only our passion for God is enough love; only God’s passion for us can make us whole.Most of us will have intimate relationships, but we make the mistake if we think that intimacy is all we need. We also need companions, we need good fun, we need the brief and tender moment when a stranger stoops to help collect the clutter that has dropped to the floor” (emphasis mine, p.136-7). This describes the current condition of my heart. I fully understand that only intimacy with God makes me whole. So, I have been continually throwing myself deeper and deeper into my relationship with Jesus. But, I am longing for more companions in my life. People who will speak Truth and Life to me and allow me to do the same for them as we walk through the nitty gritty of life together.

longing for Love

February 9, 2010
EternityGospelLove
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I have this longing in my heart to love and to be loved. We all have this feeling. I believe it’s because we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). God is love (1 John 4:8) and so He designed us for love. Love is a relational concept, for love to be fully realized there needs to be a relationship in place. That’s why when God created Adam, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). So, God creates Eve and she and Adam become one flesh (husband and wife). Maybe that’s why loneliness is so difficult, we were not made to be alone. That’s where I’ve been this past week. Longing for a wife. Wait, I’m a bit more passionate than that – what I’m longing for is to be wildly in love. I’ve always had this longing, it’s nothing new, but this past week has been particularly rough. Maybe it’s because I’ve been wrestling in my heart with the desire to throw caution to the wind and being pursuing this woman that I’ve recently met, even though there are some cautionary flags that have come to my attention. Though I would love to pursue a deeper relationship with this woman, there are quite a few obstacles that would need overcoming. Now hear me on this, I fully understand that love is a choice and that love takes work. But, it just seems like we are at differing life places. So, what I’ve been wrestling with is, in essence, surrendering this desire to God which hasn’t been easy.

In the midst of this struggle, there has been a song that has really ministered to me by Patty Griffin called “When It Don’t Come Easy.” Coming to terms with the loneliness in my heart is rough to say the least. Then, surrendering the desire to pursue this woman has been also very difficult. So, this song has been a good reminder that I’m not alone and that God is with me and for me. Being reminded of this has helped me to embrace more fully the reality that in many ways, this longing in my heart is for a love greater than just human love. It is a longing for divine Love.

 when-it-dont-come-easy-lyrics1

preaching within the anointing (revised)

January 24, 2010
FaithGospelLoveTrinity
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I just recently went to visit a church (which will remain unnamed) where I heard a sermon preached on the importance of the having a firm grip on the Bible. The preacher talked about how the Bible is our road map through life. At first, I was in agreement. Yes, we need to be listening, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on God’s Word which combined helps us apply it to our lives. But, then the preacher said, “…and Jesus is our compass.” Why this concept of Jesus is disconcerting to me is that Jesus is not a tool that we use to give us direction, but a Person with whom we are in relationship. Sure, I get the point he wanted to make (Jesus gives us direction), but reducing Jesus to a compass? I know that Jesus Himself, referred to Himself as living bread (John 6:51), as the light of the world (John 8:12), as the door (John 10:9), as the resurrection (John 11:25), as the true vine (15:1), and  as the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). But, in today’s mindset where efficiency reigns supreme, preacher’s need to be careful that they don’t indirectly convey that Jesus is a tool at our disposal.

Afterwards, what further struck me was that there was no mention of the Holy Spirit’s role. Now, hear me on this, I believe that God desires worshippers of Spirit and Truth (John 4:23, 24). So, He has given us both a road map (the Bible = Truth) and a tour guide (the Holy Spirit = Spirit). If all that is taught is the road map, then what this indirectly teaches is that people can find their own way through understanding the Bible which is misleading. Sure, we may be able to intellectually and morally grasp some truth. But, to be transformed by God’s Word, this comes only from the ministry of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-11). He is the One who brings conviction about sin and the need for repentance (v.9). He is the One who reveals the way of salvation through Jesus (v.10). He is the One who demonstrates Jesus’ victory over satan (v.11) because greater is the One who lives in a believer than the evil one of the world (1 John 4:4). I believe it is also the Holy Spirit who cultivates the soil of a person’s heart into the good soil that hears and accepts God’s Word, so that they bear abundant good fruit to the Father’s glory (Mark 4:20). Bottom line, the Holy Spirit is the One who makes the things of Jesus known to us (John 16:14): without Him how can we truly know Jesus?

As a preacher, I am further convinced that I need to be sharing the Gospel in a way that makes room for the Holy Spirit to move in power. There needs to be both the proclamation of the Gospel (preaching God’s Word) and the demonstration of the Gospel (releasing the anointing of the Holy Spirit). (This means of course I will need to wrestle with my own fears on this which is a topic is for another day, but it looks like I’d be in good company with Paul.) In 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul tells the Corinth church that he didn’t come to dazzle them with his amazing intellect, but he came to them in his brokenness. He says, “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.” What strikes my heart hardest is the last part of Paul’s plea: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”

Paul’s words challenge me all the more to lean into God’s anointing, rather than my skills as a preacher. When I preach, am I helping people put their faith in my explanation of the Scriptures or in a direct encounter with the living God? To put it another way, am I preaching for transformation where people are opened up towards an encounter with the living God (through the proclamation of the Gospel) and where the Kingdom of God comes near to people (through the releasing of the anointing of the Holy Spirit)? I need to take to heart Paul’s words that say, “…knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes” (1 Corinthians 8:1b-3 NLT). Love is more important than knowledge. Too often, knowledge can produce arrogance and an overly inflated sense of importance, but love listens because love is a relational concept. For love to be fully realized and expressed in fullness, there must be a relationship in place. The way to truly know God and gain knowledge of Him is through loving Him. The more I live out the Christian faith, the more I am convinced that it is through an encounter with the love of the Father that changes everything. Preaching needs to be towards an encounter with the living God where people experience more of the Kingdom of God and where the Father’s love breaks through in greater measure in a person’s life. 

Jesus is pivotal in this. Jesus is the Gospel. Without Jesus, the Gospel is emptied of its purpose and power. Jesus meant it when He said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). But, we must always remember that Jesus walks with us as He shows us the Way, that Truth is a Person, Jesus, whom we can love and get to know through a relationship and that we gain Life because Jesus actually lives His life in and through us. He is more than just a compass. Jesus also made it a point to make sure we understood that He was sending us a Helper, the Holy Spirit, who is more than a spiritual force, but who is also a Person (John 14:15-31; 16:5-16). Too often, preachers forget to remind us that we are not alone in this, that we have a real live tour guide (Holy Spirit) to help us understand the road map (God’s Word), even to actively guide, lead and empower us on this journey of faith through the varying terrain and storms we will be confronted with in this life. I don’t know about you but that’s Good News.

I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine

December 31, 2009
Love
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What my heart has been yearning for is greater intimacy with God. This longing has become more pronouced over the past few months. But I’ve been wishy washy about pursuing deeper intimacy with the Father through prayer and worship because I’ve been ignoring this longing or allowing something else to fill this yearning. This has blinded me to the desperate state of my heart. Thankfully, I’ve spent the last few days at The International House of Prayer’s end of the year “onething” conference. God has met me here and has lavished His grace and love on me. He has in many ways released my heart to respond to Him in love again.

Over this past year or so, I’ve slowly sunk into rationalizing and intellectualizing how I’ve been responding to God. So, instead of just responding to the Father in love, I’ve been responding to Him in how I think I should. Now I know that the only way to approach God is to do it His way which means I need to be steeped in His Word and filled with His Spirit (John 4:23, 24). But, lately I’ve been thinking about it way too much. This has in many ways delayed, even stifled my responses to the Holy Spirit’s leading in my life. So, instead of exercising my heart in worship and love towards God, I’ve been exercising my mind. Now, I also understand that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). But, if I truly want intimacy with God I need to be exercising my heart moreso than my mind. Long story made short: this has shrunk my heart.

How I’ve come to this revelation is that on day two of the conference my chest began to literally ache. It was in this moment that God reconnected me to my heart and allowed me to feel the condition of my love-sapped heart. When I don’t allow my heart to respond to the Father in love and adoration my heart becomes lovesick. Since that moment, Holy Spirit has been helping me to stop thinking about how I should respond to the Father and empowering and releasing me to just respond to Him. What’s happened is that I’ve been so concerned about pleasing the Father that I’ve forgotten that He will always delight in me (Psalm 149:4) and rejoice over me (Isaiah 62:5). I’ve forgotten that “I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved is mine” (Song of Songs 6:3). I belong to God and must actively participate in this love relationship by allowing my heart to respond to the Father’s love.

The only love that satisfies and makes me whole is God’s love. This is such a simple truth, but one that wars within me because I’ve been settling for lesser loves, rather than the Father’s unconditional love. His love truly is better than life (Psalm 63:3). But I’ve gotten away from actively responding to the eternal love the Father has for me. Today, my heart is still a bit sore, but I know that the more I exercise my heart in response to God, the stronger my heart will become again. I’m thankful for God’s faithfulness and His intimate concern for me as His beloved. God has reignited my faith and renewed my strength. Bless you Jesus!

(((Jesus)))

December 3, 2009
GospelJesus
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My heart longs to be with Jesus. That’s where this journey I’ve been on these past few weeks has brought me. The more I understand God’s grace towards me, the more my heart thirsts for His presence. The more I am challenged to love God unconditionally, the more my heart yearns to be with Him. Though I have never seen Jesus, my heart knows Him well.

  • My heart knows His kindness

 ~ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).

 ~ Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way” (Matthew 15:32).

  • My heart knows His gentle touch

~ Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him (Matthew 20:34).

~ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” (Mark 1:41).

  • My heart knows His gracious words

~ “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

~ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

  • My heart knows His patient presence

~ “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me” (Mark 9:19).

~ “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37).

  • My heart knows His faithful love

~ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

~ It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love (John 13:1).

~ Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last (Luke 23:46).

  • My heart knows His joyful devotion

~ Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed (Mark 1:35).

~ At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure” (Luke 10:21).

~ “Father…I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).

  • My heart knows His peaceful Spirit

~ “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:26, 27).

  • My heart knows His loving justice

~ “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18, 19).

~ “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory” (Matthew 12:18-20).

  • My heart knows His firm guidance

~ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31).

~ Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23, 24).

~ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34).

  • My heart knows His steadfast will

~ “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).

~ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

~ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19, 20).

  • My heart knows His goodness

~ “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

~ When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

~ “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28).

  • My heart knows His servanthood

~ Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people (Matthew 4:23).

~ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:3-5).

  • My heart knows His steady gaze

~ Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying… (Matthew 5:1).

~ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).

~ When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things (Mark 6:34).

~ When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” (John 6:5).

  • My heart knows His passion

~ Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ” ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers'” (Matthew 21:12, 13).

~ Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:35, 36). 

Does your heart know Jesus in these way?

If not, meditate on these passages. Take the time to look up each passage in the Bible and read the whole narrative that each passage sits in. I promise, you will not regret it. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1, 2). Open your heart to Jesus and know Him.

This is my prayer: that our Father in Heaven would reach through the pages of the Bible and grab your heart, that Jesus would come alive to you in a new and fresh way and that the Holy Spirit would anoint your life with more love and power. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sabbath renewed

November 27, 2009
GraceJesus
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So, I’ve been steadily keeping a Sabbath on Mondays for roughly a year now. I call it my “draw near to God” day. But, things have shifted in this past month and my “draw near to God” day has begun to decline and my Sabbath has been derailed from it’s steady course. I recently went to a conference where Heidi Baker was speaking, ever since then the integrity of my spiritual life has been challenged. What Mama Heidi spoke about was ministering in the strength of God and how “fruitfulness comes from intimacy with God.” I thought I had all of that and then some. But, as God has been challenging me on understanding His grace and my unconditional love for Him, this has revealed the deeper motives of my heart and the works righteousness that resides within. Let me expand on this.

What God has been revealing to me these past few weeks is that though I do walk in much of His grace, He has so much more for me that I refuse to accept because I want to show Him that I can do it. But, that’s my pride talking. I feel like I’ve been acting like that little child, who is constantly saying, “Me do! Me do!” Where God is saying to me, “Let me show you, let’s do it together.” Needless to say, these past few weeks have been really tough because I’ve come face to face with my arrogance which is really disheartening. Here I thought that I was being obedient, but maybe dutiful is a better word to describe my actions. So, on deeper inspection, this has sparked me to reflect on: What does it mean to draw near to God?

James 4: 6-10 says, “…6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (NIV). As I have been meditating and studying this passage, I’ve come to the conclusion that this passage is about repentance. So, in my wrestling, I’ve asked myself this question: What does living a repentant lifestyle look like?

I believe that the “Come near to God” that James is talking about here is about humbling ourselves before God and receiving His grace by submitting to His will and resisting the devil’s temptations. This means coming near to God by repenting for our sinful leanings (“washing your hands, you sinners” which alludes to external actions, and “purifying your hearts, you double-minded” which alludes to internal motivations) and in this way God comes near to us. For clarification, this is not in terms of our salvation (which comes through Jesus alone), but in terms of our relational fellowship with God. The more consistently we live repentantly before God, the louder and clearer we will hear His Voice in our lives. But, this also means embracing more and more of His grace. So, whatever it takes. James is insistent about the seriousness of sin and we should be too. Sin brings disaster and devastation to our relationship with God. When’s the last time you grieved, mourned or wailed sin?  

Douglas Moo (2000) insightful explains, “Christian joy can never be ours if we ignore or tolerate sin; it comes only when we have squarely faced the reality of our sin, brought it before the Lord in repentance and humility, and experienced the cleansing work of the Spirit” (James, p. 196). One of the joys of my new life in Jesus has been the many opportunities He gives me to pray for and with people. You could say this is part of my repentant lifestyle. For me, there is nothing more satisfying and fulfilling. Not only do I get to touch the Father’s heart through prayer, but the whole reason I pray for others is so that they can experience a greater sense of God’s unconditional love and be brought ever deeper into the Father’s heart.

So this is my prayer for you and me: “May we truly walk in the fullness of God’s grace for our lives and experience the immeasurableness of His unconditional love where we walk empowered to live a repentant lifestyle by actively greiving, mourning and wailing sin, so that we can feel, all the more, the sweetness of God’s grace towards us in Jesus as we humbly wait for Him to lift us up. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.”  

…along the way…

November 21, 2009
GospelGraceJesusLove
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I am feeling pretty weak and worn out these days. Whenever I have some free time all I want to do is put on some worship music and rest in the Lord. Sometimes that means crawling into bed and sleeping. Other times that means lying on the floor and allowing the longing in my heart to be near Jesus overwhelm me. This has been hard because God has been testing my heart these past few weeks in my understanding of His grace. What this has revealed is that though I understand theologically and intellectually that I have been saved by grace that: 1) Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for sin has fully satisfied God wrath; that 2) because I have be crucified and raised with Jesus – I have been reconciled back to God; and that 3) I now live in God’s grace and forgiveness, always, as His beloved child in the family of God.

But, the way that I practically live this out tells a differing story. Case and point, I am reconciled back to God because of Jesus and not because of what I may do in my day to day (sinful or not). But, there are times where I will put more weight on my sinful behavior, instead of Jesus’ atoning and reconciling work. Now, I know that sin separates us from God, but if I truly believe that Jesus’ death on the cross paid my debt for sin now and forever – because I am in Christ that means I live in God’s grace and forgiveness, always. Let me say that again, because I am in Christ that means I live in God’s grace and forgiveness, always. So, if and when I sin today, tomorrow, next week or year, the blood of Jesus covers my sins for all eternity. Now, I  understand that this doesn’t give a believer a license to sin. As Paul says: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ” (Romans 6:1, 2). And I get this, the grace of God is not to be abused and Jesus’ sacrifice cheapened. Trust me, I hate it when I sin and I do confess sin to God and others because when I confess sin: I acknowledge my need for more of God’s grace and love in my life. But I need to understand that because I am in Christ I have been forgiven – once for all.

Now, while God has been testing my heart in understanding His grace, He has also been challenging me on my unconditional love for Him. The more that I walk in His grace, the greater freedom I have to do whatever I want. Now if I truly get forgiveness in Christ, this means that my actions do not effect my standing before God. Jesus’ sacrifice took care of that. So, when I sin this does not bring God closer to me or further away because I am reconciled to God through Jesus. But, this doesn’t take away the consequences of my sinful behavior which may hinder my ability to hear and recognize God’s Voice in my life. Sin runs interference in our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s leading. We can either do things that help tune us into our Shepherd’s voice or we can fill our lives up with things that dampen His Voice. That’s where I’m at right now, but God has amplified the intensity of this struggle to show me His great desire for my unconditional love.

In the freedom of God’s grace, I can choose to either please God or please myself. This struggle has revealed the level of my unconditional love for God. On a deeper lever, this struggle has stirred me to ask myself: “Do I please God out of fear, profit or love?” Struggle is good because it inspires to both create and strengthen faith. I must always remember that God will never ask anything of me that does not include His grace. He will also not ask anything of me without His love and support: He will never ask me to do anything alone. I believe that God put me on this path, not to discourage me, but to encourage me and show me just how far He has taken me from the days of being hopelessly and lustfully addicted to drugs to where He has me today – longing to rest in His Presence. I am so grateful that God is not done with me yet, but that He will carry me into completion. And when I finally get to see Jesus face to face – I will be like Him (1 John 3:2). I can’t wait.