Sometimes the best way to learn something new is to deprive yourself of something old. Take handwriting, for example. People who lose their dominant hand in an accident eventually learn to write with their other hand. They have no choice. But did you know that you can do the same thing by discipline? If you are right-handed and want to learn to be ambidextrous, you can train yourself to write using your left hand by refusing to use your right! When we deny ourselves something for a period of time we can learn to do something completely new.
I wonder if the same principle holds true in the spirit? Jesus said we ought not do things for the praise of men. If we do, that praise is all we will ever get for our efforts. If we want true and lasting joy, we need to learn to have all things seen by our Father in heaven alone. But in a world where each of us were taught to have not only our sense of approval but also our sense of what's true subject to the judgement of people, how can we ever hope to learn to live our life in front of an audience of One? It's simple: Replacement Therapy.
If you read Isaiah 61:3, you'll notice that God keeps saying "I'll give you THIS instead of THAT." It seems to be His way. He replaced sin with righteousness, death with life, evil with good. He isn't a God that takes but a God that replaces! You trade in your substandard way for His excellent way and you become more like Him in the process. But how? Well, that's the part that requires trust and patience. You see, He won't give until there's an empty slot in your heart. Jesus said, "Let him first deny himself, pick up his cross, and follow Me." The word "first" is important. I can't receive His gift of fellowship until I give up any chance of fellowship with men. Admittedly, that's a long process. And He never wants to replace fellowship with men by excluding all men from our life. He just wants first place in the hierarchy. But that's another topic for another time.
What does this mean for relationship with God and what do I do about it? Good questions. What it means is that if we are to go deeper in the knowledge of Him, we need to make room. God is big. He takes up a LOT of space. How do we make space? Easy, deny yourself what you get from men and continue to seek Him. I used to think it was wise to tell people to pray different, but I was wrong. God showed me that people pray based upon their audience. He said, "If you pray knowing that you will discuss that prayer with someone at some point, it affects the way you pray." He told me, "Share none of what you say to Me with others until I say otherwise." When I asked Him why, He said, "Is prayer about your relationship with Me or your relationship with them?" He got me there.
Eventually I got to a place where I no longer admitted to or agreed to pray for anything openly to people. I would still minister to people in prayer in public but my time speaking to God became so private that nobody could tell what I prayed for or even how I prayed for it. I shared neither the purpose nor the outcome of my prayers. It was like I was a secret agent for the Kingdom. My secret place was so secret that not even my family knew when or if I was in prayer. An amazing thing happened in this time. I stopped having discussions about what I'm believing or praying for with other people and started having them directly with God. If I prayed and nothing seemed to be happening, I didn't ask anyone for help or advice or encouragement, I took it directly to The Management. No matter how frustrated I became, I made it His situation to deal with, face-to-face.
It was nerve-wracking at times. I would wonder if maybe I was doing something wrong. But I took Him at His word. He said He'd never leave me or abandon me. He said that Holy Spirit is my Teacher and that He would lead me into all truth. All of His promises inspired and encouraged me to lean directly upon Him to direct, mold, and shape my prayers. If He could not or would not lead me through this thing, well, then I was wrong about Him to begin with. Would He prove Himself strong on my behalf? Would He get messages through to me? Would He teach me Himself if I purposed to rely only upon Him? I didn't know for sure but I was tired of half-measures and double-mindedness. It was time to sink or swim, in Jesus' name.
He did not disappoint. In fact, one of the first things He said to me was, "Finally! Now we can get down to business." Understanding and revelation flowed. When I positioned myself to receive ONLY from God, He began building my trust in Him like never before. That's right, He earned my trust. I made Him my plan A and I burned the bridge behind me. There was no plan B. I was His or I was finished. I set out on this new journey to learn about prayer and I ended up learning about the person and character of Holy Spirit.
The biggest revelation I got was how intentional and cooperative God wants to be with us in prayer. I have heard many popular and respected speakers say that Holy Spirit wants to pray with us. The idea here is that we should not be firing off petitions we came up with ourselves but that we should ask Holy Spirit what He wants to pray about and then simply join Him. I also learned that not everything requires prayer. I've gotten into the habit of asking God, "Should I pray about this?" If He responds in the affirmative, my next question is, "What should I say? Should I declare or proclaim or petition or should I just rejoice? What's on Your heart for this situation, Lord?" There have been plenty of times when He's said to me, "This situation is already handled but I need someone to deliver a word of encouragement." There have been other times He's said, "I need you to go in person and love the people in that situation. I'll give you more detail when you get there."
So, ask Him if you should maybe try this out? Resolve to tell nobody when or if you are praying for them or anyone else. Don't discuss what you pray about or when. Don't ask for help from people in how to pray or when to pray. Deny yourself the benefit of your brothers and sisters in prayer for a time. Like Peter when he stepped out of the boat, it may seem insane but it may also afford you the chance to partner with Jesus in doing something you've never done before. If this idea delights you, give it a shot! If not, don't worry about it. Take what you can use and leave the rest. He is a better teacher than I am and I can assure you that He's doing a great job with you.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Friday, January 23, 2015
Jesus The Liberal
Does that title make you cringe? There was a time when it would have made me vomit. I've since learned some things about God. The most important of which is that He existed before man began creating political labels. Read this definition of the word "liberal" and see how many of those fit the Jesus written about in the gospels.
So, recently God has been talking to me about how those who love Him have completely missed His point and allowed themselves to become entangled in the affairs of this world. They've been baited into a debate that is crafted to distract us from the real issue by playing up the horror and tragedy of consequences in the natural. The only people who have the capacity to create real and lasting change have been taken captive by politics. It's a sinister strategy that attempts to keep us so carnally minded that we are spiritually ineffective. Constant exposure to horror, loss, tragedy, and carnage, elicits a fear or hate response from us and we make war against human beings in the name of God. The message coming from the world is so shocking that it traps us into a cycle of reacting. But you did not so learn Christ. The Kingdom is responsive, never reactive. So how do we break the cycle? Perhaps we need to look at the root of the ills of our society instead of just the symptoms. Maybe then the solution will be clear.
John 15:12
So, recently God has been talking to me about how those who love Him have completely missed His point and allowed themselves to become entangled in the affairs of this world. They've been baited into a debate that is crafted to distract us from the real issue by playing up the horror and tragedy of consequences in the natural. The only people who have the capacity to create real and lasting change have been taken captive by politics. It's a sinister strategy that attempts to keep us so carnally minded that we are spiritually ineffective. Constant exposure to horror, loss, tragedy, and carnage, elicits a fear or hate response from us and we make war against human beings in the name of God. The message coming from the world is so shocking that it traps us into a cycle of reacting. But you did not so learn Christ. The Kingdom is responsive, never reactive. So how do we break the cycle? Perhaps we need to look at the root of the ills of our society instead of just the symptoms. Maybe then the solution will be clear.
Abortion
This is a huge huge huge wedge issue for many Christians. Of course God hates the death of the innocent. But that's another topic for another day. Suffice it to say that God is completely against the taking of life--period. And He tells me that everyone knows in their heart that life begins at conception. It's only open for debate in the court of public opinion. People have the ability to get together and agree to a lie that allows them to justify almost anything. Get a person alone and the truth of what they believe is more likely to come out.
I was shocked to find out that God didn't want to correct the people who were OK with "a woman's right to choose". He made it very clear to me that knowing right from wrong is not the issue. You can know all the right there is to know and still be unable to live it (see Romans 7 for more). No, He wanted to correct those who are supposed to be able to hear His voice. On them is the responsibility for knowledge of mercy and grace. To know the mercy of God and not give it to those who do not know it grieves Him. Does this sound odd? Who did Jesus rebuke, the ignorant or the learned? Who did He call the "den of vipers"? Remember that to know what is right and not do it is sin.
He said some really provocative things to me. He said that He is pro-choice. I was like, "Uh... God, that can't be You talking.". He said, "If I wasn't pro-choice, would women have even the ability to choose? Son, your choice is the one thing I have always denied Myself." Does that mean abortion should be legal? Of course not. It means abortion has exactly zero to do with a woman's right to choose. Even before it was legal a woman could choose to abort her child. So, what's the point, then? The point is that He is willing to suffer and die to protect our ability to choose Him. He is willing to endure the loss of the innocent to honor His own word. He will not restrict our will.
Does this mean He wants abortion to continue? Of course not. Don't be a tool. He told me that the christian strategy for abolishing abortion was way off the mark. It's not kingdom-minded. The kingdom is never reactionary and is always responsive. Even more, the kingdom is previous. The kingdom sees what lies ahead and responds before it happens. How many times in the bible did God tell someone what was going to happen before it happened? That's how He operates. God is proactive about everything. He says things like, "Do this SO THAT this will happen". He's planning ahead. So how does this relate to abortion? I'm glad you asked. The way to stop abortion is not to make it illegal but to make it unnecessary.
Does that mean God is pro-contraception? Nope. Unwanted pregnancy is the leading cause of abortion. But it goes deeper than that. What is the leading cause of pregnancy? Sex. What's the leading cause of sex? Here's where we get into a tricky situation. Sex between consensual adults isn't the only cause of unwanted pregnancies. There's also rape, incest, and disease to contend with. All of them, including promiscuity, can be summed up by one word: unhealthy. Whether it be the unhealthy mind of a man who commits rape, the unhealthy self-esteem of a couple who create an unwanted child, an unhealthy genetic code that creates a malformed fetus, it's all just a lack of health. Unhealthy hearts and minds come together and create "unwanted" children. God have mercy on us. Unwanted people.
Let me ask you this: what if we found some way to legally and physically mandate that no woman ever aborts her unwanted child ever again? What then? Have we really solved the problem or just fed our religious pride by making the world bend to our will? Is there any method by which we can eliminate unwanted people except to murder them? What if we found a way to raise the value of the average person in the eyes of everyone so that nobody ends up being unwanted? What if we lived our lives in such a way that the formula HUMAN = WANTED is the universal norm?
You'd think that God in all His wisdom would have told us how to do such a thing... Like, what if He gave us a command that was a one-size-fits-all solution to all problems BEFORE they start?
You'd think that God in all His wisdom would have told us how to do such a thing... Like, what if He gave us a command that was a one-size-fits-all solution to all problems BEFORE they start?
John 15:12
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you."
But how does loving someone keep them from getting an abortion? Please remember that we're talking about stopping abortion before it becomes a possible choice. We are talking about creating a culture in which things like abortion are as abhorrent to the public as cannibalism. We are talking about helping our species become so incredibly healthy that we would never engage in or suffer from things that create unwanted people.
So how does love eliminate rape, disease, incest, and sexual promiscuity?
What causes a man to rape a woman (or vice versa)? Behavioral scientists say that rape is caused by a desire to control, conquer, or have power over another. For whatever reason, the perpetrator feels an overwhelming desire to exert dominance over another in a sexual way. It's more about power than it is about sex. Behavioral science also tells us that perpetrators are not created in a vacuum (with the exception of neurological abnormalities). Perpetrators are a harvest that was sown as victims. A male who was raped or molested has a much higher chance of doing the same to others. Why? To regain some sense of wholeness, purpose, identity. A victim will either become a perpetual victim, a perpetrator, or free. So what determines where a person ends up on that spectrum? All things reproduce after their own kind. You sow trauma and trauma will grow and then it will sow again. But there is one seed that will outgrow, outperform, outyield, and outlast all others: Love. Someone who has been freed from the cycle of rape will always relate some story about how love set them free. Tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, transparency, trust, patience, kindness are all the things that short-circuit the vicious cycle. Consider Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. Does this mean we should just pat rapists on the back and tell them Jesus loves them and then let them go off and rape again? No. It means there is a limited window of time when these men are in jail that we can teach them about their true identity. We can help them face what they've done with patience and kindness, man-to-man, so that they believe and are set free. Are you going to prisons to stop abortion?
Incest is more difficult to see in the natural, but the prescription is the same: love them into truth. Yes, any perpetrator must pay the cost of what they've done, but that shouldn't stop us from loving them into truth. Tender care should be given to the victims so they understand that the selfish act of their perpetrator does not define them. A long-term relationship based on trust and acceptance has to be established with such a person so that they can see their own value through your actions towards them. Be sure it's not about putting "another victim saved" notch on your belt. I'm talking about creating life-long relationships here. I'm talking about adoption.
What does love have to do with disease? Everything. If you are like me, you believe in the authority God gave each of His children, through Jesus, to heal the sick. Disease must always go. It's not the will of God and each of us has to contend for the faith to eradicate it. But how many of us are willing to make it our personal mission to heal a diseased child in the womb? How many of us are willing to do it knowing that nobody will ever know? Are you willing to search your heart to even see if you have the capacity to make the diseases of the unborn more important to you than your own children? Can you believe Him to change your heart if you weigh it and find it lacking? What would it look like if we all had the same reputation as John G. Lake? But that's not the hard part for us. The hard part of us as a church is to admit that we do not yet see the frequency of miracles it would take to replace the doctors who treat children in the womb. Can we confess that we need to grow in faith for the sake of the unborn and be responsible and accountable for that? Can we simply say, "I believe, please help my unbelief" and then get our hands on some broken babies?
Finally, how does love stop sexual promiscuity? This one has gotten so so so far away from us. As Christians we've shouted the letter of the law from the rooftops and indulged in judgement of anyone who would dare ignore our self-righteous warnings. Parents kicking children out of the house instead of teaching them the honor and beauty of fighting to retain virginity so it can be given as a gift to their spouse one day. We speak death over those who have and promote sex and then we reap a harvest of death in our entire culture. Those with the most spiritual power are causing the most spiritual damage and then have the gall to chalk it all up to "the last days".
No, the cause of sex outside of God's design is simple: lack of love. There are many natural answers for having sex. We all feel like it or have been through a time in our lives when we did. But why do so many give in? Why, with all the potential consequences, do so many risk even their own lives for a momentary feeling? Well, scientists would say "self-esteem" but God says, "who do you think you are?" It comes down to identity. We make all of our choices based on who we think we are--our perception of our personal value. Tell me, how will the people out there with a wrong identity ever find out who they are if we don't show them? How can we tell them if they disdain our reputation? Why in the world would they ever believe anything we say about who they are in God's great plan if we don't love them first?
If we are going to carry His name, we should probably imitate Him like dear children. He had every right to be indignant with us but sacrificed Himself instead. He went even to the point of death to show how much He values us. And He understood that love breeds love. He Himself fell to the ground and died, then He sprung up and bore much fruit. He came to us gently and lowly of heart. He was goodness personified. It was His peculiar goodness in the face of abhorrent evil that gave Him so much credibility with the lost. The goodness of God drew all men to Him. We have to do the same. We have to set aside this horrible habit of treating His lost children as the enemy and love them as if they were our very own. We must adopt them into our family, whether they change their ways or not, so that they can feel the trust and security that so far has been denied them. Maybe then they will see our love and believe that God truly sent Jesus to save us all.
Any good military strategist would tell you that it's a bad idea to fight an enemy on his home turf. If you have the choice, always fight the enemy on YOUR terms and not HIS. So let's stay out of the political arena. The political is rooted in the world and the whole world lies in the sway of.....who? So don't enter his arena. Don't argue with men. Stop the battle before it starts by loving it to death. We've done this with suicide, drugs, alcohol, abuse, poverty and many others. Christians have shown a clear ability to break the cycle of death with a preemptive strike of loving self-sacrifice. Why not do it again here, with abortion? Why not dedicate yourself to revealing the love of God to such a degree that people will value their identity over their need to feel good?
But how does loving someone keep them from getting an abortion? Please remember that we're talking about stopping abortion before it becomes a possible choice. We are talking about creating a culture in which things like abortion are as abhorrent to the public as cannibalism. We are talking about helping our species become so incredibly healthy that we would never engage in or suffer from things that create unwanted people.
So how does love eliminate rape, disease, incest, and sexual promiscuity?
What causes a man to rape a woman (or vice versa)? Behavioral scientists say that rape is caused by a desire to control, conquer, or have power over another. For whatever reason, the perpetrator feels an overwhelming desire to exert dominance over another in a sexual way. It's more about power than it is about sex. Behavioral science also tells us that perpetrators are not created in a vacuum (with the exception of neurological abnormalities). Perpetrators are a harvest that was sown as victims. A male who was raped or molested has a much higher chance of doing the same to others. Why? To regain some sense of wholeness, purpose, identity. A victim will either become a perpetual victim, a perpetrator, or free. So what determines where a person ends up on that spectrum? All things reproduce after their own kind. You sow trauma and trauma will grow and then it will sow again. But there is one seed that will outgrow, outperform, outyield, and outlast all others: Love. Someone who has been freed from the cycle of rape will always relate some story about how love set them free. Tenderness, mercy, forgiveness, transparency, trust, patience, kindness are all the things that short-circuit the vicious cycle. Consider Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. Does this mean we should just pat rapists on the back and tell them Jesus loves them and then let them go off and rape again? No. It means there is a limited window of time when these men are in jail that we can teach them about their true identity. We can help them face what they've done with patience and kindness, man-to-man, so that they believe and are set free. Are you going to prisons to stop abortion?
Incest is more difficult to see in the natural, but the prescription is the same: love them into truth. Yes, any perpetrator must pay the cost of what they've done, but that shouldn't stop us from loving them into truth. Tender care should be given to the victims so they understand that the selfish act of their perpetrator does not define them. A long-term relationship based on trust and acceptance has to be established with such a person so that they can see their own value through your actions towards them. Be sure it's not about putting "another victim saved" notch on your belt. I'm talking about creating life-long relationships here. I'm talking about adoption.
What does love have to do with disease? Everything. If you are like me, you believe in the authority God gave each of His children, through Jesus, to heal the sick. Disease must always go. It's not the will of God and each of us has to contend for the faith to eradicate it. But how many of us are willing to make it our personal mission to heal a diseased child in the womb? How many of us are willing to do it knowing that nobody will ever know? Are you willing to search your heart to even see if you have the capacity to make the diseases of the unborn more important to you than your own children? Can you believe Him to change your heart if you weigh it and find it lacking? What would it look like if we all had the same reputation as John G. Lake? But that's not the hard part for us. The hard part of us as a church is to admit that we do not yet see the frequency of miracles it would take to replace the doctors who treat children in the womb. Can we confess that we need to grow in faith for the sake of the unborn and be responsible and accountable for that? Can we simply say, "I believe, please help my unbelief" and then get our hands on some broken babies?
Finally, how does love stop sexual promiscuity? This one has gotten so so so far away from us. As Christians we've shouted the letter of the law from the rooftops and indulged in judgement of anyone who would dare ignore our self-righteous warnings. Parents kicking children out of the house instead of teaching them the honor and beauty of fighting to retain virginity so it can be given as a gift to their spouse one day. We speak death over those who have and promote sex and then we reap a harvest of death in our entire culture. Those with the most spiritual power are causing the most spiritual damage and then have the gall to chalk it all up to "the last days".
No, the cause of sex outside of God's design is simple: lack of love. There are many natural answers for having sex. We all feel like it or have been through a time in our lives when we did. But why do so many give in? Why, with all the potential consequences, do so many risk even their own lives for a momentary feeling? Well, scientists would say "self-esteem" but God says, "who do you think you are?" It comes down to identity. We make all of our choices based on who we think we are--our perception of our personal value. Tell me, how will the people out there with a wrong identity ever find out who they are if we don't show them? How can we tell them if they disdain our reputation? Why in the world would they ever believe anything we say about who they are in God's great plan if we don't love them first?
If we are going to carry His name, we should probably imitate Him like dear children. He had every right to be indignant with us but sacrificed Himself instead. He went even to the point of death to show how much He values us. And He understood that love breeds love. He Himself fell to the ground and died, then He sprung up and bore much fruit. He came to us gently and lowly of heart. He was goodness personified. It was His peculiar goodness in the face of abhorrent evil that gave Him so much credibility with the lost. The goodness of God drew all men to Him. We have to do the same. We have to set aside this horrible habit of treating His lost children as the enemy and love them as if they were our very own. We must adopt them into our family, whether they change their ways or not, so that they can feel the trust and security that so far has been denied them. Maybe then they will see our love and believe that God truly sent Jesus to save us all.
Any good military strategist would tell you that it's a bad idea to fight an enemy on his home turf. If you have the choice, always fight the enemy on YOUR terms and not HIS. So let's stay out of the political arena. The political is rooted in the world and the whole world lies in the sway of.....who? So don't enter his arena. Don't argue with men. Stop the battle before it starts by loving it to death. We've done this with suicide, drugs, alcohol, abuse, poverty and many others. Christians have shown a clear ability to break the cycle of death with a preemptive strike of loving self-sacrifice. Why not do it again here, with abortion? Why not dedicate yourself to revealing the love of God to such a degree that people will value their identity over their need to feel good?
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Value and Meaning
Scripture tells us that we were made in the image and likeness of God. Because we know this, we can determine certain attributes of God's character. Two of those attributes are the importance of value and meaning.
Consider this: why do you do what you do? Do you eat because you can't help it or is there something else driving you? Because you understand the link between eating and living, you eat. But why do something to continue living? That seems like an odd question, but take it seriously. We continue living because for some reason or another we value life. Why do you choose certain clothes over others, certain people over others, certain activities over others? Value. We do what we do because we value the process, the outcome, or both.
But how do we assign a value to things? What determines our values? I value my children because of what they mean to me. I could go deeper into that but suffice it to say that what they mean to me determines the value they have to me. We value highest what means the most to us.
So much of our existence is based in the reward that comes from the people, places, and things that mean so much to us. There is an almost constant struggle to either gain that which means something or defend it. Look at your life. Is there any place in your life where you are not either going after something of value or fighting to keep something of value? In that struggle is so much of the awesome stuff of life! Like an amazing football game, the struggle for the win is the whole thing! We eventually learn to value the struggle itself over the object we are trying to gain. I value my relationship with my children and my wife, not because I own them and will never lose them, but because the struggle of the relationship is so full of danger and bliss.
Anything we truly value above all things involves risk. Remember wanting to go to Prom with that certain someone? Or how about asking someone to marry you? What about the risks of child bearing? How about starting that amazing company you've always dreamed of? Risk, risk, risk. We will struggle for what means the most to us. We will risk for it; even die for it.
Now, imagine for a minute that you are God before time began. You have all the power. All of it. Total and complete control. If you can create whatever you want and do whatever you want with it, how are you supposed to value it? I mean, if you give your children everything they want whenever they want it, they end up spoiled. Why? Because they did not have to struggle to earn any of it. We do not value things that are granted, that cost us nothing. So, if for God everything at the beginning of time was already granted, how does He value anything? I mean, what gift can you give to the Man who has everything?
Ok, here comes the scripture....
Gen 1:28
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Here we see where God tells man that man is now in control of this earthly realm. The implications of it are not readily apparent. Luckily it is spelled out elsewhere:
Psa 8:4-6
4 What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet
So, God created value by His own integrity and self-restriction! He is sovereign, He is all powerful, but He set up this earthly existence in such a way that He could experience wins and losses by the choices of His own children!
So what has value for Him? What means something to God? What could a mortal possibly do for The Creator that would have any eternal meaning what-so-ever? That we give Him the one thing He denied Himself: our choice. It's that simple. For Him it is no different than it is for us. We want our children, our loved ones, to choose us.
Have you ever thought about how much it tickles His fancy that you think about Him? I mean, that you are even willing to consider an invisible God who loves you must just make Him sing. We cannot please Him apart from faith because choosing to believe Him is literally the only thing we have to offer. He wanted it that way.
Consider this: why do you do what you do? Do you eat because you can't help it or is there something else driving you? Because you understand the link between eating and living, you eat. But why do something to continue living? That seems like an odd question, but take it seriously. We continue living because for some reason or another we value life. Why do you choose certain clothes over others, certain people over others, certain activities over others? Value. We do what we do because we value the process, the outcome, or both.
But how do we assign a value to things? What determines our values? I value my children because of what they mean to me. I could go deeper into that but suffice it to say that what they mean to me determines the value they have to me. We value highest what means the most to us.
So much of our existence is based in the reward that comes from the people, places, and things that mean so much to us. There is an almost constant struggle to either gain that which means something or defend it. Look at your life. Is there any place in your life where you are not either going after something of value or fighting to keep something of value? In that struggle is so much of the awesome stuff of life! Like an amazing football game, the struggle for the win is the whole thing! We eventually learn to value the struggle itself over the object we are trying to gain. I value my relationship with my children and my wife, not because I own them and will never lose them, but because the struggle of the relationship is so full of danger and bliss.
Anything we truly value above all things involves risk. Remember wanting to go to Prom with that certain someone? Or how about asking someone to marry you? What about the risks of child bearing? How about starting that amazing company you've always dreamed of? Risk, risk, risk. We will struggle for what means the most to us. We will risk for it; even die for it.
Now, imagine for a minute that you are God before time began. You have all the power. All of it. Total and complete control. If you can create whatever you want and do whatever you want with it, how are you supposed to value it? I mean, if you give your children everything they want whenever they want it, they end up spoiled. Why? Because they did not have to struggle to earn any of it. We do not value things that are granted, that cost us nothing. So, if for God everything at the beginning of time was already granted, how does He value anything? I mean, what gift can you give to the Man who has everything?
Ok, here comes the scripture....
Gen 1:28
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Here we see where God tells man that man is now in control of this earthly realm. The implications of it are not readily apparent. Luckily it is spelled out elsewhere:
Psa 8:4-6
4 What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet
So, God created value by His own integrity and self-restriction! He is sovereign, He is all powerful, but He set up this earthly existence in such a way that He could experience wins and losses by the choices of His own children!
So what has value for Him? What means something to God? What could a mortal possibly do for The Creator that would have any eternal meaning what-so-ever? That we give Him the one thing He denied Himself: our choice. It's that simple. For Him it is no different than it is for us. We want our children, our loved ones, to choose us.
Have you ever thought about how much it tickles His fancy that you think about Him? I mean, that you are even willing to consider an invisible God who loves you must just make Him sing. We cannot please Him apart from faith because choosing to believe Him is literally the only thing we have to offer. He wanted it that way.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Hearing God - Triangles and Dolphins
Recently, God showed me a vision of me doing a HALO jump. When you jump out of an airplane at night from 35,000 feet, you really can't see where you are going. Under normal circumstances, that's not good. While hurtling toward the earth at 120 mph, it's really really not good. Yet U.S. Special Forces do it all the time. If they panic, they die. So, how do they maintain composure under such circumstances? Well, just because they can't see where they are going doesn't mean they are lost.
Nobody performing a HALO does so without provision. They have oxygen, a special suit, an altimeter (tells you how high in the air you are), and best of all they have training. You see, it's completely unnatural for a human to know exactly where they are headed and maintain composure without the use of their senses. Without training, nobody could keep from panicking in a HALO jump. The oxygen may keep you awake and the altimeter may let you know when the ground is going to greet you but none of your equipment will give you the one thing you need to remain calm: trust. Training gives you understanding of the purpose of the provision so that you perceive no lack and are able to trust that you are safe. I cannot see, but the altimeter gives me all the information my eyes would normally provide. I cannot breath, but the oxygen and mask feed my airway. I cannot land safely on the earth at 120 mph, but my parachute was specifically designed to slow my descent. I am safe.
This whole vision came about because I was talking to God about not being able to see. He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Uh, what do You mean 'What do I mean?'" He said, "You can see just fine." Then the vision hit me. I knew that God putting me into a HALO jump was good and not bad. It came from Him. I've settled the fact that He's good. So I simply enjoyed the HALO like some kind of maniac. But then He said, "Why doesn't this scare you?" I replied, "Because I know You're with me." Then He immediately showed me the altimeter, the oxygen and mask, the parachute, the helmet, and the training. I understood and said, "Yes, I trust You." He said, "So, you can see?" I said, "Yes, I suppose I can."
Just to drive the point home, He started to show me things in scripture that have to do with perception. And He began to talk to me about imagery and sound, echos and shadows. He said, "You only truly see with your heart. And your heart sees in a way that humans are not used to seeing. Yet you can be trained..." Then He said, "Echolocation and Triangulation". "Huh?", I replied.
He showed me how Jesus constantly used natural concepts and ideas, imagery of things found in nature, to convey truths about The Kingdom. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed..." He showed me that even as far back as the prophecy given to the serpent that God used natural imagery to convey His ideas and purpose. It's for this reason that Jesus forever carries the title "Abraham's Seed" and "The Lamb". Then He said, "The natural is an echo of the supernatural." "That's one heckofa echo, Father." He said, "Well, I AM." I said, "Word."
Consider it, the account of creation reveals that He spoke creation into existence. His Word being spoken resulted in our physical universe being created. His sound created our reality. That's the very textbook definition of an echo. The Bible says that His word shall not return to Him void. What's it called when a word returns to you? That's an echo. So I said to Him, "We've discussed the whole echo dynamic before, Father. Why is it important for sight?" He said, "Echolocation. Consider the dolphin. Though their eyes work just fine under water, they can see farther and with much greater clarity using SOUND." "Whoa!", I replied. "But not just any sound. They interpret the ECHO so they can perceive the landscape."
Then He pointed me to Psalm 19. And then Romans 1:20:
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
The echolocation revelation also applies to my own utterance. I was made in His image so, like a dolphin, I can release my sound into the landscape and it will return with information. Likewise, I can also speak what He spoke and allow the echo of both our voices give me clarity. I see by both speaking and listening.
So I suddenly understood that the things that are seen should always point to the things that are not. They are an echo of a more clear sound; a shadow of a much larger figure. I recognize His voice in the echo. So then I asked Him, "What does this have to do with triangulation?" He said, "What is triangulation in the natural?" I explained, "It's when you determine the exact location of something based upon where it is in relation to 3 fixed points in space." We've all seen it on CSI or cop drama shows or action/adventure movies. In order to find a given cell phone, you can "triangulate" it's position by pinging it from 3 cell phone towers. Give me 3 points for comparison and I can always tell you exactly where I am.
He said, "You said before that you couldn't see where you were going. What if it's more important to see where you are?" "OK", I replied. Then He explained that I was capable of determining where I am in any context by using the following three points of reference: logos, rhema, echo. My position or location is always going to be relative to His. So I am only able to determine my position based on His position. In all cases I must ask myself the following questions in order to see where I am: What does the Word say about this (logos)? What is Holy Spirit saying about this(rhema)? What is going on in the natural right now(echo)? Based on the answer to those questions, I am fully aware of my own location AND His. In every instance I find that I'm always in one of two places: in Him, not in Him. If I'm in Him, who cares where I'm going? If I'm not, I know where I need to go for cover (hint: back to Him).
This is why the HALO vision was so important. In the natural you can't get a meaningful picture while you are in a free-fall. But if you add that piece of information to the Word and a conversation with Him, you have all the provision you need to perceive truth. Jesus, the prophets, the apostles, they all mixed information from the natural, scripture, and conversations with God in order to carry out their mission. They were all trained to see beyond sight. They used their heart as a sort of echo chamber to more accurately "see". All the places where scripture talks about your eye or your sight, it's referring to this kind of heart-sight. Keep your echo chamber filled with the sounds from above. Keep your echo chamber tuned to the frequency of light.
Now, as a small aside, God did not pick a highly-specialized military manoeuvre as a vision because it fit the "how do I see when I can't see" scenario so well. He picked it because The Body is being trained right now for Special Forces missions. Don't wait until you leave the plane at 35,000 feet to learn echo-location and triangulation. You may panic if you do.
Nobody performing a HALO does so without provision. They have oxygen, a special suit, an altimeter (tells you how high in the air you are), and best of all they have training. You see, it's completely unnatural for a human to know exactly where they are headed and maintain composure without the use of their senses. Without training, nobody could keep from panicking in a HALO jump. The oxygen may keep you awake and the altimeter may let you know when the ground is going to greet you but none of your equipment will give you the one thing you need to remain calm: trust. Training gives you understanding of the purpose of the provision so that you perceive no lack and are able to trust that you are safe. I cannot see, but the altimeter gives me all the information my eyes would normally provide. I cannot breath, but the oxygen and mask feed my airway. I cannot land safely on the earth at 120 mph, but my parachute was specifically designed to slow my descent. I am safe.
This whole vision came about because I was talking to God about not being able to see. He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Uh, what do You mean 'What do I mean?'" He said, "You can see just fine." Then the vision hit me. I knew that God putting me into a HALO jump was good and not bad. It came from Him. I've settled the fact that He's good. So I simply enjoyed the HALO like some kind of maniac. But then He said, "Why doesn't this scare you?" I replied, "Because I know You're with me." Then He immediately showed me the altimeter, the oxygen and mask, the parachute, the helmet, and the training. I understood and said, "Yes, I trust You." He said, "So, you can see?" I said, "Yes, I suppose I can."
Just to drive the point home, He started to show me things in scripture that have to do with perception. And He began to talk to me about imagery and sound, echos and shadows. He said, "You only truly see with your heart. And your heart sees in a way that humans are not used to seeing. Yet you can be trained..." Then He said, "Echolocation and Triangulation". "Huh?", I replied.
He showed me how Jesus constantly used natural concepts and ideas, imagery of things found in nature, to convey truths about The Kingdom. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed..." He showed me that even as far back as the prophecy given to the serpent that God used natural imagery to convey His ideas and purpose. It's for this reason that Jesus forever carries the title "Abraham's Seed" and "The Lamb". Then He said, "The natural is an echo of the supernatural." "That's one heckofa echo, Father." He said, "Well, I AM." I said, "Word."
Consider it, the account of creation reveals that He spoke creation into existence. His Word being spoken resulted in our physical universe being created. His sound created our reality. That's the very textbook definition of an echo. The Bible says that His word shall not return to Him void. What's it called when a word returns to you? That's an echo. So I said to Him, "We've discussed the whole echo dynamic before, Father. Why is it important for sight?" He said, "Echolocation. Consider the dolphin. Though their eyes work just fine under water, they can see farther and with much greater clarity using SOUND." "Whoa!", I replied. "But not just any sound. They interpret the ECHO so they can perceive the landscape."
Then He pointed me to Psalm 19. And then Romans 1:20:
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
The echolocation revelation also applies to my own utterance. I was made in His image so, like a dolphin, I can release my sound into the landscape and it will return with information. Likewise, I can also speak what He spoke and allow the echo of both our voices give me clarity. I see by both speaking and listening.
So I suddenly understood that the things that are seen should always point to the things that are not. They are an echo of a more clear sound; a shadow of a much larger figure. I recognize His voice in the echo. So then I asked Him, "What does this have to do with triangulation?" He said, "What is triangulation in the natural?" I explained, "It's when you determine the exact location of something based upon where it is in relation to 3 fixed points in space." We've all seen it on CSI or cop drama shows or action/adventure movies. In order to find a given cell phone, you can "triangulate" it's position by pinging it from 3 cell phone towers. Give me 3 points for comparison and I can always tell you exactly where I am.
He said, "You said before that you couldn't see where you were going. What if it's more important to see where you are?" "OK", I replied. Then He explained that I was capable of determining where I am in any context by using the following three points of reference: logos, rhema, echo. My position or location is always going to be relative to His. So I am only able to determine my position based on His position. In all cases I must ask myself the following questions in order to see where I am: What does the Word say about this (logos)? What is Holy Spirit saying about this(rhema)? What is going on in the natural right now(echo)? Based on the answer to those questions, I am fully aware of my own location AND His. In every instance I find that I'm always in one of two places: in Him, not in Him. If I'm in Him, who cares where I'm going? If I'm not, I know where I need to go for cover (hint: back to Him).
This is why the HALO vision was so important. In the natural you can't get a meaningful picture while you are in a free-fall. But if you add that piece of information to the Word and a conversation with Him, you have all the provision you need to perceive truth. Jesus, the prophets, the apostles, they all mixed information from the natural, scripture, and conversations with God in order to carry out their mission. They were all trained to see beyond sight. They used their heart as a sort of echo chamber to more accurately "see". All the places where scripture talks about your eye or your sight, it's referring to this kind of heart-sight. Keep your echo chamber filled with the sounds from above. Keep your echo chamber tuned to the frequency of light.
Now, as a small aside, God did not pick a highly-specialized military manoeuvre as a vision because it fit the "how do I see when I can't see" scenario so well. He picked it because The Body is being trained right now for Special Forces missions. Don't wait until you leave the plane at 35,000 feet to learn echo-location and triangulation. You may panic if you do.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Containment - Old Testament Mercy
It was Jesus who defeated the enemy. So what was God up to prior to Jesus?
There are many purposes served by Israel, God's chosen people, but for the purpose of this post I want to look at localization. What I mean by that is that the Old Testament is centered around a single people or nation. God chose them above all other people. But why just one people? Why just a single Promised Land? Why did He give them The Law and Prophets and not, say, China?
We can't know fully what went on in the mind of God when He reached out to Abram. Were there perhaps others God considered who were slightly less faithful than Abram? Maybe. But God wanted to choose a single person out of whom to create a single nation to be His. Again, there are many reasons for this. I don't want to get into all the types and shadows and various purposes for Israel right now. What I want to focus on is the singularity of Israel and the localization of God's attention on the tiny plot of land called the land of Canaan (later to become Israel). Yes, I realize that scripture also tells us that God loved Egypt and Syria along with Israel but again they are adjacent to Israel both topographically and ethnically.
So, why choose a single nation? Consider the policy that the first Bush administration had on Sadaam Husein in the early '90's. They called it "containment". They realized that Sadaam represented a unique threat that was too costly to deal with head on and too costly to ignore. The idea behind containment was to allow Sadaam's regime to be however vicious and vile as they wanted provided it was within the borders of Iraq. As we've seen since we toppled Sadaam's regime, a direct confrontation results in the cancer of his corrupt regime spreading and finding footholds in other locations. While Sadaam was alive and in control, the cancer was....contained.
Now, consider Israel between the time they are given The Law at Mt. Sinai and the time that Jesus came. They seemed to be in near constant turmoil. They were locked in a constant ware/peace/genocide cycle in a single region of earth. It was Israel versus the world over and over. And time and again God commanded them, "Kill everything you find. Every man, woman, child, and animal." How seemingly cruel!! But what was really going on here?
To answer that question, we need to go back in time a bit further. Sin entered the world through Adam. Every man since, except Jesus, was born into Adam's blood line. We have a sin nature as soon as we enter this world. Cain was no exception. Cain was the world's first murderer yet how did God deal with him? He put a mark on him and sent him away. The reason for this is another topic for another time but suffice it to say that God has mercy on Cain.
Well, not long after Cain, Lamech comes along:
Gen 4:23-24
23 Then Lamech said to his wives:
" Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy- sevenfold."
Comparing ourselves to each other as a method of determining our worth, righteousness, or anything else instead of to God's holy standard leads to a moral decline. This is the very definition of the proverbial "slippery slope". It starts small with a single person like Cain who has the audacity to do something completely contrary to good sense (wisdom) and over time it becomes a societal norm.
Let me ask you a question: when did foul language on television become acceptable? Can you remember a time when it wasn't? That may seem like a lame example but it fits nicely. It also trended upward in time with television violence, sex, cynical story-lines, etc... How did it happen? Well, like murder, it started small and grew until it was a societal norm. The same trend can be seen with literally every societal ill or sin.
It was no different in the time of Noah (not to say we are in the time of Noah, though some would disagree). What started with Lamech, Cain, and ultimately Adam had spread like a cancer throughout all of humanity. God was only able to find a single family worth saving! It was so horrible, in fact, that God was hurt. The human race, save one family, was beyond redemption. So God obliterated them. There was no Jesus at that time to save them. They could not be born again and redeemed. In order to save the legacy of love God had started with Adam, He had to save Noah and destroy everyone else. Sin gave demonic forces a stronghold in sinful people so God wiped out the stronghold.
So things started over with Noah and his family. But there was still no Jesus yet and Noah was a child of Adam. Sin still reigned. Demons were not gone, just pushed back. It was only a matter of time before things got out of control and God would once again be forced to wipe out humanity in order to give a single worthy family a chance to continue the legacy of love. Due to the power sin had over us and our propensity to compare ourselves amongst ourselves, this cycle would seemingly have to continue forever. Demons working with the selfish hearts of men would threaten our species time and again. But God is smarter than that.
Let's skip ahead to God's next plan to stem the tide of corruption: The Law. The Law is amazing. God came to Israel in power and love to convince them that HE IS and that they can depend on Him. He established His authority over them and then gave them what The Apostle Paul called "a tutor" or "a guide": The Law of Moses. God's intention with the law was to cancel man's habit of comparing himself against his neighbor. The law clearly states right and wrong and punishes wrong unilaterally. If you break one statute, you are guilty. The Law made Israel afraid of God. It made them listen to Him and regard His councel above their own. He dealt with them severely to keep them mindful of right and wrong, good and bad, health and sickness. It's purpose was literally to keep the human race from going off the rails and devolving into another global Soddom.
After many rough starts with the law, Israel found themselves in the region of Canaan. Suddenly God is telling them to just massacre whole ethnic groups in the region! Ghastly! But wait, didn't these people all descend from Noah? And who were these people groups? Did any of them end up with demonic blood mixed with Noah's blood? Yikes. That sounds scary. What about their culture? Did they sacrifice newborn babies to demon gods? That doesn't sound healthy at all. Ok, I can see why you'd want to stem the tide of baby-killing culture. That seems like it will eventually result in the species self-destructing. But isn't genocide a little harsh? Couldn't Israel have saved them? Ultimately Israel did save the pagan cultures through Jesus. But as I've said before, He wasn't on earth yet. Why not? That's another topic for another time. Let's just say that God could not violate His own word in order to save mankind or the very universe would unravel.
So, like a scalpel God used Israel to excise infected tissue from the region. This set up a future dynamic of attraction and containment. Yes, finally containment! The mixture of the region of Canaan, The Law, and Israelites created what could be considered a demon honey-pot. Remember that demons are fallen angels who are very angry with God and very jealous of humanity. They are naturally attracted to whatever God is doing on the earth so that they can try to corrupt it. God decided what better way to keep the world safe from another age of Noah than to attract the vast majority of demonic activity to a single place on earth and against a single enemy on earth: Israel.
Demons got into the Somethingites and forged a culture. Israel slaughtered them. Time and again a nation would rise up and Israel would slap them down. Yes, there were plenty of instances where Israel was enslaved, worshipped idols, etc... The overall effect of God's Law, Judgement, and Wrath was to keep the human race viable for Jesus. In the fulness of time we see that God kept the enemy busy with Israel long enough for Jesus to pop into the mix and defeat him once and for all.
There are many purposes served by Israel, God's chosen people, but for the purpose of this post I want to look at localization. What I mean by that is that the Old Testament is centered around a single people or nation. God chose them above all other people. But why just one people? Why just a single Promised Land? Why did He give them The Law and Prophets and not, say, China?
We can't know fully what went on in the mind of God when He reached out to Abram. Were there perhaps others God considered who were slightly less faithful than Abram? Maybe. But God wanted to choose a single person out of whom to create a single nation to be His. Again, there are many reasons for this. I don't want to get into all the types and shadows and various purposes for Israel right now. What I want to focus on is the singularity of Israel and the localization of God's attention on the tiny plot of land called the land of Canaan (later to become Israel). Yes, I realize that scripture also tells us that God loved Egypt and Syria along with Israel but again they are adjacent to Israel both topographically and ethnically.
So, why choose a single nation? Consider the policy that the first Bush administration had on Sadaam Husein in the early '90's. They called it "containment". They realized that Sadaam represented a unique threat that was too costly to deal with head on and too costly to ignore. The idea behind containment was to allow Sadaam's regime to be however vicious and vile as they wanted provided it was within the borders of Iraq. As we've seen since we toppled Sadaam's regime, a direct confrontation results in the cancer of his corrupt regime spreading and finding footholds in other locations. While Sadaam was alive and in control, the cancer was....contained.
Now, consider Israel between the time they are given The Law at Mt. Sinai and the time that Jesus came. They seemed to be in near constant turmoil. They were locked in a constant ware/peace/genocide cycle in a single region of earth. It was Israel versus the world over and over. And time and again God commanded them, "Kill everything you find. Every man, woman, child, and animal." How seemingly cruel!! But what was really going on here?
To answer that question, we need to go back in time a bit further. Sin entered the world through Adam. Every man since, except Jesus, was born into Adam's blood line. We have a sin nature as soon as we enter this world. Cain was no exception. Cain was the world's first murderer yet how did God deal with him? He put a mark on him and sent him away. The reason for this is another topic for another time but suffice it to say that God has mercy on Cain.
Well, not long after Cain, Lamech comes along:
Gen 4:23-24
23 Then Lamech said to his wives:
" Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, listen to my speech!
For I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for hurting me.
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy- sevenfold."
Notice that in verse 24 Lamech is speaking, not God. Lamech compared himself to Cain: "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold..." Not only did he judge himself worthy of protection for having killed someone, as God did with Cain, he upped the ante and judged that since it was a murder motivated by self-defense it was far more worthy of protection than Can's--seventy-sevenfold to be exact. This is the first example of morality as determined by man and not God. This is how that dynamic is most clearly stated in the New Testament:
2Co 10:12
12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
Comparing ourselves to each other as a method of determining our worth, righteousness, or anything else instead of to God's holy standard leads to a moral decline. This is the very definition of the proverbial "slippery slope". It starts small with a single person like Cain who has the audacity to do something completely contrary to good sense (wisdom) and over time it becomes a societal norm.
Let me ask you a question: when did foul language on television become acceptable? Can you remember a time when it wasn't? That may seem like a lame example but it fits nicely. It also trended upward in time with television violence, sex, cynical story-lines, etc... How did it happen? Well, like murder, it started small and grew until it was a societal norm. The same trend can be seen with literally every societal ill or sin.
It was no different in the time of Noah (not to say we are in the time of Noah, though some would disagree). What started with Lamech, Cain, and ultimately Adam had spread like a cancer throughout all of humanity. God was only able to find a single family worth saving! It was so horrible, in fact, that God was hurt. The human race, save one family, was beyond redemption. So God obliterated them. There was no Jesus at that time to save them. They could not be born again and redeemed. In order to save the legacy of love God had started with Adam, He had to save Noah and destroy everyone else. Sin gave demonic forces a stronghold in sinful people so God wiped out the stronghold.
So things started over with Noah and his family. But there was still no Jesus yet and Noah was a child of Adam. Sin still reigned. Demons were not gone, just pushed back. It was only a matter of time before things got out of control and God would once again be forced to wipe out humanity in order to give a single worthy family a chance to continue the legacy of love. Due to the power sin had over us and our propensity to compare ourselves amongst ourselves, this cycle would seemingly have to continue forever. Demons working with the selfish hearts of men would threaten our species time and again. But God is smarter than that.
Let's skip ahead to God's next plan to stem the tide of corruption: The Law. The Law is amazing. God came to Israel in power and love to convince them that HE IS and that they can depend on Him. He established His authority over them and then gave them what The Apostle Paul called "a tutor" or "a guide": The Law of Moses. God's intention with the law was to cancel man's habit of comparing himself against his neighbor. The law clearly states right and wrong and punishes wrong unilaterally. If you break one statute, you are guilty. The Law made Israel afraid of God. It made them listen to Him and regard His councel above their own. He dealt with them severely to keep them mindful of right and wrong, good and bad, health and sickness. It's purpose was literally to keep the human race from going off the rails and devolving into another global Soddom.
After many rough starts with the law, Israel found themselves in the region of Canaan. Suddenly God is telling them to just massacre whole ethnic groups in the region! Ghastly! But wait, didn't these people all descend from Noah? And who were these people groups? Did any of them end up with demonic blood mixed with Noah's blood? Yikes. That sounds scary. What about their culture? Did they sacrifice newborn babies to demon gods? That doesn't sound healthy at all. Ok, I can see why you'd want to stem the tide of baby-killing culture. That seems like it will eventually result in the species self-destructing. But isn't genocide a little harsh? Couldn't Israel have saved them? Ultimately Israel did save the pagan cultures through Jesus. But as I've said before, He wasn't on earth yet. Why not? That's another topic for another time. Let's just say that God could not violate His own word in order to save mankind or the very universe would unravel.
So, like a scalpel God used Israel to excise infected tissue from the region. This set up a future dynamic of attraction and containment. Yes, finally containment! The mixture of the region of Canaan, The Law, and Israelites created what could be considered a demon honey-pot. Remember that demons are fallen angels who are very angry with God and very jealous of humanity. They are naturally attracted to whatever God is doing on the earth so that they can try to corrupt it. God decided what better way to keep the world safe from another age of Noah than to attract the vast majority of demonic activity to a single place on earth and against a single enemy on earth: Israel.
Demons got into the Somethingites and forged a culture. Israel slaughtered them. Time and again a nation would rise up and Israel would slap them down. Yes, there were plenty of instances where Israel was enslaved, worshipped idols, etc... The overall effect of God's Law, Judgement, and Wrath was to keep the human race viable for Jesus. In the fulness of time we see that God kept the enemy busy with Israel long enough for Jesus to pop into the mix and defeat him once and for all.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Value and Worth
The church has made a mistake in the days since the apostles. Take this portion of the definition of covenant as seen at BibleStudyTools dot Com:
He is a God of covenant. But why even introduce the idea of a bond if love is not to be served by it? And what love can there be without freedom of choice? Would you want someone to be forced to love you? What fun would that be?
I would have to disagree with the quoted paragraph above. A covenant only has worth if it is based on an agreement. Agreement requires choice. Choice implies equality between the parties. Am I saying that I am equal with God? No. I'm saying God came down to my level in order to grace me with the choice to love Him.
Phi 2:5-8
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
It is one thing for me to claim I am equal with God because I am great. It's quite another to say I have been granted equality with God because He is so incredibly full of mercy and grace. Still don't agree? Look at this then:
Rom 8:15-17
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, " Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Again, I'm not saying I'm God. I'm not saying He and I are the same entity. I'm saying we are sufficiently equal for Him to deal with me as a person and not as a slave. Reread that last scripture. I am God's child. Holy Spirit tells me this all the time. I am an heir to the Kingdom of The Creator. Not only that, I'm a JOINT heir with Jesus, who is God! Jesus and I are equal partners in the inheritance! All that Jesus has is mine!!!! Dude...
Gen 25:5
5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.
The pattern established in the Bible is that a father gives EVERYTHING to his son. All that He has is ours. It boggles the mind.
But why? Why did He do this? Why lower Himself? Why, God, why?
Isa 53:10
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;...
Luk 12:32
32 " Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
This seems to suggest that it pleased God to beat Jesus until He was unrecognizable. It pleases Him, our Father, to give us the kingdom. What an extreme way to deal with something. Why go through all that? Well, He had to give His all.
When Jesus was on the earth, He gave us His all. He went all in on establishing the covenant with us. He left no stone unturned. Every i was dotted and every t was crossed (no pun intended). He gave and He gave and He gave, like that book The Giving Tree, until there was literally nothing left of Him. He gave His wisdom to the disciples and the crowds. He gave them His healing, His companionship, His love. When He had given all of that, He gave still more. He gave His body over to be beaten, His flesh to be ripped apart. He gave His dignity and His privacy. He gave His peace and received our torment. Finally, He gave His life. He was all in. He quite literally poured Himself out.
The Bible speaks of His doing all this because of the joy set before Him. Wow. It would have to be something really really extraordinary to warrant Him giving, literally, His all in order to obtain it. What could possibly be worth that? I mean, it's like that old saying, "What do you buy for the person who has everything?"
Your heart. Remember, it can't be bought or sold. Your heart must be given freely or not at all. There is something about you and I that He values so incredibly much that He'd hand Himself over as a ransom for us. We are not His equals yet He regards us as such and therefore we are.
I wonder if the entire Bible is about winning our affection. I wonder if maybe we are being romanced into holiness even now. Could it possibly be that simple?
The covenants referred to above were between two equal parties; this means that the covenant relationship was bilateral. The bond was sealed by both parties vowing, often by oath, that each, having equal privileges and responsibilities, would carry out their assigned roles. Because a covenant confirmed between two human parties was bilateral, some scholars have concluded that the covenant Yahweh established with human beings is also bilateral. This is not the case. God initiated, determined the elements, and confirmed his covenant with humanity. It is unilateral. Persons are recipients, not contributors; they are not expected to offer elements to the bond; they are called to accept it as offered, to keep it as demanded, and to receive the results that God, by oath, assures will not be withheld.I would never presume to believe myself equal with God. The fact that I was created by Him resolves that question for all time. I am the clay. However, we are dealing with a God who is humble, full of mercy, kindness, and can only be described as Love.
He is a God of covenant. But why even introduce the idea of a bond if love is not to be served by it? And what love can there be without freedom of choice? Would you want someone to be forced to love you? What fun would that be?
I would have to disagree with the quoted paragraph above. A covenant only has worth if it is based on an agreement. Agreement requires choice. Choice implies equality between the parties. Am I saying that I am equal with God? No. I'm saying God came down to my level in order to grace me with the choice to love Him.
Phi 2:5-8
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
It is one thing for me to claim I am equal with God because I am great. It's quite another to say I have been granted equality with God because He is so incredibly full of mercy and grace. Still don't agree? Look at this then:
Rom 8:15-17
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, " Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Again, I'm not saying I'm God. I'm not saying He and I are the same entity. I'm saying we are sufficiently equal for Him to deal with me as a person and not as a slave. Reread that last scripture. I am God's child. Holy Spirit tells me this all the time. I am an heir to the Kingdom of The Creator. Not only that, I'm a JOINT heir with Jesus, who is God! Jesus and I are equal partners in the inheritance! All that Jesus has is mine!!!! Dude...
Gen 25:5
5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.
The pattern established in the Bible is that a father gives EVERYTHING to his son. All that He has is ours. It boggles the mind.
But why? Why did He do this? Why lower Himself? Why, God, why?
Isa 53:10
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;...
Luk 12:32
32 " Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
This seems to suggest that it pleased God to beat Jesus until He was unrecognizable. It pleases Him, our Father, to give us the kingdom. What an extreme way to deal with something. Why go through all that? Well, He had to give His all.
When Jesus was on the earth, He gave us His all. He went all in on establishing the covenant with us. He left no stone unturned. Every i was dotted and every t was crossed (no pun intended). He gave and He gave and He gave, like that book The Giving Tree, until there was literally nothing left of Him. He gave His wisdom to the disciples and the crowds. He gave them His healing, His companionship, His love. When He had given all of that, He gave still more. He gave His body over to be beaten, His flesh to be ripped apart. He gave His dignity and His privacy. He gave His peace and received our torment. Finally, He gave His life. He was all in. He quite literally poured Himself out.
The Bible speaks of His doing all this because of the joy set before Him. Wow. It would have to be something really really extraordinary to warrant Him giving, literally, His all in order to obtain it. What could possibly be worth that? I mean, it's like that old saying, "What do you buy for the person who has everything?"
Your heart. Remember, it can't be bought or sold. Your heart must be given freely or not at all. There is something about you and I that He values so incredibly much that He'd hand Himself over as a ransom for us. We are not His equals yet He regards us as such and therefore we are.
I wonder if the entire Bible is about winning our affection. I wonder if maybe we are being romanced into holiness even now. Could it possibly be that simple?
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Homosexuals
Some of this will sound harsh but please stick with it until the end. I want to try to reveal something that I believe God has shown me. Prayerfully consider what I've written here.
There has been much talk lately about Vicky Beeching coming out as gay. Homosexuality one of the most polarizing topics in all the western world. Sadly, it's also one of if not THE MOST polarizing topic in the church.
Let me get this over with right off the bat: sex outside of marriage is a sin. God defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman for all time. Are homosexuals living in sin? Let me answer that question with another question. Is it a sin to worry that you won't be able to pay your bills? Now, if that happens every pay period, are you living in sin?
Many would answer, "Oh but brother, that's different." Well, since we are using the written word of God as our measuring stick, let's see what it says about sin:
James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
Do you understand that according to God's standard of righteousness you are as a homosexual to Him when you worry? When you lust. When you lie. When you do not believe. In His eyes, you are equal. Let's go one verse back and see what James was writing about in the first place:
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Do you allow those who self-identify as gay into your church? Do you approach them as "gay" people when you encounter them in public or online? That's partiality. Here's how I define being non-partial:
2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus:that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
When I approach someone as any identity they've given themselves or any identity the world has given them (drunk, athiest, porn addict, drug addict, lawyer), I have unwittingly regarded them according to the flesh. To speak to a person as a homosexual is to disregard that person as God's dear child. You are saying that their highest identity is defined by their sexual habits instead of the reason and purpose for which God created them. Look at what Paul wrote! We are "compelled by love" to "regard no one according to the flesh" because Christ is "reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses against them". Jesus died once for all. All means all. We are defined by the value God placed on our lives: the life of Jesus.
He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. It's up to us. If we turn people away because they call themselves drunks or budhists or porn stars or gay, they will remain turned away. That's the deal. This whole thing isn't about protecting ourselves from their icky sin, it's about being compelled by love to reconcile the lost back to their Father.
I can hear some still saying, "But brother, it's a sin and there's just no way around that." Those who are NOT lost do not need to be reconciled. And as long as you are on a hunt for sin, you'll never get to the harvest. This is how Jesus put it:
Matt 23:13 " But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
Jesus did not ask for a group of Separated Ones whose job it is to keep the church clean of all sin. How dare you. The gospel is not about sin. It's about grace. When you see a person for their sin, you tread under foot what Jesus did for you and the other person. When you speak against a person, you murder them. What if this isn't about homosexuality at all? What if this is about seeing clearly?
What if you can't see past the flesh of others because you've never seen yourself apart from your physical nature? What if you can't give grace to some people because you never received it for yourself? "For you neither go in yourselves..."
Consider what Paul said after talking about those who practice all kinds of imorality:
Romans 2:3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self- seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness — indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
Guys, we are free from fighting sin both in ourselves and in others. Do you not know that it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance? If you have it on your heart to save those who revel in their sin, then magnify HIS goodness to them. If you don't have it on your heart to do that, then magnify His goodness to yourself!
We did not earn salvation and The Kingdom is never in danger. Remember that there is a very real enemy out there and it's not flesh and blood. It operates in deception so that it can steal, kill, and destroy. I refuse to empower the deception by even acknowledging it. I'd rather speak things that are not as though they are. I'd rather show tenderness, mercy, kindness, and patience to those who do not yet see how valuable they are. We are better than we have been in the past and we are getting even better. Please, love one another as He has loved us.
There has been much talk lately about Vicky Beeching coming out as gay. Homosexuality one of the most polarizing topics in all the western world. Sadly, it's also one of if not THE MOST polarizing topic in the church.
Let me get this over with right off the bat: sex outside of marriage is a sin. God defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman for all time. Are homosexuals living in sin? Let me answer that question with another question. Is it a sin to worry that you won't be able to pay your bills? Now, if that happens every pay period, are you living in sin?
Many would answer, "Oh but brother, that's different." Well, since we are using the written word of God as our measuring stick, let's see what it says about sin:
James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
Do you understand that according to God's standard of righteousness you are as a homosexual to Him when you worry? When you lust. When you lie. When you do not believe. In His eyes, you are equal. Let's go one verse back and see what James was writing about in the first place:
James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
Do you allow those who self-identify as gay into your church? Do you approach them as "gay" people when you encounter them in public or online? That's partiality. Here's how I define being non-partial:
2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus:that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
When I approach someone as any identity they've given themselves or any identity the world has given them (drunk, athiest, porn addict, drug addict, lawyer), I have unwittingly regarded them according to the flesh. To speak to a person as a homosexual is to disregard that person as God's dear child. You are saying that their highest identity is defined by their sexual habits instead of the reason and purpose for which God created them. Look at what Paul wrote! We are "compelled by love" to "regard no one according to the flesh" because Christ is "reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses against them". Jesus died once for all. All means all. We are defined by the value God placed on our lives: the life of Jesus.
He gave us the ministry of reconciliation. It's up to us. If we turn people away because they call themselves drunks or budhists or porn stars or gay, they will remain turned away. That's the deal. This whole thing isn't about protecting ourselves from their icky sin, it's about being compelled by love to reconcile the lost back to their Father.
I can hear some still saying, "But brother, it's a sin and there's just no way around that." Those who are NOT lost do not need to be reconciled. And as long as you are on a hunt for sin, you'll never get to the harvest. This is how Jesus put it:
Matt 23:13 " But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
Jesus did not ask for a group of Separated Ones whose job it is to keep the church clean of all sin. How dare you. The gospel is not about sin. It's about grace. When you see a person for their sin, you tread under foot what Jesus did for you and the other person. When you speak against a person, you murder them. What if this isn't about homosexuality at all? What if this is about seeing clearly?
What if you can't see past the flesh of others because you've never seen yourself apart from your physical nature? What if you can't give grace to some people because you never received it for yourself? "For you neither go in yourselves..."
Consider what Paul said after talking about those who practice all kinds of imorality:
Romans 2:3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self- seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness — indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
Guys, we are free from fighting sin both in ourselves and in others. Do you not know that it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance? If you have it on your heart to save those who revel in their sin, then magnify HIS goodness to them. If you don't have it on your heart to do that, then magnify His goodness to yourself!
We did not earn salvation and The Kingdom is never in danger. Remember that there is a very real enemy out there and it's not flesh and blood. It operates in deception so that it can steal, kill, and destroy. I refuse to empower the deception by even acknowledging it. I'd rather speak things that are not as though they are. I'd rather show tenderness, mercy, kindness, and patience to those who do not yet see how valuable they are. We are better than we have been in the past and we are getting even better. Please, love one another as He has loved us.
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