Monday, November 28, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
A Love That Surpasses Head Knowledge
Just as ideas may come from the mind but the passion in the heart for those ideas continues and propels them onward.
The knowledge and wisdom God will just stay in the mind and never mature in the fullness of Christ unless they take root and grow in the heart knowing "in" God. We can know "of" God but "knowing" God and having a passion for God doesn't happen if we don't allow God to work and live in our heart. God must have full excess to our heart. We must know God's love with the "knowing in our heart" and in this maturing faith in the knowing "in" God that we live in, reply on, take refuge in, trust in will even surpass the knowing in our heart. God's love is deeper then the knowing in our heart. We cannot fully understanding how much God loves us but we get a glimpse we when think about Jesus' passion for us and sacrifice on the cross.
God wants us to live NOT in just in head knowledge but in reality of His love that He has placed in our heart when we became a new creation in Christ Jesus. Learning to submit (be still, quiet, before the Lord) and live in God's love is something we all as Christians must continue to do- to "mature" in God's love. This maturity grows in addition to the wisdom God gives us and gives more deeply but if one decides they know it all and have heard it all already they have cut the working power of God off.
Imagine your heart as a glass. How much "God" juice/ Holy Spirit fortified juice did you allow Him to pour into you today? Was it 1%? 10%? 50%? 80% 90%? 100%?
In the hidden but real certainty of God we will not be tossed around by opinions, cleaver arguments, situations, circumstances, etc.
Again this can only happen if Jesus is at home in our heart for weakness is behind the locked doors of the soul where God is not allowed to enter.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."
2. "dwell" (live in your heart/ not the physical heart but the "knowing heart" of the soul )
3. "rooted and established in love" (planted, surrendered, anchored in God's love which has no fear.)
4. "to grasp" (to fully understand)
5. "surpasses knowledge" (head knowledge -and even heart knowledge)
Paul writes in Ephesians 3:19 "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with fullness of life and power that comes from God." NLT.
We may live in this supernatural love even though we may not even fully understand it. Sort of like when a person is "born-again". It is a supernatural transformation that changes the heart. A person can not necessarily see the inward changes of this transformation from the outward appearance - except through a person's actions/ fruit.
True intimate fellowship with His goodness brings out His goodness in us.
"As we know Jesus better, his divine power gives us everything we need for living a godly life. He has called us to receive his own glory and goodness! And by the same mighty power, he has given us all of his rich and wonderful promises. He has promised that you will escape the decadence all around you caused by evil desires and that you will share in his divine nature."
He has planted Jesus in our hearts and is waiting for us to let him have full excess to our heart not just our mind. For God's words in which we are taught and feed and speak will not just be God's words but the words will have passionate godly actions to escort them. Mighty is the love of God and his love for us. Give God your heart and you will not regret it but those who hold back will regret much.
For to live in God's love is to be sustained in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Hiding Place
Then Moses said, "If you don't go with us personally, don't let us move a step from this place." Exodus 33:15
We live in a very uncertain world so where does the Christian soul find peace to live a Godly life?
The Place of Refuge For the Soul
Does your soul have a hiding place to endure the uncertainty of life? This hiding place is not a place we can find on our own or by our own efforts.
This hiding place is not some physical location but a place in which the soul can take refuge “anytime” -not just in times of difficulty and/or trouble.
Our emotions are tied to our thoughts. Our thoughts can be like winds that power the waves of powerful seas and leaving a trail of destruction within them. Our thoughts must not be cast upon things that are uncertain but on God who is constant and certain.
Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.”
Psalm 91:1-2 “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare of the LORD: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I am trusting him. “
Psalm 91:4 “He will shield you with his wings. He will shelter you with his feathers. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”
Psalm 91:9 “If you make the LORD your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your dwelling.”
Psalm 91:14 “The LORD says, “ I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them.”
I don’t pretend to understand the ways of the LORD, I just know He works in mysterious and powerful ways that the human understanding cannot understand.
Ask yourself this question: “Have I allowed God open excess into my life (Your heart and mind and soul) to prepare my soul for what is ahead in “this” life?” Are my thoughts secured upon God and His Love?
Your Real Life
Colossians 3:2-3 “Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Take some time to think upon this:
Your real life is “in” Christ Jesus- not “this” life you are currently experiencing.
Example: Though your body maybe suffering from cancer -this is not your soul’s life- this is not your real life. Your real life is hidden in Christ Jesus.
Just as a “handicapped” Christian maybe trapped in a body in which they have little control of – there “real” life is not their body but IN God who nourishes the soul.
Home is Where the Heart Is
I was watching the movie “The Hiding Place” and the more I watched it, the more I started to think about “the hiding place” was not some tiny place to hide Jews from the Nazi’s but it was a spiritual place within a believer’s heart.
God is our hiding place. He is our place of refuge, protection, encouragement, and enlightenment, and SOURCE of faithful, unfailing, unconditional love.
We will experience physical fatigue, loss, pain, sickness, hunger, sexual desire and so on - through our bodies but our bodies are not our home they are only a place that our heaven bound souls temporary reside.
We are in Christ. God is our home. There is where home is. There is where the heart is.
Why This Life?
Why didn’t God just skip this human experience and have us living with Him now?
Well think of it this way. Before you marry someone you become acquainted with him or her. You date and become educated about this special person of the opposite sex before you are joined together in marriage.
God wants us all to become acquainted with Him. God gave us a choice to accept Him or not. This is the place He chose for us to become acquainted with Him.
"So we, like Abraham, begin the journey. There is a longing in our hearts that supersedes our obedience to His will. We yearn to find a place of intimacy with Him. We want to see Him face-to-face! We are not content to worship from afar. Instead, we are desperate for His presence. We are more interested in Him than in the destination to which He is leading us. In fact, we discover on our way that He is our destination! He is drawing us to Himself, and this is exactly what He intended from the beginning. It doesn't take us long to realize how inadequate our resources are for this spiritual journey. We are suddenly cast upon His mercy and faithfulness to guide us along the way. At times our spirits are willing, but our flesh is weak, and we are drawn away from Him. The cars of this life and the things of this world entice and seduce us, but He is persistent. He will not let us go. We wander into His presence for brief moments of divine inspiration, and then wander back out. We settle for occasional encounters with God instead of living in His presence. We are God chasers instead of God-pleasers." Dr. Dale A. Fife "The Secret Place" page 39-40
I believe God created this earthly experience so we could get know his handiwork “his invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature.” (Romans 1:20)
I believe God created this human experience so we would seek Him out knowing He put a measure of faith of Himself in us -knowing it would grow as we got to know Him more and more.
I believe God created the earth for a place for His children to learn about His love for us and be empowered by that love to do many wonderful things that we know we could not accomplish by ourselves.
I believe God created this human experience to see that nothing could satisfy the deep heart felt desires and needs but Him.
I believe God created this human experience to bring us up in the obedience of Him and to test our devotion to Him.
If God Loves Us Why Do Things Happen?
So why does God allow suffering, sickness and disease? Probably the same reason why there injustice in this world? We live in a fallen world. Why are some people healed and why are some not? We could go crazy asking these questions but no one really understands why things happen – only God.
I do know sometimes to get to the knowledge of God to go from the head to the heart – sometimes suffering is involved and those involved in such difficult lessons have a greater understanding of God’s love then those who do not go through such experiences.
My friend Janine experienced God’s presence everyday as she suffered and her body wasted away from the cancer. Through her suffering she experienced -a deeper and meaningful relationship with God came. The pain and loss of mobility she suffered was nothing compared to the priceless value and gain of God’s companionship. She was never alone. He was not separated from her even on her darkest days. He was available to her 24/7 because she trusted Him and wanted Him to be with her.“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials for we know they are good for us- they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” Romans 5:3-5
“It is His very presence that distinguishes us and makes us Holy” – John Bevere.
God’s love "active" in our lives separates us from the worldly mindset. Remember your first encounter with God -that changed your life and God became real to you? You surrendered to God’s calling and He changed you but God was not done changing you. He wants us to take refuge in His love. There is where the Christian soul belongs is encouraged and empowered despite trials and challenges.
In the quiet still hiding place of God the soul has life, love, joy, and peace. God lives in us if we have given our life to Jesus Christ. He is our goodness. True intimate fellowship with His goodness brings out His goodness in us.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Your Value in A Reactive Society
Aren’t we all simple vessels? I consider myself a simple person and I am amazed in how God can stir and bring His words into such a message using this simple vessel. I know most definitely it is not I who puts the message together but God’s Holy Spirit.
Yesterday He started this message for His young adult bible study and He has continued this morning as I felt compelled to just sit and write down the words that came to mind and I could not help but get a deeper truth in His words and receive a joy from them as layer upon layer was added upon each preceding layer.
Message.
We have become a “reactive” society. I have seen and heard this and it has become an increasing problem on Christian radio and broadcasts, which has trickled down to some podiums of our churches and into our congregations. Not that we shouldn’t be aware of radical organizations such ACLU wanting to take away our ”religious freedoms” but when the radical issues become so big in our mind– there is no more room for godly thought.
This is one of greatest strategies of the devil - that if a man’s focus is bombard by the injustices and issues at hand, he cannot focus on the solution who is God Himself.
Who should matter most in the Christian mind and heart? God.
No problem or man should stand between another man and God.
The issues maybe problems that need to be addressed but we should not allow the issues of the day come between us and the peace God gives us.
We need to get out of the habit of reacting “largely” in how others value us and value our beliefs and/or how we perceive how others value us or value our beliefs. Throwing more gasoline on a fire has never put out a fire- that goes in our broad ways of communicating and our interpersonal communication.
The way we see our value in relation to God will greatly affect our outlook in life.
It will also affect the way you react to those around us.
Have you ever allowed a circumstance or a person get the best of you? Sure you have- because everyone has in some shape or form.
I don't know what the technical term is but I call it "static" like the static on your radio. Static happens when we are no longer receiving from God because we have allowed our spiritual antenna to be blocked by the way our flesh wants to act in a given situation.
One of the ways to get over that static is seeing the reality of God in our life. He is one we can always go to. God is a merciful and gracious God who empowers us in his grace and mercy but we must know in our heart and mind as well that He is also a loving God who wants to invest Himself in our life.
For the mind can carry the knowledge but it means nothing if that knowledge isn’t incorporated in the heart and directed by Holy Spirit.
God’s Love
We are righteous by faith but faith must encompass God’s love.
Remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:2
“…. And if I had the gift of faith so that I could speak to a mountain and make it move without love I would be no good to anybody.”
Spiritual gifts are great but they must be encompassed in God’s love when used or else they are worthless.
God's love is worthless to empower us if we just intellectually know God's love in our mind but not in our heart. You are not "in" love with someone intellectually but you are "in" love with them in your heart. Same with God, we must be “in” God’s love (heart, mind, soul) to receive the benefits of God’s love.
1 John 4:15 says
“We know how much God loves us and we have put our trust in Him. God is love and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them. And as we live in God our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world.”
You see John is saying we “know” God’s love. We know it in our head, our heart and our soul. God has shown, directed and proved to us this through His love to us.
Living in the Light or the Shadows?
1 John 1:5 says
“God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth.”
When a person grasps God’s love and stands in God’s light there is a dramatic difference in their life then when they hadn’t understood God’s love and light.
We run into problems spiritually when we choose to stand in other people’s shadows and our circumstances or the injustices- creating "static". For those are not truths to stand in rather Jesus said we would face troubles and trials in life but we overcome those things with understanding and knowing God’s love.
I rather live in God’s light then another person’s unpredictable shadows and my circumstances and the injustices in life. How about you?
If you value your enemy, friends, sweetheart, spouse, children, parents, other family members outlook on you more then God then you are sure to fall into darkness. For you have set their opinions of you above God’s loving opinions of you which are to encourage you and strengthen you to do what is right regardless of how others think and treat you.
Matthew 10:28-31 Jesus says what?
“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both your soul and body in hell. Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.”
Laugh when such fears come to mind. Don’t be afraid or offended or hurt by those who don’t value you as much as God the Father “loves” you. When we acknowledge our worth in God and trust Him above all other opinions and other things in this “temporary experience” our life changes and is empowered by God’s love.
I know it can be tough lesson but think "childlike faith." A child thinks about things in the simplest terms and isn't concerned with all the details. They know Jesus loves them because the bible tells them so and so they believe.
If we are afraid, offended or hurt by someone let it be a gauge of where we are placing our value in. Are we placing our value in mere people or the situation or God Himself?
1 John 4:18 continues with
“Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we fear we are afraid it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that His love has not been perfected in us. We love each other as a result of His loving us first.”
No one likes to be judged or feel like they are being judged but we must continue to live in God’s love so the grace of God can empower us to do what is right. God loves me and so I do.
Sometimes in our personal life we need to take a moment or two and we need to step away from the situation and get our focus on where it needs to be – “Where do I stand with God not this person who seems to have a problem with me?”
Many people hated, misunderstood, judged Jesus and even though Jesus was and is God, He drew his strength while he was down here from the Father’s love. He was “in” the Father's love.
Are you one of Jesus’ disciples?
Jesus prayer for his disciples,
“My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father- that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be, as we are- I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one. Then the world will know that you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.” John 17:21-23
Do you see “and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.” If you know the value of God’s love in your life there is assurance, certainty, and power.
To “know” God’s love is to not just know how to live a godly life “but” to live in God’s love and there in relationship with Him we have assurance of eternal life.
Jesus says in John 17:3
“And this is the way to have eternal life- to know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ the one you sent to earth.”
We must not stand in another person’s shadow, which can be confused as light. Don’t be a child when it comes to this idea for though the moon lights up at night it does not produce it’s own light. God is our source of light....
A Christian needs to stand in God's light - just as they will have to stand and give their account of their life before God. Stand in your Father's light for He loves you.
Understand we only dishonor God when we put someone before God in life and if we have done this and the words and expressions are cast upon us -we can easily trip and fall. Life is messy but let us not make it messier with our ways of thinking.
We all must live in the understanding of our true value is not in people or circumstances or injustices but in God Himself. We are God’s children.
Jesus points me to this scripture in Matthew 6:22
“Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness. If the light you think you have is really darkness, how deep this darkness will be.”
We must continually ask ourselves, “Is my eye constantly open to the mighty encouragement of God’s love?”
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father. I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” John 15:5-11
Do as Jesus says, “remain in His love and you will be filled with joy” in the midst of unpredictable people, circumstances, and injustices for your value is in Him who created you.
Monday, November 07, 2011
Certainty - God isn’t about Religion
Last Monday I woke and I had no work to go to. Thoughts started to whisper and cast shadows of worth until the Holy Spirit reminded me that my worth was not in a job. I would be encouraged in this thought as God provided me another job.
The things of life have never given a person certainty to not fear, worry, dread, or have concern. Humanity has tried to lessen one’s anxiety through human means such as ignorance, lies, deceit, medication, word usage, by who one surrounds themselves, position, talent, possessions, who they marry, school or college they attend, investments, retirement plans, insurance, credit, their home, their car and all the way down to the house key in their pocket but those are weak certainties because they are all based on things that could be easily taken away or not honored. There is no certainty in any of them. The only certainty a person can have is God.
God is the one who gives us certainty.
Like the things of this world, religion never gave the certainty of hope in one’s salvation nor has it ever empowered a people to live the righteous godly lifestyle but a relationship with God has. For the relationship with God involves not just the mind but the heart and soul as well.
Earning Love and Justification.
Did your parents give you certainty of their love based on your accomplishments? Did you have to prove you were worth loving? If so I am sorry and I am here to tell you the Father of heaven in not like that. For He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us because he saw worth in us not that we could earn his love or justification.
People try to justify themselves to God by their accomplishments and good deeds. You can’t justify yourself to God for God justifies those who live in the faith of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. We can’t earn our justification from God but rather live in the justification He gives us. We clothe ourselves with Christ and His sacrifice in mind.
If you had loving parents but felt like you had to earn your parent’s love, you would alienate your parent’s love. Plus in your efforts to earn your parent’s love you would be burdened and driven by some non-existent standard that only made you a slave to that lie.
Same with God, we alienate God when we feel like we have to earn His love and our own salvation. We do not just alienate God but we lose our certainty and the power of God working in our life when we think such things. God made it possible for us to “enter” into His Love through His Son Jesus Christ. God shows His love everyday to us no matter if we realize it or not but only through Jesus Christ we can “enter” into the FREEDOM of His love and have certainty to live empowered by God’s love regardless of the human outlook of our circumstances and situations.
Starting in Galatians 5:2 it says, “Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: if you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you. I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all the regulations in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive everything promised to us who are right with God through faith. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, it makes no difference to God whether we are circumcised or not circumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.”
Romans 4:5 says “But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.”
Our deeds and work could never earn God’s love. To say that our deeds and work could earn God’s love is a lie and we are living in spiritual darkness. God’s love is a gift we must accept and receive daily to be set free and be empowered by God’s love and light.
1 John 1:5-7 “…. God is light and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from every sin.”
Love for God that is the amazing key to experiencing God’s love. Adore God, admire God, and hold Him high above all other thoughts. Remember all the good things He had done. Give Him praise for who He is and His unfailing and faithful love. Love your God with all your heart, mind and soul and He will do amazing things in your life because your mind, heart and soul are set upon Him – nothing else.
Surrendering ourselves to God’s love brings FREEDOM in Christ. He gives certainty in a very uncertain world.
Galatians 4:8 “Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. And now that you have found God (or should I say, now that God has found you), why do you want to go back again to become slaves once more to weak and useless spiritual powers of this world? You are trying to find favor with God by what you do or don’t do on certain days or months or seasons or years. I fear for you. I am afraid that all my hard work for you was worth nothing. Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles were- free from the law."
Free yourselves from falsehood securities and what you think that makes you right with God. It is not what you do or your job or what you do and don’t do but your faith in Christ that makes you right with God.
For in Christ there is grace. Not through anything we may do but through Him and Him only. The only way to give grace is to receive grace. And the full measure or understanding of grace and its power only comes with living securely in God’s love. We must live in this real yet mysterious love that brings perfect peace to our soul.
You know the only way to give unconditional love and express unconditional love is to receive it from the LORD. In order to give love you must receive the healing, the new mindset that empowers us in the love from the only God above.
There in a consistent relationship with God, the fullness of God’s love empowers His certainty in our lives -a certainty the world cannot provide.
Jesus says, "I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. John 14:27
There is a difference between knowing of God and knowing God.
You can’t receive this peace and certainty unless you are “in” Christ. A believer will struggle when they waver back and forth in their certainty in God.
The people who put their certainty in the things of this world will lose their certainty because the things of this world will fail them. Even though the world may be showered by the love of God they cannot appreciate it for they are blind to it since they have put their certainty in the things of this world and not God Himself. They cannot be empowered by God and walk in His Grace and Love for God’s Holy Spirit is needed and the heart and mind need to be receptive to Him. Knowing God means you are surrendered and have invested both in your heart and mind to Jesus Christ who the Prince of Peace.
God wants to confirm His reality to us and empower us in His Son, JESUS CHRIST.
Religion only makes people slaves. Religion makes them lazy and out of touch with God. Comfortable in religion people forget about who God is. Religion only corrupts the soul.
God is not a God of mindless religious repetition or full of notions of God but He is the God who gives us the reality of Himself to those who love Him.
Through our humble and heartfelt surrender to His wondrous love we enter into His secret doorways and courtyards.
Through God’s love we are FREE and FREE from the laws of our mind -of trying to satisfy some impossible qualifications that only bring us down and burden us and throw us into some grudging rut. For only in God’s love do we live, break free, and fulfill the only law – the law of love. Love your God with all your heart, mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)
“Have you never heard or understood? Don’t you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the earth? He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, young men will give up. But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagle. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:28-31
We all need to take time to wait and rest upon the LORD’s love. Let Him remind you of all He is and His unfailing and faithful love for you because there we find our CERTAINITY in HIM.
In Him and Him alone is our “Certainity”.