All Things New

"Behold, I make all things new." (Revelation 21:5)
"If anyone is in Christ, (they are) a new creation. The old is gone; the new has come!" (2 Cor. 5:17)

I am my own worst enemy, it seems. The good that people see in me, I don't usually see in myself. Sometimes I get a glimpse, but most of the time I see the glaring faults and weaknesses that seem to thwart me at every turn. But lately, I have been meditating on what God says about me as a regenerated, born-again believer. And what I have been learning is slowly changing how I see myself. And it is increasing my love for and trust in the One who made it possible.

Paul wrote, "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing." (Romans 7)... but what he goes on to say is that "it is no longer I that does it; it is sin within me."  Basically he says, "Hey. I know it seems hopeless sometimes to do what's right. I do the wrong thing far too much. BUT THAT ISN'T ME." He explains that in his inner man (the regenerated one) he longs to do God's will. That is his real heart. That's what he longs for. That's who he is. 

Image by David Castillo Dominici
at www.freedigitalphotos.net

In reality, God has taken out his heart of stone and given him a new heart, as He promised way back in Ezekiel 36. And if we belong to Jesus, He has done the same for you and for me. Our hearts are no longer "desperately wicked" (as many churches teach to their members) for according to the Word of God, He has created us anew. In other words, He has given us new hearts; He - through the last Adam - has made our hearts good. Our hearts ... my heart ... is good. What a mind-blowing concept!

There is a chorus of a recently written song that goes, "You say I am loved when I can't feel a thing; You say I am strong when I think I am weak. You say I am held when I am falling short; When I don't belong, oh You say I am Yours. And I believe; I believe what You say of me. I believe." (Lauren Daigle, 2018)

If I truly believed what He says of me, who I am in Him, how differently would I live my life! How confident, how fierce in prayer could I be!  How present I could be in my life! How I could joyfully LIVE instead of stumbling through each day!

So what's holding me back? Lauren Daigle had it by the horns: "I believe what You say of me." How simple is that! 

Delegated Authority

I work for the government in a job where I make decisions about eligibility for benefits. I apply the legislation and provide an impartial decision with reasons for that decision if I say no. My signature can also release funds to successful applicants based on an assessment of their disability.

But the power I have to make such decisions doesn't come from me. It comes from the Minister of my department. It's called "delegated authority" and it means that I have the right, as a disability adjudicator, to make decisions on behalf of the Minister. 

And it's that kind of delegated authority I would like to talk about in the spiritual sense and more specifically in the area of prayer for the sick. So welcome to the message I have burning through my heart, aching to be shared.

I went through all the gospels not that long ago, and I tried to find even one instance where Jesus ASKED GOD to heal someone or perform a miracle of any kind. Know how many times that happened?

Zero. 
Zilch. 
Nada. 
Zip.

When Jesus sent out seventy of His disciples to the countryside in pairs, He didn't tell them to ask the Father to heal, or to ask Him, even. He said, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons." (Matt. 10:8). So how did they do this? Yes, it was His power, His authority, but they did it like they saw Jesus do it... every single day. 

And how did Jesus do it? If He didn't pray to the Father to do it, how did He go about it? 

Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.
From this site

Simple. 

He spoke to the problem. He didn't plead for God to take it away; He TOLD it to leave. And it did. Every. Single. Time. 

I know, I know; I can hear you now. "What about 'if it be Your will'?" Well, let's look at that. When did Jesus say that to His Father? in Gethsemane! He was facing the greatest trial of His life (spoiler: the cross!), and naturally wanted to get out of it (umm HUMAN!) and it was THEN that He said "if it be Thy will." Hmmm. NEVER did He say that phrase in relation to healing someone. That's kind of revealing in itself, isn't it?

Isn't it just? The only time He prayed ANYTHING before a miracle was at Lazarus' tomb, and ONLY for the benefit of those in earshot. And moreover, there was no request at all. When He prayed, it was to thank the Father for hearing Him. That's ALL. And then He spoke to the dead man, and called him out of the tomb. 

I know the objections. I had them too. The person doing that kind of healing has to have a lot of faith. Yes, there is a lot of faith involved.  But here's the thing. It's not YOUR faith. It's not MY faith. It's JESUS' faith.  

Hear what I have to say. Romans 6:23 - "It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and that [that is, faith] not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." 

Not convinced? Try Galatians 2:20, the last part of the verse, "...and the life I live now, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me..." Did you notice it doesn't say faith IN the Son of God... but faith OF the Son of God?  Folks, it's JESUS' faith! 

This means that I don't have to drum up my own faith or work myself into a frenzy for it; I just need to rely on the faith of Jesus, which is Rock-Solid! Resting in His infinite faith, I can speak to the sick (germs, sickness) with authority (because He has granted delegated authority to do so) and the sick people will recover. (That is in one of the accounts of the Great Commission, by the way.) And so can you.

Me? Really? 

Yes. You. Really.

When I first stumbled on the concept of speaking TO the problem and speaking in the authority of Jesus' faith --- it revolutionized my Christian walk. No longer was I pulling my faith up by the roots every week or so to see if it was growing. I focused on intensifying intimacy with God, and spoke to problems as they arose in the mighty name (authority) of Jesus. And let me tell you ... IT WORKS. So far, since about 2 years ago, I have lost count of the number of times people have been helped, healed, been strengthened, had needs met, and been built up physically and/or spiritually when I have used Jesus' faith and spoken into their lives - family, friends, perfect strangers, you name it, regardless of distance and regardless of whether they were aware of me doing it. 

It's amazing. It's revolutionizing. It's very humbling. And yes, it's even FUN. The feeling of being on an adventure is something I couldn't have foreseen, but it happens every time I am led to speak life or healing into someone's situation. And it happens a LOT more frequently than could be explained by just coincidence. And I am so very grateful... it's hard to describe how that is, but it just is. That He would trust me (and you) with that kind of authority - is very humbling... yet invigorating!

Let your hearts be encouraged. Let your minds be expanded. Let the peace of God reign. Let go of your doubts and let God's love motivate your spirit.  Take the place of authority you were meant to have. You will NEVER regret it.

You lost me

I was in the middle of responding to a co-worker's question about my personal life. It had been a while since we talked and she was eager to hear about how things were going, particularly for my brother. 

I was telling her how well he was doing compared to the first of the year, when he was going under the knife to remove a section of bowel due to colon cancer. I have talked about the phenomenon of miracle after miracle that has happened before in this blog, so I won't repeat it all here. But the most recent miracle bears repeating - after his heart attack on October 25 and the stent operation he had (while conscious) on October 30, not only has his energy and endurance increased, but his kidney function has improved. 

Creatinine is one of the body's waste products that the kidneys are supposed to process, and a normal count in the bloodstream is a maximum of 113 μmol per liter (a μmol is a weight measure that is 1/1000 the size of that molecule, thank you Doctor Google... haha). The higher the number is, the less able the kidneys are to do their job. Earlier this year, my brother's numbers were close to 600 of these per liter (showing his kidneys were functioning at about 15% of normal). Now, they are at 225, or functioning at around 50%. 

His surgeon can't explain it. 

Of course believers know immediately what happened: God did it.

But as I was telling this lady about the numbers and saying that we knew what happened but the doctors wouldn't believe it - she was so interested and engaged and wanted to know what it was. So I told her it was "somebody bigger than you or I" - referring to God - and that's when I got "the look."

Her smile disappeared. Her eyes glazed over and she rolled them a bit (even though she tried not to.) Her whole attitude changed from interested and engaged to merely polite. She moved her body a bit farther from me.

In that moment, I knew that I'd lost her: I'd lost her interest and I'd lost her respect. I was "one of THOSE." Every negative experience she'd ever had with super-zealot church people - and I am willing to bet there was a lifetime of them - was behind that look. I've seen it before, and quite frankly, I've felt as she did before. It's not a good feeling to feel on either side of the fence.

Now, I get that some people are going to react that way. I get that. Some might argue that it was just "persecution" - but I beg to differ because persecution is what believers are experiencing overseas in anti-christian regimes - people literally losing their heads over it. But this lady's reaction - that almost gut-sick response - got me to thinking about the years of hurt (likely from judgment, shame and guilt coming from so-called Christians) that went into how she lost interest so quickly, and that makes me so very angry. Jesus' message is about love and acceptance, forgiveness and hope - and the people who had interacted with her had most likely given her nothing but the opposite. That kind of bigotry, all done in the name of God, really scorches my tail-feathers.

Photo, "Little Boy Covering His Face"
courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

I've often thought about how the way believers talk actually excludes and shuns people who might otherwise flock to us. All those hallelujahs and amens ... the little turns of phrase we learn in the organized church ... they all seem to be part of the secret-handshake kind of we're-in-you're-out mentality. And the judgment!!  One wonderful man told me his story of how, as a child, a church leader asked him how he was. He replied, "Good." The man immediately said, "Oh no you're not. 'There is none good, no not one.' " And he quoted the Scripture reference to back it up. I know that that verse is in the Bible, but how he used it was as a weapon, not anything else. In that moment, because of his judgment and condemnation, he lost that little boy for the gospel. It took that child years to recover from that kind of rejection, which he consistently got from everybody in the church (how sad!!), and it took him several decades to be able to start to accept God's love for him - and that was only because God Himself took the initiative. And that is only one person. How many thousands are like him? How many struggle with rejection every day of their lives because they've been hurt by someone who claimed to represent God?

How many people - when we stand before the Almighty One - will say to us, "You lost me"? How many could we have shown love to, but we were too high and mighty to stop our holiness marches long enough to care for them? How many times were we too busy proving we were right, and jumping on every single cuss word or behavior we didn't agree with? Is that really necessary? (God's a big boy, He doesn't need our protection, and I am pretty sure His Spirit does a far better job than we can of convincing people that He's real...) 

I'm talking to me, too - I've done it! Intending to show we are different, to stand out in the crowd, we end up doing nothing but pushing people away by telling them what they SHOULD be doing, and condemning them for NOT doing it. Wow... How tragic is that!

Greater Things

I was reading an email earlier this month and I stumbled over the sentence, "People cannot progress beyond their leaders." 

Huh?

I started seriously thinking about that, pondering it. I think the person meant that students can't learn more than their teachers know (if the only source of learning is the teacher.) 

Even though the person who said it certainly did not mean it in the following way, there is a sense in which that kind of statement limits the power of God. 

Jesus told His disciples that they would do the works that He did, and even greater things, because He was going to His Father. (John 14:12)

He had only been there for three years or so, working miracles left, right, and centre by the power of the Spirit, and He wanted them to know what to expect after He left. Answer: MORE!!

It's been just shy of 2000 years since He did those works, and yes, His followers have healed so many sick, raised so many dead, cleansed so many lepers and cast out so many demons that it would be impossible to count. The works are greater in number, exponentially! 

They've been greater in geography too: now people all over the world have been saved, delivered, healed, cleansed, and given new life, not just in the old Roman Empire but in places the original disciples never even heard of. 

Illustration "Giving To The Poor" by
David Castillo Dominici at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

They've been greater in visibility. Modern technology has made it possible to see thousands of people gathered and dozens, even hundreds at a time having their lives transformed by the power of God. 

Jesus also told His followers that the Holy Spirit would lead them. He'd teach them to remember Jesus' words when they needed to remember them. He'd direct them which people to talk to, and what to say and do when they got there (no matter how small; remember, He's the architect, so a bolt is just as important as a beam...) The Holy Spirit would show them which people would be responsive to the message, and which people needed to have a seed of hope or faith planted. Living life in the Spirit would grant His followers (including US!!) the same access to the power and direction of God that Jesus did when He was here on earth. 

The same power. The same access. The same. 
Wow!!

This is one reason why, if teachers teach the students how to listen to the Spirit, the students can indeed go beyond what the teacher knows. It's no fault of the teacher and it is no virtue of the student; it is just a function of the Holy Spirit to go beyond what we can imagine.

After all, with Him, all things are possible. 
 (Now where have I heard that before??)

Battle Cry

I know someone, someone very close to me, who all her life has felt abused by the church. She loves the Lord, and she talks to Him and hears from Him on a regular basis, but when she considers going to an assembly, she shudders and her stress level skyrockets. 

The reason is the people. People have certain set standards of behavior that they impose upon her. They judge her for various reasons, none of which have anything to do with the gospel or with grace or love. 

She's been bullied and belittled in front of others. She's been given the "eagle eye" by those who have taken it upon themselves to be her judge and jury. She's been manipulated by guilt and shamed into doing things that she didn't agree with. She has concluded that church-goers are - by and large - a bunch of self-serving, bigoted, small-minded control freaks. 

I can't argue, much as I would like, because I know people like that - to be fair to us Christians, both in and out of the church. 

But here, in this forum, I'm talking to believers.

Jesus wasn't ... ISN'T ... anything like these people who criticize and judge, who try to impose their values on those who don't measure up to their standards. 

I like what one believer did when a group of anti-abortionists (I'd say pro-lifers but there wasn't anything pro or life about what they were doing) staged a protest in front of a clinic, shouting inflammatory things at women who were entering. This guy trimmed his beard, dressed up in a white robe with a purple sash, stood about thirty feet from the protesters, and carried a sign that said, "I'm not with them."  

I'm not exactly sure why folks have to think that because they're in a war, that the enemy is the world and its anti-God system (but not only that, the enemy is also every other Christian that doesn't subscribe to their particular code of behavior.) They write their politicians, they sign petitions and put graphic content on Facebook or into flyers and posters where little children can see it and be traumatized by it, and in their meetings they rant and rave, they stomp and shout ... and this is supposed to ATTRACT people to Jesus??? It sends people in the opposite direction! When they ostracize and bully new believers who are like the tender, bruised reed spoken of by Isaiah, they participate in the extinction of the church to which they adhere. 

"We do not wrestle against flesh and blood," Paul wrote, "but against [spiritual] powers..." The world's methods (such as political involvement or carrying placards) and the world's reactions (such as shaming and manipulation) JUST DON'T WORK in the church or when used BY the church. Or rather, they don't produce the results we are aiming for. We are aiming for as many people as possible to embrace the gospel. That is the only way to change society: one heart at a time. All those other methods we're so drawn to - because they give us the illusion that we have control over other people's behavior - don't do anything to further that goal. Acceptance does. Grace does. Forgiveness does.

The Captain of the Lord's Hosts (Jesus) is all about LOVE. His modus operandum is GRACE. And believe it or not, the only warfare that we are called to do is not about pushing back the darkness or taking back what the devil stole, or any of that stuff. That's not love, that's theatrics based on the lie that we have any power within ourselves. The power belongs to HIM. 

Yes ... yes we are in a battle. But traditional battle tactics are useless. 

Our battle cry is not in fierceness or intimidation. No... it consists of one thing and one thing only. It is a battle cry of LOVE. 

We humans are spiritual tuning forks. God's music is love: pure, intense, blazing love that is lavished upon us and into us by the Holy Spirit because of Jesus. When we resonate with that love, when we worship Him out of that love which He has given us in the first place, THAT is our warfare. It is unstoppable, indescribably powerful because it is in line with His nature. 

Photo "Happy Jumping Child" by
chrisroll at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Worship - not because it is mandated or legislated but because we are responding to His love - is the ultimate weapon, the only weapon that we need. Walking in His love, in a constant attitude of worship and listening to His promptings, is incredibly powerful. 

In worship, in love, is the ultimate delegated authority, the kind of authority that Jesus gave to His disciples just before He left - the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. Not to PRAY (read here: beg, plead, as if God would be doing you a HUGE favour if He'd "just" do this, as if He needed convincing, as if He wasn't good...) that God would heal the sick, but to activate the power of Jesus by actually SPEAKING to that dis-ease in the love of Jesus (repeat, the LOVE of Jesus for that person) and watch in wonder while  that horrible thing leaves. 

There is a reason why the authorities in Paul's day said that the Christians had turned the world upside down. They never organized one march against Rome. They never protested against the stoning or beheading of Christians. No. They turned loose the power of God's love, worshiping Him and loving people as He does, and the results were miraculous, one or two (or ten, or twenty) heart(s) at a time. People with incurable diseases were healed. Those with mental anguish, who were consumed with fear and anger and hatred, were set free by the power of His love. 

And that's why they listened to the believers' message. That's why the world got turned upside down. That's why God added to the church DAILY. People WANTED that. They were ATTRACTED to that.

When I hear Christian people speaking in spiteful tones about this or that group, this or that practice, planning their battle strategies, I cry inside. I believe that that weeping is my spirit resonating with His Spirit as He grieves for those who could be so much happier and freer. They'd be so much more peaceful and joyful if they just accepted and reveled in His love and shared that love with those who need it, while respecting their decisions and not judging them.

This is the battle cry - His love. That's all we need; that's all anyone needs.

Author and Finisher

In my last post, "Sacred Cows," I talked about how we compartmentalize and become very protective of those things in our lives that we consider "ours" ... when God's plan is to smash down the dividing walls that separate our relationship with Him from the rest of our lives. 

If, by reading that post, anyone might have thought how vigilant WE need to be, how we need to repent and confess our sinfulness to God, etc., let me be clear. 

Yes, knowing about where we may have been missing the mark can be helpful because at least now we are aware and can listen to and recognize His voice a bit better. But it is GOD who began this new creation. He is the Author of our New Life. And it is HE who will direct the path of our lives so that we bump right smack dab into Him, time and time again. HE will finish the work He started. 

The only thing we need to open our eyes to .... is Him. His passionate Love. His boundless Grace. His endless Patience. His supreme Sufficiency. 

Photo "Daily Planner With Pen" by
BrandonSigma at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

HE wrote the Book. Not only the Book we hold in our hands but also the Book of our lives. HE knows how it turns out. HE made provision for it, for us, for every possible outcome or circumstance. Nothing we have done or ever will do, will EVER take Him by surprise. Nothing we have done or ever will do, will change His constant, unconditional love for us - it won't make Him love us any less ... or any more ... than He always has for all eternity - past, present and future. 

It was HE who conceived the plan of salvation, in Eternity Past, before He even spoke the words, "Let there be light." It was HE who chose us in Him (Jesus, Himself) before the foundation of the world, planned for us (through Jesus) to be holy and without blame before Him (Eph. 1:4,5). At the Cross (and from Ages before the world began) God made Jesus, the Sinless One, to be our sin (ALL our sin: past, present and future) so that He could restore to us the glory we lost in Eden - the righteousness of God - in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Not to condemn us to a life of slavery (touch not, taste not, handle not - Col. 2:21) but to free us from it (Gal. 5:1). Forgiveness is ours; we don't need to ask for it - it is OURS! He has broken down the walls between us and Him, and will continue to break them down within us so that EVERY aspect of our lives feels the warmth of His presence.

And we? we get to go along for the Ride. He is the conductor, He is the train, and He is the fuel; we are passengers. There is nothing that we can do to guarantee our arrival at destination (that's already been done for us too, see Phil. 1:6). Everything has been planned for, set up, started, is being maintained just fine, and will finish because HE has willed it so. 

We can relax. We can rest in His amazing, all-pervasive love. We can open ourselves to Him, knowing that only a great and supreme Love would reach down and translate us from darkness to light BECAUSE HE CHOSE TO. That's how much He loves. That's how much He plans for us, stays with us, and lavishes His Holy Spirit within each of us. 

There is nothing to prove. 
HE has done it all; HE will finish it all. 
Period.

Ears to hear

A number of years back, I started to lose my hearing. 

I wasn't aware of it. It happened so gradually that I had no idea that my hearing was deteriorating. Unknown to me, my world was getting smaller and smaller. It wasn't until my left ear started hurting that I realized that there was something amiss. I thought I had an ear infection or something. 

I went to see a doctor. He took a conical instrument with a light at the tip, and looked through it into my ear canal. He pulled a bit on my earlobe as he did, and a sharp stab of pain struck me where his instrument was inserted. I winced.

Photo "Cupping Ears To Hear" courtesy of
David Castillo Dominici at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

"Ah," he said. He took out the instrument. "You have a buildup of wax in your ear," he explained. "Normally I would flush the ear out, but it's been there for a while and has gotten very hard. So if I flushed it today, it would hurt a lot and could damage your ear canal." 

"So what do I do?"

He smiled to himself. "Olive oil," he stated, in a matter of fact tone.

Seeing my quizzical look, he said, "Get an eyedropper and a bottle of olive oil. Fill the eyedropper with the oil and lie down on your good ear. Squirt the olive oil into your bad ear, and let it sit and soak in for at least 20 minutes. Then you can get up, and the oil will drain out. Have a paper towel or something ready to catch the drips. Soak it like that three times a day for two weeks. It will soften the outside of that hard wax, over time. Then come and see me again, and I'll syringe out that ear." 

I did as he instructed. The olive oil went in and after the initial coolness, it got hot because the blood vessels were so close to the skin inside my ear. I couldn't hear a thing except that sound you get when you are underwater - that, and the sound of my heartbeat. 

I had to remain perfectly still when the oil was in there, or it would leak out. I used the opportunity to pray, to meditate, or to connect with my husband, depending on the time of day. After my 20 minutes, I'd stand up and let the oil drain out into a paper towel or a tissue. 

I knew that I was doing this to get rid of some obstructions I'd allowed to build up in my ear - and the spiritual application of my predicament (and of my healing process) didn't escape me. Much of my meditation time during those two weeks was spent pondering how the oil was a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and how soaking in His presence softened those hard things that got between me and my ability to hear His voice. And how that process took time - time that was no hardship for me to make because I wanted to spend time with Him. 

I thought about the water that would eventually flush out those obstructions - water being a symbol of the Word of God. I spent considerable time looking forward to my appointment with the doctor - and thanking God for the lessons He was teaching me about how the Spirit and the Word work together. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The two weeks passed, and I was once again in the doctor's office. I explained to the receptionist why I was there and waited for my name to be called.

When the doctor walked into the exam room, he tried to make conversation. "Got some wax in your ears do you?" 

"Whaaaat?" I asked.

He snickered. "Oh, I see. 'Get on with it,' right?"

I grinned. 

He told me how to hold my head, and then held a plastic container under my earlobe next to my neck. He had filled a large syringe with warm water and he started to squirt what felt like a great deal of water into my ear. I felt a lot of pressure, and then a shifting within as pieces of wax were forced out of my ear canal. It felt weird, but (thanks to the oil) there was absolutely no pain. He helped me drain the remaining water from my ear ... and as the last water bubble burst, a most peculiar thing happened.

I could hear, clear as a bell: in fact, better than I had in months! 

"How is it now?" the doctor asked. 

"Hey, don't shout," I quipped. He chuckled. 

After the appointment, my husband and I walked down the street, each lost in our own thoughts, enjoying the warm sun on our shoulders. It was summertime; the sun was out and the day was pleasant.

My pace slowed. And I stopped ... and lifted my head. Something was different. REALLY different.

I could hear birds.

Rooftop Vision

Sometimes I let my spirit rest in God's, and He takes me places. I just think about one word - say, Grace - and then, like an eagle, I launch off the side of my comfortable cliff, away from the nest. After a few flaps, I catch a warm updraft and I just hover for a while to see where He will take me. 

Today, He took me to a rooftop in Joppa where a man named Peter was having a vision that would change the scope of the 1st-century church (Acts 10). 

Photo "Village Beside Mountain"
coutresy of arkorn at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Three times (in Biblical symbolism, three means completion) a tablecloth is lowered from Heaven with all kinds of "unclean" animals on it: pig, lobster, camel, rabbit, raven, seagull, and more. (see the full list in Leviticus 11). A voice comes from Heaven, "Rise, Peter, kill and eat." 

"No, Lord," Peter protests. "Nothing unclean has ever entered my mouth." The Voice responds, "What God has cleansed, do not call common or unclean." 

Peter learns, through the course of events, that the Master is talking about His desire to take the message of the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he is convinced to go with Cornelius' men to proclaim the Good News to those with whom he would never have even dared eat before. 

His world was changing. It would never be the same.

I'd read the story so many times before. It was and is familiar to me and I thought that it was a great historical account that signaled the opening of a door into a new world, the fulfillment of God's promise to Abram, "In you all the families of the world shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3). 

"Why here? What is it that You want me to see?" 

"A new creation." (2 Cor 5:17). 

"Yes, Lord, when I was born again, You made me into a new creation."

"I cleansed you. Past, present and future, you are clean."

"Yes, I know.... Yes, thank You Father.... "

"So ... YOU are included. I wasn't just talking about food or race or customs when I showed Peter the sheet. Don't call yourself common or unclean. I see you as clean because of Calvary; that is the beginning and the end of it."  

....... "Oh." 

"Rest here. Know My love."

Unveiled

Lately I've been trying to fathom why it is that many unbelievers run screaming in the opposite direction when believers start talking about God. And especially about Jesus. At first glance it would seem to be self-evident - their hearts are unregenerate, after all, and they don't understand spiritual things.

However, I suspect it might be more than that. I suspect that they've been burned by believers whose entire reason for being seems to be following the rules and making sure that everyone else follows them too. Such believers consider themselves to be 'passionate' or perhaps even 'prophetic' or 'apostolic' ... with a message to convey regardless of how it's delivered. Such folks are often heard commenting on current events by saying that "disease X" is God's punishment for lawlessness, that a particular group of people is an abomination to God, or that a person or persons whose behavior has been reprehensible will "get theirs." This demonstrates a view of God that is very ummm ... Odin-like, shall I say. Lightning-bolts and all that. 

To the unbeliever, by the way, that's just plain weird ... and scary beyond all reason.

Holding views like this can feel very good to believers, even "right" ... because humans have an extremely well-developed sense of what's "fair." We want evil to be punished and good to prevail. We want things to fit into nice little pigeon-holes. This is right. That is wrong. There is no gray.

The problem is, there's a LOT of gray. 

I'm not saying there are no absolutes. What I'm saying is that there are fewer absolutes than we think. And something that WE might consider to be 'wrong' may just be 'different.' 

We believe the Bible. We read the same Word ... and yet its meaning is different for each one depending on who and what we believe God is. If we believe God to be a vindictive, judging, punishing, and lightning-bolt-throwing god, then we are going to read Scripture differently than if we believe Him to be loving, merciful, gracious, and forgiving. And our whole take on life will look like what we believe Him to be. 

Photo "Sun In The Sky" provided courtesy of
graur razvan ionut at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

This is what Paul was trying to get at when he said in 2 Corinthians 3 that when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts. And that when someone turns to the Lord, that veil is taken away. 

The veil is that mind-set of the avenging god, the one who must be appeased, the one of whom we must be afraid or he'll come down from on high and club us ... that one (we know this one so well; he thrives on our insecurities) who demands perfection and who is angry all the time because we never. measure. up. 

But Jesus. 

Jesus is different. Jesus isn't that vengeful god; He is merciful. Loving. Tender-hearted. Compassionate. And He opened the way to relationship with the Father the way it was meant to be - not in fearful cringing but in open-faced adoration, like a child lifting up its hands to a loving, gentle Daddy and saying, "Uppie!" 

In intimate relationship with Him, in gratitude for His love and forgiveness, that's how the veil comes off. The glory of the old covenant is outshone by the new. Love trumps hate. Mercy triumphs over judgment. Compassion dissolves condemnation. Forgiveness demolishes fear. 

We are unveiled by His love. Individually. We are allowed to gaze into His face - one on one - and be transformed by His grace. This is not because of anything we did or do, or because of any rule we obeyed or obey. It's because of His initiative. It's entirely His doing. 

We don't get to boast. We get to be loved. 

We don't change. We ARE changed ... by His Spirit and ONLY as we "behold Him" without the veil, without the veil of religious thinking - the same religious thinking that feels it has to defend His honor and charge in, commando-style, to take the world by force and MAKE it bow to Him. 

That's not God's style. Jesus has already given us everything we need. He's already removed the veil. 

So believe it - and behold Him.

Unveiled.

Air Craft

I was chatting with someone about the easy yoke, the light burden that Jesus promised. The idea was that a lot of folks make their burden heavier than Jesus intended by adding a lot of baggage to it - baggage that looks like, "If I just pray enough..." ... "If I just read the Word enough..."  "If I just go to church enough..." ... the ending of the sentence being, "... God will give me my heart's desire." (whatever that looks like: healing, revival, temporal blessing, a job, a spouse, a friend....) 

That's the thing though. This is where we fall apart. "If I just..." Do you hear it? That is EXACTLY the problem. We get this notion in our heads that if WE do something then GOD has to do something. 

We have it backwards. 

God already did something. All we do is say yes. There is nothing more simple than that. Nothing. And yet we complicate it ... put conditions on it ... and we try and try and try to get it right - and we fail, and fail ... and fail. 

Human effort will ultimately fail. There. That's about as simple as I can make it. The Christian life is not about us trying to live it. WE CAN'T. It's impossible to do on our own; if it were possible, there would BE no "New Testament." There would only be the Law. Keeping the rules. Toeing the line. What a drudge. What a burden!!

Jesus came to free us from that curse, that kind of automaton living. He came to give us abundant life. And that life is ONLY found in Him. Now, there are a lot of people who think that "in Him" means "toeing the line." It doesn't. It means that He has taken our "yes" to Him and He has enveloped us in His love, permeated and saturated us with His grace so full and free it's big enough to fly in!! As wide as the sky, His grace is more than we can imagine - (and let me tell you, I can imagine a LOT!) - and His supernatural power has given us everything that we need to fly in that Grace. To use the flying analogy to its maximum - His Grace is the air and the current; because of Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice, He has given us wings!

And a lot of us ... for far too long ... have tried and continue to try to make the Christian life function for us, based on a set of rules. Rules that we impose on ourselves (and on others) so that we can do the things we have been told we "should" be doing. In effect, we spend the vast majority of our time with our God-given wings folded neatly away behind our backs, working desperately on trying to build an airplane so that we can fly. 

How ludicrous is that! 

Photo "Eagle In Flight" courtesy of
Jeff Ratcliff at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Those things we "should" be doing, by the way, are a natural product of resting on the currents of His grace with our wings spread wide to accept all that He so passionately longs to give us ... freely. 

They aren't goals to achieve, notches on our belt, or brownie points that will make God like us and bless us. 

He already loves us. He already has given us everything we need. No, those things we "should" be doing are end results. (Results are not goals. Hear me!) They are fruit that grow naturally and easily out of our relationship with Him. 

We don't love Him to have Him love us back; that's backward! (not to mention impossible...) We love Him because HE FIRST loved us. We don't talk to Him to get Him to "do stuff." We talk to Him because HE FIRST showed us that He loved us ... and talking to Him is a joy we GET to do because of His sacrifice. And we don't have to wait to do that until we are in some marble hall somewhere, but we get to talk to Him wherever we are. Whenever we want. As often (or as continuously) as we want. 

Ponder that. Because Jesus opened the Way, we GET to talk to the One who created the stars. To the One who calmed the tempest. To the One who loved us so much, as a friend recently put it, that He would rather die than live without us. 

And He actually did die so that He didn't have to live without us. What kind of crazy love is that!! 

Calvary's great price, paid for us, crafted us wings to fly; His grace, based on the sufficiency of that sacrifice, holds us up. 

That, dear friends, is "God with us." THAT is Emmanuel. Every moment. Scary, crazy, reckless  ...  and glorious.

Put down the tools and the blueprints for whatever aircraft you are trying to build. 

And spread your wings. 

The Frustration Factor

"Ever get frustrated with God?" someone asked. "I bet He gets frustrated with you..." 

Huh. There's a thought.

The definition of frustration is the anger one feels when a desired goal is thwarted. 

So yeah, we get frustrated with God. A LOT. We pray for something to happen; it doesn't. We want something else not to happen and we pray for protection; it happens anyway. Someone is sick and we pray for that person to be healed; they die. It's frustrating when you don't get what you want, when God doesn't act in predictable ways.  [That's a whole other blog post (and then some) in itself!!]

Frustration is a daily companion of those in leadership in the church. They are in a certain place in God (after all, their whole lives are about pursuing that place right? and to do what they do every moment of every day, they have to have some serious Jesus on tap, right?) and they want their parishoners to achieve that place as well, to be more involved in the church, to get out into their communities and make a difference. And yet, that doesn't happen - at least not to the degree that they might like. 

Life happens. Their people hurt. And they hurt each other. Or they become so jaded that they give up trying. It's frustrating for leaders, who might define themselves in terms of how well their flock is doing. And sometimes that frustration comes through in statements that are either openly or covertly designed to produce that change that they want to see in people. "Can't I get an Amen here?" .... "What's the matter with you people? You see that the prayer room is empty; we need revival, let's hop to it and pray!" (Oh don't even get me going on guilt trips.) 

That kind of frustration comes from looking at what other people are doing in their lives, not on focusing on what God is doing in my life. Too many of us try to (and I have said this before but it bears repeating) try to BE the Holy Spirit. That is, we try to do His job: convicting people of the error of their ways, convincing other believers to live holy lives. It isn't our place to do that. It's the Holy Spirit's job. 

As to whether God gets frustrated with us, my Bible tells me that He knows the end from the beginning. He has things all planned out. He can't get frustrated in that sense, because He knows what we're going to do before we do it. He is intimately concerned with our spiritual well-being, yes, but frustrated? Not in the sense that we can be.

Photo "Bible" courtesy of
Arvind Balaraman at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

As I read throughout scripture, I find that there is only one instance in which the word "frustrate" appears that is linked to how God feels, and it has to do with "frustrating the grace of God." (Galatians 2:21) So .... let's think about that for a second. Frustrating the grace of God. Hmmm. So God freely gives us His grace through what Jesus accomplished once for all for us on the cross.  As such, He intends for us to live in that grace, that place of total acceptance in Jesus (not in rules and conditions and regulations) - in a growing intimate relationship with Him, in gratitude and love toward Him, and from that love we will naturally be spilling over into the lives of the people with whom we come in contact. Sound about right? So what happens to frustrate that grace? 

Adding stuff to it (like rules, like conditions, like fear-mongering) frustrates it. (By fear-mongering I mean things like, "God will take away His gift if you don't toe the line...") Adding stuff is what the Galatians tried to do. Galatians 2:21 says, "I do not frustrate the grace of God. For if right standing with God came by obeying the Law, then Christ died for nothing."  

Putting limits on grace frustrates it. Saying, "Yes, but" frustrates grace. Shame frustrates grace. All the things we hear our leaders getting frustrated about ... actually frustrate the grace of God. He wanted - wants - us to live in freedom, not in bondage. Not the kind of freedom that abuses or takes advantage of the One who gave it (because if we do that, then we haven't understood how deep His grace is!!), but in the kind of freedom that realizes how great His love is, and loves Him in return ... and wouldn't DREAM of hurting His great, loving heart. 

I have yet to see anyone who fully understands and has embraced the grace of God for him or her personally, who has walked away in frustration and disgust. I have yet to see anyone who truly grasped for himself or herself all that Jesus did for us to purchase salvation for us, who then stayed in a sinful state and flaunted it, claiming he or she was "under grace." And yet ... I see people all the time who think that there is something they can do to add to or keep what Jesus died to freely give us, who crash and burn in fear and frustration, and they wonder why ... and end up thinking that "they weren't trying hard enough." As if anyone could match what Jesus did for us!  

The way of grace is rest. The way of grace is peace and free of strife. The things we desire are already ours in Jesus; all we need do (if we call that doing) is believe. That's it. It's as simple as that. What is hard (and the Word calls this "labouring to enter into that rest" in Hebrews 4:11) is staying in this good news of believing - because it is so much easier on our heads if we start sorting and putting into baskets, categorizing and religifying everything. Once we start doing that, the life that Jesus died to give us gathers dust. Rather, let's remember that this "hope of the gospel" is what we hold to, not some set of behavioral goals. If we add rules and behavior to it, it might LOOK like the end result, but it will be the cart before the horse. Best to put the horse first, and then the cart will naturally follow ... and I'll wager it will get farther. See what I mean:  "He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach - if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard..." (Col. 1: 22-23)

Organisms and Organization

One of the more popular ways to "do" church (oh I could write a whole blog on that one!) is to have small groups. 

Small groups are more intimate. People get to know one another. They can pray for each other. In principle, that is. 

The early church thrived and spread on the back of small groups.

However, I really don't think that they had people sign up for them based on interest, or age, or socioeconomic status, or education level, or whatever other kind of pigeon-hole one might slot people into. 

No, their small groups grew. They were organisms. They were alive.

There was no "structure." People got together - as often as they could - because they wanted to share how wonderful Jesus was in their lives. They were bubbling up inside with His love and they loved talking about it with people who understood! They were full of stories about how God used them since the last time they met (usually the previous day or the day before that) to spread the Good News, and they were eager to share what God was teaching them about how wonderful He was and how much He loved them. Songs would spring up spontaneously. There was no "order of service," no "topic." They'd share a meal together - nothing fancy - not trying to outdo each other (like I've seen happen in some places.) The point wasn't the food; the point was Jesus!

The groups didn't get "established" or "assigned." There was one group, and if the group got too big and risked attracting attention by the religious authorities (there's another blog post... but not now...) God already had it set up because there was usually a group within the group that just gravitated toward each other (something like a baby growing inside the mother's womb). It would split off (naturally, not by argument!) and another small group was born. Each one was called a church. Paul often closed his letters by sending his greetings to this or that one, "and the church that is in his house." 

What happened? Where did these alive, vibrant organisms go? 

Photo "Center Of Church" courtesy
of Keerati at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

Around 300 AD, the emperor Constantine "converted" to Christianity. Suddenly this new sect of Judaism was 'in vogue' and had the backing of the money and power of Rome. 

Abraham Lincoln said something like, "Nearly every man can stand adversity, but if you want to test his character, give him power." THAT - in my opinion - is what happened to these beautiful, tender, alive communities. Groups now could get bigger. The intimacy was lost. People started thinking in the mind-set of the world: "we have to get organized." "Someone should look after the children." "Someone should lead the singing." "We should set a time to take up a collection." "We should get Mr. X to speak - I wonder what he'll talk on this time?" The Holy Spirit - instead of being the orchestrator of the gatherings, quietly said, "I guess you feel you don't need My anointing anymore. So I'll just go somewhere that does." 

Without the anointing of the Spirit, without the connection with other people and the excitement of sharing how good God was with each other, the church just became another compartment of people's lives, and it changed from being an organism and became an organization.

That's the thing about organizing an organism. When you start cutting off parts and reorganizing them so they'll "fit" ... the organism bleeds to death.

And on and on it has gone for centuries. 

And the church has slowly gotten the idea - just in the last little while - that small groups are the way to go. But it's so stuck in the organization mentality that it feels it has to legislate love, regiment relationship, and elicit edification. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. Small groups exist and they have for quite a while; we just don't call them churches or small groups. I've had such wonderful times of true Christian fellowship with one or two other believers over coffee at a doughnut shop or even in chats over Facebook that I (and my companions) have felt built up and energized spiritually: wonderfully so! 

What am I saying? Not that this way or that way is right or wrong - just that perhaps ... PERHAPS we are trying too hard. Perhaps we just need to let it happen naturally, let it live and breathe; don't smother it with trappings and structure and "should" statements. Let it flow naturally from our relationship with God, out of His love and care for us.

This week, perhaps it might be worth your while, my while, to look for opportunities to connect with people in a meaningful way and share what God is talking to us about, not theoretical or esoteric things but rubber-meets-the-road stuff, useful, thoughtful and caring things that speak to the heart and build each other up. 

Who knows? Church just might happen where you least expect it.

Yada yada yaDA...

Have you ever gone to church and watched everything going on and wondered to yourself, "Is this all there is?" 

I have. Sometimes those who have been in the church for a long time can get pretty blasé about the gospel. Yeah, Jesus died for my sins, yeah, the Spirit is in me, yeah Jesus is coming again, yeah, God loves me and has a plan for my life...

Yada yada yada. 

Sometimes it can seem like just words. Sometimes it seems like a total disconnect from reality, the reality of just living life in impossible situations with uncaring, unthinking people and in the face of constant inner pain. Sometimes - if we're rigorously honest with ourselves - we wonder if it's all worth it. Struggling every single minute to keep our heads above water, constantly fighting to "keep the faith" when all around us, the walls are closing in. 

At times like that, it just seems so irrelevant, so unlike anything we are actually going through. And so, in those times we might actually put on that happy face and pretend like everything is great - but we're dying inside and there is a part of us, deep down, that says, "Suuuure. Yada yada yada. Been there, done that, guess it must work for those folks who have a charmed life or something but it sure doesn't seem real to me." 

I listened to a sermon this morning ... probably the best one I've heard in quite a long time ... and that was only PARTLY because it was super short! The young man who spoke said that there are two really super-important statements that people believe (all people, including Christians) which are not true - and that this is quite likely "the lie" that people will believe in the end times: 

1.   I am a good person. (More on this later). 
2.   God is too loving and too caring to punish me. 

I can see a lot of folks nodding right now. Good stuff, you say.

I went to see the man who preached because something he said in passing kind of stuck with me. It was that Christians tend to believe the second more than the first, and then they take carte blanche and go live like - well - like hell. 

I do know people who live that way; that's not my point in this post. (I'll probably get to this in another one.  But later.) 

What I shared with him is that we Christians might not admit to thinking that we are "good people" (again, another topic for another time) but far too many of us Christians believe that once Jesus saves us, it's up to us to do the rest of it on our own, so we try and try and try again. And we fail. Every. Time.

As a matter of fact, the harder we try, the more likely we are to fail. It just isn't in us. There is no possible way that human effort (which is death) can accomplish something spiritual (which is life).

"We CAN'T," I told him. "There is no possible way for anyone to live the way God intended by trying. But we still try anyway." He nodded ... and agreed with me.

We try, over and over and over. And we fail. And we get discouraged, depressed, despairing. Jaded. Yada, yada, yada. 

Photo "Young Couple Standing"
by photostock at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

But did you know that "yada" is a Hebrew word? It's a verb, and it's pronounced Yah-DAW and it means "to know intimately." In fact, about ten times in the Old Testament it is used to describe intimate relations (to "know" someone in the "Biblical sense," as the saying goes). 

It is the word that Paul used when he expressed his heart's desire, "I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but dung, for the excellency of KNOWING Him who loved me and gave Himself for me ... That I may KNOW Him, and the power of His resurrection..." (Philippians 3:8-10)

Knowing someone in that way isn't about buying them expensive presents, or doing impressive feats, or working for that person. No, it's about time spent together. Not so we can "maintain the relationship" but because we want to spend time with the person. 

Just so with knowing Jesus. We grow in intimacy with Him as we spend more time with Him. Not asking for things, no prayer lists, no beating ourselves up because we forgot or were too tired ... just simply gazing at His face, looking into His heart, reading true, unconditional love there and being totally enraptured by Him. Why? because He loves us. He forgave us. He rescued us. He sees us as perfect - yes, perfect!! - because of His sacrifice. He holds us. He fills us. He empowers us. He is with us. He has gone before us. He knows the way ahead of us. He is above, below, around, and in us. And He loves us. Oh yeah, I guess I said that. But I'll say it again: HE LOVES US. Supremely. Unconditionally. Thoroughly. There is not a part of us that He doesn't love. Not one. 

That is transformational. It really is. Oh yaDA!! To KNOW Him!

Paul talked about this process to the Corinthian church. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into that same image from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. 3:18). 

Beholding. Not striving, not trying, not resolving. Just beholding. 
Can it be that simple?

Yes. Yes it can. 
The more I try, strive, and resolve to do better, the worse I fail. 

The more I simply focus on Jesus, every moment of every day, simply reveling in His love for me and His forgiveness, the easier and better my life is, the more free I am, and the more I intimately know Him. 

How cool is that!

Walking with Jesus - an easy yoke

It's been building for a while now. My pans (both baking pans and skillets) have been getting older, chipping and peeling, getting crudded up with baked-on grime, bugging me more and more, and today ... well, the dam broke. I bought a whole bunch of different types of non-stick pans and threw a whole bunch out. (That felt really, REALLY good, by the way. I'll explain below.)

Among the pans I replaced were a few cookie sheets. I'm sort of particular about cookie sheets. Back about four years ago, I bought some, took them home and tried to use them. However, when I placed them side by side in the oven, the door didn't close because the handles on the ends were rounded to allow for a better grip, something to hold onto. While this was an interesting idea, it didn't work for my oven!! I had to use one sheet at a time and put the sheet in sideways.

The problem with this is that sometimes I need to use two sheets at the same time. Otherwise, whatever it is I'm cooking takes twice as long. At least. (Example: cookies ... although I use the sheets for much more than that. Like home-made pizza.) Using two at the same time makes it easier for the sheets to fit back into the oven when I have to turn something over (like, for example, oven fries or pork chops.) So I came to see these old cookie sheets that wouldn't fit beside each other as nothing more than a nuisance.

And rather than get rid of these sheets four years ago, I (in deference to my Scottish husband's roots) decided to use them. They were good quality, after all. They were sturdy. But they just didn't fit my needs. 

Well, they've been getting old. And I realized this past week that the non-stick coating on them was scratched and starting to peel. 

So I went for it. 

The funniest things will speak to me spiritually; God gave me my sense of humour and he uses it to speak to me at the oddest times. Because when I said to myself that I could finally put two sheets side by side again, and how it would feel good to just slide that second cookie sheet right into the space it was intended for, my first thought was what Jesus said about His yoke being easy and His burden light. 

Now yokes mean hard work. Picture a yoke and more than likely, you picture a team of oxen or horses pulling this great weight, perhaps a wagon full of people on a hay ride ... or just a load of lumber. 

And burdens mean ... well, they mean burdens!! 
What was Jesus talking about??!? 

Photo "Autumn Avenue" courtesy
of Dundee Photographics at
www.freedigitalphotos.net

When a young ox is in training to work in harness or as part of a team, he is yoked to an older, more experienced ox. But they don't put a weight behind them, just the yoke over their shoulders and the reins running over their backs so that the driver can direct them. The yoke in this sense is not to pull a load, but to teach the younger ox how to walk, how to work together, how to take a turn (left, right), how to take direction from the master, and how to stop. And when a young ox followed the older one's lead, the work was easy. There wasn't a fuss in the traces, no fighting each other. The older ox did pretty much everything and the younger one was along for the ride. Without realizing it, the younger ox was learning to listen.

That was the sense in which Jesus said to take His yoke. Walk with Him, He's been there and done it all ... He even gives the power to walk!! He's accomplished the whole thing; there is nothing left to "do," and if we try in the way we see fit, we'll just make the job harder for ourselves. He has finished it all! Trying to do things on our own takes twice as long (remember the cookies?), is way more than twice as frustrating, and - truth be told - never turns out quite as well even if you DO manage to pull it off ... ONCE. 

Compare that to the absolute joy of reveling in His love, bathing in grace, being enthralled with Jesus and His finished work! Even the things we were taught we were "supposed to" walk in (for example, Ephesians 2:10 - "You are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works...") aren't to be done by striving for anything ("lest anyone should boast.") Check out next few words in verse 10 ... "... [good works] which God has prepared in advance for us ...." What? Just gaze on Jesus and He'll take us where we need to go, give us the power to do whatever He whispers to us, and delights in us no matter what? 

Yep. 

I'm not kidding. It's just that simple. 

I am learning (most of the time the hard way) that it doesn't have to be more complicated than letting our hearts be completely and hopelessly in love with Him. that's it; that's all. No jive.