God comes with the gentle wine of His Spirit--His tender love & reveals His goodness to us. He reveals Himself to us as the tender, loving, compassionate Father. He draws us in with His lovingkindness & teaches us who He truly is so that we can trust that He is good & He cares for us. He delivers us from all our fears with His perfect love, & gives us the Spirit of adoption that we can cry out, "Abba, Father!"
Through this display of His love, we are delivered from a wrong view of who God is. We are given our identity as sons & daughters. It is necessary.
Then, the Lord comes with the fire of His spirit & makes us priests before Him. He teaches us the honor & reverence of a Father.
His problem with the priests in the book of Malachi was that they had no honor or reverence for the Father & it led to living a life of sin--divorce, not giving tithes, not taking care of wives, & children--living for themselves with no respect for God. This was the account that the Lord had against the priests. They had no Fear of the Lord.
The heart response to the revelation of the Father should be joy, but it should also be reference. He shows us different attributes of Himself without suspending any one attribute at any time. He comes down to our level so we can see Him rightly.
Ask the Lord to give you honor & reverence for the Father.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Beholding the Beauty of the King of Glory
Jesus is the King of Glory. He is beautiful. So many times, we hear of Him as the Holy, beautiful King, but we have never experienced His beauty and glory.
David sang songs of the beauty of the king. Daniel fell as a dead man. Isaiah fell crying out in repentance & a response of willingness. John was captured into a whole other realm & received revelation of God's plans. Ezekial was taken up in a whirlwind to see visions of God. He sat on the river bank staring for seven days after his revelation.
Elijah was captured in a chariot of fire. John saw an open door & heard a voice like a trumpet. It's not just apocolyptic literature--it's a real place. These were real experiences of the realm of the glory of the Lord.
Seeing this beautiful realm of the King of Glory will capture our hearts in a way that we have never experienced before. We will be willing to go anywhere, say anything, do anything. Seeing His glory is the way to walk in the Fear of the Lord all the days of our lives.
Let a cry arise in your heart like Moses, "Show me your Glory, Lord!" (Ex. 33). Like David, let a cry arise in your heart to see His face (Ps. 27:4-8).
He is the beautiful King of Glory worthy of all our adoration and worship. Let us behold Him in the beauty of His Holiness (Ps. 29).
David sang songs of the beauty of the king. Daniel fell as a dead man. Isaiah fell crying out in repentance & a response of willingness. John was captured into a whole other realm & received revelation of God's plans. Ezekial was taken up in a whirlwind to see visions of God. He sat on the river bank staring for seven days after his revelation.
Elijah was captured in a chariot of fire. John saw an open door & heard a voice like a trumpet. It's not just apocolyptic literature--it's a real place. These were real experiences of the realm of the glory of the Lord.
Seeing this beautiful realm of the King of Glory will capture our hearts in a way that we have never experienced before. We will be willing to go anywhere, say anything, do anything. Seeing His glory is the way to walk in the Fear of the Lord all the days of our lives.
Let a cry arise in your heart like Moses, "Show me your Glory, Lord!" (Ex. 33). Like David, let a cry arise in your heart to see His face (Ps. 27:4-8).
He is the beautiful King of Glory worthy of all our adoration and worship. Let us behold Him in the beauty of His Holiness (Ps. 29).
Friday, May 6, 2011
"Ought to Walk as He Walked..."
Over the past several months, I have been learning to meditate on scripture line by line & verse by verse by going through a book & praying it back to God one phrase at a time. It has been a very impactful tool for me.
This past week, I have been in I John 1 & 2. Several verses have been striking blows to my spirit. Check this out:
"He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked..." (I Jn. 2:6)
Wow. I could really end this blog right now. This is such a provoking statement & it really seems impossible--and it is without abiding in the Spirit.
Abiding in the Spirit is not a gray area. It is black & white. You are either in the Spirit or you're not. And those who say they are abiding in the Spirit can be measured by their fruit. Do they look like Jesus or not? Now, before you start looking at other people, look at yourself first.
This verse is meant to slice us. It is that sharp two-edged sword that divides truth from lies, soul from Spirit, & cuts the dead branches from the vine (Jn 14:6, Heb. 4:12, John 15:4).
We ought to walk as Jesus walked, but we must first rest in the Spirit & learn to walk in His strength, not our own.
This past week, I have been in I John 1 & 2. Several verses have been striking blows to my spirit. Check this out:
"He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked..." (I Jn. 2:6)
Wow. I could really end this blog right now. This is such a provoking statement & it really seems impossible--and it is without abiding in the Spirit.
Abiding in the Spirit is not a gray area. It is black & white. You are either in the Spirit or you're not. And those who say they are abiding in the Spirit can be measured by their fruit. Do they look like Jesus or not? Now, before you start looking at other people, look at yourself first.
This verse is meant to slice us. It is that sharp two-edged sword that divides truth from lies, soul from Spirit, & cuts the dead branches from the vine (Jn 14:6, Heb. 4:12, John 15:4).
We ought to walk as Jesus walked, but we must first rest in the Spirit & learn to walk in His strength, not our own.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The Spontaneity of Love
Last night, I was reading the devotional for April 30th from Oswald Chamber's classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest. He talked about how love was spontaneous. It is not something that we work up or premeditate for a long time. He talked about how true love flows like a fountain from God & bubbles up out of us to other people.
This really got me thinking. So many times, we find ourselves trying to figure out how to love & how to express love. Sometimes it seems like an obligation to us or our hearts are kept in so much bondage that we cannot receive love ourselves in order to give it out to others.
However, God designed us to freely receive His love & freely give it. When we are grounded in His love, we are able to be ourselves & love flows naturally through the way we express it in our personality.
In the book The Shack, William P. Young writes about the difference between expectation & expectancy. He says that love is fearless but so many times we are afraid to truly love so we try to control the future through expectations. The problem is that when the expectations are unmet, we are dissappointed & even heart broken. However, that is not the way love is intended to be.
Love is supposed to be full of expectancy of what the other person is going to do, & filled with excitement about who that person is. The expectancy of love allows us to enjoy another person for who they are without trying to control them by who we think they should be.
We can even apply this to ourselves as well. So many times, we fail even our own false expectations of ourselves, but when the love of God fills our hearts, we are able to be who God made us to be & live in the way of spontaneous love.
This really got me thinking. So many times, we find ourselves trying to figure out how to love & how to express love. Sometimes it seems like an obligation to us or our hearts are kept in so much bondage that we cannot receive love ourselves in order to give it out to others.
However, God designed us to freely receive His love & freely give it. When we are grounded in His love, we are able to be ourselves & love flows naturally through the way we express it in our personality.
In the book The Shack, William P. Young writes about the difference between expectation & expectancy. He says that love is fearless but so many times we are afraid to truly love so we try to control the future through expectations. The problem is that when the expectations are unmet, we are dissappointed & even heart broken. However, that is not the way love is intended to be.
Love is supposed to be full of expectancy of what the other person is going to do, & filled with excitement about who that person is. The expectancy of love allows us to enjoy another person for who they are without trying to control them by who we think they should be.
We can even apply this to ourselves as well. So many times, we fail even our own false expectations of ourselves, but when the love of God fills our hearts, we are able to be who God made us to be & live in the way of spontaneous love.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Heart Response to the King of Glory
Every revelation of God brings about a certain heart response from those who love Him. The revelation of the King of Glory is opened up to those who have clean hands & a pure heart, & have not lifted up their souls to idols (Ps. 24).
When Isaiah saw the King of Glory in His Holy temple, his first cry was that of repentance (Is. 6). He was completely aware of his sin and the sin of his people. He fell on His face & cried out in repentance. The Fear of the Lord fell on Him & he realized his sinfulness. Then, the Lord purified his lips with fire, & he was made clean.
After that, Isaiah's second cry was "Here I am, Send me!" It was in response to the invitation the Lord gave, "Whom shall I send & who shall go for us?" The King of Glory first release the Fear of the Lord, then an invitation into partnership.
The response of Isaiah was first repentance, then a cry to be sent. The revelation of the beauty & holiness of God provoked a response in Isaiah to go anywhere & do anything. He said yes & then the Lord gave Him a very difficult assignment.
He basically said for Isaiah to go tell a people that they were deaf, blind, & dumb, & to prophesy it until everything was destroyed. What an assigment. The only thing that could sustain Isaiah in that assignment was the revelation of the beauty of the King of Glory.
When we get a revelation of God's beauty, we will go anywhere & do anything. We must continue have a heart cry of "Show me Your Glory, Lord!" Only then will our hearts respond in repentance & a willingness to be sent.
When Isaiah saw the King of Glory in His Holy temple, his first cry was that of repentance (Is. 6). He was completely aware of his sin and the sin of his people. He fell on His face & cried out in repentance. The Fear of the Lord fell on Him & he realized his sinfulness. Then, the Lord purified his lips with fire, & he was made clean.
After that, Isaiah's second cry was "Here I am, Send me!" It was in response to the invitation the Lord gave, "Whom shall I send & who shall go for us?" The King of Glory first release the Fear of the Lord, then an invitation into partnership.
The response of Isaiah was first repentance, then a cry to be sent. The revelation of the beauty & holiness of God provoked a response in Isaiah to go anywhere & do anything. He said yes & then the Lord gave Him a very difficult assignment.
He basically said for Isaiah to go tell a people that they were deaf, blind, & dumb, & to prophesy it until everything was destroyed. What an assigment. The only thing that could sustain Isaiah in that assignment was the revelation of the beauty of the King of Glory.
When we get a revelation of God's beauty, we will go anywhere & do anything. We must continue have a heart cry of "Show me Your Glory, Lord!" Only then will our hearts respond in repentance & a willingness to be sent.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
A Violent Act of Love
"...having wiped out the hand-written requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities & powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it..."
Colossians 2:14-15
We all want a hero. We all want someone to look up to that will fight for us, defend us, & make wrong things right. No matter how old we are, how tough we are, how wise, beautiful, or smart we are--at the end of the day, every single person wants someone to be their hero. We want someone to fight for us.
All of us have images in our heads of what a hero looks like--brave, mighty, strong, smart--someone who always knows what to do & how to fix it. We all have people in our lives who have been that to us--whether for good or bad. We have all also had people who failed us.
However, Jesus turned everything upsidedown & used the foolish things to confound the wise (I Cor. 1-2). He embraced humility & took the lowest place (Phil. 2:5). Yet, what He did on the Cross was not a weak act of surrender; it was a violent act of love. He violently took hold of every sin, disease, death, pain, hurt, sin, accusation, lie, & assault & nailed them to the Cross.
In doing this, He publicly disarmed the enemy. He took every weapon out of their hands with one fell swoop. He took on the entire army of bad guys completely by Himself (Heb. 1:3). And He won.
One man took down every act of evil. Not only did He disarm them, but He publicly humiliated them. He disarmed the entire military of the enemy single-handed. He made a public spectacle of them. In a single act of self-less mercy, He brought justice once & for all. It was a violent act of love. Talk about a hero.
Colossians 2:14-15
We all want a hero. We all want someone to look up to that will fight for us, defend us, & make wrong things right. No matter how old we are, how tough we are, how wise, beautiful, or smart we are--at the end of the day, every single person wants someone to be their hero. We want someone to fight for us.
All of us have images in our heads of what a hero looks like--brave, mighty, strong, smart--someone who always knows what to do & how to fix it. We all have people in our lives who have been that to us--whether for good or bad. We have all also had people who failed us.
However, Jesus turned everything upsidedown & used the foolish things to confound the wise (I Cor. 1-2). He embraced humility & took the lowest place (Phil. 2:5). Yet, what He did on the Cross was not a weak act of surrender; it was a violent act of love. He violently took hold of every sin, disease, death, pain, hurt, sin, accusation, lie, & assault & nailed them to the Cross.
In doing this, He publicly disarmed the enemy. He took every weapon out of their hands with one fell swoop. He took on the entire army of bad guys completely by Himself (Heb. 1:3). And He won.
One man took down every act of evil. Not only did He disarm them, but He publicly humiliated them. He disarmed the entire military of the enemy single-handed. He made a public spectacle of them. In a single act of self-less mercy, He brought justice once & for all. It was a violent act of love. Talk about a hero.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Intention of the Image of God in Man: The Father revealed by Sons
God intended man to reveal God Himself to every generation. Man was created in the image of God—not to replace God, but to point everything in heaven & earth to God. Man’s rejection of God & the introduction of sin led to a broken image of God being revealed to further generations.
Each generation becomes more & more broken, unless there is a repentance & returning to God. The priests were meant to be the inheritance of the Lord that pointed others to God, but in the book of Malachi, they were rebuked because they were leading the people astray. The problem was that they had no honor or reverence for God as their Father or master. They had become over-familiar with Him & did not maintain the respect & honor that a father deserves. This is the foundation for the Fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is clean & the revelation of it must be in conjunction with the Love of God so that a spirit of fear is cast out of us, love is perfected, & we can be subject to the spirit of adoption that cries out, "Abba, Father!" (I Jn. 4:17-9, Rom. 8:15).
When Jesus came, He restored the image of God in human form. He was fully God. God chose that in Him all the fullness of God would dwell (Col. 1:19). This was so that He could reconcile all things to Himself through the finished work of the Cross (Col. 1:20).
Jesus was also fully man & He was the exact representation of God. He fully restored the image of God in a human frame. He told His disciples that if you have seen the Son, then you have seen the Father.
He came not only to save us, but also to show us the Father. Not only did He restore us as sons, but He also restored the image of God in human frame that we can behold Him & become more like Him (I Cor. 3:18). As we become more like Him, the image of God is restored from glory to glory in our lives, & we become more like the Father. This is the only way we can become fathers ourselves.
Jesus is the perfect example of how we are to also represent the Father to others. This is the reason Paul could say, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ…” (I Cor. 4:15-1, 11:1). Paul told the church in Corinth that they may have 10,000 instructors, but they don’t have many fathers. He said that they should imitate him as He imitated Christ, because he birthed them in Christ. He labored for them to know the Father.
He said to imitate Him, but the amazing thing is that he sent Timothy in his stead because Timothy was a beloved & faithful son. The church was being taught to imitate Christ through Timothy who imitated Paul who imitated Christ. This is the inheritance of sons & the way that we should reflect the image of God to the world as fathers who are rooted in being sons.
This is the foundation for being a father to others in the spirit, and a necessary concept for those who are called as messengers that will “turn the hearts of the Fathers to the children & the hearts of children to the Fathers…” (Malachi 4:6).
“For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” (I Cor. 4:15-17)
Each generation becomes more & more broken, unless there is a repentance & returning to God. The priests were meant to be the inheritance of the Lord that pointed others to God, but in the book of Malachi, they were rebuked because they were leading the people astray. The problem was that they had no honor or reverence for God as their Father or master. They had become over-familiar with Him & did not maintain the respect & honor that a father deserves. This is the foundation for the Fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is clean & the revelation of it must be in conjunction with the Love of God so that a spirit of fear is cast out of us, love is perfected, & we can be subject to the spirit of adoption that cries out, "Abba, Father!" (I Jn. 4:17-9, Rom. 8:15).
When Jesus came, He restored the image of God in human form. He was fully God. God chose that in Him all the fullness of God would dwell (Col. 1:19). This was so that He could reconcile all things to Himself through the finished work of the Cross (Col. 1:20).
Jesus was also fully man & He was the exact representation of God. He fully restored the image of God in a human frame. He told His disciples that if you have seen the Son, then you have seen the Father.
He came not only to save us, but also to show us the Father. Not only did He restore us as sons, but He also restored the image of God in human frame that we can behold Him & become more like Him (I Cor. 3:18). As we become more like Him, the image of God is restored from glory to glory in our lives, & we become more like the Father. This is the only way we can become fathers ourselves.
Jesus is the perfect example of how we are to also represent the Father to others. This is the reason Paul could say, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ…” (I Cor. 4:15-1, 11:1). Paul told the church in Corinth that they may have 10,000 instructors, but they don’t have many fathers. He said that they should imitate him as He imitated Christ, because he birthed them in Christ. He labored for them to know the Father.
He said to imitate Him, but the amazing thing is that he sent Timothy in his stead because Timothy was a beloved & faithful son. The church was being taught to imitate Christ through Timothy who imitated Paul who imitated Christ. This is the inheritance of sons & the way that we should reflect the image of God to the world as fathers who are rooted in being sons.
This is the foundation for being a father to others in the spirit, and a necessary concept for those who are called as messengers that will “turn the hearts of the Fathers to the children & the hearts of children to the Fathers…” (Malachi 4:6).
“For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me. 17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” (I Cor. 4:15-17)
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