Righteousness & the Oil of Joy

You love righteousness, and hate wickedness; therefore, God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions...

Psalm 45:7

I love how God connects righteousness with the oil of gladness in this passage. The psalmist speaks of Jesus and says that because of His righteousness, the Lord anoints Him with gladness.

Psalm 16 says that in the presence of God is the fullness of joy. Jesus never left His Father's presence, so I am sure He was the most joyful man that ever walked the face of the earth. Jesus had that constant communion with God going so that He lived in His presence day and night.

It's not that Jesus was absent of human emotion. Of course, He experienced sadness and anger; there are examples of these in the gospels, but Jesus had a "living water" that never ran dry. He had a constant flow of life running through Him at every moment.

I've seen so many movies and audio versions of the Bible where Jesus looks, sounds, and acts depressed. Let me tell you, He was anything but that. Jesus was and is the most joyful person alive.

Jesus was not only joyful because He was in constant communion with the Father, but also because He lived and walked in righteousness. He was in a constant state of agreement with God. Never was He out of line with the Holy Spirit--not once.

For me, when I am walking in line with God, I am one of the happiest people I have ever met, but when I am out of line with the Holy Spirit, I am one of the most miserable.

Now, I am not saying that I am not affected by outside circumstances which make me happy or sad; Jesus encouraged responsiveness (dancing with the flute, lamenting with the dirge), but I am speaking of a deep immovable joy that surpasses human emotions. I want something deep inside that is unshakable.

Many times, the reason outside circumstances rob me of deep joy is because I am uncertain of the truth of God's love and affection for me. So many lies and questions flood in, and I let them in my shaken state.

However, we have to stay constantly plugged into God's truth, raise up the shield of faith against those lies; thus staying in agreement with righteousness and plugged into the living water of joy.

It is easier said than done, but we have a great Example to follow and a Helper who will never leave.

Tell Him How You Really Feel...

Sometimes we just have to tell God how we really feel. So many times, in an effort to be holy, we hide our true feelings from God. We don't want to complain. We don't want to cuss or say things that we know are against truth. We don't want to verbalize the lies going through our heads.

If we did those things to our friends, family, or neighbors, it would be gossip, strife, complaining, murmuring, etc. However, trying to hide our feelings from God is futile. He already knows them anyway. He already knows the thoughts in our hearts. He already knows the questions we have. He is not a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but in all points, He was tempted as we are; He knows how we feel.

In the Psalms, David poured out his heart to God. He told God the truth about what he was thinking and feeling.

The prophet Habakkuk was real with God about the injustice around him. He was honest with God about the skewed injustices happening around him.

Jeremiah did the same thing. So did Moses. These guys did not try to hide from God how they really felt in the name of holiness.

Now, they didn't go around complaining to people. That's a different story. They didn't "vent" to their neighbors. But, they were honest with God about how they really felt. They asked God those tough questions, "Why did you let this happen?" "Where are you?" "Are you going to do anything about it?"

Asking God those questions on a personal level is not blasphemy. It's honest. We all have those questions, and if we are not honest about it, it allows a wall to be built in our hearts against God. We can ignore those questions until we are blue in the face, but they will never go away until we lower the wall, and let God come into that place of confusion, anger, and mistrust.

Once we let Him into that place, He can bring healing and restore our trust. Then, we can go to a deeper level of intimacy with Him. But we have to let Him. We have to be honest with God.

When you find those questions coming up, get out a piece of paper and tell God how you really feel. Be honest with Him. It won't be pretty, but in the long run, it will open your heart to Him in a deeper way and give Him permission to come into those places of distrust and anger. It will allow for Him to show His love to you in an even deeper way. He knows anyway, but He is waiting for you to open your heart to Him.

Thoughts on Divine Appointments & the Gift of Faith

I am constantly amazed at how God orchestrates our life and circumstances in such a detailed, profound way. Many times, we don't even notice it, because we don't take time to reflect on the little things, but when we are wholeheartedly pursuing the Lord, He uses every circumstance to bring about good in our lives--even if it doesn't seem so at the time. If we are not whole-heartedly pursuing Him, He will orchestrate every circumstance to get us to the place of calling out to Him. He never stops pursuing and He never stops loving us. He is worthy of all praise, adoration, and worship!!!!

I can't tell you how many times I have seen seemingly inconvenient circumstances turn out to be divine appointments for God to meet with a person or do something amazing--plane delays, buses breaking down, snowstorms, tornadoes, gutters clogged, bug infestations, fender benders, cars breaking down or getting stuck in snow, gum stuck on someone's pants, meeting with the same people in random cities of the world, vicious dogs coming under the authority of the Holy Spirit, seven guys causing a ruckus parading around in their underwear on a college campus, a guy dying his hair the wrong color, a dog getting hit by a car resulting in the reconciliation of a father and daughter, a speeding ticket resulting in a court visit resulting in a woman getting healed of fibromyalgia...and the list goes on and on...Each one of these statements has a story behind it, and each one of these things seemed like such an inconvenience in the moment. Yet, God used those inconvenient scenarios for His Glory, and for someone to MEET WITH HIM!!!!

What do we do with inconvenient moments? Do we complain and get angry? Do we get frustrated, grit our teeth, and try to get through the situation as quickly as possible? Or, do we pause and say, "God, what are you doing right now? Is this an opportunity for you to do something amazing?"

I believe operating in divine appointments is a part of the "gift of faith" which is talked about in I Corinthians 12:7-11. Faith is when you do not see, yet you believe, step out, and see God do something amazing. I am convinced now, more than ever, that prayer works, and that the more we give overselves to prayer, the more we will see God magnify our little efforts--just like when He took 5 loaves and 2 fish and fed thousands (Jn. 6).

Things that the enemy meant for evil, God can turn to good (Gen. 50:20). He works all things together for good for those who are called according to His purposes (Rom. 8:28). He even allowed a man to be born blind, not because of the man's sin, but so God would be glorified (Jn. 9:3). He allowed Lazarus to die so that God would be glorified in his resurrection (Jn. 11:4)! God' ways are much higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (Is. 55:8-9). No matter how much we try to understand, we just can't--BUT, we can trust Him!!!

I have never wanted sickness in my life, and God did not want it for me, but He has used it for His glory and showed me His love and affection through it in times past. I have been healed of asthma, a kidney problem, and seizures from brain damage with jaundice (as a baby). All were life altering illnesses, and all were healed by God and to Him be all glory and praise!!! No matter what I face in life, I WANT TO TRUST HIM and know that He is GOOD!!!

God is a Good Leader

I understand what David meant when he said, “My heart overflows with a good theme concerning my king…” This morning my heart overflows with gratitude toward the Lord.
When you look back at your life and see where you have been and how far you have come, you become appreciative of the way the Lord leads. Most of the time, it doesn’t make sense, but when you see the big picture in hindsight, it makes you fall in love with the Lord all over again.

He really is Good. The enemy tries to distort that fact of His nature and make us think that God hates us or that He is angry with us, but the truth is that God is good and His gentleness makes us great.

Life is one long conversation with God, and it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. Life is about relationship with God—communing with the One who made the garden as a place of encounter.

If we can only see the temporal, we lose hope in the midst of dark circumstances. If we place our success in what we do, we will be in constant cycles of failure and pride. If we look forward to eternity, while enjoying the comfort of the Holy Spirit and our present journey with God, we will be sustained in the darkest of circumstances and grounded in the greatest of achievements.

God is a good leader. He really does know how to run our lives. We have to trust Him and live in full surrender. The foundation for this lifestyle is to believe that God is Good and He is who He says He is.

Thankful for the Lord's Leadership

I am so thankful for how God leads us, even if it doesn't make sense most of the time. It is amazing how much you grow in appreciation for the little things when the little things are taken from you. I am so grateful to the Lord for friends, family, and for His presence. I am thankful for the ability to walk and to do my own laundry. I am thankful for people who speak into my life even when what they are saying is hard for me to hear. Life isn't about the destination, it's about the journey, and God doesn't care how fast we get there, He only cares what state we're in when we arrive. When I get there someday, I hope that I hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of Your Lord." I am thankful that He is so gentle and patient with us and He doesn't mind if we fumble around to get our footing sometimes. Ultimately, we come up leaning on Him.

It is amazing how many times when you prophesy over people, the Lord takes the opportunity to give a word to you through the Holy Spirit who teaches all things. That happened to me the other night. I gave a word to this guy about racing cars and how the pit stop was just as important in the race as the actual time on the track. The mechanics have to change the tires, align them, tune the motor, fill up with gas, check the oil, etc. Time is the essence even in the pit stop. It's not a break from the race--it's still the race itself.

I used the think that any time I was hindered from doing, that I was being "benched"--out on injury, but if we find our identity in being, then we are not merely "benchwarming" when we're not doing. I hate benchwarming. I always want to be a starter in the game, but sometimes God shakes your foundations to bring refocus and realignment to your life.

No matter what season of life you are in, or what you are capable of doing, you can always pray. A friend of mine Jeff always says, "Life is one long conversation with God." Sometimes seasons don't allow for us to be in the prayer room, but every season allows for us to pray. You can always talk to God, and you can always "be" in His presence. It's a hard lesson to learn sometimes, but it is so valuable. God cares more about our character than what we can do for Him. It's amazing when you see the true heart of the Father and how affectionate He is even in his correction. The Father disciplines those He loves, and yet He is so gentle and meek when He does it. His gentleness makes us great.

It's been 3 months since my back injury, and I am still recovering, but I am so grateful to the Lord for everything He has done in my life. My heart is so tender right now. Sometimes life can be a pressure cooker, but as my dad Mike says, "Pressure cookers make you tender."

The Lord is teaching me to give to subtle cues of the bit, just like a powerful racehorse that has to shut-down and turn at the drop of a hat. We have to learn to give to subtle cues if we want to win the race. Another friend of mine, Bev challenged me one time, "Do you want to be a wild stallion or do you want to be a horse the King can ride on?" I definitely want to be the latter. I want to be a horse the King of Glory can ride on.

Not Left as Orphans...

In John 14, Philip said, "Show us the Father & it will be sufficient for us." We all have that cry in our hearts. Jesus said that He is the way to the Father & anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father.

Jesus did not leave us as orphans, but sent the Holy Spirit to us to reveal Jesus & show us the Father (Jn. 14). He teaches us all things & brings all things to remembrance that God has showed us (Jn. 16).

Not only did Jesus reveal the Father, but the Holy Spirit brought the Father to live IN US through the indwelling Holy Spirit. He is our guarantee of our inheritance as sons & daughters of God (Eph. 1).

Jesus was fully rooted in His identity as a Son. He referred to Himself as "Son of God, Son of Man, Son of David..." His identity was based in His relationship with the Father, and it was the Father who glorified His Son who in all things, glorified His Father...

Jesus in turn told us that He does not need to pray to the Father for us, because the Father loves us directly and will do anything we ask (Jn. 14). Jesus came to bring us to the Father, and the Holy Spirit stayed to not leave us as orphans but bring us into direct communion with the Father.

God-School vs. People-School

God-school is not like people-school. In God-school, most of the learning is done while you are taking the test. But the good thing is, the test is not for a letter-grade, it is a pass/fail. You pass if you do it, and you fail if you quit. You don't have to know the answers beforehand; you learn them while you are taking the test.

The best part is that you have the Teacher there the whole time to answer every question you have.

Restoring the Image of God: Beholding & Becoming

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, & where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

(II Cor. 3:17-18)

Jesus came to reveal the Father to us & restore the original intention of the image of God in man. He came to show us the Father & how the Father births sons into His very same image. Likewise, the Holy Spirit also comes to transform us into His same image.

As the express image of God, Jesus gave us the picture of what we are longing to become. He is the picture of God's intention for us. It is the Holy Spirit's job to transform us into His image as we behold Him.

So many times, we set our eyes on our weaknesses & feel that we are failures. This is a huge hindrance to the work of the Holy Spirit, because His intention is for us to behold Him and become more like Him as we see what we are supposed to look like. Jesus is the ultimate example for us for our entire lives.

I John 3:2-3 says, "Beloved, now we are children of God; & it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies Himself just as He is pure..."

We must not set our eyes on what we are now, but set our eyes on what we shall be--setting our eyes on this hope that one day we will be like Him & we will see Him in all purity without that dim glass of our own thoughts & wrong views of God. One day, we will see Him for who He really is. It is this hope that purifies us & transforms us from glory to glory...

Heart Responses to the Father: Honor & Reverence

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.

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).

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

The Gift of Listening

Everyone wants to hear from God, but many do not recognize it when He speaks. Just like Elijah in I Kings 19, we look for God to come in the fire, the whirlwind, the earthquake, but God mostly comes in the quiet whisper.

We come to God & talk to Him. We read the scriptures & get revelation on them. We sing & worship Him. These things are good. We need to do these things; they are essential. However, it is very important that we set aside time to listen.

It is very difficult in this day & age to find the quiet & then to quiet our hearts & minds once we do. However, we can start small & expand daily until we come more & more accustomed to it.

Try this for a week: In your normal quiet time, take 15 minutes to sit in stillness. Just ask the Lord to speak, then listen. You will find lots of things coming up & it will be harder than you think, but you might be surprised what you hear. Afterwards, journal what you heard & felt in those 15 minutes. Begin to practice this on a regular basis & take 5 minutes throughout the day to just listen. It will take a while to be able to quiet yourself enough, but once you make it a habit, you will find it easier & you will be able to do it longer & hear the Lord more.

Fear of the Lord & Comfort of the Holy Spirit

"Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, & Samaria had peace & were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord & the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied."
Acts 9:31

Once the Fear of the Lord & the Love of God--or "comfort of the Holy Spirit" connect to every area of our lives, everything begins to fall into place.

Life without these two things is like a tall building with a foundation, walls, and floors, but no electric or plumbing. The structure is there, but will not be useful until every room has been connected to electricity (fire of God/fear of the Lord) & plumbing (river of God, love of God).

Only then does that structure become useable & can be filled with people and multiplied. Lord, give us the Fear of the Lord & the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Perspective Change

It is necessary for us to constantly lift our eyes back to Jesus. Under every circumstance, He is still sitting on His throne & He still reigns supreme. Everything in the world exists for His glory. Everything revolves around Him. Praise God that the world does not revolve around us! What a mess that would be.

Realigning our focus back on the glory of Jesus is absolutely necessary on a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute basis. We have such a tendency to focus on ourselves, & this causes way more pain than is necessary.

Setting our focus back on God actually lifts a huge weight off our shoulders. It is only then that we realize how small we really are & how big God really is. When we get things into perspective, all the difficult circumstances seem smaller & the preeminence of God is restored in our hearts & minds. It is actually a place of rest, life, & peace when we see Him as He is.

From Pressure to Passion

The Lord knows exactly how to squeeze you through a hole that you don't fit in. He likes to do that actually. We call it refining. It is a much cleaner sounding term than what it feels like.

Sometimes, the Lord allows all kinds of external pressures to cause you to move into a certain direction--or come to a certain conclusion. His leadership is like know other--it is perfect.

We are so fortunate to have a Good Shepherd who knows exactly the right amount of pressure to add--not to much, not too little. The end result is eternal diamonds--things that will not pass away forever. His fire burns everything that is not eternal & purifies the eternal things.

God allows the pressure that pushes us into our eternal destiny as sons & daughters. It creates such a passion for Jesus in us that will never be crushed. Thank You for Your leadership, Jesus.

The Father & Fear of the Lord in Malachi

Lately, I have been alternating between reading Ephesians & reading Malachi quite a bit. It is interesting because both books reveal the Father in various ways, but one reveals the love of the Father & the other one reveals the honor & reverence required toward the Father--the Fear of the Lord.

It is necessary for us to see both dimensions of the Father in a healthy way. The word "fear" as in the fear of the Lord primarily means "honor, reverence, awe." The Hebrew word used for fear is yire & it also connotes other dimensions of fear as well, but this is because it involves real human emotions--the soulish kind of fear. However, the pure fear of the Lord is clean & involves only the spiritual sense of the word--awe, reverence, honor.

Twice in Malachi, the Lord rebukes the priests for not honoring the Lord as a father. He repremands them for not taking care of their wives, for leaving their children, for divorce, & for despising marriage. He admonishes them to come back to the Fear of the Lord & ends with turning the hearts of the Fathers to the children & children to the Fathers.

The Fear of the Lord & the Love of God are both necessary elements in a correct view of God. Try alternating reading Ephesians & Malachi this week & noting every instance the Father is mentioned. Also note when the Fear of the Lord or Love of God is mentioned. Ask God to reveal the Father to you. It only takes around 20 to 30 minutes to read each book.

The Book of Ephesians

The Book of Ephesians is such an amazing book. The more I read it, the more I see how parts fit together & form a fluid whole. It begins by speaking our identity in Christ. Then, it teaches us how to relate to one another. It also covers how we relate to the spiritual world.

The first two chapters speak on our identity as sons, our nearness to God, our relationship to the Holy Spirit, our relationship to the throne of God, & our authority over powers of darkness through Christ.

Chapter 3 lays out the love of Christ as being our foundation for relationship with each others as living stones, & chapters 4 & 5 show us how to relate to each other in family relationships and in the church relationships--all pointing back to Christ as the example.

Then chapter 6 gives us points on spiritual warfare & practical exhortations for life. I love that book! I recommend taking this week & reading it once through everyday as a whole, & ask God to speak to you about it. It can be read out loud in 30 minutes.

Seated with Christ in Heavenly Places

So many evil circumstances can befall us in life, but we must always be rooted in the identity of who we are in Christ. No matter what happens, we are seated with Christ in Heavenly places through the blood of the Lamb (Eph. 2, Heb. 4).

We must realize that Satan has already been defeated, & even though bad circumstances can still happen for now, nothing can touch our eternal destiny in Christ Jesus. He has already conquered sin, death, & the grave.

To live in this reality, we must constantly stay in touch with our identity in Christ, & His awesome splendor on that throne. No matter what happens, we can sit there with Him far above the circumstances. That is the eternal reality. The circumstances of this life are temporal & add pressures that push us into our eternal destiny (II Cor. 4:17).

Just like Paul & Silas in prison, we can set our eyes on the Beauty of Jesus in every circumstance & watch prison doors fly open & the kingdom of heaven being made manifest on earth (Acts 16).

Total Transformation of a Life

When God grabs hold of a life, He takes the person on a process of transformation through every area of their life. I wish I could tell you the stories of the people I have been seeing come to the Lord, who eventually have every area of their lives touched & restored by God.

Only God can take the most broken person & renew their hearts, emotions, finances, family, relationships, bodies, minds...etc. I have seen brain injuries healed, deaf ears open, blind eyes see, demons leave, homes restored, marriages restored, finances restored, depression break off, people become more beautiful, smiles restored, & God glorified in it all.

The key is not to seek the gift, but the Giver. God only excepts one kind of life--a full exchange, full surrender of a broken & contrite spirit. He will not deny it. God only excepts full surrender, but he who loses His life will truly find it. If we just trust Him to give up our lives completely, daily--then He will do more with it than we could ever imagine.

The Fear of the Lord & the Love of God

It is remarkable how God can have so many contrasting attributes that almost seem to contradict one another; yet, they never do. God is Merciful. God is Just. God is Holy. God is Forgiving. God is Love. God is to be Feared...The list goes on & on.

Over the past year, the Lord has been highlighting the Love of God in our church body. People have been set free from self-hatred, condemnation, fear, shame, depression--& many have encountered the love of God for the first time.

However, it is inevitable that God will also reveal the Fear of the Lord to us in a manifest way as well, because the revelation of these two attributes balance each other out to form a healthy perspective of God & His relationship toward us. We cannot understand the beauty of His nearness, unless we understand how Holy & transcendant He is. It is unfathomable to the angels that God humbled Himself to become a man.

Only the revelation of the Fear of the Lord can reveal to us how awesome & set apart God is. Lord, we cry out for wisdom & understanding that we may know the fear of the Lord & find the knowledge of God (Prov. 2:1-6).

The God Who is Near

Recently, our house of prayer had our big year-end conference with around 25,000 in attendance. I worked in the healing rooms & prophecy rooms in the conference. Everytime I would pray for someone, I was overwhelmed at the "God who draws Near."

Ephesians 2:17 says, "But now, in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ..." It is amazing how the presence of God would be so near as soon as we closed our eyes & began to pray. Hearts were touched, bodies were healed, & God in His nearness was made known to His people.

That is the beauty of the Incarnation. God came near. That is the beauty of the Indwelling Holy Spirit--God is near. No matter how far away He feels, we who were once far off, have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. Let us feel your nearness, Lord.