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).