Tauren Wells: known

I'm so glad someone has finally written a song about this. I believe it is the deepest heart cry of a person: to be fully known and still fully loved. This includes all of the deep dark secrets that we would take to the grave with us. This includes all of the hidden failures and disappoints we harbor deep within. This includes all of the buried pain that we have stuffed and suppressed, locked away in some secret soul closet. 

The good news is that God already knows all of these things about us and He still loves us.  He showed us this when we were at our worst, He loved us still and came to save us. "But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!" (Romans 5:8 TPT). 

9 And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. 10 So if while we were still enemies, God fully reconciled us to himself through the death of his Son, then something greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in his resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion! 11 And even more than that, we overflow with triumphant joy in our new relationship of living in harmony with God—all because of Jesus Christ! Romans 5:9-11 (TPT)

LYRICS:
It's so unusual it's frightening
You see right through the mess inside me
And you call me out to pull me in
You tell me I can start again
And I don't need to keep on hiding

I'm fully known and loved by You
You won't let go no matter what I do
And it's not one or the other
It's hard truth and ridiculous grace
To be known fully known and loved by You
I'm fully known and loved by You

It's so like You to keep pursuing
It's so like me to go astray, ooh
But You guard my heart with Your truth
The kind of love that's bullet proof
And I surrender to Your kindness, oh

I'm fully known and loved by You
You won't let go no matter what I do
And it's not one or the other
It's hard truth and ridiculous grace
To be known fully known and loved by You
I'm fully known and loved by…

The Belonging Co: Nothing Else (feat. Cody Carnes)

We must clearly discern and embrace the various seasons of life we find ourselves. This is important because the practical outworking of the cry and longing for "nothing else but Jesus" will look differently according to your current season of life. When I was single, after I married and after I had children, the heart cry for only Jesus has always been the same, but the practical pursuit and outworking of embracing "nothing else but Jesus" has looked different from season to season. Having realistic expectations for both the pursuit and the outworking of a "nothing else but Jesus" lifestyle is absolutely crucial, if we are to live this thing out with great peace, love and joy. Misguided and unrealistic expectations will always end in disappointment, heartbreak and discouragement.

I don't have too many words for this one because the lyrics are so perfect. I hope and pray they resonate within you as deeply as they do in me. Bless you friend.

Chorus

I'm caught up in Your presence

I just want to sit here at Your feet
I'm caught up in this holy moment
I never want to leave
I'm not here for blessings
Jesus, You don't owe me anything
More than anything that You can do
I just want You

Verse
I'm sorry when I've just gone through the motions
I'm sorry when I just sang another song
Take me back to where we started
I open up my heart to You
I'm sorry when I've come with my agenda
I'm sorry when I forgot that You're enough
Take me back to where we started
I open up my heart to You

Bridge
I Just want You
Nothing else, Nothing else
Nothing else will do

Nicole Nordeman: the Unmaking (acoustic)

Jesus came to to save, redeem and recreate us into His image. Not as carbon copies of Himself but as unique expression of what His life (the life of Jesus) would look like lived out through us. This means everyone's expression of Jesus will be unique. Yes, Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), but the way Jesus manifests Himself will be through your personality, gifts, talents, culture and heritage. So the way a person from Taiwan manifests Jesus will be different than the way a person from Australia does. Yes, there will be commonalities between them but if the expression of Jesus is genuine than there should be very unique distinctions. 

Anyone can just copy a person's behavior, mannerisms and words. But when the life of Jesus has truly taken deep root within a person where His very nature has begun the process of infusing and consuming every aspect of a person, this will cause a radical restructuring and transforming of a person's entire being. Now, in order for this to fully transpire, a person must allow Jesus complete access, so He can 1) unmake all the sin, dysfunctions and distortions from us and then 2) recreate us into His image. 

For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. (Romans 8:29-30 NLT)

This can be a very hard process, trust me I know. My own journey of unmaking in order to be recreated hasn't been the smoothest and easiest to say the least. On more than one occasion, I've felt like quitting. But, on the other side of any trial or testing, I can honestly say I have always been transformed into a greater likeness to Jesus. Oftentimes, it has been so that I can in greater depth and measure embody more of His love, compassion and humility towards others. As the saying goes, there can be no testimony without a test. So, I am praying that you would say "yes" to the Jesus process and for great endurance for you in your own unmaking and recreating. 

A Powerful Warning to the Church (Francis Chan)

This is a powerful warning to the Church about the dangers of gossip and divisiveness in the Body of Christ and the great importance of pursuing unity with fellow believers. The sermon length is 35:34, but well worth the time. 

1 Corinthians 3:17 (NIV) 

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

Disconnecting God's Love from His Blessing

Today I am going to expand on the confusion many people have between God's love and His blessing. I believe the reason for this confusion is because for most, if not all, of our lives we've been conditioned to believe this kind of blessing equals love mindset. This way of showing love through blessing is literally built into most, if not all, earthly cultures where love is connected to behavior. So good behavior is rewarded with love and blessing and love and blessing are withheld with bad behavior. 

But what I want to propose to you is three things, that:

1. God's love for His creation/people is not connected to our behavior
2. God never withholds His love towards us
3. God's love is not connected to His blessing

God's love for His creation/people is not connected to our behavior

God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). This means that God's very essence is love which means that He cannot not love. This means that everything that God does is from a place of love. The way that helps me understand the difference between God's love and human love is through percentages. You see, God loves His creation/people 100% all the time. Because His love is perfect this means the quality and quantity of His love is always at 100%. This means God's love for you will never lessen, not even to 99.9%, but always stays at a constant 100%. 

I find this helpful because oftentimes we can project our own feelings of rejection, disappointment and unlovableness onto God and in so doing we believe that because we've done something wrong that He loves us less. This is common because that is how most of us were raised as children and taught as we grew up by our cultures and societies. But we must recognize that this way of conditional and inconsistent love that has been ingrained into us is not the way God loves. He loves us full stop and there is nothing we can or cannot do to change this 100% love He has towards us. 

God never withholds His love towards us

So, even as I am raising my own child, I have to resist the impulse to withhold love from my daughter when she misbehaves as I express my disapproval of her behavior. Because the easiest way for me to express my disapproval of her behavior is to give her the impression of withholding my love towards her which couldn't be further from the truth because I love my daughter full stop. But I need to be mindful of my interactions with her because this is what she may end up concluding. Now, I believe at the root of this desire to withhold love or to give the impression of withheld love is control. I mean what better way for me to control my daughter's behavior? 

But, this imperfect way of expressing love is completely human and far different than God's divine expression of love. God is not a control freak. He has given people freewill and He honors that in people. God is not out trying to manipulate and control people but rather honors people's freewill. Because if you take away freewill, you take away the means to a real and genuine love relationship. 

So when my daughter misbehaves, I try my very best to 1) not overreact (easier said than done at times), then 2) let her know that I love her (I do this by giving her a cuddle and telling her), and then 3) as gently as I can tell her that what she did was not nice, wrong or selfish (which ever seems to fit at the time). I've learned over the last few years of being her father that I need to be intentional and consistent about building a foundation of love, trust and security with her. 

When it comes to God's Divine love for us, He is perfect in the way that He loves us and He will never resort to any sort of controlling or manipulative tactics when we misbehave/sin because He truly desires to have a real and genuine love relationship with us built on trust and security. This means that He will never withhold His love from us, full stop because that would go against the very nature of who He is (1 John 4:8, 16). 

God's love is not connected to His blessing

Another example of one of my "amazing" parenting tactics is bribery (yes I am being sarcastic here). The easiest way for me to get my daughter to do what I ask her is to bribe her with some sort of blessing. For example, there are times where she refuses to sit in her car seat and so I will offer her different things that I know she likes to get her to obey me. Now, when I do this I know that I am only reinforcing behavioral conditioning where good behavior = blessing and bad behavior = no blessing. Because I also use reverse bribery (yes I think I just made this term up), but I threaten to not give her something (some sort of blessing) if she doesn't listen.

This way of behavioral conditioning is again common to the way many us were raised which continued on as we continued on in school where good behavior was rewarded and bad behavior punished. To use an extreme example of this, just look at prison systems, where good behavior is rewarded with time off a person's prison sentence and bad behavior is punished with solitary confinement and/or added prison time. But, if we really paused to look and see just how common behavioral conditioning is in our society, we will discover that it is integrated into just about every part of our society and just not on the fringes. 

Hopefully you are recognizing the great need to begin unlearning the way we have been behaviorally conditioned towards blessing and love. I would also add that working towards separating the two is vitally crucial because we will naturally approach God in this way. We will believe that as long as we are doing good and right things, He loves and blesses us and when we do wrong He withholds His love and blessing from us.

Now, I believe this may have been true through the Mosaic Covenant of the Law, but today we are under a New Covenant through Christ which makes the Mosaic Covenant irrelevant to us because Jesus has fulfilled the Law and we now stand with Jesus in this fulfillment. If we are to follow any commands of love I believe John 13:34-35 shows us the way: "So I give you now a new commandment: Love each other just as much as I have loved you. For when you demonstrate the same love I have for you by loving one another, everyone will know that you're me true followers" (The Passion Translation). 

I do want to highlight the dangers to a formulaic approach to faith which means when we start implementing formulas into our understanding of God's ways. If I do (A) + (B) then God must do (C) kind of thinking.  When we begin to rely on formulas we will either end up in legalism or in believing we can manipulate God. 

This is why I believe the sooner we disconnect God's love to His blessing towards us, the greater intimacy we will have with Him because too often, when we believe the two are connected this has the ability to drive a wedge between drawing near to God and fully living in His perfect love for us. 

Now hear me on this, I am NOT saying that God doesn't reward and bless us, what I am saying is that we should never allow our sense of His blessing in our life to be the measure of His love for us. If we are to have a measure, then the Cross should be the only measure we look to in understanding the greatness and fullness of God's love towards us (John 3:16) and never our life circumstance. 

I believe the main issues that hinder us from experiencing God's 100% love is our own personal barriers that we hold and that we need to breakthrough, so that we can know, understand and experience God's 100% love more comletely. A friend of mine has recently posted this on social media (thanks Joe K.) which I believe sums this up well: 

• God didn’t send Jesus to die so that He would be able to love us, He sent Jesus so that we would be able to love Him.
• His mind was never set against us, but ours against Him. He has never not loved us.
• Sin didn’t set God against us, it set us against God. It didn’t separate us from God in the sense of Him withdrawing, it turned our hearts against Him and so we withdrew.
• God didn’t send Jesus to die to satiate His anger towards humanity in its sin, but to satiate humanity’s anger towards God as a result of their sin.
• He is the Lamb who took away the sin of the world. He is the Lamb who dealt with the irrational hostility of humanity towards Himself by circumcising their heart of the sin nature.
• God didn’t reconcile Himself to us, He reconciled us to Himself.
• God isn’t the one who was hostile, we were.
• He loves us, and always has.
• “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans‬ ‭5:8‬ 

I hope you were encouraged by this and my prayer is that the Holy Spirit would continue to draw you closer and closer to Jesus and that your sense of His love for you would be firm and unshakable. God bless you! 

How to Identify Spiritual Abuse?

In looking through my blog I have yet to create a post that actually talks about spiritual abuse. So, considering that January has become the "unofficial/official" spiritual abuse awareness month. Here goes. 

Now, this post is not to point fingers at specific people, churches or organizations but rather to just help people discern and identify when spiritual abuse is happening. It saddens me when I hear stories of people suffering abuse from a leader or within an church/organization but had no idea that what they were actually experiencing was spiritual abuse. And so they end up accepting spiritually abusive behavior as normal. So heartbreaking.

My hope is that through this post people would be able to more readily recognize spiritually abusive behavior and not have to endure ongoing abuse but be able to either confront the abuse or make decisions to remove themselves from under the abusive leader or from out of the abusive environment. 

The reason spiritual abuse is so dangerous is because it causes people to become disillusioned with Christianity and even causes some to walk away from the faith completely. Spiritual abuse is sinful, but because of its destroying impact on a person's faith, I would say oftentimes there is a spirit of witchcraft involved because spiritual abuse has all the markers of witchcraft. Witchcraft has 3 main markers that fall under the umbrella of Control: 1) Domination, 2) Manipulation and 3) Intimidation. I've posted a more in depth post on this here. 

Below is a phenomenal video on the topic. The only thing I would add is the non-negotiable need to honor people's freewill. Freewill is a gift from God and is something that God honors full stop. I mean God honors a person's freewill to the point of allowing them to choose to reject Him forever. So, what I've concluded is this: who are we to dishonor something God honors. If God honors a person's freewill, than we (humanity) must also honor a person's freewill. When a leader demands blind obedience or unquestioning submission they move into the realm of dishonoring freewill. And when a leader start dishonoring a person's freewill I believe they move into a place of spiritual abuse. 

Here is a really good and informative video on "How to Identify Spiritual Abuse." Not only does the speaker explain what a spiritually abuse culture looks like, but also what a spiritually healthy culture looks like. I hope and pray that this helps you move forward on your journey.

Disillusionment & Divine/Cruciform Accommodation

Divine Accommodation in a nutshell is the concept that refers to the various ways God had to adjust His appearance in order to communicate to us because of our limited mental capacity and sin-filled hearts. This concept was first used by John Calvin but more recently picked up again by Greg Boyd who has expanded on Calvin's original concept and added a "Cruciform" Accommodation component.

"This principle holds that the cross, rather than a presupposed philosophical conception of what a “perfect being” should be like, must serve as the primary criterion by which we access the degree to which any biblical portrait of God is and is not a divine accommodation. Any divine portrait that reflects the character of God revealed on the cross is a direct revelation of God’s true character and will. Any that fall beneath what is revealed on the cross must be considered an accommodation of a stooping God.

The biblical narrative reflects God’s willingness to bend his ideals to accommodate the fallen and culturally conditioned state of his people. God is consistently depicted as a heavenly missionary who must temporarily appear to condone grotesque practices and beliefs that he actually deplores if he intends to gradually influence his people away from these practices and beliefs." (http://reknew.org/2017/07/four-principles-cruciform-thesis/) emphasis mine. 

Where I am going with this is to help explain why Jesus allows abusive leadership to persist within the church. I speak about this not as an outsider looking in but as one who has been disillusioned and has by the grace of God been restored. If there was one thing that I hope you take away from this blog is this: 

"It is not that God ever approves of a leader's controlling, abusive sinful behavior, rather God deplores it but He is divinely accommodating them as He works at helping them be and act more in line with His character."

Understanding this has helped me to come to terms with my own disillusionment. Disillusionment is a very real thing and is impacting Christians all around the world. Now what I believe to be the main catalyst in this is controlling, manipulative and abusive leadership. The reason for this post is to address the growing epidemic of disillusioned Christians who are leaving church and sometimes the faith altogether.

Some of the questions that I needed to grapple with and come to terms with followed along the lines of: 

• "Jesus why are you allowing these controlling and manipulative leaders run your church?" 
• "Jesus why are you allowing leaders who are more interested in getting people to serving their agenda, than actually loving them lead your people?"
• "Jesus why is there so much spiritual abuse happening in your church?"
• "Jesus why are you allowing greedy self-seeking leaders shepherd your flock?"

If you have ever asked these questions than understand that God is accommodating these leaders and is in no way, shape or form actually approving of their behavior. Now I will submit here that sometimes I wonder why is God accommodating them, but then I am reminded of my own failings or when I got it wrong and am grateful for the times that God has accommodate me in my own misguided demands and failings.

I would even go so far as to say that, if God didn't ever accommodate people than we would all be certainly doomed. But, from my own journey with the Lord and understanding of Scripture what I see and have experienced is God as more of a loving Father than a harsh Judge. I believe God is still the Judge of all things, but I don't believe that is His first impulse. What I see throughout Scripture is God being gracious, compassionate and merciful first and foremost. So, for me rather than wondering why God accommodates, I am now just grateful that He does.

An example of this in is 1 Samuel 8 where the people are demanding a human king, in lieu of having God as their King. In this passage of Scripture we see that the time had come for God to form a nation for Himself. But, rather than fully accepting God as their King, the people demand that Samuel appoint for them a human king. 

4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. 7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. 8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. 9 Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.” 10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. (emphasis mine)

Here is one clear example of Divine/Cruciform Accommodation. God's original plan was to form this nation with Him as their Divine King, but the people wanted to be like all the other nations of the world, rather than being an exception and example to the world as God originally planned. So, He accommodates their sinful request and masterfully weaves this into His plan of redemption.

At the heart of Divine/Cruciform Accommodate I believe what we must see and understand is a God who is always stooping down to meet culturally conditioned and sinful people where they are at, and from this place patiently and lovingly helps them slowly come to greater and clearer revelation and understanding of who He is and His plan for them. What we get a glimpse of is a loving, gracious and merciful God who is patient and long-suffering towards His creation/people. And since then God has continued to accommodate His people, even until today.

Another verse that has helped me in my own understanding and restoration is Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them" (NLT). I believe that there are lots of things happening both within the church and outside of it that is not God's will, but that doesn't mean that God cannot bring some good out of any situation no matter how dark and sinful. 

I mean just look at the good He bought about through the crucifixion of Jesus by the hands of evil principalities and powers and sinful evil people. If He can bring about the salvation of the whole world through the most tragic event of all history than He can also bring good out of any and all other situations. This understanding needs to be firmly rooted in the foundational bedrock of our faith.  

If you are interested in learning more on this, here is a video where a few guys discuss Greg Boyd's take on Divine (Cruciform) Accommodation:

God's Top Four Priorities for His Children: Christlikeness

I believe establishing identity is the core work being done in people, the bible says that God is involved in forming us in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13) and He tells Jeremiah the prophet that He knew him even before He formed Jeremiah in his mother's womb and that He set Jeremiah apart for a divine purpose (Jeremiah 1:5). This means that God is active in shaping the essence of who we are. But, I would add that this is a co-laboring work between God and people.

From the day we are born our identity continues to be formed. First by our parents and by other family members, then by teachers, friends, society (through cultural expectations and customs) and government at large (through rules and laws). As we live and breathe everyone around us is working hard to shape and form us into who they think we should be. I would even extend this to what is happening in the spiritual/invisible realm of reality. Ephesians 6:12 talks about principalities, powers and other spiritual dark forces at work in the world who are actually working against us in this life. 

Adding to our identity formation is also the many life events and experiences which shape our understanding and view of the world around us. Some may call this our worldview which is true, but I would argue that our worldview is ground in our identity, in who we believe ourselves to be.

How we see ourselves is deeply connected to how we see the world and influences us in what we allow or don't allow ourselves to be and do.

This is why I believe God is so passionate about establishing our new identity in Christ after He saves us and why it's second on His list of priorities for His children. This comes after He establishes a relationship with us because God knows that identity is best formed through connection, interaction and engagement.

1. Relationship (Salvation) 

2. Christlikeness (Transformation) 

3. Faith (Maturity) 

4.Blessing/Comfort (Prosperity) 

Christlikeness includes Jesus' character which includes having Jesus' mind, heart and will formed in us as the Holy Spirit cultivates His wonderful fruit within us. As Christians, we are first and foremost on a journey of transformation where each and every moment of each and every day for the rest of our lives, God is actively calling us into deeper relationship with Him as He recreates us as new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) into the likeness of His Son, Jesus (1 John 3:2). 

Our role in this is to simply surrender and fully submit ourselves to this work of Christlike transformation. Of course, this is much easier said than done. Surrender and submission are truly difficult because if they are to genuinely happen, there needs to be a deep level of trust established. God knows this and so He has done everything in His power to make sure the way to Him is open. I've blogged on this here. And I would add that He is very passionate about pursuing us, connecting with us and cultivating greater intimacy with us.

But, God will never coerce us into this work, but is something we need to freely choose to give ourselves to. I can't tell you how many people I've talked with who think God is this overbearing, power-exerting, heavy-handed, control freak. But, when I look at the life of Jesus, who is the exact imprint of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), what I see is a humble, loving, self-sacrificing servant. The bible says that:

"Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him." (John 13:3-5 NIV emphasis mine)

In this moment Jesus knew all things were under his power, but rather than exercise this power over the disciples, he chose to serve them and in this way humbly cultivated deeper intimacy with them. Furthermore, if we look at the example God set in the way that He chose to exercise His omnipotent power over sin, evil and the devil what do we see? We see Him humbly and in love dying on a Cross. This is how the God of the universe flexes His almighty power. God will never force His way in our lives and overpower us. Rather, He woos us as He waits for us to invite Him into our lives.

Something that I've been pondering as of late is this revelation: "If God honors a person's freewill to the point of allowing them to choose to reject Him forever, than who am I to dishonor something God honors." What I've concluded is that for love to be real and genuine, freewill must be honored. When you take away freewill in anyway than you also take away the means for real love and genuine relationship to happen. Again, God knows this and so He honors our freewill, so that we can truly have a very real and genuine love relationship with Him. And it is through this very real and genuine love relationship that He invites us into this amazing work of Christlike transformation.

God's Top Four Priorities for His Children: Introduction

Have you ever wondered what God's priorities are for your life? I have and the journey to better understanding these priorities has not been an easy one. But, before I dive into this topic, let me say that I am still in process and am still growing in my understanding of God, Truth and Life and how these three realities intertwine together.  

Over the past 10 years I've had the privilege of connecting with people both inside and outside the walls of a church building and across 4 continents (North America, Africa, Asia and Australia). This has definitely had its challenges, but also some really precious and endearing rewards. Bottom line, people are beautiful. It doesn't matter who you are or where you're from, there is beauty in you. Believe it. 

So, as I begin to lay out what I believe are God's top priorities for people, I will submit to you that I am in no means saying that I have all the answers. But, only a helpful framework that has helped me and others in better discerning the movements of God in our lives. I was first taught this by a long time friend and pastor ministering in Taiwan (thanks Dave for your humility and wisdom).

Now, the way these priorities work themselves out in a person's life will be unique to each of us. Though we may at times have some commonalities between our stories, no two stories are ever alike, just as no two people are ever alike. 

My aim in posting this, is to hopefully better help you see the bigger picture, so to speak, so that you can then take this list as a sort of filter or magnifying glass that will bring some greater clarity as you zoom into the uniqueness of your own life story. So, here we go.  

I will first list what I believe to be God's top four priorities for His children (there is more you could add to this list, but grasping these top four is crucial) and then I will expand on them: 

1. Relationship (Salvation) 

2. Christlikeness (Transformation) 

3. Faith (Maturity) 

4.Blessing/Comfort (Prosperity) 

If we can grasp these four priorities in the right order, I believe we will truly experience the greatest happiness and fulfillment for our lives. To say it another way, when we understanding these four priorities in the right order, we will experience the abundant life Jesus promises His followers (John 10:10b)

Now, what I believe has brought great confusion to understanding God's higher priorities for people has been the "prosperity gospel" which in a nut shell emphasizes financial blessing and physical well-being as the main purpose and plan of God for a person. Wikipedia defines it as: 

"a religious belief among some Christians, who hold that financial blessing and physical well-being are always the will of God for them, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one's material wealth. Prosperity theology views the Bible as a contract between God and humans: if humans have faith in God, he will deliver security and prosperity."

What the "prosperity gospel" has done is placed what I have listed fourth on the list as number two. It tells people, God saves you and then blesses you. There is little or no mention of becoming like Jesus (transformation) and trials and hardships are interpreted as disobedience and lack of faith. There is real danger in this because it is a distortion of the gospel. 

Now, hear me on this I am not saying that God doesn't want to bless us, I absolutely believe He does, He has and He will! I believe God is a good and generous Father who not only provides for His children, but also blesses and rewards them. What I am saying is that God has a couple higher priorities for us that will at times supersede Him blessing us materially and financially. 

As I have walked alongside people who hold to this distorted understanding of the Gospel, what I have witnessed is that when a trial or hardship comes their way, they almost immediate start thinking that they have done something wrong and will start repenting of every sin that they can think of and/or will oftentimes blame and condemn themselves for not having enough faith. Sound familiar?

But, when we begin to grasp that God has a couple higher priorities for us as His children, then when trials or hardships happen, we have a better understanding of what God might be doing in our lives. Maybe we haven't actually done anything wrong, but God has decided in these trials and hardships to either help us to transform more into the likeness of Jesus or He could be wanting to increase our faith and maturity. But the only way that we can even entertain these options is only if they are actually in our grid of the will of God for His people.  

To be continued....

Believing the Gospel is our Greatest Challenge (Judah Smith Sermon Jam)

Saving ourselves and setting ourselves free is a complete illusion and lie. Though we wish we had this kind of power, the reality is that we don't have this kind of power and we never will, apart from Jesus that is. 

"It's always been Jesus. It will always be Jesus. It will never stop being the power of Jesus. His blood is sufficient for your salvation. His blood is sufficient to sustain you through every challenge, through every sin and every temptation. Jesus is enough." 

If you call yourself a Christian, a Jesus follower, than we need to be continually checking ourselves in and when we are relying on ourselves, rather than in Jesus. 

"I got saved by grace, but now that I'm in this deep dark place of bondage I better work hard to get myself out. What? That's the opposite of the Gospel....There's no answer within yourself." 

"The greatest challenge is not your discipline, your devotion, your focus. Your greatest challenge is believing the Gospel." 

Hands down, the Gospel is the greatest news of all time, period. There has been and will never be any greater news, ever. Do you believe this? 

What I've come across time and time again is when we end up relying on ourselves in anyway, where we start thinking that our freedom, healing, deliverance, restoration, redemption, even salvation is dependent on something we need to do or on us working harder, than the Greatest News of all time will slowly becomes just OK News. The more we think it's about us, the less we allow the Good News to be Good News. 

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me, Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:29-30 (MSG) 

Is the Gospel the Greatest News ever or is it just OK News?  When talking to people about the Gospel, the response we should be hearing from people is "Wow! This is too good to be true" because when it comes to the Gospel, it is too good too be true because Jesus has done it all. 

"For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him." John 3:16-17 (NLT)

Simple Truths about the Gospel: "Punisher or Savior?"

For most of my early Christian life, something that has always bothered me was this idea that God the Father was punishing Jesus on the Cross. To be honest, it made me fearful of God in the sense that if He could do that to Jesus, what will He do to me? Ever have that thought?

Ever read Romans 8:32? This verse used to always rub me the wrong way. I mean if God could give up Jesus, then what chance did I have because who am I compared to Jesus? 

Romans 8:32 "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 

I read it (as I think most do) as God abandoning Jesus. But, I've begun to see this passage a bit differently. Something that I've come to understand during my time on this earth so far is that we live in a broken world with broken systems filled with internally broken people who are influenced by evil principalities and powers that are doing all they can to confuse us and blind us from knowing the true loving nature of God. And because of all these things, our understanding of the heart and character of God becomes distorted, so we end up seeing God wrongly and attributing actions to God which aren't really God at all.

What I have come to understand is that on the Cross, the Father never actually left Jesus because Scripture says that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself..." (2 Corinthians 5:19). Today, in my renewed thinking, what I've come to see is that the Father didn't abandon Jesus in anger, but with a sad and grieving heart "gave Jesus up/over" to the consequences of Sin which included at the time all the people who were being influenced by evil principalities and powers who were more then ready and eager to deliver unto Jesus the "wages of sin which is death" (Romans 6:23).

You may be thinking to yourself, "well, isn't that still abandoning someone?" Not if that was the plan all along. I don't believe the Father ever abandoned Jesus because before Jesus became a human being, the Godhead (Father, Son and Spirit) agreed upon the events of the Cross, that Jesus would become "Sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21) and "our Curse" (Galatians 3:13) and take the "punishment for Sin" (Romans 3:25). This means there could be no "so called" abandonment because this was the plan from the very beginning. You could I guess, if you are so inclined, call it a planned agreed upon abandonment. But, I believe that's a stretch because though the Father handed Jesus over, He was essentially still with Him.

1 Peter 1:19-20 "but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake."

To expand on this further, I would add that 1) Jesus went to the Cross of His own free will and 2) Jesus was/is equal to the Father. Though the terminology Father and Son does bring to mind specific images, the way that God the Father and Jesus the Son relate to one another is far far different than how we do in our earthly parent/child relationships because there is an equality and unity between them that is so perfect that even in our best and most brilliant moments have a hard time grasping.

To take this yet another step, I would even go so far as to say (as I alluded to earlier) that I don't believe it was the Father who was exacting out His anger and wrath upon Jesus. Because if that were the case then Jesus actually came to save us from God which is kind of messed up if you really think about it. This creates some pretty inconsistent thinking in terms of the character and unity of God. It also makes the Father as the Punisher and the Son as the Savior which at best creates a fragmented Godhead. 

Jesus wasn't saving us from the Father, but was saving us from Sin.

This is the Gospel. Sin is punishment enough. God knew this and it was His plan from the very beginning to save us from Sin (Genesis 3:15), period.

Something I've been hearing around these days is this "If you don't see it in the Son, don't call it the Father." What this statement is inferring is that in the person of Jesus Christ we find perfect theology about God, because as Hebrews 1:3-4 says:

"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs."

The Father and the Son are one (John 10:30) to the point that the Son only does what He sees the Father doing (John 5:19). So, if what we believe about God does not match up with the life and ministry of Jesus, then we need to question that belief and ask Holy Spirit to give us clearer revelation and breakthrough in our understanding.

One example would be to attribute sickness to God, now when I read the Gospels what I read is Jesus establishing His Kingdom by healing all sickness, yet if we attribute sickness as a vehicle that the Father uses in people's lives for whatever reason we end up with a fragmented Godhead where the Father is actually working against the Son? Do you see where I'm going with this?

Jesus never caused sickness, pain, suffering and death to people, He actually did the opposite and brought healing, comfort, relief, redemption, restoration and life to people. And remember, Jesus is only doing what He sees the Father doing. Is it clicking yet? More Holy Spirit.

It's Sin, Evil and the Enemies of God that are very eager, ready and able to mete out sickness, pain, suffering and death. This is the line in the sand so to speak that separates Good from Evil, Life from Death, God from Satan.

Along these same lines, I don't see how the Father could be the Punisher of Sin while Jesus is the Savior from Sin because Scripture says that they are always in perfect unity. This means that as One does, so the Other. So how could the Father be Punisher and Jesus Savior? No at the Cross we must accept that Father, Son and Spirit are unified as Savior. We must always understand that God has gone through great lengths to save us from Sin, not from Himself.

Something which has helped me along the way has been starting from the understanding that God is love (1 John 4:16). Love being a noun as in who God is, rather than a verb in which God does.

This means that everything that God does is from a place of love because God's very nature is love and He cannot do anything contrary to His nature.

Now of course God is much more than only Love, He has more attributes that make Him who He is, but I would argue that these attributes (Holy, Just, Good, Gracious and Merciful to name a few) all flow from His nature of Love. This means He isn't Just or Holy apart from Love, but His justice and holiness flows out of His Love. Dare I say that they are expressions of His Love. Where I think people get off track is when they compartmentalize the attributes of God, rather then seeing them deeply interconnected. But, most tragically when they see the attribute of Love as just one of the many, rather than seeing Love as the one in which all flow.

Are you tracking with me?

Without going into great detail here, there is this theological term called "progressive revelation" which is best described in Hebrews 1:1-2 "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds"

Wikipedia defines it as: 

Progressive revelation in Christianity is the concept that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God compared to the earlier sections. For instance, the theologian Charles Hodge wrote, "The progressive character of divine revelation is recognized in relation to all the great doctrines of the Bible... What at first is only obscurely intimated is gradually unfolded in subsequent parts of the sacred volume, until the truth is revealed in its fullness."^[1] The ultimate revelation of God is understood to be found in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Gospels. For example, the New Testament is to be used to better understand and interpret the Old Testament. 

What this means for us is that when we read through the Old Testament what we need to accept is that God was progressively revealing Himself to His people. Which means that what we may read at times may not be the clearest picture or portrait of God. What this also means is that Jesus Christ is the clearest and greatest revelation of God and so we must use His life and ministry as the filter in which we read the Bible. This means His whole life from His birth to His ministry to His passion that lead Him to His death to His resurrection and His ascension and then ultimately to His return.

So, back to the beginning of this post, my misunderstanding of the heart and character of God led to the sowing of an unbiblical seed of fearing God into my heart. And with it came a religious spirit who poked and prodded this fear whispering to me, "You'd better watch out, God is just waiting to get you." And so this unbiblical fear grew in power and influence and I became a dutiful Christian. Trying my best to do everything a Christian was supposed to do (read the bible, go to church, pray, serve in church, etc). Don't get me wrong I believe I was still genuine in most of what I was doing, but inwardly I had this lurking distorted lie about the heart and character of God. 

You may be thinking to yourself, yeah so what, don't we all have distorted views about God? This maybe true, but it doesn't make these distortions harmless. On the contrary, I would argue that it is probably these distorted lies that are hindering our faith from growing and stunting the growth of our relationship with God because in a very real sense these beliefs influence how we approach and interact (or don't interact) with God. What I've come to understand is that these lies (including this one) make our relationship with the Father shaky and unstable. But, in all of this I believe the most dangerous place to be is in a place of blindness where we are oblivious and unaware of the distorted views and lies that we hold. 

To be fair to myself, I was pretty messed up and broken when I came to the Lord (see a short video of my testimony). So, this unbiblical fear of God only added more fuel to my already intact inferiority complex. Ever feel like that, when someone in authority contacts you, and you immediately think to yourself "uh oh, what have I done wrong?" There is freedom from this. Come Holy Spirit! 

For a long time, deep within my heart I just couldn't shake this underlying sense that I was always some how in trouble with God. There was always this underlying insecurity that never allowed me to feel fully secure in God's love for me. So, I become more and more religious (following God out of the fear of being punished). Again, don't get me wrong I still loved God very much, the problem was not giving God love, but receiving His love. So, our relationship was more like a master/slave type, rather than a healthy father/child one. 

Now, Jesus does tell us that we shouldn't fear man who can only kill our body, but not our soul. Rather, we should only fear God, who can kill both body and soul (Matthew 10:28). Now I believe Jesus is not saying that we need to be in fear of God killing us (which I don't believe He ever would, I know there are passage in the Old Testament that may describe this, but I believe there maybe something else happening there... I will probably end up writing a much longer post on this).

Rather, He is pointing out that God and not Man is ultimately in control over what happens to His disciples. This is His point. He is helping His disciples see that when they are on mission for Him, we will come up against resistance, opposition and hostility. But, we need not fear because God loves us and values us which is why He says a couple verses later "...the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrow" (Matthew 10:31). 

We mustn't allow our brokenness define who God is, rather we must allow the Word of God to do that, and I would add that we must do our very best while asking Holy Spirit to help us grow in greater clarity on the heart and character of God. And when we come across Scripture that is in contradiction with the revelation we have in Jesus Christ, then we need to all the more press into the Holy Spirit and ask Him to bring the clarity and revelation we need.

Here are some foundational Truths that we must believe first and foremost about God:

• that He is good (Mark 10:18)
• that He is love (1 John 4:16)
• that He is for us and not against us (Romans 8:31)
• that He has a good and perfect plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11)
• that He is a good Father who waits for us to return home (Luke 15:10)
• that He is not like any earthly Father (Matthew 7:11; Luke 11:13) 
• that we are safe within His almighty Hands (John 10:28-30).

These are the Truths that the foundation of our faith must rest in and be built on. So when we get tossed about in the storms of life, we must cling to these Truths or we run the risk of any distorted lie or view of God that we hold causing more turbulence, even shipwrecking our faith which is what I believe is the goal and purpose of all lies.

When things don't make sense, I believe we must always start from these Truths about God and work from there. These Truths are like the anchor that will keep us steady in the storm. 

I will pause here. I think I've given you a lot to think about. But know this, you are deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply loved by God. His is our Savior and never our Punisher. Sin, Evil and the Enemies of God already have that covered.

Be Encouraged! Embrace the Truth of the Gospel and Stand Free! 

Simple Truths about the Gospel: "The way to the Father is open"

Something that I've been reflecting on lately has been, looking to see what Scripture means for God in His relation to people. Christians are very good at understanding Scripture in what is means for us in relation to God which is right and good. But, what has really brought me even greater breakthrough and understanding has been the former, in understanding God's perspective towards people in light of Jesus' death and resurrection. At first glance, they may seem the same, but in reality are actually two different sides of the same coin. Gaining an understanding of both sides will truly help bring even greater clarity and understanding of what it means to be in relationship with God.

As a qualifying statement before I get into this blog today, I want to say that I am still in process, ever growing in greater revelation of the Gospel and Christ. These are my thoughts and rumblings as I engage with Holy Spirit and the Word of God. But hear my heart, my starting point in all of this is Christ. He is the ultimate revelation of God and my conviction is that we must look to Him first and allow His life and ministry to be the lens we use when reading Scripture because He is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3).

Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

I used to only understand this verse from the perspective of man looking up towards God, meaning we now have access to God through Christ's sacrifice on a Cross for sin which I still think is right and true. But, on the flip side, this also means that from God's perspective: Right now God the Father is actually looking to the earth and what He sees is Christ's sacrifice for sin and is calling people home.

Understanding God's current perspective brings another dimension to our understanding of the Cross and has some important implications which I will expand on.

Now, what started me down this path was a Holy Spirit inspired revelation to simply ask a couple questions (because questions are always good, but asking the right questions in the right moment/season is crucial): 

• When did Christ actually die for sin? 
• Did Jesus actually die for all sin, for all time?

These simply questions have helped me to begin to see this verse and others from God's perspective because if Jesus paid the price for all sin, for all time 2000 years ago, this means that the sin barrier that blocked the way to the Father was opened and unblocked the day Christ died. I think this is the significance of the veil in the Temple that blocked the way into the Holy of Holies which represented the place where God's Presence dwelt was torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:50-51). 

This means that since this time way back when, from God's perspective there has been no barrier between Him and Man. 

Pause and think about that for a moment. Come Holy Spirit!

Yes, we all still need to put our faith and trust in believing the Gospel because this reality is not automatically imparted to us. This only happens through believing in the Truth. And rather than the traditional understanding, that when we believe in Jesus the gates of Heaven are opened for us to enter; what I am starting to see is that from God's perspective, after Jesus became sin on the Cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), He died, was resurrected and then ascended into Heaven. In so doing He has opened up the gates to Heaven and has since left these gates open. Are you tracking with me? The way to the Father is open. 

If this is true, than the ramifications of this are huge because this means that since Christ's sacrifice (for roughly the last 2000 years) God has stopped being the "so called" Punisher of Sin because all of God's wrath towards Sin has been propitiated or atoned for. Let me pause here and give you a little food for thought. There is a line of thinking that actually relates the wrath of God to the built in consequences of sin (kind of like reaping and sowing) in which God allows to happen (some may call this the passive wrath of God), rather than a direct emotional response from God Himself. Hmm, interesting thought eh?

1 John 4:10 "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (NKJV). 

I would also add here that the wrath of God was never directed towards Christ Himself, but only at Sin, in which Jesus became (2 Corinthians 5:21). This again changes our understanding of the goodness of God. On the Cross, the Father was not punishing the Son, but rather Sin alone. Maybe He was even allowing the built in consequences of Sin to happen where He redemptively withdrew and in so doing opened the way for evil and the Enemies of God to mete out their punishment because the "wages of Sin is death" (Romans 6:23). 

2 Corinthians 5:21 "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."

I mean think about, if you believe that God is still punishing people for sin, than what you are implying is that God is both Punisher and Savior. It's like me punishing my daughter Seraphina, so that she would cry out to me to save her. That's kind of twisted, a whole lot manipulative and quite frankly not a very good father. No, God the Father can genuinely call and invite people to Himself because He was never the "so called" Punisher of Sin, but is and has always been our Savior from Sin, who is continually showing us love, grace and mercy, especially if and when we do sin. I will probably also blog on this because it is quite the dichotomy: is God the Punisher of Sin or our Savior from Sin? Can He be both? 

What we need to understand is that there is enough sin and evil running rampant in the world to bring about more than enough pain, suffering, sickness and punishment to people. We must fully believe that God is the author of life and not death; and that we can have complete confidence in the Truth that the death and resurrection of Jesus has fully paid the price for all sin, for all time and that His sacrifice is enough, and we don't need to go on paying for the price of sin with our lives. Is God our Savior or not? Sometimes, is not good enough. He either is or He isn't.

On the Cross Jesus said "it was finished" (John 19:30) and quite frankly I believe Him! Jesus is our Savior always and forever.

Be Encouraged! Embrace the Truth of the Gospel and Stand Free! You are deeply, deeply loved by God.