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! 

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.

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! 

Leeland: Where You are (acoustic)

Do you have a song you go to because it resonates so deeply within you? This is that song for me. The words are the cry of my heart to Jesus. I hope you enjoy it as much as I always do!

I can't get enough 

No  I can't get enough 

Of Your amazing love

I can't get enough 

I can't walk away 

No I can't walk away 

From where I've seen Your face

And I can't walk away 

And I just wanna be where You are

I just wanna be near Your heart 

There is nothing like Your love

Jesus, there is nothing like Your love

Jesus I love You...

And all Your children singing

Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy 

Jesus I love You

Jesus I love You

Simple Truths about the Gospel: "Joined to the Lord"

I've decided to spend some time talking about the Gospel. I've recently had some revolutionary revelations about the simplicity of the Gospel and want to share what I believe the Holy Spirit has revealed to me with you. 

With each blog post, I will start with a Scripture and then expand on it.  Not too long, I will try my best to be short and concise. My aim is to speak the truth in love and then allow the Holy Spirit to confirm within you the things I am saying.

1 Corinthians 6:17 "But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him."

When a person becomes a born again Christian, they have 1) believed that Jesus has paid the price for all sin with His very life, 2) have surrendered the control of their life to Him, and 3) received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit supernaturally transforming them into a new creation in Christ. It is in this moment that they are welcomed back into God's family as a once lost but now found beloved son or daughter of God. 

As the verse states, they become "joined to the Lord" in the most intimate of ways by becoming "one spirit with him." This means there is no longer any gap between a Christian and God. They have in fact become one. Just pause here a moment and meditate on this amazing truth. If, you are a Christian you must believe that there is no separation between you and God now. This is really, really Good News. 

I've felt the need to emphasize this Gospel Truth because this Truth should describe and define our reality, and not our current experience. Trust me I have been there and done that when it comes to sinning and then feeling the shame or guilt and then feeling distant or separate from God. But, this goes directly against what this verse says. You see, our feelings of separation are just that "our feelings." But we mustn't allow our feelings to supersede this Truth. 

Why I believe this is such an important Gospel reality is because this means you are never ever alone, but are always, always in the Presence of God, period. You no longer need to cry out to God to come near you or beg God to love you. God loves you and has already come near you.

And there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God in Christ (read Romans 8:31-39). Practically speaking this means there is nothing you could ever do to cause God's presence to leave you because you are "joined to Him, you are one spirit with Him."

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

Home Again (an original poem)

The day breaks with a clap of thunder and a peel of lightning

the chirping of birds goes silent in the ominous darkness.

Sunshine breaks through these thunderheads of autumn

cascading rays shine, warming the cool damp earth.

A flood of emotion overwhelms me to my knees

bringing Your Spirit back home after so long a time away.

The wisdom of another world gets cataloged in the vault of my mind

making my heart shed long awaited tears of joy.

Within this new awakening, Your Presence finally reaches my soul.

I stand shivering, elated from the warmth of Your touch.

Gently Your warm affirmations soothe my spirit, helping me
trudge through the memories of my life's most dreariest of events.

All of my triumphs and hardships are brought to Your doorstep

You see into my dark heart and cast aside the longing.

Welcoming and lovingly You open my heart to my mind

letting them commune with one another after so long a time apart.

At peace and in the folds of infinite oneness

Your promised gift to me I will cherish in my heart of hearts.

With love and affection I now walk among the many

sharing what I have been given to all who have yet to become.

How to Recognize Witchcraft in the Church (Charismatic Witchcraft)

Wiccan symbol over a cross

When you hear the word witchcraft, many of us may think of green skinned women wearing black hats riding on broomsticks or people who wave magic wands, cast spells, make potions and have special powers. Almost every year, Hollywood releases some movie about witchcraft or magic or some other inexplicable event that connects with some invisible/spiritual realm. 

When I was travelling in Tanzania, I came across witch doctors who had some special token or amulet that people could buy and wear for whatever ailed them. When I was in Taiwan, I saw my fair share of fortune tellers and palm readers who claimed to be able to foresee the future for a small fee of course. All across America and Europe (and many other countries) there are New Age shops where you can buy crystals and talismans or pay for a psychic reading. All of these have the same root in common and that is control. 

Witchcraft is about control where people seek to control anything and everything through rituals and formulas to achieve personal desires. Why do people seek after control? It is usually out of fear and anxiety. These are the main motivators when it comes to witchcraft. People typically go see a witch doctor, shaman, fortune teller, psychic out of fear and the desire to gain control of what is happening around them, be it people or spirits, because they think "If I can somehow get in control of whatever is causing me anxiety and fear, than I will be safe and secure."  

Derek Prince says, "When the human race turned from God in rebellion, the power that moved in was witchcraft. Different people groups practice distinctive forms of witchcraft..."  

Whenever any religious activity seeks to control other people, the influence of witchcraft is probably at work. A term that has been coined recently is Charismatic Witchcraft which has different aspects to it (maybe, I will write another post on this, maybe but I wouldn't hold your breathe). But, I will only highlight one marker here, the misuse of the Name of Jesus in an almost magical way. Jesus addresses this in Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV). 

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 

Wow! Those are some intense words from Jesus. But, what I want to highlight here is that 1) Jesus states that He does not know them, meaning they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and I would question if they are even saved. 2) Even still, they are in fact performing supernatural works in Jesus' name. 3) Jesus calls them "evildoers" another translation says "workers of lawlessness" (ESV). And lastly, 4) regardless of who is using the Name of Jesus, It is powerful, period. Whoa! What an eye opener. 

After you get over your shock (it may take a few seconds). Here's a teaching by John Eckhardt on recognizing when there is excessive control in a church and if witchcraft is in operation. 

Whoa. Pretty intense stuff. To highlight a few points, the source of witchcraft can come from the flesh, but can also be demonic in origin. There are three main characteristics of witchcraft control: 1) domination, 2) manipulation and 3) intimidation.  

1. Domination: Ruling over others through excessive pressure and power. It is about controlling people or circumstances through loud outburst of anger and frustration and threats and ultimatums.  
2. Manipulation: The misuse of a position or the use of emotional means to get their way. It is about controlling people or circumstances through indirect, unfair, or deceptive means to gain the advantage over others.   
3. Intimidation: The abuse of authority in making people feel small or insignificant, causing them to feel condemned or shamed if they don't agree with or go along with their plans. It is about controlling people or circumstances through the use of fear tactics with the motive of scaring others to bend to their will.

If you are currently or have been in the past under leadership or been part of an organization that had a culture involving these 3 characteristics. I pray healing and freedom over you right now. I pray the blood of Jesus to cleanse you and I command every demonic spirit connected to witchcraft to leave you right now. I speak grace, goodness, love and blessing over you all in the mighty Name of Jesus. May the love, truth and power of God set you free! 

Adopted: Freedom from a faulty theology of God's love

As a Christian, one of the most important things to truly understand and fully embrace is the truth that through Jesus Christ, a person becomes adopted into the family of God where God becomes their Father. In the past year, as I have been raising my daughter Seraphina, God has been bringing me revelation after revelation of His Father's heart for His children. It's been an amazing time! What I've come to realize is that certain relationships will bring a greater depth of understanding and experience of differing dimensions and aspects of God's heart more so than others which then better help draw certain things out of and put certain things into a person's heart. 

For me personally, I've sang worship songs, heard sermons on, and studied personally the Word of God in what it says about God being our Father, but it has been through personally having a child and becoming a father to her that the reality of some of things I've sang, heard and studied have in a sense come more alive and real to me through my relationship with my daughter. Even more so, the Holy Spirit has brought even greater depth and timely revelation of the Father's heart to me about how He loves and cares for me. 

One of these revelations happened in a moment when I had a completely free day with nothing planned and no responsibilities that needed my immediate attention. So, my wife went to the gym and I spent the next few hours with my daughter. It was in this unhurried time with her where I wasn't looking at my watch or thinking about what I needed to do that day or hurrying my time with her because I was trying to squeeze in time with her. No, I was fully present with her and was enjoying the time with her when the Lord spoke to me through the thoughts in my mind and I heard, "This is how I am with you, I am never in a hurry with you. I enjoy spending time with you and am always fully present with you." My heart soaked in this revelation like a thirsty dry sponge which has helped to soften my heart and bring greater healing to me while further reprioritizing my heart to mirror God's heart.

Then, building upon that revelation, the Lord began to remind me that it is through my example of a father to my daughter that will influence and shape how she will one day see Him as Father. It's funny, I know this. I've heard testimony after testimony. I've counseled and ministered to countless people who have had fathers who have been poor examples, neglectful examples, even abusive examples of what a father should be and how this has created walls and barriers within them in seeing God as a good and loving heavenly Father. Yet, it was in these moments that the reality of this truth found good soil and sunk deeper into my heart. 

This is a heavy responsibility, but the Holy Spirit continually reminds me that I am not in this alone, that each day He faithfully guides, leads, corrects and comforts me as He places His strength into my weakness and heals and redeems the broken areas within me. This is the one of the many great blessings of being an adopted child of God, the gift of the Spirit. The other is that it gave God great pleasure to do so.

"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, 'Abba, Father.' For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children." (Romans 8:15-16 NLT)

"God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure." (Ephesians 1:5 NLT)

Wow! Such an amazing verse, "it gave him great pleasure." Let these verses marinate in your soul. Engage and meditate on them by asking the Holy Spirit to show you the truth of these verses. And wherever you're at in this journey with God, know that you truly and genuinely give Him great pleasure. If you don't know Jesus yet, I encourage you to spend some time seeking to know this kind of love and pleasure that God has towards you. Just know that at times it can be challenging and painful as He begins the process of removing the barriers that have been built up within you, but it is so that He can bring the revelation of the love we all crave so much and the healing we all desperately need. I guarantee that if He is real (which I know He is), He will reveal Himself to you and do this amazing good work within you. 

This is my prayer for you: "That the God of the universe would draw near to you and purposely intervene in your life in showing you His love for you and His destiny for your life. I pray the grace of God would begin to cover the many areas in your heart where a father has fallen short in loving you the way you needed and begin to bring the healing you need to help you to see in greater and greater depth God as a good, loving and caring heavenly Father. In Jesus Name, Amen" 

Abba Father

Lately I have been pressing into a greater understanding and experience of Father God's love. Recently, I've come across a helpful quote from Henri Nouwen in his devotional book "Bread for the Journey" that is helpful in describing the meaning of the word "Abba" and how we should approach our "Abba," in Heaven. He says,  

"The Spirit reveals to us not only that God is "Abba, Father" but also that we belong to God as beloved children. The Spirit thus restores in us the relationship from which all other relationships derive their meaning. Abba is a very intimate word. The best translation for it is "Daddy." The word Abba expresses trust, safety, confidence, belonging, and most of all, intimacy. It does not have the connotation of authority, power, and control that the word Father often evokes. On the contrary, Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love. This love that includes and infinitely transcends all the love that comes to us from our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, friends, and lovers. It is the gift of the Spirit." (emphasis mine) 

In reading this, I hope and pray the Spirit of God would open your heart and mind to a fresh understanding of the Father's love for you as Your Heavenly Daddy and that you would encounter and experience Him in deeper and more intimate ways. I've always been drawn to and often do soaking prayer to the song "Abba" by Jonathan David Helser. Here is a version that I feel God has anointed for your enjoyment.  

Soaking Prayer: Leaning into and Resting in God's Presence

The end of the year can be a very busy season which is why it is also a perfect time to intentionally and actively lean into and rest in God's presence. Something that I have practiced over the years has been soaking prayer. Soaking prayer falls into the category of Christian mysticism and focuses on the manifest experience of union with Christ. Soaking prayer is simply positioning oneself to behold the beauty and majesty of Christ and be loved by Him. It is not uncommon for a person to receive visions & revelations and encounters & breakthroughs while soaking in God's presence. Soaking prayer makes room for God to move and bring deeper transformation to us. 

"Because God's presence is always with us, He is the answer to the spiritual warfare we face. The peace of having Him overshadow our lives gives us a powerful weapon. Many times in Israel's history, God told the people to do unconventional things: sing, march, shout, wait. "you don't need to fight," He whispered to them "because this isn't about you, it's about Me. I'm not asking you to strive and pull down things, I'm asking you to make room for Me too act." (Graham Cooke, "Beholding and Becoming" p.16). 

Soaking prayer also involves actively embracing the rest Jesus offers to a person. "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30 NIV). 

• Resting is the act of quietly and confidently allowing yourself to be in the presence of God. Resting is the absence of work, worry, fear, even performance. Resting empowers us to learn from Jesus in how to be with God. Rest is a gift from Jesus to us.

• Soaking in God's presence is one way we can learn to entering into God's rest. When we soak in God's presence we learn to switch off our souls and allow our spirit to be attentive to God. Resting helps us become more aware of His love, care and purposes for us. 

• When we learn to rest in God, we learn how to receive and respond to who God is for us. Resting removes both the inward and outward pressures we feel and opens us up to the person of Jesus. In a place of rest our heart, our inner man, becomes accessible to God. It is in rest that we receive ministry from the Holy Spirit. 

• Rest is a form of freedom from work, from human striving and acquisitiveness and from worldly preoccupations. It is the relinquishing of human self-assertion and an embracing of greater trust in God. The willingness to rest is a sign of peace and faith in God because rest is a form of letting go of human control. 

Hebrews 4:9-11 (NLT) " So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall."

• This means we must make the time to actively enter into the rest God has already allocated to us. The best image I can think of in terms of soaking prayer is that of laying on the sandy shores of an ocean and letting the waves continually and consistently wash over you again and again. So when soaking, it is best to physically lay down while listening to various worship songs and allowing the love and presence of God to wash over you like ocean waves. 

• This can mean meditating on the Word of God and allowing the biblical truths about God Himself and His Kingdom shape and define us in deep and significant ways. This can include listening to the names of God being recited over and over again, letting them wash over you until the truths about who God is sink into and shape your heart and mind towards God.

• This can mean listening to worship music that focuses on the love and peace of God over and over again, allowing the Spirit of God to manifest and release His rest upon your heart and soul until you open up wide to receive the flow of God's love and peace into the deepest parts of your being.

• This can mean listening to prophetic words and songs that help to position your soul to receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit in searching out any dark and lonely places that need the light and gentle touch of God's presence.

If you have never experienced soaking prayer, give yourself time to learn to rest and receive from the Lord. Oftentimes, it takes time for us to learn to slow down from the busyness of life and allow the Spirit of God to declutter our minds and unburden our hearts. Here are a few links to some songs that I myself enjoy during my times of soaking prayer and that also help me to lean into and rest in the presence of God. 

What is good biblical leadership?

What is good biblical leadership? This is a question I've been asking myself lately. Oftentimes, I see Christian leaders referencing books that spiritualise worldly business structures, systems or strategy techniques or books about changing behaviours by forming better habits. Occasionally, I'll see books that focus on inward motivations or deeper character concerns, but these seem to be less emphasized. My conclusion is that people are more interested in how they can act like an leader, rather than actually becoming a leader which on the surface may look very similar (at times) but in reality are quite far apart from each other. I am saddened by Christian leaders who only focus on outward actions, behaviours and appearances but lack true inward Christlikeness. 

A question I've been asking myself lately is this: "If Jesus were in my position or in my circumstance or speaking with the person I am talking with at any given moment, what would He be feeling in His heart and how would this influence Him in both His words and actions?"

Too often, what I see lacking in Christian leadership is the failure to reflect the heart of God or reflecting a distorted understanding of God's heart. What I have witnessed in churches and what seemed to be emphasized more is being an effective skilled leader, rather than a compassionate good shepherd. This means driving and mobilizing people, supersedes caring for their heart and inner life. Most Christian leaders would rather motivate people into doing things for God, rather than inspiring them towards intimacy with God. Now hear me on this, I am not against people serving God, but my concern is for people serving with distorted motivations or out a religious spirit where they are trying to earn favor from God, rather than out of love and devotion towards God with the understanding that they already have everything from God. No need to earn.

If you sit under a leader long enough, you will begin to see their inner motivations. This is a given. No leader can hide their true intentions from those following them for very long and a good biblical leader will embody humility and an openness and transparency about their life. In my journey of what I've learned and reflected on in my life so far in sitting under various leaders has been: "If a Christian leader is not driven by love for God and love for people, the only thing left is their ambition." Here is a good sermon on this by J.R. Vassar. I love this video because it goes right to the heart of the matter. 

I hope you take to heart the main points from the video that, 1) Jesus is primarily concerned about our love for Him, and not our usefulness to Him and 2) Jesus is concerned about our love for His people, and not their usefulness to us. All that we do needs to be rooted in love and we need to be actively checking our hearts and asking the Holy Spirit to be continually checking our hearts for any and all loveless (selfish and sinful) motivations. And when we find or are confronted with these, repenting and crying out for more of God's love to fill us (Romans 5:5) and fuel us (1 John 4:19).  

Here are a list of books that have helped me (and hopefully will help you) to focus more on leading from a place of love, humility and dependency upon Jesus with the understanding that we can't do anything of any eternal value in His Kingdom without Him going with, even before us. These books don't try to cover up our weaknesses and limitations, but rather show the better way of inviting Jesus into these and allowing Him to transform and empower us from the inside out as we learn to continually abide in Him. These books will inspire and challenge you to become the lovingly humble and compassionate good shepherd leader that Jesus was and is.

• "The Selfless Way of Christ: Downward Mobility and the Spirit Life" by Henri Nouwen
• "The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society" by Henri Nouwen
• "The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life will Deepen Your Church, Team and the World" by Peter Scazzero 
• "Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness" by Eugene Peterson
• "Leading with a Limp: Turning Your Struggles into Strengths" by Dan Allender