Isaiah 60

We wait. and we wait. Our lives turn into waiting games.

How long will it take us to realize what is in us? If you have the Spirit of God indwelling, this is the question of your life. Could it be that we’ve missed out on the most important part of our Christian life? The reason God in the flesh could say he was leaving and sending the Holy Spirit, and that with great joy, was because Jesus knew the Glory that was to be revealed in the saints through their understanding of what was in them.

If only we knew the hope of glory that resides in us. The exceedingly great reward. The wisdom of God and the direct fellowship with his son Jesus. But we say, “that’s not for me”, or we say “I’m just not in that place with God.” But Paul would beg to differ.

God had given Paul a secret. and also a key to unlocking that secret. Only through knowing Christ Jesus was that secret unlocked, and he expressed it by saying:

“I have become [Christ's] servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” – paul (Colossians 1)

Is it not mind numbing that God’s wisdom is to put Christ in us? Think about it. Jesus is a man. Constrained by a body, which he is still in, by the way. Jesus did not turn into a heavenly amoeba when he ascended, he is still Jesus Christ in a resurrected body, living forever at the right hand of God, interceding for us, in a real body. But just as he entered heaven so as to commune forever with the Godhead, he sent the fullness of his Spirit to inhabit our mortal bodies, in order “that [our] love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God.”

In other words, that we might commune fully with him. And be fully filled by him. Moreover, knowing the Spirit is the only gateway to understanding revelation from the Spirit, as 1 Corinthians 2:14 states, Paul saying:
“The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

There is a deep expectation of us that we would be a spiritually discerning people, yet it does not seem the case. It seems more that people are confused about everything, and are being battered around their theological helm by every wave of new teaching. Do we know the Spirit?

God is looking for a people who will commit to knowing the greatness that lives within them, that is, the Spirit of God. He is looking for a people who will rise up due to a quickened understanding of what “Christ in me” means. He is looking for the fellowship of those who will devote themselves to prayer and fasting, and “acknowledging the Lord in all their ways,” becoming a people who know God.

I can almost guarantee you that any resurrected saint in Christ (in heaven) would presently say, “Compared to what I now know of His glory residing within me, I would have given so much more, endured so much more, and preached his Kingdom with greater fury had I sought Him out then.”

I say this concerning us, because the Lord says this to us:
“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.”

Our light has already come. And he has now given us the Spirit, to know, to cherish, to honor, to obey, to live by, and to die by. Do you know the Spirit? His desires, his unction, his power, his peace, and his great love?

Oh, that we would know the Spirit! Let us devote ourselves to this great undertaking. Come Holy Spirit.

Psalm 89

I have been sitting on this verse I am about to share with you for about 2 or 3 months, and it continually begs the question, “What if I lived my life like that?” The particular passage is verses 15 and 16, but that cannot be absorbed properly without first reading verse 14.  It says,

“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord.  They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness.“

Verse 14 sets the stage for verses 15 and 16 for the level of living which we are called to.  This is important, because without a foundation of the Father going before us in his character of righteousness and justice, we are so apt to forget the level of grace God gives us to live like Jesus did.  The character of God that we are called to live in, he gives it to us; it goes before himself.  Is it not striking to see that the traits which go before him are love (for the Father) and faithfulness (which is a fruit of love and entails obedience), and those two character traits of God are essential to our character for living like Jesus did?  

So with a preface of God’s character going before him to prepare the way for us, he calls us into this: to acclaim Him, to walk in the light of His presence, to rejoice in His name all day long, and to exult in his righteousness.  I would like to propose this is the way to live a life full of the presence of God.  

To acclaim is “to praise publicly and enthusiastically,” which must become the cry of our hearts through our relationship with Jesus.  This is important because the way of the Kingdom is true fellowship with others through acclaiming what God is doing and how he is teaching us.  By not acclaiming the Lord daily to our friends and ourselves, we are predisposed to fall into the human condition of not remembering God’s faithfulness.  This is what happens with many of us, and the enemy can take us into more unbelief, much like the seed planted on the path, which Satan snaps up with just one lie.  The importance of learning to acclaim God daily (at least) is the essence of a relationship with the Father.  If you’re in a great relationship with your wife or girlfriend, you brag on her and talk about her with everyone you know!  The very substance of relationship with God is bragging on Him.  I feel that much of the time, God’s love for us goes unrequited- but He longs for the impassioned worshipper who will catch every moment that God blesses and return it as praise.  When we enthrone God on our praises relentlessly, he delights in us. When we reach heaven we should want to have said of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have spent your life enthroning me; and now I will enthrone you.”  This is the life of someone who acclaims God.

To walk in the light of his presence is to rest in the fact that we have Christ in us, the hope of glory.  His presence is always with us.  Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor abandon you”- and that promise extends to his Holy Spirit inside us every moment of every day. Many people can believe this in their mind, but never let their heart digest it. If we can clasp onto this promise and bring it before God in the secret place, much of our unbelief will break off like new skin shedding scabs.  Also, walking in the light of his presence requires completely yielding yourself to God’s plans.  The nature of His light illuminates all lies and agendas that we might bring with us when we want to walk in the presence of God.  If we desire to walk with Him, his light will illuminate what must be left behind to pursue Him, because walking in the light of His presence allows us to fully commune with God.

Rejoicing in his name all day long constitutes unceasing praise.  You may have felt a day or a season where almost every moment you brought praise to God for his goodness and love.  David was a man who lived in unceasing praise.  His example before the city in 2 Samuel 6 alarmed people, because they had never seen what it meant to life a life of unceasing praise.  He danced before the whole city in his boxers in full defiance of the lifeless worship which was performed for God in his temple.  To life a live of unabating worship is the only thing Jesus ever asked for. 

To exult in His righteousness means to show elation and joy at God’s character, which is righteousness.  Isn’t it incredible that we partner with a God whose character does not allow for evil to be in his presence?  He cannot partner with evil, for that would nullify his righteousness.  For light expels all darkness, and the two cannot exist together.  God’s righteousness is the basis for our praise, because from His righteousness comes His love, peace, and joy inexpressible.  Exulting in God’s righteousness allows us to partner with God in submission, which is the place of rest.  When we know God is fully for our good, even if the immediate work causes trials, we can sit on his righteousness and yell adamantly that our God is our dwelling place, our everlasting to everlasting, and that he will never leave us.

May you acclaim God, walk in the light of God’s presence in your life, rejoice in his name incessantly, and exult in our God who never fails or forsakes us.

Rest and…Stop. Just Rest.

Are you ever so euphoric in the Lord that you just want to sit in His presence a little longer?  I must tell you, if this is your current disposition, be glad, because that is what you were made for.  You were made for happiness and joy.  Although our lives are filled with anxiety, nervousness, and tension; the Lord’s heart for you is that you would reside in His rest.  The Word of God says, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).  Striving never brought anyone closer to the Lord, it only amplified the need for us to rest.

Jesus said himself that the goal of our lives was to enter his rest (Heb. 4:5), and by entering now, we allow our anxiety and nervousness to fall away.  This is the key to living a life full of focus on the Father.  The endeavor of knowing the Lord doesn’t begin or progress by human effort.  To grasp the reality that our strivings cannot bring us any closer to Jesus is true wisdom. When we learn to quiet our hearts before the Lord, that is, all our doubts and disbelief, we can learn to seek the Lord’s heart and his character without striving.  The Kingdom of Jesus is founded upon grace, and we must let Him give it to us.

In Ecclesiastes 2:22, Solomon writes that all his striving was unfounded and “a chasing after the wind.”  In our time of living with God, we can’t accelerate in this Kingdom any faster than God wants us to.  The purpose of life is to be with the Lord and find his grace in new ways.  Trying to move to the next “season” with God before you have acquired what He wants you to is valueless. That mentality will always leave you wanting.  Embrace what God is teaching you.  Many times it will be painful, but if the roots of attachment to this world aren’t removed, there can’t be a foundation for growth.

An overarching principle of the Kingdom is rest-through everything.  The rest doesn’t always physically feel “restful,” but it can.  It is where your heart’s state is joyful in the Lord, even in the midst of tribulation and depravity.  Rest does not equate with laziness or flippancy, but a calculated positioning of the heart to receive what God has to offer.  In this sense, rest is the ultimate focus.  In this rest, you will find what your heart longs for. 

Come, all you weary and heavy-burdened; He longs to give you rest.

The Mystery of All the Ages

Our struggle these days is to find something real, something that satisfies, and the reality that it will last.  We try and find our security in relationships, social standings, self-righteousness, and in all realms of self-satisfaction.  But this very end that we seek is nowhere to be found.  There is nothing on this earth that quenches our yearning.  Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has set eternity in the hearts of men, so as long as we aim to please that which is eternal with the temporal, our hearts will always be in a state of restlessness and frustration.  So our hearts long for something real; a God bigger than ourselves, yet tangible.

And this is what God says.  The mystery of all the ages is Christ in you, the hope of Glory (Col. 1:27).  Previously, God had resided in the most holy place in Solomon’s Temple.  His actual presence lived there and when the high priest would enter, he would with caution, because gazing upon the glory of the Lord would kill you.  Christ in you deviates from the past because when Jesus ascended and sent the Spirit of Truth, it invaded the bodies of every believer and continues to do so to this day.  We now have access to the eternally satisfying and tangible presence of God in our lives.  We are no longer controlled by the principalities of this world that say we must strive to be fulfilled.  The beauty of the Lord’s Spirit is in rest;  Romans says the Spirit of the Lord is our peace and rest.  There is no striving with the Father.  The more released and departed from the ways of this world, the more he can trust you with the things not of this world.  

This mystery, which is freely given and revealed, only asks that you surrender your life.  When you do, you’ll find that you truly have life to the full.

Be blessed.

Rejoicing in Living Simply

Life is so good, yet we as humans always try to complicate and turn a simplistic masterpiece into a multi-faceted and involved process.  This shouldn’t be.  The beauty of God’s presence is that it is always there; the Father resides with us through his Holy Spirit at all times, yet we are always so caught up in “experiencing the presence” that it strangles the very thing which we seek. Our zeal for whatever it is that we seek of the kingdom sometimes obstructs the very thing which we seek. 

One time, I saw a kid who really wanted this signed autograph of a baseball player.  He was so focused on getting his ball signed and getting his pen ready and getting his ball clean (by rubbing the surface fervently) that the shortstop walked right by him and he had no idea.  For a split second, the kid looks up and sees that his favorite ball player just passed by his eyes.

In the same way, we passionately seek the Lord with such zeal that we sometimes miss that the Lord is doing something right in front of us.  Our perception of what God does is not always his action.  Jesus said that the Father’s ways are not ours, and furthermore that they are higher than ours.  We must seek the Lord out of a zeal to see his heart, not what we want to see.  When we see his heart, and our hearts become renewed to an acute understanding of his Spirit, and only then can we recognize when God is teaching, blessing, and admonishing us.  

Simply, our pursuit should be simple.  There’s no reason to jump at the “cool new way” to seek Jesus.  For thousands of years, people have sought the Lord out of the most simple means possible; non-educated, illiterate, bratty children living in slums have had incredibly powerful and convicting experiences with the Lord.  Simplicity.  It’s beautiful.  It’s so hard for a technical, well-educated culture to understand.  The heart of the Father is for the blind, meek, and weary; those living in mentally dilapidated conditions and far from the understanding of ever-changing theologies.  

The truth of Jesus lies in a simple understanding of a need for something that fulfills.  There is no better time than when we are at rest with the Lord and our hearts aren’t working or striving for anything.  It frees us from working; we can experience true, unhindered worship of the Father in simplicity.  So there’s a trend developing here.

Faith like a child works.  It thwarts our “complex” understanding of things because we want to complicate things.  We want a formula.  We want this + this to = what we want.  But that in itself complicates things.  It begs the question, what components do I need for a satisfying relationship with Jesus?  But what did Jesus say?

Surrender.  Surrender your theologies of who you think I am and of what you think I can do.  Surrender your formulas for intimacy. 

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.”  If we would only believe that, we would stop trying so hard.  He is pleased, and has been pleased to give it to us all.  

Just seek his heart, because “we have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”