The Love Inside

"Change ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Master....

Whom the heavens must receive until the times of Restoration of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

~Acts 3:19, 21

The beautiful thing about Yahshua's life is that refreshing has come.  Refreshing takes us on further. We must be refreshed and let God love us into existence - true existence, where we are awakened to Him and to us, to how we should see Him and to just how He sees us.  Christ wants to shine brighter on you (Ephesians 5:14)!

Our Heavenly Father wants a culture shift.  He wants our own personal refreshment to trigger widespread restoration.  He wants us to realize that Christ in us (Colossians 1:27) is the Kingdom Leaven (Matthew 13:33).  He wants us to realize that we, by virtue of His presence, are contagious. We are the carriers of His Glory; we are those He's entrusted to changing the world. One step at a time and one person at a time - from the inside out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vanessa posted a musical project this past week detailing Yahweh's movement in her life.  And He's shone us that this video will produce a massive cultural shift in the perception of the Love of God. He's shone us that this video is going to change our lives, so that we in turn can be positioned to change the lives of others and work for their good.

I was praying about this project recently, asking God to bless it and send revival.  And He told me not to pray for that.  He told me to pray for a culture shift instead!  He showed me that in past times and seasons, culture has not supported revival!  Instead, revival has fizzled out under the oppression of a dark, godless society and culture.

A widespread, unquenchable cultural change must occur first.  We're just on the brink of it.  If culture is inclined to our Heavenly Father, then and only then can we have lasting change.  If our culture loves and is Loved by Yah, then we can have His presence abide. Then He can teach all of us all things (Hebrews 8:11); then He can produce lasting goodness in this world (John 15:16).  Messiah will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).

So, here is Vanessa's video - or rather, Yahweh's video presented by Vanessa.  It's essentially her personal testimony with one or two dramaticized parts (she never did heroin).  There are a few twists in there...enjoy, and may you come into contact with the presence of God like never before.

Resurrected into Eternity

Yahshua said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies."

~John 11:25

Everyone who believes has already been born again.  Born from where?  Born from above, into God's family, into the Heavenly realms.  Anyone who believes is, spiritually speaking, existing in two places at once - both here and in Heaven.  

We've been instructed to pray that way: "on earth as it is in Heaven".  Our new birth is a reason for that!  Don't you know who you are?  You are a perfected, forgiven child of God.

From the first moment of belief onward, you've been hidden away.  You've been hidden with Messiah, hidden within God - hidden in a place of shelter and peace.  You've been born into the most secure place possible. From the moment you first believed, you've been resurrected.  

Every believer has entered into resurrection life.  You have entered into an inescapable God.  The evil one, the accuser, "touches you not". And he can't touch you, because there's endless amounts of God between the two of you!  There's no more pain for you after this new birth, only the appearance of punishment.  

In this new life, the passing of time loses much of it's meaning.  We're free to live in the now.  We're free to be instead of do; being instead of doing.  The past doesn't hold us down, and the future doesn't worry us.  Instead, both the past and the present and the future give us hope.  

Life becomes timeless, and we find ourselves on a very "ancient path" without really knowing how we got there.  We find ourselves in a place that feels at once very old and very new - a place that's being renewed daily.  Eternity is now.  

Sometimes we forget that Yahshua was our bridge into, well, everything, in this new life that He payed the price to provide.  Yet it is the Son of God Himself that becomes our marker of events, and all of time is bound up in a single moment where we realize that we know Him.  The passing of time grows strangely dim, and we may no longer perceive it like we once did.  

"To live" ceases to become measurable by our cosmic props of times and seasons.  "To live" becomes a person - Jesus.  To live is Christ, and to die is even better.   Time becomes swallowed up by the limitless, unchanging essence of God.  

Heavenly Father, set us free from the perceived constraints of time, from the constraints of our habits and schedules, and let us enter in to unbroken fellowship with You today. 

"Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent."

John 17:3

Mount Hermon

"Come with Me from Lebanon, My bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir,

the summit of Hermon, from the lions' dens and the mountain haunts of leopards"

-Song of Songs 4:8

We know that Jesus was transfigured on the Mount, but do we now where?  Many scholars believe that this event happened on Mount Hermon.  When I first learned that, it seemed significant to me.

Hermon means sacred.  It's root words mean 1) prohibited / set apart and 2) sifted / captured 

(For extensive info on these root meanings, see here).

Isn't that interesting?  I find that everything in the scriptures is both symbolic and literal.  Returning to the passage from Song of Songs, we see that there is a call down from the mountaintop.  Our Heavenly Father calls us up, but He also calls us down.  He comes down with us - "come with me", 

He says.   that experience was amazing, but let's move on to another.   And the glory experienced from that spiritual high rests on us, just as it did with Moses, so that we can move forward in the world.  

We have to be set apart and sifted to go higher with our God, and we also have to be humble enough to be willing to come down.  With great power comes great responsibility - which is why so few lay hold of the Way.  

Paul said, not that I have already attained to it, but I press on to take hold of that which Messiah already took hold of for me. But praise Yah that all of us have been already ordinated as priests!  There will be many mountaintops and many valleys to go, but God will allow us to carry His presence thru it all.

Koinonia

"I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ."

~Philemon 1:6

A couple days ago I was praying in the spirit and kept hearing a distinct word: koinonia.  I thought it sounded familiar, and soon enough, the Holy Spirit began bringing me teachings and explanations of the term.  That was enough to make me realize that I'd already been living out the concept of koinonia recently in my own life.  Cool!

God wants us to live by this faith and with this word written on our hearts:  

"On earth as it is in Heaven".  

He wants us to experience Him and talk to Him, and then attract others into this blissful realm.  When Yahshua was transfigured on the Mount and talked with Moses and Elijah, He pulled others right into the Heavenly realms with Him.  Peter and John and James were included in this glory, even though it was almost too much for them.  

Heaven has to get out somehow - why not through you?  Once you're there, and only once you're there, can you freely give.  Only then can we talk to others within the confines of Yah's Heavenly Kingdom. Others can learn from us, and we can learn from others!  Contentment is key to pure communication.   If we rely on the contentment of God, than we can be content to flow out to others.  There's an attraction to God within somebody.  This is a fruit that can't help but be fruitful: the fruit of love.  Here's what Francois du Toit has to say about it:

"The Koinonia (communication) of our faith is ignited by the acknowledging of every good thing that is in us in Christ!"


Heavenly Father, let the cry of our hearts be for us to experience more of Your Love, and for us to love You back in turn.  Increase the hunger of our spirits within us and the calling out of our souls.  Let Your presence in us draw us to the right people in the right places at just the right time.  Let us always be a magnification of Your Love, and stretch us and mold us to conform to Your glory.  Draw us to friends who can stretch us and teach us new things, and let us live and talk and think in the light of Your Presence. Make us like you, Lord, and teach us something new today.  

Hunger

Spiritual hunger, that is.  Let's see what John G. Lake had to say about it:



"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

~Matthew 5: 6

Hunger can be a good thing. It is the greatest persuader I know of. It is a marvelous power. Nations have learned that you can do almost anything with a populace until they get hungry. But when they get hungry, watch out. There is a certain spirit of desperation that accompanies hunger. I wish we all had it spiritually.

I wish we were desperately hungry for God. Wouldn’t it be glorious? It would be a strange thing, if we were all desperately hungry for God, if only one or two got filled in a service.

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
Righteousness is the rightness of God. The rightness of God in your spirit, the rightness of God in your soul, the rightness of God in your body, the rightness of God in your affairs, in your home, in your business, everywhere. God is an all-around God. His power operates from every side. The artists paint a halo around the head of Jesus to show that there is a radiation of glory from His person. They might just as well put it around His feet or any part of His person. It is the radiant glory of the indwelling God, radiating out through the personality. There is nothing more wonderful than the indwelling of God in the human life. The most supreme example that God ever performed was His taking possession of men. By the Holy Spirit He comes in and takes possession of those who are hungry.

I will guarantee to you that after the crucifixion of Jesus there were 120 mighty hungry folks at Jerusalem. If they had not been exceedingly hungry they would not have gotten so gloriously filled. It was because they were hungry that they were filled.

“Blessed are they which do hunger.”
We are sometimes inclined to think of God as mechanical, as though God just set a date for this or that event to occur. But my opinion is that one of the works of the Holy Ghost is to prepare the hearts of men in advance by putting within them a strong hunger for that event that has been promised by God until it comes to pass.

The more I study history and prophecy, the more I am convinced that when Jesus Christ was born into the world He was born in answer to a tremendous heart-cry on the part of the world. The world needed God desperately. They wanted a manifestation of God tremendously, and Jesus Christ as Deliverer and Savior came in answer to their soul’s cry.

Many look forward to the second coming of Jesus as though mechanically, on a certain date, when certain events come to pass, Jesus is going to appear. I do not see it that way. I believe there must be an overwhelming hunger for the Lord’s coming in the hearts of men so that a prayer such as was never prayed in the world before for Christ to come will rise to heaven. And when it rises to heaven on the part of sufficient souls, it will take Jesus Christ off the throne and bring Him down to earth.

Daniel says he was convinced by the study of the books of prophecy, especially that of Jeremiah, that the time had come when the Israelites should he delivered from their captivity in Babylon; the 70 years were fulfilled, but there was no deliverance. So he diligently set his face to pray it into being (Daniel 9).

If deliverance were going to come to pass mechanically on a certain date, there would not have been any necessity for Daniel to get that tremendous hunger in his soul, so that he fasted and prayed in sackcloth and ashes that deliverance might come. God’s purposes come to pass when our heart and mind get the real God-cry, when the real God-prayer comes into our hearts and the real God-yearning gets hold of our nature. Something is going to happen then.

No matter what your soul may be coveting, if it becomes the supreme cry in your life, not the secondary matter, or the third or fourth, the fifth or tenth, but the supreme desire of your soul, the paramount issue—all the powers and energies of your spirit, soul and body are reaching out and crying out to God for the answer—it is going to come!

Freedom: It's Contagious

"...That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."  

Romans 8:21

Based on this verse, our freedom goes out from us.  It begins within, in Yah's presence, and is released through us.  Freedom is contagious,more contagious than sin or disease.  Our Freedom has the ability to purify our natural environment.

When we are experience fullness of freedom as children of God, when we are celebrating who we really are -- that's when the Kingdom advances.  It's just like the implanted word (James 1:21) and the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31). Your Heavenly Father wants this presence within you to grow and grow and grow until others find shelter with you!  He wants to expand your tents and increase your authority (Isaiah 54:2).

The truth is that we are so free that our freedom liberates our surrounding -- even nature.  The creation itself will be set free from the natural order of things by coming into contact with His offspring.  By coming into contact with YOU!  This is the "Kingdom Leaven" that Yahshua spoke about (Matthew 13:33).  He wants to bless others through you.  He wants purity, holiness, and conviction to flow out through you.  He wants you to cause atmosphere shifts. Like a peacemaker (Matthew 5:9)

How many of us have really experienced this?  Vanessa and I have experienced weather miracles many times now.  We've seen how our Father is is control of the climate and the wind and even all the creatures He's made.  We've seen how animals respond to the good news of Messiah (Mark 16:15)-- it's fun talking to birds and cats and bunnies!  But have we made this confidence in God a way of life?

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Yahshua Messiah took hold of me."

~Philippians 3:12

FREEDOOOOMMM!

Last night God gave me a dream where I was undergoing a teaching.  It was on freedom.  In the dream, the Holy Spirit showed me Romans 8:21:

"...that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."  

Glorious freedom.  Thank you Father.  Do any of us really know what that's like?  Do we understand what it means to possess glorious freedom?  I don't think so, not yet.  Not with a full measure, yet this is exactly what Yahshua has promised (Luke 6:38).  He wants us to know; we're His family, kings in His kingdom (Proverbs 25:2)!

In my dream, there was such a liberation.  I instantly knew that God had just given me a key to abide. When I heard Romans 8:21, it was written on my heart in a new way.  It was so powerful, and the power was there to effortlessly provide.

That's what our Heavenly Father gives us power for -- to get closer to Him.  It's not for our giftings or callings so much as it was for Him.  From Him for me for Him!

It was an awesome experience of peace and contentment.  If you haven't already, ask Elohim to give you heavenly dreams!  He is faithful, and He will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24).  Let's all taste and see that Yahweh is good (Psalms 34:8).

You Have Received

A few days ago, the Spirit spoke to me, saying,

"Thomas, you have to realize that Christianity is a religion of receiving, not of giving."

Huh.  That was an interesting way to put it; there was some context involved here! Recently I've been studying the major differences between Christianity and other belief systems.  While the differences seem clear (and are!), it's been a good, important review of things.

We need to remember that Yahshua said, "freely you have received".  We tend to overlook this message in our impulsive attempts to overemphasize the second half of it.  We make His command more a message dictating us than an essence pointing to Him.

It's not about us, it's about Him (though He thinks you're wonderful, and you should too)!  However, for things to be about Him, blessings must also be directed to you.  Don't you realize that you're an extension of Him?  It's about getting ourselves aligned with the perspective of God.

Once we're aligned, we'll realize that this reception of Yah's goodness will lead to thankfulness, joyfulness, happiness, peace, love.  His mind couldn't lead to anything else.

If we focus on the receiving of Heaven from Him, then we'll be able to freely give.  Why?  Because we won't even think of it?  We'll be so distracted by God that we can't help but give.



Other religions might be summed up like this:

Give to others, so that you may receive from God.

Or,  Become Holy, so you can be like God.

Or,  Pray as much as you can, so you can be near to God.



In true Christianity, this trend is reversed.  It's time to take our focus off of ourselves and be overwhelmed by our Heavenly Father.  It's time to focus more on receiving -- all that we have, will, and want to receive -- so that we can believe enough to have an overflow to give from.  Christianity says

You are like God, so be holy.

Or,  You are near God, so pray to your heart's delight!

Or,  You have received, so continue receiving even while you give.  It's not about your efforts, it's about His.

Do Not Light a Fire on the Sabbath

"Do not light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day"    ~Exodus 35:3

God has been showing me that this still has application for today.  All scripture can be literally, spiritually, or symbolically applied to today (2 Tim. 3:16).  We live in a time where we get to see just how the Old Covenant has always been intended to point us to the new (Colossians 2:17).  That's exciting!  The laws and codes and regulations given by Moses were not written to us, as much as for us.

How do we translate the essence of Exodus 35:3 to modern Christian culture?  By letting scripture interpret itself!  There is a message behind all of these little bylaws that still remains.  We can see what David said about it -- he was ahead of his time in that He lived by faith in a Savior that hadn't yet come:

"You, oh Yahweh, keep my lamp burning; my Elohim turns my darkness into light."            

 ~Psalm 18:28

There's a big message here.  Other translations describe it this way: "You light my lamp".  We need to let God do the lighting, especially on the Sabbath.  We need to let God set us on fire, especially because it's He who brought us into the realm of Sabbath-day rest.  He is both the fuel and the fire itself.

I believe this whole concept of lighting fires on the Sabbath amounts to our own self-religious efforts to get to God.   In ancient times, getting a fire started could be hard!  The time invested in gathering wood was pretty significant.  In the same way, our lengthy, compulsive, and/or mundane spiritual templates are not rewarded by the God who paid the price to give you rest (Hebrews 4:1).

We can't just go through the motions to go up with God, nor can we come into Him with self-righteous ideals. Don't forget that Messiah is the substance (Col. 2:17) and the method of connection (Hebrews 2:11).  Let Him awaken inner passion for you.

It's up to Yahweh to "set us on fire" and purify us.  It's up to Him to draw us closer to Himself. Trying to start something with God by our own hard work is not smart (Songs 8:4); more than that, it distracts us from the appreciation of what God wants to do.  Trust and faith, on the other hand, will magnetize yourself to God and draw His power into you.  He wants to do it, and He is able!

Overtaken and Into God's Rest

I've been realizing that there is a higher realm out there available to us in the Christian life.  There's a life beyond temptations, struggles and "falling from grace".  There's a life where God make things easier.

"For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from His."

Hebrews 4:10

This verse has taken on a newer, deeper meaning recently.  I think the Holy Spirit wants to shine on us so that the meaning of all scripture is always evolving and progressing into the Heavenly mind.  

Naturally speaking, life is hard.  Even for Christians -- sometimes, life is hard!  It may be hard to not lose it when your brother says something annoying; it may be hard to stay peaceful when everyone is crowding the kitchen, it may be hard to avoid all semblance of road rage...it may be hard to pray for a stranger in the grocery store.  These are all mindsets we've gotten stuck in somewhere in our past.

Truthfully, though, this isn't the most accurate way of thinking.  It's not God's way.    To the extent that we are not tapping into God's way, we are denying the fullness of what Messiah did for us on the cross.  If the majority of what we experience as a Christian seems hard, then we are living under an illusion.

To rest from your own work takes a lot of power.  Not your own power, though!  It takes the power of the Ruach inside you to propel you onward independent of yourself.  That's what we need -- to live in the Spirit.

I've been seeing that there are degrees in this life in the Spirit.  God wants to overpower you, He wants to overshadow you, He wants to overtake you and overwhelm you.  I think this is what the prophets were talking about when they said, "the hand of Yahweh was heavily upon me".  

God wants to expose you to the weight of His glory and compel you into Himself.  He wants to consume you until there is no self-effort of self-thought left.  He wants to possess you: mind, body, and spirit.  Isn't that interesting?  It's the truth.

The point at which life becomes easy for us, when faith becomes restful, when pain turns blissful, when natural conditions burst out into the supernatural, will occur when God within us has full control.  It's not as hard as it sounds.  The only effort involved in us is the race towards believing.  If we've believed, we've entered into God's way, and if we stay in His Way, we'll have it easiest.

God Wants to Deify....Us?

"For God’s purpose through Jesus Christ is to deify the nature of men..."

I read this in a John G. Lake book that my wonderful Aunt and Uncle let me borrow. :)  I thought the language was pretty striking -- not only here, but throughout much of the book.  It got me thinking, is this true?  Why is it true?

The Trinity spoke words of love and said, "Let Us make man in our own image" (Genesis 1:26). Adam and Eve were in the element of God, yet they forgot who they were and then blew it.

So also it has been written: "The first man Adam became into a living soul; the last Adam into a life-giving spirit."                       ~1 Corinthians 15:45

Jesus made up for what Adam lost.  He overcompensated for it!  He inhabits those who love Him and pull them up to an otherwise unapproachable God.  God chose to make Himself available.  He chose to open us up to His love.

Yes, one of God's purposes has been to "deify the nature of men" (in my opinion, at least).  But the fruit of this truth does not lead us to self; it leads us to God!  He's been so merciful.  He's been so good.  He's called us to this elevated life, not because of anything we've done, but because of His faithfulness (Romans 9:12).

Having ourselves been redeemed in nature means we can fellowship with God.  It's all about Him, and He's all about us.  Hopefully we're all about Him in response!  Sometimes with great revelation comes the need for great thankfulness.  We'll see.  It's been an interesting and electrifiying book so far.

Gateway Drugs?

I've been hearing a lot about the supposed dangers of "gateway drugs" recently.  Actually, gateway everything...gateway animals like chickens, gateway plants such as tomatoes, etc.  Huh.

Recently we had some friends over and there was a discussion on this topic (drugs, not chickens). And they were saying that marijuana, or cannabis, is one of (several?) initial "gateway drugs" that would inevitably lead to worse things.  I disagree, though that's not the major point here.

So, I got to thinking about it...what would qualify as a gateway drug?  And which of these supposed drugs, if any, pushes us down the slipper slope to harder stuff like heroin, cocaine, or meth?

If we were to look at this question objectively, we'd see that cannabis wouldn't be the first "drug" we're exposed to.  How far back do we really want to go?  Back to the beginning?

For example, marijuana couldn't be the foremost gateway drug out there.  Many people try alcohol and liquor before they try smoking weed.  So, do we want to say that vodka or beer or wine inevitably leads to "worse" stuff?  Objectively, we need to go back further.

Let's stereotype caffeine as the first gateway drug out there -- that is, the first inherently addictive substance that many people get into.  Coffee?  Is coffee the problem?  Probably not, as kids typically spend years drinking soda before they get hooked on coffee.  So, is caffeine the problem?  Or is it the HFCS or artificial colors in soda?  We might be led to suspect that soda is the problem.  No, actually, it's probably the sugar.  Actually, it's probably the MSG that's in all your kid's favorite snacks.  

We could take this whole line of thinking way back.  Maybe the pleasure babies get as they drink their Mother's breast milk is the problem.  Maybe that initial endorphin trigger sets up these babies to be dependent on mind altering "drugs" for the rest of their life.  Is that really how it works?

Can you see where the projection of this faulty mindset of criminalizing natural substances like beer or cannabis leads us?  It's an attack both on the gifts of God and the way He intentionally programmed humanity.  Many Christians are stuck in a Greek-oriented philosophy that stemmed from guys like Plato and Aristotle -- not from Messiah or the Scriptures.  Many Christians are under the enslaving illusion that the spiritual world is good and the natural world is bad.  That's Gnosticism, not Christianity.

The point I'm trying to make is that there are "gateway drugs" everywhere.  We're exposed to them at virtually all ages at virtually all points in our life.  Cannabis is not the problem; it's no more at fault in creating heroin addictions than Cheetos or red wine.

Maybe, just maybe, people were designed for pleasure!  Maybe pleasure is a good thing.  Maybe the Creator of all these wonderful substances, whatever they are (with the exception of synthetic chemicals and drugs), created them to be a blessing to us and not a snare or perceived temptation. Maybe it's not the food or drink or herb or tincture that that goes into a person's body that's the problem (Matthew 15:11).

I like wine.  I like hard root beer.  I like these cute little tropical drinks Vanessa makes me with sparkling soda and mango vodka.  But I'm not addicted  to them (1 Cor. 6:12).  They don't distract me from God. They actually inspire me to give thanks to God (1 Tim. 4:4)!

The thing that safeguards us is not the avoidance of this or that potentially addictive substance (Colossians 1:21). Messiah set you free from those kinds of rules, if you'll believe it.

The thing that keeps us away from any sort of addiction is an addiction and fixation with God.  You were made for pleasure, emotional highs, ecstatic experiences and bliss (Hebrews 9:11).  And all of these things flow out from Him.  You can't really get bored with the Creator.  And if you think you can, you're putting unscriptural limitations on Him!

"You make known to me the path of life; in your Presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."                    ~Psalm 16:11

To have God is to know He has you (Song of Songs 6:3). To have a love for God is to have true pleasure.  He is your only authentic gateway drug and the realm you must enter into (Matthew 7:13-14); once you taste Jesus, you can't go back (Psalm 34:8)(Ephesians 1:13)!  You're free to love Him and let everything else flow out from that.  To paraphrase St. Augustine:

"Love God and do whatever you please: for the soul trained in love to God will do nothing to offend the One who is Beloved."

A Peculiar People

God was showing me some interesting stuff today.  It's been hard to represent Christ here in Maine, and that has affected a lack of boldness on my part.  But the Holy Spirit's been showing me a way out: humor.

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light"

1 Peter 2:9

See, as a Christian, it's OK to be different.  We are supposed to be different!  And once we realize that death to self has already occurred (Col. 3:3) and get past the fears induced by self-preservation (which is really just rooted in selfishness), it becomes FUN to be different!

It's nice to know that we're chosen, but how do we react to this truth?  The second half of the above verse says that God's purpose in election is this:

...that we should hew forth the praises of Him who called us into true life.  

No matter where we are or who we're around, we're called to proclaim His goodness, His Marvelous Light.  We're called to appear to others as different, as strange, as unorthodox, as weird, as peculiar! You can expect that not everyone will understand you (John 1:5)-- but that's OK!

God was showing me today that it's fun to break free from societal norms.  It's fun to have Him put you on display (1 Cor. 4:9).  It's fun to be made a spectacle and object of attention that emanates otherworldly. It's basically like living out inside joke that just you and the Holy Spirit are in on. Doesn't that sound fun?

The key to realizing all this is union with Messiah (John 15:2 and context).  We were made for more than an average life; we were made for more than superficial material gain or arbitrarily scheduled schedules.  The Holy Spirit cannot be contained by our own purposes or plans (Isaiah 55:9).  The Holy Spirit delights in being radical (Proverbs 8:31), and so can you!  

Obligations

"Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do..."

~Romans 8:12

Today I've been looking over my own life and realizing that I do more things than I should under the power of obligation.  Meaning I feel obligated to do mundane, day to day stuff...instead of feeling freedom, I've been feeling pressured to compulsively perform.

The truth in Christ though, is that there is no obligatory work.  There is no obligation to sin and mess up; you've been set free from sin!  You don't have to do it anymore.  Sin is not your nature.  Why not?  Well, look at the preceding verses and you'll see that it's because Christ is in you.  And His work in you overcame the world and all of it's sin along with it.

The only obligatory work we need to do is believe.  We must believe at all times; we must not fall out of faith.   Paul instructed the Corinthians to inspect themselves, by their fruit, to determine if they really believed.  Having the faith of God is important.  It's His faith that binds us together and raises us with Him.

The only obligation we have is to enter His rest.  Many Christians miss this -- the book of Hebrews says that so did the Ancient Israelites.  And until we really believe, there will be warfare, there will be ups and down, and there will be very difficult points.  It's in focusing on Him that these kinds of battles are won.

"...For if you live according to flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."

~Romans 8:13

The only way to stay in belief is to remain in the Spirit.  If you set up your tent with God, if you give Him your heart, He'll give you His feelings towards you and inspire you to trust Him.  It's the Holy Spirit who inspires belief and points us towards Yahshua, the Son of God.

When we believe, we pave the way for the reality of God to become greater, in our lives, than anything else.  Our activities get drowned out.  Our attentions and distractions get forgotten.  Our obligations get burned away.  We don't have to do a thing but believe in what Messiah's done!

This is a belief that will make you joyful and give you energy.  It will quicken and electrify your physical bodies.  It will cause you to do stuff because you want to...not because you're scared of man. There will be no fears and no thoughts of feelings in the things you do, because you've made God the most important thing.

The only obligation we have is to live for God.  And living for God flows out of belief in His goodness and love!  The only fight we fight is the fight of faith.  And when faith comes, we are no longer supervised and micromanaged by the law.  We are free to do everything, or free to do nothing! The nature of self-worth through what you're doing will be gone; you'll be set free from yourself.  It feels good to follow God; it feels good to have a light burden and have Hims simplify your life.

Dream: The Glory of God or the Glory of man?

I had a dream last night where I was in a nice church...one of the many "seeker friendly" churches out there nowadays.  (Just so you know, I love these kinds of places!  Every time I've went to them, the Holy Spirit ministers to me.  But I think God wants to purify our motives...)

So, back to this church, there was some sort of youth ministry going on, and everyone was singing and worshiping and acting all excited. Something wasn't quite right, though.

There was a hardness to the worship that caught me off guard.  The musicians on stage were having fun -- and not necessarily in a good way.  They were going through the motions, trading out the worship of our Father for a show (2 Tim. 3:5).  There was some egotism evident there.  It was really sad. Vanessa and I were sitting up near the front, and I was watching these people, many of them my age, singing along with the band and just going through the motions, also.

This significance of all this was heightened because of how it contrasted what God was doing with me.  I felt such Love; I felt so much of Yahweh's presence.  I became pretty overwhelmed, and sorta just slumped over in my chair and kept checking out this scene. There was one teenage girl in particular that I felt bad for.  I could tell that her heart just wasn't in it; though she was doing some stuff right, she was missing out on the power of the Spirit.

The rest of the teens in the church were much the same.  I longed to tell them that it could be better.  I longed to tell them that they were falling short of the party.  I wanted to say, hey, God has a better way for you than this...but I just didn't have the words.  Plus, I was plastered to my chair under the weight of His glory and probably couldn't have moved a muscle even if I wanted to.  In retrospect, I think God put me into that symbolic scenario simply so I could observe

Sadly, this whole "let's go to church and not really love on God" mentality is something I've also seen played out in real life.  It's tragic to see people so close but yet so far.  People who sit there listening like they're watching a realllllyyy boring TV show or something.  Their hearts have not been awakened -- a veil of sadness is still there (2 Cor. 3:14).  They've never tried really seeking Him, and consequently have never realized that He's already been found (Proverbs 8:17).

Guys, God is fun!  He's a wonderfully burning Love (Song of Songs); He's incredibly powerful.  He's worthy of your fear (Psalms 119:120), He's worthy of your admiration and worship.  There is an ecstasy of divine exchange that comes with loving Him (John 3:30).




"God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth."     ~John 4:24

Faith and Trust

Faith sees the future as a moment of God's action seamlessly being woven into the present.  Faith is a past tense thing.  Faith is believing that God is going to catch you up to where He eventually has you.

But really, faith is trust!  Faith and trust go hand in hand.  Trust overcomes fear and insecurity. Trust acknowledges our Heavenly Father's goodness in all things.  Trust allows the Comforter to do one of His many jobs and comfort us!  Below is an excerpt on this subject by Smith Wigglesworth:


"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:23, 24)

These are days when we need to have our faith strengthened, when we need to know God. God has designed that the just shall live by faith. Any man can be changed by faith, no matter how he may be fettered. I know that God's word is sufficient. One word from Him can change a nation. His word is from everlasting to everlasting. It is through the entrance of this everlasting Word, this incorruptible seed, that we are born again, and come into this wonderful salvation. Man cannot live by bread alone, but must live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. This is the food of faith. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

Everywhere men are trying to discredit the Bible and take from it all the miraculous. One preacher says, "Well, you know, Jesus arranged beforehand to have that colt tied where it was, and for the men to say just what they did." I tell you God can arrange everything without going near. He can plan for you, and when He plans for you, all is peace. All things are possible if you will believe.

My Valentine

My love for Vanessa grows all the times it seems -- just when I think admiration can't get any deeper, stronger, or sweeter, it does.  She's awesome!!!

I'm realizing that my love for her, though, is only effective as an extension of my love for God.  My love for her is only fulfilled if I can see God in her.  Deep calls to deep (Psalms 42:7).

There is a greater love here, though:

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

~1 John 4:10

I'm His valentine, before I'm hers.  Isn't that interesting?  I've been coming into a realization that every believer is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25).  And just today, a friend of mine told me about an interesting Christian book called "God's Wife".

I mess up often...so often. I think back to a recent situation and realize that I could've loved more; I could've cared more, I could've thought about good things more. I could've given my time for something that really mattered. But there is a willingness to forget that comes with forgiveness (Hebrews 8:12). Sometimes, it's time to move on.  On to how our Heavenly Father unconditionally sees us...

"You are altogether beautiful, my darling; And there is no blemish in you."    

~Song of Solomon 4:7

This is the true, whether we as believers really believe it or not.  This is true, whether I fully experience it or not.  This is true, in spite of my real and perceived flaws.  This is a truth that compels us, by Love, to keep pressing ahead!  God belongs to you, and you belong to Him.  Happy Valentine's day!






 

How to never be Annoyed

Wherever God is, there's peace.  So why does it sometimes (oftentimes?) not seem like it?  

The key in all this is realizing that God is everywhere, all the time; in everything, for every reason. That's what brings peace.  Peace like a river is where it's at (Isaiah 66:12)!  Peace like an all consuming fire works too (Hebrews 12:29).  

The thing is, you can view anything as annoying if you work at it.  But when we see all events, whether they appear good or bad, in the light of Messiah, we can get past minor annoyances.  When every inconvenient thing is drowned out by His light, we can remain in peace.  

If you lose your peace, that's OK. We all do; we're only human.  There's grace for that.

On the other hand, never forget that God has in mind something more.  Paul criticized the Corinthians for acting like "mere humans" (1 Corinthians 3:3).  There's something about our inner Divinity -- not ours, but His -- that wants to swallow up the negative aspects of our outward humanity (1 Cor. 15:54).  And that something, of course, is the burning, cleansing nature of the Ruach, the Holy Spirit.  

You're not who you used to be; you're not who you don't want to be (Romans 7:15).  You're who Jesus wants you to be (Ephesians 1:4).  And really, that's who you want to be, too!  You never have to get annoyed.  You never have to do anything that's not convenient (Romans 1:28); you have the mind of Christ!  He has your best interests in mind. He holds the keys to freedom and peace.  

Works of Righteousness?

Or works for righteousness?  There is a subtle, but very important difference.

"This living flame of love is so untouchable, so unquenchable, that it is virtually impossible for us to ever draw near without being consumed. This is why it is ultimately necessary that God Himself becomes our righteousness. We are incapable of reaching that place of purity and perfection which He requires of our own accord. And so Christ must positionally become our "right living" so that we can freely enter the love of God."      ~John Crowder

This has been a theme that's really been impressed on me in the last couple weeks.  I've been holed up at home, cleaning, organizing, sweeping, building, planting, vacuuming...you get it.  But there's been a lot of seemingly 'mundane' activities going on.  How to stay content?

Remember that Yahweh has gifted us fruit that remains (John 15:16).  And this fruit of peace, love and joy is found in His son.  It's found in focusing on Jesus.  

To 'do' works of righteousness, you need to abide.  And to abide in divine Love, you need to believe. That's why Jesus stated that the work of God could be boiled down to the effort of believing.  If we fall out of communion and try to earn our own righteousness, then we've fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4).  We've started to work for something we already have.  How crazy is that?

God wants us to be working into a labor of love.  He wants us to have such a divine sense of purpose in our lives that even sweeping the floor is fun.  There is a pleasure found in partnering with Him in even the smallest task.  You life may look pretty similar to that of an unbeliever.  The difference is that you are a friend of God within your mind (Colossians 1:21)!  The difference is that your joy can always be complete (John 15:11).  

Having your heart fixed on God, overwhelmed in Him, is enough to call the Glory down.  Staying in the Love of God is a training process, and we've got out entire lives to fully learn it (Luke 6:40).  I know I mess up sometimes.  But even our own failures ultimately point us to a greater reality, which is the limitless, immeasurable, too-good-to-be-true grace that we must be reminded to rely upon.  

"For we are Yahweh's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Yahsua Messiah, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."       ~Ephesians 2:10 

 

A Heavy-Handed Elohim?

A few days ago, I saw a vision of God's hand on me.  His hand came down from heaven, and just rested on me.  A tree sprang up out of this experience, and that tree remained rooted within the weight (The Glory ) of our Heavenly Father.  That's what glory means, literally -- weight.  It has also been translated as honor, bosom, and goodness (Strong's Hebrew).  That's what God's presence embodies.  

This vision surprised me, in a good way. I figured out that He was showing me that His hand upon me would eventually bring about good fruit.  This message has been confirmed bunches of times since then; I've heard teaches on the topic and been stumbling upon verses about it.

"This is what Yahweh says to me with His strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people..."              Isaiah 8:11

If God has been hovering over you recently, be thankful!  He releases an atmosphere of discipline over those He loves, when it's needed (Hebrews 12:6).  He protects you and forces His covering of protection upon you.  With grace of course!  Sometimes God makes us press into Him, just so we can (re) realize that He's always been pressing into us.

The hand of God keeps us secure in spiritual warfare.  It takes us away from the enemy; it makes us resist the devil (James 4:7).  This time is a time of testing, sure, but it too shall pass.

It's important to carry with you the realization that God is there.  He's over you; He's invaded your spirit, He's made you His.  He's at your right hand and in your heart.  He wants to overwhelm you with His presence.  He wants to give you more glory, more weight, than you can handle.  He will pressure you to change.  He'll do it gently, but it's still pressure.  It's still glory.  It's still the beautiful drawing in of the Holy Spirit.