God Of All Splendor

I've been feeling really disconnected as of late. Not that the disconnect feeling is new. If anything, it’s been growing the last year or so. It’s like the last ten years that I’ve known God are completely pointless and futile.

Now hear me out. When I say pointless and futile it’s not THAT kind of pointless and futile. It’s the kind of feeling that comes from pursuing the vastness of God and feeling like you never get anywhere.

OK, some of you are still scratching your head trying to figure out what I’m trying to say. It’s like this. For all that I know, or think I know about God, it’s still just an insignificant drop into nothingness compared to who He really is. How can a something like me know a something like Him? How can I fathom or even begin to fathom something like God.
I try to know Him, but there’s that inevitable feeling that comes from knowing that you’re going to mess it up sooner or later. The harder I try to screw up less, the more often I screw up. It’s the whole thing Paul talked about doing the things that he didn’t want to do, and not doing the things he wanted.

Sounds hopeless. Well, congratulations. It is. It’s completely hopeless and pointless. At least from our point of view. So where does that leave us? What does God see when He looks at you? No, no, I didn’t ask what you see. And I don’t want to know what you think, He sees when He looks at you. I want to know what He really sees when He sees you.

The answer is He sees us for what we are eternally, not what we are externally or internally. Oh sure, He sees the inside and the outside, but He’s not as concerned with that as we think. He sees our eternal completion of who we are in Him. He sees the value and worth of what He has given us to be, and the glorious rewards when we have done it.
I was listening to something today and it started a little chain of thoughts that have started to pull me out of the divine disconnect if you will(oh yes, there’s a reason for the disconnect and I’ll get there in a minute).

Here’s the thought. God the Father loved His Son Jesus so much He wanted to give Him an inheritance. So, He gave His Son the earth and everything in it. The real inheritance is not really the earth but the people on it. God created you as an inheritance for His Son. “Great” you say. “So I’ve been turned into the ultimate religious icon for a fickle God who wanted to give His Son a present”.

Just indulge me a bit longer please.

So then God had to redeem His inheritance because He temporarily allowed His authority to be usurped by the devil in the garden(Please save all questions until the end of the world and you can ask God directly at that time). The Father sends Jesus to redeem and ‘fix” His own inheritance. This makes Jesus’ love for His inheritance increase in the most incomprehensible way. It makes Him decide to ask His inheritance(remember us-the religious objects?) to partner with Him in bringing all righteousness, light, and peace to the earth, as well as rule and reign over it with Him. On top of that, He also shares the glory and the reward that comes from that.

So as a quick review:

God gives Jesus an inheritance, Jesus then has to redeem His inheritance, Jesus asks His inheritance to be partners with Him in all that the Father has given Him as an inheritance and share in its glory. That’s what the Bible means when it’s says “we have been brought out of darkness, into marvelous light”...”being made joint heirs with Jesus”.

When I think of things that way, I can totally see why God is right in His wrath and judgement, and answers the question “How can God send people to hell?” Besides a lot of other things, hell is really the separation from all the glorious things I mentioned just a few paragraphs ago. How can we, after all that He has done, reject what He is offering? It will cost us everything here on earth, but what’s 80 years of treasure compared to getting treasure for all eternity? After all He has done, He still offers HIs hand and waits patiently. If it was me, I would have been done with humanity about 2000 years ago. Just another attribute and proof that He is a kind and loving God.

That’s the other thing. We scoff and say “yeah, yeah we know, I’ve heard it all before, Jesus is coming, blah blah blah. He was coming again in the Bible and He’s still coming, yup, know all about it.” His mercy and loving kindness has been portrayed as incompetence and mistaken for lack of power. Woe to us who have said that with our mouths or thought it our hearts. He’s on the move my friend. He’s always been on the move. And it’s faster and bigger than we ever though. The train has picked up speed and with it momentum. Eternity is bearing down on us like a bullet train, and instead of being on the train, we’re drunk with the spirit of this age, playing on the railroad tracks not even seeing or hearing the train of holy righteousness and the inevitable collision.

But back to being heirs with Jesus! So what does the disconnect have to do with all this? In order to fully realize what is really going on, we have to feel it. I have to know with my heart and not my head or mouth that I am nothing and that I can’t, won’t, or ever will know anything about God. I need to have all of my self ambition, goals, ideas, and plans be totally disconnected from me to realize what a worthless thing I am-until I realize the eternal joy of the inheritance that has been set before me. The inheritance of Jesus. I can’t work it out, earn it, or re-do life and try it again. I don’t even get it by myself. It’s partner with Jesus or I get nothing. Better still Jesus says “take My yolk upon you, for My yolk is easy and My burden is light”. He’ll even carry what the Father gives us! If we do have to bear it, He’ll bear it all again(even though He did it once already) just to help us get what He is giving us. You just can’t ask for a better deal.

As it is in heaven, let it be on earth.

J

Which Miracle Do We Need: Reviving or Resurrection?

I just got the latest International House Of Prayer(henceforth referred to as IHOP), and they were interviewing one of the gals there who has been with IHOP since it's inception. They asked her "Why do you give your life to prayer?" This was her reply:

"I give myself to prayer because I am weak. I am not strong enough to do this life without being a person of prayer. I am beginning to see that prayer is the way the Father runs His kingdom."

To me that was a profound statement. Now I know all the verses about having the strength of Christ and greater is He that is in me...etc, etc. I don't discount those at all. However, I think in the midst of claiming those verses, we have somehow turned it around and got it all backwards. Somewhere along the line we thought we had the power and really we have nothing. It's only the grace of God and His loving kindness that calls us to Himself and the sacrifice of His Son that even allows us to approach such strength and power.

But that all aside, I don't know about you but everyday more and more I see people being called to the like of prayer. And it's not just the middle aged woman with the semi devout christian husband whose kids have grown up so she has all day to spend with her head in the clouds hearing another word from God.

I know some of you are mad at me, but the other half of you are rolling your eyes. Come on admit it. That's the picture you get when someone says "intercession".

Regardless of that, that reality has been changing in a radical way that is ever increasing in intensity and speed. "Intercession" has become the heartbeat of thousands upon thousands of people of all ages from all walks of like. The young, the old, the single person, the family, men, women, and children(and they're the ones that are really about to blow up the apple cart of reality, here in a minute), the stay at home mom, and the corporate executive.

Yet the fiercest opposition to this movement isn't the "unsaved" and the "unchurched", As a matter of fact I've talked with people and shared with them what it's like and they say "where is there a church that does that?" They are searching, they are hungry, they are the sheep without a shepherd.

So I take a look around. What do I see? Not a thriving church by any means. Oh, they may be a legend in their own mind but in reality they’re just as hurt and searching as the next unchurched guy. The world has known it for years. If we just stopped and listened fro two seconds instead of trying to convert and reason everything away, maybe we wouldn’t be in the spot we are.

All though it’s negative, it’s the truth. So what’s one suppose to do? I look around and my biggest enemy is the church! Some say it’s dying. Others say it’s living. Some say it just needs to be “revived” like the valley of dry bones. One thing is for sure. God is burning away all the self comfort, religion, falseness, and lies. All the things that we have erected around us to create the image of ourselves and our church organization that we have come to know, and love. The sad part is what we once knew was false, we no longer recognize as just a facade. We actually believe the lie that we have told others.

All my frustration, confusion, and angst about ministry and people and everything, has all come down to this:

The church is obviously dying so what are we suppose to do? What is the miracle that needs to be done here? Is it the healing of the sick man at the pool of Bethesda being raised up from being down and broken, or the raising of Lazarus from the dead?

In other words, are we suppose to jump in and try to be a catalyst for healing and renewal, or does the entity and institution that the church has become to be known as have to completely die and then be raised up from the dead?

It seems to me God has been trying the former, only to be left with no alternative but to let the latter take place. Now I don’t presume to speak for God on this, in fact I don’t ever presume to speak for Him at all.

Compared to the above post this seems opposite, but really it’s not. Either outcome requires the passion, hope, faith, and ambition previously mentioned. To not have that, is to think that it will die and then it’s over. I certainly don’t believe that’s the case at all. I know that it will be either healing or resurrection, I’m just at a loss as to which one I’m suppose to facilitate.

So that my friends is the question. Not a pleasant one, but one that must be addressed, studied, and answered.

Whatever the outcome, these things have forced people into a flight or fight stance when it comes to the life of prayer. It’s either make the attempt to make you life a life of prayer or don’t. There is no middle ground. It’s not a “well I kinda pray”. You go through seasons where you are or you aren’t. Sometimes the seasons are measured in days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months, sometimes years. Take a look around at all the “successful” ministries. Ask them how long they’ve been praying and they will always tell you “years”. So the longer we put off praying the longer the results will be put off.

How are we to partner with the Son of Man in this hour? What are the preparations that must be made for the Bridegroom? What is it that we are being called to do? Everyone has their place, from the person who irons the linens and trims the candle wicks, to the best man and maid of honor. If just one minute detail is missed, however insignificant it seems, things will be incomplete and the Bride will be late in meeting her Bridegroom.

Here’s to hearing the word of the voice of the Lord in this hour.

As it is in heaven, let it be on earth.
J