Ministering to Our World

I realize that my previous post seems very harsh and hard-core. That's not my desire. We all need God's help every day in the areas where we struggle. Each of us face different battles and victory often comes as a process.


"Whom will He teach knowledge? And whom will He make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little there a little." Isaiah 28:9-10


Maturity occurs through growth and God is so gracious and gentle with us. "I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them." (Hosea 11:3-4)


God's words are the nourishment we need to grow strong and healthy in Christ. Peter the Apostle says, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." (I Peter 2:2-3)


The Holy Spirit comes alongside the written word, encouraging us and filling us with joy as we surrender our ways to Him. He never withholds Himself and is present with us, even in the midst of our sins and weaknesses. He isn't afraid to step into our messes and join us in our filth. He only asks that we allow Him to clean us and pull us out.


Graham Cooke writes in his book Coming Into Alignment: "I love the Holy Spirit. He is the happiest, most cheerful person I have ever encountered... He is cheerful, exuberant, and amazingly enthusiastic about us. He loves His role as Comforter, tutor, and come-alongside friend. He gets to talk about Jesus (whom He adores) and equip us to fellowship with the Father. He is an absolute genius at life, a brilliant mentor who knows everything. He has a wonderful sense of humor and is a powerful advocate and warrior. He is never fazed at circumstances but loves to life us up to see more from His perspective. He is a gorgeous, amazing paradox. He is recklessly cheerful and incredibly wise. He is full of majesty and yet astonishingly gentle. He is completely and radiantly Holy, yet comforts us in our struggles and lovingly teaches us the ways of righteousness. He is inspiration, generous, kind, gracious, and endlessly patient in redeeming us to live in Christ." (p68-69)


Francis MacNutt, founder of Christian Healing Ministries, tells us a story in his book Can Homosexuality Be Healed? about two lesbian women who began attending a Bible study. The leaders prayed with them and one received Christ but continued living with the other. As she received unconditional love and read the Word, the Holy Spirit spoke gently to her that she needed to leave her lifestyle. She asked for God's help because she didn't want to hurt her partner. Jesus then appeared to the partner and showed her that it was time to stop living as lesbians. They both "reconciled with God and parted from each other in peace." MacNutt shares, "The Holy Spirit works from inside us, rather than through an imposition of law from without." (p82)


God works within us, transforming us to align us with His very best for our lives. He simply desires us to be sensitive to His wisdom and guidance as we minister to hurting people around us.

Grace and Holiness in the Church

"When Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness." Isaiah 26:9-10


Holiness and grace are two sides to the same coin. Without grace, none of us can stand. Without holiness, love becomes tolerance and acceptance of every form of self-centered action humankind has every thought up. And self-centered equates with rebellion against God and His rules, which means our acceptance quickly evolves into embracing all kinds of gratuitous evil.


How horrible.


Grace and holiness must work together. Historically, we have gone through a holiness phase, followed sadly by a time when many people experienced abuse from self-righteous individuals. The Holy Spirit anointed the Church with powerful grace to minister to the hurting and broken, bringing them back to the fold. This movement, however, has dissolved into tolerance and now outright acceptance in numerous sins that we, the Church, have failed to confront.


In our church today, numerous believers engage in and justify sin, calling it something different. So now the Holy Spirit is calling us to radical restoration of the fullness of His beauty--grace, mercy, and holiness synchronized into pure hearts, righteousness living, and tender mercies for the broken repentant.


As God restores holiness to His church--discernible by the clarifying of Biblical boundaries--many church-goers scream accusations of judgment and unfairness. However, just because there has been and most likely still are some abusers of authority does not negate the clear warnings of Scripture that if we fall away from God's precepts, we have fall snare to the enemy of our souls who seeks only to steal, kill, and destroy.


God's proclaimers of righteousness cry out in grief and agony out of their deep compassion that mirrors the heart of God. Scripture shows clearly that not only church leaders but also believers have a responsibility to hold other believers accountable for ongoing, unrepentant sin. Paul states this concept clearly in I Corinthians 5:9-13: "I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner--not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore 'put away from yourselves the evil person.'"


Wow! This instruction runs smack into our current grace-centered theology. However, it is exactly the same issue going on in our churches today. Paul warns us then and now: "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you...and you are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from you. For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore, purge out the old leaven." (I Corinthians 5:1-7)


Interestingly, the church of Corinth did as Paul directed and the sexually immoral man repented. Note that first the Church repented of their approval and tolerance of the man's sinful lifestyle. Then Paul wrote, "This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man, so that on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm you love to him." (II Corinthians 2:6-8)


Are we, the American church, so afraid of hurting someone's feelings--especially a friend's--that we neglect to enforce Godly boundaries in our interactions that we have stifled and even prevented the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in their lives? Dear friends, I hate conflict. I pour out grace after grace and affirm the person's identity in Christ over and over, praying for their relationship with Jesus to be strengthened and their consciences sensitized to the boundaries and blessings He has for them as they surrender their vices and weaknesses to Him.


Yet, there also comes a point where sin has such a stronghold that the person rebels against gentle reminders and corrections. This rebellion is a demonic stronghold, as Scripture asserts, and no demon will bow the knee to Jesus or release its hold until the person must decide what side he/she is on and renounces the familiar spirit and the habitual sin (see II Corinthians 10:1-6, 12:19-21, 13:5).


As we seek to walk in accordance with holiness and grace, Scripture clearly states that God's grace is for the humble, broken, and repentant while dis-fellowship is for the proud, arrogant, and unrepentant. James states the matter clearly: "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously?' But He gives more grace. Therefore He says, 'God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up." (4:4-10)


How wonderful Redemption is! For both believer and unbeliever, God promises complete cleansing and restoration of fellowship simply upon our cry of repentance and need. As the Holy Spirit resensitizes His church to the full message of grace and holiness, we who have tolerated sin in ourselves and others need to repent and fully embrace Biblical standards as we extend the awesome promise of Christ's redeeming power.


"If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:6, 8-9

My Protector

God is an awesome Protector! I’m so thankful He’s my Abba Daddy.

When I first became single again, a vast world of possibilities opened up to me or so I thought. I was free from negativity, criticism, and oppression, and I inhaled the fresh air of freedom with joy and gladness. Accompanying my joy, a deep longing to experience a kind, giving relationship bloomed inside me. I had a vault full of treasure to share and I longed to find a gentle, loving man to give it to.

My joy and motherly instincts attracted attention. A divorced man with two kids asked me to coffee. I suggested we meet at a park instead. He called me on the phone and my heart ached to mother his children and have my own home to care for again. Because I always seek to give grace, I brushed off the somewhat demeaning and arrogant way he talked to others. I told myself his jokes weren’t meant to be harsh. After each conversation, however, I felt a warning that his beliefs weren’t quite in line with Scripture. Attached to his kids, I kept downplaying the growing unease I felt. I offered to babysit his children, but God stepped in. He brought me into contact with people who told me a little more of this man’s background and his children’s strange behaviors. Torn between feeling judgmental and sick to my stomach when he talked about Sophia, a so-called Biblical member of the Trinity, I experienced a demonic attack. I knew exactly where the spirit had come from. A meeting with a new friend confirmed all the suspicions I had been trying to explain away. The man was into witchcraft and even boasted of being able to make his daughter fall asleep on command. I told the man I couldn’t hang out with him anymore because he did not have the same spirit as me. That week, he left the church.

God knows how difficult it’s been for me to learn to heed His still, quiet voice immediately. Attending college at the same time as me, an older man shared his story about a horrible war zone experience and his resulting PTSD and drug use. Clean and sober, he was determined to help others defeat addictions, for which I greatly admired him. I began praying for him and had received several visions of seeing him transformed by the love of Jesus. A year later, he and I ended up in the same class together. His eyes sparkled whenever he talked, his manner showed kindness, and he suggested getting together. I was excited to share the hope of Jesus, and overcame my usual reticence, giving him a music CD and my phone number. He said he’d call me, but as he shared a story about a former girlfriend, the Lord flashed the word “player” across my mind. I wanted to ignore it, but as he waved my number, I said, “I make friends with many kinds of people.” He didn’t call me. I started to feel really bad about the way I had phrased my boundary. I found his number in the phone book and called it, but the Lord already knew: the number was disconnected. As I threw away the paper I’d written it on, instantly it flashed into a condom. I prayed and prayed, listening to the man in class, watching his words and actions take on an aggressive manner around me. He was so strong on my heart, I pushed past his coldness and gave him a book on the Father’s heart. Daddy God wrapped my heart in His love, but the man’s warm, twinkling eyes were building a deeper attraction in me. I begged God for a clear answer, and God answered my prayer. I came to school at an unusual time and saw a woman with her hand on his thigh. She was enough of a friend and espousing Christian that later I asked her about his moral values. She laughed as she admitted he had slept with every willing girl on campus as well as her. Later they married, and I thanked God for forewarning and protecting me.

These incidents as well as others have solidified in me the necessity of heeding the gentle prompting of the Holy Spirit. God knows the spirit and nature of a person and reveals the truth when we ask.

Although I based on the title of my first book, Love that is Blind, on a 4Him song about the basics of life, I know now that Love is not blind. Our Father God sees clearly, forgives continually, and empowers us with the ability to change. That’s grace! He also puts up firm boundaries for our protection, warning us not to seek unity with someone who pursues worldly lusts.

Our Abba Daddy desires to protect us from toxicity, especially in romantic relationships. He desires marriage to be a fountain of blessing for a lifetime, but that can happen only when both partners live in surrender to Him.

Today God Speaks

For Christmas, a friend gave me the book "Heart of a Lioness" by Irene Gleeson, a missionary to the children of Uganda for 22 years before her death in 2013. She served in the heart of a war zone, founding a school and rescuing myriad children from the brutalities of being forced to be child soldiers and sex slaves. My friend said, "When I listened to an interview by her, the Lord whispered, "Get Ayrian the book."


I began reading it with reluctance. Irene's second husband left her on the mission field when the country decided to shut down the school even after the Australian couple had endured numerous hostilities and miraculous deliverances from death. All I could think was, "How depressing."


But I started reading with the question, "Okay, God, what is it You want to tell me?"


I read about Irene's salvation after years of rebelling against God and her recounting of the Lord's simple directives, guiding her and her husband, comforting her in loss, and strengthening her in adversity. I thought, "Well, You do that for me, Lord."


She shared about the Lord directing them to the mission field. I thought of the word God spoke to me when I realized He really did want me to go overseas: "I will give you everything you need." And He did.


She shared about God strengthening her to forgive and continue the school on her own after her husband abandoned her. I thought about the days I sat by myself in a little cabin during my DTS, struggling with loneliness and emotional abandonment. The Lord stepped into that cabin and spoke clearly to my heart, "I will never turn My back on you."


I recalled the times when God gently warned me of crisis, preparing my heart to respond like Jesus. He showed me something was wrong concerning my marriage while we were stationed in Germany, just nights before I found my husband viewing pornography. My response was filled with grief and yet forgiving.


Years later as I washed dishes, living with my children at my parents' house, the Lord placed a swift vision before my eyes. I saw a bonfire and my ex-husband burning hundreds of copies of my book Love that is Blind. The Lord said, "If he burns your book, will you forgive him?" I said, "Yes, Lord" and relegated the vision to the background of my mind, assuming the Lord had simply been testing my character. I didn't know how accurate the vision was until I discovered that over 10 boxes of my book that I had left in Oregon no longer existed. I said in shock, "God told me something like this would happen." My ex said derisively, "Serves you right."


The Lord has faithfully shown me numerous times visions and spoken words that bear witness to a current work He is doing or a direction He wants me to take for the future He has for me and the children. When I lived at my parents' home, I repeatedly saw visions of the children and I living in a two-story home with bedrooms upstairs, a white-picket fence and a tree in the yard. The visions were consistently the same but I didn't relate them to a prophecy. I just accepted this spiritual haven as a place where the Lord was gentle and kind to me, husband in my divorced state just as He had been in my hurt while married.


Then one day, I saw with my spirit my Heavenly Father's eyes twinkling as He said to me, "I have a surprise..." I tried to hear the rest, but His words trailed off, tantalizing, teasing, loving. That afternoon I received a call. There was a four-bedroom, two-bath home available for the kids and I in a good neighborhood if I wanted it. It had laundry hook-up and had been newly remodeled. I jumped at the chance, switching my deposit last minute from a much smaller home with no laundry hook-ups. That month as I climbed the stairs of my new home, the Holy Spirit opened my remembrance. I ran to the window and looked out and began to laugh with joy. The white picket fence wasn't around a large yard, but it was there, around my patio, and a small tree stood just a few feet beyond. And here I was--upstairs where the kids and I slept and prayed our bedtime prayers!


Even as I rejoiced over my new house, great distress hit me as two of my children's misbehavior at school escalated beyond my control. I cried and wept and begged God for help. The after-effects of divorce had become massive, triggering stress-related outbursts. In the middle of my day--agony a burden I couldn't shake--the Lord showed me a vision of a gorgeous orange sun on the horizon. He said, "What do you see?" I said numbly, "A sunset." For it felt like the end of hope to me. He said gently, "Look again. It's a sunrise." And as I looked again with the eyes of my spirit, the sun burst over gorgeous mountain peaks with all the beauty and promise of a brand new day.


Two weeks later as I drove the kids to school, we took a slightly different route to their new school, my heart still ached over whether I had made the right choice to transfer them and whether it would help. Just as I turned onto the street to their school, the exact replica of the vision appeared right before me in reality. My breath caught. The mountain peaks were gorgeous and snow-covered in the distance behind MountainView Elementary, and the sun was bursting up and over them with orange then sparkling yellow brilliance. How amazing! The Holy Spirit confirmed the truth within my soul and I knew with absolute certainty: I had made the right choice. We were going the right direction. Jesus would heal my children of their anger, confusion, and orphan hearts.


And you know what? He keeps doing exactly what He's said. Like Irene, I've been a missionary and I've struggled through fear and abandonment. But what the Lord wanted to show me as I've read her book is that we don't have to be on or heading to the mission field for Him to lead, comfort, and sustain us. He speaks to all of us, all the time. If we're listening. If we want His guidance. If we want Him.


It's just Who He is.

The Big Reversal

The Old Testament spends its entire volume dealing with the outward behavior in order to get to the heart. In other words, it focuses on external behavior but with the intent of exposing the corruptness of human nature (Jeremiah 17:9). The purpose for revealing our innate wrong way of thinking is not ultimately to condemn us but to get us ready for the Coming Savior (Ephesians 4:20-22).

Once Jesus walks this earth and accomplishes His mission of paying for all humanity’s rebellion, a big shift in focus occurs. No longer does God have to deal with us from the outside in, but He declares that He will live in us when we receive His payment (John 14:23). In other words, now He can work from the inside out (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Therefore, after Jesus’ ascension, the New Testament deals primarily with our heart, often called our inner man, showing how a new identity and the power of the Holy Spirit enable us to please God and bless others (Colossians 3:9-10). Behavior is now dealt with as a maturity issue (Hebrews 5:12-14). Just as children are human from the start, yet they must learn new skills, so the New Testament authors reveal the Lord works with us who believe (I Peter 2:2).

This Reversal is so vital to understand because it changes the way our symptoms (outer behavior) are diagnosed and treated. It also provides a freedom from conformity and man’s opinion based on outward behavior so that we can be open, vulnerable, transparent, and honest as God works on our hearts (Ephesians 6:6). This Reversal provides God the way to hold us each accountable for our heart attitude rather than just the appearance of righteousness (Colossians 2:16-23). It also frees us to walk in mercy, forgiveness, and grace rather than shame, condemnation, and judgment.

The amazing thing about the New Covenant (the Reversal) is that it allows God to prioritize mercy over judgment (James 2:13). It doesn’t mean His holiness has changed, but that an eternal payment has been made. He poured out His wrath on Jesus (Isaiah 43:10). When we accept Jesus’ stand-in for us, then we’ve stepped under the covering of His death, like an umbrella that repels the rain (Romans 6:6). Jesus took God’s wrath—the punishment we deserved—for us and replaced our heart of stone with a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26). Isn’t that amazing? He says, “No longer is your heart deceitful and desperately wicked, incurable. I’ve destroyed that old heart and performed heart surgery. You have a new heart! A pure heart, clean and whole and righteous, the home of My Spirit. You are now the temple of the Living God (I Corinthians 6:19). I live in you so I will no longer punish you for your sins but I will help you grow so that you hear My voice and have the power to obey (Philippians 2:13).”

The Apostle Peter said, “We have been given great and precious promises! The divine nature!” (II Peter 1:3-4) Incredible. Impossible. Accomplished. The divine nature means a relentless submission to the will of the Father, just like Jesus (Philippians 2:5-8). It doesn’t mean we’re perfect yet. God is working on our souls—our wills, hearts, and emotions. But because we know He is working, we can be kinder to one another (Ephesians 4:32). We can delight in each other’s growth and development like siblings delight in each new developmental stage (Hebrews 10:24).

Praise God, we no longer have to be afraid of judgment and we no longer have to strive to get our behavior to match people’s expectations (Galatians 6:13-15). Did you know that rules aren’t necessary when the heart is right? It’s true. Rules are simply a way to try to define what a humble, righteous heart looks like (I Timothy 1:5). The Apostle Paul tells us that rules are for the unrighteous and self-centered (I Timothy 1:9-10). Do we still have to have rules in place in our homes, businesses, schools, and countries? Of course, because none of us are perfect yet and too many people assume that liberty means we get to do whatever we want (Romans 13:1-5). But God’s liberty means we get to do whatever HE wants (Galatians 5:13). And that’s a big difference.

So the Great Reversal allows God to plant His heart in us and transform our thinking to mirror His (Romans 12:1-2). Once we’ve accepted this heart change, the Curse is broken over our lives. The Bible says, “Jesus became a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13-14). This means, He’s saying in effect, “I’m not going to hold you to a punishment that is more than you can bear. I’m not going to punish you at all! I’m going to help you grow and bless you. That blessing includes the greatness of My lovingkindness and mercy. It means I’m going to give you second chance after second chance after second chance, and add no sorrow to it (Proverbs 10:22). My discipline will be like a chiropractor’s care. When something is out of place in your life, you’ll feel its pain like a dislocated shoulder. But when you bring your attitude and behavior to Me, I’ll fix it from within you. I’ll adjust your thinking and behavior to be like Mine, and then you’ll sigh with such relief and gratefulness, you’ll never be afraid to come to Me for My correcting mercy and grace again!” (Hebrews 4:16, 12:10-11)

 

Identity in Christ: Heart Transplant

Becoming a child of God can happen in only one way: We must receive a new heart.


Jesus said that we must be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God. He said very specifically, "You must be born of water and the Spirit." (John 3:3-6)


Ezekiel prophesied this occurrence in the Old Testament. As a prophet of God, he declared God's promise: "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit with in you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them."(Ezekiel 36:26-27)


The prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah made it clear why a heart transplant has to take place. "A man's heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked." (Jeremiah 17:9) "Our righteousness is as filthy rags."(Isaiah 64:6)


The Apostle Paul states clearly, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new." (II Corinthians 5:17) Paul explains further that none of our attempts to earn heaven will ever cover up the sinful nature inherent within each of us. Nor can our good works even begin to compare to the holiness of God. (Romans 3:19-23)


Therefore, God offered a once-and-for-all solution: the death of Jesus on the cross as payment for our sins AND a complete DNA change: sin-riddled heart and dead spirit replaced with pure heart and spirit breathed alive by the indwelling presence of the Spirit of God inside us upon the moment of rebirth. (Ephesians 2:1-5)


Jesus promised to those who embrace Him, speaking of Himself and the Father, "We will come to them and make our home in them." (John 14:23) He declared irrevocably, "The Spirit of truth...dwells with you and will be in you." (John 14:17) The Apostle Paul declares the same truth after Jesus' resurrection, "Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance." (Ephesians 1:13-14)


This heart transplant guarantees a new identity: Child of God (Romans 8:15-16). The Apostle John, who lived longer than any of the other disciples, rejoices in this amazing identity change: "How great the Father's love that He has lavished on us that we should be called children of God!" (I John 3:1)


Here then is Daddy's heart: That everyone who cries out for the mercy and covering of the Cross will receive a complete heart transplant! Jesus paid for it with His own life. The Holy Spirit performs the surgery and remains within us as the Absolute Guarantor that the surgery "took". He executes a complete coup on the enemy: delivering us out of the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of Light! (Colossians 1:13)


How amazing that the Father took full custody the moment, we said, "I want You in me!" He didn't just temporarily set up house to see if we mean it, which would put us back under the works of the law, because now it'd be dependent on our actions again instead of simply our cry for His mercy (Galatians 3:3). Rather, as soon as that cry for mercy bursts from the heart, He snaps His fingers and says, "Done! It is finished! The whole price was paid for every sin past, present, and future, and I'm never backing out of our deal. I'm taking that old sinful heart out right now--this instant--and giving you a brand new one. And I'm thrilled to live within you and begin the process of renewing your soul, so that your will, mind, and emotions will grow to reflect My new nature in you." (Romans 12:1-2).


I know there are some people who debate whether a person can lose this new identity, this new heart, and one's place in God's family. After all, there are many Scriptures that urge us to examine ourselves to make sure we are truly in the faith (II Corinthians 13:5). Paul spends several chapters in his epistle to the Romans explaining why we must not continue deliberately sinning, saying that it's not a big deal because we receive God's payment and forgiveness. His payment was His own life!!! (Romans 6) Not only was the payment extremely high and must be received with deepest humility and gratitude, but purposefully sinning brings us back under its power. Refusing to submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who will always lead us into Godliness and holiness, opens us back up to the torment of the enemy within our souls (Matthew 18:33-34, I Timothy 1:20).


These verses give severe warning and appeal to our new spiritual DNA. Unbelievers must receive a revelation from the Holy Spirit to turn from self-righteous sufficiency to full dependence upon the redemptive work of Christ (II Corinthians 4:3-4). Scripture also warn us as believers not begin to think we need to earn continual infilling of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul writes the entire letter to the Galatians to combat that heresy. We receive the Holy Spirit by pure grace, and He remains of His own great love for us--Praise God!!!


We humbly yield our lives to Him, and never is our efforts the cause of our salvation, godliness, giftings, or empowering. Obedience and salvation are both EFFECTS of the new identity we have as Children of God!!!

Breakout!!!

Wow. Saturday night's church service was  SO powerful. The Presence of God was so thick, all I could do was keep trying to soak in every drop.

It made me think of double-the-atmospheric pressure. Science has researched how creation would have to have been to keep dinosaurs alive because they are these mammoth creatures with nostrils no bigger than a horse’s. The larger the creature, the more oxygen it needs to live, but today’s level of oxygen wouldn’t be sufficient for muscular health. It would be like breathing through a straw for them. However, the giant plants, bugs, and animals that have been found fossilized show that the atmosphere back then would have had double the amount of oxygen in it.

That’s what I felt like at Faith Center this weekend: like I’ve been breathing in Jesus at home, soaking in Him, and then bam—when I enter church, I get hit twice as hard. Wow! There is something to the whole thing of gathering in one accord, with every heart and gaze focused on adoring Him.

Interesting too, because when people are placed in a hyperbaric chamber with double the atmospheric pressure, guess what happens? Healing!!! Intense, saturated oxygen enables the physical body to rapidly replace damaged cells. A little girl had fallen down a pipeline years ago and by the time they rescued her, one leg had turned completely black from the lack of blood flow. Instead of cutting off the limb, they placed her in a hyperbaric chamber. They saw pink flesh return and soon her entire limb was functioning in full strength again. Isn’t it amazing?

I think God’s doing the same thing with His Church. He’s upping the level of grace-filled atmosphere, flooding it with His Presence, like Bill Johnson at Bethel Church has said, bringing more and more into the House. And He’s going to keep bringing more, filling the place with His glory, flooding our lives with His peace, saturating our hearts with His presence so we can’t help but “leak all over the place” (Kevin Dedmon, founder of FireStarters) and people who just walk into Church will be smitten with His love and healing power.

Last night, the Lord kept soaking me at home as I meditated on what we’d prayed over at Corporate Prayer, and I saw fires breaking out all over. Not literal ones but symbolic of the Holy Spirit in people who are saturated with Him, and then all the sudden in the midst of our everyday stuff—bam! God is going to strike us with supernatural anointing. He’s already doing it! He’s breaking out in our midst.

I heard Him say in my spirit, “A wave of My Spirit is going to hit My church and it will be like the breaking of a dam or like the leaping out of flames from a wildfire that can’t be contained. In that moment, the last shall be first, the first last. Those who joined late will see the same effects of My Spirit as those who have been toiling and learning. Don’t let jealousy, resentment, grumbling, or complaining overtake those who have worked long and seen little. Now everyone will see together the results of the fire of My Spirit on a people dedicated to worshipping and adoring Me. Don’t dam it up or try to contain it. Young and old, men and women, learned and unlearned will all be hit by My Spirit together—an outpouring of My passion and goodness that will sweep across America, breaking asunder the religious spirit that has plagued this nation for generations.”

I can’t even imagine what this is going to look like! But I’m all in!!!

In the Trenches

Early on this week as I worshipped and prayed in my living room, God showed me a picture in the spirit realm. I saw a strong, powerfully fit man, the Holy Spirit, digging a trench in a dry, barren land. It was back-breaking work, toiling in the hot sun. The land desperately needed water.

I begged God, “Send rain. We’re waiting. We’re oh, so thirsty. Send rain.” The Lord said, “I have sent rain—time after time.” I said, “Oh, God, we need more…so much more.” As I cried out, I saw a prophet to the nations. I begged for him to come because I knew he carried God's anointing and would bring a deluge—a huge, torrential deluge that Papa God had reserved to be poured out upon this place.

I gasped in air as I saw the so-badly needed water about to be released, and in that moment I understood how it would just rush off, because it would move too fast, passing over the land before the hard ground could drink it up or stop it. I cried, “Oh, Daddy, the trench isn’t deep enough. It will have to be so much deeper to hold that much water.” Because a very, very deep trench could take in the water, hold it, store it, save it so it could irrigate the land as it soaked into the rocky soil.

The Holy Spirit leaned on His shovel, gazing just over the top of that trench He had dug by refusing to give into the heat, refusing to stop in His grueling, monotonous effort. He smiled, and Father said, “It’s deep enough. Let it rain.”

Every Fire Needs Grace

In the natural, every fire must have two ingredients to keep burning: fuel and oxygen.

Firefighters pre-burn an area of land with smaller fires they can control so that when the raging wildfire arrives at that strip of land, it finds no more fuel. With no more trees or brush to consume, the fire turns back on itself and dies. In his book Welcoming a Visitation of the Holy Spirit, Wes Campbell, pastor of New Life Vineyard Fellowship in Kelowna, British Columbia, shares, “In the same way, the fire of the Spirit must be touching new people every day in order to keep blazing.” I would add that the fire within our souls must stay in continual connection with God to stay alive.

Isaiah 9:18-19 makes this same correlation, although in a negative sense. Remember, what is true spiritually applies both in the positive and negative. The prophet writes, “For wickedness burns as the fire; it shall devour the briers and thorns, and kindle in the thickets of the forest. They shall mount up like rising smoke. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land is burned up, and the people shall be as fuel for the fire. No man shall spare his brother.” The emphasis of the passage is not on physical fire devouring natural trees but about how spiritual wickedness devours people.

Spiritual passion operates by the same principle. Love for the Lord ignites in our hearts when we offer our lives as fuel for the Lord’s flame, the flame of Yah. This fire then leaps forward, blown by the wind of the Spirit, to the next willing heart—the next person hungry for God’s love and personal Presence.

Jordan Fowler conveys this principle with beautiful and powerful imagery in the song Fuel:

“I have no silver and no gold to give.

No frankincense or precious myrrh.

But what I have to You I give: a heart that’s broken for the world.

Consume me for Your fire and use me for Your heart’s desire:

To spread Your flame to every tribe and nation.

I give up my life to You to burn as Your holy fuel.

Ignite my heart to burn up for the nations.

My life can be Your fuel—my hopes, my dreams, my wants, my all.

My life can be Your fuel.” 

Second, fire must have oxygen. We can have all the wood in the world, but if the atmosphere is sucked dry of oxygen, every fire will instantly extinguish. That’s why small fires can be suffocated with a heavy blanket or stomped out by a tough boot. The same truth applies to us as people. In the realm of spiritual analogy, oxygen represents grace. Robert Louis Stevenson once said, “There is nothing but God’s grace. We walk upon it; we breathe it; we live and die by it; it makes the nails and axles of the universe.” Ole Hallesby said, “The ‘air’ which our souls need also envelops all of us at all times and on all sides. God is round about us…on every hand, with many-sided and all-sufficient grace.”

Without grace, we perish. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God!” (Ephesians 2:8). Without grace, our passion for God suffocates. “Our sufficiency is from God…not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life” (II Corinthians 3:5-6). The fastest way to kill passion for Jesus is with legalism. Will we still love Him? Yes, but our strength to serve Him will be gone. Why? Because “The joy of the Lord is our strength” (Nehemiah 8:10) and “Desire gave you renewed strength” (Isaiah 57:10 NLT). This spiritual principle also applies in a positive and negative. We can be passionate for things that are not of God, pursuing them, such as Isaiah talks about, because desire spurs us on. Or we can crucify sinful passions and cultivate passion for Jesus. This passion becomes our strength to keep running after Him and keep pouring ourselves out to others. Proverbs 11:29 says, “The way of the Lord is strength for the upright.” Why? Because He is our delight and greatest pleasure (Psalm 16:11).

However, legalism kills desire. When we “ought” to do something and are critically judged by others around us, or even by ourselves, when we fail to get it right, our mistakes become a towering wall of perfectionism—an impassable barrier between us and the joy of the Lord. The Apostle Paul writes with rejoicing, “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” Why is he rejoicing so greatly? Because Christ paid the cost of all our mistakes! Every sin and failure and misunderstanding was laid upon His shoulders at Calvary. He hung upon that tree to make sure we’re never trapped behind the Wall of Perfectionism again!

Does His incredible grace mean we can sin and not be called to account? No, but grace means that when we realize how badly we’ve blown it and that we’re on the wrong side of the wall again, we can leap over it, back into the place of right fellowship with the Lord (Psalm 18:29, I John 1:9). The Holy Spirit declares to us with beautiful invitation, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). The Spirit calls out again to us through the prophet Isaiah, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price…. Let your soul delight itself in abundance! Incline your ear and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live!” (55:1-3)

We come to God through grace. There is no other way. Anyone who tries to live by the law must keep every part, but there has never been a man or woman who can (Galatians 6:13). Nor can the law make anyone perfect, even after salvation through faith (Galatians 3:3). Grace alone is God’s tool to form His Son in us. Grace is the oxygen of the soul.

When grace abounds in a life, a church, and a community, then the fire of the Spirit will blaze free and strong. Our hearts will be ignited with a holy thirst to partake freely of the waters of life (Revelation 22:17).

Then we will be the Bride who calls along with the Spirit in her, “Come! Everyone who thirsts, come to the River of Life!!!”

The Holy Spirit's Oil

In the previous post, I mentioned that I was unsure of what the black oil in my vision represented. After all, petroleum isn't in Scripture. However, lamp oil is found throughout the Old and New Testaments, and I sense that for the Lord's purposes, they are the same.

In the natural world, oil is turned into kerosene and gasoline for fuel for both private and corporate use. If this black oil is the same as lamp oil referred to many times in Scripture, then the Word says, “There is desirable treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man squanders it” (Proverbs 21:20). Each of us has oil, but not every one is saved nor do all use it wisely.

So what is oil? I believe oil represents passion. It can be passion for Christ or the squandered passion of recent generations. Desire needs to fuel our walk with the Lord, or we soon burn out and begin to stray in our hearts, no longer passionate for the things of God. Zechariah 4:1-14 talks about two oil trees which supply continual oil to the lampstand in the temple. We are the temple of God (I Corinthians 3:19), and throughout the Old Testament oil represents the anointing and presence of the Holy Spirit (I Samuel 16:12-13, Isaiah 61:1).

Jesus also speaks of the wise having oil in their vessels and lamps while the foolish took no oil with them. Those who did not bring an extra supply of oil  went to buy more, but when they returned, they were not allowed into the bridegroom’s chambers (Matthew 25:3-13). We know that those who are not born again do not receive the Holy Spirit, and therefore do not have eternal life in them (Romans 8:9-11). They pursue fleshly passions, which do not qualify them to enter the kingdom of heaven, but are in fact in opposition to it (Galatians 5:24, Ephesians 4:22).

The Holy Spirit longs to fuel our passion for the Lord just like the sun is fueled by an interior energy source. Daniel 12:3 says the righteous will shine forth like the stars. I deeply believe that this word applies today. Jesus said we are the light of the world, because He is in us and He is Light (Matthew 5:14-16, John 1:4,9, 12:46). Natural light always comes from either fire made from natural resources such as oil or wood or from nuclear energy, such as the fire of the sun and stars.

Today the Holy Spirit yearns to burn within us, fusing our natural desire to His so that we will radiate so much heat that we become nuclear power plants of holy fire!

Let's seek His passion so we can live our lives on fire for Him!!!

Algebra 101

“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” –Jesus  (John 17:21)

All of creation testifies to the glory of God—even mathematics! During my algebra class last semester, I was amazed to discover spiritual truths hidden within the natural order of numbers. And why not? God created the rules and application of algebra the same as He created the stars in space and the hairs on our heads. Certainly, He loves to use every opportunity to teach us more about Himself, and when we pay attention, these opportunities are limitless!

One lesson in particular stood out to me: it regarded “Unity” or “Oneness”.

In algebra, one of the primary goals of mathematicians is to reduce a complex fraction of factors and numbers to its simplest form. For instance, picture the fraction: 5a72b(33c) over 34x41y3z. This fraction has no common factors. It can’t be reduced within itself because two or three or four or thirteen cannot divide evenly into all the numbers. This fraction can only be simplified—or, put another way, brought to “oneness” –through an external manipulation of some sort.

I believe that God sees the diverseness of the human race and the distinct differences of each human being the same way. Certainly, He created us as beautifully unique, so our complexity is not a bad thing! However, I Corinthians 12:12 says, “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” Jesus desires a Church that is One with Him, yet the rifts and differences between Christians are often strong and sharp!

How then does the Lord bring “oneness” to His Church, His Bride? How does He make us one with Him and each other? In algebra, the Lord helped me to understand the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing about this transformation. Primarily, it is a covering of grace until we all reach the “perfect man” spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 4:13.

Using the algebraic example above, the Holy Spirit represents the mathematician who understands that numerator and denominator must develop common factors which make the differences insignificant. The fruit of the Spirit’s work is kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and love, which create a reciprocation of grace when developed in the lives of believers. The Holy Spirit births within each of us a “new man” made in the image of Christ. This new man, spoken of by Paul in Ephesians 4:20-24, is the common factor we all possess. In algebra, this means that 5a72b(33c) willingly multiplies to 34x41y3z. This creates a big long number that seems even more complicated, but the work of the Spirit, our mathematician, isn’t done yet. At the same time He is at work in us, He is at work in others. The denominator also accepts the same bonding process: 34x41y3z is multiplied to 5a72b(33c).

Here’s the amazing truth hidden within this simple procedure: When the factors in the numerator exactly mirror the factors in the denominator, they reduce down to 1. One on top; one on bottom. And one over one is simply: 1. Ephesians  4:4-5 says, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

Jesus has created us equal in Him! He’s generated, by the power of His Spirit, a new man, which is our new nature, made like Him in us!!! (Romans 6:5, 8:29)

Galatians 3:28 says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Does this Scripture mean we lose our uniqueness when the Holy Spirit performs His equalizing work in us? Not at all. Rather, our individuality no longer calls the shots. Through the power of the Spirit, we submit to His work of love in our lives, and we are able to lavish on others the kindness and grace which the Lord has given us.

Paul says in Philippians 2:1-3, “If there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

For a long time, I believed that this debasement meant devaluing myself, saying I wasn’t special or worth much. But that’s not what Jesus says. He says we’re each precious, the apple of His eye, cherished and beloved in His sight. (Zechariah 2:8, Isaiah 43:1-4) No, the equalizing work of the Holy Spirit is not one of demeaning oneself but of lifting others up, treating them with the same incredible value we experience the Lord giving us so that they might experience and believe His great love for them too.

Do I feel beloved and precious to the Lord? Then may I see others the same way! Do I experience the passionate, personal love of the Lord poured upon me as His beloved? (Song of Songs 1:2) Then let me be the friend who stands next to the Bridegroom and rejoices to see His passion for others! (John 3:29)

Did Jesus allow others to debase Him, surrendering His privileges as God Most High? Yes, He did. Then may I also have the humility to walk past the insults of people who wound me, whether knowingly or not, without retaliating against them but continuing steadfastly to love them. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps…who when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness.” (I Peter 2:21-24)

The Lord has called us to unity, and the equalizing factors He has offered us are the fruits of His own Spirit at work in our lives: forgiveness, peace, and mercy as well as blessing, joy, and love.

May our lives radiate the fullness of His glorious grace!!!

Melted Sugar

Okay, time for some fun. I’m calling this entry “Cooking 101 with Jesus.”

Yesterday, the Lord gave me a picture of His kitchen. He had two pots on the stove. One held butter, the other sugar. We were making No-Bake Cookies. Yum!!! He brought the flame under the sugar pot to a steady flicker. (We’re dealing with the gas stove of the Holy Spirit here; ie, Romans 12:11, II Timothy 1:6.) J

The butter the Lord said represented the respect we give one another as fellow believers. Our respect for the work of the Holy Spirit melts our hearts and keeps us soft and sensitive, responding to His grace and power at work in our lives through the ministry of the Church.

The sugar He said represented His love, the extravagant sweetness He places in our lives that make our cookies (the deeds we do for His Kingdom) so scrumptious!

To my curiosity, the burner under the pot of butter began to act up. The flame shot high, burning too fast, then too low, leaving the butter cold. The Holy Spirit said, “Place the butter with the sugar, so they are in one pot.” Respect and love work best when melted together. A good illustration of this is the reciprocation between spouses (Ephesians 5:21-33). Another is submission within a body of believers, where we respect one another’s free will and individual choices yet remain united through the love of the Spirit poured into our hearts (Romans 15:1-2; Philippians 2:1-2).

Then Jesus did something that shocked me. After I combined the two ingredients in one pot, He took the five-pound bag of sugar on the counter and dumped the whole thing into the pot. The sugar filled the pot and overflowed, making a mess all over the stove and floor. I stared. Was it an accident?

Jesus smiled. “My love is extravagant.”

I studied the mess and decided that if Jesus had that much love to give, I needed to get a bigger pot. So I switched the pot for a big kettle, but Jesus just can’t be outdone. He walked in with a twenty-pound bag of sugar, hefted it onto His shoulder, and poured…and poured…and poured.

Laughter bubbled up. “Jesus, You win! No matter how big the pot I find, Your love overflows the brim.” I sat cross-legged in the mountains of sugar on the floor and gazed up with a smile brimful of delighted adoration. “So what am I supposed to do?”

He smiled. “Cook. And let the little children dip their fingers in the sugar that has overflowed the pot. My love cannot be restricted to boundaries. I give My Spirit without measure.” (Luke 6:38, John 3:34)

Eugene Peterson expresses it this way in the Message Bible: “Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” (Ephesians 5:2)

Jesus isn’t interested in measuring cups or the human boundaries we set on loving people. He said, “Melt the sugar in the pot and get more butter. Make an even bigger batch.” What we do for others, we do for Him (Matthew 25:40). He desires the condition of our hearts and souls to be incredibly soft and pliable—more than pliable, liquid gold—for Him to pour out His love, and even our lives, in any fashion He desires (I Thessalonians 2:8, II Timothy 4:6).

Yet, even as melted butter and sugar are not easy for anyone to handle except the Lord—they’re too hot and drip all over the place—so the Lord adds our humanity to the mix of our melted hearts, allowing others to "handle" us in the interface of common, everyday life. Our humanity is like the oatmeal flakes added to the No-Bake Cookies recipe. Once the ingredients set up with the oatmeal, anyone can pick them up and “taste and see” the work and love of God in our lives—prayerfully and hopefully experiencing it in a fresh, mouth-watering way, exclaiming with delight, “The Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8)

PS. We often here of the "milk of human kindness" and people's personalities are sometimes referred to in terms of "chocolate" or "vanilla". It seems fitting that in this recipe of loving others that friendship and personality get melted into the mix!