Breathe This All Day Long

Trust and obedience to the call of God (whether mighty tugs or gentle whispers) are the most powerful elements of our humanity.  Dare to live for Him and watch what begins to happen.  Exercising those precious gifts in the opportunities of the day brings immense beauty on earth.  Pause from the voices of your favorite camp for a bit and try to listen directly to His.

The Tap is at Hand

“The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Some translations say “The kingdom of heaven is near.”  Either way, when Jesus came to us in the flesh, and especially when He began His earthly ministry, something truly changed.  Heaven was now something that had come so close we could touch it.  Once the work of Good Friday was finished and the temple’s veil was ripped in two, the way became totally cleared for His presence to be our normal experience.  Sometimes we forget and misunderstand and pray for God to be with us.  But He already is and promised to never leave.  It’s time to pray other prayers. 

The end of Romans 8 defines some of it… “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  We have His presence; we have His love.

It gets even better.  The words we speak have power to change the atmosphere.  No news there.  But when you are carrying the presence of God inside you and the way is open, you have access to His wisdom and resources, and believing as you go, there will be opportunities to live out what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer:  “Our Father…your will be done ON earth AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”  Don’t let those just be overly familiar words to pass over.  Our opportunity is to actually bring heaven to earth with His presence, His healing, His peace, His comfort to those who mourn, His provision.   We are the vessels that contain heaven’s treasure and pour it out as we go.

There is a remarkable paragraph in Acts 5.  It has to do with shadows.  Shadows are only created when something is close and is near a light source.  A shadow is the result of the presence of light and the nearness of the thing casting the shadow.  Probably all of us have experienced the sweet shade (shadow) of a tree on a hot summer day.   But the section in Acts 5 (start at verse 12) reveals the potential of the presence of even the shadow of a believer.  Read this:  “The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade.  No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people.  Nevertheless, MORE AND MORE men and women BELIEVED IN THE LORD and were added to their number.  AS A RESULT, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that AT LEAST PETER’S SHADOW might fall on some of them as he passed by.  Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, AND ALL OF THEM WERE HEALED.”

There is an immense reservoir of heaven waiting to come to earth as we believe, as we learn the pulse of His heart and to hear His voice, to obey the tugs of opportunity, and walk expecting that He will use vessels like us for His work of healing and freedom. 

Does it make you curious to know how much might be available for us to distribute? 

In the morning, take a big gulp of Living Water.  Splash around in His presence, so you go out into your day, having been reminded of His intent for goodness to be spread around.  Then live out your day, sharing what He has given you and opening the tap of His endless care.

It is August 26, 2015 and the kingdom of heaven is still at hand.

Catching the Wind

IF I have believed, the Holy Spirit of God resides in me.  AS I believe through my day, and stay attentive to even His slightest movements, I will be able to bring His presence there. 

We have this precious gift and the direction and heart and power and resources that come with it, the presence of God.  He is ready to use us to do His work and share Good News today.  It is meant to spill out into every encounter and affect all the places and situations we go.  It is not in a pre-calculated way, although preparation is important.  We get to know Him in the quiet moments we cast our eyes and ears and hearts His way.  We learn as we read His word and let it read us, responding to the tugs to our hearts as He reminds us of opportunities and dangers. 

We are meant to bring His desires and hopes and dreams to earth and He has designed it to come in the individual expressions of the shape He has made us to be…we are earthen vessels with divine assignments and joyous invitations. 

I get so fogged up with the obligations of life sometimes and the agendas that I write for my day.  Those are not bad things, but ones that also need His direction and power.  But I also want to be like a sail, able to be filled with the breath of His word and movement, going in the subtle movements He directs through the day.  My desire is to make myself available to turn myself to catch its wind, to feel the power of that invisible force and to see where He is going, what He is doing in the moments of this day.

Your Moment Is Here

Be grateful that in this amazing swirl of all the events in the universe that are happening right now, you, in this very instant, have the privilege to choose.  And in some ways it doesn’t matter about any or all of the mistakes you have made, or even, remarkably, the mistakes that have been done to you.  The tipping point is if you will be courageous enough to believe that you can.  In THIS moment you can choose to be whatever kind of man or woman you want to be.

You are on a new page of your book.  The story doesn’t have to continue in the same trail of the previous pages.  Sometimes we are so in the flow of the story we are in that we forget there is a wider picture available. 

We do have a choice.  We can choose how to respond to the situations around us and determine our actions, and anything we want of that nature is possible.  We will not do it perfectly, but when we mess up, when we hurt someone and regret it, an “I was wrong” or “I am so sorry” are words that are in the pocket of every human being where we can reach for them, pull them out,  and speak them.  And mean them.

Please choose carefully who you want to be.  Be honest with yourself.  Be truthful with others. Be humble.  Be understanding of the battles that others face, but also expectant enough to know that more good can happen in the world and that you can influence it.

Always be ready to learn more—it is one of the most precious and overlooked gifts, and to be willing to plumb deeper into the workings of who you are and what causes you to move in any “less than what is possible” kind of way.  You being “you” doesn’t have to come with disqualifiers and excuses.  Being a human being comes with dazzling options and rich possibilities.  Most of us never get around to taking hold of them.

The will is so very powerful.  Decide.  Then go and splash in the puddles of it and twirl in that kind of life.  Joy and purpose await you.  

Growing Well

Father, forgive us for thinking that efficiency means there is never a good day for pruning to occur in our lives.  Let us trust You enough to hear the words that are less comfortable for us, less encouraging on the surface, but essential for the strong growth and fruit-bearing goals You have in mind.  Your ways and timing are the ones that will actually best shape our hearts and lives as we will listen to Your love (both the affirming and corrective words) as You see us clearly and desire our health and wholeness and joy.  Let us be open with You and with another someone who is mature in Your ways, who cares for our heart, and who doesn’t just tell us what we want to hear.  Distant fingerpointing isn’t helpful, but the word of someone who is alongside and will speak truth to us is priceless.

Begin to assess your health in this way… Are you hearing both the affirming words of who God says you are and the ones He speaks to call you from things that would damage you?  If not, ask Him to speak in both ways and give Him your ear to do so.  Repeat continually.

The Release

It is difficult, when we are afraid, to open our hands to receive what might be able to come our way.  It feels so vulnerable.  We fear the loss, instead of envisioning what He might give.  Offering when we are not sure of His goodness feels risky.  How can we give freely or contribute our little bit?  Will it make any difference? 

All I know is that a clutched, fearful life wears me out and robs me of much.  I’ve lived too much of my life that way and see some of the tendency still with me.  It might be a lifelong lesson, but I am aware of its teeth now and resist it far more quickly.   I can try to hold on to secondary things, but I lose part of the freedom and the life I am supposed to enjoy when I seize up to guard and secure things myself. 

Sometimes I have to actually practice the physical exercise of standing there with palms open and upturned.  It reveals a little of my discomfort and I can tell some of the condition of my heart by the “availability” of my hands to be open.  

Today, try practicing the posture of open hands, listing the things aloud that are weighing on your mind and heart.  Try to give Him a little more leeway with them.

One thing I am totally sure of is this:  What we entrust to His care will never be abused.  He is gentle and strong to work with us, work on us, and will work in and through us to make something beautiful and strong out of the scraps we may have in our story.  There are NO past mistakes, no wrongs done (to or by us) that can’t be used for something good for our life if we will offer it to His use.  Remember that the hands you are placing things INTO as you release them from yours are nail-pierced ones.  He does not take pain lightly and is all about putting pieces back together.  He is the Master at puzzles and lives.  

Use the Key

It is time for us to believe He is who He says and will do what He promised.  It was an amazing morning of prayer and praise.  I was lead through a bunch of things, but brought to Revelation 1.  Check the verses that tie in with today’s date:  Verse 8, 15, and 18:

:8  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

:15  His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.

:18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

I am not content to experience just in theory this powerful God and stop short of believing that He is still ready to move heaven and earth as we believe. 

Matthew 16:19  Jesus said, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 

He has put keys in our hand.  What will we unlock today?

No Chains

Do not let the enemy convince you that you are trash.  Do not let him snip away at your identity until you doubt that you should even be here.  God has made you perfectly…PERFECTLY…for work that He has designed.  He needs you to be you, in the free form that He imagined and shaped and set in time and space alongside others who will be your companions here, doing the part that only you can do to reveal Him.  You are a beautiful and strong part of what He arranged. 

He guides us with wisdom so to avoid the lies that would kill our hopes, steal our dreams, and destroy our sense of value.  We are so desired that God sent His Son to break the power of the evil that had entrapped human beings for all but the first few chapters of their existence.  ALL the strings of the curse have been cut.  ALL the chains of death have been defeated.  The power that once held us has been relegated to a lower place, one that has no authority anymore.  He fights against anything that would take us from our true purpose.  He hates the lies that have bound us and invites us continually into the freedom that we already possess.   He has ALWAYS fought FOR you.

If you need to remind yourself, read again Matthew 28 today and ask Him to help you take hold of its truth. 

Spread the Word

We do not need to enter prayer in worry and fretting and turmoil in our hearts.  If that is the state of your being this morning (as it was mine), switch your lens first to His sovereignty, His goodness, His care for all that burdens you, and for all that He has done to win the victory.   The tone of your prayers will then be different.  You will pray from a place of expectation for the ongoing unfolding of more of that peace and freedom. 

We sometimes think we are left to just endure the hardships, and indeed, perseverance is part of the work.  But don’t forget that the victory has already been won, and it is the main work of believers to BELIEVE. 

We are not in a position of having to win the battles.  Read again what was prophesied (Isaiah 61) and then took on as His work forward (Luke 4)…

To BRING good news to the oppressed

To BIND UP the brokenhearted

To PROCLAIM liberty to the captives

And RELEASE to the prisoners…

To BRING good news to the poor

To PROCLAIM release for the captives

And RECOVERY of sight to the blind

To LET the oppressed go free,

To PROCLAIM the year of the Lord’s favor.

It is the speaking of and delivery of good gifts, no mention of having to fight for it.   He has risen and holds the keys.  Any who want freedom can walk out the cell door because the payment for your life has already been made.  It’s amazing news.  Spread the Word.  

The Burn

I considered this morning how God uses people in the lives of others.  There are the moments that are the sharing of fruit of their lives that has developed as a tasty and nourishing offering.  We love that joyous, party-like stuff.  But there is also the kind that comes from hardships suffered and choosing to share life anyway. 

Trees that started and grew and offered shade for a long time are sometimes felled and cut to pieces.  Sometimes it chooses to sit there.  And in those seasons, is vulnerable to staying isolated in the woods, disintegrating little by little as the seasons pass.

But when someone is willing to roll onward, offering what may seem like small parts of themselves still, because they believe in His goodness and ability to restore and be true to what He says, then they can help kindle and increase the fire in the belief of another who never had known that that kind of passion existed.  Only vulnerable and honest sharing of that kind produces a glimpse of strength and the blazing heat that we discover later kept us alive during the coldest nights of our lives. 

Have At It

I find I have the most confidence in those who begin to take hold of 1) how dearly loved they are, and 2) can tell you some recent examples of God’s loving correction in their life, no matter where they are in the process. 

Our Father is so good and enjoys us so much, and will keep working to form us into our best selves…the version that made Him say “This is VERY good.”  He is so ready to take the effects of all the muck that we’ve done and that’s been done to us and reshape us into the beautiful strong creatures He envisioned. 

It is lovely and amazingly powerful to see those who desire His best work in their lives lean in for all He wants to do, those who will yield their own thinking and will for His better wisdom and ways, and who will listen and change course when He guides them to do so. God is thrilled when given a response from us that lets Him “have at us” with all He has in mind.  That’s why this matter of trust is so crucial. How much voice will I give Him? The answer makes all the difference. 

Will I allow Him to have room and my cooperation for the days that are the pruning ones for the fruit He wants to bear, and the fire ones so that this vessel of my life can be made strong?  Great things…GREAT things…are made both by care and unapologetic shaping…earthen pots, fruit-bearing plants, and human beings. 

People who are willing to be formed by His hand will find that the space is vast that He will make of your life and will fill it with the fruit that forms into you (in whatever version is His perfect expression through you), then will lead you to do what that vessel can do like no other.   If you will, ask Him newly what He thought of when He envisioned (insert your name here), and begin to regularly listen for His dreams of you.  The thing is…He has all the resources to make His dreams come true.  

Make No Mistake

Maybe we’ve just heard it incorrectly.  We are “heirs” of Christ, not “errors” of Christ.   

Who's In?

We say we believe in God. 

Ok then. 

He tells us we will receive wisdom if we ask, but we seem to prefer our own limited perspective instead of pressing for His and trusting what we hear enough to follow Him instead of us holding the reins of the outcome. 

He has given us His word for instruction, but we leave it sitting on a shelf instead of wrestling our way through it to seek His ways and discover His heart. 

He has promised us provision and asked us to test Him (the only time I know that He did).  The offer was that He would open the windows of heaven and pour down overflowing blessing when we bring our tithes to the storehouse.  And we prefer, apparently, not to give up our measly 10% and then watch how He comes through. 

He tells us in 2 Chronicles 7 “if MY people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  We must not feel big enough when we are on our faces.  …We seem to be waiting for the world to get good first, then we will do our part when it’s easier.

We have opted for building our own small kingdoms with the columns of our own principles instead of embracing His immense offer to let us join in building His really good one.   I just can’t help but think that our communities and our families and lives would look far different if we, in the church, actually believed our God with our heads, hearts, wallets, and feet.