The Veil

"I see activation angels more often than any other kind. When I'm at a church that knows God wants to actively and continuously pour out his love on them, these angels are soaring through the crowd doling out endless gifts, blessings, and impartations. Tragically, in most settings I see these angels waiting. Whether it's for someone to send them, someone to open up their heart and mind, or someone to take ownership of their city or neighborhood- they're waiting for someone who knows what God has given to His people.

As I said, I know that God is sovereign and all-powerful, but sometimes I think that instead of using that power to place us in an inescapable valley pointed at our destiny, He simply placed us on a world in need and gave us the keys to His kingdom along with the authority to recreate it on earth.

Maybe it isn't our job to discern the mysteriously hidden path that God drew for us. Maybe there is no path. sometimes people come to me asking for direction or clarity, saying that they just can't figure out what God is telling them to do. Most of the time I tell those poeple to stop asking God what to do, and start being inspired by the magnificence of who He is.

I can't help but think that God is waiting for us to get to know what a friend and father He is, and find the building blocks of heaven that He placed on earth."

-Blake Healy

The key to walking in victory

The process of renewing your mind is an essential part of the life of a Christian. As heirs of the promises of God living in the world there is a tension between the spiritual realm where we have been made more than conquerors, all things work for our good, etc and the physical realm where circumstances and situations often seem to say otherwise.

When we are faced with such a disconnect, we have a decision to make: choose to allow our experience to speak the final word or fight to believe a better word. The fight of faith implies that there is a battle to believe the truth.

This fight takes place in the battlefield of the mind. We do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10)

Laying hold of the truth and possessing God's promise is not denying our current situation or devaluing our feelings. When we are depressed, it is not spiritual or helpful to say "I am happy!" When we are hard pressed on every side, declaring "I am victorious!" will not change our circumstances.

We walk by faith not by sight. This does not mean that we open our spiritual eyes and close our physical eyes. But when we are staring straight at a physical situation are we going to walk as though that is the only reality or will we gaze to see in the spirit? Are we going to let natural factors dictate the direction of our path or will we consider spiritual truths?

The narrow path is found through difficult circumstances. Possessing the promise requires that we go through the wilderness. A good teacher not only teaches his students but also tests them. When we encounter a trial, the way that we respond reveals what we believe. The process of maturation allows us to declare the truth no matter how contrary our circumstances. God's truth gives us stability and resilience in the midst of changing circumstances if we can recognize when our situation or our feelings are lies and run to the truth and respond in light of the truth.

CASE STUDY from 2 Kings 6: 14-17:

Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. (Bad situation)

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. (Assessment of the situation, freak out)

 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” (The Christian is not shaken by what he sees but perceives a greater reality that no one else understands)

And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (Faith overcomes the present trial AND makes the nature and character of God known so that others get a glimpse of His kingdom)

Clean Up

When we dont value a space we dont take care of it.

When we dont take care of a space, we dont value it.

It's harder to make a messy room less messy than it is to keep a clean room clean. It's even harder to clean a room when you live in a dumpy house- cus who cares? it's a dump!

Christian, do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Cor 3:16)

Some of us think we are a dumpy temple. God thinks otherwise. If we are formed by God we have the best blueprint and design ever. Along the way we may have strayed from the blueprint and done things contrary to design but a holy temple with an ugly rug and bad wallpaper is still a holy temple.

Many people see the Holy Spirit as a sort of nanny- cleaning up some of our messes or pointing them out to us so we clean them up. Worse yet, we see Him as a naggy hall monitor restricting us from acting as we please and blowing a whistle at our every mistake.

The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Truth. He is not a whistleblower, a naggy nanny, or a strict party pooper. He discloses and leads us into the Truth. and the Truth brings life.

When we allow the Holy Spirit into our lives, we are following the blueprint of God. All of a sudden our body and our souls are aligned with God's design and we can begin to see our bodies for what they were made to be- holy temples of God, and we can see our souls functioning as they should- bearing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

God fully recognizes our perversions, distortions, and mess ups- we are not living as we should in many ways. Religion points out all of our shortcomings and focuses our attention on fixing them with the hopes that in the end we will look presentable to God. We are trying to tidy a place that we are being told is a dump- as a result, it is a burden to clean and no matter how much we clean it will always be a dump.

What if, despite our shortcomings and our mess, God does not stand far off and point out the dirty spots but actually comes in and cleans them himself? This is a foundational truth to Christianity. But I still think that its implications are somewhat lost. God is not cleaning up our dumpy place. He wants to awaken us to the reality that we are made in His image, we have infinite value, we have purpose, and we have a divine design and destiny.

When we realize who we are in Him we begin to truly value our lives- the actions follow. Nobody carelessly puts their feet up on a king's table. or puts a cheap spoiler on a lamborghini. or leaves trash around in a palace. You get the point. Our actions reflect the value we place in our lives.

There are many people out there pointing out the messes in other peoples' lives. You need to fix this, fix that. Dont you know that God doesnt like that? People in the slums dont act like kings unless you put them in a palace and show them that they're royalty.  You can take the kid out of the ghetto but you cant take the ghetto out of the kid-- until the kid is adopted by a perfect father who shows him he was never meant for the ghetto and demonstrates a life worth living and lays down His life for the kid. That'll take the ghetto out of the kid. That'll give the kid purpose and a reason to live.

There are a lot of people out there pointing out messes because they believe God is looking for fixer-uppers He can move into. They see the potential in people- if only they would fix this or fix that. They try to get people to realize that things are all wrong and they need to renovate their lives.  People live wrong because they dont realize their value. and people cant make changes unless they see the blueprint and have a vision for the final product.

When we begin to value other people and recognize them for who they were designed to be. They begin to value themselves in the same way. They'll clean up without us having to constantly tell them they need to clean up. When Jesus washes us, He's not cleaning junk. He's washing away junk to reveal what He created underneath (see the Angel in the Stone post below!!). He's tearing down ugly wallpaper, removing bad rugs, and reconnecting circuits to their rightful place.

"You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (John 15:3) 
"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession" (1 Peter 2:9) 
"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Ephesians 2:10)

Desire not Discipline

We often hear of the unbelievable work ethic of athletes, celebrites, business gurus, etc. Everyone loves a good rags to riches story and the biographies of self made millionaires.

I dont know about many of you, but often I hear these stories and first I am sincerely impressed, but then I am sad that I have nowhere near the work ethic, the drive, the commitment and have achieved nowhere near the level of success, fame, or wealth.

Is discipline innate or can it be developed? Are some people naturally just more disciplined than others? or have some people simply found something that they can be exclusively passionate about. Is it pure discipline that drives an athlete to train or a business man to work tirelessly or is it desire? (for mastery, success, wealth, recognition, wtv)

There are so many self-help books and programs that people seek out to be more motivated and achieve their goals. But I have begun to wonder if perhaps our problem is not so much our discipline but our desire. An individual that is consumed by a single desire or passion will naturally be disciplined in their pursuit. Granted that their desire is greater than all other desires, lingering interests, and pursuits.

Somebody who is passionately in love does not need to be motivated or encouraged. A mother does not need to be taught or told to sacrifice, care for, and protect their baby.

So why do we still see patterns of laziness and apathy in our lives-- even in the pursuit of things we are passionate about? Instead of condemning ourselves for our lack of discipline is it any better to condemn ourselves for lack of passion or lack of love?

Unlike discipline-which is primarily self focused. Love is inherently others-focused. And in fact, the word passion, is derived from the Latin word meaning 'suffer'. (ie the passion of the Christ). Love takes the focus off of ourselves, and gives us the courage to not say no to suffering when it arises (and it will arise in any worthwhile pursuit). This continued choice to seek love and not run from suffering is the path of discipline and the path to success.

Ultimately, our success is not defined by how much we can achieve or how far we can go but in each baby step we take (choosing love, not running from suffering). We start in the little day-to-day things- recognizing what is worth our love and passion and aligning our choices with those things. When obstacles or distractions come, we say no because our eyes are on something greater and better. When suffering or difficulties come because of our pursuit, we say yes because we are looking to the joy that is on the other side of the suffering.

"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:1-2

We are already who we were made to be

"I saw the angel in the stone so I carved to set it free" -Michaelangelo

God is not fooled by our exterior--our ugliness, our pride, our weakness, our insecurity. He sees us for who He created us to be.

We are living far below our created value. Sanctification is more about seeing who we are in Christ than it is about removing the parts of us that are bad.

"In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it"

God desires to liberate His people, created in His image, designed to live like Him. He is not hindered by the stone that surrounds us.

Jesus came to bring liberty to the captives. He didn't come proclaiming that He would show us the way to eternal life- as if He came to impart instructions and directions. Do you know that God doesnt want a bunch of people who attempt to follow instructions to build their best selves? You cannot create an angel from a stone. and you cannot recreate Christ from a sinful man.

God, as the ultimate artist, sent His son to liberate His image-bearers from the burdens and yokes that we have put upon ourselves. Mankind has lost sight of who we were originally created to be and identified ourselves by our outer appearances, our actions, and our feelings.

Nobody would pay a great price for a block of stone. Our worth and value does not come from how much we can decorate our blocks of stone and disguise it as something more valuable. Our worth and value comes from our Creator who paid the ultimate price for us--even though we were formless stone (Romans 5:8)--so that He could set us free to be who we were supposed to be. "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Ephesians 2:10)