December 22, 2023

Prayer For My Offender Heals Me Too

Imagine bringing Jesus someone’s sickness of the body the way we accuse and think about someone’s sickness of the heart.

Me: Lord, they’re blind, they can’t walk, they’re sick.

Jesus: I can heal them.

Me: Lord, they’re selfish, unloving and petty.

Jesus: I can heal them.

And, that’s all a heart after His wants.

“For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.”
—Luke 9:56

That is why our Lord tells us to pray rather than condemn.

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”
—Matthew 5:44

Because, prayer for my offender aligns my heart with His.

“that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
—Matthew 5:45,48

Prayer for my offender guards my heart from the demonic attack that the evil one is attempting to bring through the offense of another.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
—Philippians 4:6-7

And prayer for my offender protects my heart from the root of bitterness the enemy is trying to implant.

“Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.”
—Proverbs 4:23

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;”
—Hebrews 12:14-15

Prayer changes the trajectory of a thought.

It not only fosters patience, long-suffering and kindness for another (fruit of the Spirit).

It heals me too.

December 7, 2023

Motivation

This is about motivation.

Lately, there have been some days where it has been harder to get up than others.

It reminds me of a time when I was completely without motivation, when I had little desire to do anything and it felt like I had to lift the weight of the world just to get out of bed each day.

Then a switch flipped for me.

The turning point was anger.

One day I lost a lunch break just trying to decide what to eat. I wasted an entire hour brooding over what I had a taste for. There was this unhealthy obsession about what meal would please me the most. I would later realize that what I was really doing was looking for how food could provide enough good to makeup for how bad I was feeling elsewhere in my life, the sadness about my failures, about not measuring up, about not getting ahead, about my marriage…

In the beginning food was a salve. It could make me feel better for a little while. But it’s effect was diminishing to a point where the grief was too great for any amount of titillating tastes, perfect textures, soothing chewing or sheer volume of food to overcome.

On that lunch break I came to terms with the reality that food could not fill the hole in my heart.

Food could not make my life good.

And the Sisyphean task of getting up each morning was my subconscious realization that I was trapped in a cycle of futility. I was being compelled to spend great amounts of time and effort to do things that did not profit me.

I was enslaved.

That infuriated me.

This was my motivation.

I hated the idea of something having that kind of power over me.

The next day, I started eating the same kind of Subway sandwich every day to take thinking about what I was going to eat out of the equation.

The next month, I started and completed the P90X program that my wife bought me, twice.

Six months after that, I started going to the gym and have maintained that routine since then – for 15 years now at the time this was written.

But, it wasn’t a straight line. There were periods of relapse because there was flaws in my motivation. And, I have since realized that it’s easy to trade one tyrant for another.

There was a period that I became religious about what I ate and going to the gym. I still struggle with that to some extent, but I have embraced this truth:

Going to the gym and eating healthy cannot fill the hole in my heart.

Going to the gym and eating healthy cannot make my life good.

“All things are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable.

All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
—1 Corinthians 6:12

There’s a near infinite number of things you can insert in that sentence, “X cannot fill the hole in my heart. X cannot make my life good.” Sex, food, alcohol, money, success, friends, children, church…

But, I have found the One who can fill the hole in my heart. I have found the One who can make my life good.

My experience is that whatever is truly good, is always so -it’s good all the time and for everyone everywhere it is experienced (it’s good even for those who are not the primary participants but are affected by it’s secondhand downstream effects).

Good is alive, life giving, growing, unable to be contained, overflowing the deep expanses of my heart.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
—James 1:16-17

I have also found that anger is not a sufficient or sustainable source of motivation. Whatever is burning at the heart of that fire, whatever is fueling that anger will be eventually spent.

This is true for a lot of sources of motivation. I once got a full scholarship because I was motivated (pride, stubbornness) by someone telling me I couldn’t. It was sufficient motivation to get me to school but was not enough to get me through school or through the challenges life presented me at the time.

But, “love never fails…”
—1 Corinthians 13:8

My encounter with the love of God expressed in the person of Jesus Christ changed everything. It is changing everything.

I was utterly enslaved, hurting others and being hurt, ignorant of my bondage and without strength to do anything about it.

But since I met Jesus and the Holy Spirit has revealed Him as Lord, I am being set free.

Bit by bit, He’s marching through every corner of my heart, winning territory and tearing down strongholds, the lies, that block the life-giving love of God from shining on and through me.

It’s so good.

My appreciation of His love for me and consequently my love for Him, and you grows every day.

Now my motivation is to make Jesus King.

I am angry about the devastation that I see sin causes and I want people set free from the tyranny of the evil one and the lies of this world.

But above all, I am loved by God, I love Him and I want others to share this wonderful love that I’ve found. Or said more accurately, this wonderful Love that found me.

I want a world where Jesus reigns and He does what He’s doing for me as King.

He alone is worthy to rule.

I am His soldier to this end.

As a soldier, sometimes, when you’re in the trenches and you’ve been there for so long, your motivation can wane, you can forget the mission and lose sight of what you’re there for. I’m peeling potatoes, but I’m not actually peeling potatoes. Whatever job I’m doing is in support of the war effort -a war that ends with Jesus crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords, where there is no rule that rivals His and He returns all things to God that He may be all in all.

This is why I get up every morning. This is what I use everything at my disposal to achieve: my money, my home, my job, my relationships, my marriage, my life.

This is my motivation: to make Jesus King because I love Him. He is excellent and He rules well.

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.

For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.

The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

For ‘He has put all things under His feet.’

But when He says ‘all things are put under Him,’ it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.

Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.”
—1 Corinthians 15:24-28

Amen.

November 16, 2023

What Do You Do?

My job title doesn’t sound too shabby. Actually, I’m honored to do what I do professionally.

But, I’ve always found the question, “What do you do?” off-putting.

I hate it actually, and I’ve never really understood why, until now.

Ask a flower, or any living thing what it does and the answer is simple and profound, “It passes on life.”

When people ask this question, it’s largely a product of the plastic, manufactured system of this world.

And, when people ask, “What do you do?”, it’s though they’re sitting back waiting to calculate how much respect to give you as though your value is being assessed on the Dow Jones.

The question is essentially asking “What thing do you produce that might be of value to me according to this world’s value system?”

But, we’re not machines on a production line, we’re persons —we’re living things.

And, as with all living things, we’re part of a delicate ecosystem. Something that seems small and insignificant, such as the seemingly benign phytoplankton or the understated honey bee, would spell utter disaster for the entire world if they were loss.

God speaks of us as members of a body, a living thing, having placed each one of us purposefully, as He pleases:

“But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.”
—1 Corinthians 12:18

And,

But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
—1 Corinthians 12:20-22

So, we are not machines to produce dumb things to be sold and traded, but we are persons, living things created for a purpose: to pass on life.

And, what is life?

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
—John 17:3

So, the measure of my success is not in the things I produce.

Jesus said,

“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
—Luke 12:15

But rather, the measure of my success is in the fruit I produce, life being passed along to others.

And to be clear, Christ is the vine. I am just a branch and can do nothing without Him.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
—John 15:4

So, when I’m asked “What do you do?”, I will respond with the answer to the better question, “How are you passing on life?”

And, my answer will be a description of however Jesus is producing beautiful life in me in that season, and how I’m sharing it.

I’m doing it now.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
—John 15:7‭-‬8

October 29, 2023

Prayer

Prayer is not talking in the air.

Prayer is spiritual.

Prayer is companionship with God

through communication,

“to open into each other” (etymology),

mediated by Jesus (as matter is to sound -without it nothing carries. He is The Way.)

and facilitated by the Holy Spirit (as language is to sound -without it no information is transferred. He is the Spirit of Truth).

God shares,

I share,

to be understood and to understand.

Prayer is sharing that builds on each other and illuminates the hearts.

The purpose is to be clear, to have no darkness at all -the truth in love removing every offense (anything that would cause me or another to stumble – lies block love), to be made one, so that I can walk according to His light, so that His light might shine through me.

“God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”
—1 John 1:5

To this end, with full expectation,

I pray.

I speak to be seen.

I listen to see.

Because of Christ, God hears me.

Because of Christ, God is a Father to me and so speaks.

“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name…”
—Matthew 6:9

The Father’s speech is the pressing of the keys of the kingdom in our heart.

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

The more we consume His Word -the person of Christ, the more we work with a full key-board when we pray and the closer, and consequently (God’s love burns away sin), the more clear we become

for His glory.

#prayer #definitions #heartdictionary #heartwords #perfectourlove

October 18, 2023

Complaining Is Evil

Complaining is evil. It is thought and speech in service to the evil one.

Complaining weakens the hearer (I can even weaken myself from my own internal dialogue)

directing attention and energy

away from God

and to my dissatisfaction or displeasure.

Complaining is contempt for the reality I’m faced with while cowering from the responsibility to make it better.

Complaining shirks that responsibility and shifts it to another, often in the form of blame.

Complaining denies my duty to glorify God (by keeping Him central, maintaining attention on His goodness) and abandons my responsibility to represent the goodness of His kingdom order in every situation that I face.

“Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as [it is] in heaven.”
—Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2

Complaining is cowardice.

And, no coward will be counted among the children of God.

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
—Revelation 21:8

Believe Jesus. Repent and be saved.

#heartwords #heartdictionary

October 18, 2023

Complaining Is Weak

God wants to glorify Himself through me.

But, the Spirit has revealed weakness in me that is not in Christ

that He must burn away

so that I am able to reflect His glory.

The Holy Spirit said to me, “You have a problem with complaining.”

It’s a weakness that hinders my use for God’s glory. I repent.

Something I do a lot in my internal dialogue is express contempt for a situation I’m facing and always saying what I don’t want to do.

Jesus never did that.

“Not My will, but Yours, be done.” —Luke 22:42

Jesus did not complain, even as He was being crucified.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.”
—Isaiah 53:7

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
—Philippians 2:8

He was not deterred by the difficulty of the situation.

“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.”
—John 12:27

He did not try to shift the burden to another in the form of blame.

He didn’t concern Himself with who’s fault it was.

Jesus did not cower. He came. He confronted.

He committed Himself to the work of reconciliation. He focused on God and directed our attention to the kingdom of God and His righteousness and He set His hand to the task of bringing everything, all of creation back into God’s kingdom order, at any cost.

He put His hand to the plow and never looked back.

This is the man I want to be. This is the man I’m becoming, who God is making me.

He’s burning away the flesh, to reveal Christ that’s being formed in me, bit by bit.

I thank God for His love that both comforts my heart and burns away sin.

I confess my sin and submit to His scalpel.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” —1 John 1:9

I trust Him. He is faithful. He will finish the work.

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete [it] until the day of Jesus Christ;” —Philippians 1:6

The work God is doing in me isn’t flashy, but it’s miraculous.

May God be glorified.

#GodsLoveBurns #perfectourlove

October 12, 2023

God’s Love Burns

We gush about the blessings and kindness of God’s love, but what about the change His love demands and causes?

Our God is a consuming fire.

His love burns.

It both warms the heart and burns aways sin.

If I’m not experiencing both, I’m not experiencing God’s love.

****

It would probably be better said, “His love ‘ignites’ the heart and burns away sin”, because we were completely dead before, we had nothing to warm.

It was for reason of our common understanding of the expression that I chose “warm the heart” as in the pleasant warmth often associated with being loved.

But His love is not just pleasant, it’s transformative. It creates new life in us and eviscerates the darkness of our former selves.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
—John 1:4-5

****

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!

Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

“Little children, LET NO ONE DECEIVE YOU. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”
—1 John 3:1-2, 7-9

October 11, 2023

A Non-obvious Encounter With God

Is God real?

The natural approach to the concept of God often leads to the search for the super-natural, that is a super-event that is still along a natural continuum, a sign, an observable phenomenon, something bound by space and time that we can perceive with our five senses.

But, God is spirit. (John 4:24)

An authentic encounter with God is often non-obvious and imperceptible to the natural eye because it’s spiritual.

“Philip said to [Jesus], ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father?”‘”
—John 14:8-9

An encounter with God is a committed, consistent, all consuming burning that transforms us.

“And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'”
—Luke 24:32

“For our God is a consuming fire.”
—Hebrews 12:29

We can know and experience God.

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
—John 10:10

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
—John 17:3

Everyone who does is transformed by it. No one who sees Him remains the same.

“You must be born again.”
—John 3:5

It’s a miraculous reality unbound by time that always is; before you were born and after you die.

“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”
—Ephesians 1:4

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
—Ephesians 2:4-7

That’s spiritual. That’s supernatural.

It is real.

It’s a reality on a higher spiritual level, that’s not always obvious on this natural one, but its effects are (Galatian 5:22-23).

October 10, 2023

When The Flower Passes

I constantly struggle, especially as I age and face the certainty of death, with the feeling that what I am doing isn’t big enough, isn’t grand enough and that I’m a failure.

Perhaps that’s another way of saying that I’m seeking approval or recognition.

Honestly, I’m not sure, but it is a lie that’s blocking love and needs to be purged. This is why I must continually expose my heart to the Word of God to search such things out.

When I brought this to God, this is what the Spirit gave me.

A meditation, a poem:

When The Flower Passes.

A flower,
stretched toward heaven,
taking in the Son,
passing Him on,
so others would live,
pleases God,
and that is enough.

September 27, 2023

I Am Accepted In The Beloved

I am accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)

This is what we’re built for,
This is humanity’s greatest suppressed desire,
This fills the God-sized hole in each of us,
It is the reason for our social bent,
To be accepted truly, purely, safely, irrevocably, ultimately by the Father.

I am accepted in the beloved.

To really recline in that I need two things:

to be completely satisfied with being accepted by the Father —alone, to be perfectly content and full of joy with the Father’s acceptance whether anyone else accepts me or not,

and to understand that I’m accepted on the basis of His goodness, not mine.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” —Romans 5:8

I cannot mess this up.

There is nothing I can possibly do to mess this up.

Oh, what amazing grace! Praise your name God our Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Hallelujah!

This is at the heart of righteousness.

Righteousness is having a right relationship to everything.

This reality, that I am accepted in the beloved, changes my posture.

Accepting it changes how I relate to everything. It makes righteousness possible.

It allows you to stand tall and stand firm for what is good and right, like a mighty tree that gives shelter to others and feeds them with the fruit from The Tree Of Eternal Life who’s leaf never fades and is always in season.

Consider Jesus.

This cradle of absolute safety was established so that you could be conformed to His image without fear of failure or rejection, so that no matter what happens, Jesus is the result.

“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete [it] until the day of Jesus Christ;”
—Philippians 1:6