The Power In Relationship

(2 Peter 1:3-4) His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

This morning I was feeling so down and my allergies were definitely not helping. But...the moment, the very moment, I said a prayer and opened up my Bible God's truth flooded my heart and renewed my thinking. King Solomon was right when he wrote that the end of a matter was better than it's beginning. You might start off pretty sucky or just plain terrible but how will you decide to end the matter? What the Holy Spirit spoke to me this morning was that He could care less about how I was feeling: He wanted to know what I planned to do about it. In order to mature in Christ's nature, that overcame this world, we are asked to believe God's promises that were born out of His glory that transforms us and His goodness that molds us. When His glory fills a room and encounters me I can never be the same, and likewise, when the simplicity of His goodness is revealed to me my heart has no where else to run except toward Him. The verses I'm sharing immediately shifted my focus and brought me into God's heart and way of thinking. According the the first portion of this verse, The more I pursue knowing Jesus and doing life with Him the more power I have to overcome the situation I'm facing. The truth of Jesus sets us free. There is power in relationship with Jesus and we need that. I don't know about you, but I want to turn those sucky days around and prove the enemy wrong. I want to be so much fuller of His truth each day that it overflows into every single nook and cranny of my life. 

(2 Peter 1:5-8) For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 To believe what God has spoken is faith. So God is saying, you believe what I say which is awesome but I want more from you. There's always more to learn about God and because there's always more to learn, there's always more to give. You believe? Now reflect His goodness that makes Him who He is. And now that truth has filled you go ahead and experience Him and learn what He desires. And because the truth of Jesus has set you free now go ahead and start diciplining yourself and striking blows to your flesh so you can walk in the spirit. And now don't give up and keep moving forward and maturing. Oh and at this point, your showing Jesus to the point that others are taking notice...learn to live in peace with those around you and above all now show the love that Jesus showed you. Action. Doing these things will keep our relationship with Jesus living and breathing. Relationship changes everything. Truly getting to know someone bonds us and true loyalty and love are born. And where there is love there is a force to be reckoned with. After all, it is Christ's love that covered multitudes of sins and that still does. Because he did it, we can do it too.

The Door Is Open To Everyone

For those that lie. For those that kill. For those that bully. For those that steal. For the fatherless. For the gossip. For the sexually immoral. For the spiritually dry. For the cheater. For the abuser. For the people pleaser. For the broken-hearted.

Jesus opened the door for us all to enter.

Since yesterday the Lord was putting this scene from The Bible movie in my heart, where Jesus tells Peter that "the door is open to everyone.". I went back to the book of Acts this morning to study this because I could tell it was on God's heart for me. But before that, I found myself looking at the cost of being a disciple in the book of Luke and I was amazed by how the Holy Spirit revealed the passage to my heart. I've read it so many times before, but it completely ties in to the Acts verses that I'm going to share.

(Luke 14:26-27) If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 

Jesus was being fallowed by a huge crowd and he stops to explain to them the true meaning of being His disciple the cost of following Him. He didn't deceive them. Before He let them continue walking beside Him He made sure to let them know that this wasn't some kind of magic show...it was a lifestyle. He plainly told them that following Him would look bad to those they loved here on this earth and that they had to get to the point of passionately disliking everything in the world in comparison to Him. We are born into a temporary family here on earth but let us not forget that our eternal home is not here. Jesus told them that there could be no comparison between God and this world. This is hard for our minds to wrap around but we're not being asked to abandon "our lives" for an imperfect human or possession...we are being invited to lose our way of doing life for Him who gave us life, a mission, and unfailing love. Just like a police-man has the obligation to report a case even if it's his own family member, Jesus was trying to explain that following meant choosing Him at all times. He explained that the true weight of carrying ones cross was not a couple of wooden pounds...it's the weight of denying yourself. And that is why He said that if you're building something first you measure it's cost and if there is war ahead of you, chose to wave your white flag if you see you can't handle it. Basically Jesus was telling us to choose and to choose wisely if He and His example to be lived out was truly what we were willing to do. Are we willing to lose our lives for His sake? If He said study this because I need you to go reach those that would never step foot inside a church for counseling, would you do it even though you wanted to be a professional singer? What if tomorrow He told you to move to Mexico to rescue teens off the streets and teach them about the God that loves them and you had a wife and kids? Did it just get a little uncomfortable? It's suppose to. I'll be the first to say that this kind of thinking scared me a couple years back. But it's Jesus and it's truth. Of course it's going to freak us out because we're use to this earth and what it's taught us. The moment we fill ourselves with God's Word and His truth though, our mind is renewed and heaven thinking becomes natural, the way it's suppose to be. It feels like home because it's our true identity. I love the book that I'm currently reading right now by Francis and Lisa Chan because he states that the picture of Jesus and all that He did is beautiful to us, but when it comes to living it out it stops being so attractive. Forgiving our offender. Praying for the backstabber. Truly and sincerely loving people. Oh I know it's hard but if Jesus said it then it's legit. If my blameless Savior managed to show love and mercy after He was mocked and spit in the face then I know that I can do it. He became fully human and oh my gosh, we're fully human. He showed us that with the Holy Spirit's power it is possible to be set apart. We can try to make up all the excuses we want to in our earthly wisdom to get around it but the truth is painted in red. What Jesus did can not be erased or altered. He lived and modeled God's ideal love for us so that we could act on it. Trust me when I say that when we do not show mercy it will not be shown to us. But what I'm tired of always being the one to do this and no one returns the love or the patience. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Always keep Him in mind and continue. If you are always the one to apologize or forgive then continue to do it. The Word says to not grow weary of doing good because in due time you will reap what you've sown. Our mind set has got to change and the only way to do it is to spend time with the one who conquered this earth. Spend time with Jesus. It is our God-given assignment to forgive, to love, and to be merciful. After reading this I then hopped a few pages over to the book of Acts.

(Acts 10:15) The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

I love reading this. This was the moment that Jesus made it clear that He made a way for every single human-being, Jewish or not, to boldly enter. He called us clean even before we repented to show us that His love was first and that the rest was up to us. It's p to us to invite Him into our hearts and into the life we live so that He can have His way. Trust, His way is so much sweeter. He cleansed us with His blood and made us white as snow. Jesus fulfilled the law and paid our ransom with His very life so that no one could deny us entrance into God's presence. I've been saved for six years now and that deep deep fact will never cease to break and tear my heart. I melt at the thought of my Savior Jesus being hurt to the point of not appearing human anymore. I cry because that should have been me. I deserved that torcher, but He quieted me and took the beating for me. I can picture Him looking at me and saying, "do you believe I love you now?" I marvel at His goodness and kind nature. His surrender and sacrifice astound me. But I don't just want my mind to explode...I want my heart and body to act on it. That is the calling. The mission for why you and I were sent here.

(Acts 10:28) He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

God saw our hearts. He looked at the goodness that he planted that we let the world corrupt. His Son was not sparred, He was given up. The ultimate injustice on our behalf, but the ultimate justice on God's behalf. In our earthly thinking it's unjust to feel pain or to sacrifice but notice that while we think that we don't think about the injustice of the Son of God doing that for us. Mind-renew-check. So that we would never think that God was unjust He gave up Himself. Creator in exchange for His creation that He loved. We cry and become bitter when the things of this world are taken from us yet we don't think about the pain of an innocent Savior bleeding from the weight of his body on a cross suspended by a couple of nails. Gravity pushing Him down, His beautiful heart had to take His Father turning away from Him because He was drenched in our sin. That is why Jesus can look straight at us because only He could understand. Only He could stare sin right in the face because He overcame it. He took on all of our sins, every single one. And that is why Jesus told Peter to look past who we were and preach Jesus because Jesus tore the vail that separated us from God and humiliated the enemy. He went to hell and bought our souls with His blood and never did He regret it. Whether or not some of those souls would chose to say yes to Him, He gave us that much worth. Even the thought of the pain wasn't enough to turn our sweet Savior away. It is finished and now we have to carry His legacy until the end of our days.

(1 Peter 2:23-24) When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”

(1 Peter 4:1) Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God.

It's Not A Religion, It's A Relationship

If there's one thing God cannot stand it's religion. God is God and His Son walked our walk and took our place so that we could freely enter His presence. Jesus did it so that we would no longer need any other intercessor but Him. He flung the gate wide open for those willing to approach. I just can't downgrade that at all. It was such a huge and hurtful price to pay but Jesus loved us. He hated the idols, and the unfaithful hearts were just too much for His heart to bear, and the sin was all too opposite of His holy nature but He loved us enough. Where sin resided His grace over abounded. He denied His own nature to come after us. Jesus with one glance could look past our mess and just see who our Father made us to be. Because He loved and continues to love us for us His message is so clear: Will we let His perfect love really transform us and break every wall? Trespass all obstacles we've set up? Will we dare let our Savior get close enough? You see it doesn't matter if you can't look at Him because He's looking right at you loving you at this moment knowing that when you let Him have His way in you you'll begin to love who He created you to be also. It's about setting aside who we think He is and just giving Him that chance to show us and reveal Himself to us, regardless of whether He comes the way we were expecting Him to or not. We've just got to let His Holy Spirit show up in our lives the way He desires to. 

As I read the Book of Amos a week back one thing really just stood out to me. God was addressing His people with pain that turned into anger because of the way they were living, because of the sin that was all too undeniable to ignore. One day they bowed down and worshipped other man-made gods and idols and the next day they were in the temple praising the living God in their fancy robes. God couldn't stand watching how they played both cards generation after generation and how they participated in such a masquerade. It was just a strong feeling of I love you so much, but why don't you truly love me back? If we pay close enough attention is this not happening today? I was this person at one point in my teenage years, showing up to church forcefully and putting on a pretty face only waiting for that last prayer in the afternoon to storm off and get back to what I called "reality". My idols weren't wood or painted plastic the way some are today but they had names: unfaithfulness, shame, and insecurity to say the least. Clapping my hands one morning and then singing anything but christian music the rest of the day. One day His love was just so big and so in my face, shining through that it woke me up to not just sort of live for Him but to live in the day to day to know His heart. If He was willing to inundate my life that night in such a powerful manner then I knew right then and there that I wanted this every single day of my life. 

God said to His people:

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(Amos 5:21-23) 

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, 

I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, 

I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! 

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

(Amos 6:5) 

You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy 

yourselves to be great musicians like David. 

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God wasn't saying that He didn't love music or fellowship but He was saying that He hated the fact that these things were being done out of religion, not because of true love for God, out of tradition and man-made regulation. Their lips were praising because they had to but there hearts were piled up sky high with idols. The music delighted the ear but the person playing the music, which is what God truly cared about, was so far from knowing God. Religion comes in all colors, sometimes it's so obvious and other times it's very neatly tucked away. The fact that God can just see right through us is why I think we feel the need to hide and why man-kind has always felt the need to hide. I think it's hard for us to fathom how holiness can look straight at us, touch us, and love on us. We don't need to hide anymore. This is to worship in truth. Let your heart be true so that He can begin to work. He loves you and I more than any song we could ever sing. In fact, he loves our music simply because we're the ones who are singing it. Without our hearts being in His hand it's just noise. You see, God offered us His Innocent Son so that through His amazing sacrifice we could have direct access to the Father once again. Since before time existed and we were in the heart of God He wanted to bring us into existence to be in relation with Him, to simply be with us and that was worship. To this day mankind has strayed. What causes us to hide from our creator, our Father, our friend? Sin. After sin crept in and we gave the enemy a foothold in our lives out came religion to invent rules so that we could earn enough merit to maybe have eternal life. maybe. Religion puts a price tag on us that Jesus already paid. God hates religion because it is only through His Son Jesus that we have access to Him. Access that isn't just offered after death, but every day of our lives. 

Religion in all it's splendor and glorious tradition didn't humble itself to die on a cross for us, it does not have life to give. Jesus bled until His very last breathe with you and I on His mind. The same eyes that saw our unformed body came to give us His body in exchange so that we could have the option to live forever by His side. Even after all that, He's not forcing us to be with Him...Jesus died to give us the choice.  Every day we have the opportunity to accept the grace of Jesus so that we can boldly approach the thrown of God. Job cried out for this when he was sick wishing and praying that if only there was someone who could plead his case before God for him. Jesus came to give us this. We don't need any other mediators (people, saints, idols). We just need Jesus. We just need His presence. I thank God that we've been given that option every day, to walk in His presence through the Holy Spirit. I thank God for such a love. I invite you to invite the Holy Spirit into your life, not just because you should or because He's just great company, but because your life will just never be the same after He invades every detail of it. I challenge you if you're a part of a worship team to think about this when you find yourself there leading, playing, or maybe in the crowd. Talk to God and let Him know that you desire Him to show up the way He wants to. As you drive He wants to talk to you just like a friend. When you're at work or at school He delights to be with you if you'll let Him. God wants to be with you and I. Beautiful, and honorable thought.