Perspective

I am so thankful to the Lord that He is steadfast, faithful, paitent, and slow to anger. Why you may ask because I need all these characteristics as I walk through life. As I journey along the road of life and walk ever more in the new life I have been given in Christ, I realize that having the right perspective is essential. So many times in our life and childhood, it is the words of a loving parent or friend that say "this too shall pass" that remind us that our current difficulty is not permanent. These words of a comforting person bring perspective but now if we look at the words of Our Abba Father we see a whole new realm. I am convinced that to experience victory on earth, we must have a Heavenly perspective. Some would say that the old quote "To Heavenly minded to be of any earthly good" I have found this to be a lie. The more that I walk by faith in the Word of God that I am seated with Him in Christ (Ephesians 2:6) then the words and choices I bring are valued on earth because they bring His life into a situation. It is when I get stuck on assuming that my earthly perspective is total truth that my words and actions bring death (not manifesting His life through me). We are continually making assumptions about people, situations, problems, challenges, and our own issues. These assumptions are based on what we see but I believe what we see is the problem. If we see simply with earthly or carnal eyes, then I resulting assumptions will not bring life (His Life). Paul in Ephesians 1 talks about the opening of the eyes of our hearts, clearly Paul is not saying we are physically blind but spiritually. To be spiritually blind means to not see what God sees, for God sees the whole truth and through the Holy Spirit (who leads us into all truth - John 16:13) we also can have our spiritual eyes open. I was struck as I studied 2 Corinthians 2:9-16 how trained our senses are to this earth and not to the spiritual realm of Heaven. Since we have looked for life on earth, then it would it is reasonable that our senses would be trained to perceiving on earth. How do we actually experience being seated with Him in Christ in the heavenly places, it must come through believing the revealed Word of God. So training our senses to be directed by our spirit through the Holy Spirit comes as our mind is renewed by the Word of God. The Holy Spirit has been given to take the written Word of God and make it a reality in our lives. In other words the Holy Spirit takes of the things of Jesus and makes them personal for us. Forgiveness of all our sins is a wonderful truth but does not have power to free a person from guilt and condemnation til they appropriate the truth in the Word by faith. The Holy Spirit shows a person how specifically they have been forgiven and how the guilt and condemnation have been washed away. Forgiveness is a finished work in Heaven, it is not something I see materially in front of me so I must put faith in the Word of God that it is an accomplished work through Christ. Throughout the New Testament their are many references to Heaven as a present reality that will endure forever, rather than a place we are waiting to go when we die. This doctrine or tradition of the "sweet by and by" is a distortion of truth and something I believe the Devil has used to keep Christians from experiencing Abundant Life now. It is easy to put off "life" waiting for something to happen, change, or come about. Faith does involve waiting upon God, but the Life (Zoe=God's Life) is offered present tense. In 1 John 5:12 it says that if you have God's Son you have the life (Zoe-Eternal Life of God). All of this is in Heaven which is present tense, Jesus prayed in Matthew in the Lord's pray "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven". Showing us that God's perfect will is in heaven but that He wants Heaven to be made manifest on earth. All this high and lofty talk, back to practical. Instead of looking at my latest tiff with my wife and drawing the conclusion that we will never totally have the partnership that I dream of I can look in Heaven for His perspective. The Lord gave me a picture of my wife and I in a dance where we move in partnership and union, as I see this picture as reality the occassional stepping on of each other's toes fit into the dance. If I go down the road of carnal assumptions about the latest tiff it brings me into discouragement. I really do have a choice to set my mind on things above (Colossians 3:1-4). Also as I have this wonderful picture of the dance, I can see that the empowerment comes from God. I see that we are both listening to the same music and moving in harmony with the music. The good news is I don't produce the music, this is His music. The music is captivating and beautiful, with the music comes the desire to dance and be in harmony. Another situation where I have an opportunity to see into Heaven and see that become a reality on earth is our current transition at ELM. As the ministry is working on wrapping up the sale of our current building our attentions go to finding a smaller more suitable location that is closer to the homes of the staff. It is easy to go down the road of anxiety, worry, frantic looking, or passivity. The Lord has shown me another road and that is to see He already has an ideal place for us, it is a matter of receiving the revelation of it in Heaven and then believing by faith that He will lead us to it. This takes out striving and self-effort but also shows us that we have a part and that is to be willing to see in Heaven and walk by faith for it to be manifested. I believe that God primarily works through His people (His Body in Christ) and one of the main ways that His power is released on the earth is through our prayers. Jesus gives us this template of how to pray in Lord's prayer, He wouldn't instruct us in meaningless and haphazzard ways to pray. I believe that prayer is one of the most powerful spiritual weapons we possess (along with the sword of the revealed Word of God), yet our view of prayer has been too shaped by worldly influences, our own upbringing, traditions, and cliches. I believe that to pray as Jesus showed us to pray is to release the resources of Heaven into earth, now that is a different way to view prayer. I do not believe that perceiving the spiritual realm is for those "special" or particularly "gifted" believers, as I look at the Word of God looking into the heaven is "normal" for believers. I am not saying that what you perceive in heaven will ever violate the written Word of God but only having it revealed by the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to look at some of the Scriptures I have discussed and ask the Holy Spirit to show you what is in heaven. I believe that as I look to God's perspective (will) in heaven that I will be able to pray for children more effectively. Instead of starting with my fears, I can begin with God's plan and will to see that come about in their lives.

In Christ's Finished work of Grace,
Bret

Unashamed

Why does it seem that there are moments when we are open, unashamed, and are walking in the light only to skulk in the darkness another moment. I am convinced that all of our deepest fear is really be known and seen without any protection. As I had been reading in 1 John 1:6-7 I began to see that walking in the Light (God) means that we don't choose to dive for the darkness. As I searhed my own heart for the reason I dive for the darkness, it was revealed that self-protection (living as a spiritual orphan) is the reason. When I or others perceive possible rejection, hurt, or abandonment we use self-protection to stop this from happening but then the Word says when I walk this way I lie. I must lie at some level to protect myself, like I am "fine" when I really have had a rough day or simply don't share the latest storm going on inside. The lie I believe like "I am inadequate" protects me from having other people see me fail. If I believe the truth, "I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me" then I could fall flat on my face. I am amazed that I have such a deep desire to be loved and yet protecting myself and walking in inner darkness seems to be so tempting. This is hard stuff and yet when I dare to believe that God is as good as He really is and loves me I experience glorious freedom. It is learning to abide in this love and be unashamed. For it is His love that washes away our shame as we come to Him just as we are and receive His grace. The more I see of His grace the more my mind is convinced of His love but it takes the nudge of the Holy Spirit to invite the little boy inside to walk in this love. God is not mad just sad that we won't trust the depth of His love. He has already bestowed on His acceptance in Christ (Romans 5), His blessing (Ephesians 1), and called us His beloved. We do have an Enemy otherwise this inner turmoil makes no sense, his plan is our destruction, death, and to rob us of life. He brings thoughts that lead us to choose the folly of self-protection and life in the darkness (which is really a form of soul death). The Enemy knows if we truly discover the love of God that we will be bold and begin to invite others into this same freedom. As I look at the life of Jesus in His humanity I am shocked by His open display of weakness, emotion, love, joy, heartbreak, disappointment, betrayal, and even agony. He is truly our model for humanity, yet I find in myself and others both a deep desire to live this way and a very real terror. I see that grace is an invitation to abandon ourselves not to serving God but to an exquisite and bold love. I have learned so well the ways of self-protection and darkness that I am still learning a whole new way to live. I pray that this may encourage you on your journey and that we will choose together to walk in His love.

In His Amazing Grace,
Bret

Learning to Soar

I realize that for me to come to God as one of His sons is bold and yet the Word says this is how we are to come. As a son I come expecting my Abba to share His will, perspective, and purpose with me. I don't come on my own merits but only on the finished work of Christ, which has transformed me out of the kingdom of darkness and into the Kingdom of His marvelous Light. As I walk through life I either feel "under" or "over". What I mean by this is either I experience life as the circumstances, problems, difficulties, and challenges are pushing me down to the point of weariness. I have found lack of sleep can contribute to this, as our new puppy (Shilo - His gift) had girardia and diarhea for 5 nights in a row (she would go out 5-6 times a night). As I would at times drag through my days, I realized in the past I would go to discouragement and being downtrodden. Instead I was able to see that His strength was truly made perfect in my weakness, I brought my part which is weakness. I said at times I experience life "over" which really means I see and experience God's love and purpose in the midst of where I am (soaring). In this way I experience being seated with Him in Christ in the heavenly places. As I talked abou the last time, the Lord has revealed that speaking out His Word over my situation, life, and family will bear fruit. In our microwave society we are all seem to want instant solutions but sowing good seed often means we wait on the Lord to do the watering and growing then we get to reap. Sowing and reaping is a spiritual principal that our Loving Abba wants us to understand that we can walk in His Grace and Favor. When things are tough is when we are most likely to use the power of our tongue to speak death (loss, destruction, failure, frustration, and discouragement) over ourselves and our situations. The Enemy knows if he can get my mind set on myself, my situation, the lack, and then can put a nail in the coffin (analogy) by getting us to use the power of our tongue to speak death then he can keep us in discouragement and bondage. I encourage you to let God speak His Word through your tongue by asking Him what He wants to speak through you. Jesus spoke the Holy Spirit quickened words of the Old Testament to refute the temptations of the Enemy. We approach life as victors because of the Victorious Life of Jesus Christ we have been given and now dwells within us but I have the choice to surrender myself to this life or live out the doomed self-life (flesh). I see that the battle for our mind is intense but the battle for the tongue is next because the Enemy knows that the Word says "Death and Life are in the power of the tongue...." - Proverbs 18:21 . As we follow Jesus lead in prayer, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven." -Matthew 6:10. I believe as we ask the Holy Spirit to show us God's will being done perfectly (Heaven) in a situation we face, we then are able to pray His will be done on earth. I believe we will see this come about (not always instant), faith in the Word is something that builds (God is not in a hurry). Jesus often referred to "Ye of little faith" or "faith like a mustard seed", I don't believe He was putting people down but showing them that faith (believing His revealed Word) can increase. Please share your ideas, encouragements, questions, or thoughts. I pray that together "in Christ" we would soar, seeing God's will done in our lives and on the earth.

Purpose for Soaring son

I sensed the Lord leading me to start a blog, though I know little to nothing about blogging. Abba was stirring me to seek a way to connect with those who support us in ministry and friends who want to share life with us. I was led to choose the title because I have been on this journey from Romans 8:14-17 of discovering what it means to walk in being one of the sons (not gender specific but either son or daughter). Amazing that through the astounding grace of our God, we are no longer need to experience life as slaves of God but enter into the intimacy of being His sons and daughters. It is also my hope that we will go on the journey that God has called us into and learn to soar as an Eagle in the heavenly places as sons and daughters (Ephesians 2:6). This is not just a slight change in the way we see life but a whole renewal of the mind that the Holy Spirit does in our innermost being, starting with entering into being forgiven of our unbelief in the saving work of Jesus Christ. It is too easy to focus on forgiveness of sins as the central point of the Gospel but as we study the Word we find that entering into a new relationship with God where we are truly set free occupies a greater place in His Word. This new relationship is the basis for the New Covenant of grace. A Covenant is a binding relationship built on unconditional love and sealed by an oath. I will talk more about Covenant as we go on because understanding the New Covenant through the revelation of the Holy Spirit I believe is the key to experiencing freedom in our lives. Jesus is the New Covenant.

My heart is that through this blog I will be able to share God's work in my heart, life-giving stories of His grace in ministry, and that we can share the life of Christ together. I hope this will be two-way dialogue but I trust the Holy Spirit to work through this medium to build community. My prayer is that each person who comes to this blog will be touched and transformed by the love of God in Christ. I would love to hear your prayer requests that I may agree with you to see God's Will revealed and accomplished on earth as it is in Heaven. Please know there are limitations to the confidentiality to a blog, so if you don't want to share a request with everyone you can email me directly at: bret@elmcolo.org. The more I experience of God's grace and love in my life, the more I want to share. I pray that you would be blessed by this blog and even share it with your friends. These are lofty goals but I walk with the Almighty and He delights to reveal Himself.

The first thing the Holy Spirit began to stir in my spirit was at the end of 2007 as I looked to 2008. As I sought the Lord for what He had for me in 2008 I was impressed in my spirit, that the power of life and death is in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). This has led me on a journey with the Lord to see how my words over myself, my family, and others can either build up in love and be His words or can tear down. It is so easy to speak death over yourself without even knowing. We seem to point out the discouraging things, or what's not going well in our lives, and progressively we become more negative. This can lead us to lapsing into depression. Are we just to be speak positively like some in the world have suggest or does God give us His words to speak over our lives. I believe as "New Creations" we are giving new language, it is God's way of speaking through us. Our usual speech that has been patterned by the world system and Satan's lie that all life comes from being self-sufficient and independent of God must be broken that we would started to speak God's words. It is amazing to me that James says that our tongues can turn our whole bodies (the direction of our lives), so this is no small matter. So also what a tremendous opportunity we have to speak words that come from His Life (Christ in us - He dwells in those who receive Him by faith). Going back to Proverbs we see that life and death are in the power of the tongue, not necessarily right and wrong. Do we want our tongue to be an expression of His Life in and through us or do we want to try to control our own tongue? James tells us flatly, no one can control the tongue. If you have tried to control your tongue you have seen the frustration. We have a 5 month old puppy and it has been hard to not let loose the frustration or worries of the day on this unsuspecting bundle of energy. We joke saying to each other, "Speak Life" when you just want to be negative that this puppy will never be fully trained and obedient. Words of life must be filled with faith, love, truth, and most importantly the Lord's initiation.

I have so much to share but my prayer is that we will share, encourage, and be challenged together. Signing off for 2/4/08.

IN HIS Grace and Love,
Bret Rutland