Some Things You Only Learn As a Child

As we draw close to the day of Christmas, we remember how God invaded humanity through a infant boy. Theologians use big words like "incarnation" but to reflect on God limiting Himself to a baby that poops, pees, has to be breast fed, and have his swaddling clothes changed is truly amazing. The Lord has drawn me to a revelation about receiving His Kingdom that goes contrary to our thinking. Our society elevates those who are learned, smart, intelligent, shrewd, and calculating but I don't find this same appreciation when it comes to God's Kingdom. Wisdom is definitely a theme in Scripture, especially in the Proverbs. Wisdom is different then knowledge, wisdom has it's source in the character of God. As I woke up one morning I was hit by disappointment (my wife didn't get a job we were expecting she would get), then I listened to a message talking about prayers and promises that you stopped praying, and then I felt deep inside there were other disappointments. As I went off to meet with a prayer partner, the Lord began to show me that I had a pattern of experiencing disappointment. As my prayer partner led me in prayer to go into the roots of the feelings of disappointment, I began to see a childhood pattern of feeling set up for disappointment. The Lord began to show me that I had closed my heart off and began to become cynical about trusting. Human beings will always disappoint us because we were born of the Spirit to trust a completely faithful God, yet we often inwardly measure God by the people who raised us. The Lord began to speak to me about trust, I was saddened to realize that because my child-like trust had been distorted through the Enemies lies that I had believed God would not come through. When you believe that God will not come through for you (we all have some unbelief), then the only alternative is to try to do things according to your own power (the flesh). As I looked at Matthew 18:1-5 the Lord began to speak to my heart that there revelations that could only be received by becoming as a child. There are a number of people who I see God working through mightily, I am amazed at their child-like faith. Some of these people even talk about being like a little boy with a Big Dad. I found that inside of me was this inner-cynic because I had been hurt and disappointed as a little boy. I am all for studying, understanding Scripture in context, and even understanding the meaning of words in their original language. In this though we can get lost in believing that it is our effort that unlocks the mysteries of omnipotent God but this God seems to want us to know with a heart of a child. Jesus gives the disciples a lesson when they are acting like selfish and competitive children (asking who will be the greatest in the Kingdom) by bringing a child before Him and telling them to become like this child. The word He uses is be converted which carries the meaning to change directions or your mind. Clearly Jesus perspective on the Kingdom was vastly different than the disciples, the disciples are thinking of a corporate structure of upward mobility. Jesus points them to a child and challenges them to take the downward journey of humility. A child is likely to trust easily, open their heart, and enjoy the journey of discovery. We as adults have learned how to protect ourselves from being so silly, innocent, and trusting. We access to vast amounts of information, research, and counsel before we make a decision. I am not suggesting any of these are bad, only that they may prevent us at times from receiving the revelation of who God is. This shows us why it is important for our child heart to be healed from the wounds that we received as we grew. We have a common tradition in the Body of Christ that the better you study the Scripture, the more you know, and the better you can articulate Scripture the more faith you must have. Jesus doesn't seem to elevate these people as what is desired in the Kingdom of God. If you have a seminary degree don't be offended but realize that being great in the Kingdom of God is not dependent on all you know. It is child-like trust and faith that is required to enter the Kingdom of heaven. My question is this the first-time we enter the Kingdom, meaning when we accept Christ as our Savior. Or maybe it means that if we want to experience the realm of the Kingdom of heaven, we must humble ourselves and be like a little child. Also a quality about children is they have amazing imaginations and love new discoveries. I love that kids have a sense of awe, my son has discovered that Corvettes and Mustangs (especially GT500s) are so exciting. When he sees a Corvette you would think he won the powerball by his excitement. So my prayer is that you would open your child-heart and let the Lord show you things in His Kingdom that are beyond your imagination.

In His Grace,
Bret

Christ as Our Reference Point

It is so amazing as we discover through the Holy Spirit's direction that we have been given a brand new life "in Christ". We all come to this discovery through desperation, failure, and a sense there must be more. It is another big step to have Christ be the reference point for how we look at all life, especially ourselves. Jesus says in John 8:32 "and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." Is Jesus really saying that when you get through all your wounds, your inadequacies, your places of lack, and your weaknesses then you will be free or are you free today. The Scripture clearly says that since Jesus said you have been set free by the truth then you are free. Why do we always make truth conditional? I believe in a world filled with ungrace, grace is light in the midst of darkness and totally different than how most people see things according to being "in Adam". It makes sense that the New Covenant approach is that we are free through the truth of the finished work of Christ and that Galatians 5:1 tells us to "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." So why can't I continually walk in the Spirit and in freedom. It is because I believe lies about who I am, these are not superficial thoughts but deeply rooted beliefs that are removed by an encounter with the spirit of truth. I was recently feeling stressed and I was having trouble identifying what was going on. I began to see that since I had experienced a lot of loneliness as a child, I was approaching the pressures of life from the perspective "I am all alone and I have to handle it". I felt stressed but wouldn't readily tell you this is what I was believing til I stopped to take time to be with the Lord. It is amazing to me how much time, energy, and life the Enemy sucks from us through our belief in lies. I find it so easy to slip back into myself and my perspective as a reference point (really an orphan heart). Instead of Scripture says in Colossians 3 to set your mind on things above, not on the things on the earth. I am so thankful that the Lord has set me free from only thinking about myself, my problems, my challenges, my tasks, etc... The old man is dead and now our reference point is the unconditional love, acceptance, and grace of our God. It definitely is a spiritual battle to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, allowing Him to be my lens for all of life.

In His Grace,
Bret

A Love Greater than all Fear

This comes out of my reflecting on 1 John 4:11-21, there are so many amazing revelations out of this passage. But as is my journey with the Lord, I am driven to Him by desperation first and then seeking revelation. I reflected on my journey with the Lord, not in pride, but saying I have come far through many fears. Seeking to raise our kids in the atmosphere of Heaven (His love and peace), I looked back at how I was raised in a continual atmosphere of fear. Many times the environment of fear was so strong that it was overwhelming and suffocating. This is what I knew as a child, my mother was raised in the same kind of atmosphere. The Lord has taken me through so many fears and yet still before are many others. I do not choose to evaluate where I am anymore from my own myopic perspective but from Heaven's perspective (God's). This passage in 1 John 4 points to the reality that none of us even loved God, it was in this place that He revealed His ultimate love in Jesus Christ. It is important to state this because too many believers get deceived to pursue loving God without having the object of their focus being God's love for us in Jesus Christ (v. 19 says "We love, because he first loved us."). Because I grew up in an atmosphere where I was told "I love you" sincerely and yet there was so much fear, in my feelings experiencing being loved is a daily struggle. I must rely on faith in the truth of the Word of God, when my experience does not line up with the truth of the Word of God. I am pressing in to experience this truth (v. 18 that I would be perfected (brought to completion) in love). This connects with Ephesians 3: 19 which says "and to know (by experience) the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you be filled up to all the fullness of God." The Amplified version talks about being a body, filled, and flooded with God Himself. What an amazing picture it is, to realize that God wants us to experience His love in us expelling all fear. I know that if I was filled and flooded with God Himself, I would not be full of fear, worry, or frustration but joy, peace, and life. Fear is the weapon of the Enemy to keep us from experiencing the joy of having every part of our being filled with God. If you think about the foolish decisions you have made in life, I will bet that the root of most of them is fear. We all do foolish things when we are afraid. Then often times anger follows as we experience the consequences of our poor decisions made in fear. As we realize that we cannot control ourselves or our surroundings, fear is simply the absence of God's presence. I am thankful that as I look at the finished work of Christ through His promises I see that God has left no area for fear to rule. Through Christ death was conquered, sin, lack, insignificance, powerlessness, and the Enemy. I know I still fear because there are places in my heart where I have not let the presence and power of Jesus rule. These are areas I still seek to manage life my own way, fear is natural to the flesh. I am again amazed as a client sits in front of me breaking out in tears as he watches a video displaying the love of God, we are so ignorant of how deeply we need to be unconditionally loved. This is the cry of every human heart and we have all been disappointed by poor substitutes, it is only the very presence of Jesus that will fill our thirsty heart. The more I mature "in Christ" the more desperate I am for the touch of His presence, power, and life. I exist to be filled by Him and to have His love flow through me.

In His Power and Love,
Bret

Love the Darkness or the Light?

Recently the Lord revealed to me that as a child I learned to love the darkness, "...men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil." - John 3:19. No child naturally loves the darkness, like a dark room or even being alone but can begin to find a cover there. Growing up in an environment devoid of faith, lacking love at times, filled with loneliness, and with the air of death (due to my father's suicide) led me to look for shelter in the dark by hiding. I learned how to hide inside, not get my hopes up for fear of disappointment, grumble and complain, and be downcast and discouraged. As I woke up I was struck by the fact that there is a draw to the darkness. I recently watched one of my favorite series, "The Lord of the Rings", in this trilogy there is a creature Gollum (who was a simple man formerly) who's mind is poisoned by the "Ring". The "Ring" is symbolic of the power of sin that draws us to get our needs met independent of God and to use other people for our own purpose. The "Ring" is evil but it has a draw, to such a point that Gollum calls it "my precious" and begins to secretly scheme to get the "Ring" back from the Hobbit Frodo who is going to destroy it. In one scene Gollum is arguing with his flesh and his identity as the more benevolent Smeagle, there is a veil of darkness and secrecy around his schemes. Every person in the movie who encounters the "Ring" is drawn by it's power, the darkness holds a draw. For some it is power, for others it is significance in another's eyes, for some it even holds out hope, and for others the belief that they could wield it's power for good. Yet all who would seek to use it's power are themselves taken over by it, it is only Frodo who is yielded to destroying the "Ring" who can carry it. I realized through this journey that there was part of me (flesh) who desired to be hopeless, downtrodden, and stuck because to hope once again and risk failure leaves you vulnerable. See I learned the safety of the dark, don't hope and you won't be disappointed, don't express strong desire or you could fail, and don't reveal your true self or you could be rejected. I am thankful that Jesus chose to enter into my life as me to save me out of my darkness, sin, selfishness, and all that I was connected to sin being my master. I am thankful that the new person I am "in Christ" loves the Light and the One who is Light. There are lots of veils that bring darkness whether it be religious performance, addiction, avoidance, isolation, image management, enmeshment in relationships or hiding behind a position. I believe that real freedom comes as we are fully known by God and others and our true self is accepted.

In His Light,
Bret