The Power of Belief

We were invited by some friends to their cabin in the mountains on a lake, my family was tired from camping the previous weekend and the week but looking forward to the trip.  We reminded the kids that on Fridays we clean rooms, since I am not always around on Friday this was my first time supervising room cleaning in a while.  My daughter quickly went to work but my son seemed to get lost in playing with the LEGOs that were on his floor.  When I challenged him that it was time to clean his room, he got frustrated and declared "I can't".  I know that partly he did not want to clean his room but also somewhere inside of him he believed "I can't".  I watched as he struggled like it was an impossible task, so I would ask him which part he wanted to do first then I sat in their with him.  Sometimes I wander if being in an orphanage for 17 months affecting him believing in his own capability.  I decided to make it my personal mission to help him see the truth by experience, it did take over an hour for him to clean his room and pack a small bit of clothes for the weekend trip.  One of the last things to do was to put his comforter on his bed, as he repeatedly declared "I can't" he struggled to even have the comforter on the bed much less neatly arranged.  I was amazed at the power his declaration were having over his body, it seemed his body moved in rhythm with his repeated declarations.  I was convicted that many of my negative declarations over myself are what end up in a negative mood and then my actions follow.  This is a rather simple lesson but one I seem to need to relearn over and over again.  This is why the declared Word of God is so powerful, Jesus displays this by rebuking the Enemy when He was in the wilderness by the spoken Word of God.  I talked earlier about a verse in 2 Peter 1:4  "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."  Amazing it is through the many promises of God "in Christ" that we are partakers of the divine nature, I have been told all these promises are already mine "in Christ".  The truth is while all these promises are mine, there are many areas of my soul where I exponentially believe a lie rather than the truth of the promises of God.  This sure sounds like an overwhelming amount of work to declare the promises of God over my life til the Holy Spirit births these in me.  Maybe I need more revelation into the power of His promises being birthed in my life.  I was raised in the belief that if something is painful it must be wrong, but I have learned contrary to this in my life that the best things in life often come with much pain (ie. good family relationships, trusting God, faith, and love).  So I come back to the power of belief, if I continue to believe lies rather than His promises I will not experience escaping the corruption in the world.  I decide today to believe the truth of His Word, as I continue to put His Word before me that it maybe birthed in me.

In Christ,
Bret

Getting closer to Jesus?

So many Christians desire to be closer to Jesus and hear from God.  Biblically we have already been brought near through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13) but I understand people want to experience intimacy with Jesus.  I have discovered that God does not do things on my terms no matter how bad I want it, this is what makes Him God and not me.  Intimacy with Him is on His terms of grace and the New Covenant not on what I think draws me closer to Him.  I was in our men's Bible Study where we have been studying "The Power of Blood Covenant" by Maclolm Smith for the past years (this is a meaty book).  I was struck as we were studying friendship with God that in a Covenant which is the giving of oneself to another person without reservation, that God has already given Himself in Christ.  Then why aren't we receiving?  Maybe it is because we are withholding ourselves from Him, there are many Scriptures about Jesus knowing us.  This type of knowing not knowing about but the greek word for intimate, personal, and relational knowing.  So if I am struggling with God revealing Himself to me, maybe I have not opened areas of my heart to Him.  I for so long thought that going to Church, reading my Bible, praying asking for things, begging God, and doing spiritual activities would draw me closer to God.  "If anyone loves God, this one is known by Him" (1 Corinthians 8:3), this Scripture tells us that to love God means to be known by Him.  This word known is the greek word 'ginosko' which is the intimate knowing of one person knowing another.  In John 10:14 we see the same theme, "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own."  Both words for known in this verse are 'ginosko' both us being known by Jesus and us knowing Him.  These are all covenant words that having the meaning of giving of oneself to another and their giving of themselves (in this case Christ) to us.  This revelation helped me to see why, when I walk after the flesh and hide, protect myself, be dishonest with others, and avoid honest prayer, I seem to experience distance from God (though positionally I am in Him).  I believe desperation is part of the spiritual life but I also believe desperation led by the Holy Spirit will lead us to the paths of righteouseness for His names sake (Psalm 23).  I am learning that righteousness under the New Covenant is not earned but it is also not my way of living but submitting to God's way of grace to produce His righteousness in me.  I have for a long time seen the benefit of inner healing prayer where the lies about our identity are displaced with revealed truth but now I understand why this kind of deep vulnerability and brokenness is necessary to experience intimacy with Jesus.  I do believe while you cannot get closer (positionally) to Jesus than you are (if you are a believer), you can experience more of the intimate relationship that God brought us into by being "in Christ".  This also reveals why humility is key in the New Covenant to experiencing His grace, anyone who says they know grace yet hasn't opened hurting areas of their heart has mostly knowledge about grace.  I pray that this will be an invitation to go deeper with Jesus and be willing to open areas of your heart that you may experience the indwelling Christ.

In His Amazing Grace,
Bret

Birthing Promises

For many years there has been a facination with the story of Mary giving birth to Jesus, not as a nice Sunday school lesson but as a practical guide for God doing a work in our lives.  In John 1:14 we are told that "...the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory ...", Jesus was the Word became flesh.  In Luke the testimony of the angel coming to Mary and bringing the word of God, that she would give birth to the Son of God.  This is all a wonderful testimony but we can relegate it to a story, rather than God is setting a precendent for how He will also do things in our life.  Since Mary's response to the Word of God through the angel was "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."  (Luke 1:38), we see that she agreed by fatih with the Word of God and the manifestation came 9 months later as the baby Jesus.  I have several Scriptures on 3 X 5 cards that are promises I have been led by the Lord to speak out over my life that they would be birthed in me.  I also have a prophetic word about me that was given to me in 5/06 that I have not yet seen manifest in my life.  This prophetic word often feels like a dream because it represents a new me, freed from many of the bondages that have held me for many years.  Some times I feel stupid reciting promises that still feel far off, other times I strive for this because my heart so longs to experience God in this way, and other times I feel defeated in hopelessness of it ever coming to pass.  Yet in the promises of the New Covenant given to us at a specific time by the Holy Spirit have the power of God's Word backing them up, Mary did not try really hard to become pregnant with Jesus.  Since I am a man I do not have the birthing experience in the natural, although I walked with my wife through her pregnancy with our daughter and walked with her through the pregnancy in the spirit of our adopted son as she prayed him into being.  So I am a tad removed.  Yet I want to understand the journey and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in birthing the promises of God into me.  As it is says in 2 Peter 1:4 "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificant promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."  It is through receiving the promises of God that the Holy Spirit births the manifestation of that promise in our life (the Divine Nature).  Having something birthed in us does not mean that we are earning the promise since it is by grace through Christ's finished work. The promise became ours and it is by the grace of God by the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit that He works in us to bring the manifestation of the promise.  Sounds technical but I am seeking to understand how God works so I can participate with Him.  Do we have a part?  Yes, if I don't put faith in the promise and the God who made that promise to me "in Christ" then will it come about in my life.  In 2 Corinthians 1:20 we are told "For as many as are the promises of God, in Him [Jesus] they are yes; therefore also through Him [Jesus] is our Amen to the glory of God through us."  I added [Jesus] to show what the previous verse says, that it is Jesus the Son of God by which the promises are yes and amen.  I am asking the Holy Spirit to highlight some promises in the New Covenant that He wants to birth in you, let us go on this supernatural journey.

In His Amazing Grace,
Bret

Avoiding Potholes

I once heard a story about a boy who was walking home from school.  He went down a street an accidently stepped in a big pothole filled with water, his mom was not happy when he got home.  The next day he walks down the same street and sees the pothole just as he is about to step in it, his mom was not happy.  The next day he walks down the same street, sees the pothole, and goes around it.  Mom was happy that day.  The last day he decides to walk down a different street.  This is an analogy of life and how we often fall into patterns or do things that are life-giving.  Jeremiah 17:5-6 says this, "Thus says the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord,.  For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes, but will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant."  Recently my wife and I had a weekend just the two of us together where we began to get a more clear focus on where the Lord was taking our family and seeing the barriers.  I was feeling really great about the progress we made over the weekend and the agreements we were coming to.  Then the pothole, I asked my wife if she was ready to proceed with the plan.  She said she was still thinking and praying about.  We had sowed financial seeds and have been waiting for God to be faithful to His covenant to see a harvest, while there also were some extra expenses coming our way.  My heart was beginning to turn away from the Lord but I didn't realize it.  The next day my wife called to compliment me on how I had stewarded our finances after listening to "Dave Ramsey" on the radio, I thanked her for the compliment.  Yet I began to take credit for God's faithfulness and His wisdom in our lives.  I have had difficulty sleeping in the last couple of years, then I went to bed last night and tossed and turned.  My heart had turned away from God as my Provider and security towards trusting in myself, how was I going to handle our financial needs, how was I going to get my wife to agree, and how was I going to plan for our future.  As I listened to a sermon on Grace the Lord convicted me that I had turned towards trusting myself and thus anxiety, fear, and feeling overwhelmed.  I amazed at how subtlely the Enemy sneaks in to get us to trust ourselves and throw out the covenant promises God has made to each of us.  I repented and turned my heart to Him to be my righteousness, my Provider, and my security.  If He doesn't show up then I am sunk.  Jeremiah 17:7 says "blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord."  I am praying that as I humble myself under His mighty hand that He will show me that the pothole is coming so I can walk around it or better yet walk down a different street.  I thank God for His grace and His power, all I supply is the weakness.

In His Grace,
Bret