Aslan is on the Move!

Sometimes in the busyness of daily life, we can often miss the subtle but powerful hand of our supernatural God. In a society where we are focused on where we are going, what we are doing, who we need to talk to, etc.. Basically much of our thought life is preoccupied with ourselves, what others think of us, is someone upset with us, and did we do everything right. Our whole society is based on the Lie of self-focus, self-sufficiency, and us meeting our own needs. The gospel does not just cleanse us of sins but also opens up a new way of living, where we are no longer the center of our existence. Our awareness and sensitivity to the Spirit of God increase as we realize that the promise of the New Covenant is that He is constantly at work transforming us into a totally new person. Ezekiel 36:27 tells us "And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall heed My ordinances and do them." Clearly we are the receivers of this awesome promise but not the initiator or the one running the show. As I sat with a friend who has struggled with an orphan heart ever since I am known him, I began to see in his eyes a flicker of the Spirit of God moving Him. An orphan heart is a person who believes his heart has no home and thus searches to meet his needs on our own. We all often have feelings of loneliness, emptiness, shame, fear, and insecurity. These lies from the Pit of Hell move us into a place of being an orphan rather than being at home in the Father's Unconditional Love. My friend had move closer to be at home in the Father's love, yet when there is not a huge experience the subtle hand of Father's Love can be missed. As I met with some new friends involved in a ministry for healing hurting shepherd's the Lord began to confirm the vision He put on our hearts. We connected because we desire to see the Kingdom of God go forth and yet we each have a unique part of this overall dream to see the glory of God seen around the world. I can tell the dream in our heart to see orphans come home to the Father's love made an advance today, in the unseen realm. Faith is evidence of things hoped for, the substance of things not yet seen (Hebrews 11). As I shared the vision the Lord has put on our heart and these new friends affirmed the need and the call. I believe as citizens of Heaven, we are born of the Spirit to be attuned to the movements and rhythms of Aslan's moves. Aslan is purposeful and intent but not in a hurry. You were born of God to inhabit Heaven, are you willing to have God train your senses to His movements? If you are "in Christ" then Aslan is on the move in your life, it is not about getting God to do something but becoming aware of His movements.

In His Power,
Bret

Radical Love

It amazes me that God's grace is displayed best in the darkest places of our lives. God's grace as displayed through Jesus, reveals a radical and unchangeable love that is more powerful than sin, brokennes, weakness, selfishness, and rebellion. It is easy to condemn those who have fallen deeply into sin, it is a radical love to accept these people and restore them. Since God by nature is love (1 John 4), then He really can't be any other way. When we look for God to respond in a way that is punishing, disappointed, or angry we have a very distorted picture of God. It truly is good news to know that He loves you right now, whatever your failures or weaknesses. As we begin to have His love revealed, He is inviting us to dive into the depth's of His grace where we will live out all eternity. It has struck me that God is not changing some things in my life, He is transforming me into His very nature. This deep transformation was accomplished through our identification with Jesus on the cross, we are so changed by His love that we now can actually love ourselves. It is legalism and religion that devalues people looking only to their outward performance instead of the heart. If we are truly displaying God's nature, it will result in loving one another. Loving another person is not something you can do from a distance, you must enter into their failures, broken dreams, regrets, and pain in their life. God does not love us from a distance but seeks to know us a deep level, it is us that can prevent Him from knowing us completely. I am convinced that fear is what robs us of knowing and experiencing God's love. You don't have to look far in these times to see the evidence of our fear-based living, the news constantly speaks of recession and ads glorify being able to hide your weaknesses. It is Jesus that invites us to come close with our greatest weaknesses, failures, and broken dreams. Unlike what we may think about Him, He will only give us grace and healing. In all the years of ministry I have never seen Jesus reject someone, the Holy Spirit has spoken to many people over the last 10+ years. Why is it that I still hide at times from this kind of radical and unconditional love? It seems I still have places of fear in my heart but His Word assures me He is bringing me into experiencing His perfect love which casts out fear (1 John 4). As we receive His love for us fear is cast out and we are able to love others with His love. Fear leads us to do crazy, destructive, and sad things to one another. His love is so much greater than your earthly parents for they were not the exact representation of His love. Won't you let Him heal your heart and begin to soar higher in His love.

In His Love,
Bret

Resurrection is coming!!!

No matter what we as believers are going through there is hope because resurrection is coming. One of the saddest things about the teaching in the church that often falls short of the Gospel is that we are not taught our identification with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. On this Good Friday as I am going through a season of death, I realize that my resurrection is coming where I will experience more of His resurrection life coursing through me. I will experience more of His love, His grace, His power, and His goodness than I have in the past. My weakness is God's opportunity, this is a Kingdom view not an earthly worldview. Don't feel sorry for me for my resurrection is coming. Yet we often get close to resurrection but pull out as we enter the tomb and thus don't see resurrection. Jesus chose the cross, we must also choose the cross for the joy set before us (His Resurrection Life flowing through us). It is sad that the church often stands and looks at the Cross and the Resurrection as observers rather than as participants. Isn't this what Communion is all about, is for us to actually be united to Jesus. There is such a cry in my heart to experience Union with Jesus, even though the Cross is right before me. I know deep down inside that on the other side is a greater revelation of His love than I have ever known and it will be worth it. Suffering without purpose is torture, suffering to enter into love is where the joy is. My cry for the church is that we would no longer be observers but participants in this amazing invitation given by the God of unconditional love. God's love is so radical, so deep, so powerful, and so amazing that it will destroy fear and shame. I pray that you would joining me in saying "yes" to His love and being changed by the depth of love that He challenges us to taste (Ephesians 3:14-21). Grace is not tolerance, it is transformation which is only something the God of the Universe can accomplish.

In His Love,
Bret

Grace is still standing!

As I read a friend's story that he sent me about a father who forgave his son's murderer and talk to a high school friend going through a divorce. I am amazed at how God's grace still stands, the power of His love displayed on the cross is bigger than the worst human sin committed against love. We were made to live in God's love and when we go against love we pay deep inside. We may be able to hide the damage inside for a season but like David said "let the bones you have broken rejoice". Our hearts do not heal when we choose justice, our way, selfishness, worry, or indepedence. We are only at home in His love and no other comfort will do. God's Word is timeless when everything around us is constantly changing, but His Word tells us "there is nothing new under the sun". Humans search for answers to the daily problems that confront us and yet God's Word is considered by so many to have nothing but religious language written in ancient times. If we as believers only understood the power of God's revealed Word to transform lives, broken marriages, broken relationships, and ultimately broken societies. His Word is what points us to a relationship with Him that gives life. As I have personally struggled with many fears, anxieties, and darknesses in my life over the past few months which are deeply rooted in my childhood, I am reminded by the Holy Spirit of the passage in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 which says "Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everthing give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." This is a difficult section of Scripture for me when I have spent the last 15 months wrestling with deeply held strongholds of belief which have caused me to lose a lot of sleep. I am to rejoice, pray without ceasing, and give thanks. This sounds like insanity but yet the revealed Word of God breathes life into us. I choose to rejoice in His salvation of me though I did not deserve it, for taking me out of the darkness of sin and putting me into the light, and for loving me when I am my most unlovable. I have a wonderful wife, two great kids, co-workers to minister with who love the Lord, and God has given me breath today. I pray that the Lord will do a transforming work in me that I will rejoice always, this is not something that comes naturally to me. Growing up I learned how to complain, look for the worst, be critical, and the pathway to discouragement was paved. I am sowing seeds in life and these negative seeds will bear fruit. We were born to live in Eden where we would walk in God's love and life all the days of our life. We were born to spread His glory over all the earth, grace in places of darkness is what brings His Light. God is light and Him there is no darkness (1 John 1:5). At the end of many lifetimes Grace will still be standing because the goodness of God is what we long for. When we see Him then we are truly alive. Could it be that the darkness in our world is not because of the economic situation, crime, broken families, or war but the lack of God being lifted up. Grace is an atmosphere that softens hearts, heals, brings hope, and restores. Grace is who God is because Jesus is the fullness of grace and truth. My choice today is to live in His grace and love, though apart from His grace I deserve death. I pray you will choose to rejoice in the Lord, no matter what you may be going through.

In His Amazing Grace,
Bret

Is God Nurturing?

I ask this question because as I was reading a book about Experiencing the Father's Embrace it touched on the mother wound. I realized that over the years God has done so much healing and transformation in me around the wound of my father's suicide. This train wreck through the center of my life, has been the focus of much prayer and healing. So to realize that God wanted to be nurture me like a mother to fill the places where I did not receive was a surprise to me. I had not seen God as nurturing or in anyway mothering. Don't let me lose you here, there have been distortions by New Agers about Mother God. Yet as you look at the Word you see that God is indeed nurturing, tender, and caring. Psalm 91 and Psalm 22:9 & 10 reveal the picture of a God who cares and raises us up. I am learning to accept the nurturing and tenderness of my God that is healing a place in my heart that was wounded. As I ministered to a man who had been deeply hurt by both of his parents and out of his wounds had sought women for comfort and being wanted, I began to see the nurturing heart of God. The man was shocked to realize that God could be this for him, he realized he had hurt many people by seeking to fill this need his own way. Especially for men who are taught by our society to be tough, strong, and aloof it is revealing to see that we need the nurture, tenderness, and love that comes from the feminine qualities of God. I realized in my own life that what caused difficulty in my marriage was my inability to receive nurturing, thus to be tender and loving to my wife the way God wants. I have realized you cannot give what you have not received, so if you did not receive something growing up then receiving it from God allows you to be a conduit of His love. Why do counselors talk about the past? Because our identity has been formed through our experiences and to take on our new identity in Christ we must release the old to walk in the new (Ephesians 4:22-25). I also see in my own life that I am not good at nurturing myself (receiving it from the Lord), I tend to be driven too much by fears, demands, or others expectations. I am learning how to allow God to nurture and love me with His tenderness. I pray that God would reveal this dimension of His love to you.

In His Love,
Bret

Lies and Darkness

I was recently amazed that we can walk in internal darkness. The Word says God is Light, we often think that is great but don't know how to apply this to life. I found that I hit some internal darkness in my life which was very painful and difficult to walk through. When we believe lies about our identity it produces an internal darkness that we may try to avoid or medicate but can only be displaced by an encounter with the one who is light. As I was having emotions overflowing to the top, I actually got physically sick. After going home and going to bed God began to reveal some things to me. I had a picture in my mind of approaching the throne of Jesus and He told me that I couldn't bring "that" with me. I had worn old rags of hopelessness, a twisted love, defeat and despair, and loneliness. These were a darkness that weighed me down and kept me hunched over. These different things met needs in a twisted way and I was scared to take them off because they were all I ever knew. I was scared to be exposed because I felt totally ill-equipped to love and be loved. After finally discarding these defiling garments I was able to sit with Jesus and talk. He showed me His scars and what they meant for me. He answered the deepest questions of a little boy who had been deeply hurt. I realized I needed a Jesus who could be there in a more tangible way to meet those deep down love needs that had not be met. Jesus was always patient and didn't seem to mind my questions. It was very powerful when He wanted to listen to me, I had not really felt heard in my childhood. Jesus was patient to listen to all that I had to say, even asking me "what else". There is something so powerful about being deeply heard, this brought healing to a broken heart. When we encounter God we may not visualize Him but if we truly have encountered God there will be transformation in our lives. Confronting the darkness in our life takes the courage of God but also it takes desperation. It was those who hungered and were desperate who approached Jesus and then never walked away the same. It was those who relied on an intellectual system of religion but would not come to Jesus needy, who missed encountering the Savior. We all believe many more lies about our identity than we want to admit, otherwise the whole earth would covered in His glory. To be God's beloved children is the most amazing truth but an even more wonderful truth to be experienced and lived. It has struck me over and over again through the Word that "roots" are important. This is not the physical roots but what we really believe deep down inside. Since the Word says "love your neighbor as yourself", then having our identity "in Christ" as our root is primary in being able to love others. This is an identity that comes from "the Word became flesh" which means receiving our identity from the Spirit of Christ. The Word of God tells us about this identity but it is the Spirit that reveals and takes us into this identity.

In His Grace,
Bret

Spiritual Ears to Receive

As I was preparing to do my second sermon in history on "Receiving" the Lord led me back to the beginning (Garden of Eden) to understand where our barriers to receiving from God came from. In Genesis 3:10 "He [Adam] said, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself". The phrase "heard the sound of You" jumped off the page, God revealed something I had never seen before. Adam and Eve would have received God's Word by revelation (in relationship) before the Fall but for the first time Adam was relying on his natural senses (hearing) and not his spirit. Since God is spirit Adam and Eve would have related with God through their spirit. In another words Adam and Eve would have sensed God was in the Garden with their spirit but now they are trusting their 5 senses because their spirit died. This is significant because we often now attempt to relate to God via our senses trained by our soul (mind, will, and emotions), rather than trusting His voice to be spoken in our spirit. It is also significant because the first response to God after the Fall is fear, which is then what trains our senses. It now makes sense to me why Jesus would continually be saying "...he who has ears to hear let him ear..." Since for so many years people have lived with a dull sense of hearing, Jesus is waking them up. How would you like to have supernatural hearing? Isn't it frustrating to listen to so many sermons, read books, and even read the Bible and not see transformation in your life. How many ministers are frustrated because it seems the congregation never really "hears" them? Hebrews 5:10-14 tells us that the dullness of hearing is being "unskilled in the word of righteousness". Righteousness is most talked about in Romans and this is the understanding that we are totally accepted by God based on the finished work of Jesus Christ and not our own works. When I was struggling to grasp righteousness, a friend said "it is being naked and unashamed". This means we can come to a Holy God with our flaws, sins, failures, weaknesses, and difficulties yet He accepts us. We are changed when we encounter the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:16-18), not when we try to change ourselves. All of us need to be changed to walk in God's love and truth. It is being skilled in the word of righteousness, so we walk in the reality of God's unconditional acceptance of us which is His love which is what casts out all fear. I know in my life because of rejection, disappointments, and unmet needs I am too often afraid of experiencing these same things again so my senses have been tuned to these fears. As God continues to free me from these fears and live in His love my senses trained by to love. I have often thought I was "too sensitive" but I realize it was just that my senses were trained by fears instead of resting in Love. It makes sense to me that you cannot mature if you have not had a revelation of righteousness. Thus you are always trying to earn God's approval by striving to do what you believe will please Him and make you acceptable. If we don't find our acceptance and love in the arms of the Father, then it becomes very easy to turn to people, addictions, job, and other counterfeits for His love. Practicing our senses being trained to His Spirit means that we can experience God and His Word, not just a mental ascent. We were created to live in the reality of His love and in continual relationship with Him. Let's have ears to hear.

In His Love,
Bret