Cursed is the ground

The Lord has put on my heart to study for Him to reveal the effect of the curse on the ground in Genesis 3 and what He purchased for us through the finished work of Jesus Christ.  In Genesis 3:17-19 His Word says, "Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.  Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."  As I was looking into the Hebrew meanings of the words, I was struck that the Hebrew word for toil itstsabown  which means pain and sorrow.  I sensed the Lord showing me that men have pain working to provide and that there is sorrow because the ground (work) doesn't produce what you expect.  This is all part of the curse because of sin's entrance into the earth and after the Fall.  As I continued to study the curse on the ground I was struck by this phrase "Till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return", I sensed the Lord pointing me to the burial of Jesus as how God broke the curse on the ground.  In Romans 5:14-15 we see the connection between the first Adam and the redeemer Jesus Christ, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many."  Since all those who are born "in Adam" would experience all the effects of the curse but we who are "in Christ" have been united in His death and burial.  This happened in the spiritual realm and we believe it by faith, thus the curse on the ground is broken through our burial "in Christ".  The curse is ended through death and burial, this another aspect of the Cross that we can celebrate God's victory on our behalf through grace.  This is all wonderful revelation but I am looking to the manifestation of this curse being broken and the blessing purchased for us "in Christ".  I am learning how to enjoy the journey the Lord has me on to reveal the truth of the Word, it seems to be like pieces of a puzzle coming together.

In Christ,
Bret

God is Love?

Why is it that so many people, including me, struggle with grasping that "God is love" (1 John 4)?  I know this is true by the amount of fear I see on the Body of Christ:  we hide behind masks, we tremble at the thought of Judgement Day, we don't share our real feelings, we perform for one another, we create images, we are distant in prayer rather than raw and honest, and we don't have the joy of the Lord.  I am not pointing any fingers here, I find myself squarely in the middle of this mess called the Body of Christ.  I have just come to the point in my life where I cannot question "God is love" anymore.  No human being on the earth or whoever was on the earth would create a God that is love, wrath, anger, fickleness, and perfectionist we could and would create.  I understand that our idea of love and God's are very different, He defines love as laying down your life (John 15:13) then proceeds to carry out this verse on the cross.  This kind of love is so beyond this world that we have nothing to compare Him to, so we usually compare Him to those who were to love us in our life.  If we were loved well, then we tend to be able to accept God as love to some extent.  Yet for those who received rejection, hurt, disappointment, and loss the Light of God's love is so overwhelming, He must turn it on slowly in our hearts or we would be overwhelmed to death.  Even the best expression of love in this human world fades in comparison to the purity and brightness of God's love.  To see His love we must always look to Jesus Christ, because in Him (Christ) dwells all of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9).  I understand that fear is the indication that we really don't experience the love of God fully, this from one of my favorite chapters of Scripture 1 John 4.  It really is a very radical belief to stand on God being love, many may say God is just, righteous, and truth but fewer would say He is love.  There has been a deep place within my heart for most of my life that has longed to know the God who is love but my heart stumbles over others beliefs that He falls short of this incredible nature.  Many have quoted Scripture in a way that betrays the fear in their hearts and I mean a terror.  Yet in 1 John 4 the disciple who was called, the one Jesus loved, says that fear expels every trace of terror and that when we stand before God on the Day of Judgement we will be as Jesus in this world.  Honestly my heart is tired of going back and forth, I am deciding today if there is anyone who portrays God as not love I will not believe them.  He is my Abba who loves because He is love, His covenant with me "in Christ" is a unilateral covenant of Him reaching out to me in love.  There is no performance, mask, or proper way I can live to earn this love.  I was even convicted that I am not completely honest with God in prayer because I fear if the yuck that sometimes spews from my inner world will bring punishment from Him.  Let's face it if you really believed that all the thoughts, intents, and stirrings inside were completely laid bare before God we may approach prayer a little differently.  It is so ridiculous the internal games we play to hide, when we consider God knows it all.  That even our best performed prayers or our greatest "good works" are totally exposed in His Light with all the selfish intentions behind them.  No our best hiding doesn't work but when we understand that God has declared us righteous "in Christ" why do we need to hide.  Then we can openly share with God the selfish thoughts, frustrations, forbidden questions, doubts, insecurities, and even secret sins.  I believe the grace of God is so much more powerful than we can ever imagine and more complete than all of our comprehension.  Yet we live small because we often have a small God who can't handle our problems, doubts, fears, sins, flaws, failures, and all the human condition so He is going to just punish us (maybe even eternally).  It is crazy but when we realize the picture of God the Body of Christ is picturing, I am not sure I would want to know this god.  I believe this god is far short of the God of Love I see in the face of Jesus Christ.

God is Love,
Bret

Orphan Heart or Friend

I realized through a few people and my own heart that loneliness is a big deal in our culture.  As an only child raised in a single parent home, I often felt alone in my everyday life.  The Lord just recently touched a place in my heart where I believed that everyday I had to do life on my own and this was just the way it is.  I remember waking up before school as a child with a foreboding sense of the day because I just knew inside that I was going to have to navigate the day alone.  Early on in life I made the decision of the "orphan heart", which is that I am in this alone.  In Genesis 2:18 we read where "LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone;'".  I can only imagine the abyss of loneliness both Adam and Eve experienced after "The Fall", especially the loneliness that came from the disconnection between them because they had to "be like God".  In other words through "The Lie" they had to be in control, have it together, be self-sufficient, and be the source of their own supply.  If they let down this god-like mask then they would be naked, vulnerable, weak, human, and inadequate.  I like Adam and Eve learned to hide behind this god-like mask that I didn't need God and others as desperately as I really did.  This apparent strength was coming from an orphan heart which was afraid of trusting anyone but myself.  From this place it became more important to reinforce the walls of my self-protection, than to reach out in vulnerability.  I chose isolation over friendship, I chose safety over risking rejection, I chose a lie over the truth, I chose darkness over light, I chose my own strength over appearing weak, I agreed with hopelessness over hope, I chose death over life, and I chose being an orphan over being a son.  For many years I blamed my father who abandoned me through suicide and my mother through my distorted perspective emotionally abandoned me, both have responsibility for what was theirs but finally I made the decision to agree with an orphan heart.  The Gospel comes crashing in on this darkness through John 14:18  "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." and John 15:15 where Jesus says, "No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you."  I have heard it said that there is a translation from the Hebrew that says orphan means comfortless.  This would tie into a passage that I have been meditating on 2 Corinthians 1:2-4 which says, God is "...the Father of mercies and God of all comfort...".  These verses go on to say that God "...comforts us in all our afflictions so that we will be able to comfort others..."  The Lord began to show me that I don't see Him as the God of all comfort that I expect to be disappointed, left on my own, or rejected by Him as I felt with others.  This deception sets me up to not receive from Him, when He is just waiting to bring comfort, compassion, and mercy.  I thank God that I am receiving a revelation of who He is as the Comforter (one of the names of the Holy Spirit).  May He be the source of comfort in your life.  Too many have viewed God as the afflictor rather than the one who brings comfort, where in Scripture does it say He afflicts us.  The Word does say he disciplines but discipline is done in love for building up not for tearing down.  I pray His comfort in your life.

In His Comfort,
Bret

Always stuck Looking Into the Future

The Lord revealed something as I was just reflecting on a passage, I find revelation can come at the most unlikely time.  The revelation was into "The Lie" Satan told Adam and Eve in the garden, he said "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  Notice that Adam and Eve were in the garden of Eden enjoying relationship with God, with each other, and had all they needed for life, yet Satan points to something future tense to lead them away from what they were currently experiencing.  Satan began to paint a different picture of the wonderful life Adam and Eve had with God, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"  Satan eloquently paints a picture that they are really not as free as they once believed they were, by suggesting that God is withholding or limiting them.  Then he sets the hook by giving them an alternative to the problem they really don't have, he says if they eat from the tree then their eyes will be open and they will be like God.  God is saying of Himself "I AM" meaning He is present tense, when Jesus begins His ministry He announces the Kingdom of God is at hand.  Religion is always telling us if we would just do this (pray more, read more Scripture, stop sinning, lead more people to Christ, etc...) then we would truly be living the Christian life.  We also live in a culture that is constantly striving for more than what we have today, we often buy into this through the mindset (if only I had......).  We fill in this blank with many things- a better marriage, more money, less stress, I would be skinnier, in better shape, happier, and on and on it goes.  What is implied is that God would then be pleased with us but when we arrive only to find another thing.  Often our thought is if I could just get over this issue (weakness or sinful habit) then I could truly live.  My point is that the Kingdom of God through the New Covenant in Christ is always present tense, whereas everything else is it may happen some day in the future.  To be fair I do understand that there are promises we receive from God, that He works over many years into our life to see come to fulfillment.  Jesus in His time on earth would often declare things about Himself or about the Kingdom, most of these were present tense.  In Corinthians Paul declares that all the promises (of God) are yes and Amen in Christ.  By the way it is us who say the Amen (so be it) on earth as it is in Heaven.  We are release God's Word on the earth by coming into agreement with the truth but there are so many things that war against us declaring His Word.  Many times it has to do with our identity and feeling unworthy, or feeling a lack of faith, or just a sense of not quite measuring up.  The Enemy has planted the seed of "The Lie" and it has multiplied into millions of lies that affect the way we think and see ourselves.  The Enemy has spread his false gospel of fear, which has affected the way we live, relate to one another, and the way we see God.  The Kingdom of God is now, we (heirs of salvation) can declare His Kingdom of love, peace, and grace on the earth.

An Heir of the Grace,
Bret

Worship dethroning god (little "g")

I was struck by the Lord to see worship from His perspective.  As I looked back at Genesis 3 I read this section from "The Lie", "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  One of the declarations we made as a group of 20 men at "Men at the Cross" is that we are not God and we are not in control.  See all of us believe that we are "God" at some level, that we need to run our own worlds, that our view of life, ourselves, and others is right, and that for me to be in control is the only way.  I will admit to you that I love and hate worship.  I know hate is a strong word but I never understood the resistance inside of my heart to fully enter into worship.  Worship exposes the deep places in us where we want to be "god", thus we want to be worshipped.  This was the first rebels (Satan) problem and at some level it is still our problem (because of thinking/believing in our soul).  I understand at a deeper level why worship is a priority in God's heart, to free me from my self-idolatry.  Worship is a direct offense to this "god" mindset inside of us known as the flesh, Jesus is calling me out of this binding lie into the glorious truth of being united to Him.  When we worship the true God, we declare that we are not God, God's Word is true, and that He alone deserves worship.  When we look at God's Word as suspect, then this is indication that we are being influenced by "The Lie" and thus the Liar himself.  It was questioning God's Word that led to questioning God's nature and ultimately to choosing oneself (Adam & Eve) as "god".  It makes sense why the Enemy hates worship of the true Lord, so he has waged an all-out war against worship.  There are many times when churches argue about worship styles, length, and volume.  Also I have seen that worship leaders are often ones who are faced with more temptations, attacks, and issues in their lives because God knows that when we worship Him we come alive.  I pray that God will renew your mind of why worship is a central priority in His Kingdom and must become in our lives if we are going to glorify Him.

Worshipping Our King,
Bret

Soul and spirit seperate?

As I was reading a book by Watchman Nee called "Releasing the Spirit" I resonated with what he talked about that the outer man (soul) is separated from the inner man (spirit).  As we go through brokenness this fusion between our soul and spirit seems to be torn and broken.  This is often involves deep pain, yet our spirit is allowed to be more free.  After going through brokenness, which can be somewhat of an outer body experience I began to experience life very differently.  I began to notice that my soul can be struggling, while my spirit remains calm.  Before experiencing brokenness I always thought freedom would mean that my soul would never struggle, I find that this is not true.  After going through brokenness the first time and many times afterwards, there are days when my soul struggles deeply with deceptions and temptations.  It was very helpful to read Watchman Nee's description because I can see more clearly that my soul is in a process of being transformed, so many times it will be in a state of unrest.  This doesn't mean I have to be in a state of unrest, because the real me is hidden "in Christ" so I can be at peace even though there are large swells on the ocean of my soul.  The world on the other hand offers soul peace through controlling your outside environment, going to restful places, and removing things that are annoying.  This is why in Matthew 6 Jesus talks about how the pagans strive for what they need, but we as children of God receive them from Our Father.  Jesus talks about the state of worry in which our souls are concerned for our basic needs, worry also means to go two different directions.  When His Spirit is enthroned in our life through our spirit we are depending on Him, thus not divided otherwise we are depending on ourselves always trying to determine good and evil.  Our spirit united with His Spirit has one focus and that is His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).  Separation between the soul and our spirit means that we can praise God in our spirit continuously without being constantly interrupted by the troubles of our soul.  May you begin to notice the shift the Lord has brought about within, so you can yield to the Holy Spirit and not the noise of the soul.  The soul is not bad but cannot be our master or we will not experience freedom and life.

Possessed by Promise,
Bret

Lower to go Higher

I just got back from a weekend retreat called "Men at the Cross", I was struck through the whole experience how integral humility is in our journey with the Lord.  As I had written earlier I believe 1 Peter 5:5, "...God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."  Jesus was willing to humble Himself by coming from Heaven into earth, being born a little baby to a working class family, be under his earthly parent's authority, apprentice under Joseph, and then humble Himself unto death through the terrible toture of the cross including everything that led up to it.  Since Jesus came to us in humility, weakness, and even brokenness are we to come any other way.  Jesus said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."  in John 14:6.  I have recently been struck with the awareness that I often don't realize how I am coming to God but when I am exposed then I can understand the outcome.  In other words the Holy Spirit has revealed to me that I often come to the Father expecting disappointment, that He won't meet me and bring comfort, hope, and life.  So my flesh is stirred up, then I make excuses for not spending time in worship, study, or prayer.  The lie is that He will disappoint me and leave me all alone, the only way that I have gotten free of this is to come in humility being open about what I really believe.  Jesus is the truth, He does not need me to correct my thinking but to bring what I am really believing to Him.  I once heard a Beloved Daughter of the King say, "I seek to humble myself because the Spirit flows to the low places."  The Enemy always seeks to bring the counterfeit, which is self-condemnation and degrading oneself.  This is not humility but actually pride because we are not agreeing with who God says we are, the Word says that the carnal mind is at enmity with God.  Only we as believers can hold two seemingly contradictory things in tension and see truth, i.e. Jesus says He is the fullness of grace and truth.  We are His Beloved sons and daughters (1 John 3:1&2) but also cracked pots/broken people (2 Corinthians 4:7).  Jesus would often challenge the Pharisees when they wanted to use the Law to qualify some and tear down others, He would speak life into these dichotomies.  The Pharisees in John 8:2-11 brought a woman before Jesus saying that the Law of Moses commands her to be stoned, they were attempting to trap Him between obeying the Law (being just like them) or being soft on the Law and letting her go (then He would be condemned under the Law).  Jesus was able to bring grace by reconciling two contradictory things, this woman's sin and being accepted by God.  I encourage you to come to God in humility, weakness, and complete honesty.  He will meet you.

In His Grace,
Bret