Encountering God's Love

After reading Ephesians 3:19 out of the Amplified Bible, I want to share with you a portion of Paul's prayer for the church: I pray..."[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]". That is my heart for you.

Whenever I minister to anyone - believer or unbeliever - I want them to go away with an experience with the Lord. I want them to know practically, through experience for themselves, the love of Christ. I want to do more than just fill their mind with knowledge. I want to do more than just simply win an argument. I want them to come into an encounter.

Depending on where you are with the Lord that may sound like a strange statement. However, accepting Christ always brings people into an encounter. Discovering the love of God for yourself will bring you into an encounter. And realizing who you are in Christ will continue to deepen your encounters with the Lord. What does that mean for me? It means that I must be willing to enter into encounters with the Lord myself because it's hard to bring people to a place where I haven't walked.

There is something quite different about taking a trip to a place where you have already been versus going somewhere for the first time. My first time traveling to the beach (for instance) meant that I had to follow directions. I had to pay attention to all the details of the route. I had to make sure that I knew the direction I was heading every mile of the journey. Once I got used to the route it made traveling a lot easier and a lot more fun. I was able to enjoy the journey. I was able to pick up on things that I had never seen before. I was also able to handle the different things that come with traveling because I had been there before. When you and I learn to encounter the Lord for ourselves then it means we don't have to focus so much on the map but get to listen to the Guide (Holy Spirit). Directions are good when you don't know where you are going. But once you've been there then you get to handle any situation that comes up in the journey.

I'm always amazed at the conversation that come up with different believers. Some people are encounter oriented while others are Scripture oriented. Both groups tend to view these two thought processes in conflict with one another. In some ways that may be true. I do want to have a scriptural basis for what I encounter, but at the same time I also want to trust the Holy Spirit. How many times have we heard someone ask "where is that in the Bible?" when referring to someone's encounter with God? Can you imagine if Mary would have took that same approach: "Where's the chapter and verse that says virgins become pregnant when the Holy Spirit comes upon them?"

The point I'm trying to make is very simple - you can actually enter into a place with the Lord where you experience Him practically for yourself. You can move past the place of mere knowledge (without experience) and into a place of knowledge and experience. Which would you rather have? There are plenty of schools designed to help people increase in their knowledge of God. There are plenty of places you can go to increase in your knowledge of the Bible. Where can you go to come into an experience with the Lord? I mean...at some point all of this knowledge should lead us to an encounter. At some point, what we believe should be what we are seeing.

If you have confessed Jesus as Lord then you have entered into a relationship that you can feel, you can touch, you can see, smell, hear, and taste. You have entered into a relationship that can be just as tangible as any other relationship. I'm not saying that you will always see the Lord nor that you will always hear Him. What I am saying is that you can. There may be seasons where it seems the Lord is distant and there may be seasons where everywhere you turn you sense the presence of the Lord in one fashion or another. The key for us is that whatever season we find ourselves in is that we never stop pressing in to encounter Him.

In this journey with the Lord, I want you to know the love of Christ. I want you to move past the mere knowledge of it. I want you to move into an experience with it and with Him. You can have this. It's a part of your fellowship with the Beloved.

The Joy of Hearing from God

Saw this quote earlier today: "Stop waiting for a voice and start looking for a verse. God has already spoken." While I believe I understand the heart of the person who said it, I don't exactly agree with the statement because I think it casts a negative view upon hearing the voice of God.

Maybe it's the way I read things. Who knows...maybe I have predetermined that a lot of people simply don't embrace the reality of God's voice. I know that I was always taught to question people when they say that they heard from God. I remember hearing people say "The Lord spoke to me..." and then they would give the disclaimer "...it wasn't an audible voice." How did we get to this point? Why is it that we put so much emphasis upon the recorded Word of God but cast so much negativity upon the spoken Word of God? If the same Author is at work, shouldn't we be giving both equal importance?

I realize that there has been a lot of shameful things done by people who say they heard from God. However, responding in fear doesn't fix the problem. Responding in discernment does. The place where you and I need to get to is a place where we are sensitive enough to the Holy Spirit that we know the difference.

Now...I understand that some people will read this and think that I'm not honoring the Bible. That's not in my heart. I love the recorded Word of God. I believe it to be inerrant and infallible. I believe that it is Divinely inspired. I believe it is the truth without any mixture of error. What I do not believe is that God stopped speaking to His people because a book was put together. And I don't believe that God stopped giving us revelation about Himself because we own a Bible.

Look at it this way: We know that communication is vital to any relationship. It's important for parents to speak to children, spouses to speak to one another, etc. If this is true in every other relationship then how is it possible that we have created a belief system that doesn't embrace God speaking into our lives? Some would argue that God does speak to us - He speaks to us through the Bible. I agree. God does speak to us through the Bible. But...what if all you had from your earthly father was a series of letters? Would that be enough? Wouldn't you want to hear His voice?

The Bible is foundational to our lives. It's what we build our lives upon. I'm a firm believer that it's hard to know how God will speak to us if we don't know what He has already said. God has spoken and it's imperative that we get His Word into our lives. Jesus told the story about the foolish man who built his house upon the sand and the wise man who built his house upon the rock. The point He was making is that when we take His Word and build our lives upon it then we are like the wise man whose house endured because of the strong foundation. So...I'm not arguing the necessity of the Bible. I'm simply saying that reading His Word is not the same as hearing His voice. And hearing His voice will always trump my understanding of what He has spoken.

With all that being said, there are people who are so addicted to revelation outside of the Bible that they really don't have a foundation. I mean some people are simply moving from revelation to revelation rather than moving from glory to glory. What's the difference? The difference is what we do with what has been revealed. God wants to speak into our lives. What we have to understand is that everything God speaks has a purpose - everything that God speaks has life in it. If God is speaking to you it's because He wants to create something in you. What you and I have to discern is whether or not what we are hearing is consistent with His nature. And His nature has been revealed to us in Christ.

Here's some tips for you (because I like to be practical):
1) Read the Bible, Meditate upon it, Hide it in your heart, Build your life on it.
2) Ask God to speak to you specifically through it. Let it be alive and active.
3) Train yourself to hear the voice of God. Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice."
4) Trust the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. He will always lead you in truth.
5) Allow God to confront any mindset that keeps you from hearing His voice.

Above all else...Enjoy the journey. God wants to speak into your life. It's one of the greatest joys of relationship.

The Funny Thing About Debates...

After watching last nights debates I started thinking about how many people already have their minds made up. You can tell by the political spin that neither side will concede victory or defeat. I rarely see debates as an answer. I understand why they happen in the political arena but in every day life you don't need to win a debate. You need an experience with TRUTH.

Debates are designed to be "a formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward." That's the way it works in politics. The sad part is that too much of life is handled through debate. We debate football teams, politics, peanut butter, and toilet paper. Why? Because we typically have our minds made up. It seems to me that too many people don't want to enter into an experience, they simply want to win an argument. Oh how we love to be right.

Listen to the words of Jesus: "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" {John 8:31-32}

Think about those words. Think about the impact they had upon the Jews who had believed in Him. This wasn't an issue to be debated. This wasn't an argument to be won. It's an invitation to enter into an experience. Jesus offers the same invitation to each one of us. We have been invited into an experiential relationship. The tragedy of modern Christianity is that we debate what is valid and what is not. We debate over what is available. We have taken "the truth" and turned it into an argument. Even if you win the argument...you don't step into greater freedom.

You might be wondering how I can make that statement. I'll tell you why. I was one of those people who loved to argue. I loved debating issues and topics. It really didn't matter what we were discussing because I could push my way through. However, in all of my arguing and debating of "spiritual truths" - I wasn't walking in freedom. The reason that I wasn't walking in freedom because I limited God to the box I had placed Him in. I limited God to my belief system. The more confident I became in my belief system the less I needed God to show up. It brings us to the question: "Isn't truth supposed to set us free?"

This question brings me to my conclusion. Truth is more than a certain set of principles. It is more than correct theology/doctrine. Truth is more than facts. The truth of God is truth in reality, in fact, and in any matter under consideration. What does Jesus say about truth? He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." And what you and I have to understand is that Jesus isn't up for debate. He is THE way. He is THE truth. He is THE life. The truth that sets us free is Jesus. The truth that will forever alter our reality is Jesus. The experience of life that we need to enter into is Jesus.

What you and I need is the experiential truth that is found in Jesus Christ. God is bringing into a place where it's not about memorizing verses, fulfilling commandments, or going through rituals. He's bringing you into a relationship where you get to encounter the truth of God daily. To quote Bill Johnson, "Any revelation that does not bring us into greater encounter only trains us to be more religious." We can have a belief system that is true and still miss out on the truth. I hope that makes sense.

Ask God to allow you to encounter the truth of who He is, the truth of His Word, and the truth of His Spirit dwelling inside you. This is the only truth that will set you free. AND...this truth is not up for debate.

Thoughts from a Ragamuffin...

I'm limited in time so I have decided to share with you an excerpt from The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. In particular I'm posting what is #3 of 19 Mercies: A Spiritual Journey. I pray that you are blessed and encouraged in your walk with the Lord.


Jesus want to enter into deep friendship with you.

If you grew up in Sunday School, you remember the story of Jesus calling a runt of a man named Zacchaeus down from a tree with the news, "Zacchaeus, I want to have dinner in your house today." In the Jewish tradition, to say, "I want to have dinner with you" means "I want to enter into friendship with you." Even today an Orthodox Jew will not invite you to his home to dinner, unless he wants to enter into friendship or deepen an already existing friendship. It's a very sacred encounter. (That's good to recall, by the way, every time you receive communion. Jesus Christ is the Host and when He invites you to come to His table, He is declaring, "I want to enter into a deeper friendship with you.")

Zacchaeus, as you also might remember, was a greedy, disrespected lowlife. He collected taxes for Rome from his own people and kept a kickback for himself. By his enthusiastic response to Jesus, we can guess he didn't get invited to "deeper friendship" very often! When Peter wrings his hands over Jesus' unfortunate social choice, Jesus reminds him - and us too - of His mission. He says, "I did not come to call the just. I came to call sinners" (see Luke 19:10).

The gospel is not for the good guys with the white hats. It's for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faoults and limited talents - people like you, people like me. And on Judgement Day, our lives will be measured soleley in terms of our personal relationship with the risen Jesus. The Lord is going to ask each of us a question that will encompass all other questions: "Did you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? That I watied for you day after day?"

Reading: Luke 19:1-10

May you alone enlighten me, You alone speak to me.
May all that I know apart from You be nothing more
than a change traveling companion
on the journey toward You. ~ Karl Rahner

Receiving the Things of the Spirit

1 Corinthians 2:14, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." Pressing into the presence of God requires that we stop trying to experience Him analytically and choose to experience Him spiritually. If you have to think through, explain, and define what God is doing then you will miss out.

This truth is difficult for many people to grasp. The fact of the matter is that in many areas we have passed on a natural faith to a natural mindset. We have been taught to express our faith in a way that "makes sense." We learn how to rationalize the Scriptures, defend our faith through arguments, and to be careful about how we experience the things of God. It's especially difficult for people who see doctrine and theology as the only basis for walking in unity.

Why is that a problem? Well...it's a problem because it necessitates that we clearly understand and define what God is doing. It's a problem because it doesn't allow God room to move. In much of our theology and in many of our doctrines we have limited God. Anything outside of our paradigm causes us to question what is of God and what is not. In case you aren't sure, the definition of a paradigm is:
1) A typical example or pattern of something; a model.
2) A worldview underlying the theories and methodology of a particular scientific subject.
For the typical church-goer, the paradigm they have been exposed to is through a particular denomination. The way in which a certain group defines God and His activity in our lives. What this setting creates is a culture that says "this is the way God does things."

It's important that you understand where I'm coming from:
We need doctrine
We need theology
We need structure
However, we need to make sure that within those things God is allowed to be God.

The essence of our worship and experiences in God need to be spiritually discerned. This isn't done through the natural mind. In fact, if it is your practice to try to understand (logically) what is going on around you then it will always be difficult to see past the natural person. I'll give you an example: Let's say you have someone dancing around in a worship service. The first thing you see is the individual, you see the way they are dressed, and you see the way they move. If you are unable to spiritually discern the situation then you may just write it off as emotionalism or attention seeking. However, if you will allow God to speak to you through this type of activity then you can actually "feel" what the Spirit of God is doing in those situations, you can "hear" what He is trying to say, and you can "see" what is really going on.

A couple of weeks ago I was knelt down in worship. I was singing out, crying, praying, and just simply taking in the love of God in the moment. All of a sudden I started feeling these incredible waves of His glory crashing into me. In my mind I heard "What is that?" so I opened my eyes to see a little girl dancing around me. What I was feeling was the ministry that she was bringing through her dance. It was the actual glory of God radiating through her. There were others that I talked to after that service and they experienced the same things. Was this true of everyone that was present? Not necessarily. While they may have been moved to emotion by watching such a young one express her love for God, they could have totally missed out on what the Spirit of God was doing in the moment. Some could have been in total disagreement about the whole thing (depending upon their background). The point I'm trying to make is that we have to learn how to spiritually discern every moment in God.

I'm going to give you a little exercise that can help open you up in this area.
* Take some time to get alone with the Lord.
* Think about experiences that you know were genuine experiences in the Lord.
* Express your thankfulness to God about these experiences.
* Typically this type of exercise will bring with it the emotions of that moment, or at least a definite feeling of His presence. What you must do is linger (remain) in that place. Feel those feelings. Ask God if there is more that He was doing in that moment. Enjoy His presence.
* This is a small part of it but then you can take those same "feelings" and use them as a "check-point" in other conversations and experiences. The reason I used the term "waves" earlier is because that is how I experience the Lord. Now there are times when I'm talking to someone and I can sense His presence in thoughts and statements because that same "feeling" comes back. I can also use that feeling to prophecy into the life of the other person.

You might be wondering if I have a chapter and verse for this and my answer would be "yes" and "no". What I can tell you is that this is how I have experienced the Lord and I have seen Him confirm it time and time again. How can I be sure that this is of the Lord? I'm sure it's of Him because I am learning how to spiritually discern His activity. It may not make sense in my natural mind but when I obey the Lord in those moments then His presence becomes very real. This is how we receive the things of the Spirit. It's a part of the journey. Enjoy it!!!