Encountering God

Encountering God is not merely a practice of waiting for a "sense" of His presence, but it includes recognizing that God reached toward you through His Son, Who in turn reached toward you on the cross and by filling you with the Holy Spirit, Who in turn reached toward you by convicting you of sin, providing comfort, and illuminating the truth.  Encountering God starts with the decision to reach back through a lifestyle of worship and praise manifested in, at times, exuberant corporate worship gatherings.

Encountering God is a pursuit of what has been provided.  We know that physical healing has been provided through the strips that Jesus suffered during the passion week.  We know that our Father is sovereign over all authority and power.  We know that as He created all things material, and He sustains their continued existence.  We can trust that we, His children and witnesses, can expect the necessary provision for what we are called to do.  We know that He put His Spirit in us, who are created both with natural bodies and inner spirits, and placed us in the world as His witnesses.  So, we can expect the "normal" will be defined by the intersection of the "spiritual rhelm" and the "material rhelm".  We can expect that God will be present and "inturupt" the natural order that He created as He sees fit.  And we pursue this understanding by an effort, by the power of His Spirit, to allign with the truth of His provision.  It is true that we cannot expect something if we do not know that it is ours.  So, first in knowing what can be expected through provision we can then allign our understanding with the truth, and then experience the reality.    

Encountering God is an expectation.  We expect that God will be present, because He said He would be.  We expect to see His "evidence" in the lives of those around us.  And we can expect the manifestation of His prsence, because He is already in the midst of everything.  This is so because all things exist within Him, as in Him we live, move, and have our being. (Acts 17:28; Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:17)  

What else does "encountering God" mean?  

Romans 8, a summary

Recently, my family has been touched by the fear of death.  Since this trial began I have been constantly meditating on the truth that our life is hidden in His hands, and standing on John 11:4, as I believe it is the Lord's heart in this situation. 

This morning I was reading through Romans and was stirred by chapter 8.  In this time it has a new significance.  This is the product of the Spirit's movement on my heart this morning. 



Set your mind on the things of the Spirit. 

The mind that is set on the things of the flesh is plagued by fear.  This fear, in the mind of the flesh, is frantically grasping fruitlessly, as it has no power to affect life in place of death.  But we, who walk according to the Spirit, know peace even in the midst of death, because Jesus affected life in place of death when we could not. 

We have an intimate, experiential knowledge of this peace that comes by walking by the Spirit, because the Spirit resides within us.  And the Spirit of God gives life, even to our corruptible bodies, just as He raised Jesus from the dead. 

We are free from falling back into the fear of death, because He has adopted us as sons and daughters of God.  Since He has provided the revelation of His love in this way, we cry out, Abba! Daddy!  Whatever we may go through pales in comparison to this love that IS and is being revealed to us, that Father loves us.  Because of this, we can remain confident when our weakness becomes obvious.  Even when we don't know what to do or say, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, "and know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." 

He knew you would choose Him before time began, and because of this, He predestined you to be made like Jesus. 

Since Father did not spare His only Son, we know He will give us everything that we need.  Who can rightfully accuse us?  Who or what can put a wedge between us and Him Who has been raised up to the thrown at the right hand of the Father, and has been given authority over everything and anything? 

Because of our connection to this Jesus we are more than conquerors.  This is because we are convinced that there is no possibility of us being separated from Father's love, this love that Jesus has shown us through Jesus Christ.  

A Psalm from the Shadows

I feel so tied up by life.  Where is the freedom?  Where is the joy?  My circumstances, although always better than someone else, seem to hem me in, taking away choice and the excitement of discovery.  Life is like four walls with no windows and no door.  I can't see outside of the day to day, and there seems no way out.  Are You with me here?  Am I as alone as I feel?  You said You would never leave, that there is nothing that can change the connection between us, but I feel bare, exposed, like a car just sitting in the desert fading and being devoured by rust and time.

I give You my impossible dreams.  There is nothing I can do to make them a reality?  It seems fruitless and futile to dream, like there is no reason to keep trying, no good goal to attain, no higher level to aspire to, but I choose to continue to believe.  If my cup is to drink mediocrity, my prayer is that You find glory in the fact that I will continue to praise You.

As it seems there is no point, I can't give up.  I choose to believe you.  That you have won the victory even while I am on the bottom of the pile.  You said to stand.  You don't expect me to fight.  Is this why it seems futile?  Because it is a battle that I can't win. 

Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

To me this verse means a lot.  Paul says to “put on” the armor, and in that I will be strong.  I think of the strength of God and how putting on His strength, by relying on Him, is what covers my weakness.  I can do nothing on my own; I can’t even stand in the truth.  In the recognition of that is the beginning of receiving the strength I need to stand.  But even in being empowered by the Lord to stand, it is not those around me who are the enemy.  Even as it seems some would leave me here to flail against an unseen enemy.  They don't lift a finger, waiting for me to quit.

I can't feel you here.  But I trust you are.  You said you would be...

 

The Divine Hero, Called of God for a Purpose: Confessions of a Misguided Minister

I remember it being spoken over me, maybe 10 years ago, that I will be called "the ambassador of love."  This phrase always seemed comical to me.  It sounds somehow silly. It is not what I would like to be remembered as, but this is the word of the Lord spoken over me by one of His prophets.  Not just a self proclaimed mouth piece of the One and only Living God, because I hear the voice of my Father in the words.  The Spirit in me bears witness to it, and His Spirit takes my life and holds it up to the light of the word.  "Ambassador of Love"  And like Joseph, the word of the Lord tested him until the day that it was fulfilled.

"Ambassador of Love," this is not the gallant conqueror that I want to see myself as.  It is not the Conan like figure, riddled with muscles, blade flashing in the light against the backdrop of the scorched earth, the lone warrior triumphing single-handedly against the forces of evil.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want to glorify myself, but I want to be a glorious demonstration of the power of God.  The power that takes a devastated life, like mine, and changes it to a life with an eternal significance.

"Ambassador of Love" sounds somehow sweet, docile, like bunny rabbits hopping and skipping in a field of wild flowers, or like the Care bears with their arms linked engaged in their care stare, emanating a vivid rainbow. 

And this, I am realizing, is my insecurity.  I want to be called of God to do the work that He has created me to do, but I don't want the call that He has spoken over my life. 

This insecurity has created havoc in my life; the source of the depression that drags me down, at times, making me someone that I never wanted to be.  This desire to honor God with my life, but not in the way that He has called me to.  It seems that I have romanticised the work of the ministry.  Like Barbie and Ken driving off into the sunset in their pink corvette, I have a picture of what it should look like.  As if the creation can tell the Creator how the finish product would best represent Him.

Thinking about this grieves me, as it dishonors the blood of the martyrs, those who have given their lives as a testimony to the greatness of our Father in Heaven.

Father forgive me for only being willing to serve and glorify You in my own expectations.

John 1

In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, John is writing to Jews and Gentiles alike.  He masterfully uses a term “word” (Gk. “logos”) that held meaning in both cultures.  The Greek word Logos, for the Greek is wisdom, which in Stoic thought logos, wisdom, and reason are synonymous terms for the impersonal, governing entity over the universe.  In Jewish culture logos or wisdom is the Law of Moses, as revealed by God at Mt. Sinai.  John using this term brings the two cultures together in the conversation, and he then takes them to the next level.  The Logos of God is Jesus, the word of God in the flesh.  In this John establishes, for the Jews, that Jesus is not only the Messiah, but that He is God in the flesh.  For the Greek, John establishes that the logos of God came in the flesh, personally, in the person of Jesus.  He takes the application of these two cultural mindsets and joins them in the lineage of the family of God, as “all who receive Him; He gave the right to become the children of God.” (ESV, John 1:12)  In this there are none left out.  There is no ethnic lineage that qualifies one more than the other for the favor of God through the word become flesh.  He is available for all.  And He withholds nothing from those who will believe in His divinity and receive the gift of God, the word in the flesh sent to make the fullness of the grace and love of the Father known to all. (John 1:17, 18)             

The church is a whore!?

"The church is a whore, but she is my mother."  Some say Augustine said this, others say maybe Martin Luther.  Still others say neither, as there is no where found a written reference to either making the statement. 

That being said, I find it interesting that this statement is popularized in our generation.  Many of us have the scars, wounds, and gangrenous hanging limbs that are a result of being hurt by church leaderships, and, at times, the unintended injuries inflicted by the lack of leadership in the church.  It is not difficult to find the flaws in the church, but then again if you put any group of people together the issues and flaws that become evident are in direct proportion to the number of people in the group.  People equal problems.  We all have them, and they usually show up when we are with other people.  My question is what do we do with wounds that have been inflicted by others?

We can model ourselves as victims and bury our head, or we can seek healing, which inevitably will involve other people.  Many will blame God for what has been done in His name, but is that not burying our head?  If our faith in the character, grace, and love of God was contingent on how other Christians, whom God loves, act out of their own wounds, then were we putting our trust in God?  Does God fail when people fail?  And if so, does God fail when we individually fail?  Is it God who fails if I enter into a mid-life crisis and decide that it is time to leave my family to open a bar in Honalulu?  I don't think anyone would try and console me by saying, "It wasn't your fault, it was God's." 

If people's failings are God's fault then the only thing that we can pin on Him is that He didn't make us perfect.  Which, actually, He did, but we failed.  And if that is the case then it is God's fault for giving us the choice, or the ability to choose.  Which He did.  He gave us options, set up an order that holds us responsible for our actions, said I love you, and gave us a way out of the consequence of our bad choices.

At any rate, the church is a conglomeration of people who have been (and are being) made better by the grace of God, and even in the process of being made better we do stupid things to one another, leaving each other hurt and full of questions.  We are all hypocrites and actors on a stage, to one extent or the other.  We are all hiding behind some form of mask.  So, do we hate the church, that technically we are a part of if we confess Jesus, for her hypocrisy, or do we continue to look to be conformed to the image of Christ?  He said, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew 5:44-45 ESV) 

I will never forget what Randy Clark said to the student body when I was a student at Elim Bible Institute, "will you love My church even when it hurts you?"  (Randy Clark did say this too, I was there)  Possibly a much better quote than the one attributed to Augustine, but the idea is similar. 

I have scars that have made me who I am today, and I have wounds that I am working through.  By the grace of God those wounds will become scars, and I will be able to helps others who are wounded.  And in the midst of looking to help others I'll inevitably get hurt again and those wounds will need to become scars.  But I commit to love the church anyway.  If not only because He loved me when I was His enemy, then because I will need someone to love me even though I hurt them.  

 

Why we worship, 1 Peter 2

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

For the ancients, it was more often, less of an issue the character of the deity that they worship, but the important thing ,in the Greco-Roman world, was what the deity had accomplished that directly benefited those who worshiped.  Peter draws on this in 1 Peter 2 as he cites Isaiah 43:20-21, “The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” and Exodus 19:4-6, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”  While Peter is speaking to Gentile Christians he refers to them in the same way that God referred to Israel while in the wilderness.  Peter recognizes just as Paul did when he said, “there is neither Jew nor Greek” in Galatians 3:28 that there are not two separate nations established under their own covenants with God but one.  They have not replaced the Jewish nation, but we have joined them in the promise. 

During the Passover feast, it is celebrated the time when God brought the Jews out of slavery in Egypt into covenant with Himself, “from darkness into great light.”  In this same way the Gentiles have been included into the benefits of the covenant, and Peter ties the Gentile Christians in with the promised restoration, “Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people” citing Hosea 1:10. In addition when Peter says, “once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” he is citing the promise to Israel in Hosea 2:23, which now includes all those who believe in Christ by faith unto salvation.

As a result of the accomplishment of the one true God we are compelled to worship, setting aside “all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (1 Peter 2:1) and Peter calls us to as “sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” (1 Peter 2:11)  All this so that God will be glorified through us.  He is glorified through us as we “present your (our) bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your (our) spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)  We are compelled to worship because of what He has done.  We pursue purity in our lives so that those in society that wish to condemn us may be given reason to glorify God by our lives.