Author Archives: Senti

I’ve always dreamed of being part of a ministry school in which the students who graduate are said to “Mastered By Divinity” rather than having a Masters Of Divinity.  Here the Narrative continues as if in such a setting and the reader must decide by the end if the student is ready…

Heretofore and following is a dialogue between a teacher and student.  The setting is a living room with a comfortable couch and chair.  The dialogue follows an ancient style of rhetoric.  After this test of theology the student will go to a gathering where he will be anointed by the elders, who will pray over him and anoint him with oil.  Immediately afterwards he will go to a desolate place for forty days and nights with fasting and prayer.  Then he will return to begin his ministry.  The reader will have to imagine the appropriate gestures of hands, eyes, and smiles or frowns depending on the subject, since the text will not indicate mannerisms, but follow the dialogue itself…

“So it is not so that man was created first and then woman?  You make it sound as if woman was created at the same time.”

“The earthling was more like man than woman, until she came out of him, since he was made in the image of I AM’s Son.  Yet she was already present in earthling and needed to complete that image of I AM, both male and female.  But all of them together make up the Great Bride.  And she must desire I AM of her own free will.

“Therefore a tree was put there, next to the tree of abundant, everlasting life; a rumor of a second and third heaven begins.  The tree was put there so that she would want Him as He wants her.  The little girl was to demonstrate her love for Him by eating of all the trees but this one.  To love I AM is to obey His Word, His Voice.  At first she did, but then adversary came as a dragon and tried to teach her the way of good and evil much too quickly before the transformation.”

“The transformation into what?”

“Into sons of I AM, into His Bride.  Adversary was trying to take vengeance for losing his high position.  But the I AM knew this would happen, and so in love and wisdom, He turned away from the perverted form of darkness within them, within the little girl also.  She ate the fruit.  Thus she disobeyed the Voice and did evil.  Now she knew evil and therefore also good.  But now she was unable to always choose good, thus she could not be allowed to eat from the tree of life.  She no longer walked with abundant life.  Her spirit died, that which communed with I AM.

“Thus He separated from her, so she would look for Him again.  He does not fellowship with shadow perverted, not with any imperfection as adversary had.  This would be the time of testing and the second heaven had nearly begun.

“Now He could have left her to simply choose again and again and die in her choices, but instead, in love and wisdom, He gave her over to her first choice, to go on choosing perversion, to lean into it always, as she would naturally do left to herself and without the succor of the Source of Goodness, in order to have mercy on her, so that she would understand separation from Him; that she could not do good apart from Him, not true good.”

“How is it merciful to give her over to perversion?”

“What could it be compared to?  What is it like?  Imagine that a family has two wells of water.  One is fresh and full, another is old, unused and makes the one who drinks it sick.  The father of that family instructs his children not to drink from the old well, but only the new one.  But a neighbor, who hates the father, comes in secret and tells the children not to trust their father, but to drink from the old well.  ‘He’s keeping the best water for himself, and doesn’t want you to drink any of it.’  So they break the cover on the well and drink from it, but they become sick.  Hopefully they learn from the sickness to trust their father in the future, but if they do not believe him and consider it a coincidence that they became sick, he will let them drink from it again and become sick so that they will know without a doubt that he has told them the truth and is trustworthy.  If they insist on drinking the water again, he will let them do so in order to reestablish trust.  It is a mercy.  He could punish them rightfully and force them never to drink from it again, but they would always doubt him and so he lets them see for themselves and truly learn it.  It is like that.  Is that understandable?”

“Yes, I think so.  But did she insist on eating the fruit again as the children insisted on drinking from the old well?”

“Yes, He knew she would.  The I AM looked down on all the sons of men, on all her offspring, outside the bounds of time.  He saw that all of them, apart from His succor, could not be righteous, not one could choose what is truly good and so be in harmony with Him.  Thus He gave them over to their disobedience, that they might grope for Him and cry out for restoration.  And then He could give it.

“He let her spirit, that which communed with Him, die.  The soul lived on, but would slowly die and finally the body also.

“Because of this I AM called out to her until she became old enough for love.  Her breasts formed and her shape became lovely.  She had been kicking about in her own blood, from being violated by those who passed by her, so He picked her up, put aloe on her wounds, clothed her, and cared for her, even offering to marry her.

“At first she responded and received from Him.  He gave her fine jewelry, new dresses, and trained her for royalty.  But then adversaries came and drew her away.  The I AM had washed her with clean water, scattered her enemies away from her, taken her into his home, nursed her back to health, even taken her through difficult times and rescued her from wicked enemies who had mistreated her.  But as soon as adversaries returned with false promises of royalty, she committed adultery with them.  They would beat her and mistreat her and she would cry out for Him again.  Each time she cried out, He would rescue her.  But as soon as she came home and felt secure and prosperous, she forgot Him and ran after other lovers.

“She sold herself to them.  She even paid them to have sexual relations with her, but He never stopped loving her and bringing her back, seventy times seven times He did this, but finally He threatened divorce and separated her from Him.  He gave her over to her lovers’ lust and they abused her ferociously.  Then she came back home afterwards, but He was not there.

“Instead He sent His Word because He so loved what He had made.  He came and spoke perfectly of Him.  He walked in the rightness she did not walk in.  He sent the Prince to the farthest borders, near the enemy’s territory.  He saw her again, as a little peasant girl, beaten and mistreated.  She was in the dungeon of adversaries’ castle.

“Thus the Prince was given as a ransom to die in her place.  He went into the dungeon, spoke kindly to her, and ushered her out.  Then He and His Father came and bound the adversary.  He broke out of the dungeon, conquered the adversary, and spoke to the young girl.  He called her a Princess and offered His hand in marriage.  She would now become a messenger, a messenger of her King and Husband to offer His hand to all who would receive Him from her.  Second Heaven was born.

“He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive Him, but to all who did receive Him, He gave them the power to become sons of I AM.  These He chose according to His foreknowledge.”

“So did He choose them because they received Him or did they receive Him because they were chosen?”

“This is the great mystery.  No words can explain this properly.  It is both.  When you step outside of time, both of these take place simultaneously, in the eternal NOW.  All that can be said is that He knows those who are His.  I AM decides, not them, yet she must receive Him.  All the work is His, she only receives Him and His work in her.”

(to be continued…)

Here I’m holding 3 dandelion stems measuring 2 and a half feet each!  My son Elisha pulled them and we talked about how creative God is.  We are also creative beings.  So in that creative spirit I present theology as story, something I call the Narrative, because I suppose any disciple of Jesus could write one and add their own perspective on the Great Story of God and his people:

“What was before the beginning, before the beginning when the first heaven was formed, even before the first heaven was formed?”

“There was the I Am.  The I Am was good.  He fellowshipped within Himself.  The Great Father spoke and His Word was always there, coming from Him, He was Him, His Son, always dancing in His Spirit, who was Him, who also flowed from Him.  Just as He has a Spirit, we also have a spirit.  Do you understand?”

“No, not fully.”

“Indeed it is a mystery.  But can you perceive it as if from afar?”

“Yes, a mystery, I think so.  But was He only good and not evil at all?  Or could He have been both evil and good as some people say?  They call it the balance.”

“The I AM was and is and will be only ever good, since there is no darkness in Him at all.  He is a person within reality, not reality itself, though before time He was the only reality.  When He began creating with time He created something out of nothing and there was more than He, but He is not just an energy or the universe itself, or the feeble consciousness of mankind.  They are because He is, not the other way around.”

“But if He was good, before the beginning, then evil must have existed.  You cannot have good without evil can you?  There was only Him, but did the shadow of Him co-exist somehow?”

“If so, not as a thing of substance, but only as a possibility.  Yet this thing we call good was simply life and there was no other way that was, not in existence, since He alone was and is and will be I AM.  He alone was, and He fellowshipped within Himself.”

“Was He not only like a Father, but like a Mother to his Son?”

“Yes, but more like a Father, a good Father, and a Son, and Spirit.  Those are the best ways to describe Him.  The Elohim, Majesties, yet the One Majesty.”

“With love and wisdom He speaks, His Word creates, His Breath overshadows.  Word would become man, but already was in eternity, in timelessness, the Messenger of I AM.”

“A Messenger to whom?”

“The Great Bride of course; He does not need her, He wants her.  She must want Him also, for it to be love.  He wants a Bride who will love Him of her own free will.  They were made after His image.”

“Who are they?”

“Male and female; they must have free will so that a Bride will come from them for Him, her Husband.”

“How will this come to be?”

“Listen now; first there must be a beginning, a beginning of time, a time for testing.  The first heaven was formed.  The messengers were formed; they were created like the Great Messenger, but not the Messenger Himself, for he was begotten of the Great Father.”

“Messengers to whom?”

“The Great Bride of course, but she does not come yet.  First the messengers must be tested, trained.  In the beginning I AM created the heavens…

“Son of Morning was created best.  He must pass the message on to the Great Bride so that she can surpass him.  Yet the I AM knew that Son of Morning would fail the test.  It must be then.  She must want Him.  It is best.  Let it begin.

“Even in His Presence – there were no secrets then – Son of Morning swelled on account of his own beauty.  He was guard to the garden of the I AM and His Bride.  He walked among the fiery stones and they could not hurt him because he was refined.  He was perfect, yet under the I AM.  Yet when morning dawn became day he looked into his own mirror to behold his own reflection, becoming self-aware, and he swelled.  He said to himself, ‘Just as the Bride will be made to surpass me, so I will surpass I AM.’  He said in his heart, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

“Each messenger held a star, set in the heavens, to declare the glory of the I AM to the Bride, but a third of them joined Son of Morning in battle.  Light set against light, lights set against the Source of light.

“But the one who is like the Great Messenger took the many stars and fought back with I AM’s power shining through them.  Then Son of Morning went from day to night.

“Darkness, darkness was born, but only after the little earth had been formed.  The I AM made light through His Word, Love and Wisdom and called it good.  By doing so He had formed darkness also.  Son of Morning set himself against the I AM, the messengers of light, and the Great Bride thereafter.  He became the adversary.  The adversary wielded darkness and tried to pervert it.  He took from the shadow.  He took from the Abyss, where I Am was not, the great Nothingness and sought to pervert good with it, though he knew it would burn him in the end like an unquenchable fire, he used it to destroy in his rage.  Wanting to become lord of darkness, darkness became lord over him.  He had fallen from good.  Wickedness was found in him and then it dominated him and he crafted his own perverted form of darkness.

“The light thundered with lightning and sent the adversary crashing down to little earth.  Son of Morning would still fulfill his purpose, willing or not.  Adversary then roamed through the fires of earth, seeking to have vengeance.

“But the Breath of I Am began creating earth in its shape and diversity.  Toward the end of his first days creating earth He made the earthling, the little girl who might someday be His Bride.  He separated earthling and made man and woman like Himself.  He wanted many children to be like His Son, a Bride for Him.  But she must want Him also.

(To be continued…)

Here’s a team of us singing on the streets about God’s love on a Street night with Envision Mission.  This last session is about sharing our testimony-

Testify (session 9:

Pray

Read Matthew 5:16, Luke 9:26, Colossians 3:1; 4:2-6, 2 Timothy 1:6-12; 1 Peter 3:14-18

Set your heart on Christ, devote yourself to prayer.  Pray as soon as you get up in the morning, thanking God for life and salvation.  Sing to Him in the shower, in the car on the way to work, talk to Him on the way home, before dinner, before bed.  Pray for an open door for the gospel to be proclaimed clearly.  That’s a prayer that God is always quick to answer with a yes.  Try it and see.  Pray that the mystery of Christ would be made known to people’s hearts, because until God reveals it the Gospel is a mystery to people.  Then you’ve probably heard the phrase: “preach the gospel, use words if necessary.”  That has to do with showing Christ through our behavior and there is truth in that.  Let your light shine that they may praise God (you don’t have to force it).  Let your actions of love be evident, especially towards outsiders.  Let your speech be gracious and spicy, and then you’ll have the words.  If you are in prayer, praying with mindfulness and thanksgiving for open doors and for the mystery of Chrsit to be made known; if you’re actions exude Christ and your conversation is healing, bringing spice to life, and full of grace the promise of God’s word is that you’ll be able to give an answer for the hope you have to those who ask you. The assumption of the Apostles is that you’re rubbing shoulders with folks that don’t know Christ and that they’re seeing Him in you and either asking you why you’re so full of joy, peace and love or confiding in you as a safe person and there’s your opportunity to give an answer.  You don’t have to read long books about how to do evangelism, just a few short verses from the Apostles’ teaching on Iit and you’re equipped! Especially if you put it into practice.  You will learn as you go and Jesus sends you out as sheep among wolves, unready, but learning from the Master as you go.  Don’t be so nervous, it’s really quite simple.

While we’re at work we never know when opportunities will arise.

Don’t be ashamed of Christ; it is important to use words and make the most of every opportunity.  Otherwise they’ll never know if you don’t tell them because that’s how God has chosen to send out the message: through us.   

From here on we’re called to testify to others what we’ve experienced and learned.

Let’s start with each other.  Think of one thing you’ve learned from Jesus during these last few weeks and one way in which Christ has changed your life in general.  Take some time to make note of these things and share them with someone you trust.  That’s a good place to start.

Prayer

New Calling (session 8):

Pray

Read Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 17:7-10; John 15:15-16; Galatians 5:22-25

Be faithful with a little and the Master will put you in charge of much more.  Consider yourself an unworthy servant coming to God and then hear Him call you His friend, because you know the Master’s business now.  The question is not “what is God’s will for me?” but “what is God’s will?” and then to align your life to that.  God has chosen you AND planted you.  Find out where He planted you.  Then you can bear much fruit and as you remain in Him, His Word, His Body, His Blood, His Spirit, you will have the kind of fruit that will last forever.

Fruits of the Spirit- Make note or write down how you want God to improve you in these

Love (example: I wrote down listening more and talking less)…

Joy

Peace

Patience

Kindness

Goodness

Gentleness

Faithfulness

Self-Control

Gifts of the Spirit- Make note or write down the spiritual gifts you remember being affirmed by the Body

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Skills from God- Make note or write down the skills God has given you in the natural

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What things is God calling you to be faithful with right now?  Responsibilities, family, friendships, work, ministry, etc:

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Combine all of these and imagine how they could come together to form your calling.

God grant us creativity to see what you have in store for us.  If you’re certain of your calling already just write it down or make note of it on the next page.  As you exalt the LORD daily, pray for the qualities of Christ, ask God for and begin to have the revelation of the fear of the LORD and the Grace of the LORD (his total love for you apart from your performance), experience intimacy by learning to receive that love from the LORD daily, know what things God has called you to and get rid of all else while persevering in faith, relationships, tasks; and then discern your gifts and begin to put them into practice; as we enfold someone AND are enfolded by another and if the assignments are done completely, I believe your calling will emerge. 

You may also write down a vision for your life.  Be specific, but not fastidious.  Ask others about it and give it time.  It is good to write down steps, ramifications, and a whole plan of action. Then put it into practice more and more.

Be open to what and where God may call you.  Never say, “never!”  Sometimes God plays a joke on us and has us to the thing we said we’d never do because being like Christ is more important to Him than our comfort or desires.  Even being a missionary in Africa isn’t beyond God’s ability to enact in your life.

Pray

Elaine Lozier (and her husband David) was one of those folks who enfolded me in my early faith development.  I remember not wanting the gift of tongues because it seemed unimportant to me in the Bible.  She prayed that I would receive “that special gift” one night and I had asked the LORD to speak to me in some new way that morning.  In my spirit I heard clearly “Acts 2:4” so I asked the LORD if He wanted to give me that gift.  Then Elaine prayed for me and that same night I received the gift of tongues- what an amazing experience and edifying for me in private prayer to this day.  Whatever your theology is about tongues this principle of folks coming alongside other folks and helping them grow in the LORD is vital, so please read on:

Enfolding (Session 7):

Pray

Read Matthew 4:18-22; 5:1; 12:1; 14:36; 23:1-12, 28:16-20; John 15:9-17; Titus 2:1-6

Discipleship is more than Bible Studies once a week.  The model of Jesus is to walk together with friends in life.  We let others into our life and we into theirs.  That’s what it means to enfold someone and to be enfolded by someone.  That is the task we must endeavor to put into action.

Spend time with that person God puts on your heart to enfold at least on a monthly (preferably weekly) basis, share struggles and joys.  Use Scripture as a springboard for conversation.  Pray for each other.  Spend time together over coffee at a coffeehouse or another place.  Invite the person to church, Bible Study, or for dinner.  Do an errand and take the person along.  Do life together.  Talk on the phone, e-mail, write a letter, but take the person into what you’re doing also.  Find commonalities.  Men should walk alongside men, and women with women.  This is not so much mentoring as walking alongside each other and letting Jesus be the Teacher.

It’s also vital to do this in groups, at least of two and three because otherwise we tend to create codependent relationships.  Notice that Jesus had one on one meetings once in a while, but regularly his discipleship was enacted with groups of people.  The early church carried this practice on as well.  So consider joining others in the act of enfolding as well.

Assignment: Pray, ask God for and choose someone to enfold and someone to enfold you.  If you’re older you should look for a peer.  Continue as long as God calls you together.  And consider inviting others into the enfolding process as well.  In other words come along-side someone, but encourage that person to have others coming along-side him or her also.   

Pray

When a child receives a gift for a holiday or Christmas it can be such a joy to watch and oh the excitement when they use it and love it!  God has given us gifts.  This session can help us love and use them as individuals. 

Ministry (session 6):

Pray

Read Luke 10:1-3, 16-21

We are called to pray for more workers for the harvest as Christians.  Then we become the answer to our own prayers; God has called you to move into a new place of ministry and service to others in Christ’s Name.  Indeed remember that you represent Jesus.  He has set you apart for service and commissioned you to go in His Name, like the seventy two he sent out so long ago.

Therefore our purpose now is to discern each of your spiritual gifts and then put them into practice.  That is the work of ministry, pure and simple.  Spiritual gifts are not the same as natural abilities, even though abilities are God given also.  Spiritual gifts are supernatural gifts of the Spirit for the edification of the Body of Christ and those who are entering into that Body.  So it’s not accurate to say that a quiet person is a good listener and that is their Spiritual Gift.  Nor is it correct that someone who has an organizational personality is automatically gifted as an administrator by the Spirit.  A natural leader may not necessarily be called by the Spirit to that task in the church either.  A school teacher does not necessarily have the Spiritual Gift of teaching.  Let’s take a look at what the Spirit says about it in the Word:

Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, 27-31; 13; 14:1-33

We’ll use this general list of nine gifts and its sub-categories:

1- Leadership/apostolic

– Sent out by the Spirit of Christ to lead in a way recognized by the Body of Christ- consider missions or church planting and listen to your community recognizing those gifts– otherwise you are wrongly self-appointed

2- Prophecy/Words of Knowledge and Wisdom/Distinguishing Spirits

– Forth-telling and foretelling the heart of God to a specific people in a specific situation/specific words of supernatural knowledge and knowing what to do with that info/discerning what kind of spirit, whether a kind of angel, demon or simply a person’s spirit

3- Teaching/Knowledge

– Passing on the teaching of the Spirit of Christ by training, correcting, rebuking in righteousness and applying the whole Word of God in a way that inspires the Body of Christ towards love and obedience to God

4- Healing/Miracles/Faith/Giving

– Laying on hands for healing of the sick, raising the dead, and speaking forth the impossible in Christ’s Name/ believing for God to do the impossible things He has in mind to do/generous giving that accompanies the gift of faith with miraculous provision

5- Evangelism

– Proclaiming effectively the good news of Jesus to those who don’t know Him yet, building relationships with unbelievers to draw them to Christ in love

6- Helps/Mercy/Encouragement

– Serving others at a supernatural level by seeing what necessary tasks the Spirit wants to do behind the spotlight and doing it with pleasure, much hospitality and refreshing the saints in this way/a deep welling up compassion for others that acts in practical service/giving the right words and deeds of encouragement to the Body that sees their true identity in Christ and calls it forth

7- Pastoral/Administration

– Shepherding the Body through nurturing, caring for, and guiding the flock on to spiritual maturity/governance and strategy given by the Spirit to help all the parts of the Body work in concert together

8- Tongues

– Speaking in a language unknown to the speaker with a person’s spirit by the power of the Spirit, whether angelic, heavenly or earthly, sometimes publically but often in private prayer for intercession, spiritual warfare, prophecy and praise to God or to cross language barriers for the sake of the Gospel

9- Interpretation of Tongues

– Receiving an impression or translation of a tongue and passing that on to the Body of Christ or to cross a language barrier for the sake of the Gospel

Pray- Ask elders for the laying on of hands for more of the Spirit to discern your gifts

Assignment: Write this down or make note of it, then put it into practice this week by:

1- Leaders should consider attending and eventually joining the core group of a ministry; maybe God will call you to start a new work in Christ Jesus!

2- Prophets should ask the Spirit to give them a message for an upcoming gathering and share it there under the authority of the leadership there

3- Teachers should set up a time to give a sermon/message at a gathering of believers together or lead a class of some kind for a group of believers, as the Spirit leads and under the authority of local leadership

4- Healing/Miracle Workers/those with Gifts of Faith/Giving should pray for some people at a gathering or with someone you meet and ask the Spirit for what He wants to do in that regard or challenge your church to give or act in faith somehow

5- Evangelists should go out on the streets or to the mall and begin practicing that gift in conjunction with some other believers- contact a ministry that does this also

6- Helpers/Mercy Givers should put their gifts into practice this week, as the Spirit leads, whether as simple as cleaning a bathroom or in some other way to meet a need for someone- just look for opportunities

7- Pastors/Administrators should consider working with a gathering of believers to learn shepherding and administration needs and begin to meet those needs

8/9.Those with tongues or interpretation of tongues should use these gifts at the a gathering of believers that is open to that gift

The Body of Christ needs to find places for these gifts to be used and encourage individuals to use them!

Prayer

In the movie Rocky the main character goes round after round getting pounded and beat up, but persevering against the odds!  Sometimes it feels like that when we’re going through trials in life, like we’re being beat up and can hardly stand anymore.  That’s the point where God may be calling us to persevere! 

Perseverance: (session 5)

(Prayer)

Read Romans 5:3-5; 2 Peter 1:5-11; James 1:2-4; and Revelation 13:10

In the context of trials, we are called to persevere, whether in relationships, temptations, testings of our faith, or difficult circumstances.  This calls for patience, not only for others, but for ourselves and God.  Commitment is a dying art, but essential to real success in ministry.  We must find out what God is calling us to and obey, not out of sacrifice, but obedience and then stick to that come hell or high water.  This is a marathon, not a sprint, thus we are asking God to give us a long-haul determination.  When someone sins against you or you sin against them, it means doing the tough work of reconciliation out of commitment to them.  We must ask for more of the Fruit of the Spirit to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be able to put ourselves in their shoes.

God give us the fruit of the Spirit for faithfulness and self-control that we might be determined to persevere with those tasks and people you’ve called us to.

According to Romans 5:3-5, suffering produces perseverance if we let it and that produces an invincible character in us that gives us hope in all situations.  This is where most folks fail in ministry, in marriages, and in all kinds of relationships God has called us to. When we suffer we can become bitter or we can learn to persevere in hope.  God help us to persevere!

Assigment: Make a list either mentally or literally of your commitments, especially over the next week.  Ask yourself which God has called you to and which are you doing out of human pressure/obligation only?  Circle the ones God has called you to and do those.  Get rid of the rest as best as you can.  Stick to what God has called you to of what you’re already doing doggedly!

(Prayer)

Intimacy: (Session 4)

Pray

Read Zephaniah 3:14-17 

The key to intimacy with Christ is learning to receive from Him, until it is on a moment by moment basis.  That requires trust and can only be learned by faith with time and practice. That is also the key to intimacy with others: trust, i.e. learning to trust each other by putting faith in each other as we come to know one another.  We give each other the benefit of the doubt when misunderstandings come.  We must learn to receive love from God and from others.  In this time, however, you must not minister to each other.  You must only receive from God in this session.  That’s because the first key to intimacy with others is intimacy with Christ.  Thus you must sit back and receive.  Learning to receive from God and therefore also from others is part of giving all the glory to Christ, instead of trying to take control or do it our own way.  That is the best way to exalt Him on a daily basis.  Jesus perfectly trusted His Father and was thus very intimate with Him, which is His most important quality for us to imitate.  This session is also closely connected with the last one, understanding Grace and Truth, but we will go beyond understanding and into experiencing these truths by receiving the delight the LORD has for us!

Often there are wounds that we receive even from childhood that cause us to ask the question, “Is God really good?”  That is the question that the serpent asked mankind in the garden at the beginning. If God is good, why would He keep something from you?  Why would He let this happen to you?

Often these wounds come from our family of origin. And unfortunately these wounds affect our relationship and intimacy with God. If an earthly father was distant or abusive, it is difficult not to assume that God the Father will also be distant or abusive.  If a brother or sister was hateful, it will be difficult to connect with God the Son, who is our eldest brother.  Interestingly, in my pastoral care, I’ve noticed that those who’ve had a difficult relationship with their mother can sometimes struggle to trust the Holy Spirit.  That is not to teach that the Holy Spirit is the great mother God to us, but that indeed He is like a mother to us in that He teaches and nurtures us along the way. The chart below puts this in a positive way:

If a father figure did not give identity, protection or provision, God does. If a sibling or friend acted hatefully towards us, Jesus has most certainly demonstrated His love on the Cross and in His Resurrection. If a mother was distant or abusive, the Holy Spirit nurtures and teaches us in love.

Practice soaking prayer by listening to a worship song and allow the Spirit of God to speak to your heart about how He is the One who fills whatever void you have in your life. He is your Father, Brother and like a Mother to you also.

Assignment:  Allow someone to do something for you if they offer to.  Continue meditating on God’s love for you and spend some time simply receiving from Him, not asking, interceding for others, or anything but receiving.   

Prayer

Maybe you remember this scene from the book or movie “Les Miserables” where Jean Valjean is forgiven by a bishop after stealing his silver and even given silver candlesticks in addition so he will be inspired to love and forgive others also.  That’s a picture of grace and that’s what we get to consider in this session from the EQUIPMENT series.

Understanding Grace and Truth: (Session 3)

Pray

Read John 1:11-17; Psalm 85:10; Psalm 89:14; Psalm 53

To understand Grace and Truth we must first understand Justice and Judgment.  According to Psalm 53, God looks on all of humanity from A-Z and looks to see if there is any goodness in them by themselves.  He declares that there is none.  Apart from God’s common grace we would not have breath.  Apart from God’s Grace we certainly would not have any goodness therefore.  In and of ourselves we cannot do good, apart from God giving us that gift.  In Christ He has done even more and granted us eternal righteousness, a fully alive goodness that can never die: His own righteousness, not just something like it.  If we claim that our goodness is our own, we will lose it in the end.  But if we understand that it is a gift we will find it in Jesus.  That is the revelation of Jesus: that He is full of Grace and Truth.

The Justice and Judgment of God remind us that He hates sin and condemns humanity for it to eternal destruction, eternal separation from Him.  He is totally just and Holy and nothing of sin can enter His Presence.   

Here again, we are safe in God’s love, so we don’t need to be scared of this aspect of God, even if human authority has given us perversions of this in order to control or manipulate.  God is not like that.  God is good, all the time; perfectly good!

Let’s pray and ask therefore, for God to give us wisdom and revelation to know the Judgment and Justice of the LORD, the Holiness, even the fear of the LORD.  The Fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  The end of wisdom is that perfect love casts out all fear.  As we exalt Christ and ask Him to transform us by His Spirit, we must have this vital revelation.  It is not about being scared or having phobia of God.  It is not about fear of ultimate punishment now that we are covered in Christ’s blood or that God is sinister or evil in some way.  It is a reverential awe of Him; that kind of fear is what we speak of.  But we must go here if we are to truly understand His Grace.

God grant us revelation of Your Holiness, Justice, Judgment and the Fear of the LORD.

Read Ephesians 2 and 3.

God loves us infinitely in Christ!  His love for us is infinite!  It continually goes from Him to us, not based on our performance at all.  We cannot perform enough to gain His love; it is freely given to us.  Don’t just know this in your head.  Let’s pray for the power now to know this in our hearts!

God grant us revelation of Your infinite Grace and love.

That knowledge helps us to love, forgive and have Grace/patience for others.  That’s how Rwandan Christians whose families were brutally raped and murdered could forgive and embrace the perpetrators of the crimes against them.  Let’s pray and ask God if there is anyone in our lives that we’re having difficulty forgiving…

Then let’s pray and take that feeling of wanting to get them back somehow or have them feel our hurt and put it on the cross with Jesus.  Imagine Him taking those wounds for the sin of those who hurt us and release the burden to that place…

God’s Grace is relational, not just an abstract idea, but who He is as a Person.  God is love.  Mercy is not getting the punishment we deserved.  Grace is undeserved favor.

Assignment: Let’s try to pray at least today and tomorrow if not every day for the power to grasp God’s love for us.  Try to spend at least three minutes doing that daily this week.

Song: The Love of God

Pray

As we look at Christ the Servant we become what we behold.  If we watch media all the time we become like that which we see, but if we keep our eyes on Him we become like Him:

As we continue a lifestyle of worship, let’s exalt Christ by thinking about His character:

We’re going to look at nine qualifications listed by the Apostle Paul for the office of deacon.  We are not doing this as an attempt to become deacons in a church.  Elders would have to appoint us to such a task anyways.  This is not a call to that kind of a leadership, but rather a call to ministry as a disciple of Jesus.  If we are seeking a leadership position out of a need to be validated in some way we are not ready.  Christ Jesus appointed the Apostles, the Apostles appointed elders and deacons and elders continue to appoint other elders and deacons through the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Let me repeat then that this teaching is not about being a deacon or an elder, but rather it is about asking God to qualify us for ministry in general.  The word deacon means “servant” and so we will use the qualifications for deacon as our benchmark.  And if we look at how Jesus fulfills all these qualifications we can ask God to grow them in us also.  We’re asking God to make us like Jesus, which will actually bring us to repentance.  But repentance is not a bad word, it is life-giving.  There is a humungous difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.  Worldly sorrow leaves regret which leads to death, but godly sorrow brings us to repentance which leads to life.  Repentance is to change our mind and agree with God about something like sin in our life and then to ask God to cleanse us and make us like Jesus in that area.  Then we’ll have the power to turn away from it.  This is not about rules we need to follow in our flesh, but rather what we’re asking the Holy Spirit to do in us.  Conviction is something the Holy Spirit gives us.  It is specific and points something out which the LORD is about to work on in us.  We merely ask His help and then choose to turn in the opposite direction from the sin towards Christ.  So if you hear these things and start to feel guilty, to feel as if you should try to do better in your own strength at these things, you miss the point completely.  That kind of guilt and remorse is from the devil.  It is vague and a feeling that we are a failure and will never be able to be otherwise.  Lord, keep us from such temptation and let us hear only conviction from your Holy Spirit that leads to hope and restoration.  It’s like, “oh good, the LORD is going to make me more like Jesus in that area!”

So as we read through these nine qualities or qualifications, let’s meditate first on how Christ fulfills these things and then, if the Holy Spirit highlights some of them, we can either make mental note of it or write it down.  We’re doing this for the purpose of asking the Holy Spirit to grow us in this area.  I’ll give a for instance for myself on one or two of them to help us out.

The next session will be important in leading us to understand the Grace of God, but even now let’s remember that in God’s Grace we are quite safe and loved.  If we don’t understand that now, my prayer is that we will understand that after the next session and then this will make perfect sense.  Let’s look then, at the qualities of Jesus and ask God to grow us in them:

Read 1 Timothy 3:8-13

Now read through the nine qualities one by one and you can make note of them as the Spirit leads you:

1. Jesus was worthy of respect while on earth. How might the Holy Spirit work on you to grow in being worthy of respect? (I wrote down guarding my tongue from foolish talk.)
2. Jesus was sincere/not hypocritical/not double-tongued. He was the same person around everyone. How might the Holy Spirit want to work on making you sincere?
3. Jesus was not addicted to wine or anything else but His Father, not people pleasing, not pot, not smoking, not entertainment, not food or the lack thereof, not anything but God Himself. Is that a prerequisite for ministry to not have addictions, no, but we can actually have an attitude of wanting to overcome them by the power of the Spirit. How might the Holy Spirit want to help you overcome addictions?
4. Jesus never pursued dishonest gain for Himself. He did not hold on to anything for Himself. How might the Holy Spirit want to help you to let go of some kind of dishonest gain in your life?
5. Jesus held to the deep mysteries of the faith without doubting His Father. A mystery of the faith is usually something that seems contradictory in logic, but God says is true. He called Himself the son of man and the Son of God. He did not come to condemn the world but to save it, yet He spoke more of hell than any subject except money. He pointed out that David and Moses and other men wrote the Scriptures, while at the same time teaching that the Holy Spirit spoke the words through them. There are many examples. Where might your conscience needs to be cleansed concerning some of the deep mysteries of the faith through the Holy Spirit?
6. They could not find any fault with Jesus at his trial, so they made things up and finally accused Him of blasphemy for claiming to be the Messiah the Son of the Living God, which He was. Does someone have something against you that you have not at least tried to reconcile with them about? Do you need to ask the Holy Spirit to help you be above reproach in some specific way?
7. Jesus did not talk badly about others unless He was rebuking them to their face and in love, especially never behind their backs. He was not a malicious talker. Where might the Holy Spirit want to help you in being self-controlled in the way you talk about or to others?
8. Jesus was trustworthy in everything. Would people leave their children, pets or money in your trust to take care of while their gone? How might the Holy Spirit want to grow you in being trustworthy?
9. Finally Jesus was totally faithful to His family. He cared for His mother even at his brutal death. How might the Holy Spirit want to grow you in being faithful to your family, your spouse, your parents, your children, your siblings?

Pray through these this week as the Spirit leads you and pray for His transforming power!