Looking to the Tent

^{I peter 4
2}Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

We so desperately want to be like Christ. We so often forget what that entails. To be like Christ means walking the same path..which so often was the path of pain and suffering. This we hate. This is when we shut down and say "ok Jesus....i want to be like you except for the suffering part". That choice is not given. We either completely give ourselves to his same path, or not at all.

We so often are surprised that we have to suffer, that we have to go thru hardships. How could it be that a God who is so GOOD would want us to suffer. It is so that we can be made complete, so that we can be made whole, so that HE can finish the Good work in us that HE started. So that we can be made more and more into the image of Christ.

I'm not saying suffering is easy or we should look at it lightly. It is hard, and it is painful, it often seems like we cant see the light. That's when we trust. We trust in his Goodness, We trust in his Leadership, we trust that he sees and knows exactly what is going on.

Joy is promised beloved, but if we want to be gloried with Christ, and partake in his Glory, than the journey of suffering must be something that is looked at.

The great hope is this. That we have a King. A King that is returning to his people. A King who will bring everything to completion. We will celebrate Beloved. The end of all tears, the end of all sickness, the end of all sorrow, on that Glorious day that he returns will be DONE.

So beloved as we go thru this life, lets not dodge the suffering, lets walk thru it, and look and know what our hope is in.

ISAIAH 33

Now will I arise," says the LORD.
"Now will I be exalted;
now will I be lifted up.

Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.

¹⁸ In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:
"Where is that chief officer?
Where is the one who took the revenue?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?"

¹⁹ You will see those arrogant people no more,
those people of an obscure speech,
with their strange, incomprehensible tongue.

²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals;
your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes broken.

²¹ There the LORD will be our Mighty One.
It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
No galley with oars will ride them,
no mighty ship will sail them.

As we journey, lets keep our gaze focused. Not on our problems or circumstances. Lets look towards the Return of the King. The "Tent that will not be moved". Our place in Glory. Our destiny. OUR HOME! This is what we look at when things get dark.....OUR HOME.

What Can a Horse do?

^{Psalms 33
17} A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.

¹⁸ But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

¹⁹ to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰ We wait in hope for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.

²¹ In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

²² May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD,

even as we put our hope in you.

This life is filled with sorrow, pain, and agony. There are so many things to look upon and be depressed over. To look upon with such sorrow that we want to give up. Or their is the polar opposite. Pretending nothing is wrong, going along in life not dealing with hurts and pain that this life does and will bring.

We love to run from pain, we will do anything to anesthetize what we feel. As humans we mostly just want to feel happy, and excitement, anything but pain. So we go forward and fill our lives with lesser gods that we bow down to in hopes that they make it feel better. Be it friends, t.v., entertainment, going out, shopping, sports etc. Now let me say, none of that is wrong, but when used to run it is. We are turning to those and saying " this will make me feel better than God can".

Beloved here is where it is. This pain and hurt that we so often run from well surface over and over again unless dealt with. Whats more, it will only hurt worse once surface, and can destroy marriages, friendships etc. Ok so where am I going with this.

This life offers us no hope, it offers us no real true joy or happiness. We can try to find it thru lesser things, "lesser gods". But in vain will end up right where we began. Beloved "A horse is a vain hope for Deliverance".

Our hope from this world is this. Jesus. His love, His rest, His shadow, His gaze, His touch. He is our HOPE! He is the one to bring us thru the hurt. Not only bring us thru, but bring us thru in love.

Don't run from hurt, turn off the t.v, leave the mall, and pray the same prayer that David prayed. " May your unfailing love Rest upon us even as we put our hope in you".

Learning To Read

We have been talking about the spiritual disciplines. The reason the disciplines are so important is because they help us journey and get to know the heart of God. We have talked so far about prayer, and rest. Today we will talk about learning to really read and meditate on scripture.

So many people take their Bible out in the morning and flip to a passage and hope that it means something to them...than they close their Bible when it doesn't. We have to learn to really understand the Bible...what it is...how we use it.

John 1:1
¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.

The Bible...the Word of God is literally that. It is God, It is Jesus. It is their story. We read it to learn who the triune God is. We read it to know the Heart of God. We read it because it contains life , hope, salvation, truth. We don't read it to try to get the "lucky verse of the day".

The Bible is a whole...it is one book. We so often take verses out of context and use it because it suits are argument...or we think "oh this verse is totally me". Lets be careful not to take it out of context.

Their are many things, many topics in the Bible, but beloved, it is about One thing; JESUS. His coming to earth, and the his return. It is about JESUS. His humanity, the prophecy's leading up to his coming and his return. It is about the hope of our salvation....JESUS.

When we mediate on scripture, do we realize we are meditating on JESUS.
Their is this fad..this "ONE YEAR BIBLE". I'm not bashing it, but why rush the Bible. Take your time, let it wash over you , let it take you to Jesus, let it transform you, let it be written upon your heart. Their is no reason for you to feel like you have to read a certain amount a day. Just get in the Word...because that is where transformation is, that's where the Journey begins. Beloved the Bible is so rich, but lets learn how to read it. Lets not look at it as a daily horoscope( and again if you have questions on where to start let me know). Lets remember that the Bible is "living and active"

Hebrews 4:12

¹²For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The Word of God more often than not reads us, not the other way around. The Bible is active it judges. Its the very breath of God. Lets treat it that way.

Rest

Genesis 2:2

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested [a] from all his work.

We live in a culture where the idea of rest and resting is almost obsolete, work work work. It seems like the more we work, the more respect we gain. Or we think we are worth something if we are constantly working. We are afraid that if we stop to sit and rest that people will view us as lazy, whats more is the idea of rest is foreign to us, we would not even know how to do it. God did not make us machines, he did not make us to be robots. If we ever want those moments of clarity, those moments of peace...we must learn the discipline of rest....and for some of you it is a discipline.

God is drawing us away to come and sit with him, to come and listen. We are to busy living up to what society wants from us that we often do not hear his wooing. We do not hear the invitation to come sit, rest a while. He longs for us to just be still before him, to let peace consume you..and have a moment of clarity.

1Kings 19
^"2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."

³ Elijah was afraid ^a]">[a] and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴ while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." ⁵ Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." ⁶ He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

⁷ The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." ⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God."

Alright so must of us our not running for our life...but track with me. Elijah had been on the run for quite a while..without rest. He was so tired and beside himself that he sat under a tree and told God he wanted to die.

Even though we aren't running for our lives, there is a correlation. We go and go and go without stopping. Then we just drop..we get dramatic..life starts falling a part..we forget to eat...and we just want to give up. We want to jump of the life train and hide, its because we are not resting, we are not resting in the Father.

Notice that when Elijah finally did stop running and sat under the tree, God sent angels to minister to him, they brought him food and water, and he rested. Then we was able to continue on his journey for 40 days.

Beloved when we stop, and rest and let the Holy Spirit minister to us we can handle so much more. We can handle the stress of life, and the difficulties. We have to stop...sit under the broom tree, and realize that He has it all under control. So stop what your doing!!! Rest before the Father...let him give you strength, strength that will sustain you...and then go on in strength.

Talking to the Unseen

As I said in yesterdays message, we are going to look at the four major disciplines in ones spiritual journey into the Kingdom..into the Heart of God. We see or hear the word discipline, and if you are anything like me your mind shuts off. But the disciplines are mystical and ancient, and they are things that cannot be skipped over.

Prayer takes on many shapes, their are many ways to pray. There is intercession, waiting on the Lord, silent prayers, prayers of petition, breath prayers, etc. I'm not going to try to explain all the different sort of prayers. Just the purpose of it, and hopefully it will reignite prayer.

Prayer is one major way of Communicating with God. It can be so amazing and full of life, it can be something that truly does spark your walk with God, but we have to look at it differently if we want to fall in love with prayer again. Prayer is not just spouting off a few words before dinner, or saying a few words before we go to bed. It is the way we communicate with our heavenly father, and its the one of the way he communicates with us. It is divine, it is beautiful, is is speaking with our creator. We have to know that prayer is not a one way streak...but it really is us talking, then Holy Spirit responding.

Prayer can be one of the hardest disciplines for some people, because we think their is a technique or a certain way to do it, but beloved, he just wants us to talk to him, he just wants to hear our voice.

We think prayer is just about asking to make things happen, and then seeing them happen, and that's great, but there is so much more to

Richard Foster puts it best "to prayer are wonderful, but they are only secondary to the main function of prayer, which is a growing perpetual communion. To sink down into the light of Christ and become comfortable in that posture, to sing ‘He walks with me and He talks with me and know it as a radiant reality, to discover God in all of the moments of our days and to be pleased rather than perturbed at the discovery – this is the stuff of prayer. It is out of this refreshing life of communion that answered prayer comes as a happy by-product."

Prayer is the invitation to talk to God, to hear his voice, to know his language. He wants a constant flow of communion not just five or ten minute prayers, but he longs for us to always communicate. How can you have a relationship with someone you don't talk to. The same is true with God. If we don't talk, there is no communication.

Like I said, there is no wrong way to pray, but that is just partially true. You don't want to spout of a ton of words, you always want to learn to wait to hear his response, this takes the discipline I spoke of yesterday. Of sitting at his feet.

For this passage I would look at John 17. Look at the way he prays..I'm not going to type it all out...but please look at the way he talks to His father

Rom 12
12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Lets take away the notion that we have to pray a certain way, or a certain number or words etc. Let it be a conversation, let it be the same way that you talk to your friend. And believe you are going to hear back. Again He loves you, he loves your voice, and he longs for you to commune with him. You don't have to lock yourself in a room (although at times that is not a bad idea). Just remember to talk to him throughout your day.

You will see more and more whats hidden, the mysteries, whats behind the veil, as you grow your prayer life. Start out simple. Just talking to him about your day...and watch it grow. It does take a level of concentration and focus. Don't believe the lie that he is not listening or that you are talking to the ceiling. He hears you, and he delights in this holy communion. Prayers is a way of seeing what is behind the veil.

The discipline of the Feet

I have gotten a bit of course with these blogs. The purpose of these messages if for us to understand the hidden kingdom, the journey into the heart of God Unto knowing him, knowing his heart for us, knowing his heart for others, knowing his plans and his purposes. So for those of you who know me you know I have a.d.d., but I will try to reel it back in to that specific purpose

The next four days we are going to be talking about the 4 major spiritual disciplines, sounds boring, but it is actually fascinating, and steps we cannot skip when we are on the journey to really know our creator.

God does not "need" anything from us. He does not need for us to minister to thousands, or to go around healing and prophesying, or traveling cross country to feed the needy. He can do it himself, lets not forget, he created the universe with just a few words. He invites us to do this so that we can partner with Him, the end result being we can feel and know his heart more.

Yet so many (and I am including myself in this) think that by serving and doing more, we are knowing God more, which is partially true. If we can serve and minister unto God, unto knowing him, than that is Good, and we will feel the heart beat of our creator more. But, if we do it because we think we should, or because we think God will show us more of him because we are "doing" than we have it backwards.

You see, when done properly. We do these things because we have experienced the heart of God, therefore we want to serve him, but to often, like I said, serving him is done because we think it earns us something.

^{Luke 10
38}As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

⁴¹"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but only one thing is needed.^f]">[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

The first discipline I want to talk about is that of sitting and silence. We cannot know God if we are running around trying to be busy. Trying to do what we think we "should do", or what we think looks right.

God desires that we first just come and sit. That we sit before him and listen. listen to his words, listen to his heart. Let his Holy Spirit speak to us. We cannot be used in the kingdom and we cannot know his heart unless we do this.

It is hard, that is why it is called a discipline. Sometimes we will sit and hear and feel nothing. Other times we will sit and feel a lot. But it takes a persistence, it takes discipline to be willing to sit and wait at his feet.

Beloved, do we understand how great this is. Yes, he wants us to go and make disciples out of the nations, but before that, its the great invitation to come and sit. To rest at the feet of Christ, to let him speak to us about his heart, about his great love for us and others.

So the question is which one are you. Are you Martha, who is running around doing all sorts of preparations in order to earn something. Or are you Mary, being found at the feet of Christ. Whats more is the last verse of the passage " Mary has chosen the better and it will not be taken from her".Beloved, its where you belong. At the feet of the one who has made you, who has formed you, who longs to share things with you. The one who wants to talk to you. Lets choose the better.

The Axe, The Fruit, and the Fire.

It is not simply enough to call yourself a christian. We would like to believe in the fairy tale of the 5 year old saying the salvation prayer. Unfortunately its not that easy. Just because you say a prayer does not mean you are going to Heaven. We would love to believe in the Golden Ticket, or an easy way to get to heaven, but their is no golden ticket.

The sacrifice that Christ made, so that we could spend eternity in paradise with him was not an easy sacrifice. It was costly, more costly than we will ever understand. That God, a sinless God, made himself a man, came down to earth, and bore the weight of our sin, and was killed as a common criminal.

Now Salvation is not works based. God is not looking for performers. He is looking for voluntary lovers. Ones that will stand up and follow him, that will obey him. Not our of fear, and not our of being afraid that they will go to hell. But because they Love Christ, because they want to follow hard after him.

Again, this is not works. When we begin to know The Triune God, everything we do for him is from a place of love, from a place of knowing him more. The journey into his heart.

Luke 3

⁸Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

So if salvation is not about works, what does this verse mean. Many people take "fruit" to mean a variety of things.

Some people think it means ministry, doing things for God, going on missions trips. Other people think it means getting as many people saved as they can. Still more people think it means being the best servant. Well the answer to the question of "is this fruit" is both yes and no.

I believe the Fruit he is referring to here is found in Galations 5.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control.

This is what I believe he is talking about. Now here is the catch, when we have this fruit in our lives, we will be leading people to Christ, we will me serving, and ministering, but not from a place of should, or from a place of have to, but from a place of Love.

When we truly know Christ, and have been in relationship, this fruit will be an overflow of knowing God, of being in relationship with him. We will love more, we will have more joy, peace, patience, etc. In fact being in true relationship with Him is the only way this FRUIT can be produced.

So the question is, when we examine our lives, are we bearing this sort of fruit. Is their an overflow of love, joy, etc. Or are we striving, are desperately trying to perform, and not at all worried about producing true fruit..fruit that will last.