What I wish I knew at Twenty...

So, I am about to turn forty this year (Aug 24th - I love tattoo $) and I am ready. I am serious...bring it on...I feel I have yet to peak...don't judge. I have a little more wisdom than I used to have....I have a family which I love... and more peace and happiness. More stress....but better able to cope. So.... I had this daydream the other day. What would I say to my twenty year old self that had just started walking with God?

 Here are my thoughts from 39 year old Michael to the young buck.

1) You don't have to figure your whole life out in the next few years. (Read START by Jon Acuff) Your spending too much time and energy trying to figure out the rest of your life and how that lines up with God's will. An incredibly small percentage of people in their early twenties have a clear "life path" that they stay with. Your heart is in the right place, but your are paralyzing yourself with the fear of making a wrong life decision. Concentrate on seeking and knowing God, building friendships, serving, and developing strong character. If these things are a priority then the rest will fall into line. These are the things that are going to last no matter where you go or what direction your life and career take you.

2) Learn to understand Grace and what that really looks like lived out in your life. Grace is something that you will be learning and living the rest of your life. But, having a foundation of Grace will allow you to actually enjoy your relationship with God. If you constantly feel you are not doing enough and don't measure up no matter how much you spend time with God or serve... this is an issue. You don't have to constantly prove yourself to God and experience all these extreme emotional valleys and mountain tops. He really loves you. accepts you, and sent Jesus to bring you into an awesome relationship. Quit striving to do all these works to prove you are a radical disciple to Him and everyone else. Learn to receive His love and to rest in Grace.

3) Mike, you never really applied yourself in school and were not a great student. So, don't think just because you now have a relationship with God that overnight you should be an "A" student and all those bad habits are going to fall away overnight. Learn how to build on a series of small wins and get some of those under your belt. You'll do alright. 

4) Don't be afraid of making money. It does not make you more spiritual to be barely scraping by. Yes, I know you see the error of the prosperity gospel, but your overreaction to that message is only hindering you. There are those who really love God that depend on me for the next dollar and others that are rich with plenty. Money is in the attitude of the heart. Don't pigeonhole God.

5) Start giving your money and tithing. You think you are this spiritual leader and lover of God. You have yet to yield your finances to God. This area of your life is a mess and you have not allowed Him into it. He wants to set you free and bless you and bring you into a deeper level of trust with Him. You deceive yourself to think you are super spiritual and have no trust in this area of life.

Gods Generals

(This Blog Post in a response to one essay question for school for the book Gods Generals by Robert Liardon.)

I actually feel like I gained several insights while reading God’s Generals (Why They Succeeded and Why some Failed) by Roberts Liardon. I must say that this is a book that I will read again and it was very hard to put it down. I absolutely love reading about great men and woman of God in history. It always makes me want to pursue God and the calling on my life and to press in to see the “more” that God has for me.

Growing up my father used to say “God hits some pretty good licks, with crooked sticks”. What this means is that God can use people who are not perfect, but are just yielded to Him. Remember, the apostle Peter denied Jesus in his greatest time of need. Jesus repaid that betrayal by establishing Peter as the foundation of the New Testament church. It is always His grace and mercy that moves us to do things that are beyond our own natural ability. I think those He uses in extraordinary ways are typically marked with a desperation and hunger for God to move. They also seem to have an innate passion and love for God developed in their life. There are other times when life or the enemy has placed them in circumstances that make them look to God for supernatural breakthrough. Sometimes, God can just choose people in His sovereignty because He chooses to do so. Yes, we have freewill, but just go and ask the apostle Paul about His experience with a supernatural God that blinded him of the road to Damascus. God is not a tame lion (as C.S. Lewis said) He is still a sovereign God.

The first lesson I learned from this book is that almost all of these mighty men and woman really knew the promise of God in scripture. They believed the word of God that He still desires to heal and work  supernaturally. They took a hold of a promise from God and held on to it until they saw it released into the natural. I have good news for you. The God of the New Testament is still a supernatural God. Salvation is a spiritual supernatural event and transaction. It is the same with miracles and signs & wonders.   Most of us believe God is a supernatural God, but not all of us are “comfortable” with how supernatural He still is. When my wife and I went to India in 2007 and prayed for a girl who was deaf and mute... God healed her. She heard and spoke in front of a crowd of about a fifty people. We heard the gasp that went through the crowd around us as she spoke and we knew that God is still doing His stuff today on earth. In 1 Peter verse 4 it states that “he (God) has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature”. God’s nature is to restore and heal. Before Jesus was a minister he was a carpenter. His job was to make something new out of something that was yet unformed or seen. He would also repair things that were broken. When Jesus went into public ministry He did the same things. We are called to live as Jesus did as his representatives here on earth.  

The second lesson I learned from this book is something the author pointed out several times. We need to identify and operate in the gifting that God has placed upon us and discern the season that God has us in. Many of these woman and men of God had amazing gifting and supernatural ability on their life but when they tried to venture out of that arena it did not go well for them. Some of these folk’s lives ended in dishonor because they strayed so far from the original calling and mission. Alexander Dowie tried to build a Christian city called Zion which ended in financial scandal. Many believe his true calling and anointing was for the city of Chicago. William Brahman was used mightily of God, but his life ended in disgrace teaching things that were contrary to the truth of the Word of God. Brahman had a prophetic calling but he was not a teacher. When he insisted on being a teacher, even though others warned him, his teaching ended in serious doctrinal heresy. I personally believe that God can gift us with different things as our live changes. It is vital that we understand what God is saying to us and discern what season we are in. If you are called to be a worshiper it may not work out too well if you are convinced you are a teacher. Grace is released through us as we walk in our anointed calling.  

The last lesson I learned in this book ties in closely with the second lesson. A lot of times God will put strategic relationships in our lives to help us navigate the road God has us on. Sometimes Gods wisdom for us can look like a friend or ministry partner in our life. Others see things in us and know things that we need to keep us balanced and on the right path. In the book of Proverbs wisdom is marked by being teachable, correctable, and having many advisors. We need to be willing to hear God speak to us through others. I have friends in my life right now that have walked with God for many years and know the Bible much better than I do. We are made for relationship and not be an island. We need others to help guide us into truth and hold up a mirror to our lives and help us see our faults. This will keep us on the right track and help us be spiritually healthy. We need the each other to walk in wholeness. When someone is gifted by a supernatural gifting (and the supernatural is not too common in this day and age) we tend to get enamored by their gifting. The scripture is clear that we are to judge a tree by its fruit. Just because someone has a supernatural calling and gifting on their life doesn’t mean that God endorses everything they say and do. Remember, the supernatural is released by God’s grace and not our own works. Yes, we can position and equip ourselves to see supernatural breakthrough with more consistency, but it is still by Gods grace alone.  I love His Grace…. His healing, delivering, restoring, and supernatural grace.

This is a great book and I cannot recommend it more highly. It does not shy away from the amazing events and miracles or the ugly truth and controversy in some of these men and woman’s life. If I keep it real, my own walk with God has not been so pretty. I had a remarkable salvation experience and was used by God in ministry. I then turned my back and got myself wrapped up in substance abuse and addiction. In His grace he has restored me and still has the same calling on my life. My own life story would not be a clean and pretty book, but I think it would show just how much mercy and grace my Jesus has had on me. He does not show favoritism, and he can show you the same kind of mercy and grace that he had on all these mighty woman and men of God. We should all be inspired to be used of God to see His supernatural reality invade our natural reality. It brings Him honor and glory. I love what Randy Clark says: “Lord, let my life be a coin in your pocket to spend as You will”. These mighty men and woman of God let Him spend their lives and I desire to walk in the same things. Amen. 

Knowing Whose and Who

So some of you may know that we started a new ministry late last year called Equip. Our desire is to see people Equipped for the work of ministry. I believe every person who is a believer in Jesus is also called to the ministry. We are each called to be ambassadors and  representatives of His Goodness. The "Gospel" means "good news" and it is not just a select few who are called to spread this news...it is all who belong to Jesus. I don't subscribe to the philosophy of clergy and laypeople. Sure, some may be in full time ministry and others may function in an office in the church (teacher, pastor, evangelist, bishop,etc.) But when Jesus gave the great commission and said go into all the world and preach the good news of the Kingdom... he did not add a clause that said (only if you have a theology degree and serve in full time ministry!) We are His hands, feet, and voice.... he chooses is US!

So....with all that said, I do believe that we need to be equipped for the work of ministry, and that not only involves correct thinking but should also translate into the practical experience of a demonstration of Gods power. Jesus method of teaching the Kingdom of God was show and tell. God Loves you...and let me show it by healing the sick and casting out evil. It is very effective...this show and tell method. We live in a society that promotes knowledge above actual experience and thinks knowledge transfer without practical application is enough. (I know this is not always the case) Leading a Muslim to the knowledge of Jesus is much more effective after his daughter just got healed by Jesus. But...that is not what this post in about. I believe the first step in this process of becoming an equipped minister of the Gospel is - Knowing Who He is Knowing Whose We Are-  We watched a teaching about this last week and afterwards the Holy Spirit showed up in such a way to demonstrate how much he loves us and demonstrate how God views us. It was pretty awesome.

For this Blog post I want to talk about Knowing Who He is.This statement talks about having a proper view of who God is. Growing up as a Pastors kid I remember feeling like I should be better and had this overall feeling that God was displeased with me most of the time. I could never measure up. I knew I sinned and quite frankly sinning seemed better to me than hanging out with some folks who followed God. It seemed there was this unending list of things that I should be doing, but did not do, and whenever I had an inkling of doing something good it seemed futile because my bad list was far longer than my good list. Frustrating. I thought the Gospel was "Repent, God is coming back for His church and you will be left behind to face Hell!" It was very effective as scaring the living daylights out of me, but not so effective at transforming me to follow Jesus. I finally gave up and put two middle fingers in the air and just walked away. This God business was lame and Christians did not seem so cool...they were kind of not really happy people and seemed condemned. (I later met real joy filled believers) I went to a Christian School and we were encouraged to get rid of "bad" music because it had demonic messages in it. Maybe it did...but at the time I really loved that music and dealing with the external fruit of someones life is not the most effective way to present the Gospel. Deal with the Heart in the Way of Love.

1 John 4:8 - Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

My view of God was very much an Old Covenant (Testament) view of God. Do things right and you will be blessed. Mess up and suffer the wrath and Judgement of God. Ironically, Jesus came to SAVE us from the wrath of God. Jesus tells a story of Father God that talks of a son who blew all his inheritance and went and partied like a rock star. Ended up in the projects eating out of In&Out dumpsters. Then he realizes his Dad's employees got it better than this. Maybe his dad will take him back as a low end employee? He comes back and Dad is stoked and gives the kid a new Armani suit and throws a huge block party to welcome back His son. He was lost, now he was found! His older brother (who represents the mindset of religion...you gotta earn it) is not happy because his brother did not deserve that treatment. I mean he did blow all his money at the clubs on Red Bull&Vodkas and high end weed.... ( OK I am paraphrasing Luke 15:11-32... read it for yourself)

God is Love and does not pay us back for what we deserve. The Father reaches out to us and wants to bring us home. Our true home is the Love of the Father made available through Jesus. Jesus takes your report card with your measly C's, D's and so many F's and does a great exchange. He will trade you His straight A's for your jacked up report card. See, Jesus was the perfect one that towed the straight line on our behalf. He did the hard work for you....he measured up so then you can measure up. Our work consists in believing that God is really Good and he wants us to come back home. Man...high end weed is nothing once you know the love of the Father. (Note: I challenge you that this love should not be just a head knowledge thing..but by the Holy Spirit we can really experience His love NOW)  Our work is to believe in Jesus's perfect report card that He give to us. That's so awesome..and really is Good News. He not only takes us back but brings restoration. Who is God? He is love, He is a perfect Father, He is Good, He is Almighty, He is Holy... and He wants to adopt you into his family.

My prayer is if you have drifted away from home you will find your way back. Just ask Him and he will listen and bring you Home again. Much Love - Now..isn't that Good News?