Love wants you...real bad. Do you understand that when the Word of Life says that God puts the Spirit of Adoption in us it gives us a new Father? That is true....but truth doesn't always transform until be believe and experience it. Father God is in a good mood....He is not waiting for you to screw up again so he can take you out. He is not the Great Hit-man wanting to finally judge you because you mess up all the time....He really does Love you and wants you Home.
Home is were the Heart is and you can trust the Father with your heart. The key to understanding the Fathers heart is letting the past filters of our experience dictate who we think Father God is.
He is Dad....Big Papa
Galatians 4:6-7 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Do you understand that you are not a slave? Adoption means you come into the rights and inheritance of a Father/son relationship. The main inheritance you need is the Fathers love for you. Do you remember the story of the prodigal son?
Here is my summary....He wanted his inheritance now! So, in essence he is saying to His father "I wish you were dead because all I want is your cash". The Father loved his son so much he gave him his portion of the money and off he went. He went to high roller clubs and was rollin on 24's in his black Mercedes He smoked the best weed... rolled fat blunts and the woman were all around. He finally smoked all his cash away and had to work as a dishwasher in a cheap Chinese food place. He had to eat the leftovers off the plates he was washing in order to not go hungry.
He decided to go back to Dad because His Dad's employees were living much better than this. His Dad sees him coming up the drive... once the pickup that he hitched a ride with dropped him off. His Dad/Papa comes running down the drive barefoot with his new designer suit getting tattered as he runs up the drive in full abandonment. He comes to his son who is scared and full of shame and throws his arms around him and starts crying. "I love you so much and missed you so much...I love you son". The son feels so unworthy that he had treated his Dad with so little worth. He starts to apologize but Papa says "I know son...don't worry... your my son and I accept you with open arms...welcome home to my Heart". He takes off his new suit coat and puts it on the son...he takes off his Rolex and puts it on the son.
You thought the son spent all the inheritance? No.....Papa has so much he brings the son back into the place that creates abundance and restoration. The home of the heart that is Love and Life itself. Papa's love is unstoppable and when he sees His sons and daughters even looking his way he starts running towards them with Love in his eyes. His feet run swift & sure. His gaze is like a gale force wind of affection & affirmation. He knows who He made you to be. You will find yourself when you find yourself in the Fathers arms and realize that home is were the Heart is....and his Heart is a home for the homeless and the oven of true Love.
Come and run to Big Papa.....He loves you so much and He is waiting at the end of the drive just waiting for the chance to start running to Love on you.....Come Home.
Showing posts with label Prodigal Son. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Prodigal Son. Show all posts
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Friday, March 2, 2012
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?
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?
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