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.

Strength too Small

Proverbs 24:10 (NLT) If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.

This particular verse has always baffled me a little bit. At first it seems like sort of a statement that is made to taunt you. It doesn't give you a warm and fuzzy feeling that’s for sure. At its core wisdom is practical skill for living. It is taking tried and true knowledge and applying it to real life. 

We are all going to encounter pressure at some point in our life. It could be financial, spiritual, physical, or emotional pressure. Other words Bible translators use for the word 'pressure' in this verse are: adversity, trouble, and crises. We don’t always know when we are going to encounter adversity or find ourselves in a crisis, but I can guarantee that in this life they will find us. 

I have found a couple of nuggets of wisdom hidden within this verse.

1) The Boy Scout Motto is “Be Prepared”. Preparation is usually not glamorous or fun, but it is needed when when facing adversity. Strength is not built in one day. Physical strength is built with hard work, commitment, and resistance. This same principle can be tied to many other aspects of our life. Maybe it’s building an emergency fund for a financial rainy day. It could be shedding some extra pounds at the gym before you have a health issue. Maybe it’s finding daily time in the Bible to know the promises of God to cling to when in trial. By nature I am not the most disciplined person, but as I get older I have learned that living a lifestyle of strength gathering provides for stable living. I remember years ago when I was going through a rough time as a new manager my boss gave me a nugget of wisdom. He said that as I grew the things that are hard for me now will be nothing for me to handle in the future. He also said that in the future there would be bigger trials to overcome. He was right....Strength builds upon strength.  

2) This verse also shows us that adversity or pressure is a true test of what is really inside of us. In my early twenties when I lived in Texas I was apart of a large and dynamic college ministry. I lived with Christian guys and basically my life revolved around this ministry and my walk with Christ. When I took my first career job in Portland, Oregon all the structure I had around me was gone and I was tested by trial. That trial came from loneliness, disillusionment, and temptation. I did not pass the test. I found out that without the external structure around me my faith was not as strong as I thought. Actually, those years of failure and trial have now led to a faith in God that has deep roots. Not that He has changed at all, but my level of trust in Him has grown. If you read 1 Peter you will learn that your faith will be tested but it is to prove it to be true gold. Some adversity is meant to make you stronger and sort of the gunk in your life. 

God does not desire for you to fail under pressure. He desires you to grow to be strong and healthy just like any good Father would. I don't love adversity, but I know that my heavenly Father is my strength and my strength builder.

It time to bulk up...you know whats coming. 

Intentional Passion

Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt like a you were surfing a wave of momentum that made you feel you were just along for the ride? Or, maybe in speaking of your spiritual life you would say you were experiencing a spiritual "mountain top" time in your life. It seems that during these times life is much more focused and clear. Maybe you get motivated to start getting healthy and you get some small victories under your belt and you are excited that change has finally arrived. I love those times....when you are rolling along and the tide is going your way.

And then..... Life Happens. The day in and day out grind of life life slowly takes your momentum away. Maybe you go through a time when work is stressing you out, the kids aren't behaving, and the car needs expensive repairs...and all of this this happens at once. 

You try and push through and muster up the will power to keep your recent victories and goals in focus but you start to lose vision. Man...I really want to be a passionate guy but it seems like in those times real passion looks a lot like perseverance and consistency. You see, I am an emotional guy and I can get deeply moved by various things. When I watch movies like Braveheart some of those scenes connect with deep places in my heart. But...emotion does not always mean passion. Let me explain. 

You know...one of the phrases that my Mom and Dad always told me growing up was that "marriage is hard work". I so appreciate that nugget of truth. When I got married I knew that we would have to work at our marriage in order to have a healthy relationship. We would need to live with intention in our relationship in order to make it thrive. I was not surprised when the emotion was not there and it was time to roll up our sleeves and work to really Love each other. Emotions come and go. I think that real Passion...is the Passion that will persevere in trial with determined consistency. 

Do you realize that the Latin root of the word Passion is pati which means 'suffer'? We can all sprint for a while....but the reality is that we are in a marathon called life. We can all fall in love but maintaining that passion comes with daily intentional choices. That is true to relationships, work, dreams, creativity, and whole variety of things. 

And this is why I am writing this blog post....during this last year I lost my passion for writing and communicating. I didn't feel I had anything to say. I felt a lot of negative emotions and I did not have the desire to even start typing. But then I remembered that true Passion is not an emotion. It is an intentional consistent persevering action. 

So here you go....this is my Passion. I may not be feeling it right now, but I did it. 

What did God ever do for me?

When we ask the question of what Jesus’ sacrifice accomplished for us, I think this is like trying to contain an elephant with a butterfly net. For the last 2000 years the scope of what the greatest man to ever grace the face of this earth accomplished has been pondered, praised, and ridiculed. Endless songs have been sung and so many books written that the grandest of libraries could not contain them. When Jesus hung on the cross it was the single greatest moment of all human history and I will never forget what He has done for me.

The original intent of God was to have deep relationship with those that He created in His image. Love always gives a choice, because true love is not mechanical. Man was deceived and bought the lie of the enemy and this introduced the disease of sin into this world. Sin was like a virus that was loaded onto a supercomputer that slowly started to infect every sector of the genius machine. With that virus of lies the perfect father and child relationship was severed. The very ones that were created in the Fathers image had settled for less than their potential. Sin took over and gave way to the enemy and spread like a cancer in all the earth. God was so grieved that several hundred years later after the fall, He judged the earth and flooded it to cleanse it from the rampant wickedness that had spread like a virus. But God had a wonderful plan and His name was Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus came to live and die to bring us back to our original intent.

Jesus came to make all things right again. The first step of this journey was to deal with the issue of sin that separates us from a Perfect Father. Blood is the both the literal and symbolic representation of life for without it we cannot live. Jesus gave his body and blood as a great act of Justice to make us right with the Father again. The Father’s righteous judgment against mankind’s sin was transferred upon the perfect one, Jesus Christ. Listen to this promise in the book of Romans “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” (Romans 5:9 ESV). Bill Johnson states that because of the blood of Jesus “Nothing now separates us from the Father”. He said the only work we have to do is to believe that his perfect life of obedience, fulfillment, and sacrifice was enough to cleanse us of sin and make us righteous, justified, and holy. When He declares us righteous it means that we are in right relationship and right standing with God. This gives us access back into the original relationship and favored position that God had intended for mankind all along. When we come to Jesus and truly know Him, He changes the way we think, act, and live. Repentance means changing the way we think. When we change the way we think we change the way we act. Repentance is the natural outflow when we truly meet our Savior! When we fully repent and our thinking comes into alignment with the finished work of Christ we are positioned to walk in our inheritance. 

As if that wasn’t enough, God goes one step further and says that He adopts us as children when we accept Jesus. The scripture declares: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (1John 1:12 NIV). Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to be children of God and we get to share in His inheritance. Listen to what the scriptures say, “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.” (Galatians 4:6-7 ESV). I think the most precious part of our inheritance as children of God is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Think about it, God places His Spirit inside of us and gives us supernatural gifts that enable us to demonstrate his love. How much more deeper could this divine communion be?

Because we have been made sons and daughters the Holy Spirit can come and dwell within in us. We become a habitation of God. Bill Johnson states that Jesus “performed miracles, signs, and wonders as a man in right relationship with God…not as God”. When talking about the humanity of Jesus the scripture states, “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:6-7ESV).The implications of this statement are huge. Bill says that Jesus “chose to live with the same limitations that man would face once He was redeemed” and goes on to say that “He was completely dependent of the power of the Holy Spirit working through him”. This is a magnificent statement when seen in the context of how right we are now with God by faith in Jesus. We can live a life that is dependent on the Holy Spirit and live the same supernatural lifestyle that Jesus did. We have the third person of the Trinity dwelling inside of us and empowering us to be the representatives of Jesus here on earth.

When Jesus died for us stripped away the old virus sin-filled flesh and gave us a new godly nature that is full of the DNA of Christ. The apostle Paul writes to the church and says “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,” (2 Corinthians 2:14-15ESV). We should enjoy union with God that enables us to actually spread the aroma of His nature and love to a world that is dying for it. He has made us a new creation and we are brought back and reconciled into a powerful relationship with Father God. Scripture declares, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18NIV). 

When Jesus died he opened the way for a lost race of people to come back home to their original purpose of being in the union of relationship to the Perfect One. Jesus is a hero to all who come to him for he brings us home to the Fathers house. We find that the Fathers heart is our home. He deserves so much honor and praise for His selfless love and His desire to reclaim His people. I am not the same after seeing His face and holding the hand of one who is pure love. What has Jesus’ sacrifice accomplished for me? Everything.

Is It the Will of God to Heal?

We live in a day in which God is moving through His church and equipping everyday believers to pray for the sick in Jesus’ name and see them healed. Can we really believe that it is the will of God for them to heal? I firmly believe the answer is yes. 

Sometimes I think that it can seem that the Bible talks about two different Gods. It can seem that the God of the Old Testament was angry and judgmental and the God in the New Testament is full of mercy and grace. The truth is that God does not have a dual nature. Regarding healing, the Old Testament is full of scriptures that show it was always God’s desire to heal. In Genesis 18 we see the Lord healed the bodies of Abraham and Sarah so they could conceive a son even though she was barren and they were well past the years of child bearing. Sarah had been barren all her life when God appears to this great patriarch, and through a supernatural miracle of healing Isaac is born. Isaac and Rebecca also had a son born because of a supernatural intervention. From Abraham and Isaac’s lineage we trace the ancestry of Jesus’ family line. 

When God spoke to the Israelites after he delivered them out of Egypt and He showed His desire and nature to heal when giving the law. Listen to the promise of God in scripture: “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer.” (Exodus 15:26). Randy Clark says regarding this scripture in Exodus that it is “God’s heart to heal” and that “This is evident from His self-revelation to Moses”. The great king and psalmist David described the benefits of God by stating “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases”. The God we read about in the Old Testament is a God who desires to heal. 

To understand the nature and will of God we need to look at Jesus and his life here on earth. I think the most convincing evidence that God is a God of healing is found in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ. His ministry was marked by supernatural healing. In the gospel of John, Jesus makes an incredible statement to one of his disciples when he says “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father”. (John14:9 ESV) The book of Hebrews says that Jesus is “exact representation of His nature”. (Hebrews 1:3 NASB) One of the names attributed to Jesus is Emmanuel, which means God with us. The assignment of Jesus was “not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (John 6:38) The Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus are equal with each other and they will not do something that contradicts the other. So if we examine the ministry of Jesus here on earth we can clearly see how God desires to minister to humankind. Bill Johnson states that “Jesus came to reveal the will of the Father”. If we need an answer to the question “Is it God’s will to heal?”, then we need to look at the life and ministry of Jesus. 

Randy Clark states that “Jesus healed because he always did what his Father commanded him to do”.  At the onset of Jesus’ public ministry he stands up in the synagogue and declares his personal mission statement while reading from the prophet Isaiah. Jesus declares of himself “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” He then immediately begins his public ministry by casting out demons and healing those who are sick. Jesus said that this was a sign of the Kingdom of God has come to earth. 

We can see Jesus furthering his ministry when he commissions the seventy two in the Gospel of Luke and says “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you,’” (Luke 10:9 ESV). This ministry commission to heal was not just for those believers in the New Testament but it is also for Christians today. Randy Clark states that “Healing is part of the great commission assigned now to all believers”. In the Great Commission Jesus states that those who believe “will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well” (Mark 16:18 NIV) Church history also testifies to this truth of God healing because for the last two thousand years many men and woman have seen God heal. The Catholic Church even has a sacrament of that involves anointing the sick and praying for healing. 

I think that the desire of God to heal is also revealed when we look at the Greek word SOZO. This word is translated “save” in the New Testament. When looking at the context in which this word is used in scriptures it includes the forgiveness of sins, healing, and deliverance.  In our western culture we have a tendency to think the word “saved” means only the forgiveness of sins. But if we look at the ministry of Jesus and see that He touched the whole person, and brought restoration and healing, it helps us fully understand that salvation is much more comprehensive. Jesus died for us to be restored to our original relationship with God and walk in our original purpose. Part of this original purpose means wholeness of life in our earthly bodies. God’s love is clearly displayed when he brings physical healing. This act of kindness is a great aid when telling people the truth of a loving God and it also brings glory to the Father. 

It is the desire God is to heal and restore. When he does these things he is revealing His very nature to a world that desperately needs it. Healing is a practical expression of the Love of God. I am very thankful that it is the will of God to heal and it is my prayer that we understand and live this truth in its entirety. 

The Dawn of a new Day

I grew up in the church….man…I could have been born in a pew. I am a child of the 80’s and 90’s (born in 74) and I had a good first hand look at church culture. I always marveled at the handful of mighty Men of Woman of God that had a platform to lead, speak, and influence others from. We seem to love to identify ourselves with a dynamic leader whom we respect and is having an influence. Heck, in 1 Corinthians Paul had to address this issue with the church because they were saying ‘“I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ”’. It seems to be human nature to want to belong to a certain camp. Actually, the real issue is we really want to belong to someone and something that matters.

So this brings me to my main point here. Typically, in Christian western culture we have a tendency to exalt Christian celebrities and to identify ourselves with them. This is not all bad, because we need strong leaders and reformers in the Church. The main issue here is that Christ is not divided. He is whole. I think a contributing reason that we act like this is because we all want to have a voice. We all want to be identified with what is true and we want our lives to make a difference. These are healthy things. The problem is we have and “us and them” mentality. Do you realize that we have this vocabulary of “laypeople” and “clergy”? I understand this language is not as common as it used to be… but I think the mentality it created is still common. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is in Ephesians.

Ephesians 4:11-13 - So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Jesus is raising up an Army of lovers in these last days. He is not raising up an Army of Clergy in these last days….His body is starting to wake, stretch, and arise from the shadows. It is the job of Christian leaders to equip you to minister to the world around you. You are to heal the sick, feed the poor, love the dying, displace hate, and re-present Christ. You are the only Jesus that some folks will ever see. The Kingdom of God (His domain) resides within you. If you know Jesus and the Spirit of God lives in you….you are called into ministry. Your primary identity is to be a son or daughter of the Father. Your default role is that you get to minister of His goodness to those around you. The Gospel is called the Good News…..is your news good?

(Practical) I am so busy right now I can’t see straight. I feel like time is not on my side… but at the same time I don’t want to be just be that neat church guy…I want to take my walk to the street. We can listen to His voice. Last week after church we were in a busy restaurant and it was packed. There was this bus boy and he was working his tail off. One of the folks at our table said “Man, look at that guy, he hates his job”. It was a statement said with sympathy. I started watching this young man and he was working very hard. He actually had too much work for just one dude. This is not the type of restaurant that you normally tip at. You pay at the counter, eat, and leave. I could not stop thinking about him as we all were enjoying ourselves and visiting. The kid looked beat down and I don’t think he had much self esteem. So, it came time for us to go and we walked outside and the Holy Spirit was poking my heart. I was thinking what can I do for this guy? But, in my heart I knew. So I took most of the cash in my wallet (that I was saving my tattoo!) and walked back in. It was perfect…he was in an area by himself. I walked over and gave him the cash and told him that I had been watching him and that he was such a hard worker.  I said that his strong work ethic will take him places in life (I actually felt this was a prophetic statement) and we sure appreciate the service you gave us. I told him I was a minister (just like you are…feel free to steal that line!) and gave him my card with my cell phone# on it. I said if you ever need to talk to someone feel free to call me. I put my arm around him and squeezed His shoulder like a father would. He was stunned…and just said "thank you sir"…and kept staring at the card I gave him.

I didn't cure aids that day. I didn't see someone get out of a wheelchair. I just listened to the heartbeat of heaven and did my best to love. The Father loves that young man enough to tell him that He sees his hard work. Actually, the Father loves that young man so much to show him the HE sees him. That was good news to that young man that day. I planted a seed and God will water it and cause His Sun (Son) to shine on it. 

Don’t look to a platform or a leader to identify with. Look to the hurting, lost, addicted, and selfish to identify yourself with. You don’t need to identify with a certain camp or party. You are the body of Christ….Now Rise…and walk on.

LOVE wants You

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.