He likes us

The problem with unbelief, worry or fear is that it is not so much about unbelief, worry or fear, even though that's what our minds get focused on. The deep issue here is thinking that even if God exists, or is here with us, or is able to, He probably doesn't like us very much.

But He does! He likes us so very much, and He created every part of us to be enjoyable and to be enjoyed by Him.

Returning to reality begins with realizing this truth.

Trust Me

When God speaks to the depths of our being, and calls us to trust Him, and when things later do not turn out the way we expected, one of the voices that screams at us is "Why didn't you act on this before?!" It is the voice of fear. It tells us that we should not have trusted God but depended on ourselves. It tells us that we didn't do enough. It tells us that God only helps those who help themselves.

But God calls us to trust Him even more in these times. He knows exactly what is going on, and He gives us wisdom to act from a place of rest, not a place of fear. When the Israelites were led out of Egypt, one of their first complaints was this: "God, why did you lead us out of here, only to die in hunger?" But God was calling them to trust Him even more. His love... His unfailing, abundant, amazing love that knows us and cares about us down to our deepest desires, that knows even every strand of hair on our head. It is this love that makes this trust possible.

Trust doesn't need to understand. It needs only to know the love of the Person we are trusting. It needs only to believe in His ability, not ours.

Faith is living in Reality

Faith is not about seeing two possible perspectives, and choosing the one that is more positive. That is just positive thinking, or even blind faith.

Faith is seeing two possible perspectives, and realizing that one is false and the other is true. It comes to that realization in the fullness of the love and the presence of God, and recognizing that the reality must be consistent with the personality of God and what He has already accomplished. It is the realization that reality is full of freedom, peace and joy, and that any other shadow of reality always puts us in some kind of bondage. It is not even about choosing, because it is impossible for our spirit to choose something that is false after realizing what the truth is. Revelation of the truth always sets us free.

Are we saved by our belief in God?

Continuing on the topic of the finished work of the cross, I'm reading this book which a friend gave me recently - "52 lies heard in church every sunday, and why the truth is so much better," by Steve McVey. Just blogging some thoughts I had reading it.

I've often thought that it is my belief in God that saved me. Or that it is my belief in God that causes blessings to flow in my life. That God has done everything, but we cannot access it unless we have faith. This thought puts a heavy burden on us, a responsibility to work up faith inside of us.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." @ Eph 2:8-9

This verse tells us that we are saved, not by our faith, but by the grace of God, what He accomplished completely on the cross. Period. It is entirely by His grace, and we can add absolutely nothing to this equation.

The fact that we can add nothing to our salvation was reiterated in Eph 2:4-5. "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

But what about faith? Why then did Paul say that "we are saved THROUGH faith"? I am not an expert in Greek, but I am guessing that the word "through" here is used in the same way we say "I was saved by the doctor through the medicine he gave me." Faith is the tool which God uses to manifest salvation in us. We cannot generate it by ourselves. He puts it in us. As Eph 2:8-9 above declares, this faith is not from ourselves, but a gift of God! Wow, how amazing is that! How awesome is His love! He truly provides everything we need!

We cannot generate love by ourselves, but are filled with love as He loves on us. In the same way, we cannot generate faith, but is filled with it when we discover He is faithful. Faith is knowing He is faithful.

If there is any belief that puts a heavy responsibility or burden on us, rather than on His amazing extravagant love and provision, it is a lie. The truth of grace sets us free from this burden.

I think the reason we added our responsibility to believe into the salvation plan of God, is because we see a lot of people who are not "saved". We feel the need to create a theology that puts that blame on Man rather than on God. The truth is that God doesn't play the blame game. His perspective towards us is all about love. Also, we feel the need to create a theology that makes people go out and preach the gospel. Unfortunately, this creates a guilt system, a feeling that people will "die" if we do not reach out to them. The truth is that God is the one who saves. And if He decides to use us in the process, He wants us to be motivated by nothing but love. Furthermore, if we truly understood the message of grace, His rich overflowing joy, love and pleasure towards us, what can stop us from sharing the good news with everyone else?!

Experience is a bad teacher. We cannot let our circumstances or outer experiences dictate our inner realities. We cannot let our observations of the world dictate our theology.

Almost every religion and human being in the world believes that love, joy and peace are good things. The only thing we disagree on is how we get there. Or more precisely, whether we are there already but don't know it ;)

Achieving our dreams

We have to realize that God is not primarily interested in the achievement of great dreams.

If He were, He would not have been disappointed when men decided to build the tower of Babel to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11).

What God desires is us. That we trust Him, and enjoy the rich overflow of relationship that comes from this trust.

He puts impossible dreams in us, not so that we would try to accomplish them by our own efforts, but that we learn to trust Him and have so much fun in the process. He loves seeing the expressions on our faces when we realize what He is accomplishing for us.

Prophecies lead us to love

I've always wondered what 1 Cor 13:8-13 means. Today, I think I finally do. It is talking about the experience of love, about what happens when we encounter God, who is Love. It acknowledges that prophecies, tongues and words of knowledge can lead us into an encounter with God. But when God shows up, all of these fade away into the background. Because prophecies are but shadows of the reality of His love. When His love comes, all these shadows have served their purpose and they need no longer to be there. In our encounter with God, all things fade away, but three things remain: Faith, Hope and Love. And the greatest of these is love.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. [1 Cor 13:8-13]

We are fully intimate in our relationships

We live knowing that who we are is fully purchased on the cross. Our personality, our character, our desires, our passions. We are already perfect. This manifests in our lives as we believe more and more in this reality. We step confidently into this belief because of the love of Jesus and what He has done.

What if our relationships are also fully redeemed? What if the wisdom of the world that we need to work hard in our relationships is a myth? What if our relationships come into new levels of intimacy just by us believing that it is already there?

New Testament Prophets

New Testament prophets remind people of the finished work of the cross.

"The Old Testament prophet speaks from Mt. Sinai;
The New Testament prophet speaks from Mt. Zion."
- John Crowder, Mystical Union, Pg 169.

The Mountain of Fear and the Mountain of Joy (Hebrews 12:18-24)

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Joy unspeakable.

The way we think about things

A wise friend of mine, Allan, said to me, "Your job is not the source of your finances. God is." Sometimes, we look to certain things in our lives for the solution, but we don't realize we are limiting the ways God could work in or lives. All the riches of the world belong to Him. God could provide money through a fish's mouth (Matt 17:27).

When everything has been accomplished on the cross, the only thing left for us to do is to believe. The wisdom of this world tells us that this is foolishness, but the way of living in the Kingdom is different. What we think affects what we believe.

We need to start thinking differently and brilliantly (as Graham Cooke puts it), such as remembering that God is our source of provision, not our job. As my friend Jeremy puts it, it's all about Perspective.

What is faith?

In the past when I was an atheist, I constantly hear Christians tell me, "Believe in Jesus". But that just made no sense to me whatsoever. What does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is it like believing in Santa Claus? If it is, then I think Christians are a sad, deluded bunch.

Even after becoming a Christian, I continue to wonder sometimes what that really means. Jesus says, "Your faith has healed you." And that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. What does it mean to have faith? Suppose I have a friend who has cancer. How do I pray for his healing? Oh God, does it matter to you that I want so much for my friend to be healed? Do You hear me more when I cry louder? I have learned that faith is not about how loud I cry. It is also not about how much I love my friend or how much I love God.

Or perhaps I should imagine the cells in his body recover one by one? Surely my imaginations influence the invisible supernatural reality. Some people have better, stronger imaginations than I do. Maybe they should pray for my friend instead? And perhaps some people are more anointed than others. Surely they know what they are doing. All I need to do is to find someone anointed. God will listen to him.

At the end of the day, I know that all I need is faith. But what is faith? Jesus, when you were with your disciples, why didn't you explain to them clearly what faith is?

But perhaps He didn't have to explain. Because it was plain to everyone then, the meaning of faith. I think faith has become such a complex thing because of the church. But it really isn't supposed to be hard, is it?

I have a friend Dewen whom I am very closed to. When I asked him to be my wedding coordinator, I was deep full of trust that he would take care of everything for me. And indeed he did. I have a lot of faith in my friend, because I know him so well. I have seen how responsible he is, and how much he cares about what is important to me.

Perhaps faith in Jesus is the same thing. It is relational, it is trust. How can we have faith in someone who is a stranger? This is why He first encounters us. He declares to us His love and His ability. It is not how much I love him, but how much He loves me. It is not how I can call on Him, but how He is able to deliver what He promised me. The more I know Him, the more I trust Him.

It is not my ability to hear Him, but His ability to speak to me.
It is not my ability to follow Him, but His ability to lead me.
It is not my ability to accomplish my dreams, but His ability to make them happen.
It is not my ability.

The sooner I realize this, the sooner I cease to worry and begin to enter into His rest. We need to have more faith. But He is the initiator and the perfecter of even our faith. Wow! He's got everything covered!

I have realized the power of testimonies when it comes to faith. Hearing someone else's relationship story with God awakes me to undiscovered realities of His personality and power. It tells me that what they have access to is also available to me. If they walk on water, then so will I. If they teleport, then so will I. If they are healed, then so will I and everyone that I know. Faith is infectious.

It is finished.

I feel like I finally know what it means to be Christian.

It is so revolutionary. Everything He has taught me over the past ten years finally makes COMPLETE sense. The deepest mystery of God has already been revealed. All these years, I have been searching for higher and higher revelation, one which would unlock all of God and all of me. But the highest revelation has always been right before me. And it is so simple, truly confounding the wise.

Here it is: God loves us so much. He wants us to rest from striving and trying to be better. Life is not about climbing ladders. He took all that was bad inside of us, nailed us to the cross, killed us, and resurrected us as new creations. Jesus accomplished all of this for us, and all we are called to do is to believe that it has been done. And enjoy God!

This highest revelation is a person; it is Jesus. The Father gave this highest revelation to every single one of us when we first believed Him. As we watch Jesus, all of His revelations unfold before us.

This is why all of my thoughts are good. This is why all of my emotions are valid. This is why all of my passions and desires are pure. I have perfect communion with my Father. I can always taste and drink of His presence. Every time my life doesn't seem that way, the cross reminds me that my circumstances do not determine my inner realities. Rather, my inner reality is Heaven, and Heaven invades Earth like a powerful flood. This flood cannot be stopped!

Woo hooo!!

Dancing with God

This is one of my most memorable experiences with God. I remember about one night two years ago, I was pretty down so I went for a jog in the neighborhood. I went to my favorite basketball court which had some pull-up bars and benches in the corner. I sat there and poured out my sorrows to Him. He picked up my chin, and tilted my eyes to His. He looked straight into my depths with his clear blue eyes. Then, Jesus took my hands and motioned me to stand on my feet. We rocked slowly from side to side, as I shifted my weight from my left feet to my right, and back to my left. Without words, He led me gently. We walked and waltzed around the basketball court. It was a quiet night. There was no music, there were no words, there was no sound. But the sky was brimming with stars, and I was alone with Him.

I am remembering this now as I think back on all that happened to me in the past year. It has been an exciting year, but also sometimes scary as I made up my mind to trust Him even more than ever. But I have no regrets. I still remember how four years ago, He taught me to do what I want to do. I learned to live, not out of obligation, but from a place of passion in my heart. He loves seeing me choose what I want, and He makes all things work for my good. My needs were met, and I no longer struggled just to survive. This inspired me to dream bigger, and to think about what I really want out of my life. I started to thrive and to fly. And just when I realized that truly nothing is impossible because He is with me, I caught a glimpse of the core of my heart.

That I only wanted Him.

I want nothing more than to enjoy Him. I no longer doubt that He cares about what I want, so I stopped defending and protecting my needs and my wants before Him. I started asking what He wants, because He is so good! He gave me His everything, and required nothing in return. But that just makes me want to give Him my everything too. I want to see His plans succeed. I want to live in a place of supernatural wisdom and discernment, of knowing His heart, where reason is no longer sufficient, and trust is everything.

And so I realized that all these years, He has been teaching me to dance. In the beginning, I mimicked His every move, because I was afraid of being wrong and being embarrassed. He started to tell me that I am my own person. That no matter how I moved my hands and feet, it is all beautiful to Him. I started to leap and bounce and twirled around the room. Then, I saw His eyes, and they invited me to join Him in a dance. I watched Him flow gracefully, and I responded with every fiber of my body, and He in turn responded to my moves. The gift of dancing, it was in my DNA all along. I am in His flow, and He is in mine. And there is nothing left to hide.

A different way to live

I heard Graham Cooke share this recently at a conference. Someone asked how to approach pastoral ministry so that it can be less draining. Graham thought for a while, and reminded us that Jesus said His burden would be light. So ministry is not supposed to burn us out.

He shared a story about a couple who came to him for counseling. They have been arguing with each other. He asked the man, what did you say to the woman? Then, he asked the woman, how did you react to his words? Then, he asked both of them, whether they could tell if those words were spoken by their old man, or their new man. He gave them 5 mins to think about that alone by themselves. Then, he called them back and they said it was their old man. He asked them, how would your new man react in that situation? They spoke out new words, cried, reconciled and their relationship was restored in that short 10 mins.

Graham said, the reason why pastoral ministry is sometimes so tiring is because we are trying to minister and heal people's old man, when Jesus declared that our old man is dead, and we are a new creation. The job of a pastor is to help people identify their new man and learn to live from that new place of hope, power and love.

I thought about all the things that have upset me in my life, and how it always feels like I'm not good enough, that I still have unresolved issues, that I have not yet learned to trust Him or depend on Him. I start at the bottom of the mountain and try to climb up. Jesus was teaching us to live a different way. Paul tells us that we are seated in Heavenly places with Christ. From the top of the mountain, the view is different. Seeing through the lens of the Father is different. We are learning to live out what has been given us, not try to earn something that is out there to make us better. What if every situation is only there so we can explore more of our goodness, of our identity, of our intimate relationship with Him? What if every situation is not there to show us what we do not have, but to help us recognize something that we do have?

We cannot live our lives through principles. Principles are there because we are afraid of the consequences of our mistakes. We use principles when we cannot feel His Presence or His Spirit in our circumstances. It is our next best thing. But what if that circumstance was an invitation to recognize where God is in that part of your life? God is everywhere and in everything, there is no doubt about it. It is when we recognize where He is that His presence becomes manifest. Sometimes, in worship, we cry out to God to never leave, that we will always live in His presence, that the worship experience goes on forever. Do you know, that is His cry to you too? What if it is possible to live in His presence always and forever? What if life is all about that sweet sweet intimacy, always and forever, and the vulnerability of that moment, but never ever fearing again that you would be hurt by being vulnerable? What if God has always been vulnerable before us, and all we have to do is accept His full invitation to do the same?

Words

I've struggled to express myself with words all my life. I often feel like I don't have the words to describe what I'm seeing or what I'm feeling. Trying to convey the message to someone else, it frustrates me. One of my friends said wisely, "A picture is like a thousand words. Trying to describe a picture with words is like trying to color a large box with a thin pen." Indeed.

I now understand why during worship, I don't usually sing in words. I cry out in wordless sounds, but deep inside I feel like God knows exactly what I'm trying to say. It unlimits me from the need to find the right words, bypassing my mind, allowing my spirit to interact with Him directly.

Before the Tower of Babel, all of the world's people spoke in one language and they understood each other perfectly. But after Babel, they started to babble as their language got confused. When Jesus died on the cross, this curse was reversed. Indeed, when the Holy Spirit came, the people spoke in tongues. I believe this was what language was truly like before Babel. It was a spiritual language, where words did not just have logical content, but had emotional and spiritual content as well.

I feel like God is trying to teach me to speak a new way. "Use words to describe what you want to say, but not to define what you want to say." My words are no longer to be taken at face value. They are only portals to the larger picture that I hold inside of me. Anyone who wants to know me will recognize this portal and receive the invitation to enter in. I feel that this is the same with God and His words. He often gives us such a small snippet, but it opens up a whole new world, if we choose to enter in.

Words have depth. Some words are so deep they draw us straight to the depths of the intimacies and the vulnerabilities of His heart. To truly know someone else, we don't need them to tell us exactly what is going on inside of them. They only need to give us a tiny snippet of it, and with that invitation, we can enter in entirely.

Entertaining the possibility

God recently showed me a way of looking at faith that I had not understood before. Sometimes, when I think about faith, I think about believing absolutely that something is going to happen, or something is the truth or the reality. For instance, if God says, "It is going to snow tomorrow," I sometimes feel like I have to believe it absolutely or it might not happen. I start thinking in my mind, how it might happen because this week's weather is so warm, and whether I am testing God, and whether it would cause problems on the streets because cars don't know how to drive in the snow? I start wrestling in my mind, if it is God's voice or my own voice, and if I need to ask Him to confirm this, and if I just need to rest in how much He loves me, and if I have enough faith?

Perhaps God is just saying "What if it could snow in Berkeley, the way it snows in Tahoe?"

Entertaining the possibility. It really takes the stress off of you, to try to make something happen, when God wants to be the one to accomplish it. I'm learning that God wants to speak to me in the What-If's. What if everything you do every moment of every day could be fun? What if I can be in His manifest presence all the time? What if anything I could entertain the possibility of actually comes true? What if entertaining the possibility is all that is required of us? What if this is what Jesus meant when he talks about "faith as small as a mustard seed"? What if God understands and knows exactly how to satisfy fully every need for intimacy inside of me? What if I never ever have to bring His presence to the world, but it is more like a flood that I cannot contain because He is so with me all the time?

Intimacy

Intimacy has no greater goal than to know and to be known. Sometimes, this happens when we sit side by side, not saying anything at all.

Boundaries in Dating

I read this paragraph about romantic relationships on pg 146-147 of the book "Boundaries" by Henry Cloud and John Townsend. Not your typical stuff about dating boundaries. In short, don't date to heal your inner wounds.

Romantic relationships are, by nature, risky. Many singles who have not developed good attachments with other people and who have not had their boundaries respected try to learn the rules of biblical friendships by dating. They hope that the safety of these relationships will help them to learn to love, be loved and set limits.

Quite often, these individuals come out of a few months of dating more injured than when they went in. They may feel let down, put down, or used. This is not a dating problem. It's a problem in understanding the purpose of dating.

The purpose of dating is to practice and experiment. The end goal of dating is generally to decide, sooner or later, whether or not to marry. Dating is a means to find out what kind of person we complement and with whom we are spiritually and emotionally compatible. It's a training ground for marriage.

This fact causes a built-in conflict. When we date, we have the freedom to say, at any time, "This isn't working out," and to end the relationship. The other person has the same freedom.

What does this mean for the person whose boundaries have been injured? Often, she brings immature, undeveloped aspects of her character to an adult romantic situation. In an arena of low commitment and high risk, she seeks the safety, bonding, and consistency that her wounds need. She entrusts herself too quickly to someone whom she is dating because her needs are so intense. And she will be devastated when things "don't work out."

This is a little like sending a three-year-old to the front lines of battle. Dating is a way for adults to find out about each other's suitability for marriage; it's not a place for young, injured souls to find healing. This healing can best be found in nonromantic arenas, such as support groups, church groups, therapy, and same-sex friendships. We need to keep separate the purposes of romantic and nonromantic friendships.

It's best to learn the skill of setting boundaries in these nonromantic arenas, where the attachments and commitments are greater. Once we've learned to recognize, set, and keep our biblical boundaries, we can use them on the adult playground called dating.

Dating

I just found out from Dewen that Shawn Bolz just released a book about dating recently, called "The Nonreligious Guide to Dating and Being Single". I have not read it but if it is anything like his blog posts, it should be awesome!

I've been thinking about romantic relationships lately. In my own life, I've often wondered about my resistance to dating and marriage. One day, it occurred to me that it's because I've been taught subtly in my youth that relationship with a girl threatens my relationship with God. This cannot be further from the truth. In the beginning, Adam was alone with God, but God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone." And He created Eve. Don't be mistaken. God did not create Eve just for friendship. He created her for union with Adam. "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh."

What about Paul? Didn't he say that celibacy is good in 1 Cor 7? Kris Vallotton gives a very good commentary about this passage in one of his sermons, if you can find it. In summary, Paul was talking to a crowd of people who believed that marriage was the only way. So he says to the unmarried and the widows, who felt condemned for choosing to be single, that "It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do." And when he says, "I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that," he was talking about his gift in not being tempted sexually, not his gift of celibacy. Paul never condemned marriage. He would never say that something is bad, something which God himself says is good. In fact, he talks about marriage all the time in all his books, especially with regards to Jesus as the Groom, and us the Bride.

So now, what about all the young teens who are getting into hurtful romantic relationships and premarital sex and all that stuff? I agree that such things are dangerous, but WE SHOULD NEVER CREATE THEOLOGY TO SOLVE A PROBLEM!! I believe the solution is to teach our youths what healthy romantic relationships are. For instance, we should not get from our girl/boyfriend what we actually want from God, and we should not get from God what we need to get from our girl/boyfriend. That perhaps there is "THE ONE" (who you marry), but it is often impossible to figure that out (i.e. prophetically?) until we start to date that person and get to know that person the normal way (i.e. spend quality time).

So I encourage young people to date. Ask God what it is like to have a healthy fulfilling relationship. It is a great learning experience. But don't date if you don't want to date. There have been seasons in my life where God was leading me into so much intimacy that I did not have any desire to date anyone at all. This is very different from believing that God can only lead you into more intimacy if you don't date. My own dating experience is testimony that there are things that God can teach me only through a romantic relationship.

What if

What if God always causes good to come out of every situation, no matter whether you believe Him or not?

Perhaps this is what faith feels like.

What if God always finishes the good work which he begun in you, no matter whether you are trying hard or not?

Perhaps this is what faith feels like.

Faith is seeing that there are two parallel realities you can live in, and then realizing that only one is real.

That reality does not depend on how much we can do or believe. Its very existence is the force that causes us to believe. That reality tells us to let go of being defined by how much we can do. Unlearn. Life is not about learning more, but about unlearning the things that hinder us. Because God has already put in us everything we need for this journey, from the very beginning.

Sloppy Wet Kiss

By the writer of the song "How He loves", John Mark McMillan:

“HEAVEN meets EARTH like a sloppy wet kiss”

The idea behind the lyric is that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of earth converge in a way that is both beautiful and awkwardly messy. Think about the birth of a child, or even the death of Jesus himself. These miracles are both incredibly beautiful and incredibly sloppy ("gory" may be more realistic, but “Heaven meets earth like a gory mess” didn’t seem to have the same ring). Why does the church have such a problem with things being sloppy? Do we really think we’re fooling anyone on Sunday morning, especially God? Are we going to offend him? I mean, he’s seen us naked in the shower all week and knows our worst thoughts, and still thinks we’re awesome. What if we took all the energy we spent faking and used that energy to enjoy the Lord instead? That could be revolutionary!

I recently realized that I got the primary condition of His kingdom all wrong, that His kingdom is not crease-less, wrinkle-less, squeaky-clean or glossy. As someone else said, it's like a game of poker where God wins no matter what hand He is dealt, even a pair of twos. It is like David who murdered someone to marry Bathsheba, and yet God caused Jesus to be born through that marriage. That in any mess, God can create beauty. A beautiful mess.

Experiencing His love

I found this in my journal... haha, cool stuff. Can't remember where I got this.

You can only love as much as you've experienced His love.
So stop asking if you love Him enough.
Choose to experience more of His love.

His yoke is light

Last week at church, I saw in my mind a picture of a person juggling two balls happily. God was standing at the side. He was throwing in more balls, and the person struggled to juggle more and more of them. But all God wanted him to do was to pass the balls on, not to hold all of them in his hands. I saw that this is how much God was desiring to pour out to the world around us through us, but He didn't want us to be overwhelmed.

Today, I read this on pg 40 of the book "The Cause Within You" by Matthew Barnett.

The beauty of the cause God gives you is that it is tailor-made for you. Like the Scripture says, "His yoke is light and the burden easy to bear." That's because your cause will utilize the strengths He has endowed you with. [...] When you carry His load, it is light, especially in comparison to the burdens you create for yourself.

What I really like is what he said next!

Here's the image I carry in my mind of how this works: when I start to feel overwhelmed, it's because I am heaping unproductive burdens on my shoulders; all I am doing is accumulating more commitments that do not facilitate positive results. But when I am fulfilling the cause that God gave me, I am continually giving to others, depleting the weight of whatever I have accumulated for the journey. The more I give, the lighter I feel. Sometimes, when I have given all I can give in that situation, I feel as light as a feather. I'm tired, sure, but I am exhilarated because I gave it all away and it's making a positive difference in someone else's life. It gives me a light-headed feeling, an unburdened feeling.

Let us be floodgates, not dams, of His blessings.

When Jacob becomes Israel

The Lord tells Jacob, “Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.” So Jacob runs away from Laban, only to have Laban pursue him. After that was resolved, he finds that his angry brother Esau is coming to him with four hundred men. How many of us have chosen to finally obey God's plan for us, only to find trouble coming our way?

In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups, and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group, the group that is left may escape.”

Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”

Jacob prayed for deliverance from his brother. Things seem to make a turn for worse when Jacob was injured that night.

That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.
So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.
Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

That day, Jacob, who always depended on himself and whom God could not defeat, saw God face to face and was changed forever. He went limping into a confrontation with Esau, knowing that unless God steps in, all would be gone.

He is looking, not for people who believe they can, but for people who believe He can.

Alignment.

Alignment with God's plan. Sometimes, it really hurts, especially when crooked patterns which have set in are being straightened. But we need to trust that God knows what He is doing. He is doing it because at the end, it will be a lot better for us. We need to trust Him through the pain.

Get up and eat

Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, 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.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.

All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.

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.” 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. There he went into a cave and spent the night.

And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Bigger Dreams

Bigger dreams are not accomplished through greater effort. They are accomplished through greater faith.

He is looking, not for people who believe they can, but for people who believe He can.

But this truth can be one of the hardest to learn. Sometimes, we are brought to the limit of our abilities, because we try so hard to do the impossible.

http://bananaguy.blogspot.com/2009/05/dont-try.html

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." @2Cor12:9

What if it is possible to accomplish our dreams, not by trying, but by resting?

Benefits

God, don't you get upset when I value someone more than I value You?

"Haha, not really."

What? Why?!

"Well, there are certain benefits to being God."

Hmm...?

"One of them is that I understand what you're going through now."

Depths

You take me apart, and You know me. You know me in my depths, in my chaos. And I rest.



"My heart is held by love so unconditional.
You captivate me,
You're the lover of my soul."

God always speaks clearly

Never allow yourself to believe that it's hard to hear God. Never.

God always speaks clearly. Sometimes in an audible voice. Sometimes in a gentle whisper. Sometimes in his peaceful presence. But He always speaks clearly.

But He doesn't always answer the way we expect Him to.

Sometimes, when we ask for Direction, He is more interested in teaching us Posture. Because Posture will bring us further than Direction can.

Focus on what God is saying, not on what He is not saying.

This is the same in relationships between people. Sometimes, we get so caught up in what someone is not saying, becoming angry or frustrated or disappointed with them. If we would just listen to what they are saying. This is the beginning of Communication.

Never allow yourself to believe that it's hard to hear God. Never allow this belief into the foundations of your relationship with a Father who loves you, knows you and desires to be known.

He can

God is not looking for people who believe they can. He is looking for people who believe He can.

For instance, it is not about our ability to hear Him, but His ability to speak to us.

When we say nothing is impossible with Him (no word from God will ever fail), how much of it do we actually believe?

It's also not about your ability to believe. Let go of that. Life's better that way.

Let His love convince you to believe.

Love empowers us to have faith. Experiencing His love -- the reality, rawness and intensity of the encounter -- causes our faith in His goodness, His power, His grace to explode.

Faith empowers us to hope. Knowing His goodness, His power, His grace causes us to dream wilder, crazier dreams. It gives us courage to move despite our fears, to take risks and not be afraid of falling.

Our risks open us to the wildest, uncontrollable, sweetest experience of His love, satisfying the deepest hunger of our hearts, ruining us forever. It cannot come by any other way. And we thirst desperately for more.

Love begets Faith begets Hope begets Love.

Words

Words are powerful. Use words to describe yourself, and to open new realms of hope, but never be defined by them.

Control and Choice

You may not always have Control, but you always have a Choice.