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In the background

I was in a supermarket going about my shopping when I caught myself whistling along with the song being played in the background. You know that kind of music. Some call it elevator music. Most of it is actually produced by a company called, Muzak.

What’s funny is I had kind of been whistling and humming along with the Muzak song for several minutes before I realized that the song being played was a song called “Kashmir,” originally written and performed by Led Zeppelin.

I used to blast Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir in my 1973 Capri on a Pioneer tape deck through a pair of Jensen 20oz. magnet speakers. Oh yeah! Rock and roll! But now I’m whistling this rock masterpiece by arguably one of the best rock bands ever whilst I bag some cilantro and Serrano peppers. This is such a perfect picture of what can happen to us when grace gets lost in time.

As time passes

When you’ve been around the things of God for a while, grace can get lost in the shuffle. You remain thankful for the grace that forgave and cleansed your sins, but your spiritual senses can grow dull. You can even get wrapped up in doing things, albeit things that are good, but they begin to preoccupy you more than grace.

To this God responds…

“I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me?” (Amos 5:22-23, The Message)

Today, take a moment to stop and let grace sweep over you afresh. Allow your spiritual ears to hear the love song that once swept you away. Let the volume of God’s love be turned up loud. You don’t have to do anything but simply enjoy.

Super 95 Gasoline!

We rented a car on a recent trip to Paraguay. As the person handed us the keys he said,

“Señors, only use Super 95 gasoline!!!”

We drove over 1300 miles. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Paraguay has very different “rules of the road” which led to several close calls, an almost high speed head-on collision, and a totally rigged traffic ticket costing us $100.

However the scariest moment happened while trying to pass a very slow truck. The car’s engine began to miss. The power went off and on and off again. The oncoming traffic grew large in our windshield. Just in the nick of time we crept passed the truck and back in our lane. For several hours we struggled just to keep going. We prayed and eventually we made it to our destination.

Turns out the problem was from not using “Super 95” gasoline. We had unknowingly used lesser quality gas that wasn’t as pure. The impurities resulted in the on-and-off-again engine performance.

Grace that doesn’t lead to holiness isn’t grace at all

There is a very twisted view of grace that lowers the bar on sin. As the bar goes lower, actions, attitudes, and lifestyles once considered off limits for Christians become acceptable.

Grace certainly covers sins, but more importantly grace empowers our lives. We should not live in reaction against things that are wrong, but we should live in response to what God is wanting do and not allow anything to hinder it. The whole issue of “being like Jesus” is not about acting a certain way, but becoming vessels that the pure flow of God’s power can be released.

It’s not okay to be followers of Jesus who desire a move of God’s supernatural power but walk in same mire acceptable to the world. But it’s also not okay as followers of Jesus to be nice guys who walk uprightly, but have no power.

Quenching or grieving the Spirit?

Go back to the rental car in Paraguay. What would’ve been worse: to pass the slow traffic with an engine that’s missing, or stay behind the slow traffic with an engine that’s running perfect?

What’s more important to not quench the Holy Spirit, or to not grieve the Holy Spirit? Quenching is about power, and grieving is about purity. You can’t choose one over the other. It’s impossible to lack godly character and attempt to walk in power. It’s offensive to God, but equally offensive is people who walk in character but don’t walk in power.

Feels good!

There’s something magical about connecting a golf ball with the sweet spot of a golf club. Next to putting the ball in the hole (in as few strokes as possible), hitting the sweet spot on a golf club is the coolest feeling in the game! The ball goes higher and farther with no extra effort. The club head is doing the work.

To regularly hit a golf ball with the sweet spot of the golf club takes practice. Lots of practice. Hours, days, months, and years of practice.  Nothing this good comes easy, but the results make it worth all the work. This is why sweet spots can never be confused with comfort zones.

Don’t settle

When people settle for what’s comfortable, they disqualify themselves from experiencing what’s amazing. But when people who exchange being comfortable for the incredible experience of seeing the power of God at work in their lives they go to new level. They began to accomplish things that they could’ve never done on their own. Things they have dreamt about doing all their lives start to become reality.

Your life may have areas that have not turned out exactly as you’d hoped, but God has something amazing in you. Inside of you is God-given potential and destiny. You’ve been destined to accomplish incredible things. But these things will only be unlocked when you step out of your comfort zone and into the sweet spot of his calling on your life.

“Take full advantage of every day as you spend your life for his purposes.” (Ephesians 5:17, TPT)

Even when things haven’t worked well or don’t seem to amount to much in your life, remember, God is with you. He’s for you, and he’s working on your behalf. God knows how to connect you with the sweet spot of his calling and purpose for your life. That’s better than any golf shot, and a whole lot less frustrating.

Build something, eat something, get a picture

My first exposure to missions work was with a very seasoned missionary. He took places and showed me things I would’ve never experienced on my own. All the while he kept using the term, “edifice complex” with a tone of disdain. I understood the words but eventually came to realize that he was referring to a missiological (the study of missions) term that identifies the western mindset of missions work as having a priority to build something.

This “edifice complex” is being lived-out just 2 hours away from us in Tijuana. Teams from America and Canada come to build things, paint things, and more importantly eat tacos (note how many mission teams photos are of the team eating). There are actually churches in Tijuana that have been painted four times in one year.

Building relationships

While poor people outside of our culture mention a lack of material things, they tend to describe their condition in far more psychological and social terms than in North America. When referring to their problems, poor people outside our culture typically see their main issues being shame, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, and hopelessness. North Americans, however, tend to see the poor as primarily lacking material things such as food, money, clean water, medicine, and housing. This mismatch between many outsiders’ perceptions of poverty and the perceptions of poor people themselves can have devastating consequences missions work.

When participate in missions work, or serve on a mission’s team, it awesome that we have the power to bring practical and financial resources to a situation. But we also have the power to build relationships with the people we are ministering to. Through learning, listening and discovering what they are facing we begin to meet needs that go way beyond building things. We begin to build lives.

Jesus is perfect theology

Whatever is to be known about God can be found in the person of Jesus. Jesus illustrates the Father perfectly.

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9, NKJV)

Jesus modeled life for us. What Jesus did continues with us. But we will not see the miracles of healing happen until we are convinced that healing is always God’s will.

“The leper fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and begged to be healed, saying, “If you are only willing, you could completely heal me.” Jesus reached out and touched him and said, “Of course I am willing to heal you, and now you will be healed.” (Luke 5:12-14, TPT)

Everyone believes God is able to heal, but many remain uncertain whether it’s his will to heal. This doubt rises around the misunderstanding of the origins of sickness and disease, and whether God causes/allows it.

What about the sufferings of Job?

The question about what happened to Job often rises. But we are not disciples of Job. We are disciples of Jesus! Job raises a question that Jesus answers. The Old Testament cannot be given the authority to trump the person of Jesus and what is revealed in Jesus about the nature and the heart of the Father.

We have exactly what Job needed in Jesus. Unlike Job, we can approach God face to face as to a man because Jesus is our mediator. Unlike Job, we can resist the enemy steadfast in the faith because Jesus is our advocate. And unlike Job, we can trust God for healing power because Jesus not only took our sin to the cross, but also our sicknesses and diseases.

The book of Job contains such a marvelous revelation of Jesus and of redemption! After showing us the need for Jesus and correcting the faulty thinking of Job and his friends, it ends with twice as much being restored to Job than all that he lost. It’s so sad that many wrongly interpret this book of scripture in order to obscure the New Covenant revelation of Jesus that it leads us to…

“Jesus…divinely healed all who were under the tyranny of the devil, for God had anointed him.” (Acts 10:38, TPT)

Jesus wasn’t just a parenthesis or a comma. He is the conclusion and the One who perfectly illustrates and manifests the nature of the Father, and His will to heal all.

Heaven is our model

Jesus lived by only doing what He saw His Father doing. Learning to recognize the Holy Spirit’s presence and following His lead enables us to do what Jesus did. And these works of God are not limited to church meetings. We must learn how to take this anointing to our schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods and expect similar results. Healing, deliverance, and spiritual breakthroughs become options we offer people wherever we go. Whatever the point of need a person has, God wants to move.

When you have an encounter with God, your hunger for the presence of the Lord increases and miracles are a by-product. God will meet you, change you in your encounter with Him, and as you change the impact on the world around you changes.

You are not just spectator

Encounters with God are for everyone and everywhere. He is looking for those who will listen and those He can trust. God looks at the heart and reveals Himself to those who love Him. There is no need to strive anymore. Working from God’s presence is more effective than working for His presence. Waiting patiently for God is never passive.

Signs and wonders are a practical means to display the love and power of God. The initial pressure isn’t to get people healed, but to display the love of God. And the love of God does not omit power encounters that bring healing and deliverance.

The best way to reach someone who doesn’t know Jesus is from a consistent lifestyle of love and power. Classical evangelism has become very clinical unfortunately it isn’t very effective. But the person who stays filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and loves people, will see a natural outflow of miracles and salvations.

Pregnant with possibilities

Darkness may cover the earth, but God’s glory upon His people is becoming more and more realized, bringing hope to the most hopeless situations. Throughout the world God is opening up His resources and releasing them over mankind in remarkable ways.

The Kingdom of God is longing to invade the natural realm. It is a day of supernatural encounters, at least for those who are open to what the Holy Spirit is doing. And it’s God’s desire is that we don’t miss a thing.

“We can all draw close to him with the veil removed from our faces. And with no veil we all become like mirrors who brightly reflect the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are being transfigured into his very image as we move from one brighter level of glory to another. And this glorious transfiguration comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, TPT)

The degree to which we perceive the face of God corresponds directly to our yieldedness to the supernatural works of the Holy Spirit. This quest for His face is the ultimate quest.

The Signs of His Face

When God invades a person’s life, things change. Not only that, but the impact of that life on the world also changes. The measure of God’s glory that rests upon a life following these unusual divine encounters affects every person we touch. The supernatural becomes natural as God takes center stage in the places where we have influence. When His glory is present, the things that we used to work hard for, such as miracles of healing and transformation in people’s personal lives and families, come with little or no effort.

Scripture describes that when our lives are marked by the power and blessing of the living God that His face is shining upon us. God’s countenance is toward His people, and the result is that our lives are marked by His favor and power. Our thinking changes, our talking changes, our actions change, even our countenance changes, and people can see these changes!

What happened at church?

If someone were to ask you what the most memorable and positive thing that’s happened to you at a church service, what would it be? For the people in the church I pastor it’s no doubt one of my sermons.

Just kidding.

Seriously though, the most memorable thing that happens at church should be some kind of an encounter with God. Like a revelation of how much He loves them. Or, a reminder of a promise He’s made to them. Or, a melting of a hard heart. A healing. An encouragement. A miracle.

What’s important to realize though is that an encounter with God most often is done through people. For sure God’s Spirit is involved, but God uses people. And not specific people with certain qualifications, but just people. Listen to these words,

“Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!” (1 Corinthians 12:7, The Message)

God-given things

People may love and need my sermons (work with me here), but actually I need something they have just as much. It’s probably not a sermon, but it’s something that the Lord’s given them for me and for others. And it’s not until they release that God-given thing that people will experience a God encounter.

Imagine what church would be like if we all allowed God to use us in the specific areas He has assigned to us. There would be few people saying, “Church is soooo boring.” There would be less comments like, “Where do I fit in?” or, “I wish somebody would just notice me.” Instead there would be talk of how awesome God is. And talk of how he sent someone to minister exactly what they were longing for. In other words, a God encounter.

Our lives are constantly confronted by things that limit and restrain us: “Do Not Touch”, “Do Not Enter”, “Authorized Personal Only”. You go to a museum only to have ropes keep you at a distance from all the exhibits. You go to a concert and only those with “VIP Passes” hanging around their necks are allowed to get anywhere near the band.

The purpose is to keep us out of danger, or protect something that’s valuable, or to limit access to important people. Our lives are filled with yellow tape that we are not allowed to cross.

Yellow tape in the temple?

In the Temple there was a room called the Holy of Holies. This was the place where God’s presence dwelt, and no average person was allowed in. There was a veil, or curtain, made out of a thick tapestry that kept people out.

Only the High Priest, who was handpicked by God, was allowed to pass through the curtain into the presence of God. This was only once a year on the Day of Atonement, and only after many thorough cleansing rituals. If anyone else other than the High Priest tried to enter the Holy of Holies, they would die.

This curtain was like a huge “Do Not Enter” sign hanging in the temple. It was a great divider that hid God from man. But the very moment Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross, Matthew records…

At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51, NLT)

The tearing of the curtain displays how perfect the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was, and what it did for us. No longer do we have a “Do Not Enter” sign keeping us back from God. Jesus ripped it down in His death, kicking the door wide open for us to have free and complete access to God Himself.

VIP Access to God

It is as if Jesus gave us His VIP pass, granting us His status so that we might experience the close relationship that He has with the Father.

Because of this we can approach God with confidence. Jesus for opened up a way that we might know and enjoy the Father, and experience His fellowship like we were never able to before. Remember this whenever you come to the Lord: the curtain has been torn down, and you have complete access to God himself. There is no more limits or restraints on your life!

God in one word

While there are so many words that could be used to describe who God is, the bible tells us the essence of God is love (1 John 4:8). But even God’s love is multifaceted. At the heart of His love one characteristic shines brighter than all the rest…GOODNESS.

People who don’t make the connection of goodness with God’s love will struggle to identify the source of a problem. They attribute the clear work of the devil to God Himself because they believe that God authors bad things for our good. This has become common in the theology of many because they do not understand the cornerstone of all theology—God is good!

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive… (Psalm 86:5)

What does faith do?

Faith explores the realms opened by the promises of God. These promises are found in the person of Jesus Christ, and they reveal the nature and the heart of God. The playing field of our faith, then, is applying the goodness of God right in the middle of whatever is contrary to His promises, and expecting things to change.

As the Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of advancement, it requires forward movement in our thinking and our behavior. When the issue of God’s goodness is settled, our assignment becomes much clearer. We begin to burn with the conviction that GOD IS GOOD. Things begin to open in our understanding areas that were previously out of reach. Instead of living in reaction to problems, hoping for breakthroughs and solutions, we become spiritual explorers filled with hope. We begin to proactively search for places to insert the fulcrum of God’s goodness while using in faith as a powerful lever that will bring about miraculous results.