Love Transforms People

With all the commotion going on in this country over controversial issues with the law and such, I figured I'd chime in. Let's start with a question first, for all you Christians barking for a mandate of morality in this country...

"Do you believe that the Gospel works?"

If you're a Christian you should believe that the Gospel is true and works, and you should believe it because you've seen the Truth and transformational goodness of the Gospel in your own life. Many Christians may respond to that question with, "Of course the Gospel works!" Well, this presents another question. If you believe that the Gospel works, then why isn't it working like it should in America?

If our mission is to convert people and be right, it is easy for us to be very wrong about being right. Loving people by arguing with them and condemning them is not love in any way. Those are the characteristics of the devil, whose full time gig is to condemn and manipulate people into damaging lives. Want to see the gay community wake up to the love of God? Stop condemning them and love them. Just stop it! They need a friend who will love them into a lifestyle of heaven on earth, not another finger pointing at them cursing them. They don't know God, do you really expect them to live like they do know God when a large representation of God in this country is grumpy religious people that don't know Love?

References for 1 Corinthians 13:3

• Footnotes

• Š 13:3 - NU-Text reads so I may boast.                                                                                                                                                     

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." (NKJV)

Love does not seek its own. God doesn't love us with the agenda of getting us to memorize bible verses and do the good church life. God loves us because that's who He is, He is love and love is the only substance He has and gives. Yes He wants us to know His goodness through His written Word, through His presence, and through a community of followers of Jesus, but when we love people for the purpose of trying to convert them, it's not love. It's manipulation and the world can see right through it and they are sick of it.

When we love people without an agenda it creates space for Love to do His job, and Love does it better then we do. The majority of America has heard the basic Gospel message, but they have not seen it walked out in power and love. Ask yourself this question, "Is Jesus a safe place for the broken and hurting people of the world?" You bet He is, He is the safest place for those people. If a very flamboyant gay person walked up to Jesus He would love them, hug them, and not judge them. He would welcome them to dine at His table, and He would do it with a genuine heart. Jesus would kindly and patiently love them into change.

So we who follow Jesus are supposed to look just like Him. 2 Corinthians 5: 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” (NLT)

What are we saying when we say, "Come back to God?" Well, when we condemn people it has nothing to do with God. What we are doing when we implore they come back to God the right way? We should be living in a way that our lives say, "come back to love." And the only way to truly get them to come to unconditional love is to love them unconditionally. 

Now honestly ask yourself this question. If a flamboyant gay person walked into your average Christian church do you think it would be a safe place where they could be themselves and be loved unconditionally into their true heavenly identity? 

We should look and act just like Jesus in all ways and with all people. Love is the most transformational power on the planet, and Love is who God is. The way that you act towards those that live contradictory to your beliefs reveals how you think God truly is. If you think God is angry and condemning then that's how you'll act towards the world.

How did God act towards us when you were living contradictory to our true identity in Him? Romans 5:8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. (Message Bible) Why did God do that for us? Because unconditional love is what changes people.

Love is who He is. God does not condemn people to hell, people choose their own hell. God doesn't punish people, He put ALL punishment on His Son on the cross. Yes we have consequences to our actions, but we punish ourselves with our poor lifestyle choices. Hell wasn't made for people, it was made for the devil and his angels. God doesn't send people to hell, people chose their own destiny of hell by refusing love. So how do you get people to wake up to the Good News? You love them, without strings attached or an agenda.

I have seen multiple gay people change their lifestyle and surround to the Love Himself. I never judged them or used fear to try and change them. I just loved them and brought them into encounters with God's power and love. I also have friends that are gay right now, and I'm not friends with them to try and convert them to believe like me. I just love them and let God do what He does best, love people into change.

When we will re-present Love as He is to this country, we will see people come running to Him. Love is entirely irresistible and He is the answer to a full scale transformation of the United States of America.

What is the "Fear of God" ?

Every wondered what the fear of God truly is. We have probably all heard different explanations, some good and some bad. Let's start on a common sense level. Fearing God is not being afraid of God. God is love, and their is no fear in love. 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. (NKJV) Don't be afraid of God, but you might be a little freaked out at times when you truly see how big and awesomely real and powerful He is.
 

I'm sure the Egyptians were pretty freaked out when the Red Sea parted, and then closed in on them. But, before Love Himself closed the Red Sea on the Pharaoh and his Army He gave them many chances to turn from there self destruction. They chose their own destiny when they disobeyed Love.
 

Have you ever noticed that pretty much everytime an Angel showed up in scripture they first spoke, "Don't be afraid," or "Do not fear." In the reality of His revealing and majesty we can be greatly alarmed, but fear is not of God. Even Jesus Himself said this after He walked through the wall in His resurrected glory near the end of the Gospel of John, “Peace be with you.” I'm thinking He released peace to them firstly because they might have been a little startled that God just walked through the wall and appeared out of no where.

 You can gain much revelation into the nature of God by paying attention to what He is not saying, along with understanding what He is saying and why He is saying it.

"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate," Proverbs 8:13. The fear of the Lord is not to be terrified of God. Is He massive and able to move and do things that can freak us out? Absolutely, but the reason that everytime God showed up in majestic grandeur He first said, "Do not fear," is because their is no fear in Him. Fear is hell's faith, and when agreed with it sets hell's plans in motion for our life. Therefore, Fearing God has nothing to do with partnering with fear itself.

So what is it then? What is fearing God all about? If "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil," then fearing God means that you hate fear. Simple. You literally have a hatred towards hell's faith when you fear God. The faith of the realm that you cannot see, be it fear=hell, or love=heaven, will attract and activate the activity of that realm into your reality.

The reality of this is that intimately knowing Truth (which is the person of Jesus Christ) and staying in the constant renewing of the mind empowers you to see what is of heaven, and what is of hell. Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)
 

The word for 'transformed' in the Greek is 'metamorphoó' - changed after being with, changing form in keeping with inner reality, transfigured. We get our English word metamorphosis from this Greek word. When your main focus is to intimately know Jesus you rapidly turn into your new creation reality of being born from above and re-presenting Heaven as a lifestyle. This lifestyle defy's fear from it's natural state of being.

The word for 'discern' in the Greek in this verse is 'dokimazo' - approve after testing, to show something is acceptable real and approved. If the renewed mind's manifestation is to prove what is of God, that means that knowing the will of God must be solidified in us. Knowing the will of God also means that you know what is not the will of God.
 

Thus, the meaning of fearing God, is knowing what is of hell and what is of heaven, and hating that which is of hell. Hell's manifestation- anything fueled by fear. Another mindset that needs addressing once this is revealed is this. We don't hate people that partner with fear, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age....," Ephesians 6:12.

We love people, all people. Loving people is what drives the fear out. We are called to spot the finger print of hell and co-labor with love to drive fear out for good, because we know what is of heaven and what is of hell through intimately knowing Truth (Jesus Christ).

We hate the manifestations of the devils character in people because we want people to experience true life and there is no life in the devil. The slightest onset of fear, once agreed with, puts the enemies plans in motion.

We hate pride, because "Pride goes before destruction," Proverbs 16:18. We love people so we stand in authority and love to stop pride from destruction being evident in people's lives. We hate arrogance because it is coupled with pride and brings about the same destruction in people's lives, ""Proud," "Haughty," "Scoffer," are his names, Who acts with insolent pride," Proverbs 21:24.

We hate the fear filled perverted talk that comes out of people's mouths because, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits," Proverbs 18:21. When people speak in ways that release the enemies plans, it brings destruction on themsleves and others, and since we love people we stand in authority to release love in people's lives instead of fear. Loving people means that you fight for their well being when they don't have the wherewithal to fight for themselves.

It is important to understand that when you know the will of God, it also means you know what is not the will of God. In this place of knowing His love and goodness, He has given us authority to halt fear's fruit from bearing in people's lives. Fearing God means that you hate fear and stand in authority to evict it and replace it will love.

 

 

 

Your Trials should fast track your Triumph

        We've probably all heard someone in casual conversation say, "don't cast your pearls before swine." I have heard this statement used by many that don't even know its origin. I think we have a general idea of what it means, but how exactly do pearls come about? What was it that Jesus was really saying with this statement?

     The statement comes nearing the end of the famous Sermon on Mount. Matthew 7:6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." (NASB)

     Almost all of the precious items that the earth has to offer, like jewels and valuable metals, come from the earth naturally producing them in some way, shape, or form. Pearls are different though, pearls come from a living creature.

    In the same way that we come from the Living God. Acts 17:28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' (NASB) Pearls come into being when a grain of sand gets caught in an oyster, the oyster protects the pearl from foreign influences during it's metamorphosis from a grain of sand into a pearl. Note this- As valuable as pearls are today, pearls had even greater value in Jesus' time.

     The process takes place in the full submersion of water. Just like the becoming your true identity of a newly created son of God takes place in the full enveloping of His presence, with His Living Water nurturing you. The pearl is formed when a grain of sand gets caught between the oysters two hard shells, the oysters mantle and the oysters shell. The two are attached by a muscle. Interesting how the oyster has 3 parts that make it 1, just like our 3 in 1 Godhead. We are in the middle of the 3 in 1, and They are in the middle of us.

     The shell and the mantle close when they are threatened, enclosing the grain of sand within and thus the beginning of a pearl commences. You can count on the fact that when trials come, not if but when, God has already closed Himself in and around you. Thus empowering you to prosper from and grow from the tension, rather then the trial becoming your downfall. Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (NASB)

    The Trinity envelopes us and He turns the tensions within us into treasures. The agitation of the grain of sand brings the grain of sands true identity about, a Pearl. The Pearl was in the grain of sand all along.

     Jesus said in John 15: 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned." (NKJV)

     The grain of sand's job is to abide in the 3 part oyster. Here is the Truth. The grain of sand can't go anywhere anyways, and neither can you. Where are you going to go after entering into Jesus? Psalm 139:8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. (NASB)

     You abiding in the fact of what is, which is that the presence of God is always available at all times and in all places, turns your grains of sand into pearls. Your true identity of a perfect, glorious, spotless, righteous, and much loved child of the King was and always is within your heart, abiding in Him brings that Truth into reality.
   
    Trials do far more then shape your character, they reveal your character. The tension of your life is where the oppotunities rest for you to allow your grains of sand to be transformed into the glorious pearls they were always meant to be. With the proper perspective on problems that come at us, we grow faster and in ways that simply weren't possible without the agitation bringing about the pearl.

    Jesus was saying to simply use wisdom when revealing the treasure that you gained through the trial. Many people cannot understand the wisdom and intimate knowledge you've gained unless they have gone through it themselves. When sharing your pearls of life, be aware of whether or not people are just trying to suck you dry, or if they truly want the treasure your giving them so they can apply it to their own life. The less time you waste on people that won't do anything with the goodness your trying to impart to them, the more time you have to pour into the people that will actually be teachable and apply the treasure you freely giving them.

    Jesus poured into 12 men regularly, and of the 12 it was more so poured into 3 of them. Jesus stopped and loved everyone, but He spoke in parables to hide the secrets, not to reveal the revelation (Matthew 13). He did that because when you hear Truth and understand it, you are now responsible to walk it out. So find the people that are responsible (have a real ability to respond) and entrust them with the pearls. They will actually use it.




       

Laugh More-It's Biblical

     In some churches laughter is often looked at as irreverent, childish, or immature. Yes, it can defeinitely be out of place at times, but laughter is a common theme in the heart of God. C.S. Lewis said, "Joy is the serious business of Heaven."

     If you can think of an area of your life right now where you are getting opposition, a healthy response can always be laughter. Yes, hearty gut rocking laughter. Trust me, it will benefit you greatly, it’s even biblical. Psalm 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. (NASB) I would highly encourage you to read Psalm 2:4 in context as well. God’s response to attacks on His ‘Anointed One’ are, mocking and laughter. Who is His "Anointed One?" Jesus, and where does Jesus live? Inside of us. So an attack on you is an attack on Him, and God is so confident in His ability to turn what the enemy does around in his face and use it against him that His response is to laugh and mock th devil. God often uses the enemy as a pawn for His own plans, perfect example… the Cross.

     In Ephesians chapter 5 it says this in the first verse, "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;" (NASB). So imitate your loving Father and laugh at the enemies attempts to derail God’s plan in you, through you, and through His body on earth. You see God doesn’t see problems, He sees solutions. God is obviously not in denial of the problems, He is just extremely confident in His solutions. Your response to attacks should not be limited to laughs alone.

     Psalm 2: 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: 6 "Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion." 7 "I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’" (NKJV) The enemy wants you focusing on his trivial and small attempts to disrupt God's Master plan for your life. God says, "Laugh!" Then keep your eyes on and in the Glory and your inheritance that Christ paid for. Your inheritance is the nations of this earth. Christ died and paid for everything and He desires that you don’t get distracted by lies. Why? So the lies and silly attacks don’t steal your joy (your ability to laugh). Laughter clears the fog so you can see God clearer. When your state of being is laughter, rejoicing, and joy you see the Author and Perfecter of your faith in much finer detail.

     God says to keep your eyes fixed on Him and what He is doing and His promises, and laugh when distractions come. God laughs, then directs you to look at what He is doing, not the enemy. He laughs because His Son already defeated the enemy and is now victoriously sitting on the throne. God laughs because before you and I ever had a need, supply has been there. Revelation 13:8… the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

     He laughs because He is going to give you the nations as your inheritance and He is going to thrash the already defeated devil even more so through you in the midst of opposition. Your part? Believe it, walk in it and walk it out with Jesus. Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God, Heb. 12:2. Even Jesus had His mind set on the countenance of joy while He endured you and I’s punishment on the cross. That’s how amazing this countenance of joy and laughter is. It’s such a hot commodity that the prize of joy unspeakable, in unlimited and never ending measure, helped Jesus endure that most intense punishment that any person has every endured.

     Luke 6:21 "Blessed [are] you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed [are] you who weep now, for you shall laugh. (NASB) The Greek word for ‘you shall laugh’ is – gelaó- to laugh (as a sign of joy or satisfaction) – laugh… Strongs Concordance. Again, satisfaction and laughter are a blessing in the New Covenant. Laughter is your response to the feeling of His goodness within. You may have trouble putting words to it, but your laughter is all that need be expressed. 1 Peter 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, (NASB).

     The world is desperate for joy. Think about it. They do anything for it. All the self-medicating, thrill seeking, therapy, sex, drugs, and I’m sure we could all add many more to this list. All that the world is trying to get from all the wrongs places is found in the purest form inside the Christ. Not religion, the Christ. The King of Kings! Peace that passes all understanding and Joy unspeakable are absolutely free and come in never ending increase. So many are working so hard for peace, joy, pleasure, and love when it’s all free in measures that are unfathomable. Let’s show the world how free all this goodness is, so they can stop looking for fool’s gold in all the wrong places.

     Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (ESV) One third of the Kingdom is joy and the biblical definition of laughter is that it is a response to your feeling the kingdom within. Maybe you haven’t realized it yet, but God is happy. Yes, He is ecstatically happy! The word ‘blessed’ in the New Testament in the Greek is makarios- happy, blessed, to be envied, Strongs Concordance. I think we could all agree that God is quite blessed. The enemy is always attacking somehow and in some way, and God’s response to attacks on His Anointed One is laughter. The devil thought he was defeating God when he nailed Jesus to the cross, God laughed! Of course God felt the pain of His Son, and feels our pain and comforts us in our distress. But God sees the bigger picture of goodness awaiting us, and that forces a happy laughter in Him.

     But did you know that laughter carries immense health benefits? I would encourage you to do your own homework on this matter, and rather than me sight references I will share some general themes from what I found while researching this fascinating topic. Laughter increases the release of endorphins in your brain, endorphins are the "feel good brain chemicals". Laughter reduces stress, pain, and even helps you digest food better and faster. Also, fifteen minutes of laughter is as beneficial to your body as two hours of sleep, so laugh it up! With the increasing finds on the benefits of laughter to our physical and emotional make up(and unbeknownst to the medical community our spiritual being as well), I have a funny feeling that this list will increase over time.

     Did you also know that your body does not know the difference between fake laughter and real laughter? So fake laugh until real laughter overtakes you and receive the same health benefits and let the same amounts of ‘feel good brain chemicals’ be released during the entire laughter process. You may say, "that’s hypocritical, and I won’t just fake laugh." Suit yourself, but maybe this will change your mind. Have you realized yet that in the kingdom rejoicing when you don’t feel like it will shift your mind and feelings into feeling like it? "In the world they rejoice because they are joyful, in the Kingdom we rejoice to become joyful," Bill Johnson. Just read through many of the Psalms, and you will see King David’s mood and perspective shift from fear and worry… to rejoicing and into joy and hope. You will see this many times in the Psalms. Psalm 116 is a good one to check out.

     Not really feeling it today? Laugh, even fake laugh until it’s real laughter. Feeling pretty good today? Cool, make it a better day and laugh. Either way, laughter should be part of our daily lives in the Kingdom. It is a powerful statement to our confidence in the God that sacrificed His Son so He could live in us. Laugh it up!!

Loving the Lost

     I had a great learning experience recently, it was painful yet much was learned. The long and the short of it was this… I sat through a 2 hour class about evangelism, not exactly by choice. The class started as the international teacher/evangelist handed out the script on how to evangelize. Then for 2 hours he and his wife talked about how to read the steps off the page to get people to pray the sinners prayer. God bless them and their service this is not aimed at them, and you will never know who it is or the ministry anyways. This is aimed at mindsets that are void of being Spirit led while trying to get people to pray the sinners prayer.

     At one point some students actually spoke up disagreeing with what he was teaching, and these students gave solid biblical reasoning as to why they disagreed. His response was, "just follow the formula, it works." My heart hurt, I literally felt like I was going to get sick listening to this sales pitch approach to treating people like projects and trying to them to submit to religion.

     We are called to be a walking encounter with heaven, people are supposed to encounter the love and power of Jesus through our lives. Galatians 2:20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (NLT) This is the reality of the Gospel, it's not a theory, it is the Truth of Christ living in us.

     Yes their absolutely is a time for salvation, obviously, but if your intention from the very beginning is to try and get them to agree with your doctrine, then that actually seems more like trying to make someone conform to your idea of Jesus and not who He really is. When that is our driving motive from the beginning, they think they have to conform to another persons idea of how to have a relationship with Jesus. Instead of Holy Spirit showing them how to personnally have a relationship with Jesus through the written word and the intimacy of His presence and voice.

     If you ever had someone share religion with you and it sounded like a sales pitch, as a faithful lover and follower of Jesus, I apologize to you. Jesus would never talk to you in a way that would make you feel stupid. Their is a huge difference between lovingly explaining and showing the Gospel too someone that doesn’t know it, and speaking to them like you are better than them because you just happened to open the free gift of grace before they did.

     Jesus would not talk to you in a way that would create fear. Asking someone, "if you died tonight, do you know if you’d go to heaven of hell," is pure fear and slides the plan of God for their life aside only to replace it with fear. If fear is the motive that moves you to share Jesus understand this... fear is the currency that moves hell, love is the currency that moves heaven. I am not talking about the fear of God here (the fear of God is extremely healthy for us, but that is another topic for another day), I am talking about trying to force peoples hand in choosing Jesus because the devil might kill them tonight. If fear is the driving force that pulls someone into the kingdom, then they will have to stay in a mindset of fear to think they can stay in the kingdom.

     Evangelist simply means this… Evangelist in the Greek is ‘euaggelistés’ - a bringer of good news, a messenger and bearer of good tidings. The Gospel is the greatest news on earth. What better news is their than this… everything you have done wrong in your life you will not have to pay for, by simply saying yes to Jesus and what He did on the cross. God paid for your sin and sickness and you get to go to heaven by just receiving this gift named Jesus Christ. That would actually be amazing if it stopped there, but it doesn’t. The Truth is even better than that! Not only does your rightful punishment get removed from you, but you get the life that the King should have rightfully lived. He died for you so we could live in His freedom. You get to experience heaven now, and live in the presence and grace of God right here and now! That is really good news folks!

     Are people sinners without Jesus? Yes, but we have the ministry of reconciliation, not the ministry of condemnation. 2 Corinthians 5: 16 From this time on we do not think of anyone as the world does. In the past we thought of Christ as the world thinks, but we no longer think of him in that way. 17 If anyone belongs to Christ, there is a new creation. The old things have gone; everything is made new! 18 All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him. 19 God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace. 20 So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. 21 Christ had no sin, but God made him become sin so that in Christ we could become right with God. (NCV)

     Jesus would not be pushy and in your face upon meeting you while trying to tell you why He is right and you are wrong. Here is a really good study for anyone wanting to share Jesus more. Study the Gospels and pay close attention to how Jesus interacted with unbelievers that He was meeting for the first time, or just developing relationship with. Then see how He dealt with people that should have known better and claimed to have known God and His ways for some time. You will see a drastic difference. Jesus never once condemned sinners the first time he met them. Yet He passionately unloaded the wrath of God on those that claimed to know God, but refused to love people and get to know and receive Him.

     Jesus would not talk to you in a way that feels like He is trying to sell you something. Bill Johnson said something brilliant recently, and this may or may not be verbatim but close enough, "For too long now the church has been trying to answer questions the world is not asking." Why should we interrupt people’s days to try and answer a question that they are not even asking? When we are led by the Spirit, we show up with the answers to the questions most prevalent in their life. When we show up answering the questions that are in the forefront of their life (through supernatural insight), that drives them to ask the questions that they should be asking.

     Some people think that it is not the Gospel to heal the sick, unless you get them to pray the sinners prayer after and then explain to them the entire death and resurrection. Many feel the same about giving people a super encouraging prophetic word that reveals God’s love and reality to them, unless you then tell them that they are a sinner. The healing on the spot and upon first meeting was what Jesus did everywhere He went. He showed up and answered and solved the pressing question or problem (pain, oppression, brokenness, disease, etc..) so it would open up the mindset for them to ask the correct question. His free gift was not dependent on whether they would surrender their life to Him on the spot. Jesus was the ‘exact representation on the Father’ (Heb. 1:3) so if that’s what He did, than it should be good enough for us. His free healing was the revealing that God loves them and He wants them to come to Him, because He is good and His actions towards them revealed that.

     The pockets of bad teaching on grace, that say or suggest that grace is license to live and act however we want whenever we want, has some people now thinking that being extremely loving is leaning towards being deceived as well. We are called to lay down our lives in love for the world, their response has nothing to do with our call to love. If we are worried about how we are perceived, or if we get accepted by the world, than we aren’t clearly perceiving God and his perfect love and the fact that we already are accepted by Him. Worrying about how the world sees us, reveals we don’t really know how God sees us.

     Showing up in love with the healing, prophetic insight, and presence of love reveals that their is a God that knows that person and He loves them. You will literally watch their heart shift on the spot and all the sudden the right questions (the questions they should be asking) begin to roll of their tongue.

     Jesus (on first meeting with you) would absolutely not debate with you. Again, a way to get clear and effective revelation on how to interact with unbelievers is to see how Jesus did it in the Gospels. Now, did Jesus debate with people? Yes, but rarely and only the Pharisees because they were putting people in the bondage He came to remove, and they were doing it in the name of God. Also, the only times Jesus did debate with them, He almost always ended each debate with a quick response that stumped them in their unloving methods to control people.

     John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." It does not say, "For God so loved the church…" Yes He does love the church, passionately, but His Son was sent for the entire world and how Jesus interacted with the world is how we should interact with the world. He loved sinners, He got accused of being all sorts of wrong things simply because He loved the lost so much. Honestly most people in America have heard the Gospel, they have, they may not understand it perfectly but they have heard the general theme of it. What the majority of the world has not seen, is the walking out of the Gospel, and it is far easier than we think! So let’s do it, let’s love the hell out of the world the way the King did!

What can Christians learn from the business world?

   
    It always fascinates me to observe mindsets that people choose to cultivate and live from, either people that know God or people that don't. Personally when I am able to see a mindset that I have that is not free or experiencing limitations in some way, common sense drives me to say, "it's time to change the way I think so my actions can follow suit." The renewed mind is a constant shift into more of heaven's way of thinking, it never stops being fine tuned and increasing.
    As Christians we have become one with Jesus, we are reborn from above upon saying yes to following Him, and we have access to everything He is and has through relationship. This includes His mind, and in order to truthfully surrender to and follow Him it would make sense that we should know how He thinks and what we get to do with Him and through Him.
    The mandate from Christ is to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." ( Matthew 28:19-20) So our call is to go to people groups and share Good News and reconcile the world to Love, through the sacrifice that He made for us. By the way, the word 'nations' in the Greek does not mean foreign countries. The Greek word for 'nations' is ethnos, it means people groups that don't know Jesus. Their are countless nations in that context right here in your own city that don't know the Lord's love and goodness. Going to other countries is great fun, but you'll have more authority in other countries when you have cultivated and exercised that authority with effectiveness in your own family, workplace, city, and region.
    Would it make sense then that we limit ourselves from receiving our full inheritance and the provision stored up for us when we don't walk out the call to make disciples of all nations? A lifestyle of obedience is where the favor never stops and always increases, and if we are following Him we should understand that He has already told us where He is going. He is leading people groups that don't know Him, to His abundant life. And He is leading us into being the leaders of people groups that don't know Him.
    When we get our thoughts moving in the direction of Christ's thinking we are able to access more of His way of thinking. Seeing how we, collectively, have His mind (1 Cor. 2:16), it would make sense that accessing the more He has to offer (to anyone that wants it) would have to start with agreeing with the way He sees and does things.
    How can we access the deep things of God, if we don't agree with His simple things? John 3:12 But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? (NLT) The truth of life in Christ and His Kingdom is that it so good it sounds almost like a fairy tale. So why are not as many people that say they follow Him experiencing this outrageously amazing way of life?
    I have had the privilege lately to bring the Kingdom in realms of business and interact and observe the way success minded business people see and process things, and it is very similar to the way Jesus flows with His thinking.
    Many church cultures in the western world have a church structure in place that is set up to get people to obey and agree with what the leader says and do what He says. It's a culture to create consumers, not providers. I understand and believe that so many people in these places have good hearts and intentions, but the Christian community should not be a bunch of docile consumers. The Christian community should be the vocal and effective leaders of all realms of society, by humbly and effectively serving and leading them into greater places. The main structure of church culture in our society gears Christians thinking to quiet down and obey the man in charge, even if you don't agree.
    In the business world the success minded and driven people celebrate each other's diversities and that empowers what they agree upon to be that much more effective. The successful business people are all visionaries, just like Jesus was and told us to be. They are all creative and innovative as a lifestyle, just like Jesus is and has empowered us to be. They all have a bright hope filled perspective of the future, just like Jesus does and told us to have.
    In the business world they don't put too much weight on someone's words that doesn't have the fruit to back up what they are talking about. It's ok for you too not pay to much attention to someone talking about divine healing that rarely ever sees anyone healed, or doesn't believe it's even God's will to heal. It's not dishonoring to not have a high value on their words, it's more wisdom then anything else. It's not dishonoring a person by not valuing their words on how to love sinner's when that person doesn't even have friends (that they love without an agenda) that are sinner's.
    It's wisdom to listen to people talk about topics that actually have the fruit to back up what they are talking about. Some Christians think it is wrong or dishonoring to question any leader on anything, we are never to dishonor a person saved or unsaved. But it is more common sense to question what someone is talking about that can't back it up with the fruit of that topic in their own life.
    No one is going to do it all perfectly and have the perfect perspective on everything, and we should all have people that we are committed to and in responsible relationship with. We should also all have healthy leaders around us, but just because someone is your leader doesn't mean you're being disrespectful to see things different. In the kingdom we are called to agree on the main things and let the minor differences strengthen us, not weaken us.
    In the successful business world this is common sense. They have a high value for new innovation and creativity, their only concern is if it is working to produce better results. In the business world business leaders put weight on people's words that have a track record of success. They pay money to hear success tips and wisdom from people that truly have this, simply so they can receive from it and implement the strategies for positive and effective change in their own life and business. The business world has a high value for effective change and increase, just like Jesus does.

http://fortune.com/best-companies/

    This is the top 100 companies to work for in 2015. If you skim through the benefits of the companies leading the charge, you'll find very similar trends. They all want their employees to be free at work. Google (who has been #1 on this list for 6yrs running) even has a free haircuts, video game rooms, a gym, pool tables, and the list could go on. They trust their employees have inherently good motives and have created an environment that empowers them to be creative and unwind in a variety of ways to provoke more rest filled creativity. They understand that when their employees want to drop what they are doing and play some games, it refreshes them to return to the task focused and joyful.
    Another interesting trend among the top companies on the list is this, many of those companies have unlimited paid sick days. These companies trust the environment they have created will drive employees to want to be at work, so much so that if an employee is sick they pay them while they recover. These top companies see that people are inherently driven to be successful, good, and that all people have the full capability to be a solid contributor to the bigger vision. They see that creating an environment that provokes freedom and creativity doesn't actually have employees taking advantage of the system, it has them helping and adding to the system in very beneficial ways.
    Being a successful leader in any environment is a more weighty task then many of their critics realize, but good leaders know this. Good leaders know how to let the critics weightless words role off their shoulder and be null and void in their life. And most importantly good leaders have one focus... not to create followers, but to raise up other leaders!
   

   

Speak an Army into Existence

    The prophetic is vital to a healthy community of followers of Jesus. We as the body of Christ have the privilege of tapping into the lifeline of heaven, His voice. We have to have the prophetic operating from a correct perspective and in accurate power so His Kingdom can be established in unshakable ways. Ezekiel 37 reveals an amazingly clear picture of how to speak life and health to people, and it also reveals some beautiful new covenant revelation.

    Ezekiel 37:1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. (NASB) The hand of the Lord isn’t just upon you now, you are the hand of the Lord. Heaven loves revealing itself through us. 
    If we ask "Here I am. Send Me," we shouldn't be surprised if we are set down in the middle of a valley of dry bones. The depth of this Good News is that the Jesus in you is the feast for the starving, but you can’t be His light and food for the lost and hungry until you mix and mingle with them. You are the Light for those lost in the dark, but you can’t be that Light until you post up in the darkness amongst them so the Lord can draw them to Himself through your life.

    2 Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. (NKJV) “Then He caused me to pass by them” You want to be used by the Lord? Then expect to be put in the midst of hell itself, so you can plunder hell to populate Heaven.
    On the cross Christ became what we looked like, so we could become what He looks like now. 1 John 4:17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. (ESV) “As He is so also are we in this world,” in this world now, we are as He is. Don’t be shocked when you are in the middle of a bunch of people that look like Christ did, spiritually speaking, on the cross. That is what you once looked like before you said yes to the King of Glory and His free gift of salvation. He puts us there so people can see what it is they are supposed to look like, Jesus. Just be the new you that you are while speaking His words, and they will see Him and hear Him and His irresistible goodness.

    3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.” (NASB) When Jesus came one of His names was, "Son of Man." The Son of Man came to an earth full of dry bones and spoke and paid for life so the sons of men could become sons of God. God is asking a rhetorical question here. He is getting you to realize that your life and thought process is already in agreement with heaven, just walk it out your true identity and you will see the revealing of on earth as it is in heaven through your life. Knowing God is knowing His will, and His will is ‘on earth as it is in heaven’, and dry bones coming to life is 'on earth as it is in heaven'. God was showing Ezekiel that he was the one that was the mouthpiece of heaven to release heavens agenda of life and life more abundantly to the world. And in the new covenant every single one of us is the mouthpiece of heaven to a valley of dry bones.

    4 Then he said to me, "Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, 'Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! (NLT) When we speak what heaven is saying our words become His weaponry. The word for ‘listen’ in the Hebrew is –shama- to comprehend. God desires that the world comprehends His goodness. His goodness is not for you, and to get you to fall in line with His army and get to work. His goodness is the fuel we run on, it is the very nature of everything He is. His goodness cannot be exaggerated. His goodness is Him living and moving and having His being in your life. His goodness is you living in peace, joy, grace, love, and power with such an ease that it baffles the world into His never ending goodness. Declare His goodness to the ‘dry bones’ of this world so they ‘comprehend’ His amazingness and they join the joyous army of God.

    5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. (ESV) Notice… Ezekiel is the Lord’s mouth piece, ‘as He is so also are we in this world’. God has chosen to reveal Who He is in us and then through us, Galatians 1: 15 But when it pleased God, Who separated me from my mothers womb and called me through His grace, 16  to reveal His Son in me... (NKJV) 
    All God has to do is breath on the dead and His breath brings resurrection. So it was with Jesus giving the Holy Spirit in John 20:21-22. Notice the imagery, God breaths what is inside of Him into us and we become, “For we are parts of his body—of his flesh and of his bones,” Ephesians 5:30. You speaking His words releases His life into people so they can wake up and partake of the life they were created for, so speak to the dry bones of the lost and hurting so they too can live in the goodness of God.

    6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (NLT) We speak His will into and upon people., and His will is life and life more abundantly. He desires to give you His life, Colossians 2:2-3. You are a brush stroke of His eternal masterpiece, you are a vibrant color on the canvas of His eternal display of never-ending grace. You are a piece of His glorious body on this earth which finds its fullness in the mystical body of Christ Jesus. You are living and moving and having your being in the blissful goodness of His reality.
   God didn't tell Ezekiel to prophetically point out all the problems he saw, God told Him to speak their true identity to life. When a person comes to Jesus the sin nature that dwells within is cast out and the new substance that fills them is Christ. So if God sees us as filled with Him and having amazing potential and life for us, why would God have us prophecy and focus on the sin nature that He paid so much to get rid of? God always sees us through the lens of Jesus, which is an ever increasing measure of His life and a destiny that is always increasing in intimacy with love.  

    7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. (NASB) As He spoke what God was saying what God said would happen happened, it is simple. Now understand something here, the prophetic can make things messy. Know this though His message doesn’t create a mess, His message reveals the mess so it can be removed. His message is not what creates the mess, His message stirs up a “noise” and a “rattling” and our mess gets revealed in the midst of it so it can be removed so our life can sink into the goodness of His life. Our focus is never the problems, our focus is always the solution and seeing the true heavenly identity of everyone. When the solution is revealed it can rattle things, but the rattling is the revealing that the solution is surfacing.
    And the greater the prophetic word and the weight attached to it, the harder the enemy tries to thwart it. You can tell the strength of a prophetic word by the opposition that comes against it. If you receive and amazing word, and all the sudden it seems like all hell comes against it. That's hell trying to get you to shy away from it. Understanding that dynamic empowers us to know God and walk through attacks in order to step into our destiny of ever increasing glory to glory.

    8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. (NKJV) Observe the imagery here. Ezekiel just spoke what God was saying and then he watched God do it. Your job is simple my friends, just speak what God is saying in love and He will do it. All Ezekiel did in this verse was say what He heard God speak, and then stand and watch God be amazing. The lack of ‘breath’ is the Holy Spirit. The word for ‘Spirit’ in the Greek (New Covenant) – pneuma- wind, breath, spirit. The word for ‘Spirit’ in the Hebrew (Old Testament) – ruach- breath, wind, spirit. God was showing Ezekiel a New Covenant reality of what happens when the breath of God, is not just upon people, but is inside people. We get to partner with heaven and speak the full of health of life into people, when we comprehend this responsibility and privilege we begin to see how vital it is to speak life and solution at all times.  

    9 Then He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life."'" (NASB) Again God releases His life through our words. Does He need to? Is God limited in any way if we don’t prophesy or speak life? No. But know this, He has chosen to continually love the hell out of people through us. It is how He likes to do things. If we understood the authority we had we would speak more life, prophetic words, and encouragement. God unleashed His very life into an army when Ezekiel simply said what God was saying. God always speaks life, victory, love, encouragement, and life more abundantly.

    10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. (NASB) Co-laboring is a simple as just saying what He is saying, doing what He is doing. When you begin to grow in the understanding of what Jesus did on the cross you, you grow in learning how to do less and get more done. Because you learn and experience how easy it is to simply let Jesus be Himself through you. The Lord picked Ezekiel up and put Him in the dry valley and then told Him what to do and say. Ezekiel did and said what God was doing and saying, and an exceedingly great army “came to life and stood on their feet.” The Lord did it all, through one yielded vessel that was willing to let God have His way in him and through him.

     You are just the mouth piece that the victory of heaven funnels through. You are just the hands that His power flows through. You are the earthen vessel that carries the heavenly goodness. We get to be the new creation that He has made us to be while God draws the world to Himself through us. We just release what is in us and the world around us sinks into His love, grace, and power.