Saturday, December 31, 2011

A Disposition of Spirit

          "There is something required from us.  God preaches the word, but the word is without profit unless something comes out from us to receive it, and take it to heart, and to turn it into something." ~ Arthur Katz, "Apostolic Foundations: The Challenge of Living an Authentic Christian Life," p. 111


          There is something "other" that is required from us than sitting in our seats on a Sunday morning, taking notes of the preacher's message.  We desperately need to understand that unless we activate the words of God, unless we reach out with our spirits to grasp those words and intentionally walk them out, we will be missing something in our life.  There needs to be an intentionality about us; a fervor and a desire for God's glory that characterizes us and that takes precedence over our own personal well-being and the attention given to our own goals and dreams.  This (God's glorification) comes first!

          This activation of God's Word on our part has many implications for our personal life.  One of those implications is putting personal goals and dreams in their correct place.  I address this issue of personal goals and dreams cautiously.  For I know without a doubt that God creates or wires people in such a way to be skilled at certain things, and drawn to function in particular arenas of life.  To one He gives a love of music; and to another He gives a gifted mind in the area of mechanics.  Nevertheless, other goals and dreams can be born out of superficiality; they are almost like an acquired taste; they are created by the expectations others have of us and our recognition of those expectations.  Because of the difference in constitution of the two goals and dreams, they naturally differentiate between themselves.  God-given goals and dreams will work towards giving God glory.  Whereas, superficial goals and dreams work in a manner contrary to that same end.  Therefore, although goals and dreams are incorporated in a person's life giving God glory, they should remain just that, an incorporation.

          This "other thing" which is required from us will include sacrifice.  The issuing of a timely word from God, through whatever instrument God might choose, encompasses the whole man.  That is to say the whole man is required to respond.  A man is not to be justified in affirming the word with only his intellect.  This reminds me of quote which goes something along the lines of, "It doesn't take much of a man to be a Christian just all there is of him."  Everything in us and apart of us is working towards advancing the Kingdom of God

          So let the disposition of our spirit be one of activation and realization.  Let's not passively listen to the Word of God, but let's allow it to gauge our hearts and minds, and drive us to live a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called.  Don't simply listen to the Word of God, but act upon it, consume it, and allow it to form and shape your life so that you reflect Christ. 

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Contentment: Part 2

It's early morning, and I'm still wrapped in the covers of my bed enjoying my rest.  But I'm expecting somebody, and He should be here soon.  Oh, there He is now, knocking on my heart's door once more, eager for me to get up and spend the day with Him.  He is never late.

I rub the sleep from my eyes and walk to the door, stumbling over something or other in the darkness of the shaded windows. I open the door and the room is suddenly flooded with light and warmth.  He enters.  He wears a smile so beautiful and comforting as He wraps His arms round me in a loving embrace, lifting me in the air for a moment.

I laugh.  My heart is flooded with joy as I return the favor.  He pushes me back from himself and looks me over.  His eyes, mysteriously deep and capturing, speak of His great love for me and indicate that He is even now pondering the wondrous plans He has for my life; and His heart dances with joy, delighting in the hope of their fulfillment.

He firmly grips my shoulder with His right hand, and as I gaze into His mysterious eyes, a deep, satisfying peace washes over my spirit.  It begins in the pit of my stomach, first burning as a coal then washing as a river it spreads throughout my entire body.  I close my eyes and take a deep breath.  I feel whole.  I am restored by His gaze and touch.

Mind you, He has not spoken one word to me, and yet He has lifted my spirit to the highest of heights, has shone the warm sunlight of His love, which radiates from His face, on my spirit, and has given my soul a deep, deep peace - a rest in fact - that fills my whole body, conquering all insecurities and doubts, and overflowing from my mouth in a long exhalation.

He pats me on the back, starts toward the door, and beckons me to follow as He begins His trek up a dirt road.  I follow.  Yes, I follow; and the very act is a microcosm of my life, which has been played out in moments like these, step by step.  He is there right in front of me.  And as I quicken my pace to match His confident stride, He is right here next to me.

Authority in its fullest sense is emanating from His every step.  As I closely observe Him in His authoritative countenance and His joyful radiance, trying not to miss the minutest of details, confidence in Him is being formed and made full within me.  I trust my Savior.  But more than that I love Him.   A love that has been inspired by His loving me first.

He continues on the dirt path towards some hills in the distance which overlook a village.  He comes to these types of places often.  He is very fond of the high places of His creation.

We finally crest the highest of the surrounding hills, the one which gives us a direct view of the village.  Although the beauty of nature that is all around us is extraordinary, especially on this particular day, His focus is elsewhere.  He is not considering the breathtaking view; instead He is observing the inhabitants of the village below, peering into their hearts; and His heart is deeply grieved, as it has been many a time, by their sinfulness.  They have spurned His love again and again.  And as I look over at Him, I see His compassion for His people - His children and friends - materialize in the form of a tear that rolls down His cheek.  Oh, how He longs to gather this people as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings (Matthew 23:37).  

My eyes also begin to well up with tears.  As I've have been with Him, studied Him, talked with Him, and been a direct recipient of this compassion that has now trickled down His face and fallen into the dust, I have begun to learn and experience - even if to the slightest degree - the great weight of lost people that burdens Him, and His overwhelming desire to see them set free from their bondage and step forth to live with Him in the light.

He begins to descend the hill towards the village.  I follow at His side.  After reaching the bottom of the hill, He starts to move in the direction of a group of children playing tag in the morning sun just outside the village. I am but a few paces behind Him now.  The children catch sight of Him before He reaches them, and as a group they sprint toward Him.  They mob Him, shouting with delight, some wrapping their arms around His waist and legs and others jumping up onto His back and front, clinging to Him.  He nearly falls but manages to keep His balance, laughing all the while.  As they finally loose their grip He spies a little girl that hadn't quite made it to the mobbing and covers the last few steps to her, picking her up and swinging her about.  She laughs, her face lighting up with joy.

The group of children finally settle down, and He makes His way to a nice, grassy opening and has the children gather around Him on the ground.

Here is where He stays all morning and most of the afternoon, with the children, telling them story after story of the men of old - David, Enoch, and the prophets.  As He tells each story I observe the faces of the little ones, which are sometimes filled with wonder, other times with sadness, and still other times with great joy.

As the sun begins to fall across the western sky He calls me to Him, telling me to bring the bread and juice I had carried with me from the house.   As I break the bread into pieces, hand the pieces out to the children and fill their cups with juice, I am acutely aware of a sense of destiny and purpose; or  more exactly, a sense of the fulfillment of my destiny and purpose.  Here, in this village, as I serve children food and drink, I'm vibrant with peace, joy, and...contentment.  Yes, deep unshakable, undeniable contentment.

I gaze over at Him.  He is smiling as he watches the children consume the bread and wash it down with the juice.  I close my eyes and silently thank Him, for He was the reason I knew contentment as I would a good friend.  He introduced me to contentment, teaching me to go down in order to go up; telling me to give up everything so that I might truly gain it; showing me how to die in order to live .

As the children finish their snack we say our goodbyes and start home.  When we are half way up the hill I glance back and catch sight of some of the parents of the children at the edge of the village, staring back at us disapprovingly.  I knew that He had also noticed them from the slightly saddened expression on His face.  I looked over at Him and said,"If only they had the faith of their children."  He nodded slightly and replied," Yes, indeed.  But these people's hearts are dull.  They scarcely hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes.  Otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and return, and I would heal them."


After we had arrived back at my house, He turned to me; and putting His hands on both my shoulders He said, "What I tell in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. For the days are evil, and the time is coming when you shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. You are my witness, an ambassador of the Gospel. Therefore confess Me before men and I will confess you before My Father who is in heaven. And always be on the alert!"


This said, He turned and started down the road. When He had gone out of sight, I went inside and wrote down this paragraph in my journal:

He is what sustains me. My Father, He is God.  I have entrusted him with my heart and it couldn't be in better hands.  He is more than enough for me.  He is my all in all.  He has painted my selfhood with sonship and has adorned the essence of my being with the beauty of His grace.  He makes all things beautiful. In Him - and in Him only - there is true contentment.  Many a man has wasted His life scouting the hills of success and searching the caves of pleasure for contentment.  As for me I will abide in Him;  I will search His heart and there I will dwell and know Him and be content, because He is all I seek.  One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to meditate in His temple.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Contentment: Part 1

It is true that people do most of what they do to find contentment.  For although Aristotle's theory that all things vigorously seek their place of rest--for a rock this would be the ground, and for hot air it would be the higher reaches of the sky--was wrong when it was applied to motion, it still holds true today for the human spirit, which is always seeking rest and peace--albeit in the wrong places.  And this is a very plain and logical state for mankind to be in, for contentment is a very beautiful thing.  Its earthly value is priceless, bringing peace to the soul in a way similar to the sweet, soothing words of forgiveness relieving a lifetime of hurt.  Contentment delivers from bondage so severe and tortuous; it is a liberator.  It is refreshing life-water to a dying soul whose existence is slowly being erased by the stress and anxiety of selfish ambition, success, and the expectations of others; it is a life-giver.  It sustains a human soul in many ways for it has a value that is eternal.

Nevertheless, though Contentment is pursued by most everybody, he is understood by very few.  It is not that Contentment is elusive, he is not trying to hide from anybody.  It's simply that the one place that he can be found is the one place people don't want to look.  You must understand that most people who pursue contentment have it backwards and upside-down.  They believe that you must gain to know contentment, when in actuality his requirement is to lose everything.

Yes, that is the requirement, but as you can imagine, that is just not good enough for some people.  It goes against their every instinct, so they disregard that standard with vehemence and loathing.  They say, "What kind of fool would be taken in by such a fabrication as that?!?" Not them that's for sure.  Instead, they let their sin--pride, greed, selfishness--create another "Contentment".  One who they can know simply by having a certain measure of success and obtaining enough property.  Yes, this is a contentment that they seek to know, that they vigorously desire to know.  For--they reason--it is perfectly sound and logical that they should meet and know contentment by obtaining more of the things that give them pleasure.  Furthermore, they ask themselves--for in their hearts there is a small voice whose words seem to contradict their reason,"Why on earth, as the Bible would like me to believe, would I give up all that has brought me happiness to find contentment?  That's like asking me to die so that I might live!"

But what they have created is an illusion.  They themselves have been taken in by a fabrication and have spit in the face of the truth.  They are driven by money and pleasure, and those two are not easy taskmasters.  They have forsaken the light burden and easy yoke of Jesus (Matthew 11:30) and have willingly--but ignorantly--donned an ever-increasing weight of sin that will reward them with eternal punishment at their lives' end.  They've bought into a lie!

So these seekers of a false contentment continue their pursuit of that which cannot be found on the path which they have chosen.  Along the way, many worldly others will look upon the lives of these pursuers of "Contentment", upon everything that they have accomplished and obtained carnally, and marvel at their success, and even be inspired by it.  Yet to the very end, the pursuers could never genuinely say that they had been successful in their ultimate goal, in that which put them on this wild tear for property and success in the first place.  Namely, to know contentment.  In the end, they possessed nothing but loneliness, despair, and an ever-present, gnawing sense that they had missed the point; that what they had gained throughout all of their years was now utterly worthless.

And even now as they lay on their deathbed reflecting on their lives, weeping at all the opportunities to make a lasting difference in the lives others that they had casually ignored, writhing at the gaping hole within their heart as they come to grips with the fact that they have gone through life without any substantial, meaningful purpose, I see Contentment weeping by their side.  He remembers all the opportunities at life--eternal life--that they let slip through their grasp.  Oh, how he wanted to get to know them.  Oh, how he wanted to be their companion in life, unmoving and faithful.  Oh how he wanted to comfort them even now, yet they refused God's voice and refused to let Him free them from the bondage to which they had submitted themselves over their lifetime.  They loved their other life too much, though it was slowly killing them.  God had revealed Himself to them throughout their lives in so many different ways, in so many different scenarios, yet their hearts had grown hard.  And as they sped along the highway of life at 100 mph in the vehicle of success, Purpose, Destiny, and true Life were all dumped by the side of the road so as not to slow their "progress" down.

Now,  as they are breathing their few final breaths, the words of Paul are like salt on an open wound:

 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in  prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of  being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. ~ Philippians 4:12


But how true and joy-inspiring they are to those who intimately know their Savior, for it is in Him that true contentment is found.  You find contentment worshiping and praising Him; getting to know Him. You find contentment obeying His commands, and those are to lose your life so that you may find; to go lower and serve so that you may go higher in Christ; to give generously what God has given you, so that you can experience righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17).  That's life.  That's contentment: the indwelling of Kingdom in our lives and its outworking into the lives of others.  It's the manifestation of the incarnate Christ on the inside of people, shining out from us to the world.  And it gives me such joy that doing this thing--establishing and experiencing kingdom life which restores and replaces brokenness with wholeness--is commanded of us as children by Jesus, for I know then that He has provided us with the Way in which to do it.  Yes, He has in fact given us Himself to do this great work.  And oh, the joy, oh the peace, oh the contentment that is experienced by a Kingdom worker, and which brands him.

Praise be to the King whose kingdom we have the privilege to further!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Psalm 27

"[David's] motivation was not just because he wants to be determined.  He's determined because God is beautiful.  He's motivated to meet with God because God is wonderful. ~ Bob Gladstone


Here's a link to the full message:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NASf6xZGQC8&feature=player_embedded

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Judgement Seat of Christ - Leonard Ravenhill


A stirring, convicting message by Leonard Ravenhill.  These quotations from Ravenhill put life into the correct perspective: the eternal one.


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Relentless

          Lately, God has been soaking my spirit in His relentlessness: His pursuit both of us who have accepted His Son and those who have not.  He has been revealing to me the intensity of this attribute of His nature; that its full power, the full extent of its potential is directed wholly towards us who have been made in His image; and this revelation is strengthening and refreshing my spirit.  Do you realize or even scarcely comprehend that God is never ever never discouraged in His pursuit of His beloved (even those who have gone as far as nailing His hands and feet to wooden beams)?  That His relentlessness never drops to a lower level of intensity no matter how impossible the situation may seem? He is always running at 100 mph after you.  Because He wants your affections.  He wants your heart.  He wants you.  And it is absolutely mind-boggling to me, that He would be so consumed with humans.  I can say with full confidence, we are always on His mind.  He is always finding ways to reveal Himself to us so that we are all the more enraptured by Him.  And with this now being cultivated in my inner spiritual garden, I'm beginning to feel, yes feel, this passion to a miniscule degree, and it is a life-giving experience.  And even as I feel His passion well up in my soul, I'm crying out to Him to increase my capacity to be relentlessly, consistently consumed with the creatures for whom Jesus died and rose again.

          This whole experience began in my room when I decided to set aside some time to seek the Lord and allow Him to awaken me to those things that were weighing on His heart.  And as I was engaging my Spirit, speaking in tongues, and extolling the Lord, a real and intense awareness of lost people, especially the repulsive condition of their soul, began to arise in my heart like water.  Then this awareness coupled with that revelation of God's relentlessness and I received this awesome picture of the Father jumping up-and-down, twirling, waving His arms like a wild man, and shouting,"I WANT YOU!  I NEED YOU!  AND I'LL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES JUST TO GET THROUGH!  'CAUSE I LOVE YOU!  I LOVE YOU!"  Then I became inexplicably excited and joyful because I realized that the picture I received perfectly illustrated God's disposition toward lost people: absorbed in love for them.

Here is a song along the lines of what I'm talking about:


Sunday, September 18, 2011

Small...Very Small

          Though my works of good included all of what the apostles did and more, I am as close to crossing this great and boundless ocean that is His grace as if I still stand on the shore. (the rhyme was unintentional:)

Not you...Him!

          Stop basing your measure of faith on your personal capabilities.  For faith is believing in something you cannot reach, jumping to something you cannot see; things your limited mind and physical abilities cannot grasp or partake of.  "Impossibleis God's realm.  The key is to understand that we in and of ourselves are limited and helpless, but also to take our eyes off of what we cannot do once that understanding is in place, and behold, meditate on, dwell on, that which God can do through us.

Hebrews 7 - Jesus the Intercessor

          Let us enter the throne room of God and take our place on our knees next to that Great Intercessor.  Let us feel His arms wrap around our shoulders as He lays on our hearts His dreams and burdens, and brings us deeper and deeper into the waters of intercession.  For "He ever lives to intercede on our behalf."

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Father, show me that for which you designed me.

"I Will Waste My Life," Misty Edwards

This has been the most impacting song in my life.  Misty Edwards is such a passionate, sincere follower of Christ, and her songs demonstrate her intense devotion to the Lord.  If any song has changed my life, if any song has brought me closer to the Father, it is this one.



Monday, September 12, 2011

Spirit-People

All of the constituents of a person function at the pinnacle of their potential in the context of the Spirit.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Inner Radiance

Colossians 1:26-27 - "This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God's people.  For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you.  This gives you assurance of sharing his glory."

Sunday, July 31, 2011

To Know Him

          Lord, I pray that your beauty, your grandeur would invade my mortality and penetrate deep into my spirit. That the Spirit would be brought to the forefront of my life, to the center of the stage, so that by Him I would worship, by Him I would pray, by Him I would live.

          Lord, I dare to traverse into the profundity of your love, of your nature; into the mysterious waters where my flesh cannot endure the frigidness.  And there I will know You.



Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Unhindered

 I am not willing to be lukewarm for man, but I am willing to be burning for God!!!!!




Hebrews 2:14-15

          "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless Him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives." (Hebrews 2:14-15)

          The mercy and compassion and wisdom of my Savior is beyond my mind's ability to comprehend.  The chains of death that once tightly constrained the wings of my spirit have been broken. I have been released into true freedom.  A freedom to fly up out of the murky puddles in which I used to wallow and up into the higher place where my God, my Redeemer dwells.  To my astonishment, the God of all creation has become the Author of my salvation.  He has liberated me, and my lips will sing, declare, and proclaim His goodness for the rest of my days.

          You see I not only know of the power of my God, how He rendered death insubstantial, therefore, stripping satan of power, by His grace I LIVE in that power.

          Praise King Jesus!  He has freed me from that fear that so grips the human race, the fear of death.  And, consequently, a sweet tasting life river has been released in me and it gushes forth from my spirit.  It's constant life-giving flow refreshes and calms my spirit and that of others.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Making the Father Happy

          Today, during youth group, I had a simple revelation: I can make the Father happy!  I realized that I have an opportunity in my uniqueness to give the Father something that no one else can; that is my individual, unparalleled worship, and unparalleled simply because He, in His wisdom, crafted my heart like that of no other.  He delights in my genuine, heartfelt praise, and he takes pleasure in the devotion of my heart, simply because it's MY worship that I'm giving Him and it's the devotion of MY heart to Him.

          I say it again: He delights in my uniqueness. The very thought that I can bring a smile to His face by the pouring forth of my unique portion of worship on Him is more than I can stand.

          In light of this, my pursuit of Him will be all the more passionate and focused.  He is beckoning me to run after Him.  And I will do so with the knowledge that my violent pursuit of Him makes Him happy!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Christ's Supremacy

           Christ is supreme over all.  His power, authority, reign, and place are supreme.  His rule, His dominion is higher than any form of government.  Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  All things have been created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  Indeed, Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth.  And He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.  He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. (Colossians 1:15-18 , Ephesians 4:9-10)

          In spite of all this, Christ will not necessarily impress His supremacy on you, although it will always be in existence and prevail whether you recognize it or not. For He desires for you to be in cooperation and willing subjection to His will.  When you do acknowledge His supremacy, you position yourself to fall into  synchronization with God, where every area of your life overflows with a superabundance of God's presence.  God's desire to be in you and reveal Himself to the world through you is great indeed.  For that's the way God operates...through people!!!

          Therefore, let us live in the revelation of Christ's supremacy.  Let us recognize that His rule is supreme in our own lives, and that no earthly circumstance can overrule it.  And let us daily declare Christ's supremacy so that the reality of it is further solidified in our hearts. 

          

          

Living Under an Open Heaven

          Do not let apathy or disturbing, discouraging circumstances lessen your expectation of awesome and mighty miracles done by the power of God.  Your level of faith, your attitude, your state of mind and your heart should not be determined by earthly circumstances, but by the atmosphere of heaven.  Know that you live under an open heaven, and that you have the power to loose and bind things on earth that shall be loosed and bound in heaven, by the authority you possess in Christ.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Holy Spirit Permeation

          I declare that I am permeated with the Holy Spirit.  Just as I once possessed a sinful nature that so dominated me and dictated who I was, and which was rotten through and through with every type of corruption, infinitely moreso is my life now dominated and dictated by the Holy spirit. And since Christ is supreme, EVERY part, EVERY area that constitutes Thomas Goodwin is whole and filled through and through with the Spirit.  Everything that is Thomas has been soaked and is completely permeated by the Holy Spirit.

          Paul says in Ephesians 5:18b "...let the Holy Spirit fill and control you."  Paul goes on to say that the result or the evidence of letting the Holy Spirit fill and control is singing songs, hymns and spiritual songs.  Speaking, which includes singing, is evidence of a Spirit filled life.  And not just any speaking, of course.  You speak Spirit-inspired words that constitute the language of the Kingdom of God.  A language filled with substance and prophetic unction.

          There is a learning (and possibly an unlearning) that happens when you are being taught the language of the Spirit, which by the way, is not only tongues.  As you are put in various situations, your actions, especially your words, become Holy Ghost tempered and Biblically justified.  But they become more than just Biblically
justified; they become Biblically founded.  As you continue to chew on God's Word and experience the reality of Christ in His resurrection AND His ascension, you will discover that the foundation of your very selfhood is the Word.  In fact, it will constitute your identity.

          As Dr. Brown said, "We try to go through the day without leaving God out instead of having Him as the foundation of who we are."  THAT is deeper.  We should no longer wear our faith like apparel.  Jesus inhabits our very being, and His will is that our words, actions, and thoughts all flow from a place of rest in Him.  Our dispositions and even our complexions should reflect a deep, unshakable assurance of a place prepared by God for His faithful PEOPLE.

          To Him who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the Amen who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands, may the full reward of His suffering be given.  And to God, His Father and ours, be Glory, Honor, and Power forever.  Selah.


 MAY HIS SHALOM BE KNOWN AMONG HIS PEOPLE...THE KING'S PEOPLE!!!