HE Foresaw

 

Be Assured

 

The Appearing of the Lord (1st Thess 4:13-18)

13 Beloved brothers and sisters, we want you to be quite certain about the truth concerning those who have passed away,[h] so that you won’t be overwhelmed with grief like many others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who died while believing in him.[i] 15 This is the word of the Lord:[j] we who are alive in him and remain on earth when the Lord appears will by no means have an advantage over those who have already died,[k] for both will rise together.

16 For the Lord himself will appear with the declaration of victory, the shout of an archangel, and the trumpet blast of God. He will descend from the heavenly realm[l] and command those who are dead in Christ to rise first. 17 Then we who are alive will join them, transported together in clouds[m] to have an encounter[n] with the Lord in the air, and we will be forever joined with the Lord. 18 So encourage one another with these truths.

- Passion Bible

Your Story

Behold, what manner of love

 

'Hesed' as Mercy

God’s act of initiating covenant and then His fulfilling of every promise made in the covenant is an act of grace and mercy renewed every day. It is with this in mind that the translators chose the word “mercy” for the Hebrew hesed. The very thought of covenant love from God could only be translated in terms of mercy (which means that we do not get from God what we deserve) and grace (which means that we get from Him what we do not deserve)!

There was no pressure on God to seek after humans when they had freely chosen to sever themselves from Him. We must never forget that God freely chose to save us. There was no demand placed upon Him to do so from outside of Him, nor was there an incompleteness within Him that He needed humans to fill. Complete in Himself, He chose to save us out of sheer love. His covenant is a unilateral covenant originated in the mind of God before time, initiated and achieved by God alone. The only reason behind His desire to make such a covenant, to bring sinful humans into a relationship at infinite cost to Himself, is His unconditional love for us.

- Malcolm Smith

No Fear

 

Religion with Steve McVey

What Does God’s Presence Feel Like?

Since many of you don’t read the comments on these blogs, I wanted to highlight a question someone asked on the last one about my friend’s funeral:

What does God’s presence feel like? What do you mean when you say ‘God’s presence came powerfully into the room’? It’s one of those phrases that when people mention it, leaves me empty, because I don’t understand. It makes me wonder if I’m really getting all this God stuff or am doing something wrong. I mean it seems it’s a key thing yet I don’t get it. I think I have the spiritual capacity of a marshmallow!!

I get that question a lot, so I think others might be interested in my answer to her:

God’s presence “feels like” different things to different people, and even different ways in different circumstances. I don’t want to describe it as a feeling, because it goes way beyond that. At its heart it is a simple knowing that something greater than us is making his presence known in the room. That can be accompanied by supernatural events, a simple inner knowing, or the affirmation of what a number of people are sensing at the same moment.

For us at that hospital bed it was a powerful sense of connection with him and each other. It added a lightness to the room that was more spiritually seen than physically seen. It manifested itself in the lightness of heart and trust that we all sensed afterward, very different from when we went in. But it doesn’t always look like that, which is why I hesitate to define it. I find people recognize him less when they are burdened down by expectations of what it should look like. Then we are looking for manifestations, rather than simply seeking him.

For many people it isn’t so much that God isn’t making himself known, it’s that they haven’t yet tuned to his frequency to recognize his voice or his fingerprints in the simple realities around them. I think most of God’s supernatural working appears to be incredibly natural as it unfolds. Looking back we see with greater clarity what he was doing…

- Wayne Jacobsen

Religion Teaches

 Religion teaches that we are blessed by changing how we act. Grace teaches that the way we act changes because we are blessed.  Religion says to become a good person. Grace says you already are a good person. Religion insists. Grace inspires. Religion points to duty. Grace produces desire. Religion says to try harder. Grace says to trust Him. Religion says, "Be like us." Grace says, "You are like Me." Religion says to work. Grace says to rest. 

Two choices, and they don't mix. Don't suffocate yourself under the tyranny of religion. Embrace a life of freedom. That is the grace walk experience.

- Steve McVey

The World of Religion

 The world of religion is all about behavior management. They are obsessed with the subject of "sin." The thing they don't know is that where you put your focus determines what will manifest in your life. Science says it this way; 'Where attention goes, energy flows." The Bible says it like this: 

"People who live a sensual, earthy lifestyle put their attention on those things. Those who live by Spirit are the ones who put their focus there."

It's ironic that the thing religious people are trying to get others to avoid is the very thing they fertilize. (Consider what the best fertilizer is.) Using pious platitudes and religious regulations, they miss the whole point by directing attention in the wrong place.

Just relax. Know who you are and then live your life as your authentic self. We're all in process so give yourself a break. You're making progress everyday. Personal growth makes you real, not religious. Don't be deceived by thinking you need to do anything other than have an open heart and mind. It's in that spot that Divine Love meets us. It's in that spot we are to live our lives. That is the grace walk experience.

- Steve McVey

Things not Seen

 LETS NOT LOOK at the things seen, they are subject to rapid change. For stability and peace let's look through the eyes of the Father, and fix our gaze on what can't be seen which is eternal and not subject to change.... What is, is not what shall be.

- Don Keathley

He is Sufficient

 

Nearer than You Think

 

When you come together

Two Ways to Live

 

Evil is Real

 

Don't be Bound

 

Candy Bar Christians - Steve McVey

 Albert Camus once wrote, “Because I longed for eternal life, I went to bed with harlots and drank for nights on end.” Ironically, the very act of sin is a cry to experience life to the fullest. Every person is born with an insatiable thirst for transcendence, the opportunity to experience something that takes us outside ourselves to a place where we are so enthralled that every fiber of our being feels fully alive. We all long to know what it is to experience being one with something bigger than ourselves. The best we can do alone is to manufacture a mundane monotony that we instinctively sense is a pale substitute for the Life we hunger to experience.

In an effort to escape the land of Mundane Monotony, we sometimes listen to the sultry sirens that seduce us into sin. We mistakenly believe that there is something out there that can scratch the nagging itch in our souls, only to discover after sinning that we weren’t itching there at all. Apart from divine intervention, a person can spend a lifetime trying to satisfy a yearning that refuses to be squelched by artificial means.

James said that we sin when we are drawn away by our desires. (James 1:14) Drawn away from what or whom? Temptation is the lure to have our focus be carried away from Jesus Christ. Sin happens when we allow ourselves to turn from Him and to something else in order to try to find life elsewhere.

When we sin we soon discover that it never accomplishes what we really want. Sin can gratify, but never satisfy. It’s like eating a candy bar when you haven’t had a meal all day. It gives you an instant rush of gratification. You feel suddenly energized and it seems like you’ve made the right choice . . . for a short time.

Then the rush disappears and as the blood sugar level suddenly and drastically drops after eating the candy bar, and you find yourself feeling weaker and more depleted than you did before you made the choice to choose an empty snack over a satisfying and nutritious meal. You’re left once again feeling fatigued and unfulfilled. You know you need something more substantive and sustaining. It isn’t uncommon at that time to feel a sense of self-condemnation for having chosen to try to satisfy our hunger with such an unhealthy snack.

It’s the same with spiritual hunger. Albert Camus acknowledged that he searched for life in harlots and drunkenness. Where do you seek to find Life when you are drawn way from Jesus? What cheap substitutes have you been tempted to allow to take His place? It doesn’t have to be something as garish as harlots and drunkenness. It could be something much more respectable to other people than that.

James described the process like this:

“Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren” (James 1:14-17).

It begins when we experience a hunger within us. Often the hunger itself is not inherently wrong but temptation comes when we try to fill the hunger in an inappropriate way. For example, the hunger to experience the deep joy that can only come from Christ may be substituted by seeking the rush that drugs can bring. The desire to be loved, one that our God is more than willing and able to meet, may reach out to be met through an illicit relationship. Many a legitimate need that could readily be met by Jesus Christ can become a temptation when we allow ourselves to be carried away to try to have that need met in another way.

Once we have crossed the line of decision to sin (when lust has conceived), we commit the sin. Like eating the candy bar, there may be an immediate sense of pleasure but it doesn’t last. Sooner or later, we experience the death that always accompanies such a choice. Sin is always a dead-end in one way or the other.

There is a subtle danger that a legitimate hunger can seek to be met through things that don’t look wrong on the surface. Many people have tried to satisfy their hunger for an intimate relationship with Christ by substituting church work. Have you done that? It’s often easy to know the answer to that question based on this: If I were with you right now and asked you to tell me about your relationship to Jesus Christ, what would you say? Think about it. What would you say to me?

If you would immediately start to tell me about your church and your involvement in church, that should be a red flag. There is a big difference between religious activity and a relationship with Jesus Christ. In the culture of the modern church, it become easy to substitute what we do religiously for who we are in Christ and what we enjoy each day with Him. Our grace walk is not defined by religious activity but by our union with Him. Of course, authentic spiritual service is an overflow on an intimate relationship to God but that’s not the same as religious business that masks as something eternally real.

Whether it is cheap wine or even church work, anything we look to other than Jesus to satisfy our hunger becomes a sin to us. Christ alone will satisfy your hunger. Only He will offer the transcendent pleasure of being fully alive. Don’t be drawn away from Him. He loves you and offers you life to the fullest. Anything else is empty calories.

Work and Rest

 

Steve McVey Writes: "Dead Things "

I recently read a story about a little boy whose pet cat was killed one day while he was in school. His mother was very concerned about how he would take the news. When he got home, she explained what happened. The little boy turned away and began to cry. "Don't worry," the mother said reassuringly. "He's in heaven with God now." The little boy whirled on his mother and with desperation and anger in his voice yelled, "What's God gonna do with a dead cat?"

That's how we all feel sometimes, don't we? We know God has the situation in His hands, but from our perspective the outcome seems final and the whole thing appears to have a finality to it that is completely unacceptable to us. Despite the fact that we know it’s in His hands, we want to scream, "What's God gonna do with a dead cat?!" In other words, "Why did it have to end this way?"

Mary and Martha felt the same desperation when they buried their brother, Lazarus. Martha spoke for all of us during the times when our crisis doesn't seem to end with a miracle, but with a misery that screams despair into our emotions and thoughts. Martha said, "Lord, if you had been here!" Do you feel that way about situations in your life? Does it seem like there have been times when Jesus wasn’t in town when you needed Him the most?

At times it is impossible to understand the divine reasoning behind God’s actions or, more often it seems, His lack of visible action in our circumstances. In John 11, the Bible shows that Mary and Martha faced this very dilemma.

The text says, “Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."

The reasoning of Jesus in waiting two more days before coming to Bethany makes perfect sense to us now, since we know the whole story. God received greater glory by raising Lazarus from the death than he would have by healing him. That possibility wasn’t one that would have occurred to these two sisters at all so how could it make sense to them? All they could see was that Jesus wasn’t coming through for them when they needed Him the most.

We all feel like these two at times, don’t we? You may have faced situations in your life where you have struggled to understand why your prayers about the matter seemed to be ignored. It seemed to you that, at a time when you most needed divine intervention, God was inactive.

In moments like that it is important to remember that your perspective is limited to what you can see at the moment. Mary and Martha couldn’t imagine how their situation could possibly have a good ending, but God had one in mind all along. You can be assured that the same God who raised Lazarus from the dead is fully aware of your problems.

From your finite understanding you too may not be able to imagine how your situation could possibly end well, but remember this: You don’t see things from the eternal perspective. Your Father does, so trust Him. He has not forgotten nor is He ignoring you.

There actually is an answer to the question, "What's God gonna do with a dead cat?" He may resurrect it. Dead things don't deter God. He can put life right back into something that is already dead. Hope isn't gone just because a situation appears to have ended.

God may not resurrect it, but may instead redeem it. In other words, He will use the disappointments and devastations of our lives to accomplish a greater purpose. We don't know what's good and what's bad for us. Only He does. What we do know is that our Father loves us. He isn't sadistic, but gently and tenderly loves us at all times. Never do we need to believe that more than when life makes no sense.

When circumstances spiral downward and God doesn't step in to change them, He can use the outcome in a positive way. We don't have to see how He plans to use it for that fact to be true. Faith means that we trust Him even when our senses tell us all hope is gone.

Our faith is in our God, period. Faith doesn’t require believing that we will get what we want. Instead, it knows that we get what God wants and it is being willing to accept that and rest in it even if our emotions and thoughts argue.

So, “what's God gonna do with a dead cat?” Whatever He wants. His role is to be in charge. Ours is to trust. 

He is a Coward

Add caption

 

What God HAS revealed

 

Jesus' Love

 

Rejection Sucks

Rejection sucks doesn’t it? 

Being blunt, cause it deserves honesty. So let’s be honest; it sucks. For real. 

What I have learned though and become quite intimate with is this. In the deep places where it can sometimes really sting the most,  there you are Papa.  Abba, Father. ❤️❤️

Your light ✨ absorbs all the darkness of pain and you set us firmly on a ROCK. Your love is a consuming fire burning away all that doesn’t affirm us or that which blocks us from seeing the very truth of who we are. All that causes us to feel this lie of being separated. 

The sweet whisper of Holy Spirit from within that declares who we really are: accepted in the beloved. Wholly acceptance. And that we are firmly seated in heavenly places; with you; tethered to this full acceptance, deeply and passionately saturated in your Perfect Love. 

Knowing this perfect love will set a man or woman free from ever needing approval. 

It’ll set us free from the need to have the final word; the need to be understood and the most freeing is the need to be right 

Lisa couture writes:

 I have felt an ache and burden in my heart this week. I keep hearing the phrase over and over- 

SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST 

Galatians 6:14 But for me, may it be never to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

2 Corinthians 11:30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news of the radical grace of  JESUS. 

SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST

Each of us if we were honest know we didn’t wake up to this glorious redemption because of one single thing we did. We weren’t even looking and instead living alienated and then the loving kindness of our Father provoked us from within. He wooed and He drew us into freedom! And yet so often, right after we wake and received this beautiful truth, we get swept into a system. And our language shifts to ministry and eventually right back onto man and self. 

So often it becomes about our *church denomination*, our *prayer life*, our *ministry*, our *good works*, our *tithe*, our *worship* our *anointing*, our *calling*, our *fasting*, our *dying to self*, our*strong faith* our *number of salvations*, our *evangelism*, our *bible knowledge*, our *doctrine*, on and on this performance based weary list can go. 

The GOSPEL is not what we do or what we did to get to God. It’s what we BE because HE came to us. Immanuel, Christ with us and now in us. 

SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST.

•It’s actually the Faith OF Jesus Christ that we even know Him.

•It’s Jesus Christ who was faithful and it was He who died so that now we will live in Union with Abba, Son and Holy Spirit. 

•It’s Holy Spirit’s anointing which we all have now. It is not just for the special people at a higher level who got a special anointing. 

•He is the one who saved us FOR good works but it is not our good works that gets us to Him. 

SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST

It even strikes me strange now when I hear people say they had many *decisions for Christ* at an event. 

Because the TRUTH is God the Father IN CHRIST as revealed by Holy Spirit is the WHO that made a decision for us! He did it all! SO THAT NO ONE CAN BOAST. 

If we have any special ministry it is the one called out by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5 of seeing no one after the flesh (as they are behaving) and instead as reconciled and telling them that message, Christ reconciled you! Telling them they have been reconciled, now be who you are and BE reconciled. 

BUT JESUS DID IT ALL! 

And in this union we are

*Radically loved

*Wholly Forgiven 

*Holy and set apart by His Love

*Blameless

*Redeemed

*Righteous 

*Blessed

*Fully Accepted 

*Healed and made whole 

This is what salvation looks like. So don’t think that prayer you prayed is what saved you.  It was all Jesus Christ and His doing.  

Jesus never spoke to my fallen self. He only spoke to who I am. I was blind one day like Paul and then God woke me up by the whisper of His still soft voice from within, telling me who I was! Who HE made me to be and like the lost treasure in the field I was lost, but now I am found. And that treasure always had value. It never lost its value. He woke me up to my value and my origin. 

Why are we not seeing this message more in the church? Why is it more about moral superiority and us vs them and messages that sound more like “I am so glad I don’t sin like that group or that person over there”. Why is it all about man? Could it be we have begun to boast in ourselves? This is something I think is on God’s heart. A return to the Glorious Gospel of Grace. 

This is not a new message. Paul proclaimed this message. Christ alone and Him crucified was His message. It was never about us and what we can do to get back to God. It was always a message of reconciliation telling people and proclaiming the day of the Lord and the good news that IN Christ we are accepted! 

NOW wake up oh sleeper and BE WHO YOU ARE! All because Of Jesus Christ.  

SO THAT NO MAN CAN BOAST.

Holy Spirit Testifies of Jesus

 Holy Spirit testifies of JESUS. 

If what we are experiencing in any ministry of the spirit is not speaking to our identity in Christ and all the FULLNESS of this joyous blissful inheritance within us already; we are missing it. 

The kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost. So if any ministry is not connecting us to the fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness gentleness, faithfulness or self control, already within us, it may not be the ministry of the Holy spirit. 

What we are thinking becomes who we are. So if we are obsessing about the works of darkness or constantly looking at fallenness, this isn’t how God speaks to us.  

💎 He points out the GOLD in us. He will minister to the treasure in us all. 

So thinking on things, speaking of things of darkness will only produce darkness. Paul says to think on things pure, lovely, noble, true, admirable,  etc because this will lead us to PEACE. He also says cast down (toss away) any vain imaginations(Image is in that word)  that bombard our thinking because these are lies. They speak contrary to who we truly are in Christ! So we have to cast those lies as they try to invade our minds. Just think of a fishing rod and cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. They are not ours to own. 

✨We have the mind of Christ.

Holy Spirit will always lead and guide us to all truth already. That we are complete in Him. 

We must become like children again I believe.

Steve McVey Writes:

Lets stop worrying and just trust 

I have vague memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis that happened in 1962 when I was a young child. Some say it was the closest the United States has ever been to nuclear war. One of the main things I remember is that our church family brought canned food and bottled water and put it under a stairway inside the church building. The plan was that we would all would all gather together at church if a missile were to be launched against us.

As my young friends and I explored, we sat under the stairs with the stockpile of food and water and I thought to myself, "This wouldn't be a bad place to stay for awhile." I wasn't worried about the potential danger at hand. I knew something very bad could happen, but reasoned that my parents would take care of me. So while adults worried and prayed and collected bottles of water and cans of food, I laughed and played without a care in the world.

This seemed to be the way of the early church, even in the face of persecution. The second chapter of Acts describes a group of people who laughed and loved, who shared meals and money; people who enjoyed life by trusting their Father regardless of threats that may have been nearby. Even in the fact of potential danger, joy was the order of the day. They would have fully affirmed C. S. Lewis's claim that "joy is the serious business of heaven."

A spirit of God-centered calmness is often conspicuously absent in contemporary Christianity. What urgent matters have we allowed to rob us of our playful spirit? Aren't we people of faith? We are going to live forever. Temporal things won't even be remembered, let alone matter a hundred years from now. Sure, they matter now but let's put it all in perspective. What are we trying to prove by our stress-filled agendas and to whom are we trying to prove it? There's no doubt about it, most of us need to relax.

Don’t be tempted to think that circumstances have the power to steal an attitude of rejoicing. New Testament believers didn’t have it easy either. Acts 16 describes a very hard situation faced by Paul and Silas on the first missionary trip to Europe. They had just finished preaching when a riot broke out. The Bible describes it:

“ The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were unfastened” (Acts 16:22-26).

With their own lives in jeopardy, Paul and Silas sang. What a display of confidence that their Father would take care of them! They knew that the worst thing that could happen would be that they might soon be brought home to heaven and that is no threat!

What threatening circumstance do you find yourself in today? Whatever it is, God knows about it and He will take care of you. When we don't maintain an attitude of internal joy that can't be touched by external circumstances, the rhythms of grace in our life become discordant. The music soon stops.

To rejoice doesn't mean you're oblivious to danger, but it does mean you trust in the protection of your Father. Your security rests in Him, not in the outcome of whatever circumstances you find yourself. You can be confident in Him, not in the outcome of what is happening at a given moment in time.

This is the message we're sharing at Grace Walk. Our staff in six countries are all working hard, even in the midst of the pandemic. I appreciate your help getting the message out. Thank you in advance for whatever amount you choose to donate, and I want those who faithfully stand with us financially to know how much I do appreciate you.! 

The Gospel Changes

Steve McVey Writes:

Canned Goods and Closed Hearts

My parents were born during the decade of "The Great Depression." It was a time when many families in America struggled to put food on their tables. Luxuries pretty much became vague memory for most Americans during those days. Finding enough food for another week was the goal for most families then.

I grew up hearing the stories about meals consisting of salted pork fat back and biscuits, with syrup or gravy made from a limited amount of flour. I must say that I'm thankful I didn't have to eat meals like that when I was a child. We never lacked for food.

I did, however, notice something that many people my age may remember about their parent's kitchen cabinets. The cupboard was always filled with canned foods and the freezer was packed with meat and vegetables. Green beans, creamed corn, navy beans, canned yams, peas of various assortments, applesauce, even hominy (a food that ranks right down there with fat back) lined our shelves. Open the kitchen cabinet doors in the home of my childhood and you would think we were about to have an army come over for dinner. Sometime, before Melanie and I go to the grocery store now, the cabinets look pretty empty. Not so in my parent's kitchen. There was always food.

There was an irony about the whole situation. Much of the food in those cabinets seemed to stay there a long time. I don't think I ever saw the cupboard empty. As an adult looking back on the situation, I think I get it.

My parent's generation had known what it was like to be without food. Consequently, somewhere deep inside them a voice must have said, "I will never be caught without enough food to eat again." Thus, the massive inventory of canned goods. Come what may in life, there would be food in the cabinets.

I think that's how many of us face most areas of our lives. We have faced circumstances at times that created a sense of loss or need within us. Because the situation was painful, somewhere deep inside us, we said, "This won't ever happen to me again." So we hoarded what we have and shut the cabinet door. We went into the self-protection mode.

Some were hurt by a friend and have now closed the door on vulnerability. They'll never trust another person as a true friend. Others have had a marriage go sour. Today, they won't completely open up to their mate because of fear. If they give everything, they risk losing everything again. Some were emotionally burned at church. Now, they have lumped all churches in the same hypocritical pile and won't become an integral part of a church fellowship.

The hurts differ, but the response is common. Shut the door of my heart and don't risk losing what I have or being hurt. After all, if it happened once, . . .

What "great depression" have you experienced in life? What commodity did you feel you had taken from you when you needed it most? Was it trust? Love? Friendship? What have you lost?

As a result have you tried to stuff those things deep inside you that you don't want to ever lose again? Are you fearful to take them out? Have you resolved that you'll never find yourself in that kind of situation again?

The healing grace of God can free you from the debilitation of your past hurts. The problem with erecting an emotional wall to keep others from hurting us is that it also blocks us from experiencing love, affirmation, affection and other positive qualities that we need to feed our souls. In Isaiah 53:4, the Bible says about Jesus: “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried.”

When the Scripture says that Jesus “bore” our grief, it uses an interesting word in the original Hebrew language in which it was written. It uses the word nasa', a word that means, “to lift up; to take away.” It reminds me of NASA, the acronym for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the agency that has directed America’s space program.

The Bible says that Jesus Christ has lifted up and taken away your grief. It is as if it has been ejected into outer space, far, far away from you. You don’t have to be controlled by the grief of your past. Believe that He has taken it away and find healing from its residual effect in your life.

Jesus Christ will be the Great Physician to your wounded heart. The Psalmist wrote, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). Submit your wounded heart to him and allow Him to heal you. What a waste if you were to spend the rest of your life with unresolved pain that He stand ready to heal!

There's a problem with keeping canned goods in a cupboard too long. The food will spoil. Sometimes the cans will even explode. What seemed like a good idea initially, ultimately is proven to be the wrong choice.

Don't make that mistake in your life. Open the doors of your heart and utilize what is there. Trust people. When pain arises within you, cast “all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

Open yourself up to be vulnerable. Share from your heart with those you love. The Great Depression is over. Don't judge your future by the past. You have much to share. Don't hide it behind closed doors. There's a hungry world around you and you have what they need. 

In the Dark

 

Your Life

 

Steve McVey Writes

Making Music Together with Christ

Give me any of the great compositions written by Bach and let me sit down to the piano and I can play every note of the piece. Hand me Marriage of Figaro by Mozart and I can play every note on the page. That’s right, I won’t miss a note. When I play the songs for you, there will be only one problem with my effort. I can’t play the notes on the page in the order they are written. In other words, I can only sit down and bang on the piano, hitting every note at practically the same time to ensure that at some point I will have struck every key on the piano keyboard.

Can you envision me doing what I’m describing? Banging on the piano like a small child? What I said initially is true. When I’m finished, I will have played every note written by the composer just not the way he intended. That fact creates a problem. What I would be doing isn’t really making music. I would be making a mockery of the composer’s original intention.

Sometimes we all have a tendency to live our lives that way. The Holy Spirit reveals to us God’s plan for our lives in certain ways and we then set out to make it happen. We think that if we just know the plan God has for us, we can make it play out. However, when we try to do it on our own, instead of making music we create a discordant mess.

Abraham did it when God told him that He was going to give him a son through Sarah. The song didn’t have the tempo Abraham expected. It moved too slowly for him, so he decided to take matters into his own hands by going to Hagar. Nine months later a sour note was born named Ishmael.

God’s people have often found themselves off key when they have tried to live independent of Him. Israel one day determined that they would defeat Jericho on their own terms instead of following the direction of the Composer/Conductor and they soon found themselves singing the discordant dirge of defeat.

The early disciples were told to wait in the upper room until they were endued with power from on high. Instead Peter took the baton and led the whole group in a stanza of “Let’s Elect A New Apostle.” Somebody named Matthias ended up as the new note in the symphony of early church history, but he didn’t really fit the piece. In fact, he played that one measure in church life and then pretty much was never heard from again. In God’s time, Paul became a sustained note He played who harmonized perfectly with His Salvation Sonata.

There’s a lesson we need to learn and then learn again. We can’t make the music. Only God can. He wrote the melody and He alone is the one who can conduct it.

How does this practically apply to your life? It means that it is important to wait on the Lord. Don’t grow impatient because you believe the things God wants for your circumstances aren’t unfolding as fast as you think they should be happening.

God is the composer of your life. He writes the notes and He leads the playing of the composition. When we try to take matters into our own hands, we’re acting like a child banging on the piano. There’s no way we can turn our circumstances into music.

Impatience breeds problems in life. The Bible often encourages patience in our grace walk. The psalmist wrote, “Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37:5-7) He will do it, the psalmist assures us. We don’t’ have to make anything happen. Our only responsibility is to commit it all to Him and then trust that His timing is perfect.

Isaiah wrote, “Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength” (Isaiah 40:31). The word “gain” denotes the idea of an exchange. As we wait for Him to act, our weakness is yielded into the hands of our Loving Father and His strength rises up in us.

Paul encouraged the church at Rome, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12). When you have your afflictions sandwiched between joyful hope and faithful prayer, as this verse illustrates, you can be assured that everything is on schedule according to the divine timetable.

Saint Augustine said that patience is the companion of wisdom. Most of us have unwisely created needless frustrations for ourselves by refusing to wait for God’s timing. We later regretted it. The question is, “Did we learn from our mistake?”

If you patiently wait on the Lord, you will discover that His timing and His order will create a melody in your life that you could never create. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you have to make something happen. Just keep your eyes on the Conductor and He will tell you when to hit the notes and which ones to hit. When you follow His direction, you will be amazed at the tune of triumph you will hear coming out of your own life. Anything else is nothing more than the flat notes of a faithless lifestyle. 

Father's Love

 

Steve McVey Writes:

We are Not in Kansas Any More

 In The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy and Toto were lifted from their home in Kansas by a tornado and carried to the land of Oz, it was a whole new world there. Until then everything had existed in a land of black and white, but when Dorothy opened the door on this new dimension of living, suddenly for the first time she saw that she had found a home rich with beautiful colors.

As she entered into her new life in that wonderful place over the rainbow, she soon discovered that many things were different than they had been in her old life. Standing in awe of the beauty that was revealed to her, she rightly concluded, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

This is the experience of every person to whom God graciously reveals the reality of our true identity in Christ and what it means to walk in grace. Many have lived for years in a world of empty routine, marked by drab, colorless religious activity that holds no real beauty. We were sincere as we went about the business of doing our daily chores for God. Deep within, however, there was a gnawing hunger, a desire for something more. Many of us wondered at times if what we were experiencing was all there is to the Christian life. Surely there must be more “somewhere.”

When Joshua prepared the people of Israel to cross the Jordan River to go into the promise land, he cautioned them to carefully follow The Ark of the Covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence with them. He made clear to them that the reason they needed to follow God was, “you have not passed this way before.” In Canaan there would be so much to learn. Everything there would be new. The culture, the food, the language and many other things would be new when they arrived there.

It’s the same way for us when God delivers us from the wilderness of self-imposed religious-rules-keeping and brings us into the land of grace. We find ourselves in a new world where old terminology doesn’t fit. Old methods of living are obsolete. Even the vulgar language of guilt, shame, self-effort and personal determination are replaced with the mother tongue of life that effortlessly flows from our King. We learn to relax in a world where we don’t live in tension about being judged for missteps but instead gain the freedom to live boldly knowing that our faith will be affirmed even when we think we have failed.

We couldn't have imagined what a grace walk would look like. It is better than anything a person could ever conceive. In the land of grace, it is necessary to renew our minds to a new way of life. It takes time to see by experience that the old ways of living don't fit in this new world. Grace isn't simply a truth we add to our lifestyles. God's grace expressed through the indwelling Christ becomes our life. He doesn't simply make the landscape of life more beautiful. He is the very air we breathe. "In Him we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28).

Entering into an understanding of this kind of world brings about a transformation in the way we think. We will find that the way we see all of life is changed as our minds are renewed by the grace of God. The old assumptions about life that Dorothy held in Kansas had to be scrapped when she arrived in her home over the rainbow. As you move deeper into the land of grace, you will discover that you too will begin to interpret life through a new paradigm. Your adjustment to living in the land of grace will be rewarding if you are willing to have old beliefs removed and replaced by new ones which are appropriate for the new world in which you now live.

The Bible says, "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2). The old world is a world of dead morality where everything is black and white. The only thing that matters there is doing your chores and doing them well. Life revolves around laws of cause and effect. To be transformed means to step across the forms set by the world of morality and be renewed in our minds to the reality of our God’s eternal, unchanging, never-diminishing, outrageous love!

In the new world of grace, the only cause for blessings is the goodness of God. He wants to renew your mind to this new way of life. It is a life where He blesses you, not because of how good you are, but because of how good He is. Purpose at this moment to stop viewing life through the lens of your old life. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You aren't in Kansas anymore. You are in the land of grace -- a place where God is anxious to show you all the beauty He has prepared for you. Don't try to apply the principles of life you knew before in this new place. They don't fit. Just trust Him. He has the days ahead already planned for you. It isn't your responsibility to navigate your way through life. Just walk with Him. Follow the grace-bricked road and enjoy the journey. 

What we need

 

Who have we come to worship

 An element of worship we treasure at Grace Fellowship Church is the Call to Worship. This is the element at the beginning of the service that is essentially a declaration that we are now beginning something special, something different from everything else we will experience through the week. As we explicitly call people to worship, we implicitly call them from other activities, other concerns, other responsibilities. Sometimes these calls to worship are spoken by the pastor and sometimes, as below, they are responsive. Here’s one from a recent service that I particularly enjoyed.

Leader: Who have we come to worship?

All: The great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts, great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. (Jeremiah 32:18-19)

Leader: Why should we worship Him?

All: Our Lord and God is worthy, to receive glory and honour and power, for He created all things, and by His will they existed and were created. (Revelation 4:11)

Leader: Shouldn’t we be afraid to approach such a great God?

All: The tax collectors and sinners all drew near to hear Jesus. (Luke 15:1)

Leader: So we may come before Him with confidence?

All: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

Leader: What shall we say to our great Redeemer and Saviour?

All: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! (Revelation 5:12)

No hands but HIS ever holds the shears

Suffering is never pleasant. We never welcome trials as we do joys, for suffering always brings sorrow, it always brings pain. Sometimes a loved one is taken from us and we experience the aching grief of absence. Sometimes we suffer the loss of money, property, or position and we mourn what has been torn from us. Sometimes we are tried by sickness or unremitting pain and we lament the pleasures we can no longer enjoy. No matter how suffering comes and no matter the form it takes, it is always painful. And it is in our pain we need to remember the words of Jesus who said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. … Every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1–2).

God is a gardener and we are branches under his care. He looks after us with all the attentiveness of a gardener who longs to see his vine bear fruit. He tends us, he nourishes us, and when necessary he prunes us. And though we do not welcome those times when pains cut deep into our souls, we have this confidence: No hand but his ever holds the shears. If it is our loving gardener who does the pruning, we can be sure there are never any unwise or careless cuts. Though we may not know why this branch has had to be trimmed or that one removed, we do know the one who wields the blade. We know his faultless wisdom, his perfect vision, his steady hand. We know he makes no mistakes.

There is still more comfort to be found. Jesus says the Father trims every branch that bears fruit. Suffering, then, is not a sign of God’s disapproval but his approval, for it is the branches that are already bearing that he carefully cuts. Barren branches are chopped off and thrown into the fire, but the lush and living ones are trimmed so they will be more fruitful still. In fact, to escape all pruning is no sign of God’s favor, for a branch must be tended, it must at times be trimmed, if it is to continue to bear. A wise gardener will sometimes have to make deep cuts, shearing off branch after branch, bud after bud. But what may look senseless to the untrained eye will soon lead to fruit of a richer, fuller flavor.

The gardener never stops caring for his vine, and God never stops caring for his children. His disposition toward us is always mercy and love. There is often more of his blessing in things we regard as evil than things we regard as good. Pain may be better for us than pleasure. Loss may enrich us more than gain. Sorrow may equip us more fully than joy. The vine must be pruned if it is to bear fruit that is abundant and sweet.

There are times when it is easy see the goodness of God in our circumstances, but there are also times when we can barely see it at all. It is then that we need faith that is truly Christian—faith to believe in goodness we cannot yet see. And there must always be goodness in our circumstances, for God does not send us two classes of providence, one good and one bad. No, everything works for good for those who are loved by God and called according to his purpose. Through the eyes of faith we see that our suffering is God’s goodness in seed form. It takes time for the seed to mature and to grow and to bud and to bear fruit. Many of the good things in our lives come first as pain, first as suffering, first as disappointment, but afterward they bloom into the rich fruits of righteousness—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…

Vines must be pruned if they are to bear fruit; Christians must experience trials if we are to grow in grace. Trials will come, and we must do more than passively endure them. We must submit to them and even embrace them as the will of the Father. We must determine we will emerge from them as better Christians, to have gained more of the mind of Christ, to have grown in love for God and our fellow man. For we know that just as pruning causes the vine to be more abundant, the cutting away of earthly pleasures and illicit joys causes us to bear the good and sweet fruits of righteousness and peace. We know that the only sorrow capable of truly harming us is the sorrow that does us no good.

(Inspired by J.R. Miller’s Practical Religion)

He Loves Me

 

Heaven

 

Steve McVey Writes:

 Love Changes Everything

Jackie is a young woman who lived in the inner city projects for many years. She had lived a hard life as a drug addict who sometimes sold her body to men to sustain her habit. Some might have blamed it on her upbringing, which had been anything but normal. From the time she was a child, the men in her life had abused and exploited her. Now, as an adult, she trusted no man. None. She was callused. Her language was unusually foul for a woman and she despised men.

A Christian man was visiting in her community when one day he met Jackie, smiled and said hello. Jackie rudely frowned at Don and immediately turned away. The next day Don returned to her community and again smiled and said hello. Again she turned away. However, Don was persistent. Day after day he came to visit her neighbors and each day he smiled and spoke to Jackie.

After a while, she actually began to think that maybe - just maybe, this guy was sincerely nice. Then the thought would rush into her mind, "But why would he have any interest in me? What does he want?" However, despite her skepticism and suspicions about his kindness, she began to respond to him a little more each day, until finally she was having conversations with Don.

As weeks turned into months, Jackie began to realize something. Don was interested in her as a lady. Not in an inappropriate way either. He seemed to genuinely care for her in the way that a man loves a woman with a purity that she had only dreamed about until now. Could it be that what she was feeling might be true? Did he really love her, as it seemed?

As the thought of being the recipient of this wonderful man’s love took root in her mind, Jackie began to change. First, she found that she didn’t want to use foul language when she talked to him anymore. She began to anticipate his visits each day and would get dressed up, put on her makeup and even wear perfume. She wanted to be pleasing to him. He had never criticized her looks or behavior. To the contrary, from the beginning Don had accepted her just like she was. That itself motivated her to want to change.

As Don shared his love with Jackie day after day, she bloomed. Little by little, her life was transformed from a hardened, drug-addicted prostitute into a real lady. The change didn’t happen because Don pointed out all her faults because he didn’t. She wasn’t transformed into a lady because it was what she thought she ought to do. His love motivated her to want to become the lady she was created to be. He didn’t lay religious rules on her; he just loved her and his relationship to her caused the change in her to become a natural result.

Have you realized the transforming power that comes through knowing that Jesus Christ loves you exactly where you are at this moment? Your religious upbringing may cause a haunting voice to criticize you, causing you to feel a shameful need to do better first, but don’t confuse that for the voice of Christ. He never criticizes, never tells you that youhave to change to be loved and completely accepted by Him. He loves you right where you are, no matter what you’re doing or not doing. It’s amazing. Even at times you don’t love yourself, He does.

This issue is one of the biggest differences between authentic Christianity and the legalistic counterfeit that often calls itself by the same name. New Testament Christianity is as immersed in grace as a fish living in the ocean. Where there is no loving grace present, there is no authentic expression of Christianity. God is love and Jesus has come to make that love known to us. He loves you at every moment, in every situation you find yourself.

The pseudo-Christianity of the modern world focuses primarily on a need to change ourselves to position ourselves into a better standing with God. This unloving brand of legalism will not help you because it is not biblical Christianity. It is a poser, a counterfeit, and an imposter. It can never empower anybody to change because its core value isn’t the love of God revealed in Jesus. At its core is the demand for an improved religious performance.

Even if you could change the way you behave, it would have absolutely no effect on how God feels about you. His love isn’t provoked by our actions but by the miraculous agape that flows out of Him completely independent of our actions or attitudes. Rules may tell you to change to gain God’s love but grace tells you that you are loved right now and couldn’t be loved any more.

Legalism changes nothing for the better. The love of God truly changes everything. If you hunger to see growth in your personal grace walk, abandon every religious thought. Embrace the biblical truth of Divine Love in order to experience the transformation you long to know.

Do you know how much He loves you? It is humanly illogical that He should love us so much, but He does. Stop trying to change yourself. That’s an empty religious act. You don’t have to do that. Just receive His love and He will change you. Until then, enjoy Him. You’ll be amazed at the power to change you’ll discover rising up in you as you simply accept His love.

Define Yourself

 

Steve McVey Writes: Can we trust our hearts

 A young student once approached Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and said, “I would like to write a concerto. Can you help me?"

"You're too young," Mozart told him, "wait a few years."

"But is it not true that you were composing music when you were just seven or eight?" the student persisted.

"Yes," answered Mozart, "but I didn't have to ask anybody how."

People often recognize what is within their heart at an early age. It takes a jaded adult perspective to strip a child of the simple faith to believe that he can be an astronaut or inventor or even President. Children have no trouble trusting that their heart will tell them the truth. Maybe that is part of the reason why Jesus said we must become like a little child to live in God's kingdom.

To recognize what is in your own heart is a major step in fulfilling the plan your Father has for your life. Once a person has the capacity to know what is in his heart and, along with that knowledge, possesses a childlike faith to trust His heart, his realm of possibilities multiply exponentially. Your dreams and core desires aren't silly. They never were. They have been divinely placed within you. They aren't coincidental, but have been joined together by Divine Design.

To live from the heart is to reconnect with your core desires that have been divinely deposited within you. In rediscovering your heart you’re likely to learn that your gifts and abilities align perfectly with those desires. After all, a loving God who has a master plan for your life has created you.

Living from the heart is different than living from the head. Our minds rationalize, scrutinize and analyze to determine whether or not our dreams are possible. The mind considers the external factors related to the situation and decides whether or not to pursue the course based on what it perceives to be the probability of a successful outcome. The heart knows no such boundaries, but challenges us to reach beyond natural limitations as if there were no limits to what might be done.

To successfully integrate your faith into your daily lifestyle, it is necessary to learn to trust your heart again, as you did when you were a child. Your mind certainly isn't an enemy of your heart, but in a world where we have been programmed to believe that reason alone reigns, it is important to once again lay hold of the dreams of your heart and realize that you can trust what you discover there.

How do you recognize the calling of your heart? The answer is closely related to understanding what moves you, what matters most to you. Do you want to rediscover your heart? You can find it by identifying the things you value most in life. Your heart isn't interested in becoming rich, but in becoming real - to live from your authentic self. It is what matters most, not what pays most that captures the heart.

One highly successful man said to me, "I can make money, but what I really want is to make a difference." That man was speaking from his heart. The well-known statement about having climbed the ladder to the top only to discover it was against the wrong wall describes an all too common situation for many people. We know instinctively that we were created for a higher calling in the workplace than simply to gain prestige, power and possessions. Blaise Pascal said in the seventeenth century, "the heart has reasons of which reason knows nothing."

Many with a church background grew up being bombarded with the Old Testament teaching that, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Because they have locked in on that single verse to the exclusion of others, they have come to doubt their own heart, believing it to be untrustworthy. While it is true that apart from God’s transforming grace, man’s heart is deceitful and wicked, you don’t live at that place. You have been embraced by the grace of God and have been transformed.

God promised in another place, “I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart” (Ezekiel 36:36, NLT). As a child of God, that is where you live. Your heart’s desire is to be obedient to God and to glorify Him. Why else would you be reading a book like this? Trust your heart. God has transformed it by His grace.

You can trust your heart because it belongs to Jesus Christ. You have become a partaker of the divine nature. (See 2 Peter 1:4) His life is your life. Learning to trust your heart will progress in direct proportion to choosing to believe that truth.

If Christ is your life (and He is), then you can live boldly and confidently, knowing that the One who has begun a good work in you will finish what He has started. (See Philippians 1:6) Your role is to trust your heart, knowing that Christ indwells it. His role is to see to it that the mission to which you have been appointed is discovered and fulfilled.

When you have learned to trust your heart, you will find that you become emboldened to experience the next characteristic of one who successfully integrates faith into the marketplace. You will be ready to live with gusto, drawing others to yourself by your enthusiasm.

If Christ is your life (and He is), then you can live boldly and confidently, knowing that the One who has begun a good work in you will finish what He has started. (See Philippians 1:6) Your role is to trust your heart, knowing that Christ indwells it. Step out in faith knowing that His role is to see to it that the mission to which you have been appointed is discovered and fulfilled.

Pastoral Prayer of Spurgeon

Our Father, blessed be Thy name forever and ever. Oh, that we praised Thee more! We must confess we never bless Thee as we ought, and our life is far too full of murmuring, or at the best too full of self-seeking, for even in prayer we may do this; and there is too little of lauding and adoring, and praising, and magnifying, and singing the high praises of Jehovah.

O God, wilt Thou teach us to begin the music of heaven! Grant us grace to have many rehearsals of the eternal Hallelujah. ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.’ Grant us grace that we may not bring Thee blessings merely because Thou dost feed us, and clothe us, and because we receive so many mercies at Thy hand, but may we learn to praise Thee even when Thou dost put us under the rod, and when the heart is heavy, and when mercies seem but scant. Oh, that when the flocks are cut off from the stall, and there is no harvest, we may nevertheless rejoice in God.

O Lord, teach us this very morning the art of praise. Let our soul take fire, and like a censer full of frankincense, may our whole nature send forth a delicious perfume of praiseful gratitude unto the ever blessed One, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

America's President

 

How to Share With Just Friends

How to share with just friends.

Posted by Facebook on Friday, December 5, 2014

Silly Game of Shame: Steve McVey Writes:

 Shame may well be the most destructive force that works against many people. It is a weapon intended by our Adversary to paralyze us with fear and insecurity. Nothing more effectively stops us dead in our tracks and brings all progress in our grace walk to a screeching halt.

Shame sneers at us with its sharp point gouging the raw nerves of our insecurities, challenging us, “Who do you think you are? Look at yourself! How could God possibly be pleased with somebody like you?” When we don’t know the truth, our immediate response is to lower our heads, look away from our Father’s loving gaze and then go into hiding.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, things changed for them. The Bible says, “But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid” (Genesis 3:9-10). Fear stemming from shame was the immediate result of Adam’s sin and has been the lingering problem for humanity ever since then.

Adam hid because he was naked. Imagine that. From the moment Adam and Eve were created, they’d never been anything but naked and it didn’t matter to them at all because it didn’t matter to God. Now, after eating from the forbidden tree, embarrassment and shame enters the human story. Adam and Eve imagined that God wouldn’t be accepting of them the way they were anymore.

God hadn’t changed at all. He still came for His walk as He had done every day, but Adam and Eve had changed completely. Sin had perverted their perception of God’s character so that they now imagined Him as One who would be angry and punitive toward them.

Remember this important truth: Adam’s sin did not change God; it only changed Adam. The same is true about your own life. There is nothing you have done or could ever do that would change how God feels toward you. God is love and your sin cannot negate that fact. Until you realize that God isn’t upset with you, angry with you, disappointed in you or has distanced Himself from you, peace will elude you. Freedom comes in knowing that God doesn’t run away because we’ve sinned.

God didn’t run from Adam because of his sin but instead came to Adam, seeking Him in His sin. Fail to understand that and you’ll find yourself thinking like Adam, imagining a god who retreats from your sins rather than approaching you in your sins to make things right for you. The religious world may tell you that God will remove Himself from your sin, but Adam’s situation shows differently. Your Father rushes to you in your sin to rescue you from it. That’s the very reason for the incarnation of Jesus Christ!

How did God promise to make things right for Adam and Eve? In Genesis 3:15, He spoke to the Serpent: “From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” The offspring He speaks about who will crush the head of the serpent is Jesus. This is the first reference to the coming of Christ to deal with sin to be found in Scripture. Satan would hurt Jesus at the cross, but Jesus would destroy his power. (A wound to the head is fatal.)

Jesus has come and your sin has been remedied. Satan has lost his power over you. The promise of Genesis 3:15 has come to pass!

Sin caused Adam and Eve to become self-conscious and decided they needed to embark on a self-improvement program. Thus came the birth of religion – the attempt to make ourselves more acceptable to God by doing the things we think He would require of us in order for us to be acceptable to Him. The whole thing is ridiculous. God accepts us just like we are. Adam and Eve weren’t hiding from God. They were hiding from some imaginary god they concocted in their newly darkened minds.

They were cringing before somebody that doesn’t even exist. Can you see the foolishness of the whole thing? From that day in the garden until Jesus came, humanity was trapped in shame and embarrassment.

Jesus came to free us from the dark legacy of shame and embarrassment left to us by Adam. Thanks to Him, there is no condemnation toward us – none. You may feel shame at times, but it’s only an illusion. “Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything” (1John 3:20). This verse reminds us that we sometimes can’t trust our emotions, but we can trust God. He knows that we are totally forgiven. The shame-game is over – finished. It’s a silly game we don’t ever have to play again.

Once and for all, we can stop fearing some scary god-of-our-own-making who looks at us with disappointment or irritation. It’s an infantile fantasy. There is no divine boogey-man under the cosmic bed of your existence that is going to come out and get you.

We’re all naked, but that’s okay with God. He loves you just like you are. You don’t have to change. You don’t have to be afraid. You don’t have to hide. And you certainly don’t have to be ashamed. Your Father loves and adores you just the way you are. So come out, come out, wherever you are. Somebody is waiting to give you a Hug. He longs to laugh with you. He wants you to feel His embrace and revel in His acceptance for all eternity. Leave shame alone. You belong in the conscious awareness of your permanent place in our Father’s embrace. That embrace will transform your life.

Absurd Forgiveness - Steve McVey Writes:

When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he wrongly assumed God would be angry but instead God came looking for Him to take His regular evening walk.

​When Abraham sent his wife, Sarah, into Pharaoh’s tent to protect his own life by allowing her to have sex with another man, God told Pharaoh that he was on dangerous ground and that he’d better get her out of there right now. The next words out of God’s mouth to Abraham were to reassure him of the covenant He had made with him. Not a word about his sin.

​When Elisha was depressed and afraid and angry and prayed to die, God sent an angel to feed him so that he might regain his strength. No shame or blame.

​When Peter denied Jesus, our Lord made sure when he arose to mention Peter by name and said to make sure he knew Jesus was alive. No reference to what Peter had done.

​These were giants in the Bible – giants who made horrific choices. In each instance, the love of God swallows up their sins and foolishness in one great gush of grace. It's absurd. What have you done that causes you to think God may be disappointed or perturbed toward you? Whatever it is, you need to set it aside because that's what He has done. As absurd as it sounds, God isn't interested in what you've done in the past. He lives with you in the now and wants you to live in this moment of grace and accept His forgiveness.

​Jesus showed us our Father’s heart when He had the Father of the prodigal son throw him a party when he returned home without so much as a mention of what the boy had done. That’s your God.

​Refuse to accept His acceptance and you’ll lock yourself inside a prison of your own making. Accept His acceptance and you’ll run in the joyful freedom only known by those who know their sins never appear on God’s radar – never.

​You’ve messed up? Welcome to the world of great children of God. It happened. So put it aside now. Don’t insult the grace of God by insisting on trying to share in dealing with it through your own gnawing guilt and spiritually suicidal self-consciousness. You are forgiven. You are free. You are one with the One who keeps no record of wrongs and promises to never remember them again.

​So dance. Run. Laugh. Play. Celebrate. That’s what the Father, Son and Spirit are doing and He asks you to join in right now.

The Gift of Preaching

 

Religion killed my friend

Steve McVey writes:

 Such shocking news. And sad beyond words. I was told that a pastor friend I knew years ago walked into the woods, pulled out a gun and killed himself. The man was known in his community as a busy, sincere and hard working pastor, but behind the scenes he had struggled with self-doubts, emotional and mental fatigue. They said that a big part of the reason for that was the demands he felt on himself by the people around him.

Sometimes it's just a short step between spiritual commitment and a religious prison and that short step makes all the difference. Love motivates actions coming from desire while religious rules become the bars in a religious cell. Desire leads to one and dead duty leads to the other. It’s the difference between a tiring sense of “ought-to” and thrilling sense of “want-to.”

Which one describes where you are? If you're trapped in dead religion, get out. You don't have to stay there. God certainly doesn't expect it of you. You may have done it for so long that to leave it seems like you're leaving God but that's not true at all. Driven religious duty is the furtherest thing from what God wants for you. In fact, He knows it can kill you.

Christ offers you much more than that. He wants you to experience Life as a soothing rhythm of grace. To know that kind of lifestyle, you may have to leave the lifestyle where you are and start again. God doesn’t need you to break the three-minute mile for Him. He just wants you to enjoy Him, knowing that everything else in your life will flow out of that

Religious prisons are filled with ticks that slowly sucks the lifeblood out of intimacy with God. He didn’t ask you to be His maid, but His bride. Of course you will be involved in spiritual activity, but it is to be the natural expression of your love for Him. Otherwise, it becomes a nothing more than a prison of performance.

Sincere people often find themselves in a place that can be compared to the man lost at sea in a life raft. Because he is dying of thirst, he begins to drink the seawater around him. The salt water causes him to become increasingly thirsty and his thirst causes him to drink more seawater. This vicious cycle will ultimately kill him.

This will be the fate of anybody who believes that doing more is the remedy for spiritual thirst. Sometimes the answer to our deepest need is met when we understand that the best way to move ahead may be to retreat.

Don’t let yourself to be pressured by the religious system that often dominates in modern Christian culture. It’s not that you are to become spiritually passive. Christ within you will see to it that doesn't happen. On the other hand, you are free to step away from any demand to do more than you feel in your heart you are intended to do.

Don’t let other people manipulate you into doing what they think you need to do. That’s not their call but yours. To stand on this fact sometimes requires be willing to accept the disapproval of others who try to pressure you into doing what they think is right for you.

Jesus didn’t come to help us be religious. Humanity already had that down pat. Far from it, He came to deliver us from empty religion, even orthodox, time honored religion. Jesus came to bring us into intimacy with God through Himself. In His earthly days, as in our day, those most offended by Him have been the religionists who have built their reputation around keeping their golden idols polished to a brighter shine than anybody else in town.

The idols are their own particular rules of the religious prison that must be observed. Those rules are the ones that most easily fit their own personality and temperament. They judge everybody else by whether or not they live up to their own personal standards. People are incidental. What matters is how you are behaving.

The fact is that even Jesus wasn’t a good churchman by the standards of the religionists of His day. He didn’t live up to what they thought He ought to be. To them, He had no convictions. He appeared to compromise the purity and integrity of their values by doing things like healing people on the Sabbath, by eating with the crooks (Publicans) and party-animals (sinners) of His day. He was a friend of the hookers and homeless. He didn’t separate Himself far enough from the riffraff, as every good churchman knew one should do. Consequently, He lost His reputation with the Pharisees, an incidental matter which didn’t seem to bother him at all. Jesus cared more about relationships than reputation. He still does.

A legitimate grace walk gently flows like water along a riverbank, refreshing everybody who happens to stumble upon our banks. It isn’t a flash flood of activity that honors God. He doesn’t lead us that way, but instead He has chosen to make “[us] lie down in green pastures. He leads [us] beside the still waters [where] He restores [our] soul” (Psalm 23).

Don't stay in a religious prison. Walk out. Otherwise, it can kill you. I know one man who proved it.

Why is this happening

 

The Song Beneath the Virus

 Wayne Jacobsen writes:

Can you hear it? It’s the Song of the Ages, still playing beneath the virus and all that’s changed in our world. It is fresh from your Father’s heart, inviting you into his reality.

It’s not the loudest song in the wind. Fears of the virus and daily body counts will ring louder. The rancor of social hatred will drown it out, and it can easily be swallowed up by the discordant strains of fear and anger that dominate these troubled times.

But beneath it all, his song still plays, as certain as the rising sun, more triumphant than the most exquisite symphony.

You won’t be able to focus on it arguing about masks, or fretting over the next election. You won’t hear it speculating about conspiracies or putting your hope in yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies about a coming revival. You won’t find it groping for certainty in your imagined future.

You have no idea what is to come, and neither do all those voices. The honest ones will tell you that. Your certainty now has to be in Jesus and him alone. All others are mere illusions. They may comfort for the moment, but when they fail you, how deep will that pain be? Circumstances, both favorable and unfavorable, will come and go. The only refuge is to abandon yourself to the amazing love of a gracious Father and seeing his divine purpose unfolding around you. He will never let you down.

Come away, my beloved!

There! Did you hear it?

Maybe it was just a few notes, but even a bit of it will begin to breathe hope into your exhausted heart. You’ll recognize it as the soothing melody inviting you beside his quiet waters where peace and tranquility will wash over your fear and grief. Linger there, leaning lean away from anxious thoughts and angry voices, both internal and external.

His song carries a different rhythm. He is enough. You are deeply loved. All of Creation is still in his hands.

There’s no fear or frustration in his song. Its soft and lilting tones draw you more deeply to his heart, where fear no longer thrives. It allows you to embrace a reality far more consequential than anything we see with your eyes or hear with our ears. It calms your heart with the confidence that God is big enough for this, too.

None of this has caught Jesus by surprise. He has not abandoned you to your own devices. His deliverance does not await some future day. Jesus reassured us that his Father is always working. That includes in you… today. He has a way through this for you, even if someone you love gets the virus. Even if your business does not survive. Even if, our culture comes crashing down around you. Even if this is your time to join him in a kingdom that knows no end. Even if all this goes away in the next few months. 

He has plans you haven’t begun to consider.

Come away, my beloved. 

His melody is an invitation, not a compulsion. You’ll find it more clearly in that quiet place in your soul where Jesus makes himself known. It may take a while to tune your ears again to his melody and hold it in your heart. It’s worth the time. You’ll know you’ve found it when your heart takes a deep breath and begins to find its rest in the unforced rhythms of his grace.

You can’t see that, you say? Well, you don’t have to. You only need to see him.  Take his hand and follow his lead the best you sense him today. Wake up tomorrow and find that song again.

Everything else in this world will seek to knock you off this melody, drawing you back into its clamor. You don’t have to go. You can keep coming back to the quiet waters and bathe yourself there. That’s where you’ll have the wisdom to live through each day’s challenges without fear of your imagined future. You’ll know how to respond prudently to the virus’ presence in our world, and find compassion for others around you.

When you’re at peace in turmoil, his song will flow through you, too, amplifying it in your corner of the world. Then others will find it easier to hear and perhaps find their way to his peace as well.

Perfectly in Progress

 Wayne Jacobsen writes:

Remember that song I wrote about a few weeks ago, that uplifting melody playing softly in the background of the chaos going on around us? I hope you’re still listening, leaning into its rhythm, and letting its lyrics soften your soul? The more I give place to that song in my heart, the more easily the lies and illusions that prey on my anxiety or fears dissolve into nothingness.

One of those lies I hear people often struggle with is, “I should be further along by now.”

The enemy has so many ways to accuse us, and he is most despicable when he uses our best hungers against us. Of course, we all want to be further along than we are. Don’t you wish that your motives were pure, that you always know how to respond in any situation, that your thoughts and actions were always laced with grace, and that you knew the answers to all the questions banging around your head? I know I do.

But none of that is more critical than being settled in his love and letting it have its work in you. Notice how that one little lie will immediately draw you out of that love and focus on your failures and struggles. To fall for it is to submit yourself to the law again and to feel the crushing defeat of your inability to perform to whosever expectations you hold for yourself.

His song invites us into the moment to celebrate the process of transformation he is working in each of us. Jesus had no expectations that you would be flawless today. You’re not. I’m not. Flawless is still out beyond the horizon somewhere, but that doesn’t mean you’re not perfectly in process. He already sees you as his beloved son or daughter, knowing who you are in him and what you will yet become in his love. He knows the weaknesses that still entangle you, the lies you can’t yet see through, and the choices that still draw you into the darkness. He loves you nonetheless. He looks at this day as another opportunity to walk with you into a bit more of the light of his freedom and glory.

This was always going to be a process because he delights in reshaping your heart and renewing your mind. That process unfolds best when we celebrate it, rather than give in to the frustration of battles not yet won, hopes not yet fulfilled, or brokenness not yet mended. He is already healing. He is already opening the eyes of your heart, and he is pouring his strength into you.

So your words, thoughts, and actions will not be perfect today. You’ll be weak at times, and have those awkward moments where you hunger for wisdom you don’t yet have and for justice you can’t see. But you can see him, and yourself perfectly in his process of winning you into his love and teaching you how to ride its currents through the circumstances you’re in.

“But can’t I mess up this process?” some ask. Of course. We all can and have. But Jesus is bigger than our mistakes, our delays, and even our stubbornness. If he isn’t stronger than those things, what hope have we? He understands our fits and starts, and each day is willing to begin afresh, drawing us ever more into his glory. As the saying goes, “The best time to plant an oak tree was twenty-five years ago; the next best time is to plant one today.”

Regardless of where you’ve gotten lost in days gone by, today you can quiet your heart, tune into his glorious melody, and let your life fall into its rhythms. 

Rather than berating yourself for not being further along, rejoice in how far you’ve come. Instead of being frustrated with your weakness, put your hope in his strength at work in you. Instead of regretting where you’ve missed him, be grateful for what he has shown you and what he has transformed in you. 

Relax in the process, and you’ll find yourself making better progress.