We are Known, Loved Children of God - by Joe Lapazinski

As we approach Thanksgiving I recall how we move in an “attitude of gratitude”.  There are many things that come to mind that we are thankful for in the natural world in which we live and breathe.  It can be a challenge to “see” the spiritual and natural realms as one realm. The Word of God can lead us to keep the spiritual realm in focus as we live out our daily lives. Thank you Holy Spirit for leading us today. God intimately knows us. He made us mysteriously complex children of God! Everything that God has done is marvelously breathtaking!  Standing in this light, we can regularly feast on the Word of God, and then rest in confidence in Him. Here are some truths from David in Psalm 139.  As you read this, which of these truths is the Spirit reminding you to Engage in this week?     O Lord, you have examined my heart     and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up.     You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel     and when I rest at home.     You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say     even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me.     You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,     too great for me to understand! I can never escape from your Spirit!     I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there;     if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning,     if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me,     and your strength will support me. I could ask the darkness to hide me     and the light around me to become night— but even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To you the night shines as bright as day.     Darkness and light are the same to you. You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body     and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!     Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,     as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born.     Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out     before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.     They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them;     they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up,     you are still with me! In Christ, Joe

Let's Talk Adoption - by Brent Lokker

Me:     Did you hear the great news? You’ve been adopted by your heavenly Father!   You:    Cool, but I didn’t know I wasn’t already God’s child.   Me:     Well, you are his child, but you’ve also been adopted.   You:    Wait, huh?   Yes, you have ALWAYS been God’s child and you always will be! But the Apostle Paul, in his writings, also uses adoption language to get across a point that wouldn’t have been missed by his audience at the time.   Children adopted into a family in that day were given all the rights of the firstborn, which included a double portion of the estate. Why is that significant? Because Paul is making the point that while we are already God’s children, as a consequence of Jesus’ redeeming work, we have been adopted as sons and daughters as well, sharing in the spiritual inheritance as heirs of all that God promises. We have all the rights of the firstborn, and the firstborn of all creation is none other than Jesus (Col 1:15).   What’s his is ours! Isn’t that the heavenly exchange that’s taken place? A crown of beauty instead of ashes! The oil of joy instead of mourning! A garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair! (Is 61:3)  Does it get any better than this?   And when was this glorious decision made by our very dear Father?  The stunning truth is that you’ve always been his and you were adopted before the foundation of the world!   “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great delight.” Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT)   This is what HE wanted to do—by his choice—to make a covenant with us of astonishing proportions. Always for us, never against us, blessing us at every turn by including us in Christ’s death and resurrection so that everything that belongs to Jesus is ours. Everything.   The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? Romans 8:29-31 (MSG) How can we lose? It’s abundantly clear that because of what Christ has done…we can’t!

Encountering A Loving Father - by Brent Lokker

We’re all on a lifetime journey but we often don’t know where that journey is supposed to take us. What if our primary purpose in life is to be loved? Could it be that simple? When each of my sons were born, it was that simple.   Cradling each son when he was born, my emotions burst forth and I wept tears of wonder and awe. I couldn’t help it! It was a miracle beyond words. The sheer joy of tenderly securing each of my tiny, beautiful sons in my trembling hands was extremely moving. I felt so much love for my sons and I took great pleasure in them too. They were perfect! And here is a stunning truth: my sons couldn’t do a single thing for me to make me love them. No, I loved them with an extreme passion and I was wildly pleased with them for one reason alone: they were mine! My intense feelings of delight for them gripped me to the core of my being as I thought, How can I already love you this much?   These feelings of love and pleasure are the very same ones that your heavenly Father has for you every second of every day. His tender sentiments for you never change. You are that tiny, helpless baby in the outstretched hands of your heavenly Papa all the time. The stunning truth is that you can’t do a single thing to make Him love you. He just does. Your Father loves you, not for what you do or don’t do for Him, but because you are His. Period. He’s thrilled with you! He gazes upon you in amazement and says, My precious child, you have no idea what you do to Me. You are Mine. You’re beautiful and you’re everything I always wanted. When I made you, you were My dream fulfilled!   “You must see what great love the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God’s children—which is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

The One Thing - by Susan Fochler

When David said in Psalm 27:4, that “the one thing I seek above all else;  … living with him every moment in his house, finding the sweet loveliness of his face, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace”,  he meant that more than winning a battle against Saul, more than becoming the king, more than fame and wealth, he wanted to live in the presence of the Lord every day of his life.   David knew this was not to simply be a transactional relationship but an intimacy in knowing, enjoying and beholding Him, recognizing His beauty, glory and love.  And as we read in Song of Solomon 2:`14, God is calling us into the secret place not just that we would behold Him, but that we would experience Him beholding us;  for he wants to see our face, hear our voice; it may be hard to believe, but He actually finds us sweet and lovely!   When I first got saved, I came to Jesus out of an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame, simply because I felt so unworthy of love.  I deeply yearned to be freed from my prison of depression, and hoped, somehow, Jesus would “fix” me.  I had no grid for a heart to heart connection with Him, or anyone as far as that goes.  It was like I invited Him into the entryway of my heart, but no deeper. It wasn’t until years later, as I was introduced to Holy Spirit and hung around people who engaged in passionate worship that I began to realize Jesus wanted to be invited into every room of the house of my soul.  What a difference that made!    I began to spend time simply enjoying Him, and started to realize how much Jesus wanted to be with me too.  The “one thing” Jesus invites us into is the realization that being in His presence is the sweetest, most satisfying place we can live from.  And it is not for now and then, but a living experience available to us every day, every moment of our lives.  It is a simple awareness that once we have said “Yes” to Him, God gives us the key to His heart.  That means, the door into His presence is always open.  As I look back on my earlier life, I can see how filled with self-hatred and self-rejection I was.  I didn’t know how to respond when kindness was extended to me.  I couldn’t believe it was really true that someone could care so deeply and actually want to be with me.  As I have gradually learned to accept myself, It’s become easier to believe He wants to fully indwell the house of my soul, not out of obligation but because of the high value God has for me.  If we struggle to believe we are lovable, it can be hard to believe God wants  to be with us.  If that’s you, this is where grace becomes our only sufficiency.  Psalm 84:3 says that even the “sparrows and swallows” belong in His courts, how much more a child made in His own image, like you?  Jesus has laid down a red carpet of His sacrificial love and grace straight into the throne room.  Come with confidence into His welcoming arms With Love, Susan

Better Than Our Best Understanding - by Jason Clark

Two thousand years ago Jesus was a living expression of perfect theology. His life, death, and resurrection revealed exactly what God is like. And God was not like what we thought He was like.   Jesus seemed to do stuff God wouldn’t do. He also often seemed to contradict scripture. He was counter-cultural, challenged cruel ideology, and confronted punishing theology. He was simply better than our best understanding, and often offensively so. For instance.   He healed people on the Sabbath, something many were convinced God wouldn’t do. “Stretch out your hand,” Jesus said, and the man with a shriveled hand “stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.” And many of those who believed they knew best what God was like, were murderously offended. They “went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.”(See Mark 3:1-6)   Jesus seemed to value children more than His disciples thought God would. “Let the little children come to me…” He said, confronting His disciples who were in the midst of rebuking parents. “Do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (See Matt 19:14)   Jesus’ kindness and mercy toward women, especially those most oppressed, was offensively better than what the Pharisees thought about God’s kindness and mercy. “If Jesus were a prophet, he would know that the woman touching him is a sinner!” they thought with their hierarchy of disdain. (Luke 7:39)   Jesus even valued gentile women in a way God surely wouldn’t, “tell her to go away… she is bothering us” the disciples said. But Jesus ignored his disciple’s offense, engaged with the woman’s faith, and released eternal life. He was offensively better than how His followers thought God should be. (See Matt 15:21-28)   And remember when Jesus didn’t call down fire on that village? Remember when He didn’t savagely rain down holy hell on men, women, and children even though His disciples not only believed it was something God would do, they wanted God to do it. They even had biblical precedence to support their malicious offense when Jesus confronted them saying, “you know not what kind of spirit you are of.” (See Luke 9:55)   And Jesus didn’t cruelly punish that woman caught in adultery even though those who had dragged her naked before Him were certain that’s what God would do. They were so convinced that they had already picked up rocks as willing accomplices. They too pointed to scripture to justify the us or them, for or against, punishing spirit they participated in. And yet Jesus said, “where are your accusers” and there were none, not even God. (See John 8:10) Even on the cross, torn flesh, bones out of joint, a death rattle in His lungs, Jesus just kept offending us with God’s goodness. “Father forgive them, they know not what they do,” He said, even though it sure as shit seemed like they knew what they were doing. (See Luke 23:34)   Jesus constantly did things that were better than how humanity believed God would do them. Even better than how the Bible seemed to describe what God was like. And all along the way, in every act of Greater Love, in every expression of kindness, in every interaction of forgiveness, mercy, and grace, Jesus offended people with how good He believed God was. Especially those who thought they knew God best.   And nothing has changed.   Humanity has always had ‘god-boxes.’ We have often demanded God’s goodness fit within our capacity to comprehend. We measure His forgiveness through our insecurity, fear, and shame. We balance His grace with our often-cruel thoughts about Him and ourselves. We determine the measure of His mercy and kindness based on our finite thoughts about mercy and kindness. And we use the word justice to make God small. Mankind has been submitting the goodness of God to our broken experiences since the fall. But thankfully, Jesus is the goodness of God revealed, and He climbs inside every god-box we create and blows them up from the inside with His goodness. Jesus continues to reveal that God is better than our best understanding, even better than our best Biblical interpretations. And He continues to confront our certainties with the Cornerstone of all certainty, Greater Love…

There In The Middle - by Karena Lout

“Beloved, we are God’s children right now; however, it is not yet apparent what we will become. But we do know that when it’s finally made visible, we will be just like him, for we will see him as he truly is.” 1 John 3:2   We’ve all received prophetic words and promises that we haven’t seen fulfilled in our lives yet. The waiting can sometimes cause pain, disappointment, and disillusionment. Paul told the Galatians that he felt labor pains until he would see Christ fully formed in their lives. We live in the tension of “the already and not yet.”   “Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” Romans 8:28 (The Message)   Isn’t it comforting to know that Jesus acknowledges our condition? What is God developing and forming in you? He is right there with you in the middle of your story.   While we’re waiting to see some things come to pass in our lives, it’s also important to recognize what God is doing right in front of us. So many didn’t recognize Jesus when he came to earth because they had preconceived ideas about what their Messiah would look like. Our prophetic words and promises might not always come in the form we thought they would. God is always bigger than the boxes we try to build around him.   I encourage you to take some time and ask Jesus, “How are things working FOR me and not to me?” I’m confident he will show you how he’s already fulfilled promises in your life and he will be faithful to you in your tomorrow.   Love, Karena

Authentic You - by Brent Lokker

Queen Elizabeth’s death last week is a stark reminder that even that which appears to be the most constant and stable in this world is, in fact, not and that the only solid bedrock foundation is the person and character of Jesus. He said it this way:   “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT)   Notice that both houses (which represents two different people in this metaphor) experienced the same battering conditions of wind and rain. This is consistent with Jesus’ words to us: “In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)   Jesus doesn’t promise that intimacy with him eliminates all the hard challenges that batter us at times, but rather his promise is that these difficulties won’t cause our lives to crumble and shatter—that somehow, we can even walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil because we are so aware of our sweet union with Jesus who has us securely in his affections.   This parable is making it clear that each of us has a choice. We either trust that our Savior Jesus, in his kindness, is always truthful as he reminds us of who our authentic, genuine self is so we can experience the fulness of life he promised, or we choose to do life on our own terms, which includes assessing for ourselves what we think is true. We either believe him or we believe our own perceptions. The latter is equivalent to living out of our false self (our flesh, our prideful ego) which doesn’t bear any resemblance to our authentic self, our life-in-Christ self. It’s the only real self we have—the one created in the image and likeness of our heavenly Father.   Here are just a few examples to help you become more aware of what the difference between your false self and your authentic self is your authentic self vs. your false self: Your false self wants and needs attention, whereas your authentically-created-in-Christ self doesn’t need the spotlight because you already know your value in Christ! Your false self has a need to be right which leads to judging and categorizing others, whereas your authentic, in-Christ self doesn’t feel any need to prove yourself or put others down because you can see them as having infinite worth as created in Christ just like you. Your false self is all about self-preservation, but your authentic in-Christ self knows you’re already living in his eternal life so you can enjoy the moment you’re in without being anxious for what tomorrow holds.   Paraphrasing what the Apostle Paul was affirming as his reality: “My false self is dead to me—it no longer lives. The only true life I have is lived as the Christ-in me self! This is the only authentic me that exists.” (my paraphrase of Galatians 2:20)   Only the Spirit of Jesus within you can help you see and know what is true about you and what lies needs to be removed by his kind and gracious love. I pray for each of you the supernatural grace of God to be made more aware of your union with the life of Jesus, to be more willing to believe who he says you are, and to be more courageous to let him remove the old perceptions of yourself that haven’t been serving you well.   The authentic you is enough and exactly who your heavenly Father intended you to be.   With Love, Brent