Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Awed

God is truly awesome.  He is.  I use that word (awesome) a lot, but I really mean it when I talk about my God or my Jesus.  Listen to the definition of the word.  Awesome comes from the word "awe" which means "an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc., produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful, or the like."  The word "awesome" means "something (or someone) who inspires awe".  In this case God, who inspires in me an overwhelming feeling of reverence, fear, etc,. produced by He who is grand, sublime, and extremely powerful!  God is truly awesome. 

We followers of this awe-inspiring God need to be in continual awe of Him.  Why?  Because His magnificence, majesty, and greatness never change.  Hebrews says that He is "the same yesterday, today, and yes...forever." There is no reason or circumstance in which we should not be overwhelmed by Him and His presence.  He's just that awesome. 

Our reverence and worship of Him should be full of fire and passion.  It is that fire and passion for Him that causes others to be drawn to Him...not to us.  It is God-designed human nature for one to rave about anyone or anything that is awe-inspiring to them.  I can look at the mountains and feel that sense of awe.  I can look at the ocean and feel the same.  These are truly awe-inspiring (awesome) creations of God.  But then the majesty of the mountains or the beauty of the ocean actually inspire more awe for God in me...knowing He created them!  He is truly awesome. 

He is awesome because of what He has done and what He can do.  However, the source of His awe-inspiring greatness comes not from what He has done or can do, but who He is.  He is magnificent.  He is incredible.  None is like Him or can come close to comparing to Him. 

My prayer is that His people will become literally overwhelmed with the One who saved them.  He is truly awesome.  I also pray that we His church will be so awed with Him that everything we say and do is inspired by His incredible greatness.  He is truly awesome.  What do you think?

Friday, August 20, 2010

Give Him Your "Only"

One of the greatest, most important lessons we must learn after we come to know and serve God is that He must be God in our lives!  He wants to be the God of our lives!  More than just confessing our service and homage to Him, we must learn to allow Him to be Him in our lives.  We must come to understand that God will take who we are and what we are and make something incredible out of it.  He will take where we are and transform it into an awesome trek toward His destiny for us.  He designs our destiny with extreme impact on the lives of those around us as well as our own.  When God is allowed to be God, everything in our lives becomes infinitely significant. His will and purpose become the reason for our existence.

A great example from the Scripture comes from Matthew 14.  Jesus' followers come to Him after a day of ministry and tell Jesus the place is desolate,  it's late, the folks are hungry, there's no food for them, and that Jesus must send them away so they can eat elsewhere.  Jesus said something that completely astounded the disciples.  He said, "They don't need to go away.  You give them something to eat!"  They responded by saying, "We have here only five loaves and two fish."  Now here is a situation in which Jesus wants to be Jesus in their midst.  He tells them to do something utterly impossible!  Why?  Because He wants to do something only He can do in their midst!  What Jesus does causes His disciples to accomplish the impossible!  The disciples respond, "We have only..."  Have you ever responded like that?  "But God, I am only...!"  "Oh no God...I have only....!"  "I can only...because I am just....!"  When Samuel told young Saul that he would be Israel's first king he did the same thing.  "Oh no Samuel I am only...!  I am from the least of the tribes of Israel."  "I couldn't!"

I love the way Matthew 14 plays out.  Jesus says "Give me what you do have!"  They gave him the "only" five loaves and two fish on the whole site of well over 10,000 people.  Watch this now.  Jesus took it, blessed it, broke it, and gave it back to the disciples.  Then He required them to give the broken pieces to the people.  (Remember He said "You give them something to eat!")  The Scripture says there were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.  That's a lot of folks who were completely satisfied when God was allowed to be God!  There were even 12 full baskets left over!  The command from Jesus was "You give them something to eat!"  But in order for the disciples to carry out the order, Jesus had to be Jesus in their midst.  The disciples had to give what they had to Jesus so Jesus could supernaturally multiply it for them to give out to the people.  It was truly a miracle created from an "only" situation.  Let's stop asking God to give us more of something when all He really requires us to do is first give to Him what we already have!  Let's give Him our "only"!

What has God told you to do?  What passion has He placed upon your heart that seems utterly impossible?  What is your "only"?  Learn from God's Word in Matthew 14.  You can!  Impossible?  Absolutely...but not with God!  Give Him your "only" and allow Him to cause you to do great and mighty exploits for Him!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

His Church

We live in the land of having "a church on every corner".  There are churches everywhere in our country.  There are tens of thousands denominational churches, non-denominational churches, protestant churches, catholic churches, old churches, new churches, traditional churches, and not-so-traditional churches.  Whew...lots of churches!  In America and in most of the West, you don't have to look far for some type of church.  Again, lots of churches!

But Jesus said there is really only ONE church.  That's right...just one church.  He called it "My church."  From every perspective it is HIS church.  So what is this ONE church that He referred to as "My church"?

Jesus said, in Matt. 16:18  "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.(Bold and italics added.)  There it is.  His church...the only ONE church.  What makes this church "His church"?  In this passage in Matt. 16 Jesus had just finished asking His disciples who the people thought He was.  They answered by saying some were saying He was John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.  Then Jesus pointedly asked His disciples "But who do YOU say that I am?"  Suddenly His disciple Peter got a clue.  He saw something He could see only by the aid of God's Spirit.  Peter said "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."  Jesus didn't tell Him to say that about Himself.  But Peter saw something spiritually he'd never seen before.  Some call it the rock of revelation because Jesus said "Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you Peter, but My Father in heaven has shown you this."  Jesus went on to say that "Upon this rock (revealed truth of who I really am) I will build My church."  So this is His church:  those who see and receive the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  I'm not trying to over-simplify the work of God, but He never intended it to be complicated either.

We must realize that a building doesn't make it His church even though His church can meet in a building.  We must realize that a name doesn't make it His church, even though we name our churches.  A denomination doesn't make it His church even though denominations are not evil in themselves.  Being non-denominational doesn't make it His church either.  His church, the only ONE church is made up of human beings that have seen and received the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.  This is revealed supernaturally to a heart that is hungry and in some way searching for God.  Today Jesus is still building His church on the bedrock of the same revelation.  He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Has this been revealed to you?  If so, have you received this revelation into your heart by trusting in Him.  Jesus came over two thousand years ago and paid the price for our sins.  That's incredible!  But after His death and resurrection, He sent the Holy Spirit.  His Spirit is in the earth today to draw mankind toward this awesome revelation.  Once received, His Spirit insures that your spirit is renewed supernaturally!  You are truly changed forever!  Remember...going to a great church (or any church) doesn't make you a part of His church.  You may become a part of A church, but seeing and receiving the revelation Peter had makes you a part of His church.  And according to Jesus, the gates (command post) of Hades will not prevail against His church!  Why?  Because He (not man) is building His church.  And His church is the ONE He is coming soon for.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Fathers and Sons

There is a lot of talk today about spirituals sons and daughters.  Many younger followers of Christ are being mentored by older followers of Christ.  This is a scriptural process outlined in the Bible.  A good example would be Timothy and Titus who were considered to be "spiritual" sons of the Apostle Paul.  The other side of that would make the Apostle Paul a "spiritual" father to Timothy and Titus (and others as well).  Paul's letters to Timothy and Titus were letters of instruction, training and encouragement causing them to grow up in the Lord and ministry.  But the greatest attribute of these letters was Paul's impartation of his heart to his spiritual sons.

I think one of the greatest and clearest examples of the purpose of a spiritual father is demonstrated between King David and His natural son, King Solomon.  This natural example gives us a spiritual picture of the true purpose of a spiritual father.  At the dedication of the temple Solomon spoke these words:  "Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.  But the Lord said to my father David, 'Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.  Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.'  (I Kings 8: 17-19)  Did you catch that?  God put it in the heart of David (father) to build the temple.  God commended David because it was in his heart.  However, Solomon (son) was the one God chose to actually build the temple.  Solomon could have never built the temple had it not been in the heart of his father David.  But Solomon had to receive his father's heart to succeed in construction of the temple.

A true spiritual son is one who receives the heart-impartation from his spiritual father.  A true spiritual father is one who is willing to impart his god-given heart to one who becomes a spiritual son.  Thus God's heart is imparted and expressed throughout the generations.  Remember...learning something from someone does not make you their spiritual son (or daughter).  Not even being trained by someone makes you their spiritual son (or daughter).  Receiving their heart does.

Fathers, what has God placed in your heart that you can impart to a son willing to receive?  You must come to the realization that sons exist to accomplish what you cannot!  But God still placed it in your heart.  Your responsibility is to impart.  What you have received from God into your heart, you must release to a son who is willing to receive.  This makes you a true spiritual father.  And whoever receives you heart is truly your spiritual son.