Seeing Beyond this Age

Seeing Beyond this Age

Understanding of the Millennial Age has greatly stirred my heart. In the Millennial Age we rule and reign with Christ for 1000 years (Revelation 20). It is exciting to think about what we’ll be doing during those 1000 years. Seeing beyond this age has increased my passion to serve the Lord with wholeheartedly faithfulness.

  

Having studied Eschatology for a long time and looking at it from many different theological positions, I have concluded I am a Near-end tribulation pre-millennialist. And a futurist. In the scriptures I see that the resurrection of the dead, those who are alive and remain, and the return of Jesus happen at the same time – at the last trumpet sound (1 Corinthians 15). This last trumpet (“last” in the Greek means: last of the last) corresponds to the last of the 7 trumpets in Revelation 11:15:

Then the seventh angel sounded [their trumpet]: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

Consider that after this last trumpet sounds that the kingdoms of the world are changed. They are turned over to Jesus Christ. This is the end of the dominion of Satan on the earth and the end of worldly governments: the end of the world as we know it. Praise to our God!

We know Jesus will sit on His throne, the throne of David, in New Jerusalem (Jeremiah 3). The City will have a wall around it (Revelation 21). Kings will bring their wealth into her (Isaiah 60) as they worship their King. These are some dynamics of the Millennial Age and we get to enjoy them with the Lord Jesus, as we rule and reign with Him. But where does the Bible talk more about this age and our ruling with Him? What will we be doing?

A couple days ago I came across exciting things I hadn't seen before in the Bible. Jesus in Revelation 2 had just evaluated the Thyatira church. They had a lot that was good and then there was Jezebel. Jesus sternly warned them to repent of allowing her to continue to influence the church. Then He said:

“Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine [of Jezebel], who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations — 27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’ —  as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’

Scriptures 26-27 are a quote from Psalm 2:8-9:

7 “I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11 Serve the LORD with fear, And rejoice with trembling.

Though we don’t fully grasp what we will be doing during this 1000 year reign, we do know that …he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations …as I also have received from My Father. Ruling the nations with an iron rod and dashing them to pieces. Wow! That sounds like we will be doing a lot during the millennium. We will be ruling nations and bringing them into submission to the King on the Throne.

It is likely that the parable of the minus in Like 19 is insight to the millennium too. 

Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem when He spoke this parable. Interestingly, straight away after the parable the Bible again states that Jesus was headed to Jerusalem. Why? I gather the Holy Spirit wants us to understand that the meaning is about Jesus establishing His Throne and rule in New Jerusalem, which is during the millennial age. It beings: Now as they [the disciples] heard these things, He [Jesus] spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately. So this is in the context of straightening out the disciples as to the timing for the establishment of the Kingdom on Earth in Jerusalem. The parable’s context is: “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return.” In the parable servants were given money to put to use. Some did; one didn’t. The faithful servants were given cities to rule over when the nobleman returned from his journey. Possibly, probably, this is the speaking directly of the millennium. 

One may wonder, “Why care about the next age?” In my opinion, understanding the next age adds fuel to our fire for the Lord. It gives us greater purpose to see beyond this age. Consider that Abraham left everything because he saw a City with foundations whose builder and make is God (Hebrews 11:10). This City is the New Jerusalem the Book of Revelation talks about — a city with foundations! Revelation 21 has great detail of New Jerusalem’s foundations. Each one is a precious stone. How magnificent!

I ask that the Lord open our eyes so we too see the City with foundations whose builder and maker is God. And that we too will leave everything to find His City.

Live for eternity.

"Father, give us eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."

  Click Here to Purchase                 Click Here to Purchase

Martyrs and Martyrdom

Martyrs and Martyrdom

News flashes often display the utter depravity of mankind.

As we hear about the slaughter of Christians all over the world, what should we as fellow believers do? What can we do?

Some of us have open doors to speak to leaders, but all of us have been given an open door where we can boldly go before the Leader—The Sovereign King of Kings.

Many times when I see news reports I also see revelatory videos or pictures of people to pray for: specific individuals He is directing me to pray for in that moment. We find this kind of Holy Spirit revelation in the account of Ananias and Paul in Acts 9. I trust He is directing them as I pray according to His revelation.

Throughout the Bible we read of martyrs: people who were put to death for their allegiance to the One true God. Hebrew 11 summarizes many of their stories. Some of these martyrs were offered deliverance, but instead chose martyrdom:

Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Hebrews 11:35

There is a unique resurrection and reward awaiting those who suffer martyrdom for the Lord Jesus. It is a mystery as to what exactly this unique resurrection is, but these martyrs in Hebrews saw something we only read about.

I pray for deliverance for our persecuted brothers and sisters; I pray for strength to endure; I pray for routes away from those who seek to kill them; I pray for those who will be martyred to be given grace to see beyond their pain and fear into the glory that awaits them. In this way we can give them a cup of cold water in His Name.

As you see news reports, pray. And as you pray watch. Is there a specific person or group of people the Holy Spirit is directing you to pray for? Let’s pray with eyes wide open to God who sees and hears.

      Click Here to Purchase                 Click Here to Purchase

Boredom in Paradise?

Boredom in Paradise?

There is no other place on earth like the assembly of the believers—a place where God promises He’ll be in their midst. A place where Jesus Himself said He would be. There is no other place where His body comes together. This uniquely belongs to the gathering of believers, for this is where God is in her midst.

If this is so (and it is), why is there so much boredom? How is it that people can come and go without their needs, whatever they may be, being met? With so much boredom, how is it that we should expect others, whether boomers, millennials, or Gen-Zs, to come and become a part of the assembly? The world is exciting, but shouldn’t God be more exciting? 

Boredom easily paves the path to sin. Maybe this is why there is little difference between believers and those who don’t know Christ. David was bored and look what happened:

It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

2 Samuel 11:1-3

David was supposed to be in the battle, but he was disengaged in the things he was supposed to be doing. Hence, his feet took him to a place he should not have been—a place where sin was crouching at his door.

Am I just venting or is there a point? 

I have never experienced anything more beautiful and worth giving my life for than the interaction of the Holy Spirit. I don’t mean just for the exercising of spirit gifts, but the real manifest Presence of God interacting with me. Though gifts often result from this interaction, especially in the midst of the assembly, they are not what I live for.

When He isn’t manifesting and when I am not encountering Him, I miss Him.

As New Covenant believers, He is everything to us. Without His anointing and manifest Presence we are bored—I am bored.

Church becomes a club.

Teaching becomes stale bread.

If the Holy Spirit was given proper place in His church, people wouldn’t want to displease the One who is so awesome. There would be a greater reason to live. People would share this Beautiful One with those around them. They would have an anointing to minister to others in power, rather than just talking from their head. They would get words of knowledge and prophecies as they spoke and the hearers would experience the reality of God.

The remedy for boredom is God! God Himself interacting with us. 

Pursue Him.

Encounter Him.

Love Him.

      Click Here to Purchase                 Click Here to Purchase

Balaam's Doctrine

Balaam’s Doctrine

Revelation 2:14 and Numbers 31

In Jesus’ letter to Pergamos He writes about those who hold to Balaam’s doctrine. Have you ever wondered what Balaam’s doctrine was that Jesus references? Revelation 2:14 was a mystery to me for years. I was always looking for a way to fit it into Balak trying to incite Balaam to curse Israel. Although it’s on the fringe of that story, it isn’t what Revelation 2:14 is about.

Isn’t it interesting that the key to Revelation 2:14 is found in Numbers 31?

Some history: Balak, the Moabite king, was afraid when he saw Israel coming towards his land. Balak first went to Midian for help against Israel, then sought out Balaam. Balaam wanted to help Balak because Balak promised to pay him a lot of money. However, God would not allow Balaam to curse Israel. Balaam acknowledged that he could not go against God and could only bless Israel for they were blessed by God.

Here is where it ties into Revelation. After Balak and Balaam went their separate ways at the end of Numbers 24, Numbers 25 starts off with the sin of adultery and idol worship with Baal of Peor.

Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. 2 They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel. Numbers 25:1-3

God was so angry that He sent a plague into Israel’s camp. 24,000 people died in that plague (Numbers 25:9)! Notice the wording in 25:18 below says that the Midianites schemed against Israel. It wasn’t that they happened upon Israel and fell in love with each other. No, it was a plot to take down Israel.

“…for they [Midian] harassed you [Israel] with their schemes by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian…” Numbers 25:18

Numbers 31 describes that payment God required from Midian for their treachery towards Israel was death. Israel was instructed to kill everyone who was not a young virgin. As Numbers 31 looks back and recollects upon the account, it gives a generous amount of detailed insight into understand Revelation 2:14:

“Look, these [Midianite] women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.” Numbers 31:16

With this in mind, look at Revelation 2:14:

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.” Revelation 2:14

But why does this matter to us, you may be thinking? Let’s revisit the story:

Balak hated Israel, so he tried to destroy them through, first Midian, then Balaam. Neither worked. Then Balaam had an idea: I can’t curse them, he thought, so how about inciting them into idol worship and sexual sin? That will get God to work against them. And it worked! 24,000 Israelites died through the plague God sent. It only stopped because Phinehas drove a javelin through an Israelite leader and a Midianite leader’s daughter, likely while they were having sex.

So, how about our enemy, the devil and his entourage? Here in the Pergamos church, they had a lot going for them. God seems to commend them for their works and their faith, even while some were martyred among them. Jesus acknowledges that they dwelt where Satan’s throne and dwelling was. Yet He rebuked them for:

“…those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.”

Jesus identifies Himself, in the introduction to Pergamos, as the One who has “the sharp two-edged sword” and at the letter’s close, as having a “sword of My mouth.” Likely paralleling the javelin Phinehas used. So intense was Jesus’ determination that they repent of these sins that He said He would literally fight against them with that sword of His mouth, if they did not repent!

This sounds an awful lot like someone is inciting people to sin against God. Isn’t that the doctrine of Balaam, according to Numbers 31? And this is where Satan had his throne and dwelling.

As I think about all this in view of the rampant sexual immorality, idolatry, and worldliness consuming the church of today, it becomes clear that the enemy himself is deliberately beguiling and deceiving God’s people into these same sins of Balaam. The prosperity doctrine is idolatry masquerading as spirituality.

How long has it been since you, dear reader, have heard a message about any of these sins?

I ask that the Lord would help us and send revival, lest Jesus fight against us with the Sword of His mouth.

  

      Click Here to Purchase                 Click Here to Purchase

Lessons in the Prophetic: Judging Prophecy

Lessons in the Prophetic: Judging Prophecy

The other day I read an article of an interview with a nationally recognized Christian leader. This leader is called an apostle, a pastor, a prophet, and an intercessor all in the same article. In the interview, as this leader was talking about prayer, they said prophetically that the bowls in heaven are about to be poured out.

If the bowls are ready to be poured out, if what he said is true, this is a huge statement. Though I will with certainty say this apostolic pastor prophet intercessor’s statement it is not accurate. If the bowls in
heaven are about to be poured out that means we are in the tribulation, and rapidly approaching the 16^th chapter of Revelation. Chapters 1-15 are in the past.

Here is why his prophecy cannot be accurate:

1. The bowls which contain the prayers of the saints are found Revelation 5:8. There are at least 28 golden bowls filled with prayers (4 living creatures + 24 elders = 28 bowls) and they are never said to be poured out:

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 

Revelation 5:8

2. The bowls that are poured out are in the midst of the days of the 7^th (and last) trumpet blast. The Greeks means the last of the last trumpets. Within the 7^th trumpet blast the mystery of God will also be finished:

… but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. Revelation 10:7

3. These bowls are described as bowls of wrath:

Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever… Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.” Revelation 15:7 and 16:1

Following this statement 7 bowls are poured out, all occurring in Revelation 16.

This is why it is so essential to know the Bible and not fall for everything you hear. Don’t be afraid to make judgments about seemingly high-level prophetic people’s prophecies. In fact, we are commanded to make judgments:

Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. 
1 Corinthians 14:29

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. 
1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 1 Corinthians 2:15

These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 1 John 2:26-27

     Click Here to Purchase                 Click Here to Purchase

Exits

Exits

2 Timothy 2:15 reads:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Though I have had this scripture memorized for over 30 years and could easily have quoted it in its entirety, my thoughts would have flowed more like: work hard at knowing the accurate truths of the Bible. But I missed the main point: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God…”  God is the audience. We have all likely heard, “for an audience of One.” Here it is plainly. God is our audience of One. We are to present ourselves as approved to God. In the end it is God who we will all stand before.

Let’s look at 2 Timothy 2:15 with some of the Greek definitions added. 2 Timothy 2:15 is the imperative mood denoting a command. We are commanded to:

Make hast and exert yourself as one who is tried as genuine and therefore unashamed when you stand beside God as His worker. You, who will receive your pay, because you cut straight ways as you teach the Logos directly and correctly; that is, what is objectively true in things appertaining to God.

As I considered this before God, I saw a picture of a freeway. The freeway represented the objective Truth: Logos. Logos stands eternally as the Word of God, forever fixed in Heaven. Not our own truth or own interpretation, but God’s eternal Word. Along the freeway were many exits, seemingly an exit at every scripture. Exits represent diversions from the Truth of God. They can be unintended misunderstandings or intended deceptions. Exits will never reach where the freeway leads. Error in doctrine is an exit off the Logos: the Word of God. It will lead on a trajectory of error.

People who teach and lead others must know the Bible as God intended it to be know: in truth. The goals is not to make people come to our meetings, because we sound so eloquent having every word fitly placed. That is worldly wisdom. How absolutely boring and empty is such teaching! Teaching, as God intends, is not only biblical truth, but it is anointed. Teaching should produce hunger in the hearer to know the things of God. It is not informational in nature: it produces and deposits something of value in the hearers.

Just because we believe something does not make it true. There are basic rules to interpretation. Decades ago my husband said that if you think you have new revelation from the Bible that you have never heard before, you’d better think twice about what you are thinking. Read some commentaries and talk to others who know the Bible well, because “new revelation” is how heresies are formed. Context is the first rule of interpretation. 

          Click Here to Purchase                 Click Here to Purchase

Turning Aside

Moses said, “I will now turn aside…” What a difference that one decision made! It not only changed the course of Moses’ life, but also that of all Israel. That one choice to turn aside…

Moses was likely about his daily routine when something caught his attention. Moses chose to turn aside to see. Little did Moses know that the Angel of the LORD was the fire in the bush:

When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:4

I wonder how much of God we miss because we neglect to turn aside. 40 years previous, Moses had tried to deliver Israel his way. But now it had been 40 years! Had he lost sight of his destiny. Had that failure 40 years ago changed the purpose of God for him? 

Moses had had a major failure. He went about his calling all wrong. He was impulsive. He was careless. He killed an Egyptian. He ran away.

Think about it… 40 years had passed! For 40 years Moses had been living in a foreign land as a shepherd. Surely in that place, unbeknownst to Moses, God had been preparing him for what was ahead.

Moses once thought he could deliver Israel from Egypt’s grip. His passion qualified him, he thought. But now, 40 years later, we read of a man who feels unqualified:

  ...Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11

Once a prince in Egypt, Moses was humbled and broken. 

Is this where you are, dear reader? Has time taken its toll on you? Has your vision grown dim? Do you have failures in your past that have become mountains blocking your view? 

We all have failures. 

Even those of us who think we don’t. 

We are not disqualified due to our failures. We will be, however, disqualified by unbelief. Our lack of faith. 

Moses’ destiny was realize because 

he turned aside 

to see

God.

If this is you, get up again. Believe God again. Turn aside into your prayer closet. Get a hold of God again. Let Him restore your vision.  

Run your race. 

Click to Purchase

Click to Purchase

The Eye of the Storm: Plant Wisely

The Eye of the Storm: Plant Wisely

How often do we feel so unable to comprehend the dealings of God in our lives? We feel as though we are in a vast void of the unknown. What lies ahead” Am I in the will of God? Is there still something that He wants or even can use left in me?

In these times of Devine reflection it is best to step out of our current and remember. Remember the things He has spoken to us. Remember what we know to be true. Remembering refocuses us. It helps us during the times of the unknown. It also helps us to look outside our natural realm into the spiritual, into the place where the things of God are apprehended by faith.

I am in such a place. There was a tremendous amount of activity in my life the last couple of years. Selling a house, moving, building, moving my mom, selling her house, gathering our belongings from 3 states; then came Christmas, decorations, and getting ready for guests. And during all this I wrote a book: Confronting the Wind. The kids left, the decorations came down, and there I was…

Anyone else ever feel like you are standing on the edge of a cliff? Not like death is on the other side, but an unknown: an empty. It was during this time that I began to reflect with the Lord. I know Him well enough to know that He is never done with us. And that He doesn’t send us into such a place without a purpose. Many scriptures talk about the interactions of God with us in the desert, but I didn’t sense a desert. This was different. It felt like the eye of a storm. 

One day as I was texting a friend this season all came together. Off my fingers I was prophesying to myself what God was up to. “Though Spring is not here, I can and am planting seeds in this season as if it were Spring.” I remembered a prophecy I had given years ago when we lived in Humboldt County, California. “Be careful what you plant in this season, because it is what will grow in the next.” As I wrote I saw how the whispers from the Lord were all echoing the same thing. I just hadn’t seen how it all went together. I recalled that a couple weeks previously my friend, Devon, had sent me a song: Eye of the Storm. The lyrics didn't really speak to me, but now the title did. It was the Lord defining my season: I am in the eye of a storm.

If you are in a season of some downtime, reflect on the Lord. Don’t let the natural reasoning create the paradigm of your season. What is God up to? What is the purpose of your season? You are not just a speck on the planet. You have a purpose. What has God spoken to you that is yet to be fulfilled?

Those mentioned in Hebrews 11 looked beyond the natural into the spiritual. They didn’t let the natural dictate what they believed or how they walked with God. They lived by faith. They believed God.

Recall what He has said.

Focus on what you know to be true.

Plant wisely.

But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:9-10

Click to Purchase

Click to Purchase

Padlocked Doors

Padlocked Doors

I received Jesus in 1980 in a wonderful Charismatic church. We had our issues, but the Holy Spirit was welcomed and prominently honored as not only relevant, but necessary. We honored His gifts and we honored the Word of God. I'm so thankful I was born-again into such a family of believers. It has imprinted within me that the two – the Word and the Spirit – can and must go together.

Many boast of their adherence to the Word of God. They display their doctrinal statements with such eloquence on the websites: salvation, the Trinity, baptism, eschatology… but where are the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Where do they mention Him and His present ministry? Nowhere. So how biblical are they really?

Do churches not realize that without the Holy Spirit we aren’t even saved? We cannot even understand the Bible without Him revealing the things of Jesus to us. In this age He is everything to us. Why is He so shunned, so ignored? Yes, Jesus died and rose to purchase our salvation, however without the regeneration of the Holy Spirit we are not and cannot be born-again. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit Who takes the things of Jesus and reveals them to us.

The revelatory gifts are messy, like an ox in a stable. There is always a ton of manure that needs to be shoveled, because we, even at our best, still mess up. But what did Paul do in Corinth with so many piles? He didn’t stop the gifts; he didn't say they needed time to mature first; no, rather he used the opportunity to give us the best teaching anywhere in the Bible on the ministry of spiritual gifts in the church. 

Seriously, church is boring without the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is unbiblical. 1 Corinthians 14:26 says that when we come together certain things are supposed to be present, gifts of the Spirit are included. Furthermore, we are supposed to burn with passion (12:31, 14:1, and 14:39) for spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy. 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 states that unbelievers will encounter the reality of God through the prophetic gifts when people prophesy in church. 

How can someone who has revelatory gifts of the Spirit be faithful with their gifts if there isn’t a culture within the church for the gifts to flow? Week after week, service after service they must stifle what God is speaking to them and wants to speak through them. Week after week, service after service they die inside just a little.

Is the Holy Spirit being locked out of your church? 

Are there padlocks on your doors?

Does He embarrass you? Is that it?

I have heard many reasons for not having the ministry of spiritual gifts within the church service. None of them work. None of them are convincing. If you, as a leader, do not allow spiritual gifts to operate in the church you shepherd, you are wrong. You are disobeying God. Your boasting of adherence to the Word of God is vapor. Take the padlocks off the doors and let the Holy Spirit work through His gifts. Focus on cleaning up the messes instead of keeping Him out.

My books: Soaring in the Prophetic and Confronting the Wind can be purchased on Amazon. 

Click here to Purchase

Click Here to Purchase

Recognizing God

Recognizing God

So we want to be holy?

That has been our prayer for years. Oh, but that thing in our life now – that difficulty, that person, that need – that is the answer to that prayer: to be holy.

 

How will we respond? 

Do we really want to be more like Jesus?

Will we chose to love? I mean truly love – 1 Corinthians 13 love? The kind of love that forces us to die to our self. The kind of love that forces our character to change. The kind of love that isn’t fun.

Will we trust God? I mean really trust Him? Like the people in Hebrews 11 trusted Him? When it’s so dark we can’t see the way forward, will we trust? Be still my soul! Is He really that real to us?

See, many of us really do want to be more like our Jesus, but that disturbance – that irritant – that is our Jesus today. Will we give Him a cup of water with patience and kindness or will we remain ME driven? God doesn’t have to send us to another country to work with orphans to become more like Him. He may, but really He just needs to rock our little world right where we live. And the easy people to love, our friends, our family, yes He is in that too. But the character building ones… oh they are Him. Not that they are a manifestation of Jesus, but just as Jesus said, if you have or haven’t done it to the least of these you have or haven’t done it to Me (Matthew 25:40-45). That is getting down to our core ME: my Christianity.

So who are we really?

Who is looking back at us in the mirror?

Some of us, as we read this blog, are ashamed of who we have been. Maybe we are faced right now with the uncomfortable reality that we really just aren’t as much like Him as we were hoping we were. That too is a blessing from God. That is the kindness of God. The kind of sorrow that leads us to repentance. God never leaves us here. No He wants to use our discomfort to lead us to change. And He has given us the most beloved Holy Spirit to work in us that which is pleasing to God. He can be trusted to finish what He has started. 

Respond correctly to Him and grow.

“For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted...” 2 Corinthians 7:10a

“In this [living hope] you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ…” 1 Peter 1:6-7