Mess of Boxes

Categories for People

I am a guy. That means my brain likes to categorize E V E R Y T H I N G.

That being said, I've realized lately that love doesn't categorize. It meets people where they are at. It doesn't come with presuppositions or ideas or agendas, it simply comes to love.

Recently, I was at the park with a group of people, some friends, and some not. I began to speak with a young man who I knew was a Muslim. My mind instantly went into argumentation mode, and I was really unable to love him. He was not great at loving either, but he was much better at accepting things the way they are.

He said he was not afraid of death, because he understood that everyone died at some point.
He said he doesn't judge people for their religion, because we're all learning.
He said I could pray for him, and didn't get weird afterwards, even though he wasn't healed.

I wanted to prove something to him. I wanted to boast in the way that I believed. I wanted to demonstrate my authority over sickness. I wanted to prove him and his whole family wrong.

Does any of that sound like love to you?

Nope. It wasn't. 


About a half an hour later, I was leaving the park, and I felt the nudge of the Holy Spirit to talk to some people (a dad and his two daughters) who were playing on the playground. At first I said no, and kept walking, but then He showed me that I was simply saying no because I knew they wouldn't accept me, and thus I would feel rejected. 

But people are worth meeting, talking to, and loving on! Every human being is made in the beautiful image of God, and has a piece of His character hidden in their personality.

So I went back and awkwardly introduced myself, and walked with them a little ways, mostly listening to the little girl talk about their new cat. It was a beautiful time, and I realized, that I can be excited to talk to people, because Love is excited to talk to people.
God is moved by the little moments, the one time we glance at Him on Sunday morning, the single link of our necklace. He is in love with every single human being ever. 

And love does not put people in boxes. It loves the person for the person.

Mess

Last night I was in the prayer room, and I began to speak and sing to the Lord about how He still comes into my mess to love me. 

But He doesn't.

I was thinking that I was in a mess—the mess of my life, and how I can't get everything together—and that He met me there. But no, He showed me in my heart that I am the mess. The mess isn't something that He wades through to get to the beauty inside, the mess IS the beauty inside.

If we get a hold of that revelation, it will set us free from the fear of man!! Because I know that I have no strength to make myself any better. And if He calls me Son when I am simply Mess, then there is nothing I can do, whether good or bad, to change how He sees me. 

So Abba, I'm asking for a deeper revelation of Your grace that empowers us to live free. Give whoever is reading this a double portion of faith and freedom, in the name of Jesus!!!

God is in LOVE with you!!! Receive it! Believe it! And let it change your world!!

#changedbyperfectlove

In The Room

"I want to be surprised by You. I want to be pursued in my daily life."

Not just when I make time for You in my room with a guitar and a Bible. I want to be caught by You, swept off my feet, and completely starstruck by Your love.

Last week, I said that I would set a reminder to update this weekly, searching out who Jesus is today, and who we are to Him, and how He demonstrates Himself to and through us in our lives. 

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock."

It is not us, but He, who is doing the pursuing.

... but what is this voice inside, this longing, this utter groan that is not satisfied by love? Why do I feel like all of my time with Jesus is just me pursuing Him, and Him sometimes showing up? Why do I not always feel secure in His love? Is it my fault? Is it that I don't believe enough? I do believe, and that is why I am feeling...

H U R T

I am in pain. Inside, I am wounded, feeling rejected, like a friend who is a secondary friend, just there because the One who invited me didn't want me to feel left out. As if I have believed and gone and sought after Him, and He met me there, but didn't return the favor.

As if He appreciated and responded to my love, but never returned the affection.

Have you ever felt like God is only there for you when you're there for Him?

"If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and

we will come to him and make our home with him."

But I already believe and keep Your word.

I believe that God is pursuing me, and pursuing those that I talk to at the gas station, in Walmart, at the park, and in my friend circles. 

"So, Abba, why do I feel like You don't dwell within me?"

I was in the shower, listening to a message for women about how God pursues each one of us according to our experiences, likes, and love languages.

As I was listening, there was a part I couldn't quite make out clearly, and it sounded like the speaker said "... storehouses of pain." 

I was confused, because this didn't sound like it fit in the message. 

Immediately after that, I saw (in my imagination) a room in my own heart, that was a room of pain. It was the place where I stored all of my rejection, every painful memory, every hurtful word, even every awkward situation. Everything that hurt me was boarded up in this room. It was the very room that I avoided like the plague. 

I denied that I even had that room. 

I believed I was unoffendable, untouchable, unmovable.

But there in the shower, in my spirit, I knew that I had just entered into this room, and I began to moan and cry.

It's a dark room. It's a lonely room. It's a room that I believed was washed away in the blood of Jesus.

But it's very real.

When I entered this room, I was feeling the pain that I had pushed away for so long, fresh and new. I was receiving what I had been bottling up for so long, and I was finally admitting to being hurt. 

And that's when He surprised me.

Just as I saw myself in this room, and felt the pain of it, I saw that Jesus was standing—no, sitting—in the very middle of it.

He didn't have His hands wide open...

He wasn't shimmering with light...

He was simply, totally, and confidently...

there.

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and 

saves those who have a humbled spirit.

Family, He is in your pain. He has borne our griefs. 

And He is with us.

... and they shall call His name Emmanuel...

God with us

This is who Jesus is.

This is how He shows Himself to us.

This is what He wants to restore to all people through us.

This, my friends, is our God. This is who He is today.

I invite you to go to that place of pain. I promise you that He's there. And I know He will never leave.

<3

What then shall we do? (Beginning)

I realized today that I simply believe in the Gospel, but don't know what God wants to do IN ME in the day-to-day. I believe God is real, and I have seen Him heal people, save souls, transform lives, stop hail, restore families, recharge batteries, multiply fuel, and save money.

But I want to see really who Jesus IS right now, and join Him in His work. I don't want to be blessed in my work, I want to be engulfed in His work.

So I am setting off to find out who Jesus is today, looking specifically in the Gospels. I want to find His heart and let it consume me.

I'm setting a reminder on my phone to write an update to this every Saturday night for y'all.

Pray for me, that I would discover in living words what we're here for, and why our faith is so important in order that we see and release the Kingdom.

Cageless

So many people talk about the way that God made us or the way that God made them. "God made me to do" and then fill that in with whatever each person may say. Much of the things that people say may be true, but I think there is something thats value is not discussed enough. And that is the topic of freedom. Freedom is such a broad word so I want to dive into the heart of what it really means to be a "free" Son of God in todays world. I believe the biggest issue when we talk about freedom is what are we captive to? What are our thoughts captive to? What are our emotions captive to? What are our lives captive to? The biggest problem is that we rarely know that we are captive until we are, or want to be set free. Holy Spirit has been showing me that we are in a season of unveiling. Jesus is so into the business of un-caging. There has been a major un-caging in my life very recently and I have talked to many people who express the same feeling. We are in a season of un-caging. The one thing that I have been noticing though is that through process of un-caging my heart is starting to be captivated by Jesus and His love. I cant help but think about him and talk about him. He is captivating my heart again in this season. And not strictly in a romantic, poetic way. But in a real, tangible, affects every part of my day way. I want to be so captivated by his heart that I can be used easily by him for the un-caging of others. So many people around us, and in our lives are caged and they are held back. And if they are held back then we cannot expect them to live to their full potential. Here is the key though. YOU carry the key to peoples cages. That key is the presence of Jesus. If we truly believed this we would go into situations with such a different outlook. We would stop going into our circumstances with the thought of what can I gain, or what is going to make ME feel better, but we would go into the places of our lives with confidence that God is in the mood to un-cage someone today. We also have to understand that caged people cannot free anyone else. But this is the good news. YOU have to key to un-caging yourself. And this is what it looks like. "Holy Spirit come. Set me free." Its stupid to think that if we ask Holy Spirit to come and set us free that He will resist. Its actually not in His nature. His nature is that He is a good father that longs to give good gifts to his kids. We are in a season of un-caging. That may look like something different for different people but there is one thing that I know. PEOPLE ARE BEING SET FREE.

Romans 8:9 

You however are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. 

Invite from God

This will be short,  I promise.

When God reveals something to you, why does He do it?

Have you ever noticed how He reveals something powerful right before we meet someone who needs the revelation?

For instance, recently Father revealed Himself as Father to me at a deeper level, and basically showed me that God (Jesus) told us to use the the term "Daddy" (Abba) when talking to God (Yahweh).

Of all the things God is, He chose to be called Father by His creation.

Just a day later, I was in a context where th Lord called me to speak to His children and call them back to His love. The message was the heart of the Father, shown through Jesus. Several people got significantly touched by what He gave me to say.

So my question is this:
Are encounters with God more than just a moment, but rather and invitation to live life in a new light?

Help me Father.

In all that goes on in my life,

Let my heart and faith be set
Only on You, and not forget the
Very blood that flows in me
Even by Your life and death

My heart is crying out.
Yet I won't be overwhelmed.

Find me faithful to the end, even
At Your throne with no pretense.
Take me, break me, love me, show me
Heart, Soul, Ways, and Story.
Every day my soul is longing
Run to me, oh Father help me!

"I chose you, beloved. I chose you as My own.

Let Me love you fully, firmly.
Open to Me; My heart is yearning.
Vacate your home and find it in Me,
Exploring the hills of eternity.

Young and tender, you're loved so strongly.
One moment with you, I'll become your longing.
Undone, Ravished, My heart for you's pulling.

My beloved, turn to Me!
One day at a time, I'll love you freely!
Rest in Me, I am your sustaining
Every time you look, you overcome Me!"

Brooding

I feel the presence of the Holy One stirring up the waters.

Travail.

We're in a war, and it's like the two armies are about to collide like never before. This is not a skirmish, it's a head-on assault.

Through the past decades, I fear the church has grown comfortable, fat, and happy. We've assumed that since all seems to be going "well", God must agree with our lifestyle.

But what if we're losing?
In His Word, God did not guarantee that He would never leave this nation.

America is not God's chosen people.


Nevertheless, His heart longs for the people in this land to awaken to their destiny! There has to be an awakening in the church, or God will judge this land. How am I so sure?

What if all this doomsday speaking was just hype to get people to join our groups, ministries, and organizations, and really, God is happy with the way things are?

Is God okay with murder?
Will He remain silent while His beloved ones are raped and used for the pleasure of demons and evil men?
Can He not act when He hears the cry of millions upon millions of innocent children being slaughtered without mercy?
Will He remain silent while His people are corrupted before the TV with one sex scene here, one murder scene there, a little joke about sin there, while the enemy whispers in our ears, "It's okay, it just shows who the are. It's character development. It's not sin to see someone else's sin, is it? You'll feel better after watching another one."

I cannot cry loud enough.
I cannot pray long enough.
My soul is learning well the ways of war; of travail and intercession.
But I will not stand for sin in the camp.

Is it too brazen to drive a spear through two lovers in order to stop the judgement from coming? Phineas was seen as righteous in the Lord's eyes for killing two people while they were on the bed.

"That was then, this is now. Now we have Jesus."

Do you think that because God's mercy has triumphed over judgement, He doesn't care anymore? What if the judgement of God is all the more strict because of the grace of Jesus?

Are we willing to believe that God will hold us accountable for how we used His Son's blood?

The blood of Jesus takes away sins. It does not cover them like mortar in order to lay more of them upon it.

Is it okay to get angry at a fellow brother or sister in Christ for saying a cuss word in a sermon while we give our time unhindered to indulging our own pleasures with sin? It is too late to feel sorry for ourselves because we didn't get everything we wanted. People are dying for the Gospel, and many more are dying without it—I know, you've heard it before.

That doesn't make it less real.

My heart yearns for you to know the worthiness of Jesus. If we know that He is worthy of everything we have to offer, and more, could we possibly live a life sold-out like the apostles? Could we be men and women of renown, known in Heaven for our faithfulness, known in hell for our authority, and known on earth for our humility?

After reading this, I ask that you do not take it lightly. Whether you become enraged, or are broken, please do not be passive. 

Passivity is defeat.

We, as the church of God, have two options: Fight, or run.

I'm praying for you.


I wish you could hear my voice. Perhaps then you would be convinced to do whatever it takes to "cleanse the camp" of all sin.

A pure heart comes from a pure conscience. A pure conscience comes from obedience. Obedience comes through faith. Faith comes through hearing. Hearing comes from the Word of God.

Oh God have mercy on us.

Let us submit ourselves to each other, and fight for one another's destiny. I don't wanna be proud, sarcastic, or bitter in exhortation. Please understand, this is all about Jesus. The only reason I'm alive is because of Jesus, and the only reason I'm not a bitter, porn-addicted, God-hating man is because of Jesus.
His mercy is stronger.
His Love is stronger.
He's not angry at you. He's furious with the enemy.

Praise God that the enemy will be destroyed in the lake of fire!
All glory to the Lamb for His justice on the foe!
Bless the Lord for His great mercy in which He has given us VICTORY through His name!

Hallelujah!!!

The Grace of Jesus be upon you all.