Let me tell you a story. A really really long time ago, there was this Being. This Being was whole, and perfect and good. This being was Love. Now this Being had a desire to give Himself to another; not a need or necessity for He was in perfect communion with Himself because this Being was 3 in 1. In this desire, He chose man. He planned everything, The way man would look, the way he should think, and the world in which he should live. And to this man He would give choice. The choice to return the Love poured out upon him, to worship and commune with this Being. This Being saw the outcome of choice. He knew the betrayal that would come of it, but He loved man so He chose man. And Man became. The Being created man in His likeness, bearing His face. And Man rejected Him. In this man lost the perfection of his creation, and became destined to destruction. Not because this Being is treacherous, but because imperfection cannot exist in the presence of perfection; because fire burns that which is not fire. That Being which was, that Being which created, that Being became man. It was part of His plan all along, but man would not have it. Man crucified that Being. But that was part of His plan too. Death could not hold Him, for He was greater than Death. But in His death, His Blood flowed. And in His blood was restoration. The imperfect could again be perfect. His death was a shout to Man. “I am here!” He said. “I give all of Myself to you!” He said. “If you come to Me, I will be your Daddy!” He said. “You will reign with Me!” He said. “I love You,” He said, “And Nothing will ever change that!” And that Being is God. That Being is Yahweh. That Being is Jesus. That Being is Immanuel. That Being is the Holy Spirit. That Being wants You! And He wants you as you are, not as you should be.
This is probably the most arrogant and ignorant question I ever answer because it supposes that we give God meaning when the opposite is true.
Yet, it’s one of my favorite questions because of how surprising the answer is.
Before God created us, he was partying… all the time. Just celebrating himself and how awesome he is. Partying for eternity with joy and passion.
Then he thought, this party is awesome so he created angels to party with Him, then he created us to party with them. Party party party.
Then we fell and got uninvited to the party. So he sent Jesus to invite us back. If you don’t believe me, notice how half of Jesus’ parables are about party invitations. He wants us back at the party. That’s why I question boring Christianity. It’s so opposite of the atmosphere of heaven.
The moral of this story: God likes to party. This is the gospel.
“When you saw a person covered in scars, you knew that they were a worthy adversary in battle, because they could take a hit and were not afraid to keep fighting. The same goes for the heart, just because you have some wounds that are still healing, it does not mean that you are any less of a warrior. In fact, you might be one of the mightiest warriors around, because you were willing to trust someone, to be vulnerable with another soul; and that takes true courage.”
I know I just posted last night, but I woke up today with this phrase so strongly imprinted in my spirit, that I had to make this graphic first-thing today.
I wrote this on yesterday’s post, but I feel such a strong pull from the Lord to make another post today where this is the focus, and I pray that this word is found anchored in your heart now and forevermore.
So much more than we could ever ask, think, dream-up, imagine, and closer than the broken heart beat we feel in our chest, is Jesus.
Again today, I release the testimony of “heart-knowledge”, I free your mind, YOUR mind, right this second to receive this word deep into your spirit in Jesus’ name.
You AREN’T the sum of your past failures.
You AREN’T the flaws you see reflected in the glass.
You AREN’T a victim of previous thought patterns.
You ARE enough.
You ARE entirely wonderful.
You ARE worthy of the most passionate love and honor.
You ARE victorious through Christ in you.
You’re NEVER a burden, and YOU, yes YOU, are ALWAYS His honor.
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“Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a while life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling.”
“Loving people: this is where it gets real and it’s no longer abstract doctrine. To really love people and restore them, to get in the grit of their lives and lift them off the floor. It’s messy. It’s painful. It’s not romantic. It’s what Jesus did, and they killed him. But it’s what we’re made for.”
The Father of the prodigal son was so smart. When his son came and asked him for his inheritance, he gave him money instead. Then he waited til he came back to his senses to give him his real inheritance. Brilliant.
Someone out there thinks that you squandered your inheritance with a filthy past. That’s not the case. You didn’t even get your inheritance til you returned to the Father.
You were not created for heaven. You were created for the earth. You were created to rule on the earth as an image bearer of God. Adam lost the keys in the fall but Christ took them back and has given them back to us. The curse is being reversed and the church is rising victorious. I believe the church is meant to rule on earth, to reform culture, to bring the Kingdom here on earth, to bring the earth under the rule of the sons and daughters of God. The earth is waiting for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. Jesus will come back and in the twinkling of an eye we will be raptured to look like him and we will welcome him to earth. Darkness is getting darker but the light is getting lighter.
“I am now utterly convinced that on judgement day the Lord Jesus is going to ask each of us one question and only one question: Did you believe that I loved you? That I desired you? That I waited for you day after day? That I longed to hear the sound of your voice?
The real believers there will answer, ‘Yes, Jesus. I believed in your love and I tried to shape my life as a response to it.’ But many of us who are so faithful in our ministry, in our practice, in our church going are going to have to reply, 'Well frankly, no sir. I mean, I never really believed it. I mean, I heard a lot of wonderful sermons and teachings about it. In fact I gave quite a few myself. But I always knew that that was just a way of speaking; a kindly lie, some Christian’s pious pat on the back to cheer me on.’ And there’s the difference between the real believers and the nominal Christians that are found in our churches across the land. No one can measure like a believer the depth and the intensity of God’s love. But at the same time, no one can measure like a believer the effectiveness of our gloom, pessimism, low self-esteem, self-hatred and despair that block God’s way to us. Do you see why it is so important to lay hold of this basic truth of our faith? Because you’re only going to be as big as your own concept of God.
Do you remember the famous line of the French philosopher, Blaise Pascal? 'God made man in his own image, and man returned the compliment?’ We often make God in our own image, and He winds up to be as fussy, rude, narrow minded, legalistic, judgmental, unforgiving, unloving as we are.
In the past couple of three years I have preached the gospel to the financial community in Wall Street, New York City, the airmen and women of the air force academy in Colorado Springs, a thousand positions in Nairobi. I’ve been in churches in Bangor, Maine, Miami, Chicago, St. Louis, Seattle, San Diego. And honest, the god of so many Christians I meet is a god who is too small for me. Because he is not the God of the Word, he is not the God revealed by it in Jesus Christ who this moment comes right to your seat and says, 'I have a word for you. I know your whole life story. I know every skeleton in your closet. I know every moment of sin, shame, dishonesty and degraded love that has darkened your past. Right now I know your shallow faith, your feeble prayer life, your inconsistent discipleship. And my word is this: I dare you to trust that I love you just as you are, and not as you should be. Because you’re never going to be as you should be.’”
“Do you believe that the God of Jesus loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity and infidelity—that he loves you in the morning sun and in the evening rain—that he loves you when your intellect denies it, your emotions refuse it, your whole being rejects it? Do you believe that God loves without condition or reservation and loves you this moment as you are and not as you should be?”
