For God So Loved Me.....

What is the key to obtaining spiritual maturity? What will allow a person to cross from carnal (living from their human perspective) to a grounded or mature faith? Is it passion for the things of God? Is it disciplining oneself in the things of God? Is it daily dying to self?

Passion is good thing but it won’t cause one to be mature. It should be a bi-product of maturity. Discipline is also a good and proper habit of a person who is considered mature but it won’t cause you to become mature. And the dying daily to self, is just a religious mirage of a heart that is seeking out something that IN Christ we already possess. We died with Christ and rose again with Him to newness of life. So to die to self is not achieving maturity, but in fact hindering the believer from moving forward at all. Your sin nature is dead..... you are a new creation in Christ and do not need to die daily.

So lets explore what is an indispensable key to walking out the Christian life in maturity. Paul said to the believers in the Corinthian church that the wisdom he speaks of is for the mature believer. (1 Cor 2:6) But this word for mature or fully grown person (telios) is not a meaning of knowing lots of scripture but of knowing that one is complete in Christ. Paul said this wisdom is a mystery to the scholars and a mystery to those who are considered leaders of the world, but to you....simple lovers of Christ, this wisdom is delivered to you by your uncomplicated faith in the Savior.

When I attended college, I was a vocal music major and loved daily going to choir rehearsal. We performed Handel's Messiah during the Christmas season and this opportunity was a highlight of my college experience. I was somewhat ignorant to the fact that these marvelously beautiful songs were written by a man who was inspired by the Bible and amazingly portrayed the truth in the scriptures. Previous to going to college, I had barely read any of the Bible. I had a knowledge based on what others told me the Scripture said. This lack of knowledge of the Bible caused me to live life in sorrow as a result of not understanding my value to the Father.

I did know a few scriptures and one was "For God so loved the world he gave his only Son that whoever would believe on him would not perish and have everlasting or eternal life." (John 3:16) Many people on the planet know this verse of scripture and I think most who do know it, take it for granted. But there is power in this--the Gospel. It says in Romans chapter 1 that "the Good News is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." Imagine for a moment if you had no knowledge of the Father's love toward you. Many people operate from this lack of understanding how loved and valued they of the Father.

So if this truth--knowing of the Father’s love to send Jesus, is so essential, why does it seem to be such a neglected subject in the Church? When was the last time we heard a sermon or a series preached in worship service about the Father's Love? When was the last time I made it a focus of my study in the Bible or my pursuing the heart of Father? These foundational truths are important and I will state that knowing that one is completely loved and accepted by the Father is an elementary understanding to our maturity as a believer.

It says in Proverbs 23 that “For as a man thinks in his heart so is he.” When we know we are loved of the Father then we live loved.

We hear about repenting and serving and dedicating our lives to prayer. We have it preached many times a year about the importance of the Great Commission. All these subjects are indeed important. But none of these subjects will penetrate and CHANGE or TRANSFORM the human heart. I can boast loudly for all my life how much I love to serve a living God, but this will not transform me. Boasting of His love for me---this truth has set me free many times over and will cause healing, deliverance and overwhelmingly positive results in your life and the lives of those who hear this truth.

Knowing or experiencing the Love of God is what will penetrate a heart. Knowing His Passion for you will bring you to life. Preaching it to others will ignite a zeal within you that cannot be quenched. All those other subjects (all important) will not cause you to become intoxicated by His purpose for your life.

I challenge you to meditate and speak aloud "The Father loves me...He loves me...He sent His Son --my Savior--for me. He loves me and desires me." Speaking this aloud causes a fresh belief within your soul. It changes you...it will change you and create passion in your heart and soul.

I will conclude this short article by telling you about a dream that changed my perspective of my Father’s heart for me.

This dream, which presented more like a nightmare, occurred in me about six years ago and it is only about a year ago that I understood it. It was somewhat disturbing at the time. I probably had this dream due to the constant struggle of depression and the anxiety disorder that pummeled my mind daily before I was healed about five years ago. I know that God used this dream to teach me of the truth about my Savior and about the Father’s love for me.

In the dream, I was running from something or someone. My surroundings were unfamiliar and I eventually realized I was in a maze of some sort. The people I saw in this dream were people I knew but no one would talk to me. It was like I was a stranger to them. I would ask them a question about how to get out of the maze and they all looked at me strangely, like asking them this was the most ignorant question to ask. Some looked at me in disgust and acted like they were afraid to get too close. I began to feel a lot of shame and felt like people were pointing and whispering. All during the dream, I felt like something or someone would soon "catch" me if I didn't keep moving.

It was one disconcerting moment after the other. This dream was one of those bottomless pits of uncertainty. I felt anxious and confused. I am the type of person who prefers to plan my route and this was one ambivalent turn after another.

Finally in the dream, I ran into a clearing. It was like a round courtyard. There were several other archway openings that came from the same maze that I had just tried to escape. In the center of the courtyard, up on a small platform was who I thought was Jesus. His back was to me so I was unsure it was really Him. So I ran to Him. I cried out His name “JESUS” as soon as I saw His face. BUT when this person I thought was Jesus turned around, He was scowling at me. There was a look of pure contempt on His face. I wept bitter tears, kneeling in front of whom I perceived as my savior. I felt a profound hopelessness and a dark gloomy cloud was settling on my body.

Then something miraculous entered the dream. Our Father will never leave us hopeless. In the dream, my dear friend of many decades appeared to me as I was weeping before this angry god. She insisted that I get up and no longer worship him....she said this was NOT Jesus.

I awoke with extreme emotion. My pillow was soaked with tears and I was physically shaken. It was haunting and hope-filled all at the same time.

I now know that if it is not Good News, it is not Jesus. This dream was a revelation from my Savior that He is not hard to find and not angry with me. He paid the entire price so I could come boldly before the Throne of Grace. I'm set free by His love and He would never leave me, reject me or put me to shame. All my sin was removed from me as far as the east is from the west. I now realize I do not need to feel driven by someone or something and I am free to love and be loved.

My foundation as a mature believer in Christ is that of my Father loves me so much that He sent His precious Son to redeem and restore my life back to Him. I am the treasure of great price spoke of in the parable. He gave up all for me! I am loved. YOU are loved. You can experience this complete and full way of living as you increase your knowledge of how loved you are by the Father.

Daughter, Where are you?

Ever have one of those days where you are walking along in peace and something happens and it seems your joy and peace is snatched away like a wave on the sand? Of course you have. We all have in our human experience. But why? Why do offences and some types of circumstances cause us to temporarily lose our peace or joy or both? I'll answer more clearly but want to give you some insight into what helped me to see more clearly.

I am the type of person that wants to bless others and I try very hard to be a blessing everyday. So what appeared in my perspective to me to be ahead of schedule and accomplishing my goals of the day did not appear to others the same. Someone had a different perspective. This person whom I was intending on blessing ended up feeling annoyed with me and was actually somewhat rude. So my peace is washed out to sea since I felt I failed them....sigh.... So I'm walking along in order to meet up with this other human who needed me to continue to bless them, but I believe they are disappointed in me.

So I ask the Holy Spirit to show me how not to feel offended. He had been working in my heart to help me to understand that we are not to see others in flesh since our Father no longer sees me in the flesh but to see them by my new creation perspective. I'm in Christ and most of the time I am aware of this right-standing with the Father. I've come to realize by the work of the Spirit within that I am seen as holy and perfect since I'm IN CHRIST therefore no more old nature....since it died and was buried IN CHRIST 2000 years ago. But still having some trouble in this common hinderance of feeling offended.

I walk the remaining part of my journey to deliver to this other person what they wanted from me. I felt hurt and angry that rather than being appreciated I was told I was not meeting expectations. All of you at some point have been told this and just admit it: This hurts. It hurts to be told that your human best is substandard. So after I've completed my mission I huff off and go hide so I can cry by myself and of course cry out to my Father who always see me as perfect in the Son.

I'm sitting looking out a large window at a typical gray rainy October morning. The colorful leaves from last week have mostly blown off in the chilly northern wind and the colors that remain are more dull browns and less golds and red that I loved. I turn my gaze to a piece of framed art on the wall. It's ugly. It's a photo of a room that has long since been abandoned. Black and white image with a look of hopelessness. I'm still fighting back the stinging tears when I hear in my spirit, "Where are you? Daughter, where are you?" Wow! I knew just what He meant. It was like a flood of understanding. In that moment, I was still focused on what had happened 20 minutes earlier and He was currently in the present.

Our Father lives in the NOW not the past....He doesn't see my past or the past of the person who offended me. He was not mad or thinking up some way to avenge my hurt feelings from the individual who hurt me. In that instant, my peace was FULL. I was instantly transformed back to the life of abundance that I was living prior to the offence. I UNDERSTOOD and knew now that offences come when we live back in our minds where the offence took place. The Father asked me where I was NOT because he was angry or thinking up some type of punishment or curse to place on me--His daughter and precious one In HIs Son....but rather he just wanted me to re-focus on Him and His love for me.

I looked up again at the bland art work on the wall and saw something new, I had not seen previously. Right near the middle of the image of the black and white photograph was the word PEACE. I knew then that was the intended focal point that the artist had intended for me to see but it was not visible to me until I refocused on being IN CHRIST.

So to answer my first question: Why do offences and some types of circumstances cause us to temporarily lose our peace or joy? It's because we are not where we belong in our spirits.....we've remained at the offence and are focused on that and are stuck until we re-focus and fix our eyes back on the Savior and His finished work. There is no lack. Eve thought she lacked and God asked her "Where are you?" And she hid! I know my Savior well enough now to know I can run to His Throne of Grace and receive all and know that I lack for no good thing in Him.

He Will Send Down His Roots.

As I was drifting off to sleep, I found myself perplexed as to why grace has transformed so much of my life and in other areas the unloviness of sin still seems to have a stronghold in my mind. I know in my gut-- that part of me that 100% trusts that what my Savior did for me is sufficient --but my brain still sees the flesh dominating parts of me.....So this is the image the Holy Spirit put in my mind as I was drifting off to dream.

A heavy monument or tombstone represented the old nature that died in Christ. It's stone cold heavy nature just sitting there as a reminder of who I was...it seems like a mountain in my life but in reality it's just a dead thing that represents my old self. My memory of it is strong. The root of course represents the fullness of grace growing in me daily. I'm going from glory to glory and grace to grace. The root is under the tombstone and in a matter of time it topples over the dead thing.....the law --like two tombstones seemed to dominate my life at a time but grace got in there and eventually toppled them over. This dead stone no longer represents my life. I'm a New Creation in Christ and believe that God's grace will continue to topple over the dead monuments of my past. Dead things cannot control me.

A scripture that encouraged me as well after seeing this grace-filled example of how this process of going from grace to grace works "I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily. Like a cedar of Lebanon he will send down his roots" Hosea 14:5