Spring and New Beginnings

During a walk through my lovely community, I thought about how extraordinary it is that Easter falls on the cusp of spring, announcing it as a time of hope bursting with new beginnings.  Jesus had a plan from the start, didn’t He? Our Jewish savior used Passover to put in place a picture-story that would be more accurately understood thousands of years later. Today we see a much fuller scope of the Divine plot when He asked His people, far from home and in brutal captivity, to spread the blood of a lamb on the door lintel of their homes.  The cross explained it. The empty tomb proved it. Our hearts experience it.

 

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What if God spoke directly to you?

We read in the Bible so many accounts of times when God spoke to people. Have you ever wondered if it was out loud? You know, hearing His voice verbally with physical ears? Or, was it an inward knowing, like what today is most common in how Christians term being “led by the Spirit” or  guided or comforted by God?

Jesus plainly said that we would know His voice.

For years I have recorded my prayer experiences with God in notebooks.  I have boxes of them, like stored love letters. I confess, though, that I am not as consistent as I was years ago. Now the entries might be weeks apart. It amazes me how God meets me whenever I have a journal open in my lap. I suppose it is because I expect something or why would I bother with pen and paper, right? That expecting something is exactly what God waits for–I am convinced of it. Today He said such intimate things to me.  You will soon see why I am sharing this with all of you.

For clarification, I will  bold God’s words (or what I believe to be His words) — because what I hear is not verbal and out loud, but are thoughts that come to me while praying in faith. You see, when we believe He can or wants to speak to us, we will hear directly from His heart and mind (His Spirit).

My conversation with Him went like this today …

Lord, I know I need to please you more than myself in order to find happiness. I somehow need to overcome all my weaknesses and be changed. Change me, Lord. I surrender. I want to enjoy life with You, not apart from You.

Stop being passive. Go after what you want.

I should start with just going after You  — nothing else.

Now that’s a thought – a real revelation!

Lord, you are being sacarstic…. lol.

Yes.

I sense Him grinning.

So, Lord, tell me, how do I go after an invisible being?

What do you do when you pursue a relationship with someone?–as in . . . with a man?–or anyone really? But, especially, think about what DESIRE does in regards to getting someone you want?

Well, you try to be attractive to that person. You do what you think would please the one being pursued. You do creative things to express your interest or love, especially when further in the relationship. You want to be with that person as much as you can. You think non-stop about the person–obsession takes over.

Yes!

Lord, how far I’ve fallen and settled for the emptiness of the world’s offerings lately. Most of my earth-centered desires are unreachable for me anyway. So unsatifying. Lord, are You within my reach?

What do you think? You know better than to ask the question. I want you to write a blog about this.

Should it be a poem or something? A teaching?

Be creative.

(There was a bit of silence.)

Think about only Me for as often as you can. Let thoughts of no one else in as often as you can. As often as you can. As often as you can. (Smiling again.)

Here’s one thought about me you could hold for awhile. Hold and behold. Remember. Dwell on. Like you used to do.

The Lord gave me the idea, like a creative piece of art, living art, of Mary Magdalene (only it was me) sitting at the feet of Jesus. I am looking at Him and He is looking at me. And it was so full of His true presence that it felt life-changing. I am still in the afterglow.

I wasn’t sure how to follow God’s direction in that He wanted me to blog tonight for Him about all of this. It is a wonder to realize, though  . . . What can happen when God speaks directly to you? I pray God will speak to each of you in this very moment. Close your eyes. Listen to Him right now.  I think this was a set up of some kind — His idea. Not mine.

 

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Why God Came

This is a love story.

The answer to why God came to earth is at once simple and profound. Simple because it takes eyes of faith to see the truth. Profound because it takes eyes of love to see the depths of the matter. God came to earth to save us. But the manner and way He came is what won our hearts to His.

What desire spurred Him on in Creation? What planning and plotting? What sprang to life in God’s own heart the moment He gave Eve to Adam in a garden called Paradise? The seed of His big idea began in that act of love so very long ago. Soon, God will have His own beloved. And, it is us. You and me, each one of us.

He wanted us to be free to choose Him, but how could we choose to love the One we most feared? The Creator and King of the Universe came disguised as a lowly human so that we could see His true reality — the personality and love of God shone through Jesus.

He came to be discovered.

God let us touch Him. See Him. Learn from Him.

He came to give Himself up for us. He gave everything He had for us. He gave everything He was for us.

He came to steal our hearts.

This love story isn’t over … we’re caught up in the midst of it still.

 

 

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Seeking Jesus – Reflections on Wisdom

This time of year can be so full of busyness and stress we lose ourselves and our bearings. But, just think, something so extraordinary happened that silently dazzled the universe and forever changed our world.

We would do well to be just like the mysterious visitors who came to worship the Child Jesus. We know them as the “Magi,” or the “Wise Men”—the seekers who came from Persia or perhaps from as far east as Arabia. Their story became part of history and God’s Word. This was a colorful, dramatic event in the Gospels. Christian folklore and songs about them are a familiar part of our lives. As far as theologians have determined, the Magi were not kings, as some have thought, but were, more likely, astrologers. As explorers of the universe, they were considered “seers” in their own land. What we know for sure is that they saw Heaven’s “birth announcement,” interpreting the bright, new star in the night sky as a sign of the birth of a divine Jewish king. They understood the phenomenon as their invitation from the Universe to “come and see.”

And, they responded. They came, full of hope, to the land of Israel.

Their past, color of skin, place of birth, culture, religious upbringing—none of that mattered to God—only that they were on a journey of desire. What was the star that they followed? Could it have been a comet? Was it low in the heavens? Did it actually guide them? Or, did they strike out to Jerusalem because of ancient Jewish writings that guided them in understanding, coupled with the appearance and location in the heavens of the new star? Did they see planets in some special conjunction, and come to a conclusion about the message they conveyed based on their astrological beliefs? We can only guess. All we know for sure is that their worshipful visit to young Jesus was a dramatic, profoundly mystical event.

Because it was a part of God’s story of redemption, we want to understand its import.

We know that the Magi came to adore the Son of God, bearing symbolic gifts appropriate for him: gold—for his royalty; myrrh—for his humanity; and frankincense—for his divinity. And we know for certain that God drew the wise, mystic seekers from the East to himself.

These men who traveled from afar were seekers of the King of the Universe. They were men not content to stay put in their own comfortable world, but they traveled a great distance to find the Person they believed the newborn king to be. They did not care to experience the gods of their own making, or to send others to find what they themselves needed to find. Theirs was a journey of desire and hope—placed inside their hearts from above. Just as the star lit the sky above their heads, so the Creator lit the fire of desire within their souls—to journey on a path of faith and hope to him. Hope and desire.

What are these powers so strongly intertwined within the human heart? They are no less than God’s own hope and desire towards us, wooing us to him.

The story of the eastern Magi is a parable for today: of our scientists, politicians, students, of all seekers of truth—for everyone, for all time. Within each living soul is a deep yearning to know truth, to learn, and to discover. We were born to wonder! Animals and plants do not care to marvel at the sunset; nor do they care a bit about what makes the world go around. Why do people? Why did God make us this way?

What did the Magi know about the God of Israel? Had they read the ancient Jewish prophecies about the promised redeemer? Did they realize that those prophecies predicted that the Light of the World would come from Israel itself? What drew them there? Why did they travel such a long distance to find the Answer to their seeking? What does this amazing story, this moment in history, mean?

Apparently, the wise men didn’t come for political reasons, personal ambition, or curiosity. We realize that their worshipful visit was part of a dramatic scene in God’s living play. His Story. It was, to over-simplify its meaning, a surprise. It seems rather strange that God would bring pagan seers to witness and worship the birth of his Son—letting the strangers in on what all of Israel was blind to. But then, God the Father let a few simple shepherds in on his happiness that first night too. It does seem to be in character with the kind of outlandish things he does with the most unexpected, unlikely people.

The One True God wooed the strangers there, making them take part in the history of his participation with humankind. We don’t know God’s reasons. But everyone who has sung the songs about the mystic traveling gentlemen at Christmastime know this much—they were on a spiritual quest. The Magi’s story shows us how God draws us to himself, and when we respond, he reveals himself so that we really do find and see him. God is the Reward for our wandering, longing hearts and eyes, and is the Answer to our heart’s deepest questions.

I wish you the best of all Christmas means.

 

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The Wonder and Beauty of Knowing God

For a couple of decades I’ve enjoyed intimacy with God. It has, however, been impossible to experience this without bringing the Creator down to my own level, in human terms, so to speak. But how else can any of us even dare to experience knowing Him?  After I believed in Him as my personal Savior, I wanted to live to please Him. At that point I began this extraordinary, transcending experience that is often impossible to describe to someone who hasn’t known such things. I actually hear God’s voice. I know what He thinks! Sometimes I am too comfortable, though, I suppose because He hasn’t appeared to me in His glory. I haven’t seen Jesus’ brilliant, blinding form as did Paul on the road to Damascus. Many have witnessed similar things, like light radiating from Him. John, Peter, and James once saw Jesus transfigured on a mountaintop.

Jesus is full of glory and yet I have two-way conversations with Him. I often notice things He orchestrates on my behalf. It’s amazing to know God! What astounds me is the utter majesty and mystery of the fact that God became like me, a lowly creature of His own design. He lived a life much like mine. On earth. He came from heaven and lived as one of us. Why do we take this for granted? Jesus, God, had dirty fingernails from hard work and earned blisters on His feet. And, yet, He is the designer and engineer of the universe–the Maker of all that exists. He made my heart to beat and to love.

The least I can do is respond to Him with all that He made me to be. I know now . . . I was made for Him simply because He wants to love me.

I know I don’t think big enough when it comes to the reality of who Jesus is. He’s stooped so far down to me. He loves me and has given me eyes to see Him  through faith. I know, though, I catch only tiny glimpses of His glory.  That’s why I often ask Him to open my eyes and heart to Him in spirit and truth. He always responds to my desire and request. I’ve seen it countless times.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13

Jesus is the designer of the universe. Our thinking is ridiculously tiny when it comes to our apprehension of His presence and reality with us. Sometimes we can get a glimpse of His beauty, genius, and greatness. This YouTube clip did it for me the other day. God is so amazing.

Numbers in Nature:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKPzDFDnmuw&feature=related

 

Here is another one:

God’s Fingerprint:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MwNm0gXd8&feature=related

 

This man died in an airplane crash and experienced seeing a great light – he returned to life and now lives for Jesus:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRSjzY0s0SM&feature=related

 

 

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Jesus Today – What is He up to? Is He in authority in heaven and on earth?

It’s been weeks since I blogged. I paused working on the new book Come and See, leaving off with the voice of Jesus during His first miracle that publicly began His reign as Sovereign over the earth. It was His first public act of supernatural authority. So extravagantly done, it was actually humorous of Him. With joy and ease, Jesus began to take back what Satan had stolen from humankind. I hardly wanted to move on in the story, it moved me so much.

Since then I’ve been engrossed with someone else’s book, a meaty, eloquently and thorough work by biblical historian N.T. Wright titled SIMPLY JESUS: A NEW VISION OF WHO HE WAS, WHAT HE DID, AND WHY HE MATTERS.

What a gift this book is to followers of Jesus or anyone wanting to know the truth about God’s Kingdom and purposes on earth. Wright makes sense of the whole picture, and delves deeply into the meaning and purposes of what God has done from the beginning, until the present, while creating expectation and confidence in what lies ahead. What a timely book this is, not only in my life, but in the life of the Church.  Praise the Holy Spirit in and through this man of excellent learning and profound insight and faith. I smiled while realizing that the novel I wrote called His Kingdom Come, about the days Jesus began His kingly reign, seems to artistically complement Wright’s ideas of what Jesus was all about when He first came and established God’s kingdom on earth. Of course biblical fiction is vastly different than a work of theology and scholarship. But how wonderful it is that God uses our talents and gifts to reveal His ways and purposes so diversely and meaningfully. I believe every believer has their own unique stuff to do, everyone, everywhere. Because this IS the coming of God’s Kingdom — through all of us who are His. We are so connected; we are a working body.

I appreciate how Wright explicitly shows his readers how Jesus is already an active, reigning King. Some people think Jesus is not bringing His Kingdom until He returns to earth in all His glory. Well, the Kingdom has been coming all along and won’t be completely here until we see His face.  Until then, we who belong to Him actually embody Him and are doing his work on earth. He truly is ruling over all things, working in the nations and events of history, as well as in small ways, planting seeds that become movements of grace and change.

It is amazing to realize: God put on flesh and became one of us, fulfilling His own promise to unite heaven and earth. It takes Holy Spirit enabled eyes to see it and participate in it.

Wright put it this way: “When God wants to change the world, he doesn’t send in the tanks. He sends in the meek, the mourners, those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s justice, the peacemakers, and so on. Just as God’s whole style, his chosen way of operating, reflects his generous love, sharing his rule with his human creatures, so the way in which those humans then have to behave if they are to be agents of Jesus’s lordship reflects in its turn the same sense of vulnerable, gentle, but powerful self-giving love. It is because of this that the world has been changed by people like William Wilberforce, campaigning tirelessly to abolish slavery; by Desmond Titu, working and praying not just to end apartheid, but to end it in such a way as to produce a reconciled, forgiving South Africa; by Cicely Saunders, starting a hospice for terminally ill patients ignored by the medical profession and launching a movement that has, within a generation, spread right around the globe.”

Actually, and I know W.T. Wright would probably agree, sometimes God does send in the tanks and heroes, after all, He is in charge. If you haven’t seen the movie Act of Valor – do yourself a favor. God is fighting through heroes, strong, brave soldiers — who pray and who fight with the hearts of lions. I am just saying that God is using people to run the world, just as Satan uses people to fight against God and His purposes. We know, though, who wins in the end.

 

Jesus will restore all things to their proper order. It will be completely “on earth as it is in Heaven” one day. The way this is coming about, though, has been happening through history, since Jesus walked among us. Since then, He gives us His Spirit to reside within us. We are connected to Him! We only need to be aware of what our own unique participation is as we participate with Him in building His Kingdom.  Each believer has his or her part. As Wright so simply put it: “One small action can start a trend.”

This is how God’s kingdom is being established in our world. I agree with Wright when he says:  “Jesus has all kinds of projects up his sleeve and is simply waiting for faithful people to say their prayers, to read the signs of the times, and to get busy.”

I used to think priests had the job of forgiving sins because they were God’s representatives. When the resurrected Jesus gave the authority to His apostles before leaving for heaven, He gave the profound power and authority to them to forgive people’s sins. Actually, that authority was not just for them, but it was for every single believer who had the job of making disciples of the nations… You see, forgiveness is really a matter of reconciliation with God. Forgiveness, true forgiveness and reconciliation involves real confrontation with what has gone wrong.”

We are about the business of reconciliation. Out the window goes the notion of priests and confessionals. Jesus intended so much.  All along, He wanted to give His followers His own authority and power, because it was to transform everyone and bring change. Jesus wants to bring His light into the dark recesses of hearts and nations through us.

Wright eloquently says it this way: “The poor in spirit will be making the kingdom of heaven happen. The meek will be taking over the earth, so gently that the powerful won’t notice until it’s too late. The peacemakers will be putting the arms manufacturers out of business. Those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s justice will be analyzing government policy and legal rulings and speaking up on behalf of those at the bottom of the pile. The merciful will be surprising everybody by showing that there is a different way to do human relations other than being judgmental, eager to put everyone else down, ‘You are the light of the world,’ said Jesus.’You are the salt of the earth.'”

He announced and stated these things as fact. He invites his hearers, then and now, to join Him in making it happen. Yes, He is in heaven. But at the same time, His presence is in the form of His Spirit inside of us, breathing through our lungs, speaking through our mouths, touching with our hands. He creates through us and heals through us. He is bringing restoration to all things through us. This is, quite simply, what it looks like when Jesus is enthroned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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