Ready for a mind bender?

Many POWERFUL revelations have been restored to the body of Christ in just the last century or so.  Here are some highlights.

Rediscovery of ‘the just shall live by faith’ – 1517
Baptism of the Holy Spirit – 1905 approx
Assurance of salvation by faith – 19xxs
Healing by ‘faith healers’ — 1940-50s
Prophets/Evangelists give words of knowledge – 1950-60s
Shepherds/Pastors find their voice again – 1960s
Teachers made the Word come alive – 1970s
Everyone can heal – 1970-80s
Everyone can prophesy – 1980-90s
Apostles reemerge in the earth – 1990s
Supernatural provision available – 2000s
The revelation of the Kingdom of God – 20xxs
Church begins functioning outside of the building – 2000s
God’s good identity is better than we thought – 2010s
Our new Kainos identity is better than we thought – 2010s
Learning to enter rest and have the faith OF God – 2010s
Access to the Heavenly realm – including angels and many other Heavenly realities!! – 20xxs

Can you believe this?  These are powerful!!!!  Jesus secured ALL of these at the Cross… and they were believed and practiced in the Early Church.  Sadly, we ‘lost’ them over the last 2000 years.  BUT they are being restored – IN OUR DAY!! Thank You, Lord!!

So what makes us think that this amazing restoration process would stop now?  Have we exhausted the full scope of Biblical realities that there are to rediscover?  Now that we’ve come this far, is this where God stops opening up the things we lost?  Hmm.

So, what’s left to be restored?  Well, there are still many realities, but here’s one to bend your mind.

Let’s go way back to the Cross where Jesus secured the possibility and right for us to rediscover and experience all of the previous points.  Well, another biggie is that He also conquered death at the Cross!  So, is it possible that just like the saints contended for each of the items in the list above, God is now waiting for believers to contend for victory over death and the full manifestation of everlasting life IN THE BODY!?

For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” – 1 Cor 15:53-55

O boy!  Now that seed has been sown, we’ll have w ait for Holy Spirit to do His work!  This is SO much fun.

Think about it, we’re living in a day where ‘Life and Life more abundantly’ is more real than at any other time in ALL of history!!  And it’s only going to get better and better!  Wow, Wow, Wow!!  What a God!!!

For more on this topic.

–MLH

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Grace or Works?

Let’s revisit one of our foundations…  which is it, Grace or works?

This question is a hot topic in some settings.  There are those who say that after salvation, nothing else is needed, expected or required as we live our lives on earth.  If Jesus’ work on the Cross is “finished”… and if Grace is complete then it doesn’t matter what we do or don’t do.

Well, I have to agree as it relates to salvation… entering the family of God, etc.

“It is not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy He saved us.” – Tit 3:5
 
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” – Eph 2:8

So, before we go any further, what is the Gospel?  Let’s ‘nail it down’… because of the Love of God, Grace secured our salvation… nothing else needed… or allowed… for us to become the sons of God.  The Cross and Grace are all we need to be saved.  In fact, anything else added to it nullifies the work of Grace.  Paul makes that point very well in Galatians.  (Gal 2:22; Gal 5:4, etc.)  So we’ve locked that in!  We’ll not question that truth anymore! 

But, there are plenty of verses on how to live out our salvation, that apply to ‘works’.  And these verses… although they aren’t addressing salvation… are addressing what should be a natural outworking expression of the truly saved person. 

Some people have a mindset that says, Grace means you don’t have to do anything ‘good’… or practice ‘good works’, etc…. b/c that’s under the Law.  Having to do something good would be performance, obligation and Law-based, etc.  But if we extrapolate this out into every area of our lives we’ll hit a wall.  Try this…

What if I said, I didn’t want to brush my teeth today (that is too much obligation and performance, law-based mentality)… well, eventually my teeth would fall out.  Or I don’t want to eat today… eventually I would die.  Or let’s get really religious… the 10 Commandments say I shouldn’t commit adultery.  But of course, that’s just the old Mosaic Law… the Old Covenant… so today, I’m going to commit adultery because I’m not under the Law anymore.  Only the most hardened and deceived would espouse this. 

Then why don’t I do a lot of things that my fleshly appetites or base desires would want to do???  Why?  Because it’s wisdom… and right… NOT to do them!  So when I don’t do them, is it because I’m living under the Law?  NO!  Admittedly, at first, my motivation for not doing them, may be the fear of consequence… or simple realization of the negative disruption that will be caused by these base actions.  But as I gain wisdom about life, love and relationships, etc., I learn that some things are necessary to maintain a healthy and vibrant life.  On this level, the Law is not my motivator to do right, rather, I’m motivated to live right by wisdom, character and the principles of love.  I set my will (just like I set my will to brush my teeth) to do the right thing.

Paul says Grace doesn’t give us license for an unbridled life… rather it helps us to deny our carnal and base appetites.

“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” – Titus 2:11–12 NIV

So, if we want to test whether someone understands Grace correctly it looks like we could point to their fruit or works as evidence.  We could say it this way: if you’re preaching grace, and immorality breaks out everywhere you preach, then you’re not preaching grace.  You’re preaching something else.

Not exercising responsibility and mature character responses in matters like this will automatically result in diminishing the joy and reward of living.  Destroyed relationships, reputation, vibrancy, health and joy are the outcome of this unbridled and unwise mindset.  In fact, Jude uses strong language to describe the extremes of this mindset:

“They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” – Jude v. 4 NIV

I believe that as speakers of Grace we must get skilled at defining the difference between these two very different areas of life:

‘Works’ have nothing to do with the left column… but are crucial in the right column.  True grace says that ‘works’ cannot possibly help obtain salvation and the love of God… but wisdom requires that ‘works’ are necessary in order to have any semblance of a healthy maturing life.  James says it much more bluntly,

“Faith without works is dead.” – Jms 2:20, 26

Much of religion maintains the erroneous concept that our ‘works’ in the right column will gain us ‘points’ in the left column.  This is error!!!  But the opposite knee jerk reaction says that no ‘works’ are important for living.  This is also error.

Let’s create an example that relates to our intimacy with Jesus. 

Some would say that if it’s all Grace, then spiritual disciplines are not necessary anymore.  But ask yourself how that would fly with your spouse.  If you never spent time with your spouse how would the level of harmony and unity fare?  Better… or worse?   Obviously, worse!

So, although I think we could ‘get into Heaven’ without any spiritual disciplines (because Grace secured our ‘ticket’) we may find ourselves in the condition that Paul refers to in I Cor 3:15… “he shall be saved yet as though by fire”.   In other words, all the things a person did or said… or didn’t say or didn’t do… had no positive eternal value, so those works (or lack of them) are ‘burned up’ and that person makes it into Heaven with only his salvation…  having no ‘crowns’ or fruit to show for the amazing gift of righteousness that was given to him. 

And to take the imagery of intimacy with Jesus even further, consider Jesus on the dance floor… He asks us out onto the floor with Him in an intimate time of exchange… He’s offering ‘secrets’ (Ps 25:14) and opportunities to do exploits with Him (Dan 11:32), etc.   But we tell Him that we are now free from the law of having to do spiritual disciplines and we (in misapplication) quote His word back to him, “it was for freedom that Christ has set us free.”  We stay on the sideline in our ‘freedom’ and obviously we now miss out… not on our salvation… but on the further life source that Jesus wanted to impart out on the dance floor. 

To be sure, we are free from the Law, and salvation is full and FREE… no strings attached.  But if we are not inclined toward walking out our faith by our works, then one might legitimately question whether we are married to just a grace theology… or to a Person… the One who is Grace… Jesus.  To be married to Grace and not express good works would make one question if they were really ‘married’.  In fact, Paul says that this is what we were created for…

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” – Eph 2:10 

So works prescribed by Law are a thing of the past.   But now, works as a fruit of the Spirit being manifest through us gives evidence that we are sons.

“These are the sons of God, they which are led by the Spirit of God” – Rms 8:14

I believe we must get better at our talking points.  We must discover a better way to communicate the distinction between these two areas of our lives so that we are skilled heralders of this astounding Grace while valuing the practical building blocks of ‘works’ which lead to maturity and give evidence of maturity. 

— MLH

The Faith OF God to Proclaim, in the 2010s

Recently I saw this 100 year prophecy from Bob Jones for the first time.  You can read it below… or view one of the times Bob Jones spoke it here.  Of particular interest to me was the part about the 2010s (in RED below).  Look at how Bob prophesied exactly what we’re doing right now! 

First: we must get the revelation of having the faith OF God. (See Young’s Literal Translation of Mark 11:22).  We’ve been trying to build our faith IN God.  But now we’re realizing that we can have the faith OF God… as long as we’ve heard FIRST.  We’re beginning to believe that God doesn’t lie.  And if He said it, then we can say it.   We must put in the “earring” first (learn to hear).  Then as we hear, “we don’t pray TO God anymore… we pray WITH Him”. (For more on this read my post Three Eras of Prayer.)

Second: We proclaim what we’ve heard… we call it into being.

What’s SO amazing for me is that I started believing and practicing this 6-10 years ago… and blogging and preaching it for the last few years.  Now we hear it frequently as one of the current messages.  Another great confirmation that we’re ‘on track’!!  Thank you, God!

— MLH
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THE 100 YEAR PROPHESY

BOB JONES: “What is the Lord doing?  Years ago, The Lord gave me a 100-year prophecy.

• The 1950’s would reveal the Power of God; William Branham, A. Allen, Oral Roberts, Jack Cole, etc.
• The 1960’s revealed the Spirit of God.  That is when the baptism of the Holy Spirit began to come into denominations.
• The 1970’s was the Word of God. That is when really inspired-teachers began to rise up and show us a new understanding already of the written word.
• The 1980’s began to reveal the Prophets of God; people that get the inspired word.
• In the 1990’s, we began to get a revelation of the Government of God.
• The 2000’s will be the Glory of God.  So a lot of these gold plates, gold teeth and everything is beginning to—just on the verge of—revealing the glory of God.
• The 2010’s would reveal the Faith of God.  It’s not have faith “in” God, it is, have the faith “of” God. And so I think we are coming up to the key point of where we see the Holy Spirit of God moving so much that we will believe it, and where our faith is in God and when He speaks in us, we will proclaim His word and it will have the Faith of God in it.
• The 2020’s will reveal the Rest of God.  To where the body will come into a place of resting in God, where God will rest in us.  And in this rest, the enemy will not be able to do warfare because we are resting in God and He is resting in us, and He will accomplish the things He means to do in a people that is at rest.  He has always wanted a people that will come into His rest.  There never has been one but rest is on the way.
• The 2030’s will reveal the Family of God.  There will be such a Unity that if you pick on one, you pick on all.  And intercession where If you are picking on one, intercessors immediately all over will come right in.  It’s a family.
• The 2040’s will reveal the coming forth of the Kingdom of God.  Kingdom authority, kingdom sons; sons of the kingdom.
• The 2050’s will reveal the Sons of God.  They will grow into a place where they will have a [unsure] and a likeness of the Son of God.

I saw up to the 2060’s. and the church here was not beat down.  It was walking in the Glory of God.  It had the Power of God on it.  It had the power over death.  It had the power over the weather.  It had the power over everything.  And we are in a time of growing when—I don’t know what season it comes in there but there will come a season in there, I believe those last 30 years—death will have no power over those that are the Sons of God.  There is a generation that will not know death and I believe these youths are getting ready.  And these youths that are being prepared now and those that as yet are not saved, they will not be afraid of death because they will go everywhere in the world and take it.  You won’t be able to stop them.  And we know that in the last days, for some of these, that if you take their lives, they have the power to raise it up again.  I was seeing that kind of resurrection power in the church in the last days.  I don’t know when it will begin but I rather felt that it will begin in this 2030’s.

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THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

BOB JONES: “So what’s going on? 25 years ago I brought a prophesy.  The prophesy then was that the greatest showing on earth was going to begin.  I would live to see it.  It would be a 3 ring circus.

The front ring would be Praise.  The center ring would be Proclamation.

What Todd has been doing here isn’t prayer.  It is hearing and obeying and proclaiming what God is speaking to him.  This is creative from now on.  It’s going to be called in.  You’ve never seen it before, you’ve never heard it before.  It’s going to be brought in by the Spirit of Prophesy.

“You have heard [these things foretold], now you see this fulfillment.  And will you not bear witness to it?  I show you specified new things from this time forth, even hidden things [kept in reserve] which you have not known.  They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word], and not long ago; and before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them!” – Isa 48:607 AMP

There is nothing to compare it to.  This is a harvester of harvesters…”

“…What He is doing with all of you is He is scrubbing you with pumice.  He is cleaning your conscience of every defilement.  And if you’ve got a clean conscience, your conscience is your spirit.

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” – Heb 10:23 NKJV

And if your conscience is cleaned, get ready to be joined in communion with the Holy Spirit.  And He will relay what Papa is speaking.  And you don’t pray to God anymore, you pray with Him.  And you proclaim for Him.  And you begin to speak over towns.  You begin to speak over colleges.  This 3 ring circus that has began here: you’ve got a lot more intercession behind here than you have any idea, because a lot of them are home now.  And we’ve been praying for years for this.”

A more complete transcript of this interview with Bob is printed/published here and here.

What if: Ye are gods?

Someone asked me this question:

If someone in explaining our co-heir status with Christ and children of God and they used the term “little gods”, but qualified it by stating that apart from Jesus we are nothing, would you say it was okay?  If not, can you explain?

Good question…  let’s take a stab at it.

For the easy part of the question “apart from Jesus we are nothing”… the answer is, Yes!   Jesus said, “I can do nothing apart from my Father.” – John 5:30 and other similar verses.  We have “no good thing” (Romans 7:18) in us apart from Christ.  And “the wages of sin is death”.  So I’m toast without Him.

Now the rest is going to be a wild ride and potentially messy… and there is sure to be kickback from this subject.  But let’s dive in, anyway.  🙂

Mormons believe that after we die we become gods and procreate other gods… eventually ruling over other worlds, etc.  (Doctrine and Covenants 132:19-23 and Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., Doctrines of Salvation, Vol.2, p.48)   That’s a stretch for me.

Even though I don’t intend to validate the Mormon persuasion, there are some verses in the Bible that give some latitude in that direction.  For instance, Paul says, “Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!” –  I Cor 6:3   (I just wish there was even a morsel more to help us understand this!!)

So let’s start with some Scripture to stir things up!  Does the Bible say anything about us being gods?  In the beginning… remember, we were made in the likeness and image of God.  

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule…” – Gen 1:26

In the Old Covenant, Adam’s sin robbed us of our ability to see our true identity.  We “fell” a long way.  But then in the New Covenant, our original identity is revealed and offered to us, through the righteousness of Jesus.  We’re asked to believe, by faith, that we were “raised” back up to our original place of being seated with Christ.

“For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.” – Rms 8:20

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” – II Cor 3:18

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Rms 12:2

So how do we get there……..?????  Our minds have to be renewed!

And Daniel says, “Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.” – Dan 7:27

It looks like we end up having a great deal of authority and rulership… even “sovereignty” over angels and kingdoms, etc.

Wow!  This is heady stuff… something that most saints are not capable of handling wisely… because we’re either 1)  too insecure in our own identity and position of favor in God to even acknowledge it… so we just choose to ignore it… or worse yet, disbelieve it.  Or we’re 2) too arrogant, self-centered and shallow in our relationship with God and so we grasp for authority and power which ends up shipwrecking us.

Neither of those options is good.  But at the same time, neither of those responses negate the truth of the previous verses.

But here’s the kicker when it comes to your specific question regarding ‘little gods’… the Holy Bible actually calls us gods.

“I said, “You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High.” – Psa 82:6

Did we hear that correctly?  Did the Psalmist just call us gods?  Yes!!  But it gets even more ‘troublesome’ when Jesus quotes this same verse to the Pharisees:

The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’?  “If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? – John 10:34-36

As we can see, this causes a lot of consternation to the religious mind.   None of us wants to call ourselves gods.  But Jesus called us gods!  And he even used it as a ‘courtroom’ tactic to rebuttal the religious theologians of His day.  He quoted their own theology back to them.  And notice, He says, “Scripture cannot be broken”… in other words when the Psalmist said, “Ye are gods”, then it’s true!

I am confident that our status in God is SO MUCH MORE than we can even come close to comprehending right now.  Our sin consciousness has compromised our ability to think and see clearly.  God sees us as sovereign rulers over all the kingdoms under all the heavens (Dan 7).  He sees us as capable… or at least destined… to judge angels (I Cor 6).  He calls us gods… not so we will get a big head or arrogant… or start wars with it.  He wants us to feel the invitation into freedom from our earth-bound and sin-conscious false identity… He wants us to come into our true identity… this true identity which will satisfy Creation’s groan.

“All creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal who his children are.” – Rms 8:19

New Century Version (NCV) says it this way; “Everything God made is waiting with excitement for God to show his children’s glory completely.”  Sadly, Creation knows more about us than we do.  Creation can hardly wait until we’ve discovered that we are the rightful authorities to adjudicate righteousness in the earth.  Creation will breathe so much easier when we exercise our righteous sovereignty over all the earth.  And it can hardly wait for God to unveil our stunning glory to us and to the world.

Then Jesus further ‘compounds our problems’ of trying to come to terms with this ‘god-likeness’ subject, when he said,

“May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.  May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent Me.  I have given them the glory You have given Me. May they be one as We are one.” – John 17:21-22

Whoa, Jesus!!!  You want us to be homogenized into oneness with You just as You and Father are homogenized as one??  That’s HUGE!!!  And You say that You’ve given us the same glory that Father gave You?  Wow!!!  You must really see something in us that we can’t see with our current religious lens!!

Now listen to Paul in II Cor 6:13, “Be not unequally yoked.”   Now if humans are supposed to only marry equals, then wouldn’t it be a matter of God’s integrity that He would require Jesus to only marry someone who is equal to Him?  Hmmm… think on that.

Then Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, states in Eph 1 and 3 that he wants us to “be filled with ALL the fullness of God”.  O my!!!  That just about blows a fuse in my brain!!

“… now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” – I John 3:2

This sounds like Col 3:4, “When (as often as) Christ who is our life, is revealed, then you will also be revealed with Him in (that same) glory.”  (parenthesis mine)  The revealing of Christ has the overwhelming power to transform the beholder into His same glory… each time we behold.

It just gets ‘messier’ (or awesome-er, depending on your perspective) the more we look into this subject.

A few years ago, I heard someone say that when they were pondering this issue they heard Jesus say, “You and I are one.  I am you and you are me… the only difference is, I am God.”  In light of our previous conversation, this insight begins to make sense for me.  Of course, we’ll never believe that we replace God, nor compromise His Divinity or Deity… but doggonit, there are just too many pregnant Scriptures to simply write-off this ‘gods’ idea.  I know I don’t feel like it in my soul man and natural thinking… but we must remember that the only way we get anywhere in the Spirit realm, is by FAITH… by just believing what He says!

Listen to what Jesus’ best friend John, said in I John 4:17, “We are as He is in this world.”

They say that true humility isn’t trying to be ‘super humble’ by self-effacement, self-abasement or belittling the grand-ness of what God says about us.  Rather, it’s saying, “God you know me better than I know me… So I believe and agree with You.”  That’s humility.

Most of the body of Christ is not ready to handle the magnitude of this.  We’re too fallen in our perspective of ourselves.  And since we’re admonished to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:3), when asked this question, I would probably try to dodge and skirt the issue right now unless I’m talking to people who are genuinely interested.  Jesus was good about dodging the brunt of a question, by asking another question, at times.  He knew there were truths that the audience couldn’t handle yet (John 3:12; John 16:12).

Knowing that Jesus can’t tell us certain things yet, truly saddens me.  And of course, it saddens Him… “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem….  How I would have gathered you unto me… but you wouldn’t” (Matt 23:27).

So we’re in a very awkward in-between stage in history.  We’re not happily ignorant saintlets any longer.  We’ve been partially enlightened enough to know that there is more.   But we’re not fully enlightened yet… and most of Christianity is not even as far as we are.   So it’s not likely that we can enjoy the widespread celebration of these exciting revelations for quite some time.

I guess that means we’re going to have to be “be wise as serpents, yet harmless as doves” when we talk about these matters.

I’m sorry this is not as clean and tidy as one might have hoped.  But we’re carrying many other revelations that haven’t come fully ‘of age’ yet, so you’ll know how to carry this one too.  That’s part of what’s unique about pioneers, they see things… and carry things from the future that are ‘before their time’.  Pioneers must walk carefully before God and man until these things can be fully revealed and released ‘wholesale’.  In the meantime, we pray into them and share these revelations as the Lord gives us opportunities.

More grace to you!

— MLH

Reblog: You are NOT a “caterpillar” saved by grace!

My friend Mel Wild presents it so profoundly simple, that I just had to reblog this post. You’re gonna like this!

In My Father's House

You are not a “caterpillar” saved by grace; you are a new creation…a “butterfly” in Christ!

It’s popular in evangelical Christianity to call ourselves “sinners saved by grace.” While we may still commit sins, the Bible only identifies us as “saints.”

View original post 872 more words

A crown awaits all those who love His appearing

Wanna hear a secret?  Read this verse.

“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day–and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” – II Tim 4:8

Did you notice that to receive the crown of righteousness, we must love His appearing… yes it’s that simple, just love His appearing.

So what is “loving His appearing”?  And what does His appearing look like?  

Most thoughts will gravitate to the classic ‘second coming’ of Christ.  But I believe His appearing can also be defined as the moment we hear His voice, feel His presence in one way or another.  At that very moment, we just encountered Heaven’s heart.  Loving His appearing could be defined as being gripped with love for and fascination of our wonderful Lord, Himself.  Every time Jesus appears, He longs to find hungry hearts who enjoy Him and are deeply in love with Him and who are eagerly expectant for Him to frequently appear.

“When (as often as) Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in (that same) glory.” – Col 3:4

You see, He’s the capital “G”, Giver God.  Every time Jesus appears, He gives us something… righteousness… glory… etc.  For more on receiving His glory, read my post here.

As we love His appearing it moves His heart.  But, the cool thing is that He loved us before we even started loving Him.  And when He finds that we’re growing in love for more frequent ‘appearings’, He gives us a greater revelation that His righteousness is now our righteousness.  That righteousness is our Crown… and that crown is the full experiential (not just legal) reality of being “the righteousness of God in Christ”.  (II Cor 5:21; Rom 3:22)  Yes, our very spiritual ‘DNA’ gets changed.

Ready for your crown… it awaits you… just love His appearing… each time He appears!

— MLH

Living in Heaven and Earth… at the same time

In the Old Testament there were times when the heavens were “locked in silence” or “as brass”.  But in the New Covenant we are securely seated in heaven with Christ… yet our feet are still on terra firma (earth) (John 3:13).  In other words, we are living in both worlds simultaneously.   So if we can believe it, we are the portal/door between heaven and earth.  

How does this work?  As we gain the mind of Christ, we begin to learn to exercise authority over earthly matters from our heavenly position… just as He does.

Nothing eternal or supernatural occurs on earth without that change originating in heaven.  And since our primary place of residence is now in heaven, this positions us to partner with Jesus in rulership over the kingdoms of this earth.   What an amazing plan… and what a magnanimous God to call us co-heirs with Christ… and purpose that we would share in ruler-ship with Him.

“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” (Matt 16:19 NASB)

Saints who are growing in understanding of their amazing identity and position in Christ begin to learn a new norm of living in and from the heavenlies with Christ.   This empowers us to truly rule like we were designed to… and commissioned to… from the beginning. 

God’s speed fellow saints… we’re just beginning to learn how incredible our Father’s thoughts are for us.  From before the beginning He had always planned to share all He is with us!!!   He even gives us the keys to the family ‘car’!

What a Dad!!

— MLH

He Made His Home In Me

Recently another worship leader Dan, John and myself have been writing some new songs around the grace theme.  There have been so many great truths running through our hearts that we decided to try to capture them in song format.  In fact, I had been writing down impacting phrases, concepts and verses for several months in preparation for this experiment.

I didn’t know how this would work because I’ve almost always written love/adoration songs.   But surprisingly, the phrases and melodies began to fall into place… and then it got exciting as the song began to take shape.  Here’s the end result.

The truth is that the message of grace is revolutionizing everything about our walk and relationship with God.  It changes our perspective of God… and who we are in God’s eyes… and in our own eyes.  Wow!  Now, the theological verses about “no condemnation” begin to have experiential realization and application.  It’s an exciting road into freedom.

‘He Made His Home In Me’ focuses on our ‘one-ness’ with God.   And if God and I are one, then I need to get skilled at thinking like that and talking like that and acting like that.  This ‘need’ is not a conformance issue from some pressure forced upon me… but rather this change results from revelation as it begins to emerge from the core of the heart and then my heart begins to change my thoughts, my thoughts begin to change my words, and my words begin to change my actions, and my actions begin to change my world.

Many of us did the Christian thing for many years under a heavy conformance pressure from outside influences.   But as Jesus said, there was the potential to become “white washed sepulchers” with that methodology.  Rather, Jesus’ obvious emphasis was on the heart.

When the Wesley brothers retrofitted the then current bar tunes with the new doctrines that they were preaching, it gave the doctrines a powerful ‘vehicle’ to escort them into the parishioners’ homes.  (BTW – those old bar tunes are now our classic and dear old hymns)   The strategic vehicle was music… then and now.   Catchy phrases and melodies stuck in the singers heart and then washed them throughout the week as the doctrines were reiterated.  Nothing new really… David and the Psalmists ‘sent’ their sermons home with the people.  But the end result is that a culture begins to be changed not just by ‘Sunday’ preaching, but by every man ‘preaching’ to himself as he sings the songs over and over.  How ingenious of God to create human hearts that are captured and respond so well to music.   Thank you God!

So, let your heart listen to this song’s truths.  Get familiar with these truths.  Let them wash your heart and rearrange your thought processes.  Then watch how your world begins to come into alignment with your inner reality.  Proverbs 4:23 says it this way, “… out of your heart flow all the issues of life.”   And Jesus said it this way, “According to your faith be it unto you.” –  Matt 9:29.   

We now have several songs in process, but here you go… a first song of many, we hope.

He Made His Home In Me

Vs 1
Whatever my God believes about Jesus
Is what He believes about me
What’s true of Him is quite true of me
Now I’ve become His glory

Chorus:
There’s not a thing I could do to set myself free
He paid the ultimate price for my liberty
The success of the Cross was full and complete
Now I’m innocent, righteous and holy
For He made his home in me
He made his home in me

Vs 2
When I look into the mirror of His Word
The reflection I see is me
I’ve come to know  now I fully believe
It was Jesus’ delight to reveal Himself in me.

Bridge
Sin and shame have been defeated
He has called me son
No more distance or delay
For God and I are one

His delight is on me now
I’m covered in His love
I’m perfect and complete in Him
All hiding is done
For He made His home in me
He made His home in me

(c) 2015 – Mark Hendrickson, Dan Caudell, John Hendrickson

Click here for a chord chart and click here for an mp3 audio.

— MLH

Quote: Willpower exhausts, love ignites!

Rom 3:27 – The law of faith cancels the law of works; which means there is suddenly nothing left for man to boast in.  No one is superior to another.  Bragging only makes sense if there is someone to compete with or impress. “ While we compete with one another and compare ourselves with one another we are without understanding [2 Cor 10:12].  “Through the righteousness of God we have received a faith of equal standing [See 2 Pet 1:1 RSV].  The OS (operating system) of the law of works is willpower; the OS of the law of faith is love (Gal 5:6).  Love sets faith in motion.  The law presented man with choices; grace awakens belief!  Willpower exhausts, love ignites!  If choices could save us we would be our own Saviors!  Willpower is the language of the law, love is the language of grace and it ignites faith that leads to romance; falling in love beats “making a decision to believe in love”! (See Rom 7:19; Rom 3:28)  This leaves us with only one logical conclusion, mankind is justified by faith and not by their ability to keep the law.

Thoughts For Life – 2/7/15 – Francois du Toit  (from ‘God Believes in You’ – available in print and on Kindle)

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Follow-up commentary:

Obviously we’re not talking about everyday choices, to breathe, eat, sleep, get up, be kind, don’t say that, do this, love God, hate the devil, etc.

The essence of the article is that if one’s confidence is in their own ability to make wise choices then they become their own savior.  The world is full of people who have decided that their ability to choose is better than what or how God can choose.  So in effect, they become their own God.

This perspective of making choices is not only God-less… it is anti-God.

But when Christians make choices under the wholesome fear of God, then their choices are not of their own making but rather in right relationship with God.

Jesus said, “I can do nothing apart from my Father.”  “I only do what I see my Father do.”  “I only say what I hear my Father say.”

Even the Son of God didn’t make his own choices apart from His Father.  It’s not that He didn’t make choices… or couldn’t make good choices.  It’s that His choices were only initiated when He heard the Father’s will.

So, if I trust in my own ability to make my own wise choices (apart from God) then I become my own Savior.  “I gonna be saved by my own choices” – I think this phrase speaks for itself.

Case in point: I have a sexually challenged friend who now doubts God, the Bible and much of what he believed as a younger man.  Now he believes that his choices are to be trusted more than an “antiquated Bible” or a God who “doesn’t understand” the battle grounds of a man.  He believes that he is able to make better choices for his life than God.  So, he has become his own savior/god by making his own choices.

— MLH

Quote: We Won!

It is amazing how we seem to struggle to receive something we did not work for or maybe argue that we do not deserve, yet we would have no problem claiming the money should we win the LOTTO.  We also have no problem accepting the victory of our team or sport hero as our own: ‘We won’, we proudly proclaim, even though we only watched the game as a spectator.  Yet we continue to reason that it will eventually take our own physical death to finally free us from the embarrassment of our body, as if Jesus’ death only has spiritual and sentimental significance.

Dec 23, 2014

From Thoughts For Life – Francois du Toit (from ‘God Believes in You’ – available in print and on Kindle)
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