In November I felt the Lord impressing me that 2012 is to be a year of Nazirite consecration. Basically that means from the heart of love and desire we push off  lesser pleasures and give ourselves in greater abandonment to God.  I preached a series on this in Decemeber… you can listen to it here.

My family and I have talked and prayed about what this is going to look like for us, i.e. what changes we need to make to be more focused on the Lord and more fully given to Him. For us it means less media, more prayer, fasting and Bible.

An additional step I am going to take is to be silent for a few months. I don’t mean I am not going to talk…I mean I am not going to preach. It dawned on me a few months ago that I have preached nearly weekly for over 20 years without a break. In that time frame, as far as I can remember, there has not been a stretch of over 3 weeks where I have not preached a sermon. Most weeks I have preached 2 – 3 messages. That’s a lot of talking. Some has been productive and some…not so much. Thankfully, God is gracious and knows how to use all of it for His glory.

After talking and praying with my wife and our leadership team at IHOP-Atlanta I have decided to take a  season to quit preaching so that I may seek the Lord. It can be a negative trap to find yourself seeking the Lord and studying primarily to preach what you receive. It’s a treadmill, with lots of running, but very little personal progress.

If the Lord doesn’t give me something to say, I am empty. I want to seek the Lord for depth and not just new sermon series. There is a place of encounter I am longing for in God. My heart continues to beckon to me that there is more available. I feel it’s my season to turn aside and see what the Lord will say to me and where He will take me, if I wait on Him.

My leadership team has been gracious enough to extend to me this opportunity to focus and seek the Lord. We have very capable preachers and teachers who have agreed to cover my normal preaching regimen.

So, from Jan-April I am going to refrain from platform preaching ministry (One exception is a 2-week trip I am making to the far east in March). I am also going to refrain from using social media during this season. I want a laser sharp focus on the Lord and at times I am distracted by social media.

I appreciate all my twitter and facebook friends and ask that you would extend to me the grace to get before the Lord for a season of focus. I love twitter as an outlet to encourage people and share thoughts about the Lord. It’s an honor that anyone listens. I think of it as a ministry opportunity and so I’ll be back, Lord willing, sometime around May.

In the meantime, I ask for your prayers. Pray that the Lord will encounter me in a fresh way with the spirit of wisdom of revelation. I am longing for a depth of encounter with God and I believe the Lord wants to meet me. I also feel that this season of quiet is essential for my next seasons of ministry. Pray that the Lord will break me and make me into His desire and design for me.

Thanks for your encouragement, understanding and prayers. I feel this is a God appointed moment, so I am going to GO FOR IT.

The other day I felt the Lord impress me about the issue of spiritual fathering in a way I have not considered before. My thoughts on this issue have developed quite a bit over the last 15 years. I have often prayed for the Lord to raise up spiritual fathers who would minister to and lead the next generation of believers. I primarily saw the responsibility lying with the spiritual fathers to turn to the spiritual sons and daughters engaging them in a relationship of encouragement, accountability, and discipleship. I never considered the responsibility the sons and daughters may have.

It seems obvious to me now that the spiritual father only carries half of the responsibility. The other half lies with the sons & daughters.  Rereading Malachi 4:6 makes it clear…”He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children AND THE HEARTS OF THE CHILDREN TO THE HEARTS OF THEIR FATHERS. There must be a turning of the hearts of the sons and daughters for the spiritual fathering relationship to exist.

We definitely have a spiritual fathering problem, however half of the reason is because we have a “spiritual following” problem. Sons and daughters don’t know how to relate to spiritual fathers. This lack of “spiritual following” inhibits the ability of fathers to impart truth and minister to sons & daughters.

Many times people have been wounded by fathers and thus maintain an aloof attitude toward leadership. Because of past challenges they make would-be spiritual fathers “earn” the right to be considered a father in their life. Ordinarily, unless the spiritual father spends many hours with them, hanging out, giving them lots of one on one attention, etc, they do not respect the leader as a father. This attitude hampers the relationship and impact spiritual fathers can have in their lives.

The Apostle Paul was undoubtedly the spiritual father of the church at Corinth. Though Paul only lived in Corinth 18 months, he could rightly identify himself as their spiritual father, having planted the church, cared for them and ministered to their specific needs. It’s doubtful though, that Paul had a daily intimate relationship with every believer in the church. He had a deep love for the people and an obvious sense of responsibility for their spiritual health. However, if Paul had been required to meet the needs of every believer in a personal, relational way in order to be considered their spiritual father, he would never have met the requirement. Clearly a spiritual father cannot be required to spend lots of one on one time with every person in a congregation to be considered a spiritual father.

For spiritual fathers to be accepted by sons and daughters, they can’t be required to earn the title through hours of personal time and attention. No spiritual father is able to do that. Simply because a leader is not able to spend personal time with every believer in his care, he is not disqualified from being a spiritual father.

At this point, some may have the attitude that they don’t want a spiritual father unless he is intimately involved in their life. Don’t allow yourself to have this attitude. You will benefit greatly by being thankful for the leadership that God has placed in your life and seeing the positive role a spiritual father plays for a community, even if you don’t have a deep personal relationship with Him.

Most people are actually interested in what I call “Spiritual Parents.” These are people who ‘adopt’ them into their family and help guide their life daily. Though this can be a special relationship the Lord orchestrates, there is not a biblical model for this on a large scale.

Consider it, Jesus had hundreds of followers, 120 who made it to the upper room, 12 disciples and 3 who were “inner circle.” Of the 12, He lost one. Jesus, the best spiritual father ever, only had the capacity, as a man, to invest deeply in 12 in His earthly ministry.

The apostle Paul only identified Titus and Timothy as his “True Sons.” I don’t deny that the Lord, at times, places a spiritual orphan in an individual family, but it’s the exception and not the norm. More often than not the Lord adds us to a broader spiritual family, a local community of believers, and there are spiritual fathers who give leadership and governance to the overall community. It’s still a spiritual family and there are still spiritual fathers, it’s just not the “one on one” model that many desire.

The spiritual father over a community has a God-given responsibility and genuine affection for the entire congregation. It is important that the community of believers receive him as a father, regardless of whether or not he spends personal time with every individual. If he is God’s choice for the community, conducts himself in righteousness, demonstrates real care, love, service and gives himself for the benefit of others, receive him as a spiritual father.  You may or may not get to know him very well personally. However, if you will receive his ministry in your life with an open heart, God will use it in a powerful way to declare His own nature. The role of the spiritual father is really to model and impart to the community the heart of the Eternal Father toward them.

I propose that if we become better spiritual followers more leaders will step into their calling as spiritual fathers and we will in turn benefit. If you find yourself embittered toward past father figures because they weren’t involved with you as deeply as you desired, could it be that you had an improper expectation of their involvement in your life? Could it be that you were supposed to receive the encouragement, instruction, and care the leader did offer as a blessing, rather than being disappointed and embittered toward him because he didn’t offer you enough one on one attention?

Let’s allow the Lord to speak to our hearts in this area and let’s be grateful for the impact spiritual fathers have had in our lives. Let’s forgive and release fathers we had an improper expectation toward. If we will honor and bless the fathers the Lord has given us, we will find ourselves experiencing the Eternal Father’s blessing in our lives.

I want to be gripped by the fire of God.

I’m provoked by stories of men who were wholly possessed by God. Roberts, Brainerd, Whitefield, Finney, Edwards, Seymour, Lake. Just the mention of their names stirs my heart and creates a longing for more of God in my life.

I’m equally provoked by my own dullness. I find my life too tidy, too presentable, too tame.  I want a heart that’s inflamed, consumed with passion, moving with fervor and zeal. How about you? Do you want to burn?

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t look presentable at times. The public presentation isn’t the issue. A burning building isn’t necessarily pretty, but it emits a lot of light and heat. That’s what we are called to be, burning and shining ones.

This is not something we can muster up in our own strength by human zeal, but it is something we can pursue. I sense God urging His people to move out of passivity and into pursuit. He loves the chase. “Seek me with all your heart…You will find me.” “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” He wants us to seek Him til He seeks us, pursue Him til He pursues us, chase the Fire, til the Fire chases us. Oh! that He would catch me and consume me.

Discontentment can be a great motivator. As long a we are content with unction-less intercession and powerless preaching, we will not burn. If we are content with less, less we will have. But if we allow discontentment to direct us and not depress us…It will drive us into desire that won’t be denied.

It is a tragedy to live with less than what He has promised. He promised greater glory than Moses had. He promised the fullness of God filling our inner man. He, who is risen from the dead, promised that we could know the very power of His resurrection. Living with less cannot be an option when so much is available.

What I’m talking about doesn’t come easy. God never gives what is precious cheaply. But the reward far outweighs the cost. To live without regret requires that we live in pursuit of His fullness. Anything less will find us sorrowful at the great review.

Holy possession is what I desire – to be wholly possessed with His fire. Nothing more is needed, nothing less is acceptable. Oh, Father, I want to burn.

I pray that the One who baptizes with fire and the Holy Spirit, would send His fire, holy fire, upon our hearts that we might be set ablaze for Him.

“Oh God of burning, cleansing flame: Send Your fire. Your blood-bought gift today we claim: Send the Fire today. Look down and see this waiting host and send the promised Holy Ghost, we need another Pentecost, Send the Fire today.

God of Elijah, hear our cry: Send Your Fire. Make us fit to live or die: Send the Fire today. Burn up every trace of sin and bring the light and glory in, the revolution now begin, Send the fire today.

Oh, see us on your altar lay, We give our lives to you today, So crown the offering now we pray: Send the Fire today.”- from God of Burning Cleansing Flame by William Booth

“Who will stand in the face of death with darkness drawing near?

Who will raise a battle cry for all of hell to hear?

Who is standing at the wall to plead before the king?

Who is not afraid to die contending for this thing?

Do you dare to die for one your heart was made to love

And if you lose all that you are Is all that he is enough?

We will stand to plead before the righteous judge of all.

And when He sounds the holy call you’ll find my body near the wall.”

We must comprehend that we have a chosen path, by God, a walk that the Lord has laid before each of us that is intricately designed by heaven to bring us into maturity in love.

Each of us have different paths, ‘our own way’ that we have to walk. We all have differing gifts and callings.  It is essential that we embrace our way and our gifts and don’t covet another’s gifts, callings or path.  The path before us is our path and is essential for our own growth as well as the growth of the rest of the body. If I don’t embrace my path, not only do I not grow, the rest of the body suffers because I reject God’s plan to bring me to maturity.

While our paths differ, there are common ingredients that appear in differing measures in each of our paths.  For instance, we all must walk through a narrow gate on a difficult path in order for our path to lead us to life in the end.

Mat 7:14  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Jesus said the path to follow Him must include denying yourself and taking up your cross in order to follow Him.

Mat 16:24-25  Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  25  For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

He also said that in order to follow Him you would have to endure tribulation.

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

THE KEY IS KNOWING
Romans 5 Gives us key ingredients that we all must go through in this life on our way to fulfillment in love.

These ingredients are Tribulation, Perseverance/Endurance, Character, Hope

The key to Glorying in Tribulations is knowing that trials & tribulations are all part of God’s plan to bring us to fulfillment in love.

TRIBULATION PRODUCES ENDURANCE
Tribulation makes you strong and resilient in heart.  By going through challenging trials and circumstances a root system of strength is produced in your heart.  Endurance is a critical component to the church at the end of the age.

Mat 24:13 Those who endure to the end shall be saved.

Jas 1:3-4  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience(endurance).  4  But let patience(endurance) have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Heb 10:36  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

PERSEVERANCE PRODUCES GODLY CHARACTER
Persevering under trials brings a conformity to Christ in our hearts.  When we persevere our character is proven.  This word for Character is Tested Character, Proven Character.  In other words its the picture of proven faith as Peter describes:

1Pe 1:6-7  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,  7  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

GODLY CHARACTER PRODUCES HOPE
Proven character that has been refined through trials truly Hopes in God.  Godly character gives birth to hope, real hope is centered on God with patient expectation in His will getting done His way, knowing that the end is always good. Where is your hope today?  Where is your trust.  If your trust is not in God you will be disappointed.  Whatever systems you hope in that are not God will fail… Though every human system fails, God will not fail, your hope in Him is secure.

HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT BECAUSE OF LOVE
Hope that has been refined through the fire of testing never disappoints, because it’s rooted in the revelation of God’s love for us.  Hope in mercy/love never disappoints because when we understand God’s kind intentions and love for us, we know we will ultimately never be disappointed. Grieved momentarily, but not ultimately disappointed.

THE END OF IT ALL IS FULFILLMENT IN LOVE
When tribulations come it should be a tip off that you are being conformed to the image of Christ and the end is fulfillment in love.

There is beauty in partnership with Jesus that we have not comprehended.  For what does it truly mean that I am to be conformed to the image of Christ, even conformed to the image of His death, that the Life of God may be manifest in me? Oh the inheritance and portion we have in the Lord is more than we can truly comprehend!

The truths of these verses all build on one another…

We have been proclaimed innocent by a gracious God who greatly desires intimacy with people. We have been granted the reconciliation and now we experience peace with God. As a result we have access into Grace by Faith. It’s by Grace we stand,
by Grace we rejoice to live any sort of life that will Glorify God the most, and by Grace we can ultimately become a people who Rejoice in Tribulations. It is a people who are aware of these truths that are empowered to live this style of life.

TRIBULATION AND GLORY
The word that is translated Tribulation shows up 45 times in the New Testament.  It is most often translated tribulation, affliction or suffering. It is the same word that Jesus uses in Mat 24:21 – There shall be great tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world, nor shall ever be.

The word translated Rejoice in vs. 2 and Glory in vs. 3 are actually the same Greek word. The phrase, “Glory in tribulations” could be translated in any of the following ways: Glory in Tribulations, Joy in Troubles, Gladly Suffer, Rejoice in our sufferings, Boast in our sufferings, Glory in afflictions, Rejoice in afflictions, Exult in our tribulations, Full of Joy even when we suffer, Rejoice in our sufferings, Boast in the tribulations…

REJOICING IN THE GLORY OF GOD AS A REQUISITE
Only the one who desires for the Lord to gain the greatest amount of Glory from His life regardless of what happens to Him, will be one who can GLORY/REJOICE in Tribulations. This is a key point, if you are not given to live for the Glory of God, you will complain in tribulations without considering the divine activity of conformity to Christ or the forging of your soul into the pure design God has desired for you.  You will not regard whether or not the Lord is receiving glory from your life and will forfeit the prospect of bringing glory to His name in exchange for attaining benefits for yourself. A life willing to be layed down for God’s Glory is able to willingly, gleefully and joyfully REJOICE through tribulation and suffering.  This life recognizes that God gains great glory when His people love well through suffering.

SPIRIT OF GLORY
1Pe 4:12-16  Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;  13  but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.  14  If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified.  15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.  16  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

Rejoice that you get to partake of Christ’s sufferings, for if you do, the Spirit of Glory rests upon you as you suffer as a Christian. On your part He is glorified… Jesus is glorified through your life when you glory in tribulations.

God is not so much interested in your comfort, He is mostly after your conformity to the image of His Son.

Being able to Rejoice in Tribulation/suffering, at least in part, equals Conformity to Christ. The extent that you are unable to rejoice through tribulations is an indicator of the lack of conformity that you have to Christ.  It is an indicator of the distance you have to go in your journey of Conformity to Christ.

A PEOPLE WHO GLORY IN TRIBULATIONS
Oh that God would have a people who glory in tribulations.  To glory in tribulations means your motives have changed – you no longer seek to glorify yourself and gain glory for yourself… it means you have died and yet Christ lives in you, it means you have embraced the Love of God as the great reward of life, it means you trust that He is benevolent and that nothing can separate you from His Love.

QUALITY/BRAND OF CHRISTIANITY
The quality of Character – spirit and soul – that a believer has to have in order to actually glory in tribulations is foreign to our concept of Christianity in the West.

We try to avoid tribulation at all costs, we believe that those suffering tribulation lack faith. We twist or explain away the entire concept of suffering in the will of God because we have no palate for it.

We are shallow in our Christianity so we cannot conceive of trials/tribulations/suffering being anything but negative. We are therefore short-cited and have no faith to believe for the inner fortitude produced through suffering nor the rewards gained in the age to come from suffering in this age.

1Pe 3:17-18  For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.  18  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

1Pe 4:19  Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

1Pe 4:1-2  Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,  2  that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

1Pe 2:19-21  For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully.  20  For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.  21  For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:

Php 1:29-30  For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,  30  having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.

ARE YOU RESIGNED TO THE WILL OF GOD?

THE THEMES of ROMANS
There is a continuity to the themes in the book of Romans… each builds upon a previous one.

The concepts in Romans 5 are all built upon Paul’s explanation of  justification. In Romans 5 Paul is offering a summary of what is available to all who are justified. The whole book was written in order for Paul to level the playing field between Jew & Gentile and that all would be accepted in the Church at Rome.  That is the main thrust of the book.

There are several different strands of themes that take place throughout the book.  The book climaxes in Romans 11 where he warns the Gentiles not to be haughty against the jews and explains that ALL Israel will be saved.  Paul describes that the method that God is going to use to bring this to pass is a provoking to jealousy.  He explains that in order to provoke the Jew to jealousy salvation has come to the Gentiles.

Rom 11:11 to provoke them to Jealousy salvation has come to the Gentiles

Rejoicing in the Glory of God enables one to Glory in Tribulations.  Glorying in Tribulations is a key to being conformed to the image of Christ.  This whole package is the picture of what believers will look like who will provoke the Jews to jealousy.

Right now there is not much provoking going on… but oh for that day, there will be a great provoking.  And because of the call to provoke the jews Paul says in Romans 12 present your bodies a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service, don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed. The Jews who historically complained through their sojourn in the wilderness will be astounded by believers who will rejoice through tribulations at the end of the age.

Anyone who rejoices through tribulations is a testimony to all who are around them.  How much more will the affects of this testimony be compounded when persecution and martyrdom is happening en masse across the Globe and the church stands un-offended, rejoicing in the fact that she gets to suffer for the sake of the Lord Jesus.  How will this affect the wayward nation of Israel who has for many years rejected the beckoning of her messiah?

Act 5:40-41  And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.  41  So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

HOPE IN THE GLORY OF GOD

There is a great difference in hoping in the glory of God and the mentality that hopes in it own glory.  One serves God so their life may be an offering of praise ascribing greatness to Him and that others may see Christ magnified through them, while the other serves God in order to obtain it’s own glory, preference, exaltation and blessing.

When Paul says, Hoping in the Glory of God, He is talking about the glorification of God, the ascribing to God the glory and majesty do his name.

Psa 29:1-2 Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, Give unto the LORD glory and strength.  2  Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Deu 32:3-4 Ascribe Greatness to our God the Rock. All His works are perfect, All His ways are just. A God of faithfulness, without injustice, Righteous and Upright is He!

This is about us glorying and rejoicing in the idea of God being glorified.  It’s not about how we get glorified, it about God being glorified.  Mostly we don’t rejoice in the hope of the Glory of God we rejoice in the hope of getting our blessings.  Rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God is rejoicing in the lifestyle that will most glorify the Lord regardless of the way it makes us look.

Paul’s message wasn’t that He wanted to look so good that God would be glorified, His message was by life or by death, either way I want whatever God wants for my life, whatever it is that will glorify you the most.

Php 1:20  according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. 21  For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

2Co 4:10-11  always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  11  For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

The heart of a person who is glad, in peace, blessing their enemies, without offense, loving others, through trials and tribulations is a life that is rooted in the blessing of justification.

The question becomes do we hope more in the glory of ourselves or the glory of God.  Much of our theology is based around how we can be glorified, yet the Bible is clearly about God being most glorified.  When God is most glorified when we are most satisfied.  Do we truly hope in the glory of God?

When we realize that this life is about His glory and not yours then it takes a lot of the pressure off.  We don’t have to fight and strain and prop up our persona.  By life or by death, whatever you want. I want you to look beautiful and glorious regardless of how it makes me look.

Spiritual sickliness results when we preach preference-centered, man-exalting gospel, rather than a cross-centered, God-exalting gospel.  Ultimately the cross centered, God exalting gospel exalts man, but not without the means of the cross. All must embrace the humiliation and death of the cross in order to experience its resurrection, none are exempt.

UNDERSTANDING THE GLORY OF GOD

Truly hoping in the glorification of God comes as a result of having an understanding of the glory and greatness of God.

One of the forever attempts of the enemy is to pervert the knowledge of who God is, therefore perverting the greatness of God, thereby encouraging people to live for themselves rather than for the glory of God

In order for us to want glory to be ascribed to Him we must have a right knowledge of Him.

Anything that encroaches upon or diminishes the truth of God’s greatness is a false paradigm or ideology. Anything that magnifies His greatness and causes His greatness be amplified in our minds is a paradigm that likely accords with truth.

The glory of Him must strike our hearts with awe.  If we are not in awe of Him, it is exceedingly unlikely that we will desire to live for the glory of Him.  The heart that hopes only in the Glory of God is the heart that has been struck with amazement, shock and wonder at the greatness of who He is.

Heb 12:28-29  Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;  29  for our God is a consuming fire.

Psa 33:8  Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.

AW TOZER -

“The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men. This she has done not deliberately, but little by little and without her knowledge; and her very unawareness only makes her situation all the more tragic.

With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence.

The decline of the knowledge of the holy has brought on our troubles. A rediscovery of the majesty of God will go a long way toward curing them. It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate.

So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God.”

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

What is God like? What are the core attributes then that make Him great?

Powerful – Heb 1:3 all things hold together by the word of His power.

Benevolent – Kind forever – Psalm 145:17 Kind in all His deeds, Eph 1:5 the Good Pleasure of His Will

Beautiful – Completely enthralling and captivating

Sovereign – Psalm 115:3 – God is in Heaven he does what He pleases, He works all things together for good, according to the counsel of His will.

Pleasureful -Psalm 16:11 – The complete height of ecstasy is only realized through interaction and intimacy with God.

Mysterious – Psalm 145:3 Greatness is unsearchable – Trinity – Augustine seashell example.

Humility – Psalm 113:6 He humbles himself to behold the heavens;

He has humbled himself to include humanity in the process… God lovingly desires people and wants our participation in love.  He says He will rule the next age with us by His side upon His throne.  Jesus will exalt us to the highest place. He will sit down with us at the banquet table with him.

Luke 12:32 He gives a specific promise that He will serve us in the age to come.

The God who needs no one has in sovereign condescension stooped to participate with His children in love. 

Yet He tells us that we are to have the mindset of Luke 17

Luk 17:6-10  So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.  7  And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’?  8  But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’?  9  Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not.  10  So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ “

Rom 11:33-36  Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!  34  “FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HAS BECOME HIS COUNSELOR?”  35  “OR WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM AND IT SHALL BE REPAID TO HIM?”  36  For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Revival is a recovery of life and breath. It’s when something that used to be alive once again flourishes. The church in America must be revived. Though she was once a shining lamp of the Gospel to the nations now she is only shadow of her former fire. She must once again be filled with the fire of God, burning with His presence & passion. Without a reviving, the church will continue, lifelessly impotent, without influence or authority in our sin riddled world.  The church MUST return to her first love, that she might be the burning & shining lamp Jesus has destined her to be. Beloved, we need revival.

Whereas Revival is brings back to life what was once alive…Awakening is new life from the dead. When the church burns brightly with the fires of revival THEN an only then, will the lost be converted in mass numbers. Revival must hit the church first and then the world will experience Awakening.

The church in revival will declare, with authority, the beauty and majesty of God. She will testify of the resurrected Christ with powerful proclamations of the Gospel and confirming signs & wonders. She will blaze with holiness that testifies to the truth that God is once again in her midst. As a living testimony of the glory of God, she will compel the lost to salvation.

The day of revival & awakening is not a vain hope or merely some story from days long gone by. I believe it is a day in the future of our nation…IF…the church will cry out to God for another awakening. There is still hope for our nation and it will be found in the place of prayer.

We’ve had enough programs, plans, plays, & potlucks…we need a gripping spirit of PRAYER to possess our hearts that we might lay hold of heaven for revival. It’s time we take responsibility for our sin, our prayerlessness, our lukewarmness, and turn to God with our hearts rent, persevering in prayer, to see a breakthrough of God’s Glory envelop our nation.

Beloved, this is why I am calling 100,000 believers to commit to pray at least 1 hour a week for revival in America. If we will cry out to God to send breakthrough, He will answer by fire.

Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you and show you mighty things which you do not know.

The key is for us to call on God that He would show His glory in our day, in our nation.  If what I’ve written expresses a desire of your heart, I’m asking you to join with me by praying at least 1 hour a week for revival. If you are making this commitment, sign up on the Intercession for Awakening Facebook page here.

Let’s contend in prayer and believe God together for a Third Great Awakening in America.

By Faith we are Justified, and because of this we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And by Faith we have obtained introduction and access into grace through our Lord Jesus Christ, the grace that we are standing in.

The word faith is mentioned in 229 verses in the Bible 227 of them are in the new testament.

In the New Testament we see a couple of major strands of teaching regarding faith:

The 1st is faith for salvation.  The majority of the teaching in the New Testament on Faith is about Faith rather than works for Salvation.

The 2nd is Faith to endure… or enduring faith.

The 3rd is faith for miracles…and while it is  mentioned regularly… in reality miracles are a by product in the lives of those who have saving and enduring faith…

THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS

Through our Lord Jesus… we have justification, we have peace with God, we have introduction(access) into grace, we have access to the Father(Eph 2:18), we have boldness(Eph 3:12), we have received the reconciliation(Rom 5:11), we are sons of God (Gal 3:26),  we are set free from sin & death(Rom 7:24-25) we have the victory (1 Cor 15:57) we will reign in life(Rom 5:17), and we receive eternal life (Rom 5:21) … Jesus called Himself the door & the way.

FAITH GIVES ACCESS INTO GRACE

Often times we will begin our journey into something we feel that the Lord has called us to, sensing the grace of God upon it.  After a season the initial buzz of doing something exciting wears off and the inevitable challenges come.  Many times when we begin to go through challenges we will customarily say something like, “ I don’t have the grace for this or the grace is lifting.” When the challenges and trials come we believe that we don’t have grace to stand through the challenge because we don’t feel the grace.

I have referred to grace as an inner resolve to accomplish what it is that God has called us to do. And so we might assume when the inner resolve is gone, so is the grace.  That may be true, but what is also in question is whether or not the Lord still wants you to continue doing what it is he has asked you to do.

I propose that just because we don’t feel the “grace” to do something that the Lord has asked us to do, that doesn’t mean that we are to abandon it.  It likely means that we are to keep moving forward faithfully obeying what it is the Lord has called us to do, believing Him for the necessary divine enablement to make it through the challenges that we are going to experience.

Acts 14:22 “ Strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”

When we move in faith, then the grace to divinely enable us to see it through will accompany us.  Grace to Stand, to Serve, to Give, to Bless those who curse us.  I will accompany us as we make the decision to faithfully obey the word.

I guarantee that most of the time when you are given the opportunity to bless those who curse you, you are not going to feel like it.

STATE OF GRACE

Why doesn’t God leave us in a state of being controlled by supernatural grace… couldn’t we do more for God if we were under a great experience of grace at all times….?  God is not after “me doing more for Him” He is interested in me being conformed to the image of His Son.

FAITH IS AUTHORED & OFFERED BY JESUS

Faith is authored by Jesus – (Heb 12:2) This stuff that is the substance of what we hope for, the evidence in our heart of what we don’t see… its faith, Jesus is the one who creates it. He is the one who offers it… faith can be accepted by which we believe or it can be rejected, overthrown, strayed away from, resisted … (1 Tim 1:19)

Process of Faith

The process of faith goes like this.  Truth is revealed to an individual. A believer or unbeliever… once truth is revealed, the opportunity to believe that truth or reject that truth is also made available.

If a person says yes to the truth and begins to live according to that truth, that is faith.

If a person says no the truth and lives in opposition to that truth that is unbelief.  (in this case the individual has to cast off or resist the truth, the ultimately refuse to believe)

If a person says yes to the truth and does not live according to that truth that is unfaithfulness, also unbelief.

FAITH IS A FIGHT

Faith is a fight – (1 Tim 6:12) at times it is a fight to believe God over our circumstances and what we see in our lives.  Everything will shout at us that the word is not true and that God is unfaithful.

Consider Abraham

Rom 4:18-21  In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.”  19  Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;  20  yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,  21  and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.

FAITH CAN BE SEEN OR IDENTIFIED… James tells us how… James 2:17-18 faith without works is dead… I will show you my faith by my works.

Ultimately Faith is staying obedient to God through trials and suffering… your works of obedience identify the truth of your faith

FAITH IS PERFECTED BY JESUS

Faith is finished or perfected by Jesus – (Heb 12:2) How does Jesus bring us to perfect our faith… through sufferings (Heb 2:10), and we cooperate correspondingly through our obedience to God through the sufferings (Heb 5:8-9)

Heb 12:1-3  Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  2  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  3  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Heb 5:8-9  though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  9  And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,

Heb 2:10-11  For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.  11  For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

1Pe 5:10  After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

James 2:22 – James says that Abraham’s faith was made perfect by Abraham walking out the offering of His own son.

OH TO OBTAIN THIS TESTIMONY!!

1Pe 1:3-9  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  4  to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,  5  who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  6  In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,  7  that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,  8  whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see  Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,  9  receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls.

2Ti 4:7-8  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  8  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

Justification is the proclamation of innocence by God over your life. Rather than simply being forgiven we are ones who have been acquitted and declared innocent by the blood of Christ.  This is a monumental truth, one that we must take time to meditate on and allow it to change our minds and our emotions.

There are several Major implications of realizing that you are justified by the blood of Jesus:

The one who understands justification will then be filled with gratitude in love.  No longer will they be motivated by shame to prove that they should be forgiven or accepted by God, rather they will realize they are already declared innocent and will be motivated gratitude in love. They will serve God with fervency because they have been justified not in order to be justified.

PEACE WTH GOD

The next major implication is found in the next phrase in the verse, “We have peace with God.” Peace with God is a simple phrase that is easy to pass over, but it has huge implications.  To say that we have peace with God is an incredible statement.

Oh the precious possession of peace with God!  Because we have peace with God we can have peace in our soul.  But peace with God is not the same as peace in our soul.  Peace in our soul comes as a result of understanding that we have peace with God.  – It’s ease… it’s peace.

In understanding that we have peace with God we then are able to understand incredible truths about God’s nature and attitude toward us.

He’s not on the verge of exploding in anger with you. He’s not agitated nor frustrated.  He is at peace with you.  Whereas, before there was enmity between us and God, now there is peace.  It’s been healed.  The breach has been restored.

“We have found peace in his eyes”

Song 8:10 …Then I became in his eyes as one who found peace.

Song 8:10 Thus I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment

Song 8:10 Just looking at me brings Him great pleasure.

This verse conveys a two-fold truth 1) We are ones who have found peace in His presence, when His gaze is upon us then we feel the greatest amount of peace 2) When He looks at us He receives great great pleasure.

RIGHTLY COMPREHENDING PEACE

To rightly comprehend the peace we have with God, we must understand the violence of separation through sin, the concepts of enmity & the power of reconciliation in order to comprehend peace.

Violence of separation

God has foreknown us all, dreamed of us all, destined us all, and considered the intimacy He would share with us all.

Jer 1:5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

God has foreknown us.  He has called us and ordained us all before we were even conceived.

Can you comprehend the tearing of losing the one you have desired to be intimate with for eternity… Now consider the pain of losing 2.  What about 3.  In a moment… Billions were severed from God in the fall.

Some consider the darkest day in human history to be the day that mankind murdered Jesus.  However, that day was the day that eternal separation was mended by the power of the cross.  I would propose the darkest day in human history was the day that billions of those who were foreknown by God were instantly severed from His eternal dreams for them.

Our separation from God was violent and painful… yet it did not just produce separation it produced enmity.

Enmity with God

Through Adam’s sin the entirety of humanity entered into enmity.

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

Our minds became carnal, making our thought processes in opposition to God’s.  And it goes further saying that our carnal minds are at enmity to God, not subject to the Law of God, and unable to be subject to God.

It wasn’t only that we were separated from God, through sin we are in direct opposition to God.  We became haters of God.  The very ones that he dreamed of and loved with an everlasting love, became extreme haters of Him.

Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled

The Truth or Reconciliation

Do we understand the violence that was necessary to bring about the reconciliation

There was incredible violence in our tearing from God.  What could possibly mend this breach but an equal tearing.  Christ on the Cross was the necessary tearing to bring the mending.

The veil of His flesh was torn which is what brought healing to our relationship with God

Heb 10:19-20  Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,  20  by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

Eph 2:11-18  Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh–who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands– 12  that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  13  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  14  For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,  15  having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,  16  and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.  17  And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.  18  For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

This is our ministry… Reconciliation

We have been given the ministry of reconciliation

2Co 5:17 – 20 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20  Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.