What Is In A Name?

"Your name is ointment poured forth. Therefore the virgins love you." - Song of Songs 1:3

When Moses asked God to "show me Your glory", God did not respond by giving him a glimpse of heaven, or some spectacular demonstration of His power through a sign or wonder. God's response was to declare to Moses His name! A name, according to Song of Songs, which is so fragrant that causes us to love Him! As I meditated on these passages today, I was particularly struck by the conversation that precedes the declaration of God's name in Exodus 34.

In Exodus 33:17, God begins the encounter by saying to Moses "you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name". We have often heard it said that God know our name, which is amazing! But as I meditated on these words I realized that it was more than just, "how neat, the uncreated God can address me by the name which my parents called me at birth!" - it says that God knows me by name. Put another way, we could say that by our name we are known by God. To be even more specific, our name is the way in which God relates to us - how we can expect Him to encounter us.

But sometimes our names do not reflect the plans that God has for our lives, and God proceeds to call us by a new name. Throughout the Scriptures there are great examples of this reality, with one of the most obvious being Abram being changed to Abraham (Father of a Multitude). It was after this name change that he went on to become the father of both the Jews through Issac and the Muslim nations through Ishmael. His grandson Jacob also had his name, which meant "Deceiver", changed by God at the end of his days of turmoil and unrest. Thousands of years later we have another great example in Simon, who had his name changed to Peter (Rock), in preparation for the building of Christ's Church on the foundation of Peters life and ministry.

So what is in a name? According to Scripture, a lot!

God reveals His glory through His name. He continuously declares His name to us, as a declaration of who He is and how He has chosen to relate to us.

The question then becomes, by what name have we been called? By our family? By our friends? Our enemies? By God? And by what name do we live by? 'Loser'? 'Geek'? 'Princess'? 'Son'?

As I think about these things I'm left with a couple of questions:

1) What names have I embraced about myself?
2) What name does God declare over me?

The truth is that I will live my life based upon the name that I believe in, not what others believe about me. If God calls me "Friend", but I don't accept that name, then I will not relate to Him as a friend. If God calls me a "Son" or "Daughter", but can't receive that name, then I will struggle to know Him as a "Father", because the two names are inseparable. However, if I believe that I am a "Loser", "Failure", "Rebel" or any other name, I will live toward God and others by that name. On the positive side, if I accept that He calls me "Bride", "Beloved", "Adopted Son" and "Joint Heir with Christ", then I will be able to relate to Him in a much different way!

As I sit here thinking about the names by which I call my children, I am reminded of the passage: "Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat it's fruit." - Prov 18:21


The names that we call one another are monumental to the lives that we live. We need to hear and accept names rightly, and weigh them under the light of God's word and what He has declared over us. We must agree with God, which is humility, about the names we live by. Has God called you "Righteous"? Is that hard to accept? Has God called you "Accepted", but you still believe that you are rejected? What names are we going to live by? And more importantly, which of His own names is God using to reveal Himself through in this season or your life? Healer! Provider! Deliverer! 

Bless you today! I pray that God will bless you with a Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. That you might know what He declares over you today by the testimony of Jesus.

The Perfect Revelation of God

Today I was reading Luke 6 and was reminded of this profound truth - God has revealed Himself through His commands.

It all started as I continued my wonderful journey in the Gospel of Luke. I have been in it now for well over a week and I'm just entering into the sixth chapter. In verse 30, while teaching the same content as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls His listeners to "give to everyone who asks of you".  It is my practice to underline all Scriptures that reveal the nature of God with a blue highlighter, and suddenly I felt the need to underline this particular command in blue. What was Holy Spirit revealing to me? I began to ponder the implications of this command and how it revealed who God is.

Suddenly 1 Peter was coming to mind again; "be Holy, as I am Holy". I am to do the very things that God does. God only asks me to do what He does, and like Jesus, I am to only do what I see my Father doing.

As I pondered this for a while my heart began to get stirred up. If I am commanded to do as He would do, and be as He would be, and He has asked me to give to anyone who asks, then I am also right to conclude that He too will "give to everyone who asks"! For God will not ask me to do something that He has is not willing to do Himself. He leads by example, for Hebrews says that He is both the Author and Perfecter of our faith. That means that He wrote it and then fulfilled it so that we would have an example to follow after.

Now my heart was excited as I began to grow in my knowledge of the Holy. A revelation found within the very commands of Scripture. So what else could I learn about God through looking at His commands?

Obviously, the command "give to everyone who asks" is a little easier to make connect with God's heart because we have other Scriptures that explicitly declare the same aspect of His nature. Matthew 7:7-12, 21:22, and 1 John 3:22 all tell us that God will give to those who ask. But what about the other commands? Does the same hold true for them as well? The answer to that question is a resounding "YES"! It is true of all of God's precepts; anything that God asks us to do has within itself the promise that He will do, and has already done, the very same thing for us (only to it's perfection). In fact, after teaching us in Matthew 7 to "ask, seek and knock", Jesus concludes His excerpt on the art of giving to everyone who asks by saying these words:

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

If 'do unto others' is how Jesus concludes His teaching regarding how the Father will respond to those who ask, and we know that we too are to give to those who ask. What should we conclude about His statement that this very principle sums up the Law and the Prophets? What does that tell us about God's heart as revealed through the Law?

So I began to ask myself the question. What does it look like to read the Law through the lens of that principle of doing unto others? If He only asks me to do what He does, and He declares that it sums up the Law, then what will He do for me through my obedience to His commands?

I took a few moments to meditate on some well known commands written in the Law of Moses, focusing on God's aspect of the command - His promised response attached to my obedience, and what it reveals about His nature. I also took some time to search out and attach other Scriptural references to ensure that I was not merely making up my own revelation, but that it actually agreed with the revelation given to us by the Prophets and most importantly, Jesus.

Here are my meditations:

"You shall have no other God before Me":...if you will depend upon Me alone, then I will be your entire Source and will supply all your needs in and of Myself. I know what you have need of before you ask. Pagans run after food and drink, but don't worry about it because you are no longer foreign to me. As you have chosen Me, so will I chose you as the object of My blessing. (Phil 4:19, Matt 12:29-31)

"You shall not commit adultery" : ...as you have chosen to be faithful to Me, so also will I be Faithful to you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. As a Bridegroom marries His bride, so will I marry you and be faithful to you forever, for I will put an end to death and then nothing shall separate our love, both now and forever! (Romans 8:38-39, Isaiah 62:5, 1 Corinthians 15:26, Rev 19:9)

"You shall not steal": ...do not take what is not yours, and in return, I too covenant that I will not violate your free will by taking anything of your own that has not been freely given to Me, including your transgressions! (Matt 11:28, Matt 6:12, 1 John 1:9, Exodus 34:7, Deut 7:10)

Those are just a few examples that I chose to meditate upon while writing this post, but the Bible is full of these promises (because it is full of God's commands!) So the next time you come across a command, why not take some time and ask Holy Spirit to reveal to you the glory of His promises hidden within each of His commands.  His commands were never meant to be burdensome, but are the means by which we enter into His rest, while demonstrating our love towards Him. Yet even more amazingly, they are the means by which He chooses to lavish His blessing upon those who have ears to hear and who hunger and thirst after His righteousness.

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I pray that you have a great day of revelation as you gaze upon Jesus through the lens of God's perfect law!

Blessings,
Jon

"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes." - Psalm 19:7-8

For these two bear witness to the righteousness of Jesus - the Law and the Prophets. And do not suppose that He came to throw down the law or the prophets - He did not come to throw down, but to fulfill them. For we have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. (Romans 3:21, Matt 5:17, John 1:45)

Christian Fundraisers Part II

I received a "spirited" comment from someone regarding my recent post "Christian Fundraisers" and unfortunately, in my haste, deleted the comment from record. I wish I had not done so, as it raised some important clarifications regarding finances and the Kingdom.

So, this is a response letter to Anonymous. I hope you take the time to read it:


Dear Anonymous,

Thank you for your comment. I would like to start by apologizing for my abbreviated post in which I only communicated on one aspect of Christian Fundraisers. The truth of the matter is that us "IHOPer's" have a great appreciation for those who "work hard" and are a "blessing" through gifts of finance. You are the reason that missionary exploits, including those of the International House of Prayer, are carried out around the globe and the gospel is being preached to all nations. Thank You!

In the book of Nehemiah we see an excellent example of the need for people such as yourself. After being in captivity, Jewish exiles returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple, and demonstrated the partnership between those who "work hard" and the "lazy farts" who are called to minister before the Lord.

"So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron." - Nehemiah 12:47 (NIV)

The entire country was funding the House of Prayer! However, we see that partnership soon fell apart and Nehemiah once again had to bring reformation back to Israel:

"...I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing...I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts. All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms." - Nehemiah 13:6-12 (NIV)

The Family of God has always been asked to be one of many parts with different assignments. For some of us, that assignment is being in the place of night and day worship and intercession, and it is our joy! Others, perhaps yourself, have been asked to minister as laborers in the market place. It is your joy to bring finances into the storehouses for the purpose of funding God's work in the earth. That too is our joy!

Our Father has asked His children to bring to Him offerings of gold, silver and bronze for the purpose of funding His work in the earth, and I would be greatly amiss if I portrayed God as anything less then the "Divine Fundraiser". Today He continues to call us to raise money for the work of the Kingdom, including the modern day expression of the temple, the priests and many other mandates such as widows and orphans. It is His chosen method of sacrifice and we do well to agree with His statue, and that is my concern. Agreeing with what God has prescribed as His chosen means of demonstrating Himself.

We don't need to look far into human history to see that we have a disposition for adapting God's commands. In Genesis 3, Eve modified "You must not eat" into "...if we touch it we will die". That personal interpretation of God's expressed will was disastrous for all of us! Undoubtedly, Eve was just doing what she thought best by extending the bounds of God's command to further protect herself. It had the appearance of wisdom but it was a clear deviation from God's revealed will. 

Not long after that we see the sins of the father being visited upon the children. Genesis 4 says this:

"In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”  Gensis 4:4-7 (NIV)

It is apparent in this passage that both Cain and Abel had knowledge of what the Lord had prescribed. We don't know exactly what that statute was but it is apparent from the Lord's response that Cain had not done as he was commanded. Cain was a farmer, and in his eyes the fruit of the soil would have held great value and pride. It was the fruit of his labor and would surely be equally as good as the fat of an animal. His actions demonstrate that he was bringing to God what he thought would be pleasing, otherwise he would not have been downcast by the Lord not looking favorably upon it. Cain did what he thought was best and that made a way for him to enter into great sin, he killed his brother by agreeing to participate with the spirit of murder. 

My concern for us today is that we have once again gone the way of Cain and misappropriated God's command in regards to dealing with the sick. God gave us a specific directive when it comes to how we should deal with those who are sick among us:

"Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven." - James 5:14 (NIV)

The Scriptures tell us that God's precepts are perfect, good for reviving the soul, rejoicing the heart and bringing light to the eyes. (Psalm 19) And conversely, our own interpretations of His precepts open the door to sin, which is crouching at our door waiting to destroy us. (Genesis 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8).

And so we must be clear - raising money is not a sin and praying is not laziness - disobedience is sin! Therefore, if God has asked me to do one thing, and I determine to do another; no matter how good, noble and right it may appear, I have committed rebellion against God. I have gone the way of Cain and murder is crouching at my door.

One well understood teaching of Scripture is in regards to the poor; we are to take up an offering and distribute the money for their benefit. For us to merely wish them well and pray for their needs, when we have the means of feeding and clothing their naked bodies demonstrates that we have not been made perfect in love (read James 2). Likewise, we have a clear command on what to do with our sick. (James 5) If we have someone who is sick among us and we do not call the elders to pray and anoint this person with oil, then we too have misappropriated God's commands.

Or beloved James has a wealth of teaching for us, and once again brings it into perspective when he declared: "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins." - James 4:17.

It is our knowledge of God's will that makes us responsible for doing God's will, and doing it in it's appropriate context. For as my wife would say "Doing the right thing at the wrong time is still the wrong thing!". We must be diligent in never misappropriating God's commands, interchanging one directive for another. We are to continuously be listening to His voice, trusting and obeying the One who is both the Author and perfecter of our faith.

In closing, I would like to apologize for not esteeming in my previous post those who faithfully give money for the Kingdom. You are a blessing to us all. May prayer is that we will both grow in our understanding of what is pleasing and acceptable in the eyes of our Lord, so that when He soon returns we may be found faithful. Bless you in your giving and my desire is that you will be able to bless me in my prayers.

Sincerely,

Jon Loeppky

Christian Fundraisers and the Lack of Prayer

This will not be a long post, I just need to as the saying goes "get something off of my chest"...

I have been tweaked recently by well meaning, sincere Christians who want me to help them raise money for someone in their congregation who needs medical treatment for some kind of ailment that doctors can't resolve. The hope is that by raising enough money they can send this poor tormented soul half-way around the globe to receive cutting edge medical treatments that will save them from all of their pain and sorrow.

My issue is not with receiving medical treatment. (I will leave that discussion for another day). My issue is with the notion of putting our hope in something other then the Gospel which Jesus demonstrated.

When's the last time you heard of a church advertising that they were hosting a community wide prayer meeting (and perhaps a corporate fast) for the express purpose of experiencing breakthrough in the area of physical healing? How many times in your life have you been asked to come over and anoint someone with oil,  and pray for them that they might get well?

James tells us that this is what we should do, and that the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. Jesus commanded that we go out and preach the Gospel, which includes healing the sick, driving out demons and raising the dead! God is a healer and He never changes. If the prayer offered in faith makes the sick person well, then are we saying that not one person in our church, or surrounding community of faith has enough faith to make a single sick person well? That is what our actions declare, and James also says that our actions are the demonstration of our true measure of faith. "I will show you my faith by what I do".

So, what are we doing? We are hosting fundraisers instead of prayer meetings! Our actions condemn us!!

We have taken on a false gospel which says that raising money takes just as much faith as praying for healing. This is what I need to get off of my chest. I declare this to both the seen and unseen realms. To those who believe and those who doubt. This is my confession:

Jesus heals! It is an abomination to His Name that we not rely upon Him for our deliverance and healing by anointing the sick with oil and praying for their recovery. Isaiah declared that Jesus would bare the shame of  dying on a cross for the express purpose of healing ALL of our diseases. How dare we disregard such a gift and turn aside to trusting in human wisdom and ability. Christ is our only hope and salvation. He is the one who heals all of our diseases.

Jesus, on behalf of my sin and the sins of your people I repent for our lack of faith and trust in Your word.

Healing experienced through prayer is not a theology, it is the reality of Heaven, a reality which Jesus taught us to bring to earth through prayer. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

We must believe the entire revelation of Scripture, not just the part about the forgiveness of sins.

Thanks, my chest feels better.

Love IS...

"Love is not an emotion, it's a choice" - Dan In Real Life

The other day someone quoted this statement to me and it really tweaked my spirit (but not in a good way). I was provoked with what I can only describe as a Holy jealousy for God's good name.

The idea that love is simply an act of the will and can exist without emotion is, I believe, an incomplete and immature understanding of love.

Now I know what some of you are thinking. "That's not what he meant! He meant that love is not birthed nor ruled by our emotions because our emotions can lie to us, deceive us and lead us astray. Love always loves, no matter what one is feeling."

This may be true, but I would suggest that we may be confusing three different things. Three different kingdoms, with three different Kings. The kingdoms of lust, law and love. 

The Kingdom of Lust exists where emotions rule and reign. Intellect and the Holy Spirit are overruled by passions and desires of the soul and body to "feel" good. It is typified by the statement "if it feels good do it".

The second Kingdom, the Kingdom of Law, can be found where human will and intellect are perceived as King. This kingdom is not motivated by emotional outcomes and often takes solace in the presence of hardship for the sake of doing the "right thing". Where this king is present you will find deep rooted religion and legalism. It may understand the mission of love, but it has little or no revelation of the heart behind the mission.

Finally, there is the Kingdom of Love. A kingdom in which all things come under the rule and reign of the Holy Spirit, including His Desires, His Will and His Emotions. It is found where Jesus has been crowned King over the lives of normal human beings like you and I, and can be summed up in the statement "I know longer live, but Christ lives in me". It encompasses more then emotions or will, it is a place where love influences all aspects of our existence (body, mind, soul and spirit).

Therefore, we must restrain from defining "love" solely by emotion or willful response. Love is bigger then that. Love is what happens when the human heart, soul, mind and body all encounter the One True God. A God who is Loving, Wise and Affectionate. Through our relating to that God, or relationship, the Holy Spirit then produces love within you and I. For you see, love is a fruit of the Spirit, and can therefore only be produced by the Spirit of God.

But let us back-track a bit and look at what, and who, defines "love"?

1 John says that "God is (the definition of) love", and therefore His whole nature is what gives us our context for understanding His attribute of Love. Therefore, to ascribe that love can exist simply by the power of our own free will would mean that we would have to ascend to the belief that God is without emotion. It is to say that God is stoic, emotionless and of no affection.

However, we know this to be untrue, for the writer of Colossians states that God is motivated by pleasure/emotions. "It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him..." 1 Colossians 1:19-20 (NASB).

But what about the "Love Chapter", 1 Corinthians 13? Is it not void of emotion and largely descriptive of choices?

When describing the greatest of all things, Paul, under the direction of Holy Spirit, used the Greek word "agape" to define the attribute of love. Agape, which we translate as "love/charity" is rightly understood as "affection", and Websters defines "affection" as being 'a moderate feeling or emotion' .

True love, as understood as "having the attribute of God", must be understood as being fully emotional! To say otherwise is to say that Gods love, and therefore His nature, can be expressed independently of His other attributes by a mere act of the intellect and will. It is to separate the attribute of His love from the expressions of His emotions; like the fact that His city is glad, in His presence is the fullness of joy, His eyes are a flame of fire (passion), His name is Jealous and He authored the vividly passionate Song of Songs!

God is a God who dwells amidst the full range of emotions, and He is motivated by experiencing pleasing emotions. I believe no other verse expresses His pleasure motivated personality like Hebrews 12:2 "....Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross...(NIV)"

God is motivated by affection, and our love, when mature, will also be affectionate. To say that we have love and remain without emotional affection means that we are either immature in our development as children of God, or, we are by human striving counterfeiting the Divine attribute - we are man-ufacturing our own form of love - making it in our own likeness and image.

God is love and all love comes from God and through God in the form of His Son and Spirit. Therefore, any expression that we deem as "love" that is void of affectionate emotion is misrepresenting the nature of God. In fact, any expression of love that does not uphold the attributes of God is a false-love, and the implications of that requirement within our present cultural definitions of "love" are far reaching.

This is not to say that all those who lack emotional affection are functioning apart from God; but it is to say that our love is incomplete. We must be diligent in reminding ourselves of the full nature of God's love, and continue to pursue the manifestation of His perfect love - love that is full of emotion.

Paul writes about this perfection in maturity in Philippians 3:12 saying: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect (mature), but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (emphasis added).

And why did Christ take hold of it? For Joy!

For God so loved the world that for the joy set before Him He endured the cross. Many of us know what Christ did on the cross, but we must also identify with why He did it. He did it for love - a love that was motivated by the emotion of joy.

True! Love is not merely an emotion; it is the very fountain of all pleasure by which God's perfect and pleasing will flows into both heaven and earth.

Never before has it been more important for His children to stand up and honor love and the name of the Lord, defending His true nature as the affectionate God of all love, joy and good pleasure.

Let us move beyond choice and enter into the affections of Christ and our glorious inheritance in Him.


Blessings,

Jon

The Bride Forsaking Her Father's House

"Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house."

I was listening to Misty Edwards in the prayer room sing about the nature of love. She was giving a prophetic call to the Bride to die to herself, to give up her name, her fathers house and take upon herself the name and house of Jesus. To die to her old family and be grafted into His.

As I listened to this call I was struck by the stark contrast between the Word of God and the spirit of this present age. Among today's woman, even christian woman, we see a fight to retain their names, family association and former identities upon entering into the covenant of marriage. The world demands that she hold on to who she was, while heaven invites her to "forget your father's house".

The evidence of this shift can be seen throughout the Mennonite community that we live in where many younger woman have forsaken their husbands family name, reclaimed their maiden name or adopted a hyphenated variation of the two.

What a contrast to this culture 30 years ago. I remember growing up in a community where I often heard older woman referred to as "Mrs. Bill Reimer", or "Mrs. George Penner". It was not a degrading thing for them to be associated with your husbands name. In fact, I always perceived it as a thing of honor. Perhaps it was because these men were of notable character and reputation, but I think it had more to do with the humility of these Godly wives.

I can't imagine the offense that would be incurred today's "liberated" woman if they were to be associated merely by their husbands name! It would cause an absolute outrage, if not externally, most assuredly internally. And yet, as followers of Jesus, is this not the way that we have been shown? Is this not exactly how God intended to display His glory?

God created marriage to display His nature, His glory! He is relationship. He is submissive to Himself. He honors Himself. He is fruitful and is set on having many children. Each partner, both male and female, manifest various aspects of God's nature in the earth. This is the way God designed it, and it is Good!

The identity of a wife is more then just being legally bound to a husband; she is a shadow, a copy, a picture of the divine relationship that Jesus has planned for those who love Him. Wives have the distinct honor of displaying God's desire for us. She re-presents His Beloved to the earth in how she interacts with her earthly husband. This is the glory that she has been created to display - the glory of Christ, the humble King, who made Himself of no reputation and submitted Himself to the will of His Father.

But this is more then just for wives! This is the invitation to all humanity, the call to forsake your former life, dying to it, and uniting yourself to your Husband, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Just as Christ died to Himself for our sake, He has now called His bride to die to herself, to leave her fathers house and unite herself to Him - taking on His identity, His leadership, His name and to forsake her former father and mother. Who are our father and mother? Adam and Eve, who bore us into sin and death.

This is the glory of which wives are to testify to! The glorious message of a Husband who gave up Himself to redeem her from Death. And so, when we see woman struggling to cling to their earthly father's name and their maiden identity, they are unknowingly prophesying a message of compromise and half-hearted commitment to Jesus. It is as though they have given themselves to Christ, but do not want to give up the benefits of their father's house.

This is what the nation of Israel has struggled with for thousands of years, being set apart and wholly devoted to the One True God. Is it any wonder that God started the Law with the commandment, you shall have no other God's besides Me! He was declaring that Israel was to have One Husband, One God - and in return, they would be His "one true love".

And then God goes on from there and declares, "Do not take My name in vain". Many of us have wrongly interpreted this as being about cursing, but it is so much more then that. God is declaring to His Beloved, "Do not say that you are going to be my wife (to take My name upon yourselves) and then not live as My wife." God wants a Bride who is going to be fully devoted to Him, forsaking all others and clinging to Him alone. When we take on the name of Christ, we are to be fully devoted to Him. In not doing so, the church has effectively mired the name of Christ in the earth, being largely known today as hypocrites. God is jealous for His name and does not want His bride to be dragging it through the mud, anymore then a husband wants to have his wife sleeping around as though she weren't married.

And so, we see in the first commandments, God's eternal commitment to us. In return, as part of the covenant, He asks that we commit ourselves to Him also; forsaking all other Gods, kingdoms and affections. We are to be satisfied by Him and Him alone. This is the testimony that wives have been commanded to declare! And it is the truth that Satan has desperately been trying to destroy from the very beginning! God's faithfulness to His Beloved made manifest by husband's and wives.

I believe that today's women are losing out on the divine blessing found in reflecting God's heart to the earth. Why? Because they have accepted a false teaching on what it means to be "equals". A teaching that robs them of the eternal blessing of manifesting God's nature through forsaking themselves and uniting themselves to their husband. A woman's decision to hold on to her former identity is about more then natural names, it is a prophetic picture of the church's struggle to become wholly surrendered to her Bridegroom.

Wives will always be a prophetic image of the Divine Love relationship between Christ and His Church. The question is, are we going to be the picture of obedience or rebellion? Are we going to forsake all others and enter into the promised inheritance, or drift back and forth between two houses, two Father's and two Kingdoms?

It is my earnest desire that Christ would restore to woman the joy of being a divine reflection of the Bride - a picture of His surrender, humility and glory. How can this happen? I believe it will begin when husband's encounter the revelation of Christ as a cherishing Husband, wholly devoted to the one He describes as "dark yet lovely" and "all together beautiful". When husbands love their wives as Christ loves us, then our wives will be freed from the fear of total surrender.

We have a long way to go, but God will be faithful to complete what He has started! And He started marriage right from the very beginning. Marriage is both the first and last picture of His nature manifested through humanity in this age, and I have great confidence that He will restore it to it's predetermined glory in the days to come.

If you are a wife; may God bless you with the joy of being fully surrendered.
If you are a husband; may God bless you with the grace to be a cherishing servant.

This is His glory in us.

"Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear: Forget your people and your father’s house.
The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord."

-
Jon

Do You Really Want My Glory To Come?

"Lord, Show us your Glory! Pour our Your Spirit on your sons and daughters!"

If you have been around the prayer movement any length of time or are interested in revival, spiritual break through or evangelism you have probably prayed a prayer similar to the one above. They are simple words, that when answered, have the power to transform entire cities, regions and nations. But have we ever stopped to consider what we are actually asking for?

The other night during a regional prayer meeting as we began praying this prayer, God suddenly responded to our intercession in an unexpected way. How did He respond? He asked us a question:

"Do you really want My Glory to come?"

The immediate answer in our hearts was "Yes, of course we want Your glory to come!!". We want to see our region impacted with a revelation of Jesus. We want to see people healed, power on the preaching of the word, breakthroughs in evangelism and experiencing really awesome times of worship! Yes Lord, we want Your Glory to come!

He continued to ask the question. 

"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
"Everything's going to change! Everything's going to change!"
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"


As the question kept being repeated, the reality of what we were asking for began to sink into my heart and I realized that it was so much greater then I had every truly considered.

I began to realize that my idea of His Glory coming largely entailed what my friend Brian describes as "Church on Steroids". It's essentially Church exactly the way we know it now, except for the fact that the worship time is now totally awesome, the message finally rocks and when we pray for people at the end of the service we actually experience some sort of Holy Spirit manifestation (even if they don't get healed, delivered or transformed).

The problem with that picture is this; it assumes that everything we are doing right now is totally sanctified and submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It assumes that our lives, programs and methods of doing church are perfect and all that we lack is a bit of Holy Spirit power to take them over the top! It says to the heavenly hosts; "We're all good! We just need a bit of energy on this thing!!".

But what will really happen when God pours out His Spirit upon us? Will it simply make everything we're already doing a lot more enjoyable? Or is there something that we are missing?

The more I pondered this question, the more I began to see things differently. The more I realized that everything would change. Not merely because God is itching to do something "new", but because His presence would require that everything change! For God is Holy and in Him there is no darkness at all! (1 John 1:5). That means that everything that is now contaminated by compromise would need to experience instant and radical purification in order for it to remain, or else it would come to it's ultimate demise!

Oh, How we dream of living in the "Acts 2 Reality"! We want the buildings to shake! We want to see tongues of fire!! We want to experience the thrill of seeing thousands saved in a day!!! We want to walk down the street and have the lame healed by the passing of our shadow!(Acts 19)

But what about the ramifications of such encounters?

What about the dramatic increase in the need for radical holiness? "Be Holy for I am Holy". God is Holy, and where His presence dwells there is nothing but holiness. Consider the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), who fell to the ground dead because they told a single lie! That too is the Acts 2 reality!! God's presence always produces radical holiness (whether we want it or not). Are we ready to encounter such holiness? Are we ready to lose all of the things that we currently cherish which God considers items of compromise?

You see, right now we don't feel a lot of urgency in the area of holiness, but when His Glory comes, those days of saying "It's a process" and being slow to obey will go by the wayside. His Glory will come and will demand that anything that will remain in His presence be Holy.

And what about other Acts 2 Realities?

Who is going to baptize the 3,000 new converts that come into the Kingdom in a day? Based upon the way we do baptism now, with pre-baptism classes, public testimonies and submersing each candidate individually (in front of their friends and family), that process alone would take well over 13 DAYS to complete! By the time we would be finished baptizing the converts from the first day of God's presence being poured out we could potentially have a backlog of 39,000 people waiting to be baptized!

But wait, there's more!

Who's going to do the ongoing discipleship required of these new converts? Who will train them up in the basic understanding of the Word, prayer, communion, confession, repentance and the gifts of the Holy Spirit? We could easily see 250 small groups be formed within a single day. We can't expect our Pastors to handle such a workload. So that means you and I will have to become teachers, preachers and bible study leaders overnight. And don't kid yourself, you're not going to be walking them through the latest best-selling Bible study manual bought through your local Bible Bookshop. It will most likely be you, a bible and two dozen hungry new believers crammed into your living room - no worksheets, lots of questions and plenty of spiritual activity (both Good and Evil).

Paul, before he left on one of his missionary journeys led a bible study that lasted all night (and was broken up in the middle because someone needed to be raised from the dead after falling asleep (Acts 20). Are we ready for that to aspect of His Glory coming?

And what about this spiritual warfare? What about healing, deliverance and miracles? Who is going to do the prayer ministry for all of the sick people who are suddenly lining up outside of our churches, homes and places of employment? It won't just happen in a flash, it will most likely take real people praying for other real people. I'm sure the Lord will provide angelic messengers and supernatural encounters, but we will still be the main graceforce in this outpouring.

And what about when our long day of ministering is done? Am I prepared for my neighbor to show up at 3 am with his sick daughter because he heard that when I pray for people Jesus comes with power to heal?

Who's going to dispose of all of the unneeded medical equipment? The drugs and corresponding paraphernalia?  How about the mountains of pornographic magazines, DVD's, alcohol and other substances that start piling up outside of our homes, churches and stadiums?

And then the persecution will come! The enemy will begin to openly hate us (Matt 24:9), stirring up the hearts of wicked men against those who profess the name of Jesus. We will be put in prison (Acts 12). We will be beaten (Acts 16). We will have people attempt to kill us (Acts 21), and sometimes they will succeed (Acts 7).

These are all part of what happens when God's Glory comes upon His people with power! This is included in the fullness of the Acts 2 reality. This is what we are really praying for!

Rest assures, there will also be much rejoicing! It will be a time of great joy, celebration and pleasure as we experience a foretaste of what it will be like when Jesus rules the earth from Jerusalem. Yes, we will have exceedingly great revelation of the beauty and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His name will begin to receive the glory that it is due! True worship will be in abundance as the glory of the Lord is revealed on the earth.

What I have envisioned here is merely a glimpse of what will happen when the Lord pours out His Spirit upon us and a more complete picture of what we have actually been asking God to do. So let us not be shortsighted in what we are asking. His Glory will do more than bring a bit of "fire" upon our regular weekly meetings. It will come like an all-consuming fire that purifies everything within His presence.

Will it cost us? Yes, but only the things we didn't really need.
Will it be worth it? Absolutely!

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)

So join with me, and many others, in lifting up this cry before our Father:

"Lord, let Your Glory fall upon us! Amen."

-

Jon

The Sword Of The Spirit

Today I was meditating on some words written by one of my favorite authors, Derek Prince. He was talking about Spiritual Warfare and in particular the Sword of the Spirit, and commented that it is the Sword of the Spirit. In other words, it is His Sword - not mine.

As I meditated upon this my heart got really stirred.

I began thinking about the reality that anyone who has the Holy Spirit living inside of them has the Author of the Holy Scriptures available to them at all times. However, that does NOT mean that I suddenly know every story, word or promise written in the Bible. Although the Spirit knows all Scripture, He does not impart that knowledge to me apart from my own free will. I must feed upon the Word of God by choice; taking His words into myself like food which brings strength to the Spirit inside of me. It is as though I am handing the Spirit His spiritual weapon, so that He can use it in battle for me.

But here's the interesting thing; just because I have the Word does not mean that the Word is being used by the Spirit. The Word of the Lord can, and is, used by all parties in the great cosmic battle for human souls. The Spirit, the Enemy and our own sinful Flesh all wield this powerful weapon on a daily basis. The problem lies in the fact that only when it is used under the leadership of the Holy Spirit does it produce anything good!

The sad truth is that many times I have taken the Sword of the Word and used it as a weapon against my fellow man. It was not the Sword of the Spirit that I was wielding, it was the Sword of my flesh, and unfortunately for me and those afflicted by these attacks, it is still a weapon of great might.

This is also true of our enemy, The Devil. He too knows the Word and is more then willing to use it against God's image bearers to bring them to destruction. So what does this mean for us? I would suggest that it means this; that just like the power of life and death are in the same tongue, so it is with the Words of God. They do not find their power merely in the fact that they were Divinely authored, but in the eternal authority of the One who administrates them. Let me explain:

Saying "Let there be light!" has no power in and of itself to produce anything. They are simply a collection of letters and sounds arranged in a particular order or sequence. They do not derive their power from that sequence, however, when they are spoken under the Amen of the Godhead they have the power to bring something forth out of nothing.

This is the reality of the Sword. It is always a weapon, but it is only a weapon of Divine productivity when used under the Authority of the Holy Spirit. If I begin to speak the words of Scripture out of a Spirit of Bitterness, Envy or Selfish Ambition, I can be assured that I will not produce the Fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because only the Spirit can produce His fruit.

The Word of God becomes the Sword of the Spirit when we do two things:

a) When we deliver the scroll to Him by choosing to meditate on the Bible
b) When we surrender ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and His Word

Apart from these two activities the Sword of the Spirit is non-functioning and powerless to us in our spiritual battles.

To put it into sporting terms, it is like having the best hockey player in the universe on your team, but He's not in the game because nobody's taken the time to give Him his stick!

The Sword of the Word has been given to you and I, and it is only when we choose to give it back to the Spirit that it becomes a weapon of mass production. Apart from it being in His control it is only good for starting quarrels, arguments and creating divisions.

Let's face it, the Spirit of This Age loves to use the Word of God. Why? Because people bow to it's words and ideas. But those words, apart from the Spirit, are nothing but empty religious ideology. It is the Spirit that empowers the Word. It is God backing Himself up with authority and power that makes the Word of God powerful.

It's time to put the Sword back into the hands of the Holy Spirit and let Him make war in the heavenly places. This is one of the ways that we "effectively handle the Word of Truth" and become ones who move with the Spirit in tearing down strongholds, arguments and all forms of ungodliness.

We need a revolution in our understanding of the partnership between the Word and the Spirit. How many of us are sanctified enough to administrate such a power weapon on our own accord? Surely not this Soldier!

Beloved, in the words spoken to the ancient prophets....

It's time to eat the Scroll.

Orphans, Widows and The Glory of God

Isaiah 1:17 says "Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows." (NLT)

 As a teenager the Lord began to grip my heart for the poor and oppressed, often making trips into Winnipeg's North End to minister to those living on the street and caught in a life of alcohol and prostitution. I knew they were dear to the Lord's heart, I just didn't understand why. As time passed and I finished College, I found myself living in the North End of Winnipeg and attending the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard, where I experienced in a very tangible way what it looks like for the Church to do justice and love mercy. They had a vision for the poor, and the sign on the wall read "let worship and justice kiss". However, no matter how many times I heard them talk about the poor and what it meant to "do justice", I never truly understood what they meant.

Unfortunately, I think this is true of many of us, and many organizations. We have great mission statements which are rich in Utopian rhetoric, but almost nobody can explain to you why engaging in this mission is so important. Or more specifically, why it is so important to God!

Back in those days at the WCV, if I asked many of my friends why we are to remember the orphans and widows, many of them would have passionately responded by saying "because God cares about the widows and orphans!". This is very true, the Scriptures are full of reminders to this extent. But how many of us have ever stopped to ask ourselves why these commands are so important? What is it about the widows and orphans that moves Jesus heart so deeply? Is it because they have it worse off then the rest of us? Is it because He arbitrarily picked these two afflictions as being more important then the others?

We know that "God does not show partiality" (Romans 2:11) and that we are commanded not to show favoritism when giving testimony regarding a poor person on trial (Exodus 23:3). So why have more compassion on these two groups of people?

That question has plagued me for many years, but a few weeks ago while reading Isaiah 1 the Lord blessed me with a marvelous revelation. You see, every command is intended to display His Glory, His Nature, His Name. In fact, everything that has been created, including you and I, was made for the sole purpose of displaying the Glory of God. And this is the motivation behind God's heart for the Widow and the Orphan!

We exist to give Him glory, and in order to do that we must accurately demonstrate what He is like. And this is who God is: God is a Father and God is a Bridegroom, therefore, anything that does not make that reality known in the earth is opposing the Glory of God, it is unjust (because God is Just). Injustice is more accurately understood as being non-justice, or NOT being like God.

So, when you see the Fatherless, and begin functioning under the Spirit of Adoption by taking that orphan into your care, you are doing justice. You are demonstrating that no person is left without a Father in the Kingdom of God. God is a Father. A Father who loves children and has set His heart on adopting into His family every orphan that would come to Him. When we become Fathers to the fatherless, we are displaying God's nature in the earth. (And for what it's worth, evangelism is the single greatest way to do justice; turning spiritual orphans into Spiritual children!)

Likewise, when we care for the Widow, we manifest the intense longing of our Bridegroom King Jesus.Why? Because it is un-Godly for a Bride to be separated from her Husband! ("What God has joined together let no man separate" - Mark 10:9) That's not just a cute line intended for ceremonial purposes. It manifests the fiery passion of God's heart for His glory to be revealed through the covenant of marriage. God loves marriage, and created it to demonstrate His nature. When the visible manifestation of His nature is destroyed through the curse of death, the tangible Glory of God is wiped further from the face of the earth. The result of less Glory being made visible is that less worship is being given to the One who is worthy of ALL worship.

God is a Father, and in His kingdom there are no Fatherless. God is a Bridegroom, and in His kingdom everyone has a Husband.

That's why He commands us to remember the orphan and widow.

So what does it mean to "do justice"? It means that we are to realign the natural things so that they accurately make visible the Heavenly things; an act which re-establishes God's praise in the earth.

However, we must be sure of one thing - remembering the Widows and Orphans is not merely about humanity taking care of it's own; for that has it's end in man, and humanism is an abomination to God! If we are loving our neighbor, remembering the poor, the widow and the orphan simply because they have flesh like us and because we believe that every human has that innate "right", then we are grossly deceived. The issues of justice are all about re-establishing God's Name as a praise in the earth. His Name as Father and Bridegroom. For Colossians tells us, that in everything Christ will have the preeminence - which means  everything is to find it's end in Him receiving all of the Glory, all of the Honor and all of the Praise. We must be sure of this - He is the end of all things, not us!

Jesus taught us this important reality, that His desire is for it to be "on earth as it is in heaven".

Those simple words reveal much about His heart, and we do well to gaze upon the heavenly reality and ask that He manifest it in the earth.

That is true Justice.
That is true Worship.

One Thing I Desire

We often sing about the "One Thing" reality at the House of Prayer found in Psalm 27, but the past few days I have been seeing David's heart cry a bit differently - not simply as the longing of his heart, but as the longing of God's heart. The one thing that David desired was not birthed out of his own creativity or zeal, it was his response to the invitation that God gave him in verse 8; "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." (KJV).

It is God's desire that David is expressing, not his own.

So this morning as I was laying in bed the Holy Spirit began singing this song to me:


There's only one thing I desire
One thing that I seek
There's only one thing I require
That you would gaze on My beauty, gaze on My beauty

Martha don't you know My heart?
Martha don't you know My heart?
Martha don't you know My heart?
Observe your sister Mary, observe your sister Mary


It was a stunning way to begin my day and has truly gripped my heart. He desires for me to gaze upon His beauty WAY more then I ever could. In fact, the only reason I even desire to dwell in His presence is because of Him! He is the one who gave me that desire. He is the one who dreamed it up - not me!

How awesome is it to know that the one thing God desires of us today is to simply sit at His feet and gaze upon the eternal, unsearchable depths of His beauty. That is the heavenly reality, and it is Jesus desire that it would be on earth as it is in heaven.

Lord, release to us the grace to live like Mary of Bethany; for she has chosen wisely.

Jon

I Live To Worship You

I used to think that the statement "I live to worship you!" was some kind of mantra reserved for the uber-spiritual, or a lame cliche for those who just wanted to appear radically committed to Jesus. But today it dawned on me - this is not a statement, it's a fact!

The truth is that I exist for the express purpose of bringing glory to God. It is the premier reason why I have breath in my lungs and strength in my body - that Jesus would receive the honor due His name.

So, when I consciously give myself to acts of worship, I am not doing something extraordinary, I am simply returning to the essence of what He created me to do. I am alive so that I might bring God glory; which means, to worship Him in, and through, everything. Every emotion. Every thought. Every word. Every interaction...Everything! That was, is and will always be the Divine plan for all of creation - glorify God! Give Him the preeminence in everything!

This idea is prevalent in Scripture. Here are just a few examples:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." - Revelation 4:11

"He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together....so that in everything he might have the supremacy." - Colossians 1:15-18

"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory (worship) forever! Amen." - Romans 11:36

He created everything for the purpose of putting His glory on display.

So the question becomes for me, not "How much am I giving to God?" but rather, "How much am I withholding from Him?". All things are for Him, and so, if I am not giving Him glory through what I am doing (even in the mundane), then I am robbing God of the glory due His name. 

This is not a matter of trying to be "uber" spiritual. I have become convicted about not being honorable! 

Every moment is to be to His honor, glory and praise! Not just some moments, like Sunday morning, wednesday night Bible study and a few moments before we eat a meal, but every moment of my twenty-four hour day was specifically designed by God so that I might have opportunity to glorify Him. 

He created both day and night, and then declared that they were both "Good". 

In the New Testament, Jesus taught us that we would have to give an account for the "talents" that we have been given. But we have been given so much more than talents; we have been given a body in which to manifest His presence among the nations of the earth. We physically exist in and among other created beings so that we might testify to each other of the Glory of God.

To weighty truth is this: You and I will have to give an account for what we did with our life; how we spent every moment of our lives. That's a sobering thought!

"For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah, so that each of us may receive what he deserves for what he has done in his body, whether good or worthless." - 2 Corinthians 5:10 (ISV)

I chose this translation because I like how the word "phaulon", often translated as "bad" or "evil", is translated here as "worthless". It is activity that God can not described as being "worthy", and "worthy" is the very foundation of why heaven adores God..."You are WORTHY O Lord".

The more I meditate on this word, the more it's ramifications sink into my mind and heart. It is a sobering word, and I am convinced that this revelation will ultimately culminate with at least one man encountering the fear of the Lord. Lord, let it be!

I want to bless you as you meditate on these thoughts, and would encourage you to dive into what the Scriptures have to say about God's glory and His zeal for His own name. If you're looking for a good place to start, try reading the book of Colossians! I'm sure you will become fascinated by what you find!

Jon

"Lord, I declare today; "We live to worship You!". This is not a declaration to our devotion, but the humble agreement with Your majesty - we exist so that You might receive all glory. And so, we bless You Lord! For You are Worthy! Not because of what you have done for us, but simply because of who You are. Reveal to us the Glory of Your Name. Amen."

Love Is Blind....Really?

The phrase "love is blind" is commonly used to describe someone who is demonstrating the ability to love someone in spite of the objects glaring shortcomings. The premise is that the lover must not see the fault of their beloved or they would never love them the way that they do.

Some might do it in total obliviousness, but others will choose to overlook the faults in order to retain a heartfelt affection for the other. But is love truly blind?

John 1:14 says "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

It would appear that Divine Love is the demonstration of grace in the midst of a full revelation of the truth! God does not overlook our sin in order to show us favor, He is able to show favor while being conscious of all of our iniquity.

I believe that many of us have chosen the path of "overlooking" the shortcomings of others because it makes it easier to extend grace to them. But is this true grace? Is it grace that flows from the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit? Or is it a counterfeit grace that is birthed out of human strength and ability?

Am I overlooking something in order to be gracious, or am I doing the more difficult act of calling upon the Holy Spirit to produce grace within me by fellowship with Him while remaining fully conscious of the hurt of my heart caused by the actions of another?

Let us not diminish grace to a human characteristic born out of our own goodness and ability. Grace is from God alone; produced by His Spirit through communion with the Son of His love. The Son who became flesh, dwelt among us and was full of grace and truth. Jesus did not minister the grace of the Godhead from afar. He dwelt among us, in the midst of our depravity and brokenness, and with full revelation of our sin He loved us, even unto death.

Oh what a great testimony we would give the world if we were to live with such power in the midst of weak and broken humanity!

What would happen if instead of diminishing someones iniquity by saying "Oh, it's OK. It's no big deal...You're forgiven." we actually acknowledged the magnitude of their offense towards us and then offered them total forgiveness! Of what merit is forgiveness for something that was "no big deal"? The word says that "he who has been forgiven much will love much". Are we not in fact robbing our brothers and sisters of the gift of love when we diminish their offense towards us?

Love for Jesus increases with a greater revelation of our own sin. The revelation that God owes us nothing and that we deserve hell.

Jesus never said to the woman caught in adultery "It's no big deal...you are forgiven!". He acknowledged her guilt before her accusers! "You who is without sin cast the first stone". It was out of that revelation, the truth, that He said to her "Neither do I condemn (pass sentence) upon you. Go and sin no more.".

If love is the greatest of all things, and love is produced in us by being forgiven much, then let us bless one another by living with grace and truth! Grace that has been cultivated by abiding in the presence of Jesus through righteousness. Grace born of the Spirit and not of our flesh.

For grace born out of human ability is cheap grace, and cheap grace will only turn sour in the mouths of the condemned as they stand before the Judge without love in their hearts for Jesus.

True Love is not blind; It searches the hearts and thoughts of all men, and still chose to lay down it's life to pay for our sin. That is Love! Love sees all and conquers all.

Let us love with a love that is full of grace and truth.

Jon

Personal Worship Expression

One of the greatest barriers to worshiping in Spirit and Truth is the commonly held idea that worship is "personal". Worship has never been a personal expression of our love for God, but a Divinely ordained act of submissive agreement to the Great and Mighty God of All Beauty, Love, Light and Glory. All heaven declares "You are Worthy!", and that truth is the sole foundation of all true worship. Everything else is vanity.

The moment we believe that worship is a personal expression, governed by our own likes, dislikes and personality, is the moment we enter into idolatry - forming God, and the worship due His name, after our own desires and likings. There is no place in heaven for such a prideful act. It causes us to participate in the same rebellion which Lucifer incited against the Lord.

Beloved, God has the right to demand any kind of worship posture, expression and utterance out of His creation that He desires; and that creation includes us! We don't worship because we want to, we worship because He is worthy. And for us to deny or withhold ANY form of worship on the basis of our "personality" or "preference" is to deny His Worthiness all together.

He is Worthy of all worship, and all praise (not just all of the worship that I am willing to give Him). He is worth it all, and demands it all. One day every knew will bow and every tongue will confess the Jesus Christ is Lord. Why? Because we all finally came to an agreement on how to worship Him? NO! Because that is what He deserves, and in the government of heaven it will be required worship (even for those who have rejected His gospel).

How much will that sting? How much will that pain the human heart to know that you are worshiping Jesus now, at the end of the age, when you spent your entire life refusing to give Him the glory due His name? The revelation of who He is will demand it. You're whole being will cry out "WORTHY!! JESUS YOU ARE WORTHY!!!", and your heart will condemn you for your rebellion while in the flesh.

So why am I so enpassioned about this today? Because the Spirit awakened it in my heart yesterday and He will not let it go! He is determined to prepare the Bride for the coming of her Bridgegroom King, and that means that we need to be a people who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. It is our destiny. It is for our glory. And the Spirit is going to bring us to maturity in this area whether we like it or not. (But we will like it, once we realize that it is pleasing to the One that we love!).

Today the Church needs to grow in trust. That quiet confidence in the Goodness of God and His perfect leadership in all things. We need to finally begin to trust that the Holy Spirit will not destroy us if we obey Him. We need to finally trust in God's love.

We need to trust that the best thing for our meetings, our churches and ourselves is to do everything that the Holy Spirit asks us to do; even if it appears to be foolish, reckless and catastrophic! Why? Because He can not do anything foolish, reckless or catastrophic! It is impossible for God to do anything foolish. It is impossible for God to do anything bad! He is always good and in always.

We are afraid of God because we don't actually believe that God is good. We fear the Holy Spirit because we think that He is out of control and crazy! If we didn't, we wouldn't have a problem opening ourselves up to His moving in power upon our bodies. We wouldn't fear the gift of tongues, and we wouldn't be afraid of His manifestations upon our flesh.

The truth is that we are trying to protect ourselves from being deceived in the very presence of the Almighty God. The God who declares His eternal affection for us through the cross and word. "I will not give you a serpent nor a stone!". "Do not fear!!".

Let's be honest. We are afraid of the Holy Spirit. In fact, I would say that most Christians have more confidence is Satan's ability to deceive them then in the Holy Spirits power to keep them! But let us remember, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling".

God's Spirit is burning today with passion over this issue. He is looking for children who will trust Him as a good Father and throw themselves down upon His Mercy. Children who will actually demonstrate confidence in His Goodness by living abandoned in love and obedience to the moving of Holy Spirit.

Why should the world have faith in the message of salvation, of a God who will redeem them from the fires of hell, when those who claim to have trusted in Him continue to demonstrate a gross mistrust of His goodness?

I invite you today to meditate on this exhortation. Are we truly trusting God's leadership? Do we honestly agree with Jesus assessment of the Holy Spirit; that it would be better for us if the Holy Spirit were here instead of Him?

The Holy Spirit is described by Jesus as the Comforter. How many of us feel comfortable when He begins to move in ways that we don't understand? Is that a reflection upon Him or us?

Beloved, Holy Spirit is our greatest Friend and Teacher. I want to invite you to say "Yes" to His leadership today, no matter what it appears to cost. The rewards for saying "Yes" are great, but the cost of saying "No" is immeasurable.


Blessings,

Jon

Fruit With Seeds In It

Last week, for a bible study on "How To Produce Spiritual Fruit", I decided to do a visual illustration. The illustration was supposed to have a large serving of fruit on one side, and a few small seeds (taken from that fresh platter of fruit) on the other. My intention was to then ask the question "Which would you rather have? The large plate of fresh, ready to be eaten, fruit? Or a few small gnarly looking seeds?"

I was very excited about my little visual demonstration and thought that it would be a great way of contrasting the spiritual life of "sowing and reaping" vs. the wordly mindset which demands immediate, worry free, gratification.

This was to be my launching pad into our bible study on how God produces the Fruit of His Spirit in our lives. It was perfect! All except for one small problem. As I began to rummage through my fridge looking for the most delectable fruit I could find; I discovered that "worry free" living was about to become my biggest problem!

It would seem that in our effort to relieve ourselves from all manner of toil and labor, we have rid ourselves of virtually all seed bearing fruit! That's right!! I could not do my illustration because I could not find any fruit in my house that still had seeds in it!!!

I was left stranded without any seeds for my illustration. But alas, my morning was not a total disaster. The couple that we meet with was very accommodating and when I had to resort to asking them to "imagine that there are fruit seeds in my other hand" they were more than willing to oblige. In the end the illustration and the study was a great success. However, since that morning I have been troubled by my new seedless fruit revelation.

Do you know that the first command that God gave us was to "be fruitful and multiply"? His desire was for us to use the seed we had been given to produce more seed bearing offspring! But it gets even better! God did more than simply command us to be fruitful, He followed up that command by giving us another command regarding what we should eat.

Any guesses on what we were supposed to eat?

"And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." Genesis 1:28-29 (ESV)

So not only are we supposed to use our seed to produce more seedlings, we are supposed to only eat fruit that has seeds in it!

God is a God of growth, multiplication and dominion. His universe is continuing to grow. His humanity continues to multiply, and He is determined to have dominion over everything in heaven and on earth. God loves things that produce seed, because seed allows us to produce a greater harvest.  I can just imagine God crying out from the heavens "Go BIG or Go Home!"

There is no greater demonstration of this reality then Jesus. The Word made flesh. 

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" - Isaiah 55:10-11 

Do you know that the literal translation of "empty" or "void" means "not without fruit". God's word will not fail in producing the fruit that He intends it to produce. In God's mind there is not such thing as seedless fruit. 

God is so committed to bearing fruit that He declares in John 15; "any branch that does not bare fruit will be cut off and thrown into the fire". God loves fruit, and God's fruit ALWAYS has seeds in it. Why does it have seeds? Because without seeds it's only good for food, and God wants more than simply for us to fill our own faces. His desire is for us to learn how to grow a harvest so that all may be satisfied through His provision.

"Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness" - 2 Corinthians 9:10

Seed for sowing and not just bread for food; that my friends is the true prosperity gospel! The multiplication of God is directed at our seed, not our bread. It is multiplied for the sower, not the eater.

Beloved, if we grind all of our grain into food we will have nothing left to sow, and we will have no harvest of righteousness. And if we eat of "seedless" things then we are going to be left without a harvest of any kind.

What are those seedless things? I would suggest that they are the things that do not flow out of the Spirit. They are the lusts of the flesh and the desires of our selfish nature. Lust, greed, anger, selfish ambition, vain conceit, sexual immorality, drunkenness and idolatry. (Galatians 5) But the fruit of the Spirit (which can only be produced by the Spirit) is grown when we sow the seed of the Spirit into our lives by obeying the Word of God. God's word is our spiritual seed and required for producing a harvest of righteousness.

Beloved, God loves fruit; and God requires that we bear fruit. He also requires that all the fruit we consume have seed in it, otherwise it is not fit for being eaten by His most precious creatures; you and I.

After all of this study on "seed" and "fruit" it causes me think more carefully about what I am spending my life upon. And as Isaiah wrote: "Why spend money on what is not food."

So until next time...Be fruitful and multiply!

Jon

The Testing of Our Faith

I was doing some reading today about the Messiah, the One who would establish God's Kingdom on the earth, and I was struck by what the writer put forth; that Jesus was born to die.

Death was not a result of the Jews rejection of Him, it was understood from the beginning that Jesus would die. John the Baptist proclaimed, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!". Without the sacrifice on the cross there would be no payment made for my sin; it was the reason He came, and everything else He did was to testify that He was who He said He was.

So why is it that I, having identified myself with Jesus, with the knowledge that it is my joy to share in His sufferings, still labor so vigorously to protect myself from anything resembling discomfort, persecution, trial and death?

Graham Cooke has a great teaching about living with our problems. In it he talks about how we typically respond to adversity; we pray! But it is not the type of prayer that I'm sure the Father finds pleasing. Why? Because we are begging Him to take away the very thing that He designed to strengthen our faith. (Remember..."count it all joy when you face trials..."). Graham describes it this way: You want me to get you OUT of it!? I just spent three years and $30,000 getting you INTO it!!

Trials are not legal proceedings intended to determine our guilt, they are tests designed to measure our worth. When you test something you are trying to determine it's value, character and fortitude. Will it last? Is of good quality? God is testing the purification process being administered by the Holy Spirit. How are we doing? How much work is yet to be done before we will be able to endure the great and terrible day of His coming and not shrink back?

God is determined to prepare a Bride who is without spot or wrinkle, and occasionally He will put our faith to the fire to see how that process is going. It's not the fire of punishment, it's the fire of our perfection.

Jesus passed His many tests with flying colors; the colors of flesh and blood. The question is, are we passing our own tests; or are we praying our way out of them?

I is my humble opinion that the average Christian prays most often, and most fervently, when faced with the gift of testing. Unfortunately, their focus is on asking to be exempt from such an examination instead of being prepared by it.

Jesus was born to die so that He would be glorified for eternity. Perhaps it's time to join Him in the pathway of glorification!

Bless you all today,

Jon

How Do You Hear It?

Lately I have been reading the letters to the seven churches found in the Revelation of Jesus; a read which I find most enlightening and enjoyable. But the other day as I read them I was challenged in my spirit regarding how I "hear" them.

What do I mean by that? Simply this, when I close my eyes and let my imagination create an internal movie of John's encounter; what does Jesus sound like?

For me, Jesus has always sounded very authoritarian; like the sound you would hear from a father when you've just broken curfew or smashed up the car..."I AM YOUR FATHER! I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH, BUT THIS I HAVE AGAINST YOU!!!"

Based upon the intense nature of the rest of the book, I wouldn't fault anyone for hearing it that way. I've heard it that way may whole life. But as I thought about it a bit more I began to re-evaluate my choice of soundtrack. And here's why:

The entire nature of the book is to reveal the heart of Jesus and His perfect plan for bringing this chapter of His glorious work in us, sometimes referred to "this age", to a magnificent end. The book by nature is a worship text for God's goodness, faithfulness, power, mercy and love. He is the One who "makes all things new" and He is coming back with the burning desire to participate in the biggest wedding banquet you could dare to imagine.

So the question is this, how would God, who is all confident in His ability to fulfill His plan and engage in the cosmic "wedding-to-end-all-weddings", send out His last minute instructions to the wedding party? Would they be written in the form of a harsh sounding rebuke? Or would they be written with a certain gracious and cherishing overtone?

The more I meditated on it, the more the Spirit testified that Jesus is most likely speaking like this:

"Hello my friends! I'm getting ready for the wedding and I'm very excited about it! I am writing you because I wanted to encourage you in your final preparations. I love you, but don't forget to keep your hearts steady as that great day approaches. I noticed a few things that you've been overlooking and I want to encourage you that they are of the utmost importance. Please ensure you are ready for my arrival because I don't want you to be left out of this celebration. I look forward to seeing you very soon! Love, Jesus."

I'd invite you to read, or re-read, these letters again today and imagine a Jesus who is mostly glad and not sad, full of joy, peace and confidence that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to bring it to completion.

Those are my thoughts for today.

Jon

How To Live With Confidence In Uncertain Times

Have you ever been in a season of instability? A time in which you just can't seem to make sense of what is going on in and around you? I think we have all had one or two of those seasons in our life; times when we find it difficult to keep our hearts steady in the face of uncertainty.

Today, as I was studying the description of Jesus found in Revelation 1, I found myself reading the letters written to the seven churches of Asia (Rev 2-3). As I read, and observed each ones corresponding title (which has been added for our study benefit), I began to realize that each letter was crafted in a very deliberate way; having one main attribute of Jesus highlighted from John's description of Him at the beginning of the vision. But not only that, each attribute is specific to the struggle of each particular church.

For example, the letter to the "loveless" church (Ephesus) begins with a description of Jesus holding the seven stars in His right hand and His eyes like a flame of fire. Jesus calls the church to return to their first love. He wants them to love Him first and He has given them a revelation of His intimate nature to help motivate and stabilize their hearts in doing so.

Likewise, the persecuted church is given a revelation that Jesus was once dead, but is now alive forever and ever. They need to be able to remain steadfast under the threat of death and so Jesus reveals Himself as being the One who overcame death and gives eternal life to those who believe in Him.

And so it goes on from there, each church receiving a specific revelation of Jesus that will enable them to remain steady in the midst of their unique trial and difficulty.

As I read these letters my heart got excited! What an awesome demonstration of His perfect leadership and the importance of seeing Jesus for who He truly is. It is what A.W. Tozer calls the "knowledge of the Holy" and what Proverbs describes; that "without a vision (revelation) the people cast of restraint".

Jesus gives each church a specific revelation of His heart that will empower them to not cast of restraint or fall short of their calling. They must perserver until the end if they are to inherit their various rewards; the crown of life, the right to eat of the tree of life, to be pillars in the temple of the Lord and never leave His presence, and Jesus knows what it will take for them to remain steadfast in the face of uncertainty.

Beloved, there is only one thing that will stabilize our hearts as we face a world of ever growing uncertainty. It is not a balanced portfolio, it is not a secure career, nor is it found in the comforts of modern living and seemingly solid relationships. The one thing that is needed is an experiential knowledge of Jesus and the affection that He has for us.

In the words of the song writer; "When we see You we find strength to face the day, and in your presence all our fears are washed away." (Hosanna - Paul Baloche)

I pray that God would give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him today.

Jon

The Power of God's Timing

Today as I was meditating on the word and works of Jesus I was once again reminded of what His beloved disciple John wrote about Him; "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." (1 John 3:8).

Did you know that "salvation" or "Sozo" in Greek means "saved, healed and made whole"? Jesus is our salvation, the One who saves us, heals us and makes us whole!

Because I want to do what I see Jesus doing, just as He did what He saw the Father doing, I asked the Holy Spirit to show me what Jesus was doing today?  Immediately the Spirit drew me into the account of what Jesus did with the demon possessed man in Matthew 8; a testimony of how Jesus cast out a legion of demons into a nearby herd of pigs, freeing the man of all of his afflictions and causing an uproar in the community.

It is a testimony of the authority of Jesus over the powers of darkness. But that was not the reason the Spirit drew my attention to the story, He was highlighting a very important timing indicator found in this event. You see, as Jesus approached the man the demons afflicting him recognized who He was, and they became very afraid! Before Jesus could even address the mans condition the demons gave their presence away and blurted out; “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

There is something in this verse that is incredibly vital to our understanding of what it means to "destroy the works of the devil". It is the understanding of God's divine timing.

The demons know the word, and they tremble! (James 2:19) Why? Because they know that when Jesus returns to the earth that they will be cast into hell and receive the just punishment for their rebellion. They understand "the appointed time" of this judgment and demonstrated that in their questioning of Jesus. But here is what I want us to see, because it has the power to radically transform the way we walk on this side of eternity.

Jesus lived in full submission to the will of His Father and knew that one day every knew would bow and every tongue would confess Him as Lord, whether on earth, in heaven or under the earth. That day in which the demons cried out for mercy was NOT the appointed time of their judgment! But this is what I want us to recognize, Jesus still drove them out of the man and exercised His authority so that healing and deliverance would come before the appointed time of judgment.

I believe that many of us have wrongfully relegated physical healing and deliverance to a time that is found after the return of Jesus. But Jesus demonstrated that it was the Fathers will to do that before the eternal kingdom is established. Jesus did it all the time and He commanded us to do the same:

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it. - Mark 16: 15-20

As the writer of Hebrews says; "Today" is the day of our salvation. Today is the day that we are commanded to demonstrate the Kingship of Jesus through the healing of the sick, the raising of the dead and setting free those held captive in prisons of demonic oppression!

May you and I be filled with faith today to take Jesus at His word and exercise this incredible gift whom He called the Comforter. For the same Spirit that raised Christ from the grave is alive inside each one who has called on the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. His power over sin has made us alive with Christ and has also endued us with power from on high. Power given for the express purpose of giving testimony to the resurrection of Jesus!

Let me close with this final thought. If the power of the resurrection is only demonstrated at the time of the resurrection, of what good is that power to all of those who are perishing? What will it benefit our friends and neighbors for us to rise up from the grave on that glorious day and finally demonstrate that His power is real, only to have them perish in the eternal flames?

Jesus gave us the power to drive out demons, heal the sick, restore sight to the blind and calm the storms so that we would give testimony to the living truth, that He has overcome the evil one and led the captives in captivity.

Bless you as you inquire of Jesus as to what His good and perfect will is for you today.

Jon

Another Day, Another Country

After spending a few weeks back in Canada we decided that we really needed some more adventure, so we headed off to Mexico for a two week vacation with my (Jon) entire family!

The truth be told, this is a trip that my parents have been planning for the past 4 years and we actually modified our visit to IHOP in order to accommodate this family vacation.

So, now that I'm away from my house and all of those pesty day-to-day chores I will endeavor to blog again! (I have a lot to get caught up on since getting home from Kansas City in December).

Jon

Forecast Calls For Change

OK, so this is a crazy, yet amazingly true story....

Tonight as I was driving home from Kansas City with my friend Brian and we had an encounter with the listening and loving heart of our all powerful God!

First of all, if you haven't read my post from last Sunday I would highly recommend reading it before you read this one. Consider it a warm-up for your faith.

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So here we are, after having had an amazing week of ministering to people through the prophetic, physical healing and deliverance we are full of faith and spurring each other on in our pursuit of loving Jesus.  It's at this point that Brian decides that we need to listen to a message by Billy Humphries that talks about the great outpouring of the Spirit at the end of the age.

We are enjoying our drive (and Billy's teaching on "The Wind of the Spirit") when suddenly the weather starts to get really really bad. The wind came up out of no-where and began blowing snow everywhere! Within a few minutes we could no longer see the road and Brian (who was driving) had to slow down to a virtual crawl. Soon visibility had dropped to 0% and people began hitting the ditch were forced to pull off onto the shoulder.

As this began happening I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit moving upon my body. This has been a pretty standard occurrence over the past few days and so I knew that the Lord was wanting me to engage Him through prayer. As I began turning my heart towards Him I got the distinct sense that He was inviting me to rebuke the storm! We kept driving, or at least attempting to drive, and finally after a few minutes of treachery I asked Brian to pull the van off to the side of the road and said to him emphatically, "I'm going to rebuke the storm!"

So there I was, standing on the side of the highway (along with a few other stranded cars), the wind and snow blasting in my face, and I began to rebuke the storm in the name and authority of Jesus. I waited a few minutes but nothing seemed to be changing. I rebuked it again and then decided that I could just as easily rebuke it from the warmth of the van.

I climbed back into the van and looked out at the virtually hidden highway and thought to myself - "This is kind of silly! The Lord prompts me to rebuke a storm, even confirming it with a manifestation of His Spirit on my body and still nothing happens?!.... I'm NOT relenting!!".

So I began to petition the Lord once again to exercise His power and calm the storm. Jesus had done it by the power of the Holy Spirit and we have the same Spirit and the same Father! So why not here? Why not now?....And so I continued to contend.

Now what's kind of funny about this whole story is the fact that while I'm praying for the natural wind to stop, Brian has been praying that the Lord would release an increase in the wind of His Spirit upon the Church! So here we are, two sons calling out to their Heavenly Father. One is asking for the wind to stop and the other is asking for the winds to rise up! It was very comical.

We continued to pray. A few minutes of intercession go by and it begins to look like things are starting to break up. Brian and I look at each other and decide that we could probably start driving again. So he puts the van into drive and we re-emerged onto the highway.

No, we had not experienced the dramatic holding back of the wind that we had expected, but none the less we began to thank the Lord for holding back the snow and increasing the visibility enough that we could proceed on our journey home.

And then it happened!

A few hundred yards after pulling back out onto the highway the wind and snow stopped! That's right!! The storm completely stopped! No more snow! No more wind!!! Not even a hint of a snowflake or wisp of snow on the road. I looked up into the night sky and it was as clear as clear could be with countless stars on shiny display. It was amazing!

For the next 5 hours we drove home in near perfect conditions praising and thanking the Lord for His provision!

I can't tell you how much we laughed, smiled, prayed and praised our Father over that next few hours but I do know that both of our hearts grew significantly in faith for doing greater exploits through the place of prayer!!!

We have a Good Father who is Faithful to His word. A word in which He says "cast all of your cares on Me because I care for you".

Yes He certainly does care!

"This poor man cried out to the Lord, and He answered me."

Jon