Start in the Right Position

John 12:2 - 8 

"So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”

Mark 14:9
And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

A lot of times we as believers really get stuck in ruts.  We go about with our busyness as usual.  We do our chores and tasks and rush through most everything that we do.  This is especially true with our culture here in the United States.  We are so focused on being productive, that we've really lost sight of what it means to evaluate the produce, or fruit, of our lives.

We may even say a few quick prayers, read a few scriptures in the Bible, or read a short "devotional", but we then head on our way to accomplish our tasks for the day like a soldier on a mission.  However, when we step back and look at our lives, is it really going anywhere?  Is our walk with the Lord the same, or not much different, than it was a few weeks, months, or even years ago?

If you hesitate at this, then it's very likely that there is a problem.  A problem that calls for immediate attention.

In John 12, we can read the story of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with a very expensive perfume valued at about one year of the average income at that time.  This was a gift that required a very deep personal sacrifice.  Make no mistake about this sacrifice; there was no regret or remorse for having given a gift of such value.  If there had been remorse on Mary's part, Jesus would not have said that this very story would be told as a "memorial of her".

Only true worship can grab the attention of our Savior like that.

At that day and age, tables were not arranged like we are accustomed to.  They didn't have chairs where everyone sat upright looking directly at one another.  Rather, tables were low to the ground with matt-like cushions laying around a U-shaped arrangement of tables as shown here.

The men at the table would actually by laying on their sides.  So when you envision Mary anointing Jesus' feet, there was no elevation of Jesus' feet.  There was not a stool to set his feet on so it could be easier to perform the task of anointing his feet.  NO!  She virtually had to be on her face to the ground as an absolute act of surrender, symbol of public submission and humility, and a total reckless act of love for Jesus.

What could move a person to abandon themselves like this?  How can someone be so careless about their dignity, especially among influential people around them?  How can someone risk their reputation, all for the sake of showing such passionate love?

I'll tell you how.

Jesus' love is so deep, so vast, so wide that no mind can grasp the magnitude of His love.  Mary had a glimpse.  A glimpse so powerful that she not only gave this precious gift to Jesus, but she also did it at the cost of her pride.  How dare a woman at that time uncover her hair before a group of men! But Mary didn't value her pride over Jesus!

She had found something more valuable than her pride.

Oh, how encouraged I am to release myself to the worship of our Savior when I read this account of what Mary did.  She betrayed the cultural norms, was extravagant in her worship, and stepped out in such love and faith that the Son of the Living God prophesied of this story being told in her honor for thousands of years to come!

The Bible says that "The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume."  There was no doubt at all what was done.  They could all smell it.  The atmosphere of that home was radically changed, not by the presence of Jesus, but by an act of love given, and an act of love received!

Just think, Mary could smell this perfume on her for days to come.  Every time air would move through her hair, the sweet smell of extravagant worship would pour though her nose.  She would relive that moment.  The moment where the Savior would stand up for her and honor her, making a memorial for generations to come!  Everywhere she went, people could smell the "worship" she had given!

Look back over the course of the scriptures and see what happens when a person falls at the feet of Jesus and worships Him.  The sick are healed, the blind see, and the captives are set free!

I'm telling you that there is power in worship!  There is power in His presence, because He is love and He responds to our acts of love for Him, no matter how faulty our love may be; He still engages and connects with us on the deepest levels.

 We must stop and ask ourselves, "When I spend time with the Lord, does His presence carry with me the rest of the day just like it carried with Mary?"  Is my life a life of worship where people can "smell" the sweet fragrance of worship on my life?

No matter how you answer these questions, I encourage you today to make a change.  Turn your heart towards the Lord like never before.  DARE to break out of the routine and DARE to step into reckless worship!

Watch the relationships you've been praying for begin to mend; healing come to your body; receive answers to impossible situations; have clarity of your purpose and calling come; and watch as breakthroughs run to you and overcome impossible odds!

As you read this, Jesus is standing there by you.  His arms are open wide calling you into a deeper walk with Him.

What will you do?  Will you invite Him into your life deeper than before, or will you continue with routine?  Will your time with Him extend beyond your pre-programed method of being spiritual and godly?  Will you dare to give up your reputation for a love that will last through eternity?

Get ready.  Your new life of worship is about to launch you into the depths.  Don't fear…that's where Jesus walks on water.

Waters of Rest

I tend to write my prayers.  If I don’t, I become distracted and end up staring at birds out the window.  I have found that when I am with ‘Papa,’ even staring out the window at birds can be quite productive.  But today I wrote.  My words are in regular type, the words I believe He spoke to me are italicized.

 

(Yes.  Of course I believe He speaks in real-time!  Don’t you?)

Papa, gently your peace and perspective break in upon my soul.  Thank you for pointing me again toward the Real.  Thank you for again reminding me that soul connection and peace with You are the lasting things and will pass all understanding. 

(Here I began to sense that I should read and annotate the 23^rd Psalm.  So I did.)

The LORD is my shepherd,

I shall not (or do not) want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters (lit. waters of rest).

Psalm 23: 1-2 (NASB)

What do “green pastures” look like to you? 

They look like a fertile place that is the natural habitat and suits the natural palate of everyone You lead to it.

It doesn’t sound like a hard or harsh or artificial place.  It is not a feedlot or stockyard where You are just fattening up Your flock on things that are not good for them (crude generalizations, religious clichés and compulsion), so that You can rush out Your ‘product’ (stout little ministers and ministries—homogenized, uniform) as fast as you can.

What about “waters of rest?”

A place of refreshing.  You lead me beside these waters.  Life-giving refreshment is always close at hand.  I can rest because I know they are near.  I do not have to be apprehensive about the water supply.

All of these things denote a pleasant place, yes, a place that is bringing forth what you need, but bringing it forth in beauty and abundance.  You have joy in this place, yes, joy because here your soul is uniting with some of its self-same fibers and delighting in the reunion.  Think wind in trees and grasses.  Think of the burbling of water.  Its sound personifies coolness.  Water is iridescent; its joy cannot be contained in one color.  It bubbles over the rocks in its path; its droplets leap up in an exuberance of Self!  This is what water is and does.  Hallelujah, Amen!

Any ‘exuberance of Self’ is soundly condemned in religious cliché.  This is a clumsy mishandling of truth that belies My power to change the dynamic of a thing.  Self, like sexuality, becomes holy when ‘baptized,’ when enjoyed according to the sanctions I have put in place.  The development and enjoyment your Very Self (talents, tastes) becomes a most holy form of worship.  It is a wordless Doxology to My Creatorship!  It is a pure praise, nothing lost in a distillation into phrase, rhyme, hymnbook and pew-back.  This organic fruit I consume fresh and whole.

The “waters of rest” aren't just about provision for needs.  They are about joy in My Presence.  Oh, the brazen Audacity of Joy!  Joy is trust.  Joy is the ‘symptom’ of your security in Me.  Have the Audacity to Joy in your joyless place (a cursed land, this realm in which you live) and you will see.  Only a curtain separates you from green pastures and waters of rest.

Sinking Deep

My wife and I were listening to Hillsong's song "Sinking Deep" and I started hearing these words in my heart.  At first, I blew them off as I didn't want to stop what I was doing to write them down.

As I pushed my laptop away after updating my GPS, I heard the Lord clearly say, "Don't dare get up without writing what I'm telling you."  Immediately, I stopped and started writing; pouring words through my fingers...feeling the magic feeling of God using my own fingers.

After I was done, I slid the laptop over to my wife for her to read; knowing it was for her.  I got the joy of seeing her cry as Daddy's love touched her heart.  However, we both felt very strong that this is for a other women as well.  They need to read this for themselves and know what God is wanting to say to them.

With that, I encourage you to take a few minutes and listen to "Sinking Deep" by Hillsong.  Here is a video of a Hillsong church service where they are singing the song.  Once you listen to it, come back and finish reading the rest of this blog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtscyG0yg-k

Sinking Deep

That's right my daughter, Sink Deep into My arms

Let Me fill you with My Love

Let Me wipe away your fears

And fill you with My Fire

Yes, let your desires for Me consume you

Find in Me a new you, the one you have longed for

Your heart has cried

Your heart has longed

Now's the time to show you what I've made you to be;

And no longer see what your past has said you are

Come, feel My warmth heal the broken pieces

And show you the beauty of who you are in Me

Sink Deep

Don't look back

Let it all go, and watch My Love flow in you

Pour through you

Touching the hurting world that My Love loves within you

So come, flow with Me

Move with Me

And let's paint this world red with My Love

Amazed is what your heart will know

Brave is what your soul will feel in my arms

Trust is what your soul will sing in my presence

Hope is what your heart will shout

Wither the times are dark, or the times are bright

You will rest in My arms

So come, Sink Deep, and listen to the cry of your heart

Don't hold back

Let go

And flow with Me

In A Moment...Everything Can Change

1 Corinthians 14:13 (ESV)  Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.

In May of 2011, life seemed fairly ordinary.  We had 2 kids, 2 cars, a place to live, and life jam-packed with routine.  However, our hearts longed for more.  What we didn't know was that our lives were about to embark on a significantly new direction...almost instantaneously.

It was a standard Sunday morning service.  Opening prayer kicked off the service, followed by the routine worship service.  The pastor went on stage, as he typically did, but he decided that he wanted to let the worship team continue to lead the congregation in worship.

The atmosphere was beautiful; electric even.  You could see that the people had actually engaged in worship, unlike the norm.  The pastor invited people up to share their stories of how God had touched their lives.  Person after person got up and shared what God had done for them.

Then came this "crazy" Greek man that my wife used to work with at the Missouri Department of Conservation.  Good ole George.  In case you have never met and got to know a greek person, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is not too far off...just minus some of the comical humor that the writers put into the movie.  He started off with this:  "I've never done this before, but I felt very strongly that I needed to be obedient, so I am just going to do this, but it is not in English."

I briefly thought to myself, "What in the world is George doing this time?".  With that, he shot his hand forward, straight at my wife and me, and began giving a word in tongues.  The moment his hand went forward, I felt a powerful blast of wind blow through me.  I could see in my heart the outline of my body, but everything inside was transparent; everything about me visible like a window before God.  In the same split millisecond in time, tears poured from my eyes.  My breath taken.  I was shaken to my core.  Physically trembling.

As soon as George was done, I knew that God wanted me to interpret what was just said.  I could feel God's presence building inside of me like a tidal wave; I knew the meaning was coming.  Just then, a lady in the balcony began speaking, but it wasn't right.  She was wrong on the meaning of what George had spoken.

Little to my knowledge at the time, but my wife had the same identical experience that I did.  We knew that God had something for us...something big.  We felt a significant deposit left in our hearts that service.  We even left church with a vast conviction that let us know that we would never be the same again, and we have seen that deposit and change in us to this very day.

Over the course of the next year, God slowly gave me the interpretation.  He gave it to me a small piece at a time, letting me meditate on what He would put on my heart, getting the words down deep inside my soul.  That interpretation has been a rock that we've gone to in times where we needed God's guidance in our lives; a promise to hold to.  It has been firm, dependable, and immensely strengthening.  So in obedience to what the Lord has been putting on my heart the last few days, here is the interpretation.

It is for you as well.  It's time to rise up, know that God's got your back, and is moving strong on your behalf!!  I pray that as you read it, God will blow through your life and make a marked difference in you from this day forward.

Intepretation

My hand is STRONG!!!  It can do anything!!!  It is poised on your behalf.  Ask, and you shall receive that your joy may be full; and how full that joy will be!!

Come, enter my promise land, and eat of the riches that I have for you; fore I'm planting you in a rich and powerful land where peace flows like a river and joy is at every turn.

As you stand at this vector of your life, and you are facing mountains that seem like they won't move, rest assured that my hand will carve a way for you through these mountains. Wither or not people take notice of what I am doing for you, understand that when I move on your behalf, your heart will become persuaded that I am able to do the impossible.

When this faith is settled in your heart, the devil will not be able to hold you back from what I have called you to do. You will move to and though your calling with speed and intensity.

You will look back and realize that I have caused you to ride on the high places of this earth, and that the breath of my Word has lifted you beyond what you though was possible in your own life.

At this point; you will see the accumulation of my promises for your life lay before you like a story book telling a beautiful tale, and the world will be able to read this story and see my love and grace for those that call on my name.

So lean back, rest!!  Be settled in your mind, and know that my hand is moving STRONG on your behalf!!

Our Call to Obedience

Obedience

Such a scary word.  Simply mentioning it can send chills down the back of even well seasoned Christians.  As believers, we typically understand what is required by obedience and what it could mean in our walk with God.  We know that this could mean that we're about to put a bullet in the head of our free will...or does it?

Even though someone may swallow hard when obedience is brought up in conversation, a person more intimately familiar with our Father will sometimes get a look in their eyes like that of a person who is in love.  You can see an innate sense of trust come from how they talk and act as they describe their relationship and experiences with the Lord.  They are aware of something.  Something that may make a casual observer believe there is a disconnect between the common idea of what "obedience" means and the response they get from someone in-love with Jesus.

Why is this?

Simply because someone in-love with God trusts in His Love.

1 John 4:17 - 18 (NLT) puts it best: "And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.  Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."

Let me tell you a personal story.  We were looking for a cheap car for our nephew that was living with us while he went to college.  We found a nice older car that had a salvage title.  Being raised around my grandpa that purchased wrecked cars, reconditioned and sold them, I wasn't scared away.

Come to find out, the lady that was selling the car went to our church.  Her ex-husband, with his name on her previous car's title,  had taken her only car right out from under her without any notice whatsoever.  Having left her alone to be a single mom of three children, she got the 1st decent car she could get her hands on:  a 2-door Honda Accord coupe.

Okay....as a parent of two beautiful girls, I've had to strap multiple car seats into the back seat of a car.  Add a third seat of a visiting relative or friend, and it was like having an ADHD person solve a Rubic's Cube for the thousandth time.  I can only imagine what this lady was going through every day.

When my wife and I prayed about what we should pay her for the car, we felt the Lord tell us to pay her the full asking price.  We did obey, although reluctantly at first; however we knew He had a greater purpose.  We told her what the Lord had put on our heart and what we felt was His message of love, provision, and protection for her life.  Her heart was really touched.  With the money we gave her, she was able to put a good down-payment on a SUV that would be much more suitable for her and her three kids.

When I went to get the car inspected so we could get it registered, I found out that we needed to have about $300 dollars in repairs done before the car could pass inspection.  I was angry, first at myself and then at God.  I went so far as to ask the Lord why did we have to pay full price for that "dumb car".  I told Him that it wasn't worth it.  Yeah...I had an adult temper tantrum.

A few months later, my nephew wrecked the car.  Totaled it.  My wife and I had really felt in our hearts that we were supposed to buy this car, so why had we gone through all of this?  If the car was going to be totaled within 3 months of buying the car, why go through all of this frustration?

When everything was said and done, the insurance company gave us $50 more than what we had paid for the car.  Am I saying that God caused the car to be wrecked?  By no means.  He is a good God that knows how to "work all things out for the good..."  (By the way, no nephew was harmed in the making of this story.)

We knew right away that all of this was to show a hurting single mom that God loved her, knew where she was at in life, and that He would provide for her.  He wanted to show her that because of His love for her, that even though her ex-husband had abandoned her, He would not.

You have a God-given purpose and calling on your life.  To fulfill that purpose, nothing less than passionate obedience is required. Are you willing to sacrifice your self-will to God in order to spread His love, or will you insist on your own desires?  Will "common sense" be your lord, or will you obey Him in the simplest of things, even when "common sense" says something different?  Will you be a "fan" of God, or a committed follower?

Remember, we are His hands and feet.  When your Heavenly Father asks you to be obedient, rest assured that He's looking to use you as a channel of His wonderful love.  Just watch and see, your obedience will not only greatly touch people around you, but it will settle your heart even more than ever before that your Heavenly Daddy passionately loves you and has your back, even when you don't understand what He is up to.