A Threat to Our Intimacy with Abba

So many things change over time but as you look at the Word of God and even look at history there are certain truths or themes that emerge consistently.  Religion is one of those themes, many believe Christianity is a religion but the more you know the truth of the New Covenant "in Christ" you realize it is a relationship.  The root Latin word in religion 'religio' means to bind.  As I have meditated on John 1 the Lord has whispered in my ear to see how the Pharisees first responded to Jesus Christ when he began to be known (mainly through John the Baptist).  The Pharisees (not bad people but who represent the spirit of religion that Jesus would warn against) sent messengers out to examine what was going on with John the Baptist and Jesus.  Why is this a problem?  If they were a people that were truly connected to God would the Holy Spirit not bring revelation of the coming Messiah, yet the Spirit did alert others like Mary, Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mother), Joseph, John the Baptist himself, and many others.  Why would God leave out a group of people who represented Him on the earth at the time?  What the Lord began to reveal to me about religion is that religion is content to examine God from a distance but unwilling to make the necessary sacrafices to enter into a real relationship.  The Word tells us "His ways are not our ways", God requires that we enter into relationship with Him through repentence.  Repentence means not only a change of one's thinking but also the trust to actually go a different way based on this new thinking.  This is evidenced by John the Baptists message of repentance and water baptism, this would definitely be a departure from the traditional way a Pharisee would advise the people.  John the Baptist was not a Pharisee but one sent by God Himself to "prepare the way of the Lord".  Sometimes we turn people in the Bible into superheros and forget their humanity, John the Baptist was no superhero.  He was simply a man that was chosen by God to hear His voice, probably much the same way we hear Him today.  I will grant that his (John's) mother being visited by angel was beyond our normal Chrisitan experience.  My point in this is to help us see that the spirit of religion is still at work today, leading us to embrace a formless gospel that does not include intimate connection with a knowable God and also does not require repentence (change of mind and direction) resulting in life transformation.  I believe that God has called me to love the Body of Christ and lay down my life for her.  Yet I am concerned that so many in the Body of Christ have embraced a gospel of religion with a real intimate connection with Abba.  Religion is content to know about God but not to enter into personal revelation (greek word Rhema), thus there are many in the Body of Christ who don't know the Lord's voice.  There are even many who believe God does not speak today, He only speaks through the Bible.  This is a very damaging theology, since the invitation of the New Covenant is to experience Oneness and Communion.  How do I experience this Communion and Oneness when I cannot hear God's voice and have little understanding of the Holy Spirit's ways.  Who wrote the Bible?  You may list off authors but isn't the truth that the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible.  The religious spirit makes it easier to listen sermons to know about God than to reveal to God the broken parts of my life allowing Him into the inner areas of my heart.  The religious spirit also makes it easy to sit in a Bible study discussing in-depth understanding of the text but walk away without a touch from the God who penned the book I just studied.  I am not attacking people or any denomination, to do so would be prideful and judgmental.  I am challenging us to be alert for the religious spirit in our journey to know Abba and to know it's influence in the people around us.  It seems people who are under the influence of the religious spirit (this mindset) are often the last ones to embrace how God is moving in the midst of His people and many under this influence never do open themselves to God.  In Matthew 16:6 we are told, "And Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  I have wrongly believed that Jesus attacked the Pharisees and Sadducees but really from this passage we can see He was more concerned about leaven (seen as form of corruption).  I know that I have definitely been influenced by the spirit of religion, where I accept reading the Bible, listening to a sermon, or even praying without being touched by God.  How do we know we have been touched by God?  As we see evidence in the Word of God, everyone touched by God was transformed.  Many would have an incredible 'Awe Ah' experience and some would become more hard hearted.  People do not get touched by God and still remain neutral.  I believe one of the keys to encountering God is the anointing of the Spirit, there is anointing when a person has received revelation and experienced transformation.  This is a favorite song for soaking in the presence and love of God, receiving His grace and having my eyes opened to see Him.  May you not be deceived by the religious spirit but hunger for true encounters with your Abba.

In Abba's Love,
Bret

Heavenly Invasion

"The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." , says the Holy Spirit through John (John 1:14).    There had been 400 years when the voice of God was silent, no prophetic voices or direction from above.  Then the Invasion, God invades humanity by becoming one of us to experience humanity in all it's falleness, darkness, pain, loss, and sin.  This was totally God's initiative from the very beginning, it was not a plan formed in the mind, heart, or even dreams of any man but only in the Heart of God.  The Word tells us the Word 'tabernacled' among us, God's presence would come in the Temple, the Holy of Holies and over the Ark of the Covenant.  Now the Almighty God of the Universe, Creator of all, the I AM, and the very Source of Life comes to walk with us and join our human experience!  I love the song above because it begins to capture the wonder, awe, and awesomeness of God being here with us.  To have a God who understands not from a distance but from walking in our shoes and ultimately coming in human form as us (our representative) identifying personally with the whole of our human struggle.  God literally birthed a plan to get inside of us in order to save and redeem us.  Colossians 1:27 says it this way, "...to whom god willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."  Notice where Christ is,  "in you", it doesn't say that some day He will be in you but that He is in you (this is the mystery hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints - vs. 26).  When we are born again by the Holy Spirit our spirit is regenerated and His Spirit takes up residence in us.  This happens through a single decision to accept His forgiveness of our sins and receive a new life.  Yet in Ephesians 3:14-21 we are actively involved in this process where the Holy Spirit through Paul describes it this way,  "May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts!"  This means coming into agreement with what God says in our hearts by an operation of the Holy Spirit.  Also this means breaking agreements we have made with lie-based thinking, old man perspectives, and even orphan based thinking and living.  We must be transformed by the renewing of our mind, if we are going to have Christ make his permanent home in our hearts.  Don't get me wrong this is not a being in Heaven or Hell issue, I believe once we are "in Christ" we are in.  This is an issue of how much of my soul does God have, this is working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).

My Abba is the best Daddy,
Bret

The Father's Joy

It is amazing to me that the Holy Spirit says through John 1:12, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name..."  It is interesting here that it does not say He gave the right to become adults of God or adult children of God (sounds like a support group).  I see that for so many of us it is difficult to the amazing unconditional love of the Father because we can't enter into to being a child again.  Most of our pain is rooted in the rejection, hurt, absence of love, and wounding we received as a child.  The video up top may help you to connect with how your Abba really sees you, connect with the place of being a little boy or little girl in His loving arms.  Today as someone prayed for me, My Abba said, "I enjoy being with you."  Even after Abba had touched a deep place in my heart, immediately the lies of the Enemy came to steal this revelation.  My Abba enjoys me!  I don't think I really ever believed I was someone to be enjoyed, Abba enjoys being with you as if you are the only person in His gaze.  I remember doing prayer ministry with a good friend, before her cancer returned and ending up taking her home, the Lord spoke to her and told her "You are the apple of My eye."  This so warmed her heart and I believe this was part of how she found peace as she prepared to meet her Creator and Maker.  I realize I too often come to God with an agenda, a need, need for someone else, or a burden instead of coming into His presence just to be enjoyed by Him.  I am saddened to say that I don't know as I have enjoyed my two beautiful children like My Abba enjoys me but I guess I couldn't give them what I had not received from Him.  Yes, grace means I have received everything "in Christ" but to experience everything I have been given is to open those wounded and hurt areas of the little boy inside.  I wonder what church would be like if we came in to be enjoyed by the Abba who loves us, not do something for Him but receive His love and pleasure over us.  Obviously there is no way you can allow your Abba to love on you in this way unless you see yourself and Him through the finished work of Jesus.  I invite you to enter a time of intimacy with your Abba, so that He can enjoy you and His joy can become your strength.  I believe the ultimate in the Christian life is to receive God Himself, not only all His benefits, blessings, and grace but Him.  We are the most privileged people on the planet to be little boys and girls in our Daddy's lap, playing freely and just enjoying being with Him.  I believe amazing fruit will come out of that intimacy but like you I hear the voice of the Liar saying it will be a waste of time and I must get something productive done.  However you and I were made to be infinitely and radically love, then we can pour out this same love to others.

In Abba's Lap,
Bret

The Father's Work?

As I am continually in search of seeing my Abba at work and knowing His heart, I have a picture for you to examine.  I once heard a sermon that said often a picture of God is painted by someones words or a situation, it is up to us to examine it to see if it is authentic (matching who we know Jesus to be).  I joined my wife and our kids, as my wife taught these group of 4th and 5th graders.  My wife had approached a mother who needed prayer over her baby son.  This boy who was about 1 year old was failing to develop normally and yet the doctors had no real answers, the mother was due to take the child in for an MRI several days from that Sunday.  The mother was open and expectant for the kids of our 4th and 5th grade class to pray over her son.  We had been teaching the children about their identity as Royalty in the Kingdom but also about their power and authority through the Holy Spirit and the finished work of Jesus.  These children felt intimidated and a little afraid as the baby was brought into the room for them to lay hands on and pray.  My wife and I had been learning that kids are powerful in the Kingdom of God (Jesus said so in Matthew 18:5), yet we treat them as though they are unspiritual and need to be baby sat.  Many of the kids prayed over this baby with boldness and even declared what God was speaking to their hearts, this little boy would turn to each child and look at them when they were praying.  I would like to tell you  we had huge faith and believed God would do a miracle, we didn't but we had mustard seed faith and a whole lot of love for this baby boy.  The kids were very challenged, uncomfortable, excited, and quiet.  We got word from the mother last night that the very day we prayed her son went from a sitting position to being on his stomach (he hadn't done this before) and he started to speak some new words.  The professionals that had been working with this baby boy said they saw more progress in 3 days than in the previous 9 months.  This little guy still has a ways to go but we were praising the Lord, in a lab environment you try to isolate one thing that is different to see if there is evidence it made a difference.  I believe the prayer, the parent's faith, and the kids faith made a difference to release God's power.  Is this a picture of our Abba Father?  Well before this baby was not growing, this is a picture not of life as ought to be.  Everything that has life is meant to grow, as evidenced by the plants on the earth.  This baby is now growing more rapidly and developing, this is evidence of life.  Which to me is evidence of God at work, since God is life (Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life).  You tell me.  I see the Father's fingerprints of love and life all over this, our family's response was to give God praise for His goodness and love.  We know that love means to continue to walk with this sweet family in seeing their son grow and prosper.  As you examine this picture of God's work and thus a display of who He is, I challenge you to let Him speak and not try to figure it out according to your theology.  I believe God does not often fit our theology because often our theology comes from man and his ideas rather than a Divine encounter with the living God.  I have put a song at the bottom of this entry that again displays the Father's heart and people's deep need to be loved.

In Abba's Hands,

Bret

On Track

When the Lord calls to the deep of your heart and you respond, then everything should just line up and go well?  Right!  I have found that when my Abba is on the move, so is the Liar and Enemy of our souls.  As I began to press into to seeking my Abba's heart, to know Him intimately in starting in John 1 my heart was under attack.  The Enemy stirred lies deep within my soul, that touched the most afflicted places as my boyhood soul was developing.  The Enemy's deep lie was that I was without a father, alone, unloved, and in the darkness.  The sadness was so heavy it was crushing, the darkness so real I felt like a mole coming out into the sunlight squinting.  In John 1:4 and 5 the Holy Spirit through John says, "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."  Instead of understanding what was happening from my place as a beloved son, I allowed the Enemy to crush with his lies and attempted to find my way to the surface of the water (metaphorically) by fighting it.  The Spirit began to stir within me that this was not just old feelings but an attempt to be taken down and discouraged, a lack of sleep with my daughter looking forward to me taking her to the sweetheart dance completed the attack.  Then I began to see the Light that my son and daughter were not part of exposing my inadequacy as a father but really part of my redemption.  That through them I had the opportunity to have the Father father me and I father them with the love He gives me.  I began to see that in my deepest wounds contained some of the greatest revelations of My Abba but I needed to not look what is on the earth but that which comes from Heaven.  I know it was an attack, through lies I have still believed because darkness, confusion, discouragement, and despair are all tell-tale signs of the Enemy's work.  Rather than come into agreement with what was happening in my soul, I chose to put my eyes on Abba and His unfailing love.  Worship seems the quickest way to reorient to the Kingdom but also looking into my daughter's blue eyes as we danced brought my soul light.  I realized that in my daughter's eyes my affection towards her meant the world, not my performance as a father but my heart.  I decided I would enjoy every moment and see redemption.  I have included a worship song that lifts my soul and reminds me of the truth of who my Papa really is.  For my soul to walk in life is to be oriented to the Light, Jesus is the Light and shines on all.

Held Fast by Abba,
Bret

Start of A New Era!!!

I have been writing a blog for the last several years, to share my journey in grace.  I recently was led of the Lord to end this blog, "Much of this was your effort, I want to do something new through you."  The original idea of the blog was from the Lord but then I went off in my own direction with it, making it mainly about my journey with the Lord.  In John 12:24 Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."  So forbidding farewell to the old blog (http://www.soaringson.blogspot.com/) was the seed for this new Blog.  I realize that I have come to the point in my life where I am tired of things still being about me, my heartbeat is to know and experience the heart of My Abba up close and personal.  So the Father has been wooing me to a deeper place of discovery and adventure to know Him intmately.  This is both an exciting invitation and a scarey one, much of the time I have sought the Father from a place of pain and hurt or sought for others to experience Him who are in pain.  Thus I have spent much of my spiritual journey motivated by the pain and loss in my heart from the loss of my own earthly father when I was 6 years old.  The Lord has shifted the season in my life, it is time to know My Abba up close and enjoy this relationship.  Knowing God through your pain and loss gives you one perspective, like the blind man that received his sight.  This man knew Jesus one way, as the Healer but did He know God's complete nature?  I believe the adventure My Abba has led me to undertake is the one I was born to take, my former journey has only been a small dimension of what lays ahead.  I love pictures I get of My Abba in other human beings, the above YouTube video of a father and son touches the strength, commitment, and depth of a father's love for his son (clearly it is from beyond this world).  The motivation of our heart at a deep level either eminates from fear or love, as you watch this video what is it that motivates this father to beat his body in order to run these races with his son.  I have been led by the Holy Spirit to not primarily look at people I know, or even people I don't, or look at myself.  He has been leading me to look into the eyes of Jesus through the Word of God, since Jesus is the exact expression of the Father.  I will begin this journey in the book of John, I have been drawn to the disciple John since he was the "disciple Jesus loved".  This man that was so intimate with Jesus, the Son of God, will lead me to new discoveries of Abba Father and His nature.  I honestly feel very inadequate for this journey but then I see that I am in union with the Spirit of God who leads me into all truth (John 16:13).  The Holy Spirit is going to illuminate mysteries about Our Abba that I have not seen and maybe many others.  I am well qualified by the Holy Spirit and in the natural totally unqualified (being fatherless most of my life) which is the greatest opening to know Him (personal need).  The people that knew Jesus as He walked on earth were those who needed Him, the religious did not recognize the Messiah.  The blind, the deaf, the crippled, and the demon-possessed knew Jesus as Healer whereas the religious questioned His power to heal and even said He drove out demons by Satan's power.  In John 1 it says that Jesus came out of the bosom of the Father and came to earth, Jesus is the expression of the Father's heart to the world.   Bill Johnson has said on several occassions, "Jesus is perfect theology."  I am praying that the heart of the Father will leap off the pages becoming real and life-changing.  I invite you to share in this journey into the Heart of Our Abba, we are sons and daughters with a right to know our Abba.

In My Abba's Grip,
Bret