Divine Setups

We don't always talk about one of God's more unique characteristics, I believe, is Jehovah sneaky.  How is God sneaky?  One thing that makes my skin crawl is when people say...God allows...so...  I despise this deeply because often the picture that is painted is a God that really under the surface desires that I and others go through pain so we will get something.  Try telling this to a person who has suffered horrible and even unspeakable abuse, in effort to defend God's reputation and explain very difficult things there will be an explanation of ....God allowed...so He could teach you.....  Often times I believe the holes in our theology come out at the most inopportune times.  I believe strongly in the Sovereignty of God and I even believe that God does set us up but I believe this times when our deep inner world is exposed is not to teach us something but for us to ultimately encounter Him at a new level.  While I don't believe for a moment that a completely loving, kind, and good God causes anything that is evil to happen to us, He does know it's coming and works for our good to bring about transformation in us (Romans 8:28-29).  I don't understand why the Christian culture confuses the enemies role with God's role.  John 10:10 is clear:  "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."  Jesus makes it abundantly clear that where we see killing, stealing, and destroying we can know that the ultimate source is the enemy.  Jesus said He came to bring life and life abundantly, yet so often we subtly make God behind things like cancer, job loss, past abuse by the give away phrase "God allowed...so...that you would..."  I think it is important to address what I see as an error in our thinking about God before I move on to explaining Divine Setups.  I am keenly aware of these Divine Setups because I feel I am in the middle of one in my own life.  I was led by Father to start a ministry (Destined for Sonship Ministries) in September of 2012 focused on the Father's Love and taking people who experience life as Spiritual Orphans into the reality of being sons and daughters of God.  As I was led to set this ministry up, in my mind God began to affirm that I was created to share the message of Father's Love.  I knew I had some revelation of the Father's love, I had received a lot of healing ministry, read tons of books on the Father's Love, and even went out to "The Power of Father's Love School" with Shiloh Place.  Yet deep under the surface in my own heart there was still places of deep loneliness, lies of hopelessness, lack of comfort from deep grief (from my earthly father's suicide), and still lots of fear.  I believe unlike some that to be in ministry does not mean to have all of your stuff together and be healed of all your wounds, God has worked through me to bring healing to others in the midst of my own emotional pain, depression, and insecurities.  I am a wounded healer.  I even thought if I went to Toronto, a place known for the outpouring of Father's love, that this would take care of some of these deep places and give me a revelation of Father's love then I would be on my way to minister to more people.  Little did I understand the Divine Setup, Father has called me to share His love this has been affirmed by prophetic voices as well as people in leadership along with Him speaking to me but it was not going to happen the way I envisioned.  It became clear this last summer that my heart had been deeply broken after my father's death and then the years I spent in relative isolation (much of it the choice of an orphan heart).  Before I went to Toronto a prophetic voice told me, God wants me undone and that my expector is broken (hopeless lies implanted in my heart), He wants me in front of people in the open not hidden away, and  finally that He was transforming me into being the message (Father's Love).  At Toronto I received two separate words one that God was "enlarging my heart" and the second that He was "unlocking my heart".  As God has begun to work to unlock my heart (locked up for protection), He has shone light on how shattered I am inside.  Here I am thinking it's time to share more of Father's Love with others and yet Father has set me up to heal my heart and give me what I truly want for myself, to know His love at an experiential level.  Father want the ministry built on a revelation of His love and He is not satisfied with me having an intellectual knowledge of His love.  Love requires connection and experience, without it love is an intellectual concept rather than a relationship to be experienced.  I have some understanding that this revelation will be costly personally but at the same time there is not a price that is too great to truly encounter the living God.  Could it be in Father's infinite and sovereign love, He knows exactly what it will take to fulfill the deepest desires and longings of your heart.  I believe in the Father's pursuit of us, He wants to bring you into your own Divine Setup, so you can encounter His powerfully life-giving love for yourself.  Since God is love, this must fit with His nature yet also surpasses our limited experience and understanding of love.  I believe the Body of Christ will be getting a greater revelation of the Father's love that pursues the children He loves so greatly.  Our pursuit of Him is important (and Biblical) but I believe we have under emphasized His pursuit of us and this revelation will be key in the coming days.  Remember that Jesus is not coming back as a Lamb but a Lion, He is returning with fire in His eyes, a sword in His mouth, and a passion to be united to His people (being one as John 17 describes).  Will you say "yes" to a Divine Setup.

Setup for His Love,
Bret

True Boundaries vs. Self-Protection

Because I am wired for deep relationships, I have often been irritated by popular psychology always talking in terms of boundaries because this talk was devoid of discussion about God or love.  I wrongly interpreted boundaries as a way that you could protect yourself and since I had already spent much of my life protecting myself, only leading to isolation and pain I was not interested.  Most believe that boundaries are about what you keep out and certainly this is true but boundaries are also about what you protect.  In Psalm 91 in beautiful poetic language David lays out our "secret place" with the Lord and His protection, the fortress and refuge is a place of communing with God.  This protection is place boundaries around us and our intimate relationship with God, so this relationship can grow in safety, depth, and intimacy.  There is a lot of talk of the destructiveness of strongholds or lies we believe but not nearly enough talk about building good fortresses of thought that are a refuge for relationship with God and others to grow.  I believe we live in a society with very blurry or little boundaries, my TV often begins to blair on in ads about "erectile dysfunction" as I quickly grab for the mute button so my kids don't ask endless questions about something they don't need to know about now.  With the explosion in wireless technology with our endless addiction to smartphones, tablets, and iPods boundaries are invisibly being violated and much tougher to maintain (as my smartphone rings with a client at 6pm - dinnertime).  If we do have not chosen to agree with the invisible (but very real) boundaries around my most important relationships, I will quickly feel obligated to answer the phone.  True boundaries are not about creating invisible lines around relationships or our own person but acknowledging and agreeing with the ones that God says are already there.  My son frustrated with his sister telling him not to hit the dog, decides he needs to "suggest" the best time for her to take her shower, boundaries were just violated and then there are hurt feelings and the slamming of a door.  My son is responsible for his choice to hit the dog and is the only one that can clean up his mess, and apologize to our unsuspecting Golden Retriever.  His offense to his sister telling him what to not do, a boundary violation, leads him to violate her boundaries and tell her when she ought to take a shower.  The cycle of violating one another boundaries because of hurt and offense can continue if no one takes responsibility for their own choices and it's hard to tell what are your own choices if you don't acknowledge boundaries.  I believe part of why boundaries are so unclear is because our lack of acknowledgement and worship of who God is and thus we are unclear about the truth about who we are.  Unclear identity and unclear boundaries go together, we seem to have a co-dependent society.  I had scheduled a meeting with my mentor, we were to have lunch first and then he would meet to minister to me.  His wife was the one who was his scheduler and to communicate with him, yet he called me a full hour before we were to have lunch wandering where I was, I in turn felt bad that he was sitting in a restaurant by himself.  He clearly said to me that it was not my fault since he misunderstood his wife, I felt bad because I believed a lie that I was responsible for him sitting in the restaurant yet none of my decisions led to this situation.  We can believe we have good boundaries until a situation arises that exposes our feelings and what we truly believe.  Since I grew up in a family with very unclear boundaries and a blurry sense of identity, I have still carried much of this belief system and way of living into adult life.  Boundaries are based on truth in relationships and without truth in relationships there cannot be trust, intimacy, and freedom.  Since all of us have had an orphan heart, it makes perfect sense that we have created orphan structures when it comes to relationships and thus our structures for relationships are actually destructive rather than protecting freedom and promoting intimacy.  In Genesis 3 the serpent's deception includes, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  And ever since that day all of us have been trying to be like God, being the center of all life and having everything revolve around us.  The desire to be like (in our own strength) can lead us to be driven to strive for achievement, show others that we are in control, and even cover our weaknesses.  Orphan hearts seek to fill the void where God once was with their own efforts to meet their needs and be in control, thus true boundaries get violated and then the consequences are suffered.  I pray that we would agree with God about true boundaries in our relationships that would place invisible (but very real boundaries) around our most valuable relationships so they can thrive and grow.  In Christ I believe we are not only to experience our union with Him but also the fruit of this union being healthy relationships that are blessed.

In Freedom,
Bret

Freedom from Judging Others

Here is the link to a message by Richard Rohr:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8o6_IqKdy8

It seems in our world today we can easily get caught up in judging one another or judging ourselves by comparing ourselves to someone we admire.  One author and speaker, Richard Rohr, refers to this type of thinking/perceiving as dualistic thinking.  The basic idea is that we are constantly looking through the lens of this is bad and this is good, then we build our case why a certain thing or label is good.  It also means that we feel tremendous shame if we have the quality that we perceive as bad.  I am not saying that good and evil don't exist, just that we are addicted to our own filter that perceives good and evil.  I did say "addicted", an addict is one that is in bondage to a substance or lifestyle.  So many of us are addicted to judging good and evil, we live out this filter by sizing things up according to these "rose-colored" lenses.  I am not saying that by finding freedom from judging, we cease to be spiritually discerning.  In 1 Corinthians 2:14-15 God's Word says, "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.  But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one."  Appraising refers to assessing some thing's value but notice this comes through the Holy Spirit and not us simply judging which comes out of the natural man (soulish man).  I would also say that judging comes out of orphan thinking, because spiritual orphans always have to try to meet their own needs apart from God.  Jesus challenges those listening (especially Pharisees) by saying, “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.  For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you."  (Matthew 7:1-2)  Jesus is speaking to a group, the Pharisees, who who life had become dualistic thinking by judging people based on religious standards.  Jesus was not simply challenging their world but turning it upside down, if they entered into what Jesus was offering would lose their whole foundation of living.  The "law of judging" is not just dualistic thinking but a whole way of living that enacts a law where you will then be measured by the standard that you have measured to others.  I don't believe this refers to God judging us because this is not the context, I believe that our own minds will judge us by the standard we have measured out to others.  I don't believe that dualistic thinking is all bad but simply a step in our growth toward walking and living in love, which is in communion and union with Christ.  This is also referred to in the circles I run in as Performance Based thinking, where I am measuring mine and others performance on some standard.  Those who perform get the rewards (valued by others, accolades, esteem, etc..) and those who don't are punished (rejected, looked down upon, or dishonored).  The problem with this approach to life is that it goes against "the law of love" and devalues some people subtly adding to their past rejections, hurts, and estrangement.  Jesus modeled a life of loving and honoring people, seeking people who would humble themselves, be transparent, and acknowledge their need for a Savior.  Those who had elevated themselves (Pharisees, Sadducees, and Political elite) Jesus made a point to challenge their pride and dualistic thinking.  Yet even those who had position, like the Roman Centurion, who approached Jesus humbly received what they were looking for.  This dualistic, judgemental form of thinking has created many denominations because we agree over right doctrine and divide over differences.  Where is love and honor in this process, it is pushed aside as a way of living and judgement is what is on center stage.  I believe this understanding can explain almost every church that divides.  I believe Jesus is inviting us into a better way, to live out of the freedom He lived out of by walking in love and experiencing our oneness with Him.

Free from Judging,
Bret