I did not think when I became a Christian that there would be wilderness seasons in my life or even believe how long some would be. Does victory mean that we never go through the wilderness or as David put it pass through the valley of the shadow of death? I believe that Father in His infinite goodness knows how to powerfully use wilderness seasons in our lives to transform us and bring us into a greater measure of intimacy and power.
The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, that when Jesus was in the wilderness the predominant voice He heard was the one of the enemy. Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, yet God's voice seems silent during this season. How did He know what Scriptures to speak when the enemy brings Him the three temptations. I would like to submit to you that He had studied and memorized the Scripture as a boy and that even while in the wilderness He meditated on the Word. I believe it was the Holy Spirit who prompted the specific Scriptures He used. It is actually the voice of the enemy, his challenge to Jesus being the Son of God and the temptations which is at the forefront in the wilderness. I believe the voice of the enemy, his lies and temptations, which is dominant in the wilderness seasons. Often we need to draw on previous revelations to be able to speak to the enemy's challenges to our identity, God's Fatherhood, and our calling.
In Hosea 2:14, God speaking to Israel says, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." The wilderness is a season of discomfort, being stripped of our comforts, a time where God feels silent, and also a time of amazing intimacy with God. In our discomfort, affliction by the enemy, and God's silence comes God in His comfort drawing us to Himself. Yet unlike the taunting, torment, and tempting voice of the enemy which often seeks to drive us. The voice of God is one of allure and comfort but often seems difficult to find in the wilderness. Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and is led out in the power of the Holy Spirit. So Father actually uses wilderness seasons to promote us in the Spirit as sons just as He did Jesus (see Luke 4:14). It also even says that the news about Jesus spread throughout the surrounding district, this after He was isolated in the wilderness and put in a showdown with the enemy. Father sure has a different way of promoting people. I once heard Kris Vallotton say, "private victories lead to public anointing." Advancing even in the wilderness, Bret
We normally connect poverty with a lack of money or financial resources, yet I believe the affects of poverty go much deeper. After the Fall in the Garden of Eden the flow of resources from heaven to earth that had continually brought provision was interrupted. For the first time in Adam and Eve's lives they experienced lack. This was not our loving Father's design for there to be any lack, heaven was meant to resource the earth and provision was important in the Creation Covenant. Provision came through the Father caring for His children by them being in right relationship with Him. Adam and Eve eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and choosing sin meant they became orphans. Orphans do not have a source of provision, they must provide for themselves.
In Isaiah 61 which describes the anointing that is on the Messiah (and then on us), the first thing the anointing deals with is poverty. The Webster definition of poverty is: 1) the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions, 2) Scarcity or dearth, 3) debility due to malnutrition or lack of fertility. Amazing that poverty is connected even to the lack of fertility, which is directly opposes the Genesis 1:28 mandate which says "...be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth...". Yet often times the religious world holds up poverty as divine, even having some servants take an "oath of poverty". Ever since I was a child I felt our poverty, through lack of resources, hopelessness, lack of dreams, lack of a father and earthly provider and envy of those who had more. Yet when I would visit my dad's side of the family who had more resources than my immediate family, there was freedom, a joy, and a sense of investing in others. My father had even judged his own family because they had resources and often sought to divest himself of the material possessions that came to him through the family. Yet is our destiny to be poor and in lack or did Jesus die to destroy poverty so we may come into a place of prosperity. Biblical prosperity is not primarily about how much resources you have but I believe about our right relationship with a Generous Father. One definition of Biblical Prosperity, "Having all you need for all that God has called you to." In 1 Peter 2:9 we are called a "royal priesthood" and in Romans 5:17 (Amplified version) we are called to "reign in life as kings through the one Man Jesus Christ". Now I don't know a lot of royalty personally but I have not heard of many kings and royalty who are poor. I believe that the greatest place of poverty has been first in our relationship with God, second in our identity, and third in the resources we are entrusted to manage. How many children dream of being poor? No one really wants to be poor because it is not part of our destiny as a son or daughter of God with an extravagant Father. Yet to use our resources to greedily get whatever we want while ignoring our Father's heart is just as against our destiny, since we are to be a blessing to the whole earth (Genesis 12). Radical generosity is the to be like our Father. Rich in Christ, Bret
The Holy Spirit has recently been speaking to me from the life of Abraham, in Romans 4 he is called the "father of us all" because he lead the way in believing God's promise against impossible conditions. This phrase in Romans 4:18 stood out to me, "In hope against hope he believed...". As I looked into the commentaries it seems that there was a war going on within Abraham between natural hope (in he and Sarah's own ability to conceive a child) and the supernatural hope (God's ability to bring His promise to fruition despite no hope in the natural). There were two dynamics happening within Abraham his hope in he and Sarah bringing the child to fruition was dying (natural realm) and yet God had been working in Abraham to believe more and more in God's ability to do the impossible (supernatural realm). Could it be that Abraham had to come to the end of his hope, so he could receive this gift of hope that was solely rooted in God's power to bring about what He had promised? This is a crisis of hope. Abraham had a choice though, he could have kept pursuing natural hope beyond Hagar (and then Ishmael) to another natural way but he gave up. This is often the point in our lives when despair sets in, since hopelessness set in and takes the dream away. The promise and dream in my heart have been to know the Father's Love and bring many into the reality of the Father's Love for them. As I face my own crisis of hope, realizing that I have come to the end of my own hope to see this happen there is a new hope and faith arising within my heart. The genesis of this hope is not in my own ability, striving, or attempts to must faith but an assurance of His ability to do what He says He will do. At one point when my hope was thin, the Holy Spirit spoke to me saying "Jesus came to make a way to the Father, did He fail?". If you are the author of your own hope, then there will be a time it will fail but if God is the author of the hope that you carry then it is unshakeable. The Holy Spirit asked me another question about 1 1/2 years ago when I was in Toronto, He said "You have never asked Me what My purpose was in your father's death." I realized I was so seeking to heal from this deep wound in my life, walking through the daily struggles that I had seen from God's heavenly perspective. The perspective that comes from being "seated in Christ in heavenly places" is a whole new realm of seeing versus being under our circumstances, season, or difficulty. A growing understanding was coming that Father loves to take the weak things of the world and glorify who He is and that my carrying the Father's love had everything to do with His purpose and not just my healing. In His Hope, Bret
As many attended "Kingdom Foundations: A school of healing and impartation" I was stunned by the Lord highlighting one session on Open Heavens. Many don't understand the concept of an Open Heaven and think it is some charismatic thing for the super-elite Christian, hype, or a scam. Yet could it be that Biblically the foundation of an open heaven was all the way back with Jacob when he had an encounter with the Lord where there was a ladder with angels ascending and descending from heaven.
In our world we have a fascination with the supernatural but seem to quickly lose the truth of how the Bible clearly describes the heavenly realm and also many TV shows are currently obsessed with the supernatural but mainly the dark and demonic side. Genesis 28:12 describes this encounter this way, "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it." Many people throughout the Old and New Testament have had encounters with angels, yet in our secular society that tends to only look at the physical realm angels are often relegated to cupid looking creatures that shoot love arrows at their victims. While I would say that I had a mental ascent that angels are real and certainly are Biblical, they still seamed almost unnecessary in my heart of hearts. As Randy Clark talked about the actual partnering with the angelic realm and their profound impact on ministry and miracles, I began to realize that my attitude about angels needed some adjustment. Also the concept of the heavens being opened up by the the Father over Jesus the Son of God and then never closing seemed like a nice sentiment for Jesus but not really important to me. Amazing how our unbelief can be arrogant as repentance (change of mind) occurs and we have revelation of the truth. In John 1:51 Jesus claims to be the ladder between heaven and earth by the title "Son of Man", "And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Many believers do not understand the covenant and Jesus Christ and simply believe this was for Jesus but has no relevance for us today, whereas an understanding of covenant brings revelation that Jesus is the representative for all regenerated people. Thus when the heavens were opened over Jesus they were opened over every born again believer who has been placed "in Christ". Jesus throughout His life and ministry had the assistance of angels to minister to Him, to strengthen Him during times of weakness (the desert and Gethsemane), to make a way for Him (Gabriel's appearance to Joseph and Mary), and angels had an important role in Jesus resurrection. We are told in Hebrews 1:14 that angels have a special role to serve those who will inherit salvation (redeemed people). Could it be that out of Father's love (His Nature) we are given angels to assist us in carrying out His will on the earth, just as Jesus was on the Father's mission of bringing the Kingdom of heaven to earth. Yet I believe this is a subject where there is not only a lot of mystery but also much deception, delusion, and distortion. Hollywood Horror films seem to be hell-bent on using the supernatural to bring nightmares to the big screen. Many conjure up the mental picture of the "Exorcist" with the demon -possessed woman's head spinning. Under an Open Heaven, Bret
What if it were possible for us to continually grow in our spiritual life with no wandering in the wilderness, getting stuck, or having significant setbacks? Sounds impossible, yet in heaven the Word says the trees bear fruit 12 months of the year and so are we to bear fruit. Revelation 22:2 says, "On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Since we now live under the New Covenant that which was external rules under the Old Covenant becomes internal. Interesting that the dendrites that grow on the axons in our brain look like trees, when these dendrites are from a good and healthy memory they release life and stimulate the adrenal system to release chemicals into the body that bring strength, health, and life. On the other hand dendrites that grow on axons from toxic memories actually release too much chemicals into the adrenals which cause all kinds of issues physically (stresses affect on the body). In 2 Corinthians 3:18 it says, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." As we look toward Christ we are to be transformed from glory to glory, this literally means from one realm or dimension of glory to a higher realm or dimension of glory. I would say I am not the only believer who has experienced their Christian life as a series of peaks and valleys, more like a wild ride on a roller coaster than continuous growth. I am in no way saying that there will not be circumstances in our life that are not challenging, hurting, adversarial, or even losses. Does growth depend on the happenings in our life or on what we believe deep down inside? I once heard that happiness is connected to our happenings, therefore if I have good happenings in my life then I will be happy. Yet we live in a fallen world full of sin, disappointments, losses, hardships, broken relationships, etc... If we are to live as Jesus said, "...thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.. then there must be ways to continually grow because this what is in heaven. I am not only faced with this question on a personal level but also for those who I invest in during my life (family, clients, people I minister to, and those I influence). I believe the Father is challenging us in this hour, to cry out to Him for models of continuous growth in our relationship with God and our destiny. I have served in some form of ministry or counseling for 18 years, seeing folks in hopeless situations only to come into freedom but often I do not hear from them after they get a breakthrough and are moving into a new season. Some times in an orphan society we are short-sighted and come to God when we are in pain or are stuck, then we grow and find freedom but go back to cycles on the roller coaster of life. Also, orphans think short-term looking for their next meal, the next thing, or the next item but fail to look far out on the horizon of life. I believe the Father's plan for your life includes your entire life and His plans (Jeremiah 29:11) are ones for your continuous growth in maturing to be like His Son Jesus. Sometimes we, in the Body of Christ, can even encourage sporadic growth by rallying people around an Event or Service which leads people to believe that there really is no process of growth just the finished product of people on stage. Growth is work and a choice to renew our minds to truth, which requires continually holding up what we believe to the light of God's revealed word. Jesus said, "you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free...", this wasn't taking one glance at the truth, this knowing truth (ginosko) was based on long-lasting relationship. Yet I believe too many of our models of Christian growth do not plan for long-term growth and thus lead us to go in fits and spurts. I believe the Father is seeking His sons and daughters who will passionately pursue His heart for their entire lives and those who will come along side them to see this happen. Growing into the son He has made me, Bret
There has been a growing revelation in the Body of Christ since the 1970s of the Father's (Agape) Love that it has been said will be an even greater reformation than the grace reformation where Luther declared we are saved by grace apart from works. It is said in 1 Corinthians 13 that "love never ends" but that even prophesies will cease but love will go on far past these. I believe prophesy is such a powerful gift to call forth that which is not as if it is so, God was constantly using the prophets throughout the Old and New Testaments to proclaim what He was doing on the earth. God through 1 Corinthians 13 ranks love above the very important reality of prophesy, even saying at the end of the chapter that the greatest of the three: faith, hope, and love is love. In the Agape Reformation will the raising up of sons and daughters of God look like it has in traditional discipleship movement? The most important revelation in the Agape Reformation is the revelation of the Father's Love in Christ, yet another revelation that is following is new ways to raise up sons and daughters of God. Much of traditional discipleship has emphasized Biblical knowledge and insight but has been weaker on the area of transformation of the disciple, since often the focus is on "head knowledge" of truth rather than on "heart knowledge". These models often emphasized the model which said, believe, change, and then belong. Whereas Jesus way with His disciples was belong, believe, and then change. Many times when Jesus would display the Kingdom of God to the disciples they would react with unbelief or not understanding, yet He patiently brought correction to their thinking so they could see God's perspective. Jesus called and chose the disciples through listening to the Father's voice, the disciples belonged before they even believed or truly followed Jesus in their heart.
One of the more extreme movements coming out of the discipleship movement is the "shepherding movement", this movement emphasized a need for greater accountability and submission to shepherds that ended up becoming legalistic and controlling. Unfortunately in the Body of Christ, we often judge what we perceive as errors within the Body of Christ instead of learning what was of God and what was simply of the flesh. We need to see that God is seeking for us to build on previous revelation, instead of having new revelation which abolishes past revelations. New revelations of who God is and what has been done for us through the finished work of Jesus Christ, will shine light on areas of past and current deception bringing us into the truth at a new level. Growing in revelation means that my life is transformed as I personally encounter God and through this encounter I now believe truth (truth is a person) and the Word of God tells us "you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." There is much we can learn from the discipleship movement and the shepherding movement, yet not seek to repeat that which was fleshly for our future. According to Jack Frost the Agape Reformation is bringing relationship reformation in six areas: 1) Father God's supernatural love is driving out fears of trusting, rejection, intimacy, and believers are becoming convinced that they were created to dwell in God's love. (See I John 4:18; Romans 8:15; Isaiah 66:12-13.), 2) Christian leaders who employed control and positional authority are being humbled as the Body of Christ is seeing that all believers need intimacy with God and others. (See Romans 2:4; 1 John 1:5-9; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12.), 3) We are seeing a move toward greater unity in the Body across denominational and doctrinal lines. (See John 17:21-23.), 4) There are prodigal sons and daughters coming home, as there parents humble themselves asking for forgiveness for misrepresenting God's love. (See Malachi 4:5-6; Luke 15:17-24.) , 5) Believers who have been wounded by religious and performance-based Christianity are returning to the church to heal and encounter God's love. (See John 3:16-18, 5:19-24,12:47; 1 Corinthians 4:14-21.), 6) Pre-believers are being drawn to sons and daughters of God who display His love through bringing them into Love Encounters with God through prophetic words, healings, and miracles. (See Luke 15:1-2; John 13:34-35.)
Many believers are confused about the shift in the renewal movement toward the New Apostolic Reformation, which puts emphasis on the restoration of the five-fold ministry from Ephesians 4:11 as some new trend. I believe Father God is restoring this Biblical model of leadership to the Body of Christ because the Kingdom of God is meant to be a family and there has been a need for spiritual fathers in an orphan and fatherless society. I believe people who are true apostolic leaders are those who are laid down as living sacrifices to Jesus and embody being leaders who are sons and daughters of God who serve and lift others up. Those self-appointed apostles who use their position for special privileges and for self-promotion I believe have missed God's heart for apostolic leaders. Believers gathering around spiritual mom's and dad's who carry the Father's heart are more likely to be built up as sons and daughters of God versus those who submit themselves to programs and classes but don't engage in this kind of mentoring relationship. I believe discipleship was designed by God and clearly the Bible says to make disciples of all nations but the whole earth is groaning for the revelation of the unique sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:19).
As I was nervous about sharing my testimony with our group of home school teens, the Spirit began to speak to me about a life of no regrets. As Graham Cooke was talking about a very hard season where he nearly died, he said you begin to review your life and make important decisions. One of his decisions was to live a life of no regrets. Regret is defined as- feel sad, disappointed, repentant over something that has happened or done (especially a loss or missed opportunity). As I was sharing my testimony and asking the teens how they had experienced "Father's Love Letter" I was impacted again by the brilliance of the Gospel. Yet even in my own story it was believing that it was "too good to be true", there must be a catch, or somehow I of all people on the planet are uniquely unqualified to ever receive His grace. I see why Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline." Timidity, seeing ourselves as orphans, causes us to avoid things that we believe are too scary, impossible, or overwhelming. We back up from whatever this is but because we have missed stepping into an opportunity we have regret, this regret can plague us by reminding us about what we missed out on. Regret is pointing out the realm of living we could have entered into if we would have said "yes" to stepping into the opportunity. Jesus told us that if we want to gain our life, then we need to lose it. Losing our life means laying down our soul life, what our mind, will, and emotions are telling us. Living life without regrets seems impossible, yet Jesus displayed this life as a son being dependent on the Father for what He would say and do. Even if we seek to not have any regrets but rely on ourselves, our mind will point out the regrets. We simply need to give ourselves without reservation fully to the Father as Jesus the Son did, surrender is the path not only to intimacy but prevents us from regrets. Jesus lived a life without regrets because He gave Himself fully to the Father but also was singly focused on fulfilling the Father's will on the earth as it is in heaven. The Great Commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength and then to love your neighbor as yourself. In other words, to give yourself to fully being loved by Father and loving Him and from this to love others with the love that you have received. True boldness does not come from ambition, being a daredevil, but truly loving without reservation or regret. I don't believe we will get to Heaven and wish that we had withheld more of ourself from God, or loved our spouse less, or shared the Gospel less when we were prompted, or back away from giving a compliment or blessing to someone. Honestly, if I were to think about the regrets I have because of missed opportunities I would quickly become weighed down with a huge pile on top of me. What does God want to do with our regrets, Isaiah 61 paints a wonderful picture of making beauty for our ashes. The ashes represent losses or regrets in our lives but we will just have ashes if we don't give them to Him so He can make something beautiful. It seems that too much of our Christian culture is about safely dying, rather than a life of complete surrender, abandonment, passion, victory, and risk. This honestly scares me but I think this is the point, Father wants to scare the regret right out of us so we don't have anything to lose. Dealing with the disappointments and regrets, so we can continue to behold God's goodness is so critical for living as a son. That we may see the goodness of God in the land of the living. In His Goodness, Bret
In the middle of a trial I was going through, the Lord spoke to me and said "Thank you for standing for My goodness." This surprised me because in the midst of the trial I hadn't always felt like I stood for His goodness but more that I had doubted His goodness. At times I had given the enemy permission to beat me up with my falling into doubts about God's goodness and His good purpose in the midst of what I was going through. I have been impacted by the life of Moses and especially his intimacy with God. A prayer Moses prayed from Exodus 33 has rung in my heart and that is "show me your glory.", this was in the midst of Israel being drawn to seek God for His blessings and not His Presence. Through Moses personal revival and encounter with God, the nation of Israel is led back to worshipping God. God responds to Moses prayer in Exodus 33:19, "Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” So Moses prayer to be shown the glory of God was answered by God giving Moses a revelation of His goodness. So can we see the manifest glory of God without a revelation of His goodness? God had recently spoken to our church staff and to me personally about the importance of us knowing and experiencing His goodness in this season. As I began to study about God's goodness I was struck by an author's comments (Gloria Copeland), "Until you settle the fact that God is good and you can trust Him with your life, your faith is never going to be great because you will always draw back in fear. You will always be thinking, What if He doesn't come through for me? What if He is not listening to me? What if He asks me to do something that will harm me in some way?" Gloria Copeland also says about God's goodness, "Because it is the foundation of our faith in Him. In her writings she also says that this theme of God's goodness is not simply mentioned in the Bible but a consistent theme from Genesis to Revelation. We can have some revelation of Father's love for us but it is incomplete without understanding His goodness. Often throughout the Psalms David talks about God's hesed, which is His lovingkindness but this is often spoken of with His goodness. If we truly believed that God was good all of the time and that we were recipients of His goodness, then we would be confident God would not hurt us, let us down, or abandon us. This would result in us trusting Him with every area of our lives. I am convinced that a lack of revelation of God's nature as good results in much of our turning to our own way as orphans, rather than finding rest in the loving arms of our Father. Moses cried out for a greater revelation of God than he had, in order to move into the Promise Land but truly into revival. It is one thing to see and experience God's blessings in your life but a revelation of His goodness moves us from an orphan heart into a place of trusting God as a Father who will care for us love us and meet our deepest needs. I realized though I have had some revelation of Father's love there are still places in my heart where I do not truly know His goodness and so there is mistrust. I believe our Heavenly Father is the Father of lights (James 1:17) and since there is no variation or shadow in Him, this means that there is no darkness. Father is so good and brilliant that He shines even when there are dark or hidden places in us, He is no afraid of our darkness because He is Light (1 John 1:5). The Father has been revealing Himself to me as pure, warm, good, and unrelenting light. I believe this revelation comes as I open up areas of my heart that have been in the dark, like little boys who have been locked away in dark rooms. I believe we in the Body of Christ, need a revelation of His goodness toward us, that we may be come a revelation of this same goodness to the world. In His Goodness, Bret
As I walked up the long stairway lit with fluorescent light and saw our office manager's shining face, I knew I would need to answer a very normal question I feared. How are you today? I had a rough night with very little sleep as my soul was like a ship tossed on the waves of a giant storm. I answered in the words of Jack Taylor, "I am perfectly weak". A strange response but very true to the core of my soul, yet in this nakedness of soul I wanted desperately to grab some "religious" or "I'm fine" fig leaf but chose to resist the temptation. In order to dwell in intimacy we must be willing to be seen, allow others to see what is going on deep inside of us. As I later asked my family to pray for me because I felt needy and drained the grace of God began to flow into me. We have so many ways to hide our weakness, it maybe a certain image we portray, being fine, distant or withdrawn, our in control face, the mask of performance, or being in charge so no one sees our insecurity. I am more and more convinced that being open with our weakness is vitally tied to walking as a beloved son or daughter. The god of this world, Satan, hates and despises weakness. You see this in the enemy's delight over Jesus being beaten, insulted, tormented, and crucified. The enemy hated Jesus weakness and His unwillingness to respond in violence, it was the enemy working through men yielded over to his purposes who mocked, spit in Jesus face, insulted Him, taunted Him to come off the cross, and to fight the way the enemy does with strength. The god of this world system encourages us constantly through media, popular culture, climbing the corporate ladder, image consciousness, and even the roots of popular culture "survival of the fittest" point to strength. An orphan mentality despises weakness and will even taunt those who don't seem to pulling their weight, a man walks by a homeless man and says "get a job". So does God relate to our weakness the way the world relates to our weakness, the kindest response the world will give is pity so does God just pity us when we experience weakness. Jesus was constantly encountering weak people, people who had been trapped by the bondage of sin, were broken through others sin, or were in a prison they co-created by partnering with sin. Jesus is God and perfectly displays the nature of God,. He engaged those who were broken, needy, sick, with open arms and the compassion of the Father that flowed through Him often resulted in the miraculous taking place. Jesus was not afraid of stepping into the reality of the depth of people's weakness, sin, darkness yet He brought no condemnation or stern looks. 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 are powerful verses on this subject, "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan totorment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." Many times people miss how to properly steward their weaknesses because we don't see the way God sees, we have a natural view either to fight our weaknesses, fall into despair, or walk around limping calling it victory. These verses are practical guide on stewarding our weaknesses by realizing in our weaknesses is the very place that God's power is perfected. I believe that all human models of growth in our lives are going to have holes in them at some level, it is only God's model of transforming people into the image of His Son that is complete not lacking any dimension. So when we turn to human reasoning for explanation of what we are going through in our current season, it will probably be lacking in wisdom and completeness rather than turning to the One who created us. May God give you revelation of how to steward weaknesses in your life, so you will in turn share words of hope, wisdom, and breakthrough to those who are struggling with weakness. His Strength in my weakness, Bret
Every one of us have a deep desire to be truly known and loved, yet often times the fear of this seems as equally strong as this desire. God created us from love (who He is), to be loved, and to love others. Intimacy is not a side note in the Kingdom of God but central to all of life, freedom, and ministry. Yet In-to-me-see requires that I open the deep places in my heart, not only dreams and desires but also the places of brokenness, fear, darkness, insecurity, and doubt. It is only through authentic intimacy can we be known, shown who we truly are, and radically loved. As we sat in a semi-circle with our high school/middle school group, these young faces and hearts revealed such hope for the future, innocence, a wander about life, and anticipation. Yet as we read their journals we saw how the orphan spirit had already touched their lives but as they soaked in a prophetic revelation by Graham Cooke for an hour their hearts were stirred for the adventure of intimacy. Religion is black and white in it's rules of conformity, control, predictability, and fear but true relationship and intimacy with the Father through Jesus Christ is brilliant, dynamic, alive, and with all the spectrum of creativity. The possibilities and dimensions of our earthly realm are amazing but when you begin to explore these in the spiritual realm they become limitless. Religion has also entered the place of intimacy with the Trinity, yet it marches on with orders about quiet times, bible study, and the duty of prayer. Discipline is a wonderful thing if it leads to relationship and encounter but a slave master when looked to in order to produce life. The world around us will match the world within us, if we are driven by performance, duty, obligation, guilt, and fear then this will permeate to those around us. Many talk of transforming the world for Christ and I am in full agreement, yet if my internal world is not transformed then I will simply reproduce the discontentment, frustration, lack of peace, and lack of love that may be on the inside.
To an orphan planet there is not anything more attractive then a life lived in intimacy with God and intimacy with those around me. The very core of an orphan heart is the belief of being alone, having to meet all your own needs, and independent. I spoke with a young man yesterday who wanted counseling, when I asked if he went to a church he said that he was a "lone wolf". Unfortunately, this is more common then we want to admit that young people are living their lives hiding behind masks of "I'm fine" while deep inside they crave to be known and loved. An orphan planet is not going to be saved by religion where they are taught how to behave right, they crave real intimacy with a God who would know them fully and love them fully. Jesus as He went about His public ministry only challenged the religious to live by their own commandments (derived from the Law) only to find that they were still lacking, to the broken, dying, and sick He offered the living waters of love, life, healing, and intimacy. Even the sick would partake of the living water only to become well but would forsake returning to follow Jesus, so fell short of the intimacy He invited them into. Yet Jesus mission was to reconcile an orphan planet to the Father that would bring them home into a place of intimacy, belonging, and life. Jesus invites us into the life of intimacy that He walked in and lived out on the earth with His Father, one of trust, complete honesty and vulnerability, and sonship. Yet even this week I admitted to my wife that "I don't know how to do intimacy" but the hunger in my heart wouldn't let me stop there. Will you pursue the intimacy with God you were made for?
Holy Spirit has been speaking to me about the Older Brother in the story of the Prodigal son, most of us are familiar with how the prodigal asks and gets his inheritance only to blow it on loose living but looks to return because of losing everything. In Luke 15 the prodigal seems to be the main character but I believe it is really the father that is the starring role. The Eldest son is angry when he finds out that his brother is having a party thrown for him after he has taken 1/3 of the inheritance and blown it on prostitutes and wild living. God began to speak to me that at times I was like the elder brother, serving doing the things I thought God wanted me to do but my heart at times was far from Him. The relationship of the father to the eldest son was clearly strained, as the eldest son is angry saying that he had been serving the father all these years but he didn't even get a goat for his hard service. What was clouding the relationship of the father to eldest son? Why was he so angry that his brother was invited into the most intimate of meals (the covenant meal- seen by the killing of the fatted calf)? The eldest son based his relationship with the father on his serving him and I believe this service was motivated not by love but by fear that the father wouldn't give him anything if he didn't work. The eldest son's view of his father was one of a taskmaster that required service to receive any reward but even though he claimed to have done everything the father asked (an exaggeration for sure) he still only felt his service was worth a goat. In Luke 15: it says, “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. “And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured yourwealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him. And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’” You may not have realized but when the father divided the estate between the sons the younger son got 1/3 of the estate but the eldest son would have gotten 2/3 of the estate, so he was angry and resentful yet he owned 2/3 of the father's estate. The eldest brother was working his own land but slaving and angry because he saw his father as a taskmaster making him do it. The father says to the eldest son, "Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours." When the father, the picture of the Heavenly Father, was pleading with his son to come in to the meal; he was inviting him into the covenant meal to have access completely to all that father had. It was the eldest son's pride, serving from a place of fear and earning, his offense at his brother, and his distorted picture of this loving father that kept him from entering into the most astounding covenant opened to man. To enter into the father's love and this covenant where the father offered everything, the eldest son would have to let go of what he was holding onto for life. I am so thankful for the picture of this amazing father who responds to his son's disrespect, entitlement, and pride with such love and grace. Our Father is always full of love and grace even when we are not, He is inviting us in even when we are desperately trying to serve Him to earn our blessings rather than resting in the covenant blessings that have been purchased for us. Are you serving God through self-effort or are you letting go of your serving to let His love explode in you and through you to others? Entering into the place of the Father's covenant, means that we cease from our striving and earning realizing that the reason the Father invited the eldest son into covenant was because he was a son. Father has made us part of His family and He so much to pour out on us, all the blessings, life, and value all flow through relationship and not serving. Serving is a wonderful thing when it flows from love and trust but a terrible taskmaster when done from self-effort and fear. In Father's Love, Bret
As Julie and I stood in front of a small group of high schoolers and older middle schoolers I was struck by the passion to see this generation understand their identity "in Christ" and walk out their God-given destiny. I am not sure when it happened but there has been a growing shift in my heart, from my life and what God has for me to those who are coming after me. As a person who has been more shy and quiet much of my life, I did not look to become a leader often I have been more content to be a follower. Yet I find myself in my mid-40s in leadership positions to influence and encourage those around me. As I looked across these young faces, the Holy Spirit was giving me a sense of the challenges, difficulties, and pressures they face. Yet a growing passion and desire grew in my heart for them to walk out their truest identity, throwing off the hindrances of what others think and the lies that would seek to take them away from their dreams and destinies. As I listen to our president insist that we must take military action against a radical Islamic group (ISIS) who is brutally murdering so many in it's path, I am struck that these young people face an increasingly conflicted, broken, and dark world. Yet, Jesus sent His disciples out in the same way, like sheep among wolves expecting that through the power of God they would rock the world. And they did. Over 2,000 years later the world is still talking about the movement that was initiated by Jesus on the earth and carried by a group of uneducated and simple people. The Spirit of God on someones life is a majority in the darkest and most difficult of circumstances. Could you imagine if these 8 teens carried the Presence of God with them in increasing measures for the rest of their life how heaven could invade earth. And there is not a time on the earth when we need heaven to invade earth, especially when we look at the statistics of crime in the world, the rise of sex trafficking, deep poverty, violent groups of terrorists, 150 million orphans, nations invading other nations, some nations embroiled in civil war, and so much need everywhere. Yet the Spirit is being poured out on the earth as we are seeing more Muslims coming to Christ in the last 50 years than all of history combined, healings happening on all 7 continents, documented resurrections in over 80 countries, many Jews coming to know Jeshua, revival on all 7 continents, and a tremendous hunger for God across the world. If I focus on the darkness I will become ever increasing disillusioned, angry, frustrated, and eventually hopeless. But if I see what Jesus saw in His day, "look up the fields are white for harvest". It is the desperate need, brokenness, and problems that often signal it is time for harvest. But we must see with heaven's eyes, God is not intimated by the world's problems or without a solution. The world is not interested in our religion but is very interested in a God who brings hope, love, solutions, and freedom. In my earlier days of Christianity I often did not feel comfortable in church because it seemed that everyone was fine and in control of their lives, while I felt desperate to know a God who would heal me, love me, and father me into my destiny. I preferred to be behind closed doors in a counseling office where people would share their true hunger, desperation, and brokenness. Somehow in their hunger and desperation I saw hope to experience God who could bring life to the dead, would love the unlovable, would overcome the impossible and could transform the darkest of situations. Among the religious at that time I often found people who hid by behind being "fine", in control, having it all together, and like God was simply an addition to their satisfactory lives. The turning black hole of need within my own heart never allowed me to be comfortable in this crowd. Would the young people before me settle for the complacency of religion as simply an addition to their already "fine" lives or would they become ignited with passion for the God of love, redemption, hope, power to do the impossible. This urgency of heart was so strong, I wanted to be able to grab them and somehow have them understand the deep passion within my heart. After living 45 years on this earth, counseling people in every situation for 18 years of my life, and being a student of people's lives for years I know that any paradigm short of the manifest Kingdom of God will not be enough for the darkness they will face. They may be safe within Christian families, a safe school, church, and suburban communities but they will face the darkness and the suffering at some point in their life. Yet I long for a generation that has the boldness to run straight into the darkness, knowing that in the darkness is where the light shines most brightly. Now I understand why the enemy seemed to working more intensely on my mind that I didn't need to invest in this group, that it wasn't really as important as facing those who are in crisis on a daily basis. Our orphan planet is crying out for a revelation of the Father in the sons and daughters of God, who carry His heart, His grace, and His power to a dying world. This sounds like dramatizing it but the best dramatic cinema cannot top what it is being played out on the world stage. As I read portions of Romans 8 to this wonderful group of young folks, it was as if I could hear the groaning of the earth that is written about on these pages. It's not new governments, products, technology, or even more religion that is needed, it's sons and daughters of God who know Father's heart intimately and carrying an undying love for people and transformation. Most who know me would agree, I am not one for hype but I believe we need more drama/hype to wake up this next generation of young ones to step into their God-given identities no matter what the cost so that the Spirit will be poured out on all flesh.
Even though Grace is a free gift from God through His Son and there is no limit to His Grace on God's side, there are limits on our side that block the flow of His Grace into our lives. The Good News is there is more Grace and as those barriers come down we will receive more. In a Conference, Joaquin Evans said, "What if it is easier than you think?" This struck me because I have often thought that at times growing in God is this difficult process, partly because I have had fears, strongholds, and broken parts of my heart that have resisted. I am beginning to see that if there are delays in receiving the freedom and love of God through the Holy Spirit it is not because God is limiting the flow of His Grace and Love. One barrier to God pouring out His Spirit in our lives is pride. A former boss and mentor once called Pride, the mother of all obstacles to Grace. I believe Pride, which is really self-sufficiency or an identity we build apart from Father's Love and who we are in Christ, is at the root of an Orphan Heart. It was Lucifer's desire to have the kind of worship that God received and to be someone apart from who he was in God that led to his rebellion and the birth of the first orphan spirit. Pride is a denial of our absolute dependence on God to meet our needs. Lucifer was dependent on God for his identity, position, and value in the Universe, it was pride of not wanting to be in his God-given place that led to the development of an orphan spirit and finally rebellion that led to him being removed from his place in heaven. In 17 years of ministry, I have seen pride do great damage in people's lives, relationships, and destinies. This root of an orphan heart has led husbands to continue to deny their responsibility for damage to their marriages, families, and hearts of their children. This pride may come out in defensiveness, avoidance, blaming, controlling, angry outbursts, or making excuses. A subtle form of pride is when we deny the depth of our needs and then it begins to come out in us seeking to meet these real needs through counterfeit affections. Jesus elevated those who experienced life with a desperate hunger, He said the "poor in spirit" are blessed and even that theirs in the "kingdom of heaven." God's ultimate cure for pride is humility, first the humility of the life of Jesus and even His humiliation on the cross on our behalf, and then His Spirit working in us to lead us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand (1 Peter 5:5-6). Walking as a beloved son or daughter of God means walking in humility and even an ongoing honesty of our weakness and dependence on God. In Ezekiel 36 God is prophesying the coming of a New Covenant when He would turn our heart of stone into a heart of flesh, an orphan heart is one that has stony or hardened places. It is a soft and tender heart to God and to the suffering of others that is a heart that can both give and receive Grace. As I come into a meeting or worship time where the manifest Presence of God is there, I can immediately begin to recognize the places in my heart where there is still hardness or pride. These places or pride or hardness are often protection for the more vulnerable, needy, or broken places in my heart. Yet the Father's great love beckons us to humble ourselves, admit our deep need for His love, and receive more of His great Grace. There is always more and Father has done everything to reach us in Jesus Christ, even transforming our identity so we can respond to this love that has reached across every barrier that man has fallen into. We will let go pride, a dimension of an orphan heart, and embrace the softening of our hearts by walking in humility.
I have included a video clip on "Pride vs. Humility" by Mark Driscoll, who recently has resigned from his position over the Acts 29 network of churches. I don't agree with his attack on people being amazing (he calls it a "snowflake"), I celebrate people's identity "in Christ" and who they are created in the image of God. Self-esteem built upon our own opinions, the strokes of this world, or our achievements will not stand. I am standing against our tendency in the Body of Christ to crucify our leaders who fall. I do believe Mark Driscoll needs to humble himself but where is the Grace in the Body of Christ to love the broken, those who sin, and those who fail. We are all among these leaders because we are painfully human. Can we see Christ in this man not only in the gifts God gave him, His preaching of the Word, but also his life that needs redemption like everyone of us do. Amazing that when Mark Driscoll preaches about humility everyone is okay, when pride in his life is exposed and the damage of his sin seen we want to call him a "false prophet" and drag out every reason to discredit his ministry. This is a sad sight in the Body of Christ, I grieve for this man and his family and pray for people to come around him to speak the truth in love bringing him home to the loving arms of our Father.
A Humble son,
Bret
As I have been on this journey to know and experience the Father's Love, Holy Spirit has been leading me to see where Father gives. This simple little word "give" is very powerful when the God of the universe decides to "give", all of humanity needs to wake up to see what does He give. Last week I talked about the Father giving His firstborn and unique Son in Jesus to us as a gift for all eternity. I was overwhelmed as I read what who the Father "gives" through Jesus request in John 14:16-18, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." The Father, asked of by Jesus, has given us an amazing gift of His Presence in the Holy Spirit. At first glance, we may not understand why this is a big deal, but as we understand that throughout the Old Testament the Holy Spirit only came on people for a season, an event, a time, but would never remain forever. In the Old Testament we have a people and a culture of God's visitation through the Holy Spirit but there are never a people, even Israel, that had His Presence forever. If the disciples could have really understood Jesus' words and request of the Father, they would have rejoiced as He later says they should be doing even though He is leaving to return to the Father. Recalling the father's of the faith, men like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Gideon, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and David they would quickly see the power of having the Holy Spirit come upon a human being. God worked through each one of these men to accomplish His purpose on the earth that changed the course of human history and advanced His Kingdom. Now Jesus is making a bold and even outrageous request of the Father, for the Holy Spirit to be given to a people as a gift forever. The Presence of God in the Holy Spirit upon the man Moses saw the most powerful kingdom of earth, Egypt, bow it's knee and release over 1 million prisoners (nation of Israel). The Holy Spirit dwelling in a people forever could shake the earth, even transforming it's people, nations, systems, and government. I was beginning to realize that in my heart I had not valued or honored Holy Spirit for who He is and the importance He has in the Kingdom of God. Repentance is happening in my heart as I realize the love of the Father to send the important and beloved Holy Spirit. I was then struck with the verse that has changed my whole view of Christianity, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." Jesus was saying that every human being without the indwelling Holy Spirit is a spiritual orphan but Jesus coming back to dwell in us (Holy Spirit being the Spirit of Christ) transforms us into being sons and daughters of God. I now understand why Holy Spirit is called the spirit of adoption in Romans 8:15 because it is the work of the Holy Spirit to take the life and work of Jesus and manifest it in our lives producing adopted sons and daughters of God. No Holy Spirit, no sonship. He is critical in the plan and wisdom of God to get His family back (you and I). Holy Spirit is always at work in us, speaking to us, guiding us, revealing Jesus to us, empowering us, and bringing us into the truth. Yet I believe it is our ignorance and dishonoring of Him that frustrates the will of God to transform us into Christ-likeness. Joaquin Evans said, "The key to more of the Presence is to be thankful for what you have." So I realize that since my value for the Presence of God in the Holy Spirit has not be on par with God's view, then I have missed a lot more of His Presence that could be manifest in my life. I want to be so aware of His Presence, His voice, His nudgings, His touch, and His work through me that I have a higher honor for Him so that I may carry and manifest more of His Presence. Throughout the Old Testament, the men who manifested the Presence of God walked in favor, performed miracles, prophesied, led God's people, and saw victory over their enemies. We are given the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit forever, will receive this gift, be thankful for the gift, and receive more of the gift. I am blessed to be in a church that values the manifest Presence of God in the Holy Spirit, yet in revelation I feel I am playing catch up. I have heard of meetings in Toronto during the Outpouring of the Spirit in 1994, where people who were non-believers would walk in and be knocked down by the manifest Presence of God in the Holy Spirit. I believe God is yearning for a people who can carry the manifest Presence in ever increasing power and love, so that His Son Jesus is manifest here on earth. I believe we are being invited by Heaven to see what God sees through the Holy Spirit opening our spiritual eyes because Jesus as a Son only did what He saw the Father doing and only said what He heard the Father say. Receiving more of His Spirit, Bret
As a believer we have heard many times that Jesus was given for the forgiveness of our sins but I was struck through revelation by the Holy Spirit that Jesus was given to us for all eternity. In Isaiah 9:6 God's Word says, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;And the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." The Holy Spirit highlighted the phrase "...a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us....", Holy Spirit seemed to blow up the idea that Jesus, the Son of God, was given to us for all eternity. Somewhere I knew this but then again I didn't really know it. Jesus was given to us for all eternity, to intercede for us (Romans 8:34), to be human in a resurrected body, to be our counselor, our advocate, and our High Priest, and our salvation. Somehow I believed that Jesus gave His life and then it was like the Father took Him back and then we were on our own again. The lies we believe are crazy when they are spoken or written out, brought into the light. John 3:16 has become a favorite passage, though being the most quoted for evangelism, because it reveals profoundly what kind of Father God truly is. He is a Father that gives to us the most precious and valued person, His Son because of His great love for us. Father has not given us a gift that ends, no the gift of His Son is for all eternity with immutable vastness. As we boarded a pontoon boat with about 20 other people, we were all nervously excited. What would we see? What would the ocean be like today? Tourists even from different countries with their unique accents and speaking a different language, all came together for the same purpose. We were in search of the 80,000-120,000 pound giants they call "humpback whales". As we maneuvered our way through the harbor with sailboats and fishing boats moored, the open ocean beckoned us onward. As we cleared the mouth of the harbor, passing the rock jetty on our right we began to see the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. The glistening green of the Pacific, against the blue sky and the brown grass hills of a Central California coast in the midst of drought. Shortly after playing with a school of very fast dolphins, a member of our little band of searchers called "there she blows" signaling the discovery of a humpback whale on the not too distant horizon. As the boat maneuvered through the 1-2 foot swells, we got closer to these 80,000 pound plus giants. Even as we chased them to see them surface and then dive for up to 200 feet for several minutes, only to resurface at another location, I was struck by how small they really were in the vastness of the ocean. Holy Spirit began to connect the vastness of the ocean, with the vastness of His love. It has been said that while the ocean covers 70% our planet, that we have explored less than 5%. I began to wonder about what percentage of God's love and who God is has been explored, His vastness is so much more immense than the ocean. In Ephesians chapter 3, the love of God "in Christ" is given dimensions that include height, depth, breadth, width, and length. Yet the Spirit was indulging me in the analogy, as Jesus often used earthly things to point to the substance of things in Heaven. Scripture tells us that this world is but a shadow of things to come, with the things to come having more substance, being even more real, and being of even more importance. Christianity is not simply a way out of Hell but a way into an eternal relationship with the amazing and infinite God, we stand on the shore of the most vast ocean that ever existed. The shore of the ocean of who God is, we have been given an invitation to go on the greatest journey ever offered. Will you say yes to the journey of a lifetime, that is full of perils, risks, and failures yet offers the greatest reward of all eternity. To know the invisible God. To a Fellow Explorer, Bret
Father by His Spirit began to speak to me about the foundational importance of hope in His Kingdom. Most people assume they have plenty of hope, until they are personally faced with a situation or relationship that challenges that hope with what seem to be impossible barriers. Do we have a deep and tangible hope for someone trapped in a gay or lesbian lifestyle? Do we have a hope that is so powerful that we can see a person with terminal cancer and believe that there is healing for them? In Hebrews 11 scripture is "Now faith is the assurance of thingshoped for, theconviction of things not seen...", so faith is tangible through hope. As I listened to a story on the radio about the groundwater getting dissipated faster than expected in the Colorado River Valley, I was struck by how dependent we are on the provision God has created in the earth. In the story they said most of the water that sustains 40 million people is underground in aquifers in the earth. From God's Word we know Jesus said that if anyone is thirsty they are to come to Him and out of their inner most being will flow rivers of living water. Throughout New Testament water is used as an analogy to the Holy Spirit, so God is looking to bring us into a place where out of our inner being flows rivers of the Holy Spirit out to a thirsty and dying world. In Romans 15:13 the Holy Spirit says, "May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope." I began to have this picture of groundwater in believers who have a deep hope based in who God is and what He has done for us, bubbling out as hope to all people. This deep hope in who God is and who He is in us has the power to transform lives, change culture, bring solutions to impossible situations, and give life to the dead. Can you imagine how different levels of society, cities, families, schools, businesses, and organizations would be impacted by people who are abounding in hope (bubbling over). Such that when impossible, difficult, or broken lives are brought before them they actually are able to bring real, deep, and lasting hope built on the Kingdom of God. So much of people's hope today is in what they can do for themselves or what they believe someone else can do but these hopes will come to ruin when not based on who God is and His truth. How do we know what our hope is based on? If I lose hope for someone walking in freedom, then I will be irritated with any choices that don't look like my version of what I think they should be doing to walk in freedom. In other words this kind of hope begins to be frustrated by other people's mistakes or unwillingness to follow my way. I believe hope is foundational in love, we see this from the list of attributes about love in 1 Corinthians 13. Jesus had hope for every person He encountered, not through their own ability to free or heal themselves but in God's power and grace to them. The Pharisees made hope dependent on the person's ability to apply and follow the Law or to be clean in their own ability. Jesus brought a hope from God completely dependent on God extending grace to an undeserving people. I believe as we give up on our own ability to produce hope for ourselves and others, by God's grace we can be a conduit of His hope to bring life to others.
In our fast-paced modern, civilized, and high tech society I believe we need to learn more about farming. Why you say? Many of Jesus' parables had to do with things learned in the context of an agrarian society, in these parables are powerful spiritual truths that can transform life. In Genesis 8:22 from the covenant with Noah God makes an everlasting promise involving seed and harvest, "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease." This means that until there is an new earth from Revelation, there will always be seedtime (sowing seed) and then there will be harvest when the seed grows up and yields fruit. In the Body of Christ there has been much talk of spiritual warfare, breakthroughs, tearing down strongholds, and taking territory for the Kingdom of God; these are good and true thoughts but I believe from Genesis one of our primary roles was farmer or tender of crops. In Galatians we pick up this theme of sowing and reaping, as Paul talks about the difference of sowing to the flesh vs. sowing to the Spirit. Galatians 6:7-8 says, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." This Scripture challenges us to not be deceived by thinking we can sow to the flesh (everything we are apart from Christ) and believe we will not reap. The even more important point is if we sow to the Spirit the promise is we will reap eternal life, in other words the fruit of the Spirit that comes from sowing to the Spirit will last for eternity. As I was on a 26 mile bike ride, my mind began to ponder the principal or law of sowing and reaping and how often I had reaped things in my life I didn't want. I sensed the Holy Spirit inviting me to go deeper in my understanding and revelation of this law, so I can become a sower to the Spirit and reap good fruit. We are told in 2 Corinthians 9 that God provides "seed to the sower and bread for food", you don't eat (use it for your own purposes) seed you sow it. Amazing that God does not even expect us to provide the seed, He gives us the seed but we have the choice of what we will do with the seed. Seed that is not sown into soil does not grow and seed sown into poor soil often has a hard time producing harvest. It is also an amazing truth that Isaac sowed in year of famine, where crops were scarce and had a lot of difficulty growing, and he reaped 100 fold in that same year (Genesis 26:1-12). What does all this agrarian talk really matter to you for anyway? I believe the most foundational level on which we sow and reap is in our spirit and soul (mind, will, and emotions). Let me give you an example, let's say there is a thought dropped in your mind of fear about an upcoming event or meeting. If this fear becomes bigger by your mind grabbing onto it and looking at all the ways the meeting could go bad, these thoughts now are sown into the adrenals and body. Soon you are in a fight, flight, or freeze mode. In any of these places, from a place of fear and not peace, we will tend to make poor decisions which will end up to reaping some bad results. From the perspective of being an orphan we often have thoughts of insecurity, inadequacy, failure, or selfishness; this orphan thinking left unchecked will bring about a reaping in my own body as well as my choices in relationships to others. This is why the highest level of spiritual warfare is to take every thought captive. What if we can learn how to consistently sow to the Spirit, knowing the promise that we will reap eternal life will then come to fruition. As I mentioned from the passage about Isaac sowing in a year of famine, times of lack and difficulty in our lives (emotionally, financially, spiritually, and relationally) are some of the most amazing opportunities to trust God by sowing to the Spirit when so much of our being wants to despair or be completely frustrated. Isaac who must have been seen as a fool to sow in famine believing the covenant promise when others were headed off to Egypt where the water supply was man controlled, would have to painfully wait for harvest to get what he was believing for. It's an incredible fact that in the midst of 400 years of drought in terms of hearing from God, God sows the most powerful seed in all of history. The death of His Son, Jesus Christ, Jesus speaking of Himself 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." (John 12:24) Since God understands the power of sowing good seed in the midst of hardship, how much more does He want His children to get this powerful truth and live by it. Becoming a Sower to the Spirit, Bret
