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
