Hidden in Christ to see His Glory

As I woke up the Holy Spirit began to connect Moses being hidden in the "cleft of the rock" in Exodus 33 and our life being hidden with Christ in God.  God had to put Moses in "cleft of the rock" and cover him with His hand to show Moses the glory of God.  God's goodness is His glory but Moses could not see God's face or he would die, so God has found a way to answer Moses prayer "show me Your Glory".  In Romans 3:23 it says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God", meaning that the glory of God is the original target.

We are destined be in His glory and every human being has this desire deep within them but only those who have a revelation of the grace of God believe it is possible through what He has done on our behalf.  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."  God wants us to see Him face to face and see the glory of God.  No one can see the glory of God (all His goodness) and not be changed.

Amazing that we not only long to see the glory of God but by being placed "in Christ" (new identity as sons), we are given access into His glory (the Holy of Holies).  This is the ultimate invitation and the ultimate quest of every human being ever on the earth.  All attempts to reach God will fail outside of the way God has provided through Christ.  This is an all-consuming journey, that will require complete surrender and a life laid down.  In Colossians 1:27 we are told, "...Christ in you the hope of glory."  I thought this was nice idea rather than a reality.  When the Bible talks about hope, it is saying the joyful anticipation of an expected outcome.

Moses prayed a prayer that has reverberated through the generations, "show me Your glory".  This longing of the heart, is an invitation that still stands before generations of human beings that are free to pursue other lesser desires.  Will be awakened to the ultimate journey of seeing the glory of God, such that this clarion call becomes all-consuming and life transforming.

Show me (a son) Your Glory,
Bret

Father is Always for Us

The Holy Spirit reminded me of an important scripture in Romans 8:31, "...If God is for us, who is against us?"  Later on in Romans 8 Paul talks about how Father sent Jesus to save us, how will Father not freely give us all things.  The revelation that Father is never against but always for me struck me like light exploding into a dark cave.  Every thought in my mind that is against me is not from the Father who loves me but is probably from the enemy, yet the enemy is nothing compared to the One who is for me.

Our Father is the most encouraging father ever, He sees our struggles and difficulties but sees the progress we are making and aligns with us by speaking the words of life over us.  There are too many that view the Father as fault-finding, distant, and a negative.  Grace means that the Father's encouraging words also have the power to see them fulfilled, it's not seeking to accomplish what He says but resting in that what He speaks will come to fruition.  Yes, our part is to agree with what Father says even if we have no idea how He will bring it to pass.  Being a good Father His words are gentle and encouraging (Matthew 11:29), while the enemy always seeks to drive, push, tempt, and force us into action then punishing us with condemning thoughts when we sin.

I believe that a powerful sign of what Father is doing on the earth is restoration of truly New Covenant prophetic voice.  Old Covenant prophecy is often marked by warning of punishment, calling for repentance of sin, and coming judgment.  Whereas New Covenant prophecy is marked by Exhortation (encouragement), Edification (building up), and Consolation (1 Corinthians 14:3).  I believe part of what Father is doing through New Covenant prophecy is seeking for people to more clearly see what He is like.  Can you imagine the church and the world if there was a clear steady voice of prophetic words that displayed who the Father is?

I believe that we are on the edge of seeing the greatest revelation of the Father through Jesus Christ, it has been happening since the 1990s but I believe will increase in the coming days.  The orphan hearts, fatherless, and the earth a crying out for a true revelation of the good Heavenly Father.  He loves every one of us and has an amazing destiny for each of us.

In the Father's Arms,
Bret

The Mountain of Fear and Father's Love

On our journey to being radically loved there are many, if not all, that will face the mountain of fear in their lives.  I would doubt those who say they have no fear, are actually telling the truth.  We asked our group of home school kids and their parents this question, "What would you do if you had no fear?"  We got amazing answers and things that would impact the world, fear moves to keep us trapped within the confines of it's prison.  I have realized as one who grew up with so much orphan thinking and in an environment of fear, the mountain of fear often mocks and seeks to intimidate me on my journey.  Like Abraham who God called away from the land of his fathers, to pursue the promise and a new land I must leave the land of constant fear, worry, unbelief, and loneliness that I grew up in.  I believe a big part of going on the adventure of faith is leaving the land of your father, meaning there are mindsets, beliefs, and ways of living life that you will need to leave to step into your destiny.  One definition of destiny that I thought was powerful is:   "a predetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency."  When we are born again the Father has placed in us a destiny that becomes awakened, a God-given design and purpose that is unique but is only fulfilled as we come close to Him as a son or daughter.

I had an encounter with the Father where He revealed to me that fear is not so much the presence of something but the absence of love.  Where we have fear is where we have a love deficit.  In 1 John 4:7-8, we are told, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."  In this chapter it goes on to say that "...there is no fear in love because perfect love casts out fear..."  The Father's Love "in Christ" is greater than fear but why does it feel like at times that the mountain of fear is so much bigger.  I know there are others who have not had that experience but realistically most of us have been in the shadow of the mountain of fear.  I think of the 2 men who just spent 19 days free climbing El Capitan, a 3,000 foot vertical face, of the largest piece of granite on the earth.  One climber said, "It took everything in my power to stay positive and resolved that I would succeed."  What it took to climb this huge granite face that no one had ever free climbed is amazing, yet one of the climbers said, "this not an effort to 'conquer'.  It's all about realizing a dream."  I realized that the only way to move past the mountains on our way to our destiny is to stay focused on the dream that God has birthed in your heart.

Finally, I dream of people (especially me) being so flooded and overwhelmed by the Father's love that we are compelled to love a hurting and dying world at any cost.  These people that are flooded with the Father's love and so understand the magnitude of His love that they are actually looking for the broken, the forgotten, and the ones in the darkness to see them rescued and brought home to His love.  They see the impossible fall, not simply because of great faith but because they know the substance of the Father's love must be revealed.

In Father's Love,
Bret

Permission to be Radically Loved

The Holy Spirit has asked me a question that has continued to rock my inside world.  The question:  "Would you give Me permission to radically love you?"  Of course, we know the right and religious answer, yet this question stopped me in my tracks as I knew this was a calling to Him at a much deeper level that would require changing my life.  I believe one of the reasons that we struggle with a Father who is completely love, is because of all our earthly experiences of love have fallen far short of this brilliant and extravagant love.  There is only one earthly display of unconditional love, which perfectly reveals the Father's love and that is His sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16).

Since earth cannot be where we draw our understanding of Father's love, I believe we must look to the reality that is in Heaven to see the brilliance and goodness of His love.  This means the Holy Spirit must cause us to think completely different because all our lives we have learned the measures, limits, and lack of love on the earth.  Those who have experienced poverty when it comes to love, have told us the definition, how love works, and what love can't do.  Don't believe me, why do we ostracize, judge, and seek to distance ourselves from some groups or people?  If we are honest, they scare us with the choices, beliefs, and ways that they live.  Yet 1 John 4:18 says, "...perfect love casts out all fear...", could it be that we have not seen a way to love this people or group who scare us.

I want to propose to you, that there is a fresh revelation of the Father's love coming to His people and to the earth.  In this fresh revelation we will need new language, new creative ways to express, and new ways to think about the outrageous, extravagant, and outlandish love of the Father.  As I look at Scripture I see a love of God that does not fit into my ways of thinking.  I am realizing I am crying out to God for new wine skins (ways of thinking) to hold the new wine (revelation of His love) that He is bringing to my heart.

When in 1 John 3 and other places we are called "Beloved" sons and daughters, God is associating who we are forever with His love for us.  The word "beloved" actually means in the Greek, worthy of love.  How many of us would think from our former state of sin, brokenness, weakness, and character flaws that we are worthy of love?  I would challenge that you don't know yourself if you not seen these things, we all have them.  Yet, we are declared "worthy of love" because of God's great love and power to transform us through Jesus Christ.  I believe being radically loved is the call of every believer, yet how many are willing to open their hearts and lives to experience God at this level.

In Father's Love,
Bret

Realms of Living

It struck me in the midst of God's many blessings during the Christmas and New Year season that there are different realms of living.  This is not some Biblically technical term, simply one that describes what I am talking about (or dimensions).  For example, there is the natural realm which follows certain laws and principals.  We would consider someone to surely plunge to their death (because of the law of gravity) when jumping off a 1,000 ft. building but if they are using a parachute we may believe they are crazy (like when someone recently jumped off "Tower One" in New York City) but can survive.  In the natural realm gravity is a law and the only way to overcome it is with higher laws (such as the law of thrust and aerodynamics).  There are laws and principals (truths) that affect how we live but there are also people who seem to live life at another realm of living.  I think of Heidi Baker, who has seen food multiply so many times it has become commonplace.  Others like Randy Clark, who have seen creative miracles where a woman who only had an atrophied and nonfunctional eye have a completely functional eye form through prayer.

In James 3:15 describes natural wisdom as, "This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic."  Wisdom is the thinking and living that are associated with a certain realm, in this case the natural one (w/o God).  Amazing how this thinking starts out simply as earthly (bound by the created order) but ends up becoming demonic.  I believe this is because without God's redemptive intervention, the earthly realm is under the influence of sin, deception, curse, and ultimately death.  Jesus while on earth was living in the natural realm but displayed living under another realm in the way He thought, interacted with others, and responded to situations.  I believe Jesus lived under the laws and principals of the Kingdom of God, while also walking as a human being in the natural realm.

The revelation of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is more than an idea about who Jesus is but actually elevates us to a higher realm of living.  Since the Bible clearly ties the destiny of human beings with the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.  In Hebrews 5:12-14 we see this displayed, "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.  For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.  But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil."  We discern a realm of living by our senses, to understand what is going on in the world around us, we use our 5 senses connected with our thinking to process the input.  These verse in Hebrews 5 say that if we want to be mature, we need to have our senses trained by the "word of righteousness".

As I have written about poverty before, poverty is more than a way of thinking or an experience but a whole realm of living that people must be lifted out of to experience prosperity.  A CEO who sits in a 100th story skyscraper boardroom thinks and operates on another realm than someone who simply trying to find their next meal.  One thinks and operates in terms of millions and billions of dollars, thousands of people, and massive buildings.  While the other person (poor) is reduced to scrounging in the trash, holding up a sign asking for money, and trying to stay warm.  The video is from Benny Hinn and while I may not agree with everything he teaches or lives, I believe God has given him revelation.

Seated in heavenly places "in Christ",
Bret