Shaken and Unshaken

As my family and I were watching a documentary by NOVA on the massive building "Hagia Sophia", pronounced Haya-Sophia the Holy Spirit began to speak to my spirit.  This massive church was first constructed by Emperor Justinas around 500AD to display his piety but also the power of the kingdom he had built.  We human beings have a desire to build, not just for the practical needs of housing and shelter but well beyond.

The documentary revealed the history Hagia Sophia, it was taken over and converted to a Roman Catholic Church, then later conquered by one of the Sultan's who turned it into a Muslim Mosque.  In our modern time it has become neutral as a Museum. Yet in the midst of all these tumultuous times, these were not the greatest threat to the mega structure.  Earthquakes were the greatest threat, since it was built on a very large fault line and there had been many great quakes that did not bring it down.  At one point in the documentary, they were trying to figure out how to strengthen the structure to keep it from falling so they built a model to be put on a shake table.  This shake table simulated earthquakes that would hit this massive structure.

This is the point where the Holy Spirit began to take me on a journey, to show me that the most important buildings are not buildings at all but people.  Paul points out that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, meaning that God does not dwell in buildings but in people.  The shake table reminded me of the shaking mentioned in Hebrews 12:26-28 (God will shake the earth and the heavens but we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken).  Our lives are like being on the shake table when the model was being tested, the structures of the heart and mind that were built by human hands begin to crack (structures influenced by orphan living, the enemy, and the world).  At the same time as the these structures are being torn down (IE. lies, pride, self-righteousness, bitterness, and unforgiveness), structures of the kingdom are being erected by the Spirit of God (truth, humility, love, character and our new identity as sons and daughters).

We must learn as the shaking in our lives comes these are simply tests to help us build the structure of our lives on truth revealed by the Holy Spirit, so we can withstand when the real earthquakes come.  The structures of the flesh must come down since they are built on a sinking foundation of trusting in our selves, rather than trusting in Christ.  Orphan structures of the heart and mind are being shaken, while out of the ashes we as sons and daughters are arising.

Built on Christ,
Bret

Coming Home

There is something so powerful about the words "Coming Home", it evokes either memories of pain, rejection, and disappointment or wonderful memories of Mom cooking a great meal and the family all together enjoying around the dinner table.  Home is not a neutral or factual description but one that evokes in our hearts a flood of imaginings.  Yet "Coming Home" is the invitation of the Gospel, home is not so much a physical location as a place in the hearts of those who love us and where we belong (parents).

Yet on an orphan planet where so many are not sons and daughters in their hearts but have chosen independence and self-sufficiency, finding our way home is a journey through sometimes dark passage ways, failures, and disappointments to come home.  I have realized that there is a stronghold that surrounds and keeps me from entering into more of the revelation and reality of sonship.  This stronghold was constructed in my heart when my father committed suicide, this will mean walking through the dark woods of unbelief, the desert of fear of trusting fathers, and the caves of despair of ever being totally loved.

Jesus came to the earth from being in the Father's bosom and in John 14 He tells us that He is leaving this earth to prepare a place for us in the Father's house and in the Father's bosom.  In other words, He came to bring us "Home" to having a place in the Father's heart.  From beginning to end the Bible chronicles God's pursuit of His people to bring them "Home", His great love spans time, sin, unbelief, rebellion, failure upon failure on man's part.  Yet this lovesick Father will not quit pursuing us and now the barriers have come down to the final ones, the ones that are in our heart.  Jesus made a way for us to "Come Home" and even in the story of the Extravagant Father (also known as the Prodigal Son), it is the Father that is looking out from His porch and searching the horizon.  Yet love requires a choice, He has chosen us but will we respond to Him.

The prodigal is the one who left home and the eldest son though he has not left home does not have home in his heart.  A changing of their minds and direction must take place (repentance) for the journey home to end in the joyful celebration.  Each of these sons has quite a journey of the heart ahead of them, but the call to "Come Home" beckons the depths of their hearts.  Each of us have a journey to "Come Home" to the Father's Heart and Love, there are many who have come home but still many more who are wandering in need of seeing the path.  Jesus said "...I am the way, the truth, and the life...", we must lay down our life (soul life- orphan ways) in order to follow in Jesus footsteps and "Come Home".

On the Journey Home,
Bret

Tree of Life: Desire Fulfilled

There has been a battle in my heart that Holy Spirit is beginning to shine some light on and I believe is a battle for some many others who walk with God.  I learned growing up that others needs and wants were more important than mine, thus I am here to serve others.  I  have taken this into my relationship with Father, that He is a Father that is primarily looking for people to serve Him.  So I have learned how to constantly suppress my desires, put others wants or desires before mine, and even learning how to go with unmet needs.  This all can sound very noble, yet I now see it as prideful instead of noble.  I have even learned how to see desires that don't appear "godly" to be selfish.  Jesus so often asked people when He encountered them, "What do you want?"  This question for those who believe their primary identity is in being a servant is a disturbing question.  Religion was not about meeting people's needs but about people doing what God wanted (or they perceived He wanted).

Could it be that God is actually interested in my desires, needs, and wants?  Scripture tells us in Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart."  A verse in Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life."  Could it be that my learned pattern of living to martyr my own needs and desires on behalf of others is not want God wants but He wants to fulfill the deepest desires of my heart.  Unfortunately, my role of trying to tireless serve others before my self (self-denial) has been rewarded in the Christian world.  It seems that eldest brothers (from the story of the Prodigal Son) seem to fit at the Father's house but the storm that is brewing in their hearts is far from the peace of a true son.  The eldest son seemed to be a dutiful servant, a hard-worker, faithful, loyal, and even good yet these masked a heart of anger and bitterness.

On my journey to know the Father's Love, it seems that He is revealing that I cannot live as a servant because servants view Father as a Master who is oppressive, demanding, and is only interested in what He wants.  Now I know this seems to be a fine line, because Jesus (as a Son) only did what He saw the Father doing and only said what He heard the Father saying.  This sounds very much like being a servant who has no desires or wants of his own, yet Jesus did not serve His Father as one who had to but as a Son who loved His Father.  Jesus fully expressed His needs and desires to the Father but somewhere in His complete trust of the Father's heart, He was able to put the Father first and Jesus wants and desires were also fulfilled.  I once heard Heidi Baker say, "Love looks like something, a need met is love".  So if Father truly loves us, does He want to fulfill our needs and wouldn't love be interested in our fulfilling our desires.  This takes me back to Father's invitation to me, "Are you willing to be radically loved?"  My perception of what this means is being changed as He seeks to show me what He means.

Learning to live as a son,
Bret

Father's Love: Freedom from Bitter Roots

As I was preparing to teach in our School of Ministry, I was impacted by a teaching on "Bitter Roots" by Elijah House Ministries.  You know it is encouraging when the Holy Spirit takes what you have learned in other places in Scripture, life, and through other teaching to confirm an important point.  The question:  Why aren't all people prospering in their lives?  One answer is that the roots of their lives are nourishing them but the nourishment is actually poison.

All of us have roots in our lives, these are the deeply held beliefs about our identity, others, life, and even God.  The law of sowing and reaping has been in place ever since the earth has existed.  This law dictates that whatever is sown reaps in like kind, for example a corn seed will grow corn roots and grow into a corn plant reaping a corn harvest.  This is a natural example, yet the spiritual law was in place that dictated what is on the earth.  Hebrews 12:14-15 says, "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; "

When in the formation of our identity as we are growing from infancy into childhood, we don't receive the appropriate nurture, encouragement, discipline/guidance, and love then we can have bitter roots.  The bitter roots do not come from how we were treated in the relationship but from our own judgements (sinful response to hurts) of those who failed us.  Our unmet needs will tempt us to point to judging those who did not meet our needs or rejected our needs, thus their sin against us tempts us to sin against them.  This cycle will lead to the development in our hearts and lives of bitter root structures that will then lead to trees that produce bad fruit.

In Father's love for us, Jesus came to take the punishment for our sin of judgement on others for how they hurt us and thus made a way for us to forgive and cut off those bitter roots.  We do not have to be captive to the judgements of people who hurt us, we can extend grace to them and be free.

We are told in Ephesians 3:17 says, we are to be "...rooted and grounded in love..." but as we can see we also have a choice to be rooted and grounded in bitterness towards ourselves, God, others, and life.  Freedom is a choice and we must uproot those old structures of the heart, as we walk in Father's love and forgive as He forgave us in Christ.

Rooted in Love,
Bret