Being the Beloved Overwhelmed by Love

As New Creations in Christ we are the Beloved, all of heaven is attentive to Christ in us.  God's endless affection towards us can only be received as we see ourselves the same we He sees us.  When we see ourselves after our sins, our failures, our inadequacies, and weakness then through this image of ourselves we have a very difficult time receiving love.  When we begin with how God sees us as His Beloved son or Beloved daughter than the reality of who God is as love begins to be revealed to us.  It is certainly easy to get overwhelmed by sin, fear, bitterness, lack, poverty, anger, and darkness but these all come from seeing ourselves after the old nature and not the new.  Scriptures is clear in Colossians 3:3-4 says, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."  These verses are not reserved for some future glory, the truth is you have died (old self united to sin) and now you are living from your new life (in Christ).  Every time we agree with the truth of who we are "in Christ" then Jesus is manifested through us, which means there is a dimension of glory released.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, constantly lived under an open heaven with the Father's affection and love flowing to Him without end.  We have been placed "in Christ" as sons and daughters of God with His life resident in us.  How can we live out the purposes of God if we are not empowered by the same love Jesus was?  I believe to live the life God intends for us "in Christ", we must be overwhelmed by the nature of God, God is love.  Love creates all kinds of possibilities and outcomes that are all filled with God or we are going to be given over to fear with all it's negative possibilities.

This is why I believe worship is so important, even though worship is focused on God He in His love catches us up in His affection, kindness, and goodness.  Worship positions us to be overwhelmed by God's infinite love, all the possibilities love creates, and resting in His goodness.  In this place all the negatives in life fade away, because the negatives all involve possibilities and viewpoints that are not filled with who He is.  Right now in the national dialogue of where our country is going, so many of these are filled with the negatives which are devoid of God.  The only way we as a people are redeemed is God intervention "in Christ" and the only way our nation will be saved is through God's intervention bringing His Kingdom.

Position your heart as the Beloved of God, not because of what you have done, will do, or will stop doing but because of who God is and what He has done "in Christ" to make the Beloved.  Enjoy being radically loved, overwhelmed by love, and undone by love.

Beloved of God,
Bret

Promises: Doorway to Experience Father's Love

As internally I was having a difficult day, since I had not slept well the night before and the darkness seemed to overshadow me.  I remembered a promise the Lord had given me that I had meditated on in Colossians 1:12-13.  Yet when I pictured myself in the Promise which is what you do through a way to meditate on Scripture called Lectio Divina I was led into a very profound encounter.  There have been many a preacher who has used the verse in Revelation 3:20, "Behold I stand at the door and knock..." as a message that Jesus is inviting the pre-believer into relationship.  There is truth in that but I believe the primary invitation is to the Bride of Christ to come into relationship and intimacy with Him.

There are 750 promises in the New Testament that are all doorways into a new dimension of relationship with Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit.  These are also doorway into experiencing the Kingdom of God and a bit of heaven on earth.  Yet for most believers they are content to have them as cute little reminders on their refrigerators.  Could it be that there are profound encounters waiting for each of us with God through these Promises where we are catapulted into new dimensions of relationship with Him?

Whatever situation, negative, or difficulty you may be facing there is a Promise the Father has waiting for you, a doorway to a new dimension.  I think of the wardrobe in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  The Wardrobe was the doorway into another world, the land of Narnia filled with adventure, important roles, and whole new identities.  This is a wonderful picture of the reality that we have been invited into, to live from heaven to earth.  Yet most of our thoughts are of earthly things and concerns.  How can we bring heaven to earth as Jesus instructed if we don't encounter Him in heavenly places?  We are citizens of heaven who are called to experience the reality of heaven now to manifest heaven on earth.

Some will say that if you are too heavenly-minded then you are no earthly good but Jesus in the Lord's prayer connected the two when He said, "On earth as it is in heaven.."  Encounters with Jesus lead to an impartion of relationship and His nature than transforms us into His image, then we manifest Him to others.  Our pastor says that in studying Scripture he realized how imporant encounter is throughout the entire Bible.  The invitation is open to every person who will go through the door of Promise to encounter who God is for you.

A Child of Promise,
Bret

Faith and Trust come from Love

I have longed to trust God more fully to be bold in stepping out in His leading.  Yet I have found places of an orphan heart where there is unbelief and distrust.  Following this discovery is often disappointment and frustration, yet the problem is that there is deception in this viewpoint.  The truth is that God loves me because of who He is and thus from His love rises up trust.  We are transformed by receiving Father's love for us and seeing ourselves as the Beloved of God.  As we see we truly are the Beloved faith and trust begin to rise up within us, actually it is who we are to trust God.  You cannot try to trust or try to believe, trust comes from a heart that experiences His love.  In Galatians we are told that "faith works through love", if faith is not working then we are not receiving His love.

Since God is love and loves us with an unrelenting, overwhelming, and powerful love the limitation is on our side and connected to what we believe about our identity.  It is amazing to me how much we as believers try to do for God apart from experiencing and knowing His love.  Love is the initiator and we are the receivers, which is a humbling place but also the most powerful place.  I believe our limited view of God's nature as love, through our painful experiences of love as being rejecting, disappointments when we wanted love but didn't get it, and religion which has taught us that God only loves us when we are good has slowed the ocean of God's love down to a trickle.  Father has designed that in our New Nature as Father's Beloved sons and daughters that we would be perpetually overwhelmed by His love.

Father legally paid the price in Jesus Christ for us to be filled with all the fullness of God.  I love how the Amplified Bible says it in Ephesians 3:19, "and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God's presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself]."  I know that I am not full but I want my inheritance in Jesus Christ and being filled with God Himself is the inheritance.  Things or resources are wonderful but to receive God Himself is truly our destiny.  I am tired of trickles or even encounters I want to experience being the Beloved 24/7 since we are habitations of God on the earth.

In Father's Love,
Bret