Intimacy with Jesus

Holy Knowing the Holy Spirit – VOTD.07.10.18

Because we are united to Christ, we have direct access to the Father through the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2:18

Have you ever finally met someone you had only emailed with in the past? Face to face we learn volumes about people whom we’ve never met in person. We discover things about their personality that changes our relationship completely.

We became sensitive to them as we experience what pleases them, what grieves them. We get to know them beyond what we’ve read. We even interpret what we’ve previously read in a different light because now we “know” them.

The Holy Spirit, wants each of us to know Him like that.

What makes someone a person? It’s what comes out of them. Emotions. Will. Intellect. Feelings. Opinions. These are just a few of the things that give us a personality. The Holy Spirit is a person. And just like you and me, He can feel, perceive, and respond. He gets hurt. He gets pleased. He speaks, and He has His own will.

The Spirit is one who brings into being within each of us direct access to the Father. He implements all that God has for us in our lives. God has many things for us… blessings, perfect gifts, abundant life, new nature, abilities, etc.… But it’s the Holy Spirit that adorns us with them and applies them to us.

This doesn’t eclipse the Father and the Son. But we can’t be in touch with the Father and the Son without the Holy Spirit. That’s the lesson of today’s verse. It is also the point of Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:10-14 which we’ll end with:  (more…)

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Waiting on God’s Promises pt 2 – VOTD.03.13.18

Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness. 2 Peter 1:3

Last time we looked at how we rediscover and realign ourselves to God’s promises when the waiting gets long. First we looked dwelling on His loving commitment to keep fulfilling in us all that He promises. Second, we talked about keeping our agreement with God’s promises active and practical rather letting them fade into the theoretical and abstract.

One final way we can keep refreshing God’s promises in our lives and realign ourselves to them:

3) Declare our partnership with God. Declaration allows us to affirm our passion and re-calibrate our thinking to align with His. Once we know the specific promise God wants to bring into our daily reality, we can be quick to declare our agreement and commitment to partnering with Him to see that promise become reality.

It works like this: “Jesus has given me everything that pertains to life and godliness to become all that He promises.” AND “Because I have this promise from Jesus, I will see the promise fulfilled.” This isn’t presumption. We have Jesus’ promise and what we’re doing is aligning our mind, will, and emotions with that promise. (more…)

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Waiting on God’s Promises – VOTD.03.12.18

The One who began this glorious work  in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!  Philippians 1:6

A common question when considering the promises of God is, “Why haven’t my promises come to pass yet?” What does it mean when the gap only seems to widen between promise we’ve received and promise fulfilled? And what do we do with the time in between?

Often, when we find ourselves waiting for God to fulfill some promise He’s given, it means that God is creating a new level of partnership and fellowship with us – and you and I are invited to join Him. He’s making us able to receive the fulfillment of the promise – capable of handling the responsibility that goes along with any of the gifts that He gives us.

And sometimes when we find ourselves waiting a long time for God to fulfill His promises, we become distracted from those promises. We remember them, but we’ve stopped actively agreeing and aligning our hearts with God’s intention. When we do that, we step out of the place of agreement that He has for us and lose some of the and fullness that is needed to walk out His promises.

So how do we rediscover and realign with God’s gifts of promise?
1) Hear the unchanging commitment of God in His promises. Dwell on His loving commitment to keep fulfilling in us all that He promises, just as today’s verse promises us. (more…)

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Understanding – VOTD.02.26.18

Do you understand what you are reading? Acts 8:30

I was chatting with some very Bible-literate friends and they were marveling that so much of what the Bible is clear on is missed by so many people who avidly read the Bible. How can people miss what’s right in front of their eyes? I was explaining, from my background in cognition, how our brains pick up on an idea and then filter all new data through the filter of what we already know (or assume) and that makes us likely to read right over things that don’t square with the filter of what we already think.

It works like this: An idea is planted in our heads that we buy into. Then other ideas come along that don’t support or challenge our original idea. If we actually stop to consider these new ideas, we may find they create dissonance with our closely held belief. So, since our minds don’t like dissonance very much, rather than put up with the dissonance, we will either get angry at the person or book that presents the new idea, or more often, ignore it, without even realizing we’re doing it.

The evidence of this problem is everywhere. It’s the reason mystery-fiction writers can snooker us right up to the very end despite planting clues blatantly before our eyes. It’s the reason that political and religious zealots can completely miss the evidences that don’t support their mantra. It’s so pervasive in Bible teaching that I often pray that God would lead me beyond my own assumptions and understanding when I come to read or teach the Word. In fact, He has often answered that prayer and stretched my understanding. (more…)

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Lion and Lamb – VOTD.07.31.17

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  2 Corinthians 9:8

We don’t have to be second-class Christians. God is able to make all grace overflow in you and me. Why? So we’ll have all we need to abound in Jesus and in His work. It’s all from God and He makes His grace overflow in us through Jesus.

Not all Christians are overflowing in grace. You and I can make the Lord our refuge, our dwelling (Ps 90:1), or we can try to run away from Him.  The first is blessed and the second is tragic.

The Bible refers to Jesus as the “Lion of Judah”, and the “Lamb of God” (Rev 5:5/Jn 1:29). There is a tension there.

When the Lion of Judah roars, those who are running from Him had better be afraid. When the Lamb of God draw those who are running toward Him to Himself, those who seek Him, will find Him in a deeper way than they ever thought possible.

Jesus alone is our ultimate protection and safety. Jesus has eyes only for us, and demonstrates His incredible love over and over. He’s relentless in His tenderness for those who seek Him… He’s relentless in his provision of security and passion for us (Ps 27:8). (more…)

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On Navigating the Presence of God – VOTD.04.24.17

You make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8

Last time we asked the question: Why don’t more Christians experience God’s Presence? The first reason was that we don’t know or believe it’s available. Today we’ll look at the second reason: We don’t know how to get there.

Once we know and believe that the presence of God is something that is available to us, the obvious question is “How do I get there? How do we plug in and experience it for ourselves?

According to today’s verses, God, Himself makes that known to us. “You make known to me the path of life.” So what we’re really asking is how does God reveal Himself—How does He make Himself known? How can we position ourselves to receive the revelation God of Himself?

There are obvious answers like reading the Bible, Prayer, Fasting, etc. And there’s plenty of ‘formulas’. Often believers stumble into something that works for them; they latch onto it because it has greatly impacted their life. And they surround it with a Bible verse or two and begin to teach others.

Don’t misunderstand me…It is wonderful when any believer gets a revelation of the presence of God that changes their life—that opens up for them an entire new dimension of intimacy with Jesus. I totally rejoice for them and their experience. (more…)

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In Jesus’ Presence – VOTD.04.23.17

You make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

It’s incompatible with the Christian faith to NOT want to be in God’s presence. After all, the practical result of being in God’s presence is joy. And who doesn’t want joy? And yet many Christians seem stressed out or bored and that suggests they lack this sense of God’s presence that today’s verse speaks of.

In fact, the whole of Psalm 16 makes being in the presence of God very compelling. It’s a natural desire for anyone who have been around those who have experienced being in God’s Presence to want the joy, comfort, and sense of well-being and love that comes with being in His Presence. It is available. So why don’t more Christians experience His Presence? (more…)

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Resurrection and Life – VOTD.04.11.17

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.  John 11:25,26

Last time, we talked about the Passover, and how through Jesus’ blood covering our guilt and shame, we each are made right with God. But what brings us into the fullness of what Jesus accomplished for us in His shed blood and His resurrection? Only one force—the resurrection power of life—zoe in the Greek. It’s the same word as Spirit.

God’s reveals His purpose for Jesus’ shedding His blood: “For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He would destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8).

This is the purpose Jesus demonstrated throughout His ministry. He overcame the works of the devil throughout His ministry. He did all that He did (teaching, miracles, conversations, …everything)—all by the power of the Spirit (zoe, life). However, it was His shedding His blood on the cross that actually destroyed those works.

Jesus covered the guilt and shame of humanity when by the power of the Spirit, zoe, life, He reached into the enemy’s realm and overcame death in death’s power. At that moment, our sin and shame were not only covered, like the blood of the Lamb covered the doorposts back in the time of Moses, but by the Spirit, zoe, life, the penalty of our sin (death) was taken on Himself and was and carried out on Him in our behalf.

Jesus conquered death and hell for each of us. God’s purpose in sending Jesus had been accomplished. “…he shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who were held in slavery by death.” (Heb 2:14,15). This resurrection power comes directly out of the heart of God—His love for each of us (Jn 3:16). (more…)

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Life in the Vineyard – VOTD.04.03.17

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ…If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  1 Corinthians12:12,26

Last time we were talking about nurturing new believers and used Paul’s analogy of a mother nursing a child. Another metaphor that might help, is vineyards. Jesus used this in talking about vines and vine-dressers (Jn 15).

Sure, having a healthy vineyard includes weeding out the ugly, and often that’s all the help people will get from their more entrenched churchmates because it’s all we can see. But nurturing Christians can see a lot more and go much further.

A nurturing vinedresser can take the newly-growing shoots and attach them to a trellis so they can get the support sunshine and watering they need to grow higher, stronger, and more fruitful. Otherwise, the newbie might just wallow in the dirt and never go anywhere.

And while the nurturing person might do some weeding, too, they are also backfilling. Like Jesus’ warning about chasing out a demon and leaving the host clean but EMPTY, we often find that Christian discipleship programs are good at ‘weeding’ out the ugly in the lives of people we minister to, but leave craters in their place—like an open invitation for seven-times worse problems in the future (Lk 11:26) if we aren’t backfilling the hole that left with Jesus.

Hurt people are often the ones who are drawn to Jesus. He offers solutions they know they need. But hurt people have a real knack at getting themselves into situations where they will be hurt again and again. Nurturing disciple-makers know that removing the weeds from hurting people’s lives is not enough. (more…)

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Got Milk? – VOTD.04.03.17

I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink and I did not give you solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. 1 Corinthians 3:1,2

I have a Facebook friend who has been defining ‘Christian words’ and phrases you might be used to if you grew up in church, but are meaningless, or apt to be crazily misunderstood, by a non-believer or a new believers who come into our midst.

Done in a humorous way, it underscores just how comfortable we can be with an entire lexicon of church terminology that are lost in the translation for those who haven’t been filled in along the way. One of those terms is ‘disciple’ as in what we are (or should be) as Christians.

So what’s a disciple? A disciple is someone who finds their entire identity, purpose and meaning in Jesus. Jesus is the center of their lives. They are all in, fully committed to Jesus.

Now obviously, most newly-churched people don’t fit that definition… they don’t even know the definition. Sadly, many who have been in the Christian faith a long time don’t know it either. So to counteract that, we have something we call discipling.

‘Discipling’ can be traced to ‘succor’ which is an old fashion term for nursing (as in nursing a baby). This is what Paul was talking about in today’s verse. He’s been discipling these new believers with milk-like truths, easy to deal with. Early on they were babies in the faith and needed to be cared for like spiritual babies if they are going to become mature followers of Jesus. That’s the ministry of discipling in a nutshell. (more…)

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