BEHOLDING THE LORD

God put something in particular on my heart to share. Maybe you are reading this right now and He had me write this for you. There are many different ways people can pray. There's worship, intercession, thankful prayers, self-focused prayers, waiting prayer, and a million other experiences that are part of the bigger prayer picture for the follower of Jesus.

One special type of prayer that is often overlooked is what is sometimes called, "beholding the Lord." It's not really the type of prayer you can teach, like intercession or worship. It's something that you learn as you learn to operate in the presence of God. There are times when the most pleasing prayer to God is this "beholding" prayer.

What is it? It's that moment when you sense His presence in your spirit. You inwardly become aware of God, that He is near and you can sense His peace and His rest in your heart. This may come after a time of worship or meditation. Sometimes it comes out of nowhere. But then, in that moment, when we are often quick to move onto the next thing, beholding the Lord requires you to stop.

You don't say anything. You don't do anything. You just fix your inner eyes and gaze upon Him. It's in these moments that He may speak one word, and you heart takes hold of it more that 1,000 words you read or hear someone say. If He says nothing to your spirit, it's these moments of closeness that breathe life into the core of your soul.

The band Lifehouse has a song with a lyric that reads, "I've been hanging on every word you say / and even if you don't want to speak tonight that's alright with me/ Cause I want nothing more than to sit outside heavens door and listen to you breathe / that's where I want to be..."

Take time to behold the Lord. Climb up close. And just be there a while.

LIGHT IT UP

Light is incredible. The more you think about it, the crazier and cooler it is. In college I took a course where we examined things that people take for granted that are largely mystery. One of the things we studied is light. Scientists are still trying to figure out what it is. Some studies show light as a wave--others show it as a particle. This very foundational part of life does not fit into the boxes of modern science. Light at its core is still a mystery.

They say that the human eye only sees light. We don't see objects. You don't actually see the computer screen right now. You think you do, but you actually see light reflecting off the screen. Your eye doesn't process images, it processes light. So if all the light was taken away the object would not be able to be picked up by the human eye.

Scripture talks about the eyes of the heart. It speaks of a different pair of eyes that are buried within each person. The Apostle Paul said that these inner eyes aren't crystal clear, but we can learn to improve our vision. He said we see through a mirror dimly. In New Testament times mirrors weren't made out of glass--they were made out of medal and often times the medal would be tarnished or warped and it was difficult to get a clear view of your image.

The word "dimly" in this scripture means "in a story, an enigma, or a puzzle." We don't see life like it is. the inner eye of the individual doesn't have enough light in this dark world to see clearly.

That's why God is called the Father of Lights. He is the only one in the universe who can see reality without shadows or misunderstandings. He sees things exactly as they are. He sees whats truly true when we can't (which is always, apart from His help).

Its funny to me how often we struggle to trust God. He tells us truth from a fully informed perspective and we judge it and question it from our darkened point of view.

KEEPING IT FRESH

I'm reminded this morning about how important it is to keep your walk with God fresh. Imagine going on a date with your girlfriend or boyfriend and always going to the same restaurant. Imagine always eating the same food and saying the same things to each other. It wouldn't take long before the relationship dried up and died.

Yet our strategy in relationship with God is often this way.

Daily time alone with Jesus is a must. We must spend time alone to hear His voice, meditate on the scripture and seek His face. Routines are important and discipline is important, and this is where the journey begins--but it can't just stay there.

Once you have developed a daily time with God and you are studying His word regularly, you've got to then learn to keep it fresh. Here are some things I sometimes do:

-Find new songs to sing to God
-Read a different translation of the Bible (i like NASB, Amplified, Living Bible, Message)
-Find a different location to get alone
-Take a walk with God rather than staying in one place
-Introduce a new piece of Christian literature


This time alone should be blazing hot--it's not always going to be exciting, and there are times when we just need to push through with discipline. But the times of breakthrough come when we are consistent and always on the edge of our seats expecting His voice.

Do something fresh in your time with God today.

LEARNING TO SNORT

One of my favorite stories in the gospels is the story of Lazarus. He dies while Jesus is out of town and then Jesus comes and raises him from the dead. It's a cool story for numerous reasons but this morning when I read it something jumped off the page.

Twice in the story it says that Jesus was "moved" with compassion in His spirit. Some translations read that He inwardly groaned. He was moved by the situation--His friend dead, Lazarus' sisters weeping--the sorrow of death.

But that's not the only way Jesus was moved. The greek word that's being translated "moved" means a lot more than that. It's a combination of two words :"in" and the word, "to snort with anger." In other words Jesus was inwardly snorting with anger.

His inner groaning was one of anger that said, "this should not be." The God we serve hates sin and sickness and death. He came to earth to undo the work of sin and death that satan did. For Jesus to see His friend die prematurely was unacceptable. He was enraged.

Miracles start to happen when we begin to groan inwardly. Great moves of God come out of great inner turmoil. We have got to hate sin and sickness and bondage. We've got to hate anything that is not God's abundant life. We've got to hate the fact that people are starving in Africa, that young people in America are trading joy and peace for sin and bondage. We must inwardly snort--not at people or circumstance--but at the prince of this world--and then fight in faith to see God's kingdom come.

We live in territory occupied by the enemy and we have the deposit of the Spirit. We don't yet see God's kingdom coming in all areas of life but we can advance His kingdom by faith.

Let's learn to snort with anger on the inside.

INTERCESSION

Intercession is one of the more forgotten weapons of the follower of Jesus. The word "intercede" literally means to plead for someone else; to stand as a go-between.

There are two critical weapons that can only be accessed for the Christian through intercession. The first is that we can change the outcome of events and situations. In the book of Acts the Apostle Peter is thrown in prison for preaching the gospel and the we read, "So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church of God." (Acts 12:5). The next thing that happens is an angel shows up and leads Peter out of the prison cell. The fervent prayers of the church produced a direct breakthrough for Peter.

When you are faced with a situation, the first thing to do is to find God's heart on the matter. Search the scriptures and seek God until His will is clear in your heart. Then begin to pray--not just "whatever your will God, do it." Instead pray His will. It's His will for the lost to be saved, the sick to be healed and the bound to be freed. He's already told us this--so we can intercede for His will to come to pass. I am convinced that if we will ask, we will receive. Keep asking, seeking and knocking for the revealed will of God to be done. We are in a war, and battles must be fought and won through faith and prayer.

Secondly, intercession sweetens the soul. When you begin to cry out for your friend to be saved or healed, God's heart of compassion is transferred to you. You will start to love what He loves and hate what He hates. If you find yourself lacking passion for the things of God and not having much fervency, it is most likely because you have not been interceding. Intercession gives you access to feel the emotions and desires of God. It produces what some preachers have called "unction." There is a fervency and a zeal behind what you say and do because you have sat at the feet of the king and sensed His heart.

We must learn to intercede--every believer--not just a few. If we are going to go to a new place in Jesus, we have to learn to impact the outcome of events through prayer, and carry the heart of God. Intercession is the door.

BIG IDEAS

How big is God? This coming spring Holyfire Ministries is hosting a conference called, "He Is." The conference will focus around the nature and character of God. When the Holy Spirit first dropped this topic on me I didn't realize how challenging it would be--or how critical is was to truly see God as He is.

Since the early spring I've been spending time trying to get a better grasp on the nature of God. It's a topic worthy of intense study. How we see Him largely controls how we see the world--but it's also the most intimidating and oversized study for the mind of man.

Today I've been stuck on Isaiah 40:28. It tells us that God's understanding is "inscrutable." Now, if you're like me inscrutable is not a word you use every day, so I had to do some digging in order to understand. The scripture literally translates, "there is no searching of His understanding." It is beyond examination--it's a well that's too deep. No one can fathom the depths. If you plunged into it and spent 1,000 years going down, you would still only be a the surface of the understanding of God.

It's funny that with a God like that, we expect to understand everything He does. As soon as something happens that doesn't seem to fit our little box of God, we often fall into unbelief. We question God and even stop trusting Him.

I think the point Isaiah is trying to make is that if there weren't times when we didn't understand God then He wouldn't be God. His mind is bigger than ours and we have to be OK with not knowing sometimes. This is what Jesus meant when He said the kingdom belongs to little children.

My three year-old son has never asked me if I paid the electric bill. He doesn't worry, and He doesn't care. He works from a place of absolute trust in Dad. That's the way it works.

THE FIRE OF HOPE

"And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." --Romans 5:5

Hope is the fuel of the soul. For the person who wants to stay hot for God, hope must be intentionally stoked. You have to take time to develop your hope, allow yourself to dream. Hope is the beginning of faith--it can grow into faith if you cultivate it.

The foundation of all hope is in the character of God. I have hope because I've become fully convinced in the type of God that He is. I can be sure because His nature is sure in my eyes. The foundational quality of God that should release hope in the heart of the believer is His love. I hope because the maker of all things, the source of all life--the eternal, living, ruling God--loves me--a lot.

How much does He love you? This verse in Romans says that His love has been poured out on us. Interestingly, there is more than one word in the greek for "pour." Each word has its own nuance. This particular word that is used in Romans 5 for pour means to completely empty upon. It pictures a glass that has been tipped over so that all the liquid in the glass comes out. It means to dump on until there is no more left to dump.

Think about this. The God is the universe has chosen to spend all of His love--to empty His love on you and me. He's poured out all the love He has to pour out on us. If ever there was a reason to hope, this is it. He loves us.

WOW

"For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." --Hebrews 10:14

Sometimes I'll read a certain passage in the Bible and it feels like God is waiting there behind it. As soon as i read it, His tangible presence is released. Today, this was one of those verses.

I think one of the hardest things for the human mind to grasp is this grace principle that is at the very core of the gospel. Sometimes, we are even afraid to talk about it, for fear that people will take God's grace as a license to sin. We have got to look the real truth about grace in the face and let its blinding light knock us down.

What does the writer of Hebrews mean when he says that by one offering God has perfected for all time those who are sanctified? Of course, the one offering that he mentions is Christ's death on the cross. So by the cross, in the eyes of God the Father, we are perfected. This is what Jesus has done for us--He has perfected us in the spirit. No more guilt. Perfected. Perfected--in the eyes of the perfect one.

If you are walking in the light and you are readily confessing any known sin and forsaking it, then you should be enjoying unhindered, uninterrupted fellowship with God.

Verse 12 says that the sacrifice of Jesus was for all sins for all time and that Jesus sat down at the Fathers right hand. He sat down because the work was done. There is nothing more that God can do to express His love or deliver His people. It really is finished.

Whats left is our part. We have got to draw near--because we can. (Heb 10:22). But, we have to draw near in a particular way--with confidence--a sincere heart and full assurance of faith.

If this stuff doesn't stir you up and ignite something in your heart, then read it again until it does. Hang out in Romans 3 and Hebrews 10and Galations where it talks about sonship. Get this in you daily and then live out of it. Wow.

SEEING GOD

This is an incredible time to be alive. I believe it's a time when God is going to break through and do things that many of us have been waiting for--right now--it's faith that grabs the attention of God.

I've been reading this book by jentezen franklin called fasting. In the book, he talks about magnifying God. I've been thinking and expanding on that thought, and it's stirring me to a new place of worship.

Think for a second about a magnifying glass. It doesn't actually make the object you're looking at any bigger--it just makes it bigger in your sight. It also blocks out all the stuff around the object you're focusing on. Lastly, you able able to see the intricacies of the object when you magnify it.

Psalm 34 tells us to magnify God. We can't make Him any bigger, but we can make Him bigger in our sight. When we magnify Him it blocks out all the peripheral stuff of life--it also allows us to see His intricacies.

Magnify Him with me.

WAITING AND GOING

Just got back from some time in Boston with a few friends. Some of our conversation prompted this post today. I think a lot of Christians struggle with the tension between waiting on God and making something happen. Am I supposed to wait for the perfect husband or wife to fall from the sky or am I supposed to get out there and meet people? Am I supposed to look for that perfect job, or wait for God to bring it to me? We know we are told to wait on God--but we are also told to GO and spread the kingdom. So when do we wait and when do we go?

There is no easy answer for this, but I have a few thoughts. In John 5:6 Jesus encounters a man who is sitting by a pool waiting for a miracle. The guy had been sick for 38 years and so far his pool-sitting strategy hadn't paid off. Jesus walks up to the man and asks an incredibly odd question. He says, "do you want to get well?"

Think about this--the guy is unable to walk and very sick. What person, in that condition would not want to get well? Obviously the man wants to get well--no one enjoys sickness and pain, so what is Jesus driving at with His question?

It's funny how the human psyche works. There are many things that we want, but we never act on our desires. Some people talk about wanting to lose weight but never exercise, or wanting to buy a house, but they never look for one, or wanting to learn to play an instrument but never practice. How many people want to quit smoking, but smoke their entire lives, or want to stop drinking and never do? These wants are only "head wants" rather than "heart wants." We don't want it bad enough to do something different.

In the story with the guy by the pool, Jesus was introducing the new covenant to humanity. The old covenant is the covenant of the law, with its washings to become clean. The crippled man had to get in the pool to get his miracle, but Jesus was there to extend the kingdom by faith. Now,all the man had to do was get up and stand to his feet. That act of faith would heal him. He had to do something--and it was something that didn't fit into how he though healing could come.

Scripture doesn't tell us that Jesus prayed for him or pulled him up. The guy just stood and it was done. How many of us have wants and desires that never reach into the supernatural and find their fulfillment? In many cases, our breakthrough does not come because we are waiting for God to tell us things He's already told us. All thing are possible to him who believes--all things, not some things.

Do you want to change? Are you willing to risk and act?