Have you ever gotten quiet and asked yourself, “What do I really believe?”

In my heart of hearts, down into the core of my spirit, beyond all the religious debates, beyond what outside sources tell me, “What does [insert your name here] truly believe?” 

If there was no peer pressure, just you sitting with your heavenly Father in that perfect peace of communion, what is really true about God, about Life, about me?

These are good questions to consider, because as the Bible says, with the heart the man believes. So often our heads have been influenced from external voices while the inner man responds to the internal voice of Christ in you. 

When they asked, “When will your kingdom come, Jesus?” He answered them by saying, “My kingdom doesn’t come with ocular observation (it’s not seen with your eyes). My kingdom is found on the inside.” [see Luke 17:20-21]. 

In fact, the Kingdom of God is described as “Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit”[Romans 14:17]. This is an inner state, not a country or a ruling body. 

His Kingdom is within us. It’s not something we have to work towards or yearn for. It’s not on the outside. 

It is something He has given us as a gift to enjoy. 

And He awakens us to see it. 

Did you know that your weaknesses and “flaws” make sense to God? You are not a mistake. He understands you and why you are the way you are, why you do the things you do, why you think the things you think.

That doesn’t mean they are necessarily good or profitable. They may not align with His best for you. Still, You are not a disappointment to God. He’s been with you from the beginning and He sees the details that have shaped your life. This truth doesn’t excuse all of our actions, but it does explain them. And isn’t it good to be understood? The One who understands us can love us unconditionally. This kind of love is the medicine we need to address the things that are not good for us. 

Here we go, into another year on the calendar, and today I want to declare that…

IT’S A NEW DAY!

How new is it? Well, maybe newer than you think. Jesus brought in a new day, and a new and living way.

Jesus is not just a mere footnote in the ongoing story of Adam, as if Adam never ended at all, as if the old man, Adam, somehow survived the cross.

No. We have no connection to Adam, the one whose wages of sin was death, and thank God, that death did come! It came on the cross when the old man was crucified with Christ, the last Adam. The old man is dead. Long live the new creation!

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped from the Eagle onto the Moon’s dusty surface with the words, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” 

When Jesus came into this world, it was a giant leap forward for mankind. People were walking in darkness. Darkness in this sense means blindness or ignorance, or the inability to see eternal reality. The best they had done was figure out a plan to do enough good to sway God in their favor. It wasn’t really working but they tried as best they could to please God with their rules and actions. God always met them where they were at.

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” – Isaiah 7:14
 
When we celebrate Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a special person. This human was conceived, not by the will of a man, but by the will and power of God Himself. Born of a virgin, different from any man known before, Jesus is the good news about our place with God. He is the good news about our Father’s heart toward us all. Jesus is the good news about everything concerning our existence.
 
He is the good news that gives us closure on the story of Adam. Jesus is our awakening. He is the beginning of a new day of realization for humanity.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. (1 Corinthians 13:11)

What is really important in the Christian life? 

Is it that we live up to a set of rules to inspire others to live that way? Or to show that we are different and therefore better? Is our Christian life all about having the correct interpretation of the scriptures? Is it about imposing a Christian morality on society so that people will be good? 

Or is it really about love?

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10, NKJV)

What is the best thing that Christianity has to offer to the world? Some might think it’s morality, that we offer a standard of morality for the world to follow. Morality is a good thing, but we haven’t handled it perfectly and historically we haven’t imposed morality in a way that has been edifying for the world. In fact, it seems we have often done more damage in doing so. 

I propose that the best we have to offer is the fruit of the Spirit. I think it’s time that we prioritize them. When I think of Jesus coming to give us abundant life, what is that abundant life for me? In my case, it was love, joy and peace, as well as the other fruit of the Spirit. Those have given me the closest to a heavenly experience that there could be. It has allowed me to bring that heaven to other people who have consequently also received from the heavenly gift. 

Human beings like to know things. Knowledge puffs us up. I can remember feeling like I had so much Bible knowledge that I thought I was smarter than anyone with a differing perspective. 

Knowledge is like a box of information that we carry, giving us a sense of security, thinking that we understand God. We’ve put together a dogma where we know what God likes and dislikes, what He does and won’t do, fitting it all into a nice, tidy belief system. It makes us feel safe. It can even make us feel superior.

The beautiful problem that came for me was when God showed me that He was much bigger than my little box.

We are being drawn to Love, drawn to the knowledge of He who is holy. It is the intent, the delight, and the very plan of God.

We are experiencing a progressive revelation of God, personally. We continue to understand more than we did before. Our vision becomes clearer and we see increase in the fruit of the Spirit as we come into more love, joy and peace.

This month is a special month for us. It is Rick’s birthday month and our wedding anniversary. We love to celebrate all month. As many of you know, Rick has coined the month as “Ricktober”. It’s silly and fun but celebration is also something very important to us. It’s a priority, a core value. We always want to take time to celebrate the good: the good of our Father in giving us life, healing our souls, bringing us to each other, and revealing His extraordinary love. We keep getting astounded by His loving goodness. Celebrating is a great way to remember these things. 

These are my thoughts today:

I know that I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, yet I’ve also become aware that God is infinitely better than I have imagined. It’s the old adage, “The more I know, the more I realize I don’t know.”

The apostle, Paul, said it this way, “I pray that you would know the height and depth and width and breadth of the love of Christ (though you cannot completely comprehend it).”

We are talking about the mystery of God, but it’s not a closed secret. It’s an open mystery. That means that God is not holding back from us. His doors are not closed. The open mystery is a wide-open vastness of grace and Love so copious that you cannot quantify it. It’s an open mystery that says, “Come and learn of me, and you will find rest for your soul!” It’s the Creator, our source of Life, inviting us to come and see, to come and dine, to come and behold the beauty of the One who is the author and completion of our existence.

I was thinking today about my motivation in ministry. What motivates me to do what I do? 

I think most of us who are in the ministry do it because we feel we are “called” to do so, and we’ve resolved to follow that path in life, but that alone does not make it joyful and fulfilling.

Forgiveness can be challenging, especially when we feel the pain of a perceived wrong done to us. Our bodies are created with a nervous system designed to protect us and keep us alive. When we experience pain or hurt, our nervous system triggers a response to keep us safe. This can lead to a closing of our hearts in fear of further pain. This protective response can make it challenging to forgive, as our instinct is to avoid situations or people that could, potentially, cause us pain.

But we do have help! We have help because we have this thing called Eternal Life living in us, and He provides something that goes beyond our natural instincts.

Let’s talk about eternal life. What is the difference between eternal life defined as an existence that never ends or a quality that lives within us? I think most of us can, at least, imagine what it means to exist without ever stopping; but to comprehend this thing that lives in us called “eternal life” might be something that requires more thought.

I remember as I began to become more acquainted with the Bible how I noticed that it often referred to “eternal life” as something that is within us. Just the very words “eternal life” sounded big and energetic, like it must be something very powerful that we are carrying around. I think that looking at it that way helped me to have faith in its ability to help me in my everyday life. I became more aware of this big, energetic, powerful “something” that could affect me in ways and bring about some changes that I couldn’t seem to do with just my own willpower.

"My understanding is incomplete now, but one day I will understand everything, just as everything about me has been fully understood."

- 1 Corinthians 13:12 TPT

I've often heard the question, "Do you know Jesus?", or "Does that person know Jesus?", or when someone has died, "Did he/she know Jesus?".

But how many times have you heard the question, "Does Jesus know him/her?" 

Does He know you? And if so, when did that relationship begin?

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." - Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV

In the storied history of humanity, two forces stand out as the most powerful and influential: love and fear. These two emotions shape our decisions, our relationships, and our very existence. They are the very foundations of two biblical “kingdoms”, the kingdom of heaven that is based on a foundation of love, and the kingdom of this world, based on a foundation of fear.

Love is the most potent force in the universe.  Love is God Himself.  Love is the power to heal, to inspire, and to bring people together.  When we are affected by love, we are at our best. We are confident and at peace. We sense that inner rightness of  living from our true authentic self.  We are in harmony with God, with all of His creation, and with ourselves.

Lately it has become clear to me that there is something that is largely missing in our world. It is something that comes from God. There are more Christians than any other type of religious belief, so you would think that this element of God would be abounding, but it is clearly not abounding in the world at this time. Maybe it is because it is something that we just don’t care a lot about. Or maybe we are just unaware of it. 

I’m talking about understanding. Understanding is a quality of God’s spirit that lives within us. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, (Isaiah 11:2, NKVJ). There seems to be a big void of understanding. We simply don’t understand each other. We have increased polarity in our politics. People are angry at their neighbors. And even families can’t be together at holidays because of disagreements. What we need is understanding. 

Why do we write blogs like this one, travel away from home every month just to speak about the unconditional love and goodness of God? Why do we minister and pray for those we come into contact with? Why do we gather with others, host a podcast, share videos and write books?

Good question!

The answer is that it's all because of “grace”.  We’ve discovered something beautiful, wonderful, and soul-prospering in the goodness of God’s heart. Love is what heals and nurtures the human soul, and the perfect Love comes straight from our very own heavenly Father.

When you get into a revelation of Grace, you are getting into an exploration about the bigness and goodness of God in ways that you’ve never seen before. You’re not so concerned with dogma as you are about the beauty of a wonderful, loving relationship with the Father. 

As we grow, we realize that nobody is an expert on God because He is much too big to be confined inside anyone’s intellect. This is an exciting truth!