Eyes Wide Open

It was a morning just like any other. And as I merged onto the highway, still trying to force my eyes out of their sleep, I was reminded that no day is like any other when you are living for the King. It was exquisite. Perfectly painted and displayed like a showcase of the finest art, almost as if to say, "look what I made for you". You gotta understand, I'm not exactly a morning person, and sunrises are usually passed by in a zoned-out state of sub-conscious exhaustion. But this one...this one made me smile, laugh even. A perfectly drawn line appearing as a horizon, separating a half risen sun from a deep blue sky of oceanic proportion. I felt like I was back in California, driving on the 1...gazing over the ocean. Just when I was missing Cali so much, God paints me a picture reminding me that he is personal. That he loves me just that much. Extravagant Love, knowing no bounds.

He is jealous of our love, because it is a personal love. And as I examine my life, my "story", I have to marvel at his personal appearance throughout it all. A never-ending, continual pursuit of my heart. For that is what this life is about. It was just the night before, that I was crying out his Name, seeking comfort amidst the pain of this life. And I surprised myself, calling him Daddy. Now i've tried this name out before with him, trying to understand what this exactly meant, trying to grasp the meaning of this concept. I wanted to learn, but I was far from feeling a half of its truth. It was forced...sound intention, but still forced. This time was different. I was crying from my heart to my Daddy. And I realized that even in such terrible pain and agony, the beautiful love of God pours forth into my story. I think...that maybe it is in those times that we reach the end of ourselves, that we are in better position to reach out. To soften our distrusting hearts and pursue him back. As we turn around and take a look back on our stories, don't diminish or deny those times of excruciating pain. It is in those times, that you will see God's pursuit of you all that much clearer. He is so beautiful. Don't forget to look back, it is what propels us forward.

The Greatest Of These Is Love

I love justice. Those of you that truly know me are prolly echoing in agreement. You see, it is justice that drives the innermost passions of my soul. God speaks highly of righteous justice, and I believe his holy justice is so near to his heart. But it's not the bulls eye center. That belongs to Love. Justice is a whole lot easier for me to grasp, than its relative, love. I have only recently been learning about this love thing and all it entails. Love is the greatest, because it is God's essence. It is also the hardest, for this reason. It requires much more out of us...or, at least it does, me. Strength to forgive, like I've never known. Do you know how difficult it is to forgive, IN LOVE, someone who has betrayed you to your very core? I find that it's a daily process, wherein, one day it comes with ease, and the very next day it takes all that I have and more...it takes Jesus. The price is death. Death to ourselves...those human and sinful tendencies to protect yourself and preserve your heart from hurt. A call for total surrender of self, pride, control, safety as we know it...an action of serious humility. Love. Beckoning our hate to be laid at the feet of Jesus and be picked back up with its transformation to grace. I haven't been able to do this in my power...I think that's the point. We live this life with two options...to live it in our own power, while declaring Jesus but not actually fully opening the door to his redemptive work; or...we bust the door open, choosing, everyday, to welcome him in. Which of these two choices will result in true change? We desire this Love Movement to spread across the world. Let us be the first to respond, to ignite the movement within our own hearts. To choose Love, even when it hurts.

Modern-Day Love

We live in a world of love stories. Everywhere we go, we are bombarded with what "love" means: Flipping through a magazine, watching the newest Hollywood film, turning on the radio, combing the clothing rack in the mall...Love exists! But what is the quality of this love that envelops our everyday? Most of this "love" is clothed in lies, lies that have been instilled in us since entering this life. In actuality, it is often the furthest thing from love. It is lust, dominion, self-protection, self-acquiring of needs, it is tainted with sin...with us. It is not what unbelievers are looking for, because it is nothing new. If we cannot love one another as fellow believers, the way God sees love, how are we to love unbelievers? How are we to love our enemies? How are we to wake up a world to truth? Satan has used forms of "love" to destroy. Relationships, friendships, families...not just between one another...but also between us and God. For if we do not fully understand love, then we are missing who God truly is; for He IS Love.

I was recently reminded of a passage I once read daily: Psalm 139. God prompted me to redeem the message through these verses because it had become words that were full of brokenness and hurt. He reminded me that the truth in those words were still true, because they were always HIS words. God is the author of love, so why do we so often look outside of his truth to gain understanding of this love? We end up confused, disoriented, hurt, and unable to deliver truth to others in it's wholeness.

Hosea had it right on. Or, rather, God through Hosea. What a privilege to be used by God as a vessel for portraying to the world what Love really looked like! That Hosea would continue to purely love someone who would regularly betray him. That Jesus loves us purely, as we continually mess up...he loved us, while we were at our worst. That place in which all of us can look back upon and think, he really loved me then? Yes. He Loved. He loved without lust, without dominion or power, without self-protection and without the purpose of fulfilling his own needs. This is how we are to love. This is the kind of Love that we need to be displaying to the world that we live in. Let us peel back the cultural graffiti of lies that have distorted Truth.

Kingdom Politics

1 President, 535 members of Congress, 100 Senators, 2 mainstream political affiliations. These numbers seem to control more than politics...they seem to have reached their control and power to the very heart of the American citizen. We attribute all of this country's problems to the core of Washington, while believing, that the everyday American, has lost all influence...we are sheep that are blindly led to the slaughter. We cannot influence our surroundings, our cities, let alone our country. And we continue to walk in this self and nation-defeating lie.

It's funny, I battle the same war with the students that I counsel throughout the day. They have this mentality of survival, no hope of influencing their lives to any ounce of improvement. Our mindsets are caged and shackled. Those above numbers represented within our government, while holding much power in their hands, hardly come to a fraction of the entire United States. Imagine if we were actually United. Imagine what kind of power and influence we could conjure. What if we brought that influence and unity into the realm of faith. Can you imagine? I can. I see a nation where churches weren't concerned about owning their "turf" of a congregation or denomination...where social justice causes were the reason for DC marches and stand outs...where we, as Christ's followers, took care of one another...reaching our range of influence from state to state...across borders of nationality and race, creed or color. United for the common goal of living past mere survival...living to influence.

How can I get up each day if I believe I can't make a difference? This nation's sickness goes deeper than D.C., it goes to the core of beliefs of every individual who walks these streets of life. We must change our mindset first. Change is only possible from the inside out. We, the everyday American, are the inside. We have the power to influence. And, I dare say, As followers of Christ, we have the responsibility to choose such influence.

Identification

So many times we are quick to point fingers, to label the sin and the sinners it belongs to. We feel the need to make it clear to God that we weren't "apart of this or that sin", as if God doesn't know and see everything already. God is both Justice and Love. We don't have to sway him to know truth. Maybe we should consider the opposite approach; a concept of identification that the old time prophets, Ezra and Nehemiah, so graciously walked out. Identifying with the sin of others. Replacing the "you's" with "we's", lifting others' sin upon our own shoulders...walking beside, sharing the burden...Identification. Implying that we are so moved to the grievance of sin, and it's consequences of bondage upon God's people, that we enter the muddy waters, grab hold of the sin in our own hands, and cry to God on behalf of his children. What if America's leaders were to identify with the national sins that this country has committed, both throughout history and as we speak? What if leaders, today, were to attach sin to their name so as to ask for forgiveness? I keep getting this image of Jesus, stretched out...wreathing in pain with all of the sin of the world to his name. He took responsibility for our sin. He identified in order to bring grace and freedom. A leader leads out in taking responsibility for the actions of his/her team...their people. Let us follow in leading out as imitators of this most humble and gracious, Jesus, who in his identification of our sin, became our Savior.

God Wins.

I get a lil bit defensive of my God when I hear people giving undeserved and disillusioned power to the opposing team, Satan and his army. Yes, believe me, I am prolly, more so than most, aware of the powerful spiritual battle that takes place all around us...and within us, even; but I also believe that we take away from God's supreme power and the freedom of choice that he has so lovingly given us, when we blame Satan and his crew for every bad thing; or when we sign his name to something he cannot take credit for.

Yes, Satan has influence...but his power comes only through what we allow him to hold over us. Christ has already claimed and proven his victory over evil. God has already won. He has supreme power and as his children, we have complete access to this victorious living. And we have the power of choice. Stating that you need to live in fear of evil spirits attaching to you does not line up with God's truth. Evil has no authority over us. We have authority in Christ. We give Satan his ammunition, WE give him his access to our thoughts...our beliefs...WE give him as much influence as he has. And we open that influence wide when we choose to believe his power reigns without our consent.

This is why it is so vital to take every thought captive. Test for truth. Battle for Truth. Because Truth has already overcome. God has already won. And through His victory, he has enabled us to be victorious as well.

Color, Outside The Lines

I've known for a long time, now, that I'm different...that I'm not exactly what you'd label as "mainstream normal". When I was 5 years old I remember laying in bed half the night pondering the intricacies of societal injustices and ways to combat their existence. I also was aware enough to recognize that most 5 year old's most likely did not fall asleep to the same thoughts. It's a few years later, and I haven't changed in this way...I've only added to my processing and visionary mindset.

What I have changed, is my view of myself. Where I was considered myself to be "weird" and attempted to smooth myself out into more of a "normal pattern"...I now embrace my differences as uniquely God-given. I have had a lot of people, even friends exhort me into being more "rational"...more "practical"...more, of what they were. Much criticism comes when people don't understand or feel threatened...when their box is pushed into a different shape or the thought itself threatens to dent their perfection that they have created for themselves and hold as truth. But I am not here to please man. I am living this life out in order to please only One. And for my God, I will live what he created and intended me to be...how he formed me to think...to see this world...to pursue the passions only He has so permanently burned on my heart.

I will follow him...his form and pattern...because in this plan, alone, is where I will find him in abundance and be filled with his all for my life. It is in this obedience, where he will be most glorified, through my life. For he intended the color to spill out over the "lines" when he made me...and I'm okay with that.