God Speaks... to me

Matthew 27:46, “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, Lama, Sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?’”

At my men’s meeting, Iwo Jima, this week I was sharing how God has a focused dealing with me trying to teach me financial responsibility. I talked about how the Holy Spirit will ask me a hypothetical questions, and how God’s response to my answer is so often, ‘wrong answer.’ And so T (identity hidden to spare the innocent) asked me, “How do you hear God speaking to you?”

To which I replied, “It is not a voice speaking so much as it is a visualization of God bowing His head in disappointment… that I interpret as ‘wrong answer.’”

And to that T added further comment. He began with, “I say this in love…” and the rest I heard as ‘I find that people often infer their own voices/feelings/images into what they think is God speaking. But I don’t think God would do that, so consider whether you are really hearing God.’

This did give me pause, and I did give it considerable thought. And as I prayed, “God, did I miss you?” The Holy Spirit quoted today’s scripture. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” Followed by the question, “Why did My Son feel forsaken?”

That is the easiest question of all as Christian doctrine teaches that is the moment our sins were put on Christ the Father turned His head from Christ as the scripture says, “God cannot look upon sin.” And so too I believe what I hear God speak to me is in fact Him, in spite of others' experiences. Christ experienced the Father turn His head, and so did I. So I continue down this path of learning godly financial responsibility knowing that God speaks to me.

And knowing that God is speaking to you.

If you do not hear the voice of God daily I encourage to pick up my book available top right of this page. It is designed front to back to help all Christians hear God Speak. 

Kingdom Eyes

2 Timothy 2:7, "Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything."

Most Christians of all denominations and faith acknowledge the Holy Spirit to one degree or another. They accept that He is our helper and guide, and know that sometimes our thoughts are not our own, but placed there by the Holy Spirit. This gives us a counter voice to the voice of the world. What I would propose is that if the Holy Spirit is our facilitator to hearing God, then the kingdom of God is our facilitator to seeing.

Sounds a bit like herasy, but follow me on this one. God is light. Light is energy and mass. God is, and His light emits from Him. Where that light goes is His kingdom. The Holy Spirit operates not only in the kingdom, but beyond it's borders to call people out of the darkness. Darkness is the absense of light, and thus to be outside the kingdom of God. With me so far?

Now scripture can be read with the help of the Holy Spirit. Take for example the parable of the talents. The master gives the slaves talents (6000 days wages) expecting them to invest the money. Upon the master's return he comes to collect. The ones who grew the talents were rewarded. The ones who did nothing had it taken away. With the Holy Spirit we know talents are not just money. With the Holy Spirit we know that the master is the Master, namely Jesus Christ. Now let's open our eyes. Let's look at the scripture from inside the kingdom.

Inside the kingdom we know everything is spiritual. Therefore we know that the talents are nothing earthly. The talent may be mercy, patience, giving, comforting, understanding... anything that is a character of God, or anything that God can imagine. It is not money, education, intellect. For me, God has said my talent is shameless surrender. Therefore it is my obligation, under the kingdom principle to not only use that talent, but use it in such a way that it grows. That others learn or recognize it in themselves.

Don't believe me? Look at Matthew 19:24. Jesus says, "Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Again, with kingdom Eyes... where is the rich man going? To the kingdom of God... not a place in the future, but a place here and now. A place that fills us as we enter. And again because the kingdom of God is spiritual we know that a rich person is not only monetary wealth. Riches are anything in abundance that we rely on more than God. Again it can be intellect, education, training... anything. You see the eye of a needle was a physical place. It was in the gate of a khan at Nazareth. It was intended for foot traffic, but for a camel to go through it must be unpacked of its load.  So too a man that relies on the earthy treasures must be unpacked before entering and understanding this kingdom of God principle. The more education you have, the harder it is to unpack. The more money you have the harder it is to unpack.Once on the other side the camel maybe reloaded. God may have us pick up and use the natural talents and gifts, but only after them being laid down. Just like Abraham laid down Isaac.

I have a lot of financial training. I am in a financial crisis because God is helping me unpack all that physical training and education so that I can enter through the eye of the needle into the kingdom of God where I will see and understand Him as my Provider and Provision.

I will close with something from my sight coach Jim Spivey, "What I “see,” thanks to Him, I can sometimes have a hard time convincing other people of, because it is not readily “apparent.”  The only “place” from which I will desperately struggle to do so is the place that has lost touch with His vision.  Clear and in direct contact, there is no drama, for the answer He gave one, He gave all, and it is not my job to manipulate, force, or control access.  It is my job to simply point to the door and invite entry."

Trials - Expect Them

Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

If I am truly to be a "minister" then one of the functions that I should be good at is articulating spiritual truths so that they can have practical application to life. Yet when I delve into the subject of the kingdom of God I find that my understanding is far deeper than my ability to articulate. Therefore it becomes very refreshing when I find a predecessor who has said the very thing I find indescribable.

Once again T Austin-Sparks has the words I am looking for. He said, "Paralysis, defeat, disaster have always been consequent upon judgment after the sight of the eyes (the eyes of the natural senses). Victory has always issued sooner or later from someone's assurance of and discernment of the Divine resources and realities behind all else. " In other words, when negative happens it is because we have looked at the situation from natural laws and observations. But when the results are victory, or a pleasing outcome then we have acted spiritual or divine laws and observation.

Circumstances can be identical but the perception is what is important. It was not because the Israelites were looking at their circumstances in the flesh that they became surrounded and trapped by a sea, mountains, and an army. The entrapment was going to happen regardless. It was their lack of spiritual vision that caused them to panic and fear and not see the victory coming.

Jesus said in John 16:33 "... have peace, In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." Why do we remain surprised by the tribulation? Why to we blame other's tribulation on a lack of righteousness? They are unrelated. The world brings trials. To never venture through them is inescapable. But as inescapable as the trials are, God is always there providing an escape and opportunity to overcome. He is always providing an opportunity to observe them from a kingdom of God perspective. The ultimate overcoming is moving closer to Him in relationship and deeper into the kingdom of God.

Dealing with these trials is what has to change. Natural laws create the issues and to rely on natural laws (natural sight) to escape is never the answer. We must rely on spiritual laws. We must see with out spirits.

I like the story in 2 Kings 6:16-17. King Aram has sent his army to capture the prophet Elisha. It is Elisha and his servant against horses and chariots. This is what happens. Elisha answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. (In the natural 2 v. great army) Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.' And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw; behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

The are always two things at work. The world & the kingdom of God. As our ego dies, the kingdom grows within us, along with our ability to see it. But the man/woman of God "who has a firsthand fellowship with God sees the mountains round about filled with "the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof." (T Austin-Sparks)

Open my eyes God! Open our eyes God! When you find yourself staring defeat and disaster in the face, ask God to open you eyes. Open yours eyes to His kingdom, and what is really happening. See His victory, feel His love, enjoy His peace.

Love - Obedience -Faith

John 5:19, "Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly,  I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner."

I have discovered that the recent posts on love are spiritually provocative, and a little bit controversial. On one level pure, perfect, agape love represents the unattainable. And because it is unattainable, then perhaps these discussions are pointless. Perhaps it is too difficult a task for any individual to look in the mirror and honestly say to themselves I can never achieve perfect agape love. But reality is this is the very thing that needs to happen. Until we can look in the mirror and say that very thing we will never experience it.

T Austin Sparks wrote in 1927, "...it is necessary to settle it once and for all that we, in ourselves, will never be overcomers, and that opens the way for the whole of this theme and its reality of meaning to come from the Lord to us. There is only one Overcomer in the universe, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and if there are ever any other overcomers, they will not be others at all, they will simply be the extension of His overcoming — the expansion of His victory." Until we can admit this truth to ourselves I fail to see how we can ever overcome the arrogance of our ego to truly love. (Please understand that I use self, ego, and flesh interchangeably and believe them to be the same inner man referred to in scripture.) In admitting our weakness, acknowledging Christ strength, then God's perfect love can begin to work in us. Leading to the second point.

Obedience to God is what makes the "act" of love perfect. But how can we obey when the voice is still and the vision is as in a mirror dimly? Jesus did it with a perfect connection to God. He did and said what the Father did and said. Hear the words of Christ, "the Son can do nothing of Himself." Even the love shown by Jesus was not His own, but belonged to the father. So what then of this obedience? Is obedience the barrier that prevents us from loving?

I think not. This is one of the many paradoxes of life. God loves us, so that we can love others, so that God can love us again, and so that we can love others. The relationship is critical, but the acts of love become a reflection of what we see the Father to be. The perfect acts of love are God's light shining through us in His act of first love. So the spiritual reality is that obedience is not a limiting factor because we can only reflect what we see. We can only obey what we hear, and it is God's responsibility to speak as much as we have responsibility to hear. Bringing us to the final component or point.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. Because we see poorly, if at all, and because we hear poorly, if at all... we must have faith to fill the gap. The spiritual "thought" has to be seasoned with faith inorder to become an act of love. We love in faithful obedience knowing that even if not a perfect act of love, God will cause it all to work together for good.

Lets jump to the practical. If we will approach life with the attitude of being in relationship to God, then we will find the opportunities to be a refection of His love. This does not have to be done a church, on the mission field, or in any other "institution" of Christianity. This can, and is to be done, right where you are. How about the Boss who takes the file clerk to lunch and just listens to them? Or the file clerk who on the way home throws a quarter into the beggar's cup? These can be practical acts of love triggered by God's tug on the heart. To yield to that tug is the faith that makes the act love. The act can be anything, and in any direction. I am reminded of a story I heard about Abraham Lincoln. It was of an old lady making him cry with her gift of cookies. He was used to people coming to his office wanting something. This woman just wanted to bring him some cookies. The tears were obviously an acknowledgment of the love.

Last I will share this. My mom text-ed me the other day that she wanted to pay my phone bill. This was absolutely an act of God's agape love. Not because it is my mom. Not because it met a need. It was an act of God's love because she did not know the bill was not paid, and hours from being cut off. This was God saying to me... I love you and your quest to discover Me as both provision and Provider will not go unanswered. Equally, had she know those facts, I would not have received it as love, but rather her attempt to fix the situation. I'm not looking for my situation to be fixed. I am looking for God's love, so that I can love, and be loved again... continuously by God.

Who can you show the love of Christ to today?

If you need love, or prayer, please feel free to contact me.

Service - the work of God

John 1:43, "The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow Me."

"There are two things at least which are basically wrong and inevitably disastrous from the standpoint of true spiritual value: one is the regarding of the work of God as a set system, just as any commercial, industrial, or professional system is a vocation or calling (So much is heard about "entering the ministry," "taking up Christian work," "becoming a missionary," etc. - and this as static, organized, systematized); the other is going into service on the basis of an external appeal to the senses, the intellect, the emotions, the volition, by reason of a presentation to the ears or the eyes.... Moreover, every man and woman who has come up against spiritual realities in the service of God knows that it requires something stronger than hot air, electric atmosphere, vivid pictures, romantic conceptions, idealistic visions, mental impressions, and occasional stimulants for the will, to make them able to continue indefinitely and to be spiritually effective. No, in every way, the senses are an insufficient basis and a dangerous criterion.

The service of God, being spiritual, will always have an element of mystery about it. The mystery is this: the greater the degree of real spiritual effectiveness and value, and the more spiritually accountable a thing becomes, the less is it a thing that can be seen and handled by the senses and by the flesh - the less the elements and forms of human demonstration and natural appreciation.

Again and again we have marked the grievous tragedy of ministries - personal and otherwise - which were mighty in spiritual significance, that at length took on human significance and assumed forms of natural impressiveness at the expense of that essential value to God. Yes! It has grown big, expansive, famous. Yes! He or she has a name, a reputation, a following, a fame, and a position; but so often... oh, so often... at a cost of accountability amongst "principalities and powers" (This is where spiritual values are judged) which makes it all poor gain... and makes God's heart bleed...

...All-inclusively, only what God does Himself is God's service! This is basic to the entire revelation of the purposes of God in the whole Scriptures...

Only as all service is brought within the limits of this Divine ordering by a positive witness within the sanctified and quickened spirit of the "chosen vessel" can there be "the works of God" which alone count. This, on the other hand, rules out all our works.

Motive, good intent, laboriousness, enthusiasm "in the name of Jesus," "for the Kingdom," "in the interests of mankind," etc. - these do not count in the realm of "the eternal purpose in Christ Jesus" if they are our own activities... with our own natural resources. It must be "God who works within." ... We must be content to have our fruitfulness and spiritual value registered in the unseen... and not be dominated by the scales of values as set up by men on the earth."

T Austin-Sparks 1927

Normally I would not consider such a long quote except for the fact that is so ties into Who are You in the Story? The four talented orphans of that story regarded their talents as a set system to honor God. Not only did they regard their talents that way, they also assumed the audience. That their audience would arrive with pomp and circumstance and outwardly demonstrate fleshly superiority. The fifth orphan with the good heart temporarily tried to go into service of God with what looked appealing to her by asking to be taught someone else's skill. In the end, the fifth orphan was of the greatest spiritual value with an act that on the surface seems to not be entitled to any natural appreciation.

To me, what T Austin-Sparks is saying here is -- it doesn't matter what you do, or how you do it if the motivation is wrong. Jesus said, "follow me." That means getting up day after day, without necessarily a plan or direction and go with Him. On His whims, and on His path. What we do has to be done in obedience to God. Only in Obedience does it have spiritual significance. And if done in obedience, it in fact does have spiritual significance.

Please understand that this is the opportunity for everyone to serve God in every walk of life and profession. Building mega ministries has no spiritual reward unless done in obedience. Mega ministry is not the end all be all. To love in obedience is. Likewise pausing in the business of a day to love on an individual wherever they may be can have paramount spiritual rewards. The obedience to loving the least is where the reward is. The washing of a neighbor's feet in surrender is the service God requires.

What do you have that a person you will encounter today needs? Do you have time, wisdom, money, friendship, an open ear? Perhaps someone needs a meal or a ride. Do you have a word of encouragement or affirmation? Is there someone immediate to you that needs what God wants to give them through you? Respond to that tug on your heart when you feel it. Step out in faith. Don't walk away with the "I should have..." thought. Walk away knowing you obeyed, and who cares about how it looks, or what earthly significance it has.  The obedience alone will have eternal rewards for you.

Let it Rain

Isaiah 30:23, "Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture."

On the way to church this Sunday I was noticing just how dry everything is. How my neighbors' yard have dead spots even though they are all mostly irrigated. On the roadsides the grass is brown. Stock tanks in the pastures are drying up. So I prayed. I said, "God, I don't know if this drought is your plan or not. But I do know that what you have intrusted me with needs rain. If you will not bring rain to the whole area, will you please bring a thunderstorm to my land?" Pretty simple, heart felt prayer.

As I drove on something triggered a super cool way for churches to raise money, and I spent a lot of time thinking and planing on that over the rest of the afternoon. But as I walked to my barn to put the horses up for the evening I looked up and noticed a rather small dark cloud. I remembered my prayer that morning, and I started praying again. I prayed, "Father, in the name of Jesus I command that cloud to give it's water to my land." Crack, the thunder started. So I prayed some more. I began to pray that the land, the livestock, my family, and my children needed the rain. I prayed for the cloud to not move until it had blessed my land. Over and over different things, different needs, were coming out in the prayer. All done while I cleaned stalls.

In my heart I knew the prayer was dual purpose. After all, in the Bible rain is representative of the Holy Spirit  and God's presence. So as I was praying for physical rain, I knew that I was simultaneously praying for spiritual rain. I concluded with telling the clouds, "bless my land in the name of Jesus. Bless it with all the water in you." Crazy I know... but guess what? It started raining.

So I stood on my front porch in awe, wondering how many people's prayers were being answered. I continued watching the rain and began mouthing a song. Jamie came out and asked what I was saying. I told her, "yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord."

Say what you want, but those rain drops brought reassurance from heaven for me. Reassurance that He does hear my prayers. That those prayers do have an impact on my life. At the same time they brought a longing for more opportunities to pray. They made me miss the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times I've gotten to pray for others and see God work in their lives. I missed praying for the sick and seeing God make them well. So if you would like to scratch this itch of mine to pray for others. Feel free to send your prayer request to jeffyuna@gmail.com. In the meantime enjoy the professional version of what I was singing on my porch in the middle of the rain.