Salvation – Running After Papa

God in the everyday… Part 1

Rom 1:20 (New Living Translation) For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

I was on a flight to Chicago this week and was thumbing through my iPod listening to random songs and I played Orianthi’s “According to You”.

I think this ended up on my iPod because of one of my kids adding songs to collections. Orianthi has played with Prince, Carrie Underwood, Eric Clapton and others and was Michael Jackson’s lead guitarist at the ripe old age of 24 or so. She’s obviously very talented and was named as one of the top 12 Female electric guitarists in 2009 (age 24).

Anyway, I’ve heard this song several times before and I like the song – it’s catchy, got a good tune, and some great guitar work. I don’t know Orianthi’s beliefs or faith or eternal destiny, but I would by no means put this song on any Christian radar – which is exactly the point.

The song is from a girl’s perspective comparing one boy to another – one who is degrading, hateful, and insulting vs. one who is encouraging, loving and accepting. The opening lyrics say “According to you, I’m stupid, I’m useless, I can’t do anything right…” When I heard these lyrics THIS time, I immediately thought “How many times do I say those same words over myself … ‘I’m so stupid!’… ‘Shoemaker, you idiot!’… etc.” Isn’t this exactly what our enemy – who is degrading, hateful, and insulting – wants us to speak over ourselves and the ones we love?

About that time, the chorus kicked in and I nearly broke down in tears in seat 21E on my flight to Chicago. The chorus says, “But according to him, I’m beautiful, incredible, he can’t get me out of his head…” and I heard the Lord express that those were the words of his heart that “I’m beautiful, incredible, and He can’t get me out of his head…”

Wow! It was completely overwhelming. To think that the Creator of the universe, the one who died for me, thinks I’m beautiful, thinks I’m incredible and that He is continually thinking of me…. ME! God is thinking about me!

Jer 29:11 (NKJV) 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Ps 40:5 (NKJV) 5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

Ps 139:17-18 (NKJV) 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

I have to say that this encounter through an everyday song has stirred my heart and captured my thoughts for the last few days… thinking of Him thinking of me…. Overwhelming…

I encourage you to listen to the video (even if you don’t like pop) and hear the words (with My little edits of a capital letter or two) “According to Him, I’m beautiful, incredible, He can’t get me out of his head…”

I think this topic of “God in the everyday” will be a common one…

Running After Papa…

The Artist

Exodus 26

The Walls of the Tabernacle

It’s interesting as you read Exodus 26 that God has a very specific structure – or architecture, if you like – on HOW the tabernacle was to be built, but yet He left room for the creativity of the individual – the artisan – in places of the construction. For example, God very specifically defines the length, width, type and colors of materials, numbers of panels, connective and mounting procedures for the various walls – as well as how many layers of walls and in what order, but left the interpretation of “with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them.” (Ex 26:2 and Ex 26:31)

We all know that if 3 artists paint the same picture, they will all 3 look very different, because of the natural giftings and interpretation of the artists.

God’s tabernacle was very specifc in design. God’s tabernacle was very specific in structure. God’s tabernacle was very specific in function. But God left the “interface” to the community – how it was viewed and presented – to the creativity He instilled in its artisans.

You are an artist.

I have to believe God has used the Mosaic Tabernacle as a picture for our lives. He has defined a structure, an “architecture” for our lives, but has left the interface to our community to the creativity He instilled in us. This is the beauty of our individual testimonies. No two stories are the same… on purpose! Our job is to weave the tapestry with our story. God’s responsibilty is to use that tapestry to engage others and minister to others.

The Mercy Seat

Exodus 16:34 “You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy.”

I love the way the Hebrew word is translated as the “mercy seat”. In looking up the origin of the word, it means “atonement cover” or “a central place where sins are forgiven.”

The connotation is that it is a separate place, a place specific for the purposes of atonement. Atonement is just a $2 word that means (according to Webster’s) “the reconciliation (to restore to harmony) of God and mankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.”

Some of the walls of the tabernacle were made with fibers and woven. Some of the walls were made from animals. Ex 26:7 says to use goat’s hair. It is unclear if that’s the skin of the goat with the hair intact, or if that’s the goat’s hair woven into cloth. But Ex 26:14 is very clear that two other layers are made by the skin of rams dyed red, and the skin of badgers. That implies that there were LOTS of animals killed in order to fashion together coverings for the tents. With the death of those animals, much blood was shed – I suspect that’s one of the reasons the rams skins were dyed red – to remind the Isrealites of the blood that was shed to make the covering.

Back to the “mercy seat”. One of the definitions is “atonement cover”. Are you starting to get draw a connection here? This mercy seat – this atonement cover – was a foreshadowing of what Christ’s blood would do for us… cover our sins. The death of Jesus – the sacrifice of the Lamb of God (John 1:29) – covered our sins and reconciled us back to the Father; back to right standing as Sons and Daughters of the Most High.

The cross is the central place where sins are forgiven (our other definition of the mercy seat.) Only the cross covers the sins of my past, my present and my future in order to reconcile – to restore back to harmony – my life with God. Salvation – willingly yielding control of every part of my life to the lordship of Jesus Christ – is a one-time event. When my submission is authentic, I only need to do this once. However, transformation is an ongoing process. I have, I do, and I will screw up – hopefully it will become fewer and fewer times as I journey. Regardless, when I screw up, it doesn’t take long for Daddy to draw that to my attention and I am quick to repent. This is where I go to the mercy seat again, not for salvation, but to ask forgiveness. Remember, the mercy seat is the central place where sins are forgiven. 1 John 1:9 tells me that God is faithful to forgive me if I ask him and James 5:16 tells me that I can be healed of my sin in the confidence and prayer of another brother in Christ.

The mercy seat in the Mosaic temple was a physical and literal place. It was a place where animals were sacrificed to atone for the sins of individuals, families and the nation. When Christ died for all those sins and so many more, the temple walls were ripped from top to bottom by God himself to signify that the mercy seat was no longer behind the veil. Jesus is the mercy seat. Jesus is in my life. However, I still like visible remembrances. So in my life, I draw on a physical mercy seat – sometimes its over the phone with a brother, sometimes its in my room with my wife, sometimes it’s at a table at the local diner.

How do both these relate?

When I am free from the bondages of sin in my life – because I go to the mercy seat – I am free to be the artistic interface to my community presenting – in my own unique perspective and my own unique testimony – all that God has done, is doing, and will do IN me because of the mercy seat!

Running After Papa…

Overcoming – Updated (Rev 12:11)

How do we overcome the power of sin in our lives?

I was recently listening to “Overcome” by Jon Egan and the Desperation Band on the way home from my son’s Lacrosse game, when I was captured by one of the lyrics at the end of the song. I’ve sung this song dozens of time, so it wasn’t a new song for me, but this time something clicked. The repeated lyric is “And we will overcome, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, everyone overcome.” Revelation 12:11 is the verse that bridge it taken from.

Revelation 12:11 (NKJV) “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

I really began to ask the Lord about it. So how do we overcome? What is the significance of this verse? How does the rubber meet the road and why? (If you read my blogs very often, you’ll find that’s a very common question I ask…)

1. The blood of the Lamb

First things first… This is the fulfillment of God’s law. This gives us the LEGAL RIGHT TO OVERCOME. “Hebrews 9:22 (ESV) “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” When we’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb, we are forever the possession of God himself. There is MUCH that could be said here, but that’s for another day… Here’s the meat of this post…

2. The word of their [our] testimony

This is gives us the POWER TO OVERCOME. This is where the rubber meets the road. We’re all familiar with Proverbs 18:21 “²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” But for me, in getting to that verse, I’ve glossed over the prior one, verse 20.

Proverbs 18: 20-21 (NKJV) ²⁰ A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled. ²¹ Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

When those two verses are put together, we’re talking about a whole meal! What we claim – the words that we speak – is what will fill our stomachs. This is a very interesting picture as the stomach is essentially where digestion of our physical food begins after we eat. “You are what you eat,” is a saying we learned to help us make healthy choices of our meals. How appropriate! So it is with the words we speak. When we speak words, we listen to those words, we hear those words, we believe those words – we digest those words. When we speak words of defeat over our lives, our character, our circumstances, our children, etc., etc., we begin digesting those words. Those words “satisfy” our stomach and we continue to live in those things we believe. “You are what you eat,” becomes much more like “You are what you speak.”

It’s time to stop the madness! It’s time to begin confessing the words of life. Even if it’s not evident yet, speak it. For example, “I was unhappy, but God has given me joy and helped me overcome. (Gal 5:22)” or “I was an angry man; but God has given me patience and helped me overcome. (I Cor 13:4)” or “I was afraid and let fear rule my circumstances, but God has given me a spirit of power, love and a sound mind and helped me overcome. (2 Tim 1:7)” Speak what God has or is making you BASED on what HE says about you in his Word – the Bible.

Hear me… I am NOT advocating a “name it and claim it” theology. God is NOT a Genie, but there is a “working out” of our salvation. There is a process of transformation and I believe renewing our mind with the Word of God and what God says about us is part of that process.

The word of your testimony is what breaks the power of sin in your life, but only if you’ve been bought by the blood of the Lamb.

3. They died to themselves

“… and they did not loves their lives to the death,” is how Rev 12:11 ends. This is the MEASURE OF OVERCOMING!

Galatians 2:20 (NKJV) “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

I find this to be the most difficult verse in the Bible to really live out. My wants, my desires, my needs, my expectations, my rights… and the list goes on. If I’m offended, my flesh is probably alive. If I am angry, my flesh is probably alive. If I feel slighted, cheated, short changed, cut off, hindered, delayed or detained, my flesh is probably alive.

Only when I am fully dead to me, can I be fully alive in Christ.

THIS is overcoming defined!

So here are three questions for today’s take-away:

1. Are you legally God’s? This is critical and the first thing and most important thing. All eternity rides on the answer to this one. Without #1, you can’t do #2.

2. What is God helping you overcome in your life? Speak it OUT LOUD! verbalize it! Hear yourself say it audibly!

3. What part of you do you need to die to? This IS the victory!

If you want to discuss the answer to any of these questions, email me at [email protected].

Running After Papa…

Irrevocable…

Romans 11:29 (ESV) “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

“gifts” – charisma – 1 a favour with which one receives without any merit of his own. 2 the gift of divine grace. 3 the gift of faith, knowledge, holiness, virtue. 4 the economy of divine grace, by which the pardon of sin and eternal salvation is appointed to sinners in consideration of the merits of Christ laid hold of by faith. (Rom 1:11; 5:15; 6:23; 11:29; 12:6; 1Cor 1:7; 7:7; 12:4; 2Cor 1:11; 1Tim 4:14; 2Tim 1:6; 1Pet 4:10)

“call” – klesis – basically means vocation and a divine invitation, but comes from the word kaleo, which implies to receive a name or to bear a title.

“irrevocable” – ametameletos – Strong’s Lexicon says “Two occurrences; AV translates as “without repentance” once, and “not to be repented of” once. 1 not repentant of, unregretted.

This is interesting because “to repent” means “to change one’s mind.” It basically means to do a 180 and go the other direction.

Substituting those meanings into this verse makes it read much different.

God’s divine gift of grace – my eternal salvation – and my calling – my vocational call, my title, my position in life, my destiny – if you will – is something that God has given me, granted me and will not change His mind on… ever.

The cool – and freeing – thing to me is that I can’t do anything to “undo” His gift. I can’t remove myself from his list. I can’t do anything that will make Him rescind his gift or my calling. Those things that affect my relationship with Him (sin, unforgiveness, disobedience, etc) can greatly affect my effectiveness in my calling, but it can’t change my calling.

So, how do I become as effective as possible? How do I walk in and know what my calling is? That is the question.

Running After Papa…