I love Fall.
I was sitting on the deck yesterday admiring the colors and patterns of the trees on the mountains, and I heard the Lord say, “ It wasn’t like this before the fall.” Then He showed me something...
...Before the Fall of man, there was no death, so there were no falling leaves because it was kind of like a perpetual Summer. After the fall, there came the season of 'Fall' which faded into winter... representing death, then Spring...a promise of new life, and finally Summer again...representing the former paradise. Even though the sin of man brought death, God made the season of Fall as a kind of promise of redemption from 'the fall.'
In my mind's eye I saw the first inhabitants standing outside the paradise of God’s full protection, having no idea of how their decision would effect the future of humanity, but feeling the loss and seriousness of their situation none the less. They looked so frightened. But then, I heard the sigh of God, and a beautiful leaf floated down and fell at their feet. This was the first sign of Fall after the fall.
As one of them picked up the leaf, they both marveled over the brilliant colors of it. They had never noticed before, that the veins of a leaf made a picture of what a tree would look like without it’s leaves. In a kind of a kinship, it reminded them of their own nakedness and vulnerability. As time went by, they couldn’t help but keep their attention on the trees. The oranges and reds and yellows danced as a chilly wind blew. The trees, that had been there as long as they could remember, were the now their continual focus and kind comfort.
You see, God knew the how their decision would effect humanity. He saw the wars, famine, pain and destruction that was about define the world we know it. He also knew that there was one tree, set apart for the answer to a hopeless humanity. A tree that the Son of God would hang on. A tree in the garden was there during the despair of humanity, and a tree outside of a garden would hold the hope of humanity.
Every leaf holds a picture of that tree. It is His love that splashes tree colors in our world, to comfort them at the beginning, and to comfort us now.
I think now, I love Fall more than ever.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Parables, Mercy and Helicopters
Sometimes I dream in parables.
A few nights ago I dreamed that there was a random couple who were vehemently fighting with the enemy. It seemed that they had built a house on a bad foundation and the enemy was hurling scripture at them about the foolish man who does this, and when the storms come, the house would fall. The couple knew that they had built their house on a bad foundation, but prayed that somehow their house would be saved anyway. The enemy told them that there was no way to do this because God would not go against His Word. There was no hope to save the house, and it would soon be in ruins. The couple sat down in front of a large chair and prayed for mercy. All of a sudden, the house began to move. Angels began to detach the house from it's old foundation, and two of them flying a helicopter (ha!) lifted the house off the old foundation and took it to a newly built one. Just as the storm came, the couple was lifted off to safely occupy their house with it's new rock foundation, while the enemy was swept into oblivion. When I woke up, I thought.. that is a picture of mercy. That even when we deserve the end to our "means" by God's own law, He finds a way around it.
At first I thought that this parable was a picture of salvation, but when I thought about how the couple behaved, I realized that they were already believers. They Knew scripture, they knew how to keep the enemy at bay, and they knew to pray. I believe that in the dream, when the couple sat down before a large chair, it represented the mercy seat, which the psalmists call "the secret place of the most High." I understood then what God was trying to say through this parable.
The mercy seat was on top of the ark of the Covenant. Inside the ark was a picture of the three ways that we rebel against God. First, there is Aaron's rod, which represents our rebellion against God’s authority. Second, there is The Ten Commandments, which represents our rebellion against His standard. Finally, there is a bowl of Manna, which represents our rebellion against His provision. As Christians, we begin to build our foundations on solid rock, but sometimes we start to add our own materials. When I say sometimes, I really mean, always. No one’s foundation is perfect .I have lived in very old houses, and I will tell you that as a house ages and begins to settle, discrepancies in the foundation begin to appear in the form of cracks and sagging floors. Even foundations that seem solid, show the secret places under the strain of time. We all have times that we fill the bases of our lives with our own authority, our own standards and our own provision…that’s why God had those three things put under the mercy seat, because He knows us so well. We are screwed up people. We started as screwed up sinners, and we are now learning to become less screwed up as the redeemed. But We don’t have to lose the whole house just because it is starting to sag a little. But we need to stop trying to cover up the uneven floors by just hanging the pictures straighter and putting wedges under the furniture. We need to go to the mercy seat.
In the old Testament, the blood of a sacrifice was required to be sprinkled on the mercy seat as an atonement for our rebellion. The blood of the Jesus is our permanent atonement and He sits on the Mercy Seat! In Exodus 25:22, God said, “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony.” We are literally under the shadow of His wings when we kneel before Him there. That’s where we walk into Psalm 91, all safe and cuddly in the shelter of the most High. That’s where we get the solid Rock for our sagging foundations, and if need be, if we totally blow it , he lets us begin all over again in a new foundation of grace found in His endless love for us.
So what did I learn from this parable?
1. Don’t let the enemy use scripture against you, he is the king of condemnation, and we serve the King of Mercy.
2. The best vantage point in life, is from under the wings of our Father.
3. Don’t try to cover up a screwy foundation, but ask The Carpenter for help before the storms hit.
4. Angels can fly helicopters, which makes them even cooler than I thought.
A few nights ago I dreamed that there was a random couple who were vehemently fighting with the enemy. It seemed that they had built a house on a bad foundation and the enemy was hurling scripture at them about the foolish man who does this, and when the storms come, the house would fall. The couple knew that they had built their house on a bad foundation, but prayed that somehow their house would be saved anyway. The enemy told them that there was no way to do this because God would not go against His Word. There was no hope to save the house, and it would soon be in ruins. The couple sat down in front of a large chair and prayed for mercy. All of a sudden, the house began to move. Angels began to detach the house from it's old foundation, and two of them flying a helicopter (ha!) lifted the house off the old foundation and took it to a newly built one. Just as the storm came, the couple was lifted off to safely occupy their house with it's new rock foundation, while the enemy was swept into oblivion. When I woke up, I thought.. that is a picture of mercy. That even when we deserve the end to our "means" by God's own law, He finds a way around it.
At first I thought that this parable was a picture of salvation, but when I thought about how the couple behaved, I realized that they were already believers. They Knew scripture, they knew how to keep the enemy at bay, and they knew to pray. I believe that in the dream, when the couple sat down before a large chair, it represented the mercy seat, which the psalmists call "the secret place of the most High." I understood then what God was trying to say through this parable.
The mercy seat was on top of the ark of the Covenant. Inside the ark was a picture of the three ways that we rebel against God. First, there is Aaron's rod, which represents our rebellion against God’s authority. Second, there is The Ten Commandments, which represents our rebellion against His standard. Finally, there is a bowl of Manna, which represents our rebellion against His provision. As Christians, we begin to build our foundations on solid rock, but sometimes we start to add our own materials. When I say sometimes, I really mean, always. No one’s foundation is perfect .I have lived in very old houses, and I will tell you that as a house ages and begins to settle, discrepancies in the foundation begin to appear in the form of cracks and sagging floors. Even foundations that seem solid, show the secret places under the strain of time. We all have times that we fill the bases of our lives with our own authority, our own standards and our own provision…that’s why God had those three things put under the mercy seat, because He knows us so well. We are screwed up people. We started as screwed up sinners, and we are now learning to become less screwed up as the redeemed. But We don’t have to lose the whole house just because it is starting to sag a little. But we need to stop trying to cover up the uneven floors by just hanging the pictures straighter and putting wedges under the furniture. We need to go to the mercy seat.
In the old Testament, the blood of a sacrifice was required to be sprinkled on the mercy seat as an atonement for our rebellion. The blood of the Jesus is our permanent atonement and He sits on the Mercy Seat! In Exodus 25:22, God said, “And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony.” We are literally under the shadow of His wings when we kneel before Him there. That’s where we walk into Psalm 91, all safe and cuddly in the shelter of the most High. That’s where we get the solid Rock for our sagging foundations, and if need be, if we totally blow it , he lets us begin all over again in a new foundation of grace found in His endless love for us.
So what did I learn from this parable?
1. Don’t let the enemy use scripture against you, he is the king of condemnation, and we serve the King of Mercy.
2. The best vantage point in life, is from under the wings of our Father.
3. Don’t try to cover up a screwy foundation, but ask The Carpenter for help before the storms hit.
4. Angels can fly helicopters, which makes them even cooler than I thought.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Be Here Now
I am reminded today of the word that I had for this year, "Be here now." I have since learned that the Hebrew language doesn't even have a word for the past. So when the believers had Passover, they literally went through the experience again as if it was just happening, as if the lamb's blood has just been shed and put on the doorpost. I think that is what He meant by "Be here now." That the lamb's blood is fresh daily. Many things happened to them on their journey, but ultimately they just saw the shadow of evil as it it passed over, and held each other close.
I think that this is the way that we live from "glory to glory." There are two realities going on at once. One reality are the actual things that we experience around us that go from past to present in a heartbeat, all the tribulations both worldwide and personally.The other reality is His Glory.The thinking that we get stuck in, the constant circling from past to present, can drag our view of the future into that mix and cause our reality to become bleak. That is what fear does, it distorts our view of our future. When this becomes our reality, we are stuck in the middle of a fear-storm. Like the disciples who were sitting next to Jesus in the boat, and yet they cried out, "Lord save us!", we also cry out in our storms, even though Jesus lives IN us .Now since the Lord lives from "Glory to glory", He just tells us to "Peace be still." That changes OUR reality to HIS reality and peace ensues.
His Word is one of the ways he reminds us that we can change our reality. Peace is a promise in His Word. It is, in fact, our inheritance upon His death. He bequeathed peace to His disciples (us) before He died :
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27
Notice that 'peace' is in the present tence. It is our inheiritence for this moment. Of all of the things that he could of left us, He deemed peace as the most valuable. Probably because He lived here and knew that we would need it! So the storm that the world dishes out, has nothing on us. We have a past that is under His blood, a future because of His blood, and a place imbetween that we can "Be here Now" in His Glory. That is why the best moment is NOW.
I think that this is the way that we live from "glory to glory." There are two realities going on at once. One reality are the actual things that we experience around us that go from past to present in a heartbeat, all the tribulations both worldwide and personally.The other reality is His Glory.The thinking that we get stuck in, the constant circling from past to present, can drag our view of the future into that mix and cause our reality to become bleak. That is what fear does, it distorts our view of our future. When this becomes our reality, we are stuck in the middle of a fear-storm. Like the disciples who were sitting next to Jesus in the boat, and yet they cried out, "Lord save us!", we also cry out in our storms, even though Jesus lives IN us .Now since the Lord lives from "Glory to glory", He just tells us to "Peace be still." That changes OUR reality to HIS reality and peace ensues.
His Word is one of the ways he reminds us that we can change our reality. Peace is a promise in His Word. It is, in fact, our inheritance upon His death. He bequeathed peace to His disciples (us) before He died :
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27
Notice that 'peace' is in the present tence. It is our inheiritence for this moment. Of all of the things that he could of left us, He deemed peace as the most valuable. Probably because He lived here and knew that we would need it! So the storm that the world dishes out, has nothing on us. We have a past that is under His blood, a future because of His blood, and a place imbetween that we can "Be here Now" in His Glory. That is why the best moment is NOW.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Questions
I have been wrestling with the definition of "real church" and "real worship". I had a picture of something this morning that may have clarified this for me...
I was half asleep and had the impression of the Lord whispering a question...
"What would you do if you had an hour with me completely alone?"
I saw myself alone in a wood, and there He was, beside me. I had played this out many times in my mind...I would worship and kiss him and dance and tell Him my love for Him! However...in that wood...in that moment...I just felt very shy. I was awestruck and unsure. He reached and took my hand. We walked together for a time, each saying nothing. I noticed something. I felt a scratching against my hands as we walked.
It
was
the
scars.
I was transported back to the time when His blemish-free hands offered the loaves and fishes, holding them up sweetly to the Father to multiply them, feeding the waiting multitudes of people. But the holes in His hands now sweetly give the bread of life to waiting multittudes of people...the permanent black holes that all of the gifts and wonders, throughout all of time, travel through!
Then..I began to worship.
Not out of tradition or out of duty or guilt, but out of a quiet reverence of plain humility in awe of His gift. Maybe that's why he will bear the scars in heaven, so that we would never forget the cross, because facing the cross is where real worship comes through. This midset will enable us to worship...
Forever.
When I woke up fully, I walked into the living room and looked at a painting that I had finished a few weeks earlier. It was his bruised and broken face on the cross, when he said, "It is finished." I didn't want that picture to be the center of my house, I wanted a laughing Jesus or something of the like.
*Sometimes we want our picture of Jesus to be when the throngs of people were throwing branches and crying, "Hosanna in the highest!' But that kind of worship was short lived. The first bit of trouble changed their tone.
*Sometimes we want our picture of Jesus to be one of preforming miracles, but those seem to be quickly forgotten when the next need arises.
*Sometimes we want our picture of Jesus to be the teacher.. but then we become hardheaded and the teachings don't stick to our ribs like they once did.
But the cross? It's hard to look at, but our response to it will always be the same.
Worship.
Reverence.
A place to leave our tears and fears. We will not forget. And we will not leave from that place the same.
So what is "real church"? What is "real worship"?
Church is the place where you take God's hand and wait for the love to come through the holes.
Worship is the place where we are transported to the picture of God's grace and humility of the cross, and we respond the only way we can to being there.
Then
it
becomes real for
Him
and
us.
I was half asleep and had the impression of the Lord whispering a question...
"What would you do if you had an hour with me completely alone?"
I saw myself alone in a wood, and there He was, beside me. I had played this out many times in my mind...I would worship and kiss him and dance and tell Him my love for Him! However...in that wood...in that moment...I just felt very shy. I was awestruck and unsure. He reached and took my hand. We walked together for a time, each saying nothing. I noticed something. I felt a scratching against my hands as we walked.
It
was
the
scars.
I was transported back to the time when His blemish-free hands offered the loaves and fishes, holding them up sweetly to the Father to multiply them, feeding the waiting multitudes of people. But the holes in His hands now sweetly give the bread of life to waiting multittudes of people...the permanent black holes that all of the gifts and wonders, throughout all of time, travel through!
Then..I began to worship.
Not out of tradition or out of duty or guilt, but out of a quiet reverence of plain humility in awe of His gift. Maybe that's why he will bear the scars in heaven, so that we would never forget the cross, because facing the cross is where real worship comes through. This midset will enable us to worship...
Forever.
When I woke up fully, I walked into the living room and looked at a painting that I had finished a few weeks earlier. It was his bruised and broken face on the cross, when he said, "It is finished." I didn't want that picture to be the center of my house, I wanted a laughing Jesus or something of the like.
*Sometimes we want our picture of Jesus to be when the throngs of people were throwing branches and crying, "Hosanna in the highest!' But that kind of worship was short lived. The first bit of trouble changed their tone.
*Sometimes we want our picture of Jesus to be one of preforming miracles, but those seem to be quickly forgotten when the next need arises.
*Sometimes we want our picture of Jesus to be the teacher.. but then we become hardheaded and the teachings don't stick to our ribs like they once did.
But the cross? It's hard to look at, but our response to it will always be the same.
Worship.
Reverence.
A place to leave our tears and fears. We will not forget. And we will not leave from that place the same.
So what is "real church"? What is "real worship"?
Church is the place where you take God's hand and wait for the love to come through the holes.
Worship is the place where we are transported to the picture of God's grace and humility of the cross, and we respond the only way we can to being there.
Then
it
becomes real for
Him
and
us.
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