further, deeper, greater

When I consider the depths of who I am, I realize I cannot even fathom what is there. I am a mystery even to myself when I strive to understand the depths of the soul, spirit, and body. I read Psalm 139 about a God of light and dark. A God of mountains and ocean! Even those things I can at least see and take in, but Psalm 139 reminds us that we are further, deeper, and greater than even the mountains, light, dark, and ocean.

Psalm 139 reveals to us the depths of our spirit, but it also praises a God who knows and controls all these very depths that we cannot even reach with any entirety. Ozzie Chambers says, "The work of the Holy Spirit is in the dim regions of our personality which we cannot get at."

We are reminded by the Psalmist that God is deeper, further, greater than we can grasp, but that His Spirit truly does change and restore that core place of who we are; that place we struggle to get at. That ongoing restoration is entire and complete (1 Thess. 5:23)

The greatest disappointment is for us to assume these depths of ourselves and the work of the Holy Spirit with these depths are myth because we have no conscious experience of them. There are depths to our spirit we cannot consciously experience, but we need God to be our God, who can search and restore the depths we cannot get at.

We need the cleansing of sin at the very depths we cannot get at. We are terribly mislead when we say we are not conscious of our sin. Sure! There are depths to our darkness we are not conscious of, and God does regenerate and restore those things if would but ask.

There are depths to our light that we are not aware of either, and God will reveal the brighter parts of who we are when we would but ask.

There is depth to our greatness as men and women created in the image of God, and He will reveal and unleash those things if we would but ask.

When we think on these things of soul and spirit, we realize God truly knows us better than we know ourselves.

The Music of Trinity

* Precursor: I know nothing of music theory or taken any classes for this. I am, by no means, an expert in this area.

It is my understanding that a chord is made up of three notes. Chords are based off of scale of 1-7. So a major chord is when 1,3,and 5 are played at the same time. For instance: a G Chord is made of the notes G(1),B(3), and D(5) being played at the same time.

Have I lost you? Hopefully not; you do not have to really understand what I just said, stick with me.

Have you ever had a difficult time understanding or explaining realities of the trinity? One God, three persons Father, Son, Holy Spirit; each distinct yet not a part of the whole, but each a whole

If I sat at a piano and played the note, G The sound would fill the room we sat in. The note alone could fill the entire space with its sound. That note never changes. That G is always G. Same with a B and D.

But if I play these three distinct notes at the exact same time they make one whole Chord that is beautiful and it also fills the entire space we are in with its sound while each of these three notes also fills the entire space with their sound

You can sit and think about this all day. I have...several days.

Thoughts on Loving in Spirit

To love someone in spirit IS to love them despite what they do.  It sees THROUGH what they do and makes no conditions based on what they do.  Basically to love someone in spirit means that we see them as a child of God, blameless before God because of his Grace.

Imagine if I was blameless, never did things wrong and was thus worthy of great friendship from everyone.  It would be very easy for you to love me.  But that is because I would not have horrible things in your way.  I wouldn't have the habits you hate, the struggles you strike out against.  I wouldn't do things you hated.  Now if you see my habits, my struggles my flawed HUMANITY, it is harder to love me, but you're looking at the wrong thing.

The only reason God loves us unconditionally is because he doesn't even see the things WE base our conditions on.  God does not see my habits, struggles and flawed humanity.  He sees, "a little child who hasn't been loved enough and who has ceased growing because someone has ceased believing in me."  Now if I could love others that way, I love them in spirit because their flesh makes no difference to me.  I could care less about their flesh, their struggles, their habits, their hangups and flawed humanity. I love the child who needs someone to believe in him, the spirit who truly is blameless and incased in a flawed human flesh.

When I used to go Perkins in college (Oh how I miss Perkins), I purposefully never saw a waitress as a waitress.  I saw her as a person like me, not a person there to take my order, bring my food, end of transaction.  She was a person, a child like me who needed someone to believe in her and treat her that way.  I loved the Perkins waitress in spirit not flesh, because I did not care that one of them had been divorced 4 times, cussed like a sailor, and had three kids from different men.  But I do know that she wept in my arms one night when she was terrified and broken.  I loved a waitress in spirit instead of her flesh.

Poser Worship

"But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:23-24

How often do I truly worship God in spirit and truth? This is the worshiper that God desires, and I wonder on a daily or weekly Sunday basis if I truly worship God in the fashion He seeks from me.

I may, if I am really on my game some days, worship God with my mind as I think about the things of God and this by no means is non-worship, but can I say I have engaged my spirit in moments of worship?

Have I allowed the very heart and core of myself be engaged to and with my worship? Have I been able to lay aside distraction and noise for even an hour on Sunday or a few minutes throughout the week for worship so that my spirit might fully engage with God, who is spirit?

Before I ever sit, stand, or arrive for worship have I prepared my heart, spirit, and will for worship? Can I pray beforehand with John Baillie, "God, grant me, I pray you, a clearer vision of your truth, a greater faith in your power, and a more confident assurance of your love."

What then of worshiping in truth? Can I say I have worshiped God in truth? When I worship God on a daily or weekly Sunday basis, do I do so in alētheia (truth), more than a factuality, but in sincerity? More than fact-checking the words I say, but can I say my heart is sincere in its worship?

I desire to be the sort of worshiper God seeks. That an all-knowing God must seek anything makes the thing he seeks truly hard to find. [Tweet That]

God, may you seek and find a sincere worshiper in me. May I worship you in spirit and not only in mind or empty words. May I not wait until Sunday but know that today and with my whole life I am to give you honor and praise from my spirit to yours with sincerity and honest desire.

On coming to Jesus

When God is silent

When God is silent, do not frantically search for answers. Only continue your regular time in His Word and know the Spirit is in the process of helping you understand what God is doing in your life.

One of my favorite interactions with Jesus is that of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. I love the idea that Jesus, knowing He is going to raise Lazarus, still waits and weeps with Mary and Martha. What enormous compassion! He did not need to weep with them. He knew he was going to resurrect Lazarus in just moments.

But something else strikes me today. Remember when He waited to go until after Lazarus had been dead for 4 days already? He shows up and Martha says, "Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." (John 11:32) Here is something to think about: I think Jesus could have said, "You're right! If I had come when you asked, your brother would not have died."

She knew Jesus would heal him. After all, she had see him heal time and time again. It is as though he was saying, "You would not have come to know me more and deeper than you are about to know me. You would not have been prepared for an even greater revelation of me than you had already known."

God's silence in our lives means He is prepared to bring into your life an even greater revelation of Himself than you have ever known. When God is silent, start watching for what he is about to teach you about Himself. This will require faith, trust, and anticipation.

Listen up, Soul

Soul, I will address you as the Psalmists do. Oh my soul within me, why do you continue to focus on the discouragement, shame, and self-defeat? Why do you not focus on Jesus and the rest he gives to you? (Matthew 11:28-29) Why do you believe the lies of the Imposter within you? Listen to the truth of Jesus' words, come to Him, and he will give you rest.

In Jesus, you find your rest. In Jesus, you find rescue and refuge from your troubles. In Jesus, you will find rest you crave and desire. Oh heart within me, you are under the weight of defeat, and you need rest. Only in Jesus will you find rest from self-defeat, hopelessness, and shame. Listen up, soul! You need rest! Only when you are focused on Jesus will you not be be focused on the destructive lies and inner-dialogue.

Oh my soul, come to Jesus this morning [and tomorrow....and the next day], and you WILL find rest.

Prayer and Relationship Neglect

More and more, I am reminded that prayer is my relationship with God. It is not an element or part of my relationship. It is the largest challenge to my heart right now. I need prayer to be a much larger priority than it is.

Prayer is when my heart, mind, and soul are all focused on God instead of all the things of life I do not control anyway. Because of that focus, prayer is when I truly know and love God. Prayer is when I can be close to God, my Abba and my Lord. Prayer is when and where I can be the beloved one of God.

I realize when I choose to make little time for prayer, I am saying to God I am not truly committed to this relationship. I also realize every life that is greatly used by God throughout all of history and present have a common denominator of a dynamic, fervent, prayer life, and I really want my life to be used greatly by God to bring Him glory and bring more people to know His love and His hope.

Satan fears the power of a praying person (2 Cor. 10:3-5, 7; Eph. 6:10-17), but my flesh is weak and resists the fervent discipline (Matt. 26:40-41; Rom. 7:14-18). There is power in a fervent daily prayer life that is very different from our world's idea of power.

My God, my Abba, help me make our relationship the greatest priority in my life. Help my heart, mind, and soul paint a stark picture of how absolutely ridiculous it is to pursue anything else more. Help me place nothing, even good things, above you and our relationship. Fill me with desire to be devoted to prayer. Help me entangle with you so that Jesus may live His life through me all the more each day. Grant me a hunger for you. I do not want to neglect our relationship. I need it so desperately.

You cannot help it

We are all worshippers.  Truth is we are worshipping all the time.  Every place, all day long, every day, we worship.  We were made to worship.  We are wired that way.  Essentially we cannot help but worship...something.  Worship is simply an issue of value.  THE QUESTION lies in where we place it. When I am worshipping God, am I really placing value...understanding the value...spiritually, intellectually, prophetically and trustingly putting value on God the loving ridiculous Daddy?  It takes a sincere awareness and outpouring of honor.

Instant

"For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." -Galatians 6:8-9

My tendency in prayer and seeking God is to sow now expecting to reap now. How often I have prayed with hopes God will answer my prayer immediately? How often I have sought after God in an instant and grown tired of waiting for him to answer?

When you plant a seed (sow), you do not get the fruit (reap) that night with a little water. You get the final product after months of daily watering and cultivating.

Seek God and His Spirit today.... and tomorrow and every day

You will reap what you sow in prayer and spirit but you must keep praying and seeking for something you will one day reap when God says it is ready