Devotion Pyes in Longing

I usually tend to go to classics for my spiritual readings, but there are also some wonderful
people today with brilliant thoughts.

Richard Foster:
“In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emerging of a Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated,
Spirit-empowered people. All of creation watches expectantly for the springing up of a disciplined,
freely gathered martyr people who know in this life the  life and power of the kingdom of God.
It has happened before. It can happen again.”  (Celebration of Discipline)

Thomas A. Smail:
“The whole experience of these years makes us ask with new urgency, `How are God`s promises fulfilled?`
Is it by working through a catalogue of conditions and performing human works that comply with them,
or is it that God in his grace leads us step by step towards the receiving of his promises at
ways and times of his own choosing, so that there is no question of forcing his hand from our side?
If the latter, our business in ministering to people is not to prescribe a method, but in each case to see
what my Father is doing, as Jesus did, whether it be healing or waiting, bringing about a crisis or continuing
a process, renewing inwardly or healing outwardly-and when we have seen what he is doing to follow him in the
sovereign way he is taking.” (The Forgotten Father)

I love these mystics who combined their great learning with their beautiful sanctity.
For those of you who haven`t read any of the works of the 33 Doctors of the Church, you should check them out
Here’s a sample from some of these mystics..

Teresa of Avila:
“Never pay heed to such matters of popular opinion. This is no time for believing
everyone; believe only those whom you see modeling their lives on the life of Christ.”

Catherine of Siena:
“Why must you have such care for yourselves? Let God`s providence watch over you. His
eyes are on you continually in your fears. Not a moment passes but He is thinking of your welfare.”

Bonaventure:
“A saint`s life must be pure, that is, everything must be done out of love for God.”

Psalm 29:4
“The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is majestic”

A few years ago, I started to seriously try to listen to the Lord`s voice.
It says in scripture that “my sheep hear my voice” and slowly but surely, I was starting to recognize that still small voice.
But even after years of hearing God,
there are times where I am not quite exactly sure if its Him or not.
But I’m resting assured that the Lord is my good shepherd guiding me beyond my ability to hear perfectly all the time.
If you are someone sincerely asking Him to be “Your shepherd” everyday,
you are probably led more than you realize.
And as I look back to my childhood,
I realize how many times the Lord guided me without  me even realizing it.
 

Blessed be the Lord, King of the Universe,
who guides us in His ways..

I was pondering earlier about a friend who constantly defends himself in front of me.
Sometimes I don’t know why he is defending himself.
But as I thought about it today, I thought “oh.. maybe he thinks I’m judging him.. But I’m not quite sure what he thinks I’m judging him of.”

As humans, we need to be careful of not judging how others judge us.

If he had only asked what I thought of him, I would have poured out affection and love.

I think we judge the Father in a harsh way..
But we need to spend time with Him and ask Him what He thinks of us.

I spend a lot of time with the Father,
and I know He really really likes me.

I love to feast on His “well done.” His praises mean more to me than anything.

And with ministry, I live out that “well-done.”

It`s like the Father reveals to me His wonderful plan,
and I set about and do it.
So I do the ministry after I`ve received His approval.
I do it IN His approval.

It`s a great life .

You are more loved than you realize.

Spend time and ask Him what He thinks of you.

Recently the Lord took me through one of the more interesting seasons of my life; and there were two ways that the Lord met me as I journeyed. The first was revealing His character and the second was simply blessing me. As I tend to be pretty stream-of-consciousness in my writing style, I am hoping that details of the journey, and details of the Lord teaching me intertwine well.

Around the turn of the year the Lord started speaking that a season of transition was coming for me. As a pretty transient person this excited me, but as someone who had only six months earlier fallen in love with our great city of Los Angeles, I was also a little bit bummed. I had made a connection with a lovely church in Alabama, and they asked me to come and lead worship for a church retreat, and I took them up on the offer.

Just before I left, I felt the Lord impressing upon me to leave my job. I felt like I heard the date July 1. I began to protest much, mainly reminding God, “This economy is not the best. So, are you sure that this is the process?” So, I asked a couple of people about it and surprisingly all but one said, “Go for it. You’re young, and even if you are missing it, you can recover.”  So, I went for it and put my notice in for July 1.

My eyes were set on moving to St. Paul, MN. There is a long story behind that, but something inexplicable happened, I really enjoyed this church in Alabama. And they asked me to consider moving there. Then in less than a month, I had submitted my resume to places in Tuscaloosa, AL. Then the first door opened. Then the second and finally it became clear that no other doors were opening in Southern California, St. Paul or in my home state of Texas.

I secured a job interview for a job that I had not applied for, and I began asking the men and women of faith around me to pray for discernment. (I had applied for a different job in the same company.) No one seemed to have any words of confirmation that this was the Lord or that it wasn’t. So, I got to the point where they had offered the job and I needed to make a decision. I agreed to the job and the peace of God came down. And afterward, my friends began to tell me that felt it was the right choice.

The Lord just wanted me to come to Him. I am the type of person who truly wants and needs my community to speak into my life situations. In this instance however the Lord wanted me to rely on Him. Having my community confirm that I should put in my notice, the Lord then plugged their eyes, ears and mouths until I heard directly from God. He was forming me to rely upon Him. And it was good.

The Lord also wanted me to grow in trust. God is good; I just needed to learn that. God has good plans for me; I just needed to believe in them. It was a great process that some of you were a part of. I was encouraged that the trajectory of my life’s journey was my testing ground. I continued forward while still learning, and I think that is how it was and is always meant to be. We have never arrived, we continue arriving. Even when I move into my new home in Tuscaloosa, I have not arrived, I am only arriving to a place in my journey. It reminds me of Paul. We are aliens in this world. We are never home here, but we get glimpses of home. We get community. We get His presence. And that is enough in times, and somehow seemingly not enough in other times.

So, how was God showing me his goodness? This job ended up paying twice my current salary. My new roommate is what I would call “awesome sauce.” My rent will be a third of my current rent, and if I budget wisely I should be able to pay down my debt in 3-4 years. Oh…and the Lord has provided amazingly as I have sold things. Letting me get more than I should have on several things.

I just encourage you to continue living in the foolishness of God. When God speaks and it sounds risky, seek your community and step out in faith. It is that place of abandoned belief that we come to see and understand His wisdom and His goodness. Blessings friends. Praying you find as Kevin Prosch says, “Peace in the struggle.”

This morning I woke up and as I washed my face,
I looked at my reflection and thought to the Lord

“Your instrument, Your song.”

Wow! I love how I think. haha.
Throughout the years, I`ve come to realize God as the Divine Artist and each person as God`s noble work of art.

I’m His instrument releasing His song in the greater scheme of His symphony.

Each person is an imago dei(the image of God) and we are birthed to uniquely and marvelously image forth God to the world.

The more I learn about our supremely good God, the more I want to be like Him.

I am learning, as St. Bonaventure declared, that Jesus is “gentlest Bridegroom, Lord Jesus.”

I`ve been ministering prophetically for years but with each person, I want to treat them as a unique work of art.

“This is His masterpiece” I think to myself as I carefully pray/give advice.

What I notice sometimes is that our “image” of God is slightly off(not consistent with theology through the ages).

God is supremely good..

This is how the prophecy can help people… It helps people reform their vision of God so it is more accurate..

St. Irenaeus said that man is God`s noble work of art.

Let us continue to image-forth supreme goodness.

One of the best lines I heard in seminary was this:

“There are two things to be careful with in Christianity. 
The over-simplifications and the either/ors”

That line is just so amazingly brilliant.

We need to maintain tension.

I would drink love constantly if I could, that and truth. There is much of it at Wisdom’s table– as much and more than I could ever drink. But it is very hard to take in. 

Mercy comes easily though in huge, beautifully ornamented metal goblets.  It is something like water, although much more pure.  It’s clear and always fresh; goblet after goblet of it can be had without end.  Righteousness is also like this but more like wine.  It comes in huge clear chalices, sweet and fulfilling. I can drink a whole one and most of another–although everyday my capacity for it grows; and the Lord always offers more. 

Faith is the most unclear. It comes in containers which look something like sewn leather pouches. A strap hangs across the outside, and on one end is a small metal tip and cap. Usually, I take a sip and discover there is more. There is something like a vapor inside. When it condenses it flows like a pure liquid. After drinking some and tilting the pouch back, or giving it a shake, more liquid forms and can be drank.

Truth and Love are the most amazing, though. Truth is like an apple of which I can only take a bite. I cannot accept much Truth at a time!  Sometimes I can only barely scratch the surface and taste the juice, and sometimes I can drink it only mixed with large amounts of mercy. Love comes in glasses like wine.  At first, I could only take a few sips, but now I can drink over a glass! It is this which I seek to drink most, because in being able to accept love, in accepting self love which the Lord gives, one can pour out love to others.  Through this we show obedience to God, and through obedience we are able to hear God.

I spend a lot of time in nature and nature teaches me a lot about our Creator-God. A few weeks ago, I saw this adorable bird skipping about and I thought to myself “O bird.. you are so cute. Yet no human thought of creating you and I doubt no human has specifically been praying  that you will live.” And I thought to myself “hmm.. I recently saw a photo of a bird somewhere. Where did I see it…” And I remembered watching a documentary with a picture of a mangled bird. The essence of the documentary was “Look at the evil humans are releasing!!!”

I think humans think ourselves a bit too powerful. In a sense, it is true. We do release a lot of havoc.

But is anyone in tune with the unseen forces of good? Is anyone aware of how much of creation is thriving?

Sometimes I look at nature and I’m in wonder.. “Wow” I think, “no human thought of you in existence.. only the good Lord knows of you..And He has given you instinct to know where to find the food.. Wow”

Our Creator-God is so caring and tender.

Jesus came to reveal a Father who deeply cares about His creation..

Sometimes before we enter into fervent prayer,
we need to step back a bit, look up at our marvelous and powerful Creator and say “Thank you Father for knowing what I need before I say it.”
 
He cares.

So, I recently got back involved in The Well at PIHOP. After about a year break, I came back and started ministering to the men and women of God who come to our home on Saturday nights. It has been amazing to see what fruits have come in my life from just getting back in the action.

In the two weeks since I have been back, I have been caught off guard by the onslaught of prophetic visions, words and songs that have come…outside of The Well. Every time I turn around it seems that the Lord is speaking again. The Lord wants and even needs to speak to His people. And because I have inclined my ear to listen, He is beginning to speak regardless of the context.

It reminds me a bit of having car trouble. Stick with me for just a moment. You know that moment when you feel that your car is starting to “behave” differently. Maybe it is the way that it shifts, or a hesitation when it accelerates. It is often in those moments that we begin to notice a change in the noise the car makes. We are positioning ourselves to hear.

That is what the past few weeks have been like. I have put myself in a position to listen again, and it is amazing what I have been hearing. One story that brings my heart a lot of joy is the story of “Tom.” Tom and I have been good friends for many years, and the Lord has used the prophetic over and over again at key times in our friendship.

We are currently separated by about as many miles as is possible in the continental U.S. I am here in Pasadena, and Tom is in Maine. Over the course of three days, the Lord gave me two visions for him, and I sent them to him via text. He and I talked about and processed them on the phone last night and Tom has finally seen what a few men and women of God had known about him for years…he was called to serve the men of women God as a pastor.

Tom had always fought the idea being a “pastor” because he has know desire to preach. He finally realized that his calling is to work with those who have sexual addictions. He wants to see people set free. And it took the prophetic word of God to reach him and awaked his heart to the reality of his calling.

And the beautiful part of this, is God is speaking through many of you in the same ways. God is using you to call forth a generation of worshipers, ministers, deliverers, prophets, teachers, worship leaders, dancers, etc. I look forward to hearing that you are seeing the same things happen in your life. The power of life (and death) is in your tongue as you speak forth God’s revelatory word men and women are able to finally understand and walk forth into their callings. And that is an amazing thing.