from God

When Johnathan Edwards, Charles Wesley and others we historically esteem (including Jesus) spoke, strange things happened. The manifestations of spirit at Edwards' meetings was similar to that of Toronto and many other, current renewal/revival ministries; the emotion and radicality of Charles Finney's meetings and Jesus' followers in the gospels could be put next to what happened in Brownsville in the 90's or many Pentecostal or renewal churches today, and the similarities would be striking.

Edwards and Finney (and Paul, Peter, Simpson, Seymour) many of us "get" - though not all of us may get both (some may prefer Edwards' revelation of sovereignty over Finney's free will, vice versa, or one man's style or emotional makeup over the other). Their lives and theologies continue to impact the American experience. Entire denominations hail one man or the other at seeming saint status, yet would not be able to stomach the same manifestations in their churches today. Many esteem their theology, but leave the experiential dynamic of relationship with God as a thing to be ignore, or as just for someone "so holy". Reverence and submission to God declared without evidence, in propriety, is even prized - what Paul calls having a form of godliness, but lacking its power. Empty religion.

Perhaps we do, after all, know a little bit about what Jesus meant when he declares the evidence of being a whitewashed tomb in Matthew 23 - hailing prophets and Godly people of old, but despise the Godly and prophetic people in one's midst:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets."

Then Jesus outlines to them that though God sends men and women of God and moves of the Holy Spirit in order to reconcile the world to Himself, God also sends them in order to expose the disdain many so-called followers of God have for God - that they may have a chance to be reconciled again.

Jesus, though possessing a charisma that could enable peaceful, diplomatic resolutions to conflict was not afraid to live in a way that angered anyone - even his own family! He did not live to cause conflict or try to appear sacrilegious; His life was the conflict. His being was the apparent sacrilege.

Jesus dispensed grace to the ungraceful and loved the despised, yet Mother Teresa, Hallmark moments, and even Shane Claiborne don't bring that kind of response, that degree of division. Your message, though full of love and a greater audacity than that of worldly hope, must also demonstrate the insufficiency of life as we know it. This requires power.

The lame must walk, the deaf must hear, the blind must see. Through your voice, your touch and your presence in union with God.

Jesus' life seemed as an incontrivable paradox, because at every turn it proved the religious order of that day and every other to be defunct; He laughed at institutionally inappropriate times, his words were inopportune and did not please the right people, he spoke with boldness because he spoke from God. And that paradox had a power that evidenced it - pure relationship with God through the life of Jesus Christ - as the only way.

Yet the scandal was not in what he did, who he ate with, or that it challenged perceived Jewish-ness or imperial Rome. The scandal was not age, or in being misunderstood as a prophetic voice. The scandal was that He is and all knew it. He said he was from God, and he was. Uh-oh.

The world is not flat

Years ago, a noted prophetic voice told radio audiences that God had shown him in a revelatory experience that outer space was not empty as thought. Because God had created it, it had to have substance. People thought him crazy. Christians called him a heretic. A few years later, science proved him right.

Recently, this same prophetic voice (who accurately foretold the financial collapse in 2008, as well as dozens of other world events) stated that before our lifespan is over (speaking of most people), science will prove that time is a substance. It seems as though science is all but there.

Because time is created, it is not just a concept but a reality. Often we speak of it as if time is simply a law, like gravity, or if the present is all there is. But that can not be true.

Recently, a theology known as "open theism" has grown in popularity. Open theism is promoted because it rightly shows God to be relational, loving, and actively involved with us on a personal level. He chooses to be influenced by us. That's good stuff! Pursuing God for the love He is, is the best of motivations!

But part of its basic idea also has this: God is not beyond time, interacting with us personally within time, but instead God is inside of time - He is not in the future because the future does not yet exist, and He only knows what the future holds because He is infinitely capable of figuring things out. He has a big brain.

At first, this may not seem like a big deal. So what if the future isn't here yet, and the God we believed could see the future really can't?

The deal is this: If Christianity defines God as being inside of time, while time is not infinite but a substance, then our problematic conclusion becomes this: time is bigger than God.

However, God is beyond time - just as He is similarly unaffected by gravity.

Leaders of nations and the Church were confounded when the solar system was discovered to not revolve around the Earth. Church hierarchies were angry and their doctrine was humiliated. Their worldview assumptions had informed their interpretation of Scripture, and Galileo unwittingly proved their Earth-centric doctrine to be wrong (though it took them years to come to terms with it).

Just as the church erroneously interpreted Sacred Scripture as saying the Earth is the center of the universe - because the view confirmed their worldview - so the church is in danger of a similar misstep today. If we hold the doctrine of open theism, the legitimate scientific discovery of time as substance will either humiliate our doctrines because we made God smaller than time, a created substance - or science will again laugh, because our doctrines will seemingly prove to them that our God is not god, but another figment of religious imaginations, held within the greater universe. He becomes simply superhuman, devoid of the attributes of deity.

To use another illustration: We know the world is not flat. Yet, world leaders and explorers were confounded when the world was proved to be round. However, the round-Earth discovery forever changed world exploration, because explorers then knew their ships would not fall off the side of the ocean. It opened the horizon to them, literally. A correct view of the Uncreated God, who, while moving in time with us and filling our lives with His life, holds Him as beyond time. And just as the round-Earth discovery transformed world exploration, our knowledge of an infinite, all-present, beyond-limits God will transform our personal exploration of Him.

Notice, I did not call this correct view Calvinism. Nor did I say it was not Calvinism. I do not support any theological bent that would attempt to explain away our responsibility as God's children, as messengers, as ones who love those in the world. Or any "belief" system that says the gospel is not power to effect the human heart and history. A true understanding of God's nature, however partial ours is, will always expand our ability to follow Him, to fulfill responsibility and change history.

I am not attempting to resolve mystery, or remove the seeming tension between an infinite God and having the ability to influence Him. Instead, the nature of God could in fact make us more uncomfortable, the mystery could grow and feel even more unresolved. Maybe that's how He likes it.

The Invisible Series

The college I went to is unique. It is a Christian college, yet also held the privilege of being the most socio-economically and racially diverse private college in America, and probably still is. It is a given that different types of people have different perspectives on life. At school, some of these differences manifested in humorous ways - such as, a friend of mine who grew up in New York City was scared of forests.

Actually, you could say he feared rural areas because they had too many trees. Another friend of mine, this one from the Midwest, was afraid of New York subways. Both friends feared what they did not know - or more correctly, they feared what they knew from the movies!

All my city friend knew about rural areas probably concerned big bears in the woods and monsters eating rowboats. My Midwestern friend's knowledge of New York City was probably limited to Wall Street, Gangs of New York, and stories of Times Square from the 1970's.

We operate the same way when it comes to our perceptions of God. The world around us is the movie from which we have gleaned inadequate and wrong ideas of God and what His world is like. We may have mean-spirited authority figures (often this includes the religious) in our lives and in our past have heard messages teeming with unholy judgments. Thus, we think of God as being mean, critical and judgmental. 

Besides, God is supposedly bigger and more powerful than anything, so it only makes sense to us that He is the archetype of such behavior. After all - He created this whole thing, DIDN'T HE?! 

We are used to having secondary motives to our own actions, selfish slants in every opinion, and a hope that we can control our lives long enough to either have some happiness, more happiness or at least survive a bit longer. We also tend to form whatever we serve - our "god" -into our image.

The good news is my friends visiting the country have really no chance of being mauled by a bear while driving in upstate New York, my friend visiting Manhattan is more likely to get lost on the subway system than robbed, and we have made God the target of far more criticism than He has given us. In fact, He is not nearly as critical as we assume. His root is love; His anger is only momentary - and primarily concerned with that which separates us from knowing His love.

The problem isn't that The Invisible God doesn't make Himself clearly known; the problem lies in our constant inability to listen to Him, or - to put it another way - our pension to listen to everything but Him.

We know He (The Invisible) has sent an Invisible Man to lead us into the entirety of Truth, who teaches us about Himself (Jn 15:26) and is always present, everywhere. He Himself is an Invisible God that displays Himself through every seen and created thing. He made Himself touchable and transparent in an only son and now through many sons and daughters, as Invisible Diety placed in obvious frailty. Each of these are clear and indisputable displays - yet each requires us to stop, listen and press through the veneer of learning, piety, perception and pretense.

Faith does not rest on what is seen. Faith is the conviction of things not yet seen, and this gift of faith opens The Invisible to us. It causes The Invisible to be seen, to become tangible to us as conviction becomes substance. This happens because we realize that true faith is not just from Him, but of Him, and as it expands, He expands in us and what we thought was intangible has become tangible. This happens spiritually, emotionally, in our minds and physically. It happens to you as an individual, or it can happen corporately - in any setting.

Since the beginning, God has been clearly seen through what is made. It is only because we give ourselves over to twistings (perversions) of pure desire - feelings that are foreign to our eternal selves - that we do not see, hear, or comprehend that The Invisible really is The Visible and revealed.

As it stands now, we only know of Him as Invisible, so we might understand which of our gods is being represented. To us, lust seems visible and tangible, yet committed love is somehow distant and slippery. Entertainment is fun and in-the-moment, while true fulfillment is unattainable or a metaphor for something else. We feel shallow relationships help us for the moment, but as trust and intimacy start to open their reality, their tangible nature scares us - so we revert to what we've always known and our current life becomes what is bearable, what is normal, what is within reason. And what is visible and apparent to us in this state is not love, not hope, not reason, not anything like what we were made for. And nothing like what we've dreamed.

Thankfulness opens our eyes. Hope brings light into our squinting and dim perception. Faith focuses this enlightened perception, turning intangible concepts of shape and color into definite lines that can then be moved by love, and love is a man who you can only come to see as you allow Him to be visible in your heart.

In the The Invisible posts, we will explore the nature of The Unseen One, and how that which we call invisible becomes vicerally palpable, touchable, and seen. He becomes intuitively obvious as we press forward and into Him.

The first post you can find right below; it was written just a month prior to this post.

Rewritten and reposted December 2008

The Invisible Man

Hey, I need to let you know - there is an invisible man in the room with you right now. He's probably standing next to you, reading with you, and he can actually do anything to you he wants. In fact, he's probably getting ready to do just that.

Now, don't freak out - He's a good guy. Actually, you and he are very good friends, but you just seem to have a bit of amnesia and don't remember all that he's done for you. Or you may not remember it because you've fooled yourself into thinking all the things he helped you with, you did on your own - which isn't very nice.

You don't believe me? Watch for evidence - kind of like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator looking for a light bending, seemingly invisible, alien or Mr. Incredible catching his daughter during her vanishing act. Look for evidence. Maybe you'll see footprints on the carpet, feel a brush of wind from his movement, his hand on your shoulder. Or maybe you just got healed of something that's been afflicting you for years. Test it out and see (no, really, try it). It's not uncommon for people to get covered by a blanket of love and peace, feel warmth like the sun on their face or to get healed - when they're thinking about him. Sometimes people know he's around just because they feel better. This often happens without even noticing he came in the room, yet they'll suddenly stop feeling lonely or may start to enjoy the other people around them.

He's good at pointing out how much more full and rich our lives are in love than we often think, and he's also got a knack for helping you see the best in others, especially those you have a hard time dealing with. It's less common to see a footprint, but hey - it could happen. Did you test your body out yet?

Matter of fact, you probably don't think too much of him. He has all power and love hidden inside of him, though at times will be pretty modest - he only brags about one person, and has been known to clam up when people ignore him. Yet, every good and perfect thing that's happened in your life has happened because he was and is present, though you don't really believe it. Well, maybe you do a little, but not really. How do I know? If you did, you'd have already been talking to him before you read this blog post.

Spirit is here. And Spirit is there, present with you. The One who comes from the deepest parts of the Uncreated Life has walked with you through every moment of your life without ever abandoning you. The invisible, invincible, all-too-easily-passed-by perfection of Spirit who is the friend, confidant and completion you've always wanted surrounds you, now. Not convinced? I know.

But Spirit is. And Spirit is waiting for you.

"Alright, the last apostle to die has to take the Holy Spirit with him..."

Have you ever heard anyone tell you that the works of the Father, as demonstrated through Jesus, ended when the last apostle died?

Interestingly, Paul never said that those that read his epistles will do the works of Paul, and neither did John or Peter or James say that about what they did. So it is true that the acts of Paul died with him, just as the acts of each apostle died when they "passed on".

However, the one Hebrews calls the Apostle of our Confession makes a bold statement in John 5. He did not do his own works (and neither did Paul or the others), but the works of His Father. And then He declared that those who follow Him will do the same works He did, and greater works.

When every apostle is dead, the Holy Spirit will stop moving. Cessationism is partly true - were Jesus, the first and last apostle, to ever die, so would His works with Him. At that point, the Holy Spirit would be finished as well, as His job is to exalt Jesus.

I'm glad Jesus is alive and in Him we live, move and have our existence. As He lives in us and as we live in the Father we manifest what He does. Jesus never stopped doing what He does because twelve original apostles died. He is the chief apostle, after all. And He is God who doesn't stop to ask the church about their doctrine when He today raises the dead and gives dreams in the night - even when these dreams go to witch doctors and neopagans to prepare them for the good news of the Kingdom.

He performs creative miracles when children lay hands on those who have never walked, or seen, or heard. And He does these things when they don't.

It's not a once and a while, if-He-really-wants-to kind of thing, but God is answering the prayer Jesus prayed in Matthew 6 - because He really wants to - that the kingdom and will of God would come, would be present, on Earth as it is in Heaven. After all, Paul was correct when he said in Him (the One who fills the heavens and Earth, and Heaven surrounds in worship) we live and move and have our being.

Physical and undeniable outworkings of the truth that Heaven's agenda is all around us just waiting to break in are occurring where people are agreeing. And do we not have the Holy Spirit as our Helper, who is the One breathed from the depths of the Father?

But then again, He is not God of the dead, but God of the Living. So who says Paul, Peter, James, John or any of those other guys are dead either? Of course they're not, and the kingdom of Heaven is near.

The Heavens

slight sparkles slice in every hue
by the millions
across universes colored and not,
frescoes of sound unsung
waiting for chords to paint themselves from

unwrapped, unfitting an ear
and beyond the reach of any eye,
7 Eyes spin with spliced sparkles
threading Truth; their strengthened journey
producing thrones for tomorrow

4 creatures alive attend the Eyes,
their own in front, above, behind
below the crystal sea of unmined belief
often thought a frescoed ceiling
wanting to come out, out of impossibility

the Breath they breathe, winds, wheels and trees
all spin with summer leaves not crumpled, or weary
as fall lingers an aside - a fringe concept of worlds ago -
wondering from where faith appeared
"when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth?"

it is in the heavens

Job 26:13, 2 Chronicles 16:9, Ezekiel 1, Revelation 22:2, Luke 18:8, Hebrews 11:14

Walking With, part II

The Glory of God is going to shake us in every place we are connected to the ways of this present age. It is not until we connect ourselves and are fully connected to the thoughts of Heaven - in body, soul and spirit - that we become bridged to Heaven's reality.

This reality of walking with is not just found in knowing healing, or in knowing the restoration of God's purposes exist in Heaven and then causing a token of them to come forth on earth. It's not just found in believing that angels interact with us and interface with our physical existence moment-by-moment and cause unseen creative expressions to become tangible - such as causing a person's limbs to grow out, a beautiful painting to be painted, or gold and diamonds to appear. We do value and pray for all of these things to be here as they are on Heaven. However, gifts are a token; God is all. Belief is conviction; God is both the only provocation of believing conviction and the only fulfillment of its desire. What we see now are only His outer fringes.

This reality of walking with is first brought forth in the thoughts of the mind and intentions of the heart, finding expression through thinking the thoughts of God and holding His posture of heart. And it is first found in how we think toward Him and toward what He loves most - people.

I recently heard it said that John (the Beloved) had such a radically transformed view of the church after receiving the revelation of Jesus that we know as the book, Revelation. What he saw in Heaven (and we read in Revelation chapter 19) was burned in his eyes and he could no longer view people through his own conceptions, but instead saw what Heaven sees. We see dry bones, but God so loved the world and knew it would change if He sent His Son to believe in, that He sent His One, His only Son, so that anyone who believed in this Son would have an unending existence inside of Him. For God did not send His Son into our hearts that we would condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. This most basic precept of the Christian faith will be formed in God's people. He's going to let us be shaken until we grab ahold of this love which is the foundation for unshakeable truth. The only question is, "How hard will He have to shake us?"

To put it another way: "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me." (Luke 9:48) Those we think the least of - in wealth, in social status, even in holiness - are the very ones we need to receive the most.

Walking With, part I

Quite often, we miss the significance of our participation in both daily and life-altering events. "Line upon line, precept upon precept", we are building into the eternal dwelling place of God. Each prayer from a sincere heart, every scripture caught in your spirit and every breath from the Divine transforms you, the one that has inestimable significance in the eyes of the Creator.

We are on the verge of a spiritual shift on this earth that will effect the universe in the same way tetonic plates' shifting effect a continent. The Spirit of the Living God is orchestrating a move of Heaven, through yielded people, that is going to alter how we see God. And since He has made us His emissaries - His friends, His vessels, the very gates of Heaven on earth - the enlargement of our capacity to see Him and the capability of His love will open us, that Heaven may come as Jesus prayed in Matthew 5. He wants us to see the sufficiency of Jesus' blood invade the impossible - salvations on street corners, freedom in crackhouses, hope in prisons, poverty of spirit in mansions, and a daddy's love in orphanages. Wheelchairs emptied, hearts full, hospitals cleared out and stadiums packed in from revival.

Now, the shift will be glorious. However, it may not feel glorious. When God causes change, Jesus in us is exalted and our carnal nature further destroyed. His Kingdom in and around us has an increasing glory and light, while what is not His Kingdom shakes and falls through the crack in the fault line. The Glory of God is going to shake us in every place we are connected to the unrenewed ways in which this world operates. It is not until we connect ourselves and are fully connected to the thoughts of Heaven - often one line or precept at a time - that we become bridged to Heaven's reality. And only then do we experience a true reviving of life or "revival", plus some. Re-connecting with Heaven causes us to re-present God as Adam did, and as his family was supposed to. Eventually we will do this as Adam did, both individually and corporately, but with a greater degree of glory.

When Peter walked through Jerusalem with his shadow (in the Greek, that word can also mean "outshining", like a radiance) healing masses of people, the people were there because they knew Peter was going to walk along that road. We understand that, but do we realize how they must have viewed Peter to do such a thing? There was actually a significant group of people within Jerusalem that knew God was so formed in Peter that He would shine out from Peter and be so tangibly present around Peter that all leprosy would leave their body, inside and out. They knew God was so attracted to Peter's life He could not stay away, and since God was near Peter, that if they got near him they would be getting near to God and they would be healed. Their broken bones would just be set in place and healed. They believed their legs would grow back out, backs would straighten, mental torment and paralysis would leave and they would be made whole.

The Glory of God is going to shake us in every place we are connected to the ways of this world, but only in order to disconnect us from the world's ways and reconnect us with what Peter walked with. It's not just what Peter walked in, in regards to anointing, authority, or by way of gift, but it's Who he walked with. Peter was beginning to touch on something that wasn't new, but ancient. Jesus is called the "Second Adam" because He restored unbroken communion with God on earth, the communion the first Adam lost. And in His death and resurrection, Jesus established a spiritual seed that would guarantee that unbroken communion would be inherited by everyone coming after Him.

Adam walked with such communion that lovers of God will seek the gifts and authority he walked in, but not nearly as desirously as they will seek to know who God was to him. What kind of a God would invest so much in one, unproven man such as Adam? What kind of a God would invest His only Son in disproven, haughty people such as ourselves, and in such a way as to give us all things?

Adam's walk with God was so much more than just an unseen accessory to life that benefitted him by keeping his checkbook in the black and helping him trust life will turn out okay. Adam glowed. He overflowed with joy at anything and everything God did, and he did so with excellence.

Ben 114 repost

(originally posted May 2006)

A picture of a grace God is giving to His Church now is portrayed in Benjamin, the last son of Jacob. His name means "son of my right hand", or "strength of the anointing".

Psalm 92:13, a Psalm written for those living in the rest (Sabbath) of God, says the righteous "flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green.." Since this verse is full of obvious symbolism (righteous people are represented as trees), then it's not a stretch to interpret "old" symbolically as well. "They still bear fruit in old age" can be taken as "They still advance the Kingdom of God in spiritual maturity; they are always nourished by the Holy Spirit and lead full, energized lives." Joel 2:28 uses this same symbolism when it says:

"And it shall come to pass afterward,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions."

Joel is prophesying a time when the spiritually immature (young men) will hear God's voice along with the mature (old men), declaring that how the Spirit relates to His people in a time of outpouring is not in respect to maturity, a length of time, or even proven faithfulness in the past, but on how they allow Him to relate to them in that moment. So God's decree in Psalm 92 is the opposite of what many Christians today believe - They believe that the zeal of the first year or so after conversion is the most productive time to declare one's faith. Here, however, God is declaring that those living in His presence (courts) will not wane in zeal, productivity or anointing, even after many years. Those that are mature in the knowledge and experience of God's Presence (also see Hebrews 5:14) bear fruit in their maturity. The anointing increases. Fervency and zeal are not just for the young in faith, because true maturity is accompanied with a growth in zeal that comes from love, not the might of youth. As love deepens, strength is matured and solidified, and power works with love.

Lack of fruitfulness is not a result of temperance or wisdom; it is a result of growing weary in doing good and loss of vision. It is a result of not pressing on to know the Lord.

A few verses before Psalm 92:13, in verse 10, the psalmist speaks of this power that works with love, when he says, "But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil." The ox's horn in Scripture speaks of power, and oil is the anointing. Since greater power and exaltation are solely for the exaltation of Jesus, it could read, "You are showing yourself off through me in power; you have anointed me." And a very important factor the anointing is joy, because it is one of the most fundamental ways Jesus is expressed to the world (Psalm 45:7). "The joy of the Lord is your strength" - of the anointing. Joy and power must work together, even to the point of joy releasing and being the very power of God.

As this anointing comes, the earth and its arenas are shaken. I imagine a large ox, laughing hysterically, would be pretty disruptive, kind of like what happened in the first century A.D. when Paul and Barnabas would enter a town.

Now we return to Benjamin, Jacob's last son. His mother, Rachel, goes through a terrible struggle and dies giving birth. She names him "Ben-Oni" as she dies. "Ben-Oni" means "son of my sorrows", but the name doesn't stick. If Benjamin is a picture of what is coming to the church, the last generation of their father, we can take great comfort. Even though it has come at great cost, we know that on the other side of trials and difficulty, the Kingdom opens to us. Great trial for God's sake ends in great glory. This happens when Jacob changes his son's name to "Benjamin".

Again, Benjamin means "son of my right hand", or "strength of the anointing". Since names speak of a person's nature in Hebrew culture, Benjamin could have said, "Dad, you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil." His name is that blessing! Great struggles ("Oni") result in great joy when they're done. It's what most of the Bible's about; it's what the cross was about. It's also what God's about now. Joy is important; it is released through answered prayer, through promise realized, and most powerfully through knowing Jesus. When you possess true blue joy, you more clearly are Jesus to this world, and become as the Father to them. You will be strengthened by enjoying your appointment as an ambassador of Heaven, and seeing your face becomes a God-ordained encounter that will lead others nearer to knowing Jesus.

God is wanting to give more joy to the Church, and is wanting to display His power and presence among us, through us. He wants us to bear fruit through loving zeal, which is bold. This is for everybody; He is not a respecter of persons, even though we tend to be. He is looking at the young and old, now, and seeing who receives and responds to the deposit of grace He is giving. Then, to the one that has, more will be given.

When Jesus is lifted up, it is promised that He will draw everyone to Himself.

the rain deer

satisfaction, in a rain drop,
tests and wearies souls of men
longing for more.
more, in a storm
pulls princes
to where want and must collide
i want, thus
you must
see the answer shown through me

drawn under

swimming breathing tumbling
underfather
bubble breaths and double rest
floating sinking soaring drinking
under
underneath water

restore.

Just after I first posted this, I noticed on Yahoo! that today is Earth Day, 2006. I then added an extra sentence or two onto the post. Please appreciate the coincidence as you read - coincidence often being our view of that which is actually sovereignty.

Sometimes, as I am riding in a car, I look at the passing trees and begin to imagine leaves sprouting and growing full as I drive by - their continual fruitfulness restored by the presence of Heaven's ambassador (aka, me). Or, while on a walk, I picture what I must really look like as a new creation - the lifeforce of God splaying from my hands, and shining from my eyes and open smile.

A few years ago, walking up a dirt path in a forest, I kept looking back at where my bare feet had landed on the path - somehow half surprised that green, green grass wasn't sprouting up underneath my feet, and that broken trees I touched weren't healed, or didn't even start worshipping the Lord, at the very least (Isaiah 55:12). Somewhere it's gotten into my mind that God's restorative purposes, which He enacts through sent ones, should be flowing from my life in a way that would seem either radical or superfluous in any context, besides the context of Creator-God Himself. He is the original Miracle-Gro, after all - but much, much better of course.

What will the new earth look like? The new earth is covered in God's glory, and is free from the current bondage to decay, while the old, current earth is simultaneously decaying and rebelling (and increasingly) against the mistreatment it has received at man's hands. This old earth longs to be covered in God's glory and clothed with its Maker, just as we, the redeemed, new nation, each long for the full manifestation of his presence upon us (Romans 8). Decay, unfruitfulness, death and disease are all results of the curse we (humans) have put on this earth through our rebellion against God. Conversely, fullness of growth, abundance, life and healing are results of restoration, as we return to God, working with Him towards the purposes held in Heaven for our future together - where righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit will prevail (Romans 14:17). Trees in Scripture often portray this reality, being rooted in God's presence, always have leaves and always bear fruit (i.e., Revelation 22 and Ezekiel 47).

Since God's redemptive purposes for not only individuals and the church, but also for the earth itself, are so great and reach into every area of life (hearts, nature, business, the arts, architecture, families et cetera) - and God has given us the ministry of reconciliation as vessels of Him and co-laborers with Him - it would encourage each of us greatly to know His purposes that lie behind who we are, what we bring to the world and church, and what we do. What are God's redemptive purposes for all that we do, as we walk, breathe and work on this earth?

Physical healing and restoration of the inner man is one way we see this. What if you designed and built a building, inspired by God, that withstood the shakings that will come on this earth and was used in His established Kingdom? What if your poetry or paintings healed hearts? What if we took care of our resources - not just to save a tree, but because we know how stewardship of the earth moves His heart? This is not environmentalism, though He does love all of Creation; it is about His Glory being revealed.

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
1 Cor. 3:21-23

What does it mean to be heirs? It means creative responsibility, it requires faith working with love, and it means we can join with Him, and see great things happen.

Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
2 Cor. 13:11

Earth day is a day set apart to let the earth rest. The new day will symbolically coincide with the literal, seventh day of creation - in which God and all of Creation will enter into His rest. Let's meditate on (thoughtfully consider with the eyes of our heart) this reality, dreaming along with Jesus prayer - that our Father's Kingdom would come on this earth as it is in Heaven.

white squall

furitive
approaches
furitive
glances
your furitive approaches
are my furitive glances
Furitive advances,
and we see her, clothed
sitting next to you

white squall
n.
A sudden squall occurring in tropical or subtropical waters, characterized by the absence of a dark cloud and the presence of white-capped waves or broken water.

"Furitive" is not a typo; it is a combination of words.

untitled

(4/13)
I saw four angels
standing at four corners
holding back four winds
that no wind might blow
on earth or sea, or against any tree
the fifth one, with the sun,
came and sealed me.
(4/19)
tabernacle of the living God
set on a hill with a flame on top
burn burn burn
tabernacle of the living flame
carrying the torch of an unsubdued name
still burning, burning
licking the sides of the porch and altar
a tongue of fire
love's desire
comes and seals me.

True Glory

The Glory of God (a tangible, beautiful and earth-changing expression of who He is) is about to return to His Church, and in a way we haven't seen in the United States ever before. He is releasing a move that will boggle our little concepts and ideas of His love for people, and see millions come into living relationship with Him. This will be incredible; for some it will be terrible. A couple weeks ago I had a dream that illustrates this...

In the dream, a friend of mine was weeping intensely on the floor, while everything around her was violently shaking. She cried out, "I didn't know it would come like this!"

The book of Hebrews in the Bible says that the Kingdom of God cannot be shaken, but everything else will be. Anything centered and founded on Jesus the Christ will stand forever and has no chance of ever being lost or taken. However, anything built on our own ambitions, presumption of God's will, or fear will ultimately not last.

To be continued...

an outshining

veil dissolving from my mind
spirit man splayed like a flare,
a scream of light shooting from that cardboard casing
only lit once a year
luminous ladder shining always up and down,
into the earth
splitting it open with the scream
of the light,
living, active and splitting me,
discerning me,
for i must be
dissolved

Ha..

Once again, I am struck by the focused transformation occuring in the arts.

I ran into a friend last night at the mall, and ended up seeing him touched. I didn't know he's in opera. I knew he loves Jesus, dances and sings well. I didn't know it had been on Broadway. I didn't know how people don't know what to do with him, because God-in-him shines in open society and not closed churches. Oh, and he goes to homes and parties that we might not visit as readily as Jesus did. I didn't know how discouraging it could be to be so blessed and that it makes a guy want to quit when so close to everything he was created to be, speak on behalf of, and smile with. (Actually, I think you and I both do.. haha..)

And I definitely don't know how radically all of that is going to change. God is bent on causing His love's shining to radiate through the mediums He created to express Himself. I'm no expert on these mediums, but I do experientially and prophetically know that He is touching dancers, violinists, actors and actresses, filmmakers and producers, poets and singers. He's moving on indie rock and classical concertos. He might even get a few preachers in on the action.

Haha, again..

I'm encouraged and all I know about what's happening is starting where God never left off: with the one. That one whose painting partners with His heart, and that one who He specifically made to shine a transforming light on Broadway - or Harlem, a skatepark, or a back alley poetry joint in Los Angeles. Mabye even Blogger.

Jesus is waiting for us to look to Him, and not to what entangles or tempts us - i.e., religious and superficial distractions and entanglements that keep us from shining where we've been placed. Look to Him, really gaze and meditate, and then look at your hands - what do you put them to? Your quited heart and mind - how do they let the Christ flow from the true you?

leaning

leaning over for
a tear drop in
her tea cup, half drained
i see the butterflies in central park loathe,
for fear of flying and being
too long on the ground.
carpe diem another day,
unless i rise and sieze the day

zechariah 4:6

keep teaching me:
wooden plank of suspicion,
ends splintered refracted light
pulled back to swing, to hit
sideways re: my head
not by might but by my heart
so a side swung flies wide
and not by might covers
what might not be otherwise
a hummingbird's pattern of flight
and nectar inflection
green, with blue wings
beats over me to flutter, quickly
and the flower behind her is pink and opening

psalm 92:5, 93:3-4

11/1
your thoughts are deep waters
still and sure beneath the many waters
that foam, and press land for influence through the strength of many
contouring shores' form by the breadth that comes from shallow masses
floods lift up their roaring
the many waters wage with thunder
but you, deep and firm as anchor
you, more firm and strong than tetonic plates
that shift in spatial insecurity
you are deep and your thoughts are waters
still and sure beneath it all
you are great and your works are wide
a foundation that frees the ocean to tide
your voice thrusts deep waters from rest
awakening him into tsunami crests
far surpassing any waves' attempts
to influence or contour our habitations
they break and fall without discrimination
your thoughts are deep,
your dreams thrust high,
your voice is water undenied
your thoughts are deep waters

plunged beneath

part1 - a story
I keep feeling like this is the new year. For some reason, seeing the "12" for December on calendars has seemed synonymous with January somehow - a new year and beginnings. I really feel as though this is the time of something new in God. Many would say, "in the Lord" or "in the Spirit" (or the like) to mean it's spiritually true, but end up implying what they're talking about will have no real impact in the natural world. However, through the journey I've been on the past few months, I really do believe that that which is "in the Lord" is the true reality, not only superceding the natural order, but entering it, shaking it, bringing heaven that all things might be made new. There's just such a new level or place (I don't really like the word "level" for this stuff, but it'll have to do) that God has brought us in the Spirit. A few months ago, Paul heard "Deep Waters" for the name of what we thought would be a church plant. Lately, however, deep waters have been the subject of much of my meditation and poetry, and prayer. I saw deep waters pour over my friend L. on Monday night as a group prayed in our apartment. It's like we have what we've always heard prophesied and spoken, and seen in the Word, but never saw manifest. It's like those words were seeds planted in our hearts, implanted and grown into us, and now that it's happening, it's not something foreign or beyond reach - It's who we are. It's Psalm 75:2 - We have entered a sovereignly appointed time.

Ever since the New England Aflame conference last month, my awareness of God's intervening presence has been so real. Aaron Evans said on the last night there that all of us are so much further in the Spirit than we know. I know it's true. I've felt the winds of heaven on my hands and arms daily since then. I can put my hand next to a friend's and they'll feel it. I showed five people yesterday at Starbucks. Things like that are so outside of where I would be without a God that is faithful in my inability, intervening from eternity, now. Monday night, we were praying and I put my foot gently on top of C.'s as she sat between two friends on my couch, feeling strangely led by God to do so. In that instant, she felt as though a knife went into the bottom of her foot, slicing to her heel and up the back of her calf. Then her tendons began to be cut loose at one end. J. and I saw angels ministering to her knee before she even told us what she felt happening ("It's healing!", she squealed), using feather quills like needles to sew, or a scalpel. Then she felt it happen to her other leg. Later, she told me that she's had severe tendonitis from her hips to her ankles, and has been in severe pain for months as a dancer. She studies dance at a nearby college. The outward lump that was on her foot was completely gone after about 45 minutes of this supernatural surgery, and she stood, stretching her legs (once her strength returned), free from pain for the first time in months! Hearing her retell the story two nights later, between giggles, laughter and tears of joy, completely blew each of us away! She even added that the angelic ministry occurred again the next night, in her dorm room, and supernatural lights in the form of crosses began appearing outside of her and L.'s room while it was happening. God really is beginning to move in the Northeast, and He seems to have a strong interest in the arts. I had a similar experience with a violinist from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore about three weeks before this, and it's only increasing. I love that "of the increase of (Jesus') government, there is no end", and that Jesus spoke of the real world when He said, "the kingdom of God has been advancing from the days of John the Baptist until now".

After C. shared her story two nights later, she and others began praying for each other, and our friend R's ankle was about 90% healed at the time of our prayer. M, who has been saved for two weeks and had been shy of the supernatural, ended up sprawled on our tile floor from the fire of God. Powerful peace fell on some. Laughter on others.
His love remained on all.