January 18 Esight, 2011

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.—James 5.16This last weekend I was in Wheeling, WV conducting our Awakening weekend seminar. Leading up to this event, I sent out an email message (and posted one on Facebook) for folks to be praying for this event simply because prayer is “powerful and effective.” This generated some responses and questions that I would like to address in this week’s E-sight, as I am quite positive that they reflect the concerns of a number of folks out there who didn’t write in as well.

You see, any time we talk about prayer, inescapably, there will always be questions about the prayers we have so desperately prayed and felt as if God did not come through for us. The subject of prayer touches a raw nerve for many and I, too, find myself in that category. Culturally, within modern Christianity, there are two extremes. One is the vending-machine type of understanding that says, “Ask anything in Jesus’ name and it will be done,” and the other is the viewpoint that “prayer doesn’t really change God or things, but rather it is for the purpose of changing us.” Both views have their pitfalls and subtle lie about the character of our God. I believe that prayer actually does change things. It changes what is possible for God even in some circumstances. But I also believe that prayer is not the only variable in many situations. Yes, prayer does make a difference, always, but there is also the free moral decisions of those involved that we have to take into account.

There are four points I want to give you this week to think about in relation to the subject of prayer.

1. God’s promises are principles, not formulas.

When the Bible promises something, too many times, we translate it as a formula. We think that if we do what the Bible says, then we are guaranteed a certain outcome. Then when the outcome fails, so does our faith in the promise. But again, God’s promises are principles, not formulas.

A common example that I run into all the time is in Proverbs 22.6:

“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

This is a principle about being purposeful in our child training. It tells us that raising our children with a determined purpose is effective. But remember, this promise is a principle. Not a formula. It does not negate the free will of the child itself. It is possible for the child, even rightly trained, to turn and rebel against that training. But for the majority, the training does pay off and is the largest determinant in the life a person chooses. But how many parents of wayward children have I met who beat themselves up over the decisions their kids have made? We need to remember that, first, every parent makes mistakes, and second, that every child has the freedom to be responsive to proper training or to rebel. The principle in Proverbs 22 is for parents to do their part.

2. We live in a world that is unfathomably complex.

Too many times there are only two possible reasons given for why a prayer was not answered. Either it must not have been God’s will or the person praying did not have enough faith. I believe that both of these answers can be very destructive if this second point about the complexity of this world is also not understood. Many times we are left either blaming God for not coming through for us, or blaming ourselves for not having enough faith to bring about the desired outcome for which we prayed. Both of these are very destructive to a relationship with God. There are two examples of this I’d like you to consider. One is in Daniel 10 where neither God’s will nor Daniel’s faith was the problem. Rather it was the complexity of another being’s free will preventing Gabriel from answering Daniel’s prayer for 21 days. Someone else was getting in the way. And the second is in Matthew 17 (17:21), where the casting out of a certain kind of demon required much more than God’s will and the faith of the Disciples. The casting out of this demon was much more complex than average.

Whatever one makes of these two examples, it becomes very clear that the free moral decisions that are made on this planet make life here a lot more complex than we understand. One day, God is going to pull back the veil so we can understand. But on that day, He will not be showing us why He DID intervene in one situation and why He DIDN’T intervene in another. But rather, He will be showing us why He COULD intervene in some situations and why He COULDN’T intervene in another. And that is a very different understanding of what it means for God to give us free will.

3. Prayer, because of the free will of all who are involved, never guarantees we will automatically get what we prayed for. But it DOES make a difference.

We have no way of knowing how things would have turned out if we had not prayed. But just because we do not see that exact outcome we prayed for, our prayers did make a difference. The situation was different. The substances God had to work with were dramatically different. So pray, and get everyone you know to pray too. And believe that you ARE making a difference. And if it doesn’t turn out the way we, and God, desire, as hard as this may be, know that this situation must have been very complex. We must trust that God did do all He could, and that our prayer enabled God to do more than He could have had we not prayed. This leads me to my fourth and final point.

4. When we pray, it is vitally necessary to remember that God looks like Jesus Christ.

Jesus healed all. He didn’t make them muster up enough faith first. And He never looked at suffering as part of God’s will. He saw it as an enemy element which must be overcome. There was only one place Jesus did not perform the miracles He did everywhere else. Nazareth. But remember, it was not by choice that Jesus did not perform His miracles there. The complexity of the situation in Nazareth prevented Jesus from being able to perform miracles there.

Please, know and believe that your prayers are powerful and effective. They really are!! Does that mean that everything we pray for will just happen? Even if it’s God’s will, the answer sometimes can still be no. I’m sorry. Prayer is a powerful variable, but it is not the only variable. There are many variables in each situation: God’s will, faith, prayer, AND every free moral decision that has ever been made by free moral agents that went into creating this situation (free will). And that’s just to name four; I’m sure there are even more variables than that.

There is so much more I would like to say about prayer, but this is already the longest E-sight we have written to date. I apologize for its length, but I felt it was needed.

In conclusion, should we pray? Absolutely!! It changes more than just ourselves. It makes a definite difference in the outcome of the events that transpire around us, whether the DESIRED outcome transpires or not.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.—James 5.16

I wish you God’s best this week.

Love like the rain, love like the sun, and go enlarge the kingdom.

In love,

Herb

January 10 Esight, 2011

“Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16.14).This week I received an email expressing concern that we as a ministry have an unhealthy overemphasis on “love.” “There is a lot more to the Christian life than love,” the email stated. I have spent much time in prayer over this, and honestly, it brings me great concern. This is not an isolated issue; rather, it is one that I meet (especially in our weekend seminars) more often than I would like to admit.

I have no desire whatsoever to defend our emphasis, as a ministry, on love. (If anything, when one reads the New Testament, one finds that in reality, we as a ministry are actually guilty of not emphasizing love nearly as much as the scriptures themselves do.) Rather, my burden is to defend love itself.

First, remember, Jesus did not come to establish the Christian religion (a religion, remember, that in the eyes of the world has been guilty of more bloodshed than any other religion in human history). Jesus came, instead, to establish a kingdom—a kingdom where love is not simply an element among many others but rather is the centerpiece from which everything else flows.

Isaiah prophesied:

“In love a throne will be established; in faithfulness a man will sit on it—one from the house of David—one who in judging seeks justice and speeds the cause of righteousness” (Isaiah 16.5).

A throne, or kingdom, established in love. Listen to the words of Jesus Himself:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13.34,35).

Love, according to Jesus, is the distinguishing characteristic by which we know who is part of the kingdom and who is not. It is not a label, not a set of intellectual facts; rather, all who genuinely love are the ones who comprise God’s kingdom.

In the words of the apostle Paul:

“Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love . . .” (Ephesians 5.1,2).

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves” (Romans 12.10).

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5.13).

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4.2).

“Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16.14).

And the apostle Peter:

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4.7,8).

Above all! Did you catch it? Above all? What does that really mean? Are we willing to allow it to truly have this kind of significance in our hearts?

I will say this, that my dear friend who wrote me is correct. There is much more to the Christian life than simply knowing God’s love for us and allowing that love to be reproduced in us toward others. So much so, in fact, that Christianity has too often become occupied with all that other stuff. But the more familiar I become with Jesus and His teachings, the more questions I find myself asking about how modern Christianity fits into Jesus’ mission, and the more passionate I find myself becoming about helping others see the truth about God’s character of love and being a part of a kingdom of love that is being established in people’s hearts today.

Finally, I will close with the apostle John’s incredible statement. Meditate on it, if you will, and simply let the Spirit speak to your heart right now:

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (John 4.16).

Wow, whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. Wow!

I realize that we cannot love by simply trying to love others. I know that what is needed is not more effort but rather a deeper encounter with God’s great love for us, which will awaken, in our hearts, love for all who are around us. Therefore, in the light of God’s self-sacrificial, other-centered love for each of you this week:

May everything you do this week be done in love. In the light of His love for you, may you too, love like the rain, love like the sun, and go enlarge the kingdom. (see Matthew 5:44,45)

I wish you God’s best this week.

In His extravagant love for us all,

Herb

December 28 Esight, 2010

“You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him” (Acts 10:38).Doing Good Versus Being Good

With the new year almost upon us, I’d like to share a few thoughts this week that have been bumping around in my head. In the above verse, Jesus, having been anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and with power, went about “doing good.” I am fully aware that what I am about to share may not have been everyone’s experience, but it certainly has been mine. I have too often experienced religion’s emphasis being more about “being” good than about “doing” good. “Being” good is usually more restrictive in nature. It’s about refraining from things that are bad. Don’t do this, and don’t do that. (Naturally, the list of what those things you are not to do can vary depending upon one’s religious persuasion and interpretation.) Instead of the focus being on the good that we should be going about “doing,” it too often has a singular focus on the bad that we are NOT supposed to be doing.

Read the following verse with what I’ve just shared in mind:

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world (James 1:26, 27).

Did you catch it? Pure religion in the eye’s of God is more about what one does, rather than what one refrains from.

Please don’t misunderstand. Certainly there were things Jesus Himself abstained from and things we are called to abstain from as well. But too often this is ALL someone’s religion is about. It is this self-centered concern about “being good” while remaining passive about the plights of others around us in need that has left such a bad taste in so many peoples mouths about Christianity. (You can see this principle illustrated by Jesus in the parable of the good Samaritan. The Levite and the Priest possessed a religion whose focus was on refraining from evil, rather than focused on what it really means to do good, in contrast to the religion practiced by the Samaritan.) You see, too many times, religion possesses a very genuine lack of love, active love that goes about “doing” good to those it comes in contact with. The Kingdom Jesus called us to be a part of is a kingdom based on radical, self-sacrificial, proactive love. It’s a love that reaches outward and is other-centered in focus.

Jesus did not come to start a new religion, or any religion at all, for that matter. Jesus came to establish a kingdom, His kingdom, in the hearts and lives of all who would receive it. A kingdom whose very principles run counter to all we know in this world, both religious and secular.

So this new year, in the light of God’s radical self-sacrificial love for us that is revealed through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, may we, too, spend this next year not religiously “being” good, but instead, lovingly going to and fro like Jesus: “doing” good. May we be intense in our effort to do good to all those we come in contact with. Love like the rain! Love like the sun! And go enlarge the Kingdom (Matthew 5:44,45).

I wish you God’s best this week, and throughout this upcoming new year.

Happy New Year to each of you!

In love,

Herb

December 20 Esight, 2010

Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the sunrise from on high will visit us . . . Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:78)From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries, to each and every one of you, Merry Christmas!

This week, with Christmas just upon us, Id like to take a brief moment and look at the reference that John the Baptists father makes to Jesus in the above verse. Zacharias refers to Jesus as the sunrise from on high.

What strikes me as interesting is that this is not the only time Jesus is described in this manner. Consider the following:

But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves. (Malachi 4:2)

Or as the TEV translates it:

. . .like the sun and bring healing like the suns rays . . . (Malachi 4:2, TEV)

Over and over again, in the scriptures, Jesus and His life here on earth are likened to the dawning of the sun in the darkness of early morning.

So we are even more confident of the message proclaimed by the prophets. You will do well to pay attention to it, because it is like a lamp shining in a dark place until the Day dawns and the light of the morning star shines in your hearts. (2 Peter 1:19, TEV)

What does all of this imagery mean?

It makes perfect sense when we understand three things in Peters statement here.

Where is this dark place Peter is referring to?

What is this light which Peter desires will dawn there?

What is the darkness and why is it in this place?

First, the dark place is obvious to the careful reader. Its the same place Peter is awaiting the dawn itself. Its our hearts.

And what is the light? Well, in short, its Jesus and the new picture of God, He brings to our understanding. Its the truth about what type of a person our God really is. Its the light of His love. And just as the sun dispels the darkness in the early morning mist, so the coming of Jesus, to this world, but more importantly to each of our hearts, dispels the lies that have longed resided there concerning our God, and what He thinks and feels toward us.

What is the darkness? This is simple too. If light is truth, then darkness must be lies. Specifically all the lies weve ever believed about the character of our loving heavenly Father.

The God who said, Out of darkness the light shall shine! is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of Gods glory and character of love shining in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Jesus is the light of the world. He is the exact representation of God Himself, so complete and full, that when we see Jesus, we are seeing the Father Himself as well.

And what does this do in our hearts and lives? Ill give you a hint. When one truly submits to Gods great love for oneself – when one stops believing the voices in their head and instead begins to believe the voice of Gods Spirit to their heart – the first fruit of that Spirit is love. By love, is love awakened. But well cover more of that at another time. It is enough for now to remember: the Woman of Revelation 12 is clothed with the same sunlight that has dawned in her heart and set her free. She has allowed the suns rays to now be reflected off of her own person as well.

May each of us be just that this holiday season. May we find ourselves, this Christmas, reflections of that sunrise from on high till the day dawns and night is no more.

Believe His love, share His love, and go enlarge the kingdom.

Happy Holidays to each of you!

We wish you Gods best this week,

In love,

December 14 Esight, 2010

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

       “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

       The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.  Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  (Luke 2.25-35)

Merry Christmas! 

It’s that time of year again, like it or not, when the attention of our world is drawn to the coming of God to us, in the form of a baby in a stable in Bethlehem.   Too often though, this historical event takes on a kind of fairy tale quality during this season.  More of a ?“once upon a time” feel, rather than the actual event that it was.  But it really did happen.  It’s not a mere legend or conspiracy, it’s truth, historical truth.  If you have any reason to believe anything ever happened in history, by those same standards, you have every reason to believe that God actually visited us on this planet in the person of Jesus Christ.

And once one surrenders to this mighty truth, something strange and miraculous transpires in a person’s heart.  Follow closely.  Once we accept the truth that Jesus really is who He claimed to be, the person we find in Jesus makes us reassess everything we have ever believed or been told about God.  Jesus is not only deeply kind, and wise, and sensitive with a quiet resolute, purposeful strength.  He is radically other-centered, a servant, looking out for everyone else even when at expense to Himself.  He is a giver. He is truly defined by a self-sacrificial quality, that gives even love itself a new definition The life of this man named Jesus climaxed in Him giving His life as a ransom for every person in this world.  Without getting into the complexity of this, simply stop and let the reality of it sink in. Every person on this planet has been ransomed and redeemed.  And although God will not force anyone to accept this gift, it is an accomplished fact nonetheless, and is ours, each of ours, for the taking.

But what this really accomplishes in our hearts in truly miraculous.  You see, the radical, self-sacrificial, other-centered love we find in the person of Jesus, takes on completely new meaning when one realizes that who we are seeing in this person named Jesus, is the God of the universe, incarnate.  This is God Himself come to us in human form. Jesus in not just what God is like.  No no.  Jesus IS GOD, come to us so we can see Him for what He truly is.  This is exactly what Simeon told us this baby in Bethlehem would be:  a “light of revelation” revealing the “thoughts of many hearts”, including the heart of God Himself.    A divine heart, if you will, wrapped in human flesh, so we can see, not just what He is like, but specifically what exactly is in His heart for us, dear reader.

Meditate on this great truth during this holiday season.  Let it’s transforming power go deep.  Let the love found in the person of Jesus, the love that is there for YOU, in the heart of God for YOU, bring healing and life transforming change from the inside out.  Let it do it’s work, it will, our job is simply to listen to it, and when it speaks, to believe.  You truly are precious in His sight.  He loves you, regardless of what the voices in your head tell you, more than you could possibly ever know.

May His kingdom of love be more deeply established in each of our hearts this Christmas season.

We at Renewed Heart Ministries wish you a happy Holiday.

In love,

December 6 Esight, 2010

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests (Luke 2:8-14).

Holiday Greetings and Merry Christmas!!
 
Despite the materialistic association of reducing Jesus to simply the commercialistic frenzy of our mass consumerism, despite the fear of the religious association of Jesus with paganistic elements to a holiday that cause some Christians to question why we even celebrate such a holiday, and despite the temptation to treat Jesus as little more than a symbolic civic function, this seasonthrough Christmas songs, holiday decorations, and everything else that goes with this time of the yearwe, nonetheless, are reminded once again of just how amazing Gods love for us really is. I want to challenge you this season. This year, dont just get caught up in the traditional holiday hustle and bustle of preparation and celebration. By all means celebrate, if you feel so inclined! But I want to inspire you to make time, also, not just for celebration but meditation as well. What is this season really reminding us? What was the gift of Jesus all about? And what does it reveal to our hearts about the great Heart thats at the center of this event we call the Incarnation.
 
Ponder with me, if you will for a moment, that little baby wrapped in strips of cloth and laid in a feeding trough. There He is, in a messy, overcrowded, commercial, smelly, manure-filled, unventilated, unbearably hot and humid stable in the middle of the summer, in the little town of Bethlehem. Nothing could be more contradictory to think than that this little baby is God Himself, come to us in the form of little human baby and born in these conditions. God Himself enters our human family as one of usbut also as one of us in the worst of circumstances. And to top it all off, He comes to establish His Kingdom of unsurpassable other-centered love, in a territory of His creation that has abandoned that love and set up a rebellious kingdom of self-interest and self-concern. You see, the real Jesus isnt about all the stuff mentioned in the first paragraph, and following the real Jesus isnt, either. Following Jesus is about having a realnot symbolic (and certainly not religious)relationship with a real God, through a real Savior, who brings about real transformation in and through our life through association with and reception of His unsurpassed, other-centered love for us all. Its about having a heart that, in love, is fully surrendered to a much larger Heart that, in love, is fully surrendered to us. Its about living with intentionality and purposeto swim, as it wereupstream in the ever-increasingly self-centered culture in which we find ourselves living, committed to living each day of our lives in radical, self-sacrificial, other-centered love, replicating Calvary (and Bethlehem, too, for that matter) to everyone we come in contact with. (Some have called it Loving like the rain. Loving like the sunshine. See Matthew 5:4445.) Its about responding to His other-centered, self-sacrificial love for us and living out the other-centered principles of a kingdom that were historically injected into this world through a lowly (and messy) manger in Bethlehem.
 
But dont think for a moment that any of us can live a life of unsurpassed love like that by simply pulling up our bootstraps and trying. Lets take a quick look at 1 John 4:7, 8, 19. (My comments will be in italics.)
 
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.
 
Notice that this radical, self-sacrificial, other-centered love proceeds and comes from God. It does not come from us. It may flow through us, as it does throughout the entire unfallen universe, but it does not come from us. It comes from God Himself.
 
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
 
This radical, self-sacrificial, other-centered love is the natural fruit of seeing, believing in, and knowing God Himself.
 
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
 
Therefore, if we find ourselves not loving in this radical, self-sacrificial, other-centered love to everyone we meet, the solution is not to try harder, but rather to turn our attention on seeing, believing in, and knowing Him who IS love more accurately and more deeply.
 
We love because he first loved us.
 
We need NOT strive to be more loving, but rather to know more intensely how deeply we ourselves are loved. Then, by that Love for us, the same love in us will be awakened and flow forth to all we come in contact with.
 
This holiday season, set aside some time to become reacquainted with what that little stable in Bethlehem reveals. From that messy stable, and in perfect harmony with that stable, flowed the incarnation of Gods radical, sacrificial, other-centered love for us, a revelation that climaxed on a cross. Everything we see in Gods heart, as revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, began and flowed out of the truth of that original, small, dirty stable in Bethlehem. May we truly begin to see, believe in, and know Him as He really is. And may His peoplethrough that seeing, believing and knowingbecome that radical, self-sacrificial, other-centered Love, incarnate once again.
 
From all of us here at Renewed Heart Ministries: Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

November 7 Esight, 2010

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”—Jesus (John 10.10)Hello to all of you. I pray this finds each of you well. This week, rather than sending out a devotional as normal, I am writing this to you today, to ask you to pray for a special series I am beginning tonight in Honolulu. This series is for the public and I will be covering new material I have been compiling over the last twelve months. In the past, the traditional method of doing meetings, as many of you know, is to first establish the validity of the scriptures and then we launch into our various and sundry doctrinal presentations. This series, beginning tonight, will be quite different.

Tonight, we will first begin with establishing instead, the historical reality of Jesus Christ. In other words, the historical person Jesus made divine claims, healed the sick, and died on a cross. And then, as difficult as this is for many in today’s post modern world to believe, he rose from the dead. Tonight we will be establishing from history, logic and the scriptures the reasons for reflective, intelligent, rational, reasonable and somewhat critical people to believe this is exactly what it is purported to be—TRUE. If Jesus really is who he claimed to be then there are two very special truths that become inescapable:

1) The God of the universe, as revealed by Jesus Christ, is the most beautiful being that ever existed or ever will.

2) You could not possibly be more loved than you are right now by Him.

This does not mean we have to accept the things we have suffered in this life as somehow orchestrated by this God. These things were wrong and should have never happened to us. And it doesn’t mean we have to blindly embrace a “religion”, especially one like Christianity which holds the record for being the most violent on the stage of human history. All it means, is that there is a God, He came to this planet, and He came to show YOU one thing and one thing only: He loves you! And although there are many questions still to be answered, His love, when seen as it truly is, is really what each human heart has been searching for.

From this foundation, which we will lay tonight, we will spring-board into the remaining presentations on God’s character of love, revealing from the scriptures how surrendering to His selfless love for us, ushers each of us into life and life more abundantly. In other words, Life Unlimited!

Thank you sincerely for each of your prayers. This series will end the 16th this month and I would deeply value your covering of it in prayer during this time.

I wish you God’s best this week.

Thank you.

October 1 Esight, 2010

But Jesus was saying, ” Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves. (Luke 23.34)Have you every truly stopped and thought about that prayer?

You see, what strikes me as startling is that Jesus was asking God to forgive these specific individuals who were yet in a state of unrepentance. This flies in the face of much of what is taught today in modern Christianity about the nature of God’s forgiveness. Too many times it is taught that God only forgives those who repent. And this is used to justify ourselves in withholding forgiveness toward others till they repent. (If they don’t say they’re sorry, we don’t have to forgive them, and this I believe is truly disastrous.) But my question is this? Can we really believe that Jesus is the express image of God, that Jesus is expressing the heart of God in this prayer He prays while suspended on the Cross? Is God really this beautiful? Is there a sense in which God really has forgiven all? And can we live in that forgiveness and extend that same forgiveness toward others.

I have found in my own experience that we are truly very skilled in setting parameters around how “good” God truly is. And it takes courage to believe that God is as good and beautiful as He reveals Himself to be, especially on the cross. (I would like to encourage all to go back and listen to the presentation we have on our website entitled Charizomai, where this concept of forgiveness is covered in more detail,)

There is an aspect of Forgiveness in the New Testament where forgiveness is simply the releasing of someone who owes you a debt. It doesn’t matter whether the person wants to be released or not. It doesn’t matter if they have repented or not. It doesn’t matter whether that person is willing or refuses to reconciled or not, there is an aspect of God’s forgiveness that is unilateral, unconditional and universal. And although there are aspects of God’s forgiveness that intrinsically require our involvement (i.e. our faith, repentance, and confession), there are other aspects that do not. They are universal! They have already transpired in God’s heart for everyone, repentant or not!

Jesus over and over in His ministry revealed that God’s attitude toward all is forgiveness. Many times people weren’t even asking for their sins to be forgiven, Jesus simply volunteered it saying, “Your sins are forgiven.” Not as a carrot, to motivate a response, but simply as an already occurred fact to which Jesus was simply communicating the news.

On the cross Jesus is not praying for God to forgive them if they repent, He is simply saying Father forgive these unrepentant ones. We find this same kind of prayer in the death of Steven when he too was being murdered. Jesus and Steven both were simply saying, “Father, let this go, release them of this. Even though they have not repented, God please don’t hold this against them, let this go.” This is the type of forgiveness that flows from Calvary and I believe it’s truly beautiful. But do we realize what this means?

In Jesus’ name and on the authority of the Cross, dear reader, It doesn’t matter who you are and it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, God is not holding your sin against you. The Father Forgives you. (see 2 Corinthians 5:19) The abortions you’ve had. The Father forgives you. Maybe it’s a relationship you destroyed or a person you harmed, the Father forgives you. Maybe it’s a wasted life with drugs or substance abuse, the Father forgives you. Maybe it’s sexual promiscuity, the Father forgives you. Maybe it’s a marriage you walked away from and family you destroyed, right now, the Father releases you from that, He doesn’t hold that against you. The murder you committed, maybe a child you killed while driving drunk, you may owe a debt to society, but from your heavenly Father, He releases you. Every lie you’ve ever told, every piece of gossip or slander you have spread, every pronouncement of self righteous judgment you’ve pronounced on others, you’re released. He’s not holding that against you. Receive that. Walk in it. It’s time to be done carrying that baggage around all your life. Every sin of every person throughout history, on the authority of Calvary, we can say to all, “You are released!”

Yes, your sin may be very, very bad. But will you trust that God’s mercy, God’s grace, God’s forgiveness is greater than your sin? That where sin abounds His grace much more abounds! Will you receive that grace today?

Look to the cross and hear me, The Father Forgives you. You are released. This is not going to be held against you. There may be all these “buts” going off in your head right now, but will you hear the voice of the Lord saying right now, “Trust me, just trust me, you’re released.” If you are not reconciled into salvation with God, it’s is no longer because of your sin. That issue has been dealt with by God on Calvary. If any are lost at last, it will only because they refused to be reconciled.

Receive His forgiveness. Live in the year of Jubilee! All charges are dropped. All debts cancelled. All rights of restitution relinquished. The creditor [God] has born the loss, and debtors [us] can now go free. THIS is what Calvary is all about! THIS is the gospel!

And in light of how God has released you in this way, will you too extend this same kind of letting go to others. Will you release all others of all debt? I pray you will. This is what it means to imitate God. (More on that next week.)

I wish you God’s best this week. Walk in God’s forgiveness. And go enlarge the kingdom!

September 20 Esight, 2010

But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Romans 5.15(Part 3 of 3)

Let’s finish up this week with a final look at Christianity’s history regarding the concept of Grace.

First, too often religion has been used to control or manipulate the masses. We have used hope of reward (heaven) or fear of punishment (a skewed view of hell) to motivate and even manipulate the behavior of the adherents of the faith. This should not ever be done.

During the Dark Ages, the church, under the above pretense, painted a picture of God’s grace that made it very expensive. Through performing religious duties or disciplines, even sometimes paying money, a person could secure God’s grace. But these “commodities” were never easy. Religion was difficult. And God’s grace was costly, expensive, something that must be earned.

Then came the Reformation. I want to say from the beginning that I believe the Reformers were moving in the right direction, but they did not go far enough in their reasoning. First, let’s see what they taught. God’s grace, to them, was not something difficult to procure. All a person had to do was believe, repent, or confess being a sinner in need.

Please note that although this sounds very familiar, because the practice is rampant in modern Christianity, whether something is true or not has never been decided by how many are preaching it. The question is, “Is it biblical?”

You see, this view did make God’s grace less expensive. Yet, inadvertently, it only served to make God’s grace “cheaper” as the coined phrase “cheap grace” indicates. The problem is that even though those espousing this view use correct lingo like “faith,” “confession,” and “repentance,” they still make God’s grace dependent on “something” we do before we can receive it.

The Bible teaches that God’s grace is neither expensive nor cheap. It’s FREE! It is not simply bestowed on those who do something first, whether that act be difficult or easy. God’s grace is right now being bestowed on ALL people, regardless of whether they have believed or not.

Remember our two verb orders.

Love Give Believe

Love Believe Give

God is right now giving to all regardless of whether they have believed with the hope that they will!

Moreover, the law stated that while offenses might abound, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. (Romans 5.20)

Another verse tells us: For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. (Titus 2.11)

God is right now giving to you, simply because He loves you. He is giving to all right now, simply because He loves all. His giving is based on His love! It is not based on whether the object of that grace has believed yet or not.

Does this mean that all will be saved? No, not by any means. However, the judgment will reveal that full and free salvation was given to every person and that if any are lost, this would not occur because they did not do enough to procure God’s grace but because they threw away the grace and the salvation that had been given to all.

I wish you God’s best this week.

September 10 Esight, 2010

He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.—Ephesians 5:2, The Message(Part 2 of 3)

Okay, before we finish up on the different types of Grace, let’s pick up where we left off last week and look at those ten lepers first.

To refresh your memory, we were looking at the order of verbs in John 3:16.

Love Give Believe

Remember that, with the verbs in this order, a person’s giving is based solely on his or her love. However, one’s belief—or, rather, one’s response—is a completely different subject. Although it does play an important role, it is not a factor in whether or not a person loves you and gives to you.

Let’s look at a quick story.

“While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; and they raised their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’ When He saw them, He said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered and said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.’”

—Luke 17:11-19

Only one man came back and said “thank you”; only one responded. But please note: did Jesus take back His healing of the other nine who didn’t believe? No, He had given to them because He loved them, regardless of whether they loved Him back.

We glimpse a similar kind of love in the story of the woman at the well, which we looked at a few weeks ago. Jesus was seeking to give this woman the “living” water of His love. Although some people have unjustly used this story to prove that we have a right to point out others’ sins, I’d like you to consider it more honestly. Why did Jesus bring up the fact that this woman had been repeatedly married and divorced? Look at it carefully. What was Jesus really revealing? I believe with all my heart that He was saying to her, “Listen, I know everything there is to know about you, and my offer is still on the table.”

He gives simply because He loves!

He loves you, dear reader. Do you believe this? He knows everything there is to know about you. His love is not blind. On the contrary; it is well informed. Even with knowing all there is to know about you, He is saying to you today, “Yes, I know about that, but my offer is still on the table. Take my hand, and let me give you all of Me.”

“He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us.”—Ephesians 5:2, The Message

“As our Mediator, Christ works incessantly. Whether men receive or reject Him, He works earnestly for them. He grants them life and light, striving by His Spirit to win them from Satan’s service.”—The Review and Herald, March 12, 1901

Something to think about.

I wish you God’s best this next week.