NOT MY FLAG

Many Christians love bumper sticker slogans like “Not of this World”, but strangely don’t consider what that really means.

To say you are “not of this world” means you don’t participate in the ways of this world. Some of those ways include: Politics, War, Nationalism, the Pursuit of Money or Fame, etc.

Most Christians reduce the slogan to only cover things like “Lust, Envy, Murder, Adultery”, etc., and while they are correct that Christians should not practice those sins, that’s not what the scriptures are referring to when they instruct us to “not love the world or anything in it” [1 John 2:15]

The World is just that: the World. This includes Governments, Kingdoms, Rulers, Nations and the like.

Notice that we are told not to love 2 things: “The World” and “Anything in the World”.

If we were only told not to love “anything in the World”, then we could be sure that our list would only include things like “lust, pride, envy, murder”, etc. But instead we are told not to love “The World” [which is the larger reality] and not to love “Anything in the World” [which would be the activities and practices of people within that world].

Pledging allegiance to Jesus is about submitting to His rule and reign over your life. As citizens of Christ’s Kingdom, we live under His laws. We are obedient to the Nation of God which stands in total opposition to every other kingdom and nation on this earth.

Those who become citizens of Christ’s Kingdom renounce their citizenship and their loyalty to their birth-nation.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – [Romans 12:2]

The "pattern of this world" is obvious. People form tribes, establish governments, select rulers, write laws, and begin to seek the power necessary to dominate other nations around them. This is the way of the world, but it is not the way of the Kingdom of Christ. 

Our way is love. Our new pattern was established by Jesus, our King. It's not about exercising power over others, it's about exerting our power to come beneath others and love them as Christ loved us. 

Once you have become a citizen of Christ’s Kingdom, your relationship with your previous country of origin shifts. You are no longer loyal to the charter of that government. Instead you are now an ambassador of Christ and His Kingdom. This means you do not participate in the politics of that country where you serve as liaison. You are now an agent of a Holy Nation which stands apart from all other nations. You now have no other King but Christ. Yes, as an ambassador you obey the laws of the nation you live in, but whenever those laws contradict your home nation’s laws, you must not obey them, even if it means suffering the consequences.

At issue is "How do we as followers of Jesus best impact our culture?" Jesus had an answer: "Go into all the world and preach the Good News of the Kingdom, making disciples and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you."

There are no scriptures about voting or running for office, but there are plenty of NT verses about not being entangled with the affairs of this world...and what's more "an affair of this world" than Politics or War?

As the Apostle Paul told us:

"No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer." - [2 Tim. 2:4]

We are soldiers in another army – the army of God. We are fighting for His Holy Nation, not the nations of this earth which only seek to gain power and wealth at the expense of others.

So, once we enlist as soldiers in His army and become citizens of His Kingdom, we look at other nations and say, “That’s not my nation.” We look at other flags and say, “That’s not my flag.”

As soldiers who fight for the Nation of God, we have to keep in mind a few things:

*Our weapons are not carnal. [2 Cor. 10:4]

*Our enemies are not other people. [Eph. 6:12]

*We do not fight with violence, but with proactive displays of Christ’s transformational love. [1 Cor. 4:9]


As citizens of a new, eternal and Holy Nation, we also must remember:

*Our fellow citizens are from every tongue, and tribe, and nation on this globe. [Rev. 7:9-10]

*Christ is not partisan. He is radically inclusive. [Matt. 28:19]

*This world is not our home. [1 Peter 2:11]

*Those who remain entangled in the affairs of worldly nations must be set free [Rev. 18:4]

*Every nation and empire on this planet is already doomed to fail [including America] and will soon be overcome by His Kingdom [Rev. 11:15]

*We cannot serve two nations or two masters. Our loyalty must be to Christ’s Kingdom alone. [Matt. 6:24]

Sadly, many Christians today have forgotten all of these things. Or, they never knew these things because they were never preached from the pulpit, or they never read the Gospel first-hand.

Instead, these Christians tearfully pledge allegiance a national flag. They proudly affirm that their nation is the best. They send their children to fight and die for the advancement of their nation’s values and corporate interests. They are more upset when someone disrespects their country’s flag than when someone blasphemes their King. They are more moved to tears at the sound of their national anthem than they are when they encounter the oppression of people that Jesus loved enough to die for.

For those Christians who are untangled from the affairs of this world, politics are pointless attempts by mere mortals to solve problems which are not political in nature.

Those who remain entangled in worldly politics can only write and pass laws. But for those who have pledged their allegiance to Christ’s Kingdom is granted the power to transform hearts and renew minds.

Those who have transferred their citizenship over to the Nation of God know this: The world is being remade from within. Even now the Gospel of Jesus is constantly making all things new and changing human hearts to be more like Jesus. When change comes to this world it will not be from the outside in, but from the inside out.

This is why we have abandoned the call to conform to the patterns of this world: War, Politics, Nationalism, Tribalism, Patriotism, Greed, Wealth, Fame, Fashion, and the like.

We understand that transformation is our King’s battle plan.

For millennia, men and women have been establishing governments and selecting kings and queens to rule over them; each time with the same results.

The definition of insanity is this: “Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.”

We choose to abandon these empty and foolish patterns. We reject the insanity. Instead, we embrace transformation. We choose to love. We resolve to put into practice the commands of our King and we await the coming of His Kingdom on earth.

And when it arrives we won’t have any trouble adjusting to it, because we will have already been living under His rule and reign all of our lives.

Let His Kingdom come!

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.” [Rev. 11:15]

“And the spirit and the Bride say, “Come!” [Rev. 22:17]

“Even so, come Lord Jesus” [Rev. 22:20]

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WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE?

Yes, Jesus could turn stones into bread and make sure no one was ever hungry again. But then we’d live in a world where people had too much food and no reason to share with those who had nothing.

Jesus could heal every disease and remove sickness from the world. But we would still live in a world where people cared more about themselves than about the needs of others.

Jesus could step in and prevent every car accident and rescue every innocent child from hit and run drivers. But we would still live in a world where people cared nothing about the safety of others, took foolish chances with their lives, and abused alcohol.

Jesus could guide every bullet so that it always missed taking a life. He could turn our guns into candy canes if He wanted to. But we would still live in a world where people wanted to kill each other.

Jesus could appear to everyone and prove that He exists right now. He could float through the air, appear on CNN, visit every human on the planet in person and shoot healing lasers of love out of his eyes. But people would still not love Him or serve Him.

Jesus has the ability to change things and circumstances, but what really needs changing is people and their hearts.

Now, if we would simply follow Him and listen to what He says and put His words into practice, we’ll see that He’s really telling us the truth: We really can enter the Kingdom right now. We really can enjoy peace that passes understanding. He really will be with us until the end of the time. He honestly will never leave us or forsake us. He actually does love us as we are, and not as we should be [because none of us is as we should be].

God, help those of us who are called by your Name to really believe in your amazing love. Help us to receive your love. Help us to live and breathe and move and give and share out of this endless stream of living water that you pour into us - and through us - to a hurting world so in need of your refreshing love. 

Help us to admit, first of all, that WE need your love as much as anyone else does.

Now, help us to soak up that love that transcends knowledge and squeeze it out in every human interaction we have today, and every day. 

Until the whole world knows your love.

Amen.

-kg






*Inspired by the Tweet stream of @JesusBenyosef.

BODY SHOTS

At lunch the other day, I heard a quote from Dallas Willard that has been resonating with me ever since.

It was this:

"Until the Kingdom of God hits your body it has not hit you."

When I first heard it, I wasn't exactly sure what it was referring to. 

Did he mean that the Gospel of the Kingdom needed to make an impact on your physical body before it could be fully understood?

Did he mean that the Kingdom needed to be realized in some mystical way within us?

It bothered me. So, I kept thinking about it. I prayed about it. I meditated on the statement while I was on the train, or drinking my coffee in the early morning darkness. 

One verse that kept coming to me in this process was this one:

"The Kingdom of God is within you." - Jesus [Luke 17:21]

So, in what way is the Kingdom of God within me? I wondered.

All of this coalesced the other night over dinner when I shared this quote with some friends and someone asked me, "What does that mean?"

Almost intuitively I answered her, "It means that the Kingdom needs to actually affect the way you think and how you talk and what you do in your everyday life. It needs to be more than an idea. It has to change you in practical ways."

Even as I said it out loud, I realized that this was indeed what was meant by the Kingdom of God hitting your body. 

I started to wonder about how the Kingdom of God has hit my body. How it has changed the way I see people, and how I treat others, and how I share what God has given me, and how I risk my personal reputation to follow Jesus in my every day life. 

To be honest, I still have a long way to go, but thankfully I can still see a few places where the Kingdom has hit my body, and how it is still hitting me, day after day.

If Jesus is alive in me, then His Kingdom is too.

Let His Kingdom come! He must increase. I must decrease. 

Amen.

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Unbroken.

A dear friend shared this song with me recently.

The bridge of the song says: “Here I am at your feet, in my brokenness complete”

I started to wonder, "Is that true?"

Actually, no. We are complete in Christ, not in our brokenness. 

Our brokenness is what Jesus removes from us. He makes us whole and perfect and qualified and partakers of the Divine Nature, and new creations.

We are not "complete in our brokenness", we are hidden with Christ in God, we are without blemish, and without blame, we are free from condemnation, we are redeemed, righteous, holy, chosen, accepted and beloved…but not broken – not anymore.

Everyone needs to realize the amazing reality of our true identity in Christ! Let's not reinforce the notion that we are "unworthy" and "broken". That is not who we are!

Yes, this is how we came to Christ, in the beginning, but we do not remain as we were in the beginning, do we?

No. Not at all. 

We must move on.

We need to "forget the past and press on to the High calling of Jesus Christ!" and that means we do not continually remain in this place of blame and guilt.

Let's meditate on these verses for a while and see what the Lord says about who we really are in Christ:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." - 2 Cor. 5:17

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.” – Romans 8:1-5

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:37-39

Halleluiah!

I'm sure we can all share many other verses from Jesus and the New Testament that boldly reveal who we are in Christ today!

We are made complete in Him, not in our brokenness.

Let's continue to spur one another on and to remind one another of the awesome new life - and new nature - we now have in Christ.

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Erasing Shame

Today at work I had to erase a giant white board in one of our meeting rooms. It's a huge board that stretches across an entire side of the wall. It's easily 20 yards across. But it was filthy.

Someone had previously attempted to clean the board. That was obvious. It was streaked from top to bottom with a heavy black film. Someone had probably sprayed that cleaning solution all over the board and used the eraser - not a clean paper towel - and instead of cleaning it had just smeared the black ink all over the surface.

It was a mess.

So, before I could use the board I had to grab a wad of paper towels from the kitchen. After I did that I sprayed the entire board with that smelly alcohol solution and waited for it to start dripping from the top of the board to the bottom. Then I took my paper towels and started to clean it off.

This is when I think the Holy Spirit whispered something to me.

"See what happens when you try to clean something the wrong way?"

Yeah, I see that.

"See how filthy this board got when someone applied the cleaning solution in the wrong way and mixed the dirty and the clean together?"

Hmmm...yeah, I see that, too.

"Notice how this cleaning solution, properly applied, completely removes the dark film and leaves the surface totally white?"

Oh, yeah, I do see that, Lord.

"Now that it's clean, do you think it's accurate for anyone to come in this room and call this board 'filthy' again?"

Wow.

I stopped cleaning. I took a step back from the board. It was clean now. Top to bottom. It once was filthy, but now, it was like the day it was first hung on the wall; clean, white, and shiny.

"This is how I want you to see yourself now. You are clean. I have made you that way. Don't call yourself "filthy" again. You are not a sinner. You are my child and you are loved far more than you will ever realize."

I knew that it was true. But I also knew that I wasn't really living my life in light of this truth.

Immediately the following verses of scripture flashed through my mind:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." - [2 Cor. 5:17]

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - [Roman 8:1]
“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” - Jesus [John 8:31-32]

Such a simple lesson from an ordinary task, yet it has had such a profound impact on my heart. So, I knew I had to share it with you guys here on the blog.

I hope this blesses you today and that you, also, can begin to really believe that you are now a new creature in Christ Jesus. Your identity is not wrapped up in who you used to be, but who you are in Christ today.

According to Jesus and His Word, we are redeemed, righteous, holy, forgiven, accepted, transformed, and we are partakers of the divine nature. Our lives are hidden in God with Christ. We are immune from condemnation and judgement. 

Those who are in Christ are co-laborers with God. We are branches of the True Vine, filled with the love and the heart of Christ. We are now being made into His image by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. 

We are members of a royal priesthood, a holy nation, chosen in Him to bear much fruit as we lovingly abide in Him daily.

This is good news, isn't it?

Let someone know about it.

Peace,

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Everything We Need

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us....He has given us His very great and precious promises so that through them you may participate in the Divine nature." - 1 Peter 1:3-4

What's holding you back from living like Jesus today? Is it your sin nature? Is it your addictions, or your temptations, or your brokenness?

Is this why you don't believe that it's possible to actually put the words of Jesus into practice? Is this why you hardly ever attempt to love your enemy, or to forgive those who have hurt you, or to turn the other cheek whenever you're insulted?

Do you read things like "Be holy even as your heavenly Father is holy" and just say, "Yeah, right!"?

Do you doubt completely the idea that anyone could ever actually walk like Jesus did?

If so, you are not alone. Most Christians I've met are in the exact same place. They fully and aggressively deny that anyone could ever do the things that Jesus did, or love like Him, or live a life in the here and now that is marked by holiness and humility and sincere compassion for others. 

It just can't be done! 

He was Jesus and I'm an imperfect sinner!

I'm broken! 

I'm a worm!

Let's sing those songs about how God's Amazing Grace has "saved a wretch like me" or how we are all "...prone to wander, Lord I feel it!"

A Christianity like this loudly proclaims that the death of Christ on the cross was only capable of providing me with a ticket to heaven, but it was not nearly powerful enough to transform my life into one that resembles His own.

The real trouble with this sort of Christianity is that it can't be found anywhere in the New Testament.

Nope. I've checked. It's not in there.

What we do read about is how God's Amazing Grace has not only saved us, it's gone on to do something most of us doubt could ever be true: Saved us - AND - empowered us to live a holy life like Jesus did!

"For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men..." [Titus 2:11]

Yep, there's the salvation part, but look at what he says next:

"...instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age..." [Titus 2:12]

See that? Grace not only brings salvation to all men, it then goes on to "instruct us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously and godly IN THE PRESENT AGE."

But wait, that's not all!

"This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to be in him must walk as Jesus did." [1 John 2:5]

Yowza!

Are you in Christ? If we claim to be in Christ we must do one thing: "live as Jesus did"!

How can we do that? Isn't that impossible?

Alone, yes, it is impossible. We can't even come close to obeying the words of Jesus apart from His indwelling presence in our daily lives.

That's why Jesus said: "Apart from me you can do nothing." [John 15:5]

But what if we abide in Him? What if He abides in us? Then, and only then, can we "bear much fruit." [John 15:5]

This is why Jesus can promise us that his yoke is easy and his burden is light even as he calls us to do things that seem impossible, like love our enemies and forgive those who hurt us, and turn the other cheek.

How can Jesus say that? Because we're not expected to do it alone.

Remember, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" [Phil. 4:13]

When Jesus says, "Take my yoke upon you..." [Matt 11:29] he's saying that He will be right beside us, all the way, and that we won't have to do everything in our own strength, but in His!

Jesus expects you to put His words into practice. He empowers you to do exactly that. He filled you with His Holy Spirit to enable you to do the things that He did.

All we have to do is to trust in Him and daily seek to allow Christ to live and breathe in us by His Spirit.

So let me encourage you today: If you are in Christ, you have everything you need to live a godly, Christ-like life right now!

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." [Galatians 2:20]

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Transformation [Not Information]

Do you think of the Gospel as being information or as a transformation?

You might be tempted to think that it's both, or that it really doesn't matter how you think of the Gospel, but I believe it matters a great deal.

For example, if we think of the Gospel as mainly information, then we become lawyers and modern Pharisees who argue semantics and debate doctrine. Salvation is seen as having the right information - the right beliefs and doctrines, in the right order. Those who have different information than we do are heretics. Those who accept our information are "saved" and those who don't are either not truly Christians or their salvation is in question.

But Jesus speaks of a Gospel that is based on an intimate relationship with himself. He talks about the Gospel as being primarily about transformation, not mere information.

He proclaims the Good News [Gospel] of the Kingdom by urging everyone to "think different" [Metanoia in the Greek; usually translated as "Repent!" in most English translations].

He points out that it's impossible for a bad tree to produce good fruit and that if you don't first "make the tree good" you'll never produce good fruit.

Through the Gospel, Jesus makes us good trees who can produce the good fruit of righteousness which is pleasing to God. [See Matt. 12:33]

Jesus says that life in the Kingdom comes when we "know God and the Christ whom He has sent" [John 17:3]

That word translated "know" is not about information. It's the same word used to say that "Adam 'knew' Eve" and that involves an intimacy; a way of knowing that conceives new life within.

So, we are called to "know God" and to "know Christ" in an intimate way that conceives a new life within us - the new life of the Kingdom that comes only as we abide in Him and He abides in us.

That's a relationship where we are daily learning to love Him more as we come to "know this love that surpasses knowledge" and become "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." [Eph. 3:19]

If the Gospel is merely information, then we don't need a relationship with a living person who transforms us. Just give me the information and I'll study it and memorize it and enforce the proper communication of that information. 

But if the Gospel is about a transforming relationship with a vibrant, fantastic being of light and love, then we will certainly receive information about Him, but this will go far beyond mere data and exponentially transcend human knowledge to explode into an intimacy that conceives something new within. 

Jesus wants to change us. He wants us to become more like himself. We should desire that, too. The way we are transformed into His image is to immerse ourselves in Him and surrender ourselves completely to Him so that He can make us into the good trees that bear good fruit. 

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." [1 Jn. 3:2]

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Our Biggest Problem

For 10 years I've been telling people the biggest problem in the Church is that we don't understand the Gospel. Today I found a bigger one.

Yes, it’s a huge problem that Christians don’t understand the basic message of Jesus, and yes, it does affect the way you understand everything else about Jesus and the Christian life, but there is something even more foundational than that.

My little epiphany came yesterday as, once more, I had a surreal conversation with a Christian who maintained that we are incapable of being like Jesus. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have had hundreds of conversations with people like this over the years. But maybe this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

With my recent change in office location, my drive home lately is about an hour long. That gave me plenty of time to think about this conversation, and soon enough I started to realize the real depth of this problem within modern American Christianity.

We don’t believe that Jesus is alive in us. Worse yet, Jesus probably isn’t actually living through the vast majority of us.

We have no concept or expectation that Christ is living within. Therefore, we repeat verses like “Christ in you, the hope of glory” and “Abide in me and I will abide in you”  and dozens like this, but we have absolutely no experience that any of this is an actual reality.

Now, if you have a church full of Christians who never take their faith beyond the book, or the idea stage, just imagine how lifeless and empty that church – and those Christians – will be.

This is why we have Christians who are hateful, angry, distracted by nationalism, moved by politics, competitive, selfish, frazzled, anxious, depressed and bored with their church, their faith, and even with Jesus.

I’m not suggesting that Christians can’t be depressed, or angry, etc., but when someone says a prayer to escape hell and then attends a weekly meeting out of fear and obligation, there’s little reason to be surprised when that person isn’t experiencing the indwelling spirit of Christ or putting his unsearchable riches on display for people to marvel at.

Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly. He promised that if we would find ourselves in him, that he and the Father would come and make their home in us.[Jn 14:23] And once they do that, our transformation of character begins.

Not that we’re perfect. Not that we don’t blow it. Not that we don’t need to be reminded over and over again to seek first the Kingdom and to take up our cross daily. But there is the expectation that those who are in Christ have become new creatures with a new heart and the mind of Christ. There is the reality of the character of Christ being formed in us as we submit to Him and seek His face.

So, while the Christian church suffers for not knowing what the Gospel is all about, they suffer more by not experiencing the transformational power of the Gospel in their actual lives.

A Christian who is walking daily in the reality of the indwelling presence of Jesus won’t need any more information about the Gospel, because they are already immersed in the living actuality of Jesus.

Christians who are filled with the Spirit of God are marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness and self-control. Those are the kinds of people you want to be around. They’re the sorts of people who inspire questions like, “Why do you have so much hope in your heart?” Our doctrines don’t inspire questions like that. Our theology doesn’t waft the aroma of Christ into the nostrils of the unbelieving around us.

As Madeleine L’Engle put it:

“We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.”

I have spent many years studying apologetics. I know that stuff backwards and forwards. But once I realized that I had never once argued anyone into the arms of Jesus I quit. Instead, I found that there is no apologetic like a life that reflects the character of Christ.

I’ll be honest, I think it’s possible to know all of this in your head and still not get it in your heart – or practice it in your daily life. That’s the piece I am only beginning to explore right now.

But isn’t this the key element that’s missing in our own lives? (Not to mention in the church, or in our world).

The reality of the living Christ within is where our faith rises or falls. Either Jesus is alive inside of us right now, or our faith is dead.

The good news is that Jesus is waiting to meet you where you are. He is longing to awaken your heart – and mine – to the reality of his holy presence.

His promise is that He will never leave you, nor forsake you. His name is “Emmanuel” which means ‘God with us’.

How can we keep him at arm’s length? How can we reduce him to an image or a concept?

 Read the Bible all you want. Until you have the living spirit of God within, you'll never know Christ and the power of his resurrection.

Knowing things about Jesus is not the same as knowing him.

Knowing theology is not how you draw nearer to Jesus.

Get on your knees. Ask him to reveal himself to you.

Wait on him. Listen for his voice.

He freely gives his Spirit to anyone who asks.

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** 

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." - Jesus [John 15:5]

"The world does not need Christianity. The world needs Christ". - Kat Huff

Love Conquers Hate

On October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts IV entered the West Nickel Mines School house holding a loaded gun. He proceeded to shoot ten girls, between the ages of 6 and 13 years old, and killed five of them.

Eventually he turned the gun on himself and took his own life.

While stories like this are all-too-common in our world today, the reaction of the community was anything but.

This shooting had taken place in the Amish country of Bart Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The families who lost their daughters were filled with grief over the loss of their children, but they were also filled with the love of Christ.

This is why, instead of responding out of their despair, they followed the Prince of Peace and found the faith to act out the loving example of Jesus.

Just one week after the shooting, the same families who lost their daughters in this senseless and selfish act visited Marie Roberts, the wife of the man who had pulled the trigger and taken his own life.

They boldly, and sincerely, offered their complete forgiveness to her. They invited her to attend the funeral services for their slain daughters. They shared all relief funds sent to them with Mrs. Roberts and her own children who had lost their father that same day. They even attended the funeral of Charles Roberts and offered their loving support to his widow and his children.

This is love. This is true forgiveness and Christian compassion.

We saw this same brand of radical love and forgiveness a few days ago in Charleston, when the families of those who had lost their loved ones to the senseless shooting came face to face with the killer and sincerely forgave him.

Where do we find that kind of love? Where does it come from? Are these people just being religious? Are they pretending to love the one who killed their father, or mother, or sister or brother?

Or is it possible that the sort of love that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount is actually real?

Out of hate, love can conquer. Out of despair, hope can rise. Out of tragedy, forgiveness can overcome and transcend human emotion.

Jesus empowers those who follow Him and put His words into practice. He fills us with real life, and real love that most people can only dream about.

In times of great darkness and despair, this love shines like the sun and puts Jesus on display for everyone to see.

This is why we're called to love our enemies. This is why we are expected to overcome evil with good. Not so we can be door mats, but so that we can demonstrate to the world that the Gospel is real and that His love transforms us into people who can love in the face of tragedy and forgive even the greatest evils.

The message of the Gospel is subversive. It goes against the grain. It makes a real, dramatic, powerful difference at just the right time, and when no one could possibly even expect it.

This is what we are called to, as followers of Christ. We are called to love extravagantly and to forgive inexplicably, and to demonstrate to the world that Jesus is alive inside of us.

Let the Kingdom come.

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*Updated 6/23/15

OUR ONLY HOPE

Once again our daily news carries the headline that more unarmed black people have been killed. This time not by racist police officers, but by an armed white supremacist who sat for an hour and listened to a Bible Study before pulling out his weapon to gun down nine innocent people.

It hardly matters whether these dear people were killed by a white cop, or by an angry white man. They are still dead.

It really doesn't matter how they were killed, by a handgun, or a rifle.
They were still murdered.

It doesn't even matter where they were killed, in a church, or a park, or a department store.
They are all still gone.

What does matter is that, in our nation, this sort of thing still happens on a regular basis.

What does matter is that it will continue to happen, more and more, unless we decide to do something about it.

No doubt some will use this as an opportunity to push for stricter gun regulations.

Others will use this to encourage more open dialog between people of different races and backgrounds.

Still others will exploit this tragedy to raise money for their campaign, or advance their agenda, or to demonize their opposition.

But make no mistake here, none of those things will improve the situation.

None of those responses - even if they are successful - will do anything more than make it harder to kill someone you hate with a particular brand of weapon.

Here's what will make a difference: The Gospel.

Only Jesus can transform us from the inside out.

Only Jesus can teach us the power of love over hate.

What should we do about the horrible news today?

We should pray.
We should love.
We should tell others that there's only one hope for our nation.

His name is Jesus.

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Conformed To His Image

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” - Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20)

Here we have our marching orders from our Commander in Chief. This is about so much more than Evangelism. Rather, it is a framework for what every Christian community should be focused upon.

Where the Christian Church in the West has failed most, I believe, is in taking this mandate to heart and putting it daily into practice.

Instead, the Church has twisted this "Great Commission" from Jesus and turned it into a justification for building million-dollar structures, launching extravagant outreach campaigns, and publishing thousands of "How To" books, all aimed at creating converts while at the same time ignoring any call to make disciples who understand how to "obey everything (Jesus) commanded".

This is largely why the Evangelical Church in America finds Herself in deep decline today. Instead of inviting people to know God more intimately through an ongoing encounter with Jesus, and creating a church full of people who are intentionally seeking to put His words into practice in their actual lives, we have opted for a Gospel that does little more than provide an escape from Eternal Torment; leaving our Churches with nothing to do but entertain a growing crowd of un-transformed converts until they eventually die and move on to their promised "Heaven".

It also creates a world where the Church hardly resembles Her founder and causes many outside the faith to doubt the love of God and the power of Christ to transform the human heart.

This is not the Gospel. It's also not what Jesus had in mind for His Body.

Reading the New Testament reveals that Jesus expected to inspire a community of people who were called out and empowered to not only call Him 'Lord, lord', but to actually put His words into practice.

Essentially, what the Church needs today is to return to Jesus, renew their allegiance to Him, and begin to become Disciples (so that they can start to "make Disciples of all nations").

A recent conversation with my dear friend, Dan Notti, honed in on this missing element of Christian life. Specifically, the idea of spiritual formation is becoming extinct in our Christian faith today.

Not only is it slowly fading away as a concept, it is actually becoming an idea that is radically opposed by many Christian teachers who argue that the teachings of Jesus cannot be kept, and that Jesus never intended for us to try to follow His teachings or to put His words into practice.

This is flabbergasting. Especially when we cannot read the Gospels without being inundated by the words of Jesus crying out, over and over again, that those who love Him obey Him, and that those who put His words into practice receive life, and that those who call Him 'Lord, lord' but refuse to do what He says will be told "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you."

How does this happen?

Partly because, as we've already seen, the Gospel that gets communicated is the bumper sticker "Pray this prayer if you don't want to burn in Hell forever" variety rather than the "Repent! The Kingdom of God is near" version we hear Jesus proclaiming.

Another reason we see the abandonment of the Gospel of the Kingdom, however, is the rise of a more Pauline version of the Gospel which emphasizes - or rather over inflates - the message of Grace so that it begins to eclipse the teaching of Jesus.

This is not to say that Paul and Jesus were at odds. Far from it. Anyone who reads the writings of Paul, or especially the Acts of the Apostles, will see that Paul, and the other Apostles, all preached the Gospel or Good News, of the Kingdom. [See Acts 28:23; 30-31; 14:22; 19:8; 8:12; Eph. 20:25, etc.]

However, when Christian teachers and preachers overemphasize the Gospel of Grace - in a way that Paul never intended - they create the false impression that Jesus' message and Paul's message were different.

Not so. Paul preached the Good News of the Kingdom everywhere he went. Yes, he did write a few epistles where he reminded the disciples that their salvation was a work of God's unmerited favor and grace. But this was always within the context of submission to Christ as Lord - something Paul writes a lot about - and an assumption that those Christians understood the "Good News of the Kingdom" which involved complete submission to Jesus as both Lord and Savior.

One revealing verse about how Paul truly understood the concept of Grace is found in Titus 2:11-12 where he says:

"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.."

Notice two things:

1) Paul affirms that the Grace of God "offers salvation to all people."

2) Paul also teaches that the Grace of God "teaches us to say 'No'" to "worldly passions and to live self-controlled...godly lives in this present age."

According to Paul, the Grace of God is about salvation, AND about living a godly, self-controlled life - right here and now!

The Grace of God isn't only an instant "get out of hell free card", it's also an ongoing, continual power at work in our everyday lives that empowers us to become more like Jesus.

That's spiritual formation, folks.

Grace, then, is like the small amount of yeast that enters our lives the day we respond to the sound of Jesus' voice [to save us from our sins], and that continues to permeate our entire being every moment after as we continually become transformed into the image of Christ.

What if our Church family was single-mindedly focused on cooperating with the Holy Spirit in this process of becoming more like Christ?

What if our main focus as Christians was to collaborate together with one another, and with Jesus, to ensure that everyone within our church community was actually on the path towards having the heart and mind and character of Christ formed within them? [Ourselves included, of course].

To me, that is what is missing from our Churches today. That is what would breathe new life and vitality back into the Body of Christ again.

As Dallas Willard has put it, the Church should be about "...transforming disciples inwardly, in such a way that doing the words and deeds of Christ is not the focus but is the natural outcome or side effect." (from "Renovation of the Heart")

Simply put, we as individual Christians should begin by falling to our knees - daily - and surrendering continually to Jesus, we should focus on abiding in Christ and allowing Him to abide in us, so that our lives can bear more fruit.

If we do that, everything else will fall naturally into place.


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TRANSFORMATION

A Force More Powerful

When I was nine years old my Father handed me something dangerous. “It’s uranium,” he said. “Just touching it will transform you, and if you know how to use it properly, it has the power to create an explosion so powerful it could be seen from space.”

This is a metaphor.

My Father in this scenario is my Heavenly Father. The uranium he gave me is “Agape” and it not only has the power to transform us due to prolonged contact, but it can also create an explosion of change that has the potential to transform every human life on this planet – if we know how to use it properly.

I’ve been captivated lately by this image of the Love of Christ as an awesome, unlimited power that has been handed down to us by the Creator of the Universe.

Much like handing a toddler a nuclear warhead capable of transforming the landscape in the blink of an eye, Jesus has entrusted every one of us with the greatest force in the universe ever imagined: Agape Love. A love which has the power - not to destroy a city - but to transform and renew all humanity from within.

If you have experienced the inexpressible power of this love, you know what I’m talking about. It disarms you. It changes you from within. It fills your heart with unspeakable joy, and impossible hope, and complete faith that the impossible is not only possible but extremely likely.

You and I – as disciples of Jesus – have been handed the most astounding force of change ever devised. We have been changed by it ourselves, and the more we are exposed to it, the more we are changed daily into new creatures with new minds, and new hearts.

This same force within us has the power to change the world. In fact, it is intended to do so. It was designed by the One who spoke the Universe into existence to do just that.

This love of Christ has the power to transform the hearts and renew the minds and restore the souls of every person we come into contact with today. No matter who they are: Atheists, Rapists, Murderers, Drug Addicts, Prostitutes, LGBTs, Muslims, Baptists, Democrats, Republicans, Nazis, ISIS, Terrorists, Lawyers, Professors, and on, and on.

Truthfully, there is no one who is immune to the power of this love. Some may resist it. They may deny it. They may run from it in fear. But the power of the love of Christ to soften the heart and renew the mind, and transform the soul, is irresistible.

We are living proof. The more we are exposed to this love, the more we are changed. The more we are changed, the more others around us experience that love, and the cycle continues.

If you wield a force as powerful as Agape Love, I have to ask what you would want with a gun, or a knife? Jesus has entrusted us with a weapon that is mighty beyond belief. It has the power to demolish strongholds and turn murderers into ministers, abusers into healers, terrorists into ambassadors of peace – even persecutors into Apostles of Christ.

That same Apostle told us that the love of Christ was powerful beyond our imaginations. He prayed that we would have the “power to grasp how high, and wide, and long, and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge  - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph. 3:18-19)

So, take hold of that volatile, dangerous power today. Immerse yourself in it. Let it permeate your being.

Let it transform you into a living beacon of His audacious, awesome, astounding love.

Detonate this power indiscriminately wherever you go. Let it flow through your mouth, your hands, your heart, your mind. Let it spill over the lonely, the broken, the outcast, and the hopeless around you.

Let this love change you, and then let it transform the world around you.

"Love’em all. Let God sort’em out."

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**
FURTHER READING:
"Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well." (1 Thess. 2:8)

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Cor. 5:17)

"He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." (Rev. 21:5)

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor. 13:13)

[Subversive Radio] EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP

Discover Religion Internet Radio with Subversive Radio on BlogTalkRadio

Occupy Jesus

Jesus told a parable about the Kingdom of God that included an interesting phrase: “occupy until I come.” (Luke 19:13; KJV)

The parable is meant to illustrate how Jesus expects His followers (that’s us) to behave until He returns to set up His eternal Kingdom here on Earth. Of course, we know that Jesus’ Kingdom is already here right now. That’s part of what He meant by “occupy until I come”. In other words, Jesus has already inaugurated His Kingdom and our mission now is to occupy the Kingdom reality here on Earth until He comes to set it up in person – and in full – at His second coming.

Another way we can think of this occupation is found in Jesus’ command to abide in Him. The word “abide” can also be understood as “to live inside” or “to occupy”. So in essence, Jesus says:

“Occupy me and I will occupy you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it is occupied in the vine; no more can you, except you occupy me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that occupies me, and I him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)

So, if we occupy Jesus, and if Jesus occupies us, then we can experience His presence and power – the same power and presence that is essential for us to occupy this expanding remnant of His Kingdom on Earth.

Now, our daily exercise is simply to occupy Jesus, and to allow Jesus to occupy us, so that we can occupy His Kingdom here on Earth and testify that He is the King of the Universe – and the King of our lives.

Let our lives declare daily that Jesus is living inside of us. Let the revolutionary power of Jesus overthrow the status quo of our empty lives.

Please, Lord Jesus, come live and breathe within me today. Let my life be filled up with your life. May my life be a reflection of your life within. Let your Kingdom come right here, and right now.

Amen.

PART 3: WHY ARE (SOME) CHRISTIANS SO MEAN?

One friend posted a comment of mine on their Facebook page last week that said “If you would shoot your enemy in the head, you might not be a Christian” and the comments that followed that simple truth were deeply disturbing to me, especially the ones that cried “Bulls**t!”, and “Keith Giles is soooo wrong” and my favorite, “This Keith Giles is a gut-shooter, not a head-shooter, a dumb-ass playing games.” [Nice].

It starts to make you wonder, “How can Christians who follow the One who said ‘Love your enemies’ respond to this comment in this way?” Are they unaware of their Savior’s teaching? Are they willfully ignorant of what He meant by this statement? Or are they mostly confused by how to apply His teachings in everyday life?

Reason #3 – Christians in America are confused about the Old and New Covenant.

As one commenter to that same post said, “I get a little confused with Old Testament vs New…is everything in the OT about war and defending (oneself) null after Jesus died?”

I think it’s this fundamental misunderstanding of how the Old Covenant and the New Covenant work together that allows us to call ourselves “Christians” without actually following Christ.

Jesus said that He came “not to abolish the Law and the Prophets” but to “fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)

But, in what way did Jesus “fulfill the Law and the Prophets”? Most Christians are taught that this statement implies that the Old Testament Scriptures are still intact. However, that’s not at all what Jesus meant. As the writer of Hebrews explains:

“By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.” (Hebrews 8:13)

So, when Christ fulfilled the Law and the Prophets, He accomplished what they were pointing to and prophesying about. Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant, and now we are under a new and everlasting covenant. Rather than become enslaved again to the Old Covenant Laws, we are free to follow Jesus and we therefore are bound to obey Him.

This means that when Jesus says, “Love your enemies” we need to actually do that and not shoot them in the head (or anywhere else). And when Jesus says, “If you do not forgive those who sin against you, then your Heavenly Father will not forgive your sins either” we need to start forgiving people. (see Matthew 6:14-15).

Want further proof that Christians today don’t understand the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? Let me ask you to tell me what the New Covenant is. Honestly, most Christians I ask have no idea what the New Covenant actually is. (Hint: You can find out in Hebrews 8:8-10; and Jeremiah 31:31-34).

See, when we fail to obey Jesus we start to act mean, and the reason why is that following Jesus is meant to transform us into the image of Christ. In other words, if we’re not following Jesus there’s no hope of ever actually becoming like Jesus. Only when we die to ourselves (daily)and deny our selfish, human (i.e. “mean”) impulses and actions, do we get anywhere near actually becoming like Christ.

It’s a little frustrating to me that I even need to write this down or explain this to anyone. It should be such a simple, basic idea to everyone that a follower of Jesus would be like Jesus.

 

How in the world have we gotten the idea that one can be a Christian but not follow Christ? This would be like a Muslim refusing to obey the Koran. Or a Jew who has no clue about Moses or his teachings. Either you’re a follower of Jesus and you take Him seriously, or you are not following Jesus and you should just go ahead and call yourself a humanist who does what he feels like. You can’t have it both ways.

We act nothing like Jesus because we have not been told we should follow Jesus’ teachings. We do not obey Jesus because we do not think of ourselves as “Disciples” but as “Believers” who accept a certain set of doctrines and we dare anyone to say we’re not really “Christians” even though we don’t act like Jesus.

For the record, the followers of Jesus were first called “Christians” in Antioch back in the first century. You want to know why? Because they were all so much like Jesus that their enemies called them “Little Christs” – which is what “Christians” actually means.

If those Antioch pagans could come to America, I don’t think they’d call us “Christians” today.

Yes, I’d say that the Church in America is some serious trouble, and if we don’t start embracing the New Covenant that Jesus died to initiate, and die to ourselves to receive it, then we will be nothing but a nation of Mean Christians who have no idea who Jesus is, or what it means to follow Him.

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[END PART 3]

 

SUBVERSIVE RADIO: OUR IDEA VS GOD'S IDEA

This Episode: God said that His ways were not our ways. But just how far off are our ideas versus God's ideas when it comes to faith, worship, fasting, evangelism, knowing God, church-planting, and more?


Listen as author, teacher and blogger Keith Giles explains how our ideas and God's ideas are like night and day.

WATCH: BRANDT RUSSO AT PACIFIST FIGHT CLUB

Brandt Russo teaches at Pacifist Fight Club on Saturday, May 5, 2012 on "Is Your Gospel Strong Enough to Change a Terrorist?" (How Love Overcomes Hate).

THE COMING FLOOD

Every now and then, when I mention to people that we've planted a house church in our community, they will respond by saying something like: "That's good because I believe God's Judgement and persecution is coming soon and the Church needs to be ready to go underground if it's going to survive." (Or something close to that).

Personally, I've never resonated with that response. Mainly because my reasons for starting a house church have nothing to do with fear of persecution or judgment. Actually, we started our house church because God called us to plant a church where all of the offering could go to help the poor in our community. So, I don't participate in house church out of fear, but out of love.

Over the weekend, I had a very interesting conversation over lunch with author Ross Rhode, and a few others who were attending the Momentum conference with me. Ross had been sharing with those at our table about how God's Spirit has fallen throughout history - and most recently in America - in the form of several revivals. Someone asked why they never seem to last very long, and he suggested that it was usually because men tried to control the strange manifestations that often accompanied an outpouring of the Spirit (such as tongues or shaking or laughing). The other cause? When people made it attractional. In other words, when the revival experience could only be appropriated by visiting a certain place and hearing a certain man preach, the revival eventually burned itself out.

That got me to thinking. Actually, what happened was that I saw a picture in my mind of a massive field of dirt. It had been plowed into rows, but nothing was growing there. Slowly, as Ross continued to talk about the ebb and flow of revival, I began to see a series of irrigation ditches being carved out around the field. Ross said, "If the Spirit of God ever does fall again, the house church movement is the perfect vehicle to keep it going." I nodded in agreement. "Yes, because in a house church whenever we get too many people at once we are quick to send them out to start another church. We don't want to get bigger, so we'll always keep sending them out as they get saved to keep spreading the revival."

I believe the house church movement in America is a genuine move of the Holy Spirit. Over the last five years I have spoken to countless people who have felt God's calling to step out of the Church, or down from the pulpit, to start a house church in their community. One by one, story after story, I've listened to people tell me how God compelled them - even as others warned them not to, or mocked them for leaving - they knew that to obey God they had to lay it all down and plant churches in their homes, and neighborhoods.

What if? What if God is inspiring so many people to leave the traditional model of institutional church so that He can build a nationwide network of house churches that will quickly spawn more house churches as the fire of revival spreads across this nation?

As I shared this with Ross and the people at our table, I mentioned that it was like what I was seeing in my mind's eye. That God was creating this network of house churches to operate like irrigation canals that would rapidly disperse the Spirit of God as it fell on this nation - allowing the empty, desolate field to burst into life as the rivers of living water began to fall from the sky and flood the earth with the presence of God.

Ross began to pray spontaneously. As he prayed, all of us around the table joined in. In my heart, as I prayed, I could see the sky growing dark. I heard the crack of thunder in the sky. I heard the steady patter of heavy rainfall drenching the dry and thirsty ground. The canals around the large field began to fill with sweet, living water. The field grew dark with moisture. New life began to spring up as the seeds that had been planted years before were nourished by this living water. Suddenly the field was overtaken by large, green, fruitful plants.

My eyes were filled with tears when we all finally stopped praying.

"Why can't it happen here?" someone asked. "Why can't we pray and ask God to rain down His Spirit on us  again?"

I believe He wants to. I believe that what is coming is not a sword of judgment, but a flood of His Holy Spirit upon a barren land.

Rather than sit back and pray that God would hurry up and return so we can get out of this place, our prayers should be for God to revive this nation. Our prayers should be like those that Paul the Apostle uttered when he yearned for all Israel to be saved and his own soul cursed to hell out of desperate love for his people.

What do we want more? For Jesus to return and bring swift judgment upon this heathen nation? Or do we cry out for Jesus to show mercy and to reveal His love to all men, women and children on this earth?

Pray for God to heal this land. Pray for His Spirit to fall. Pray for the Gospel to go forth and for lives to be transformed by His Word.

This is our calling. This is our destiny. Pray for revival to come. Pray for souls to come to the saving knowledge of Christ. And then, work hard while it is still light enough to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom to all who have yet to hear it.

"Repent! The Kingdom of God is upon you."

Let it rain.
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Learning To Be Loved

My friend Thomas Nixon once said something that I will never forget. He said that his house church family came together to discover how to love God and how to love one another. I remember nodding as he said that, not realizing that he was about to add something so intuitive and yet so unexpected to my mind at the time. He went on to say that they also came together to learn how to be loved by God, and how to be loved by one another.

The simplicity of that statement stunned me a bit. Of course, I thought, if you’re in a room full of people who are committed to loving everyone else, you’ll have to accommodate them by allowing them to actually love you. And if you’re honestly trying to learn how to love God, you’ll have to actually begin by learning how to let God love you.

The questions that began to whisper through my heart as I pondered my friend’s words were relentless. “How can I receive love from others like this?”, “What’s holding me back from receiving God’s love in my own heart?”, and most profoundly, “How could I possibly have missed such a simple truth?”

That conversation was years ago now. I’m still trying to answer those questions in my heart. If anything, those whispers have crescendoed into roars like a waterfall in my ears. “How do I learn to be loved?”

I have to admit, this is something I struggle with. Yes, I know in my mind that Jesus loves me, and I have experienced the love of God in my life many times before, but I’m learning lately that I have yet to really learn how to fully receive God’s love the way He intends for me to.

Why is it hard for me to accept God’s amazing love? I think it's partly because I struggle with pride. One of the ways I try to manage my pride is to avoid anything that is about "me" or tends to exalt my ego in any way. Somehow the idea of embracing the notion that Jesus is totally in love with me feels like a threat to my meager humility. It’s almost as if receiving His love would fill me with pride somehow. I don't know how to fully explain it, but it’s there.

At the same time, I am also constantly aware that I do not deserve His love, so to fully embrace His outrageous love for me is like denying that I am wretched, sinful, and unlovable.

So, because of my love for myself, and my hatred of myself, I am kept from fully receiving the exquisite love of God. I am boxed in on both sides by selfish pride and by awareness of my own sin. How can I receive the awesome love of a Holy God when I am too in love with myself, or too ashamed of my own unworthiness to let Him love me?

Intellectually, of course, I know all the answers for this. If I were counseling someone else I would know exactly which verses to quote, what illustrations to use to counter these ideas, but in practice, in my own heart, these do not erase the reality of my struggle.

I’ve preached sermons on this topic, I’ve memorized verses on the love of God, I know in my mind that all of these thoughts and attitudes are foolish and unnecessary, but none of that changes the fact: A large portion of my heart is still untouched by the love of God.

If you’re in the same boat with me then we are the people that Paul the Apostle is praying for in Ephesians chapter 3 when he says:

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (v. 17-19)

What Paul says is that our ability to be “rooted and established in love” can only be accomplished if we receive “power” from God to do so. God’s power must be unleashed upon us to enable us to “know this love that surpasses knowledge”.

I love that Paul uses that phrase to describe the love of God - “love that surpasses knowledge” because what he’s emphasizing to us is that the love of God isn’t accessible via language, or teaching, or intelligence, or any other form of human knowledge. How could you possibly know something that surpasses knowledge? Even if you had all the knowledge in the Universe you would still not be capable of knowing this astounding love of God. Why? Because the love of God surpasses knowledge. It cannot be found in this way. It is too large for any human brain to grasp. Only the human heart can ever hope to receive it, and only then if it is apprehended by the impulse of God’s might power working in us.

My prayer for myself, and for you as well if you find yourself in this same place, is exactly what Paul says here. I pray that we might all have power to grasp how infinitely wide and eternally high and endlessly deep is the transformational love of Christ Jesus, our Lord.

True, there may be barriers in my own heart that I know must be broken down before I can finally receive His amazing love. But, it's good to know that Jesus has His sights set on destroying these barriers. Only He can do this work in my heart. I long for Him to crash through those two strongholds of mind and heart. I can't wait for that day to come.

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