Magnificent Exchange

The other day I came across this amazing statement from Jesus and it made me stop and consider something profound.

The statement comes in the middle of a long section where Jesus is praying to the Father just before he goes to the cross. It’s an incredibly moving and inspirational prayer that allows us an opportunity to listen in on how Jesus prays and right in the middle of it all he says this:

“All I have is yours and all that’s yours is mine.” – Jesus [John 17:10]

Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever really noticed this verse before, and if so I certainly never stopped to consider what Jesus meant by this and what implications it might have for my own life.

Just before he says this, Jesus says to the Father:

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” [John 17:6-9]

Simply put, Jesus is praying for the disciples here. When he says “they” or “them” he’s referring to Peter, James, John, and the rest of the disciples. He says he is praying for “those you have given me, for they are yours” which means the disciples, specifically were given to Jesus by the Father and yet they still remain the Father’s. [Are you following this?]

So, the Father gave Jesus these disciples and even though the Father gave them to Jesus, they still belong to the Father. That’s when Jesus drops this last part which is what I found so interesting:

“All I have is yours and all that’s yours is mine.” [in v. 10]

That means, in context, that NOT ONLY did the disciples first belong to the Father and were then given to Jesus and yet still belonged to the Father, but now Jesus adds this last bit that says, in essence: Everything I have is actually yours and everything that belongs to me is yours, too.

It’s such an amazing display of complete and total trust, isn’t it?

Can you imagine praying this exact same prayer yourself?

“Dear Father God, all I have is yours now, and I know that all that you have is mine now, too.”

That, my friends, is deep stuff.

I think it says that when we truly surrender all, we can fully receive everything that God has for us.

There’s a lot there to mediate on, actually. What is the relationship between my letting go of everything and my ability to receive everything that belongs to God?

It’s a powerful question. Maybe it means that if all I have isn’t His, then what belongs to Him isn’t yet mine? There’s the idea of opening our hands to allow God to take away or put into our hands whatever He thinks best.

What if we thought of it the other way around, though? What if the reason Jesus could so easily say “All I have is yours” is because He was already aware of the fact that all God has was his?

I tend to think of things conditionally. Like, when/if I make this huge sacrifice and let go of everything, THEN I’ll get to enjoy the blessings of all that belongs to God being imparted to my account.

But what if  it doesn’t work like that? What if we simply start with the realization of the truth that we are already recipients of all that belongs to God? Now how hard is it for you to give up your petty little objects of affection? You’re already the inheritor of “all that belongs to God”! This means you have received inexpressible joy and love that transcends knowledge and peace that passes understanding and mercies that are new every morning and grace so amazing it boggles the mind.

This is exactly what Jesus was alluding to in the Parable of the Prodigal Son when the Father tells the older brother: 

“’My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” [Luke 15:31]

Whoa. How amazing is that, my friends?

To turn it around another way, try thinking of this statement from Jesus as being something He would say to you and to me: “All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.”

Is that true? Is everything that belongs to Jesus mine? Is all that I have the property of Jesus?

If not, then why? This is a marvelous exchange we are invited to partake in.

If Bill Gates showed up on your doorstep tonight and said, “I’ll trade lives with you”, you’d be an idiot to say no.

Now, imagine that Jesus says to you right now: “All I have is yours and all you have is mine.”

The only rational answer is: “Yes, Lord. Thank you!”

What do you think? I’d love to hear about it. Please share in the comments below.

Peace,

-kg

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God Will Not Cooperate

GOD WILL NOT COOPERATE 
(It's His World, We Just Get To Live In It)


After over thirty years of being a Christian I have learned a few valuable lessons. This is probably one of the most crucial ones; God will not cooperate.

If you want to know what frustration is, try to bargain or reason with God. Want to know how to make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.

Sometimes we get the idea that we can change God's mind about something. There are even a few scriptural accounts where it appears that Moses and Abraham convince God to go along with their plans. The problem with this is that you cannot negotiate with someone who already knows the end from the beginning and knows your thoughts before you speak. Want to know what is really happening in those passages? It's God demonstrating that He knows things always go better with us if we think it was our idea.

Once in a while you will see a bumper sticker that says, "God Is My Co-Pilot". I always pray for people who have that on their car because if you think God is about to sit quietly in the passenger seat while you drive your life outside of His will you are either sadly mistaken or you are in the wrong car. Soon enough you will discover that things go so much smoother when you scoot over and allow God to be the Pilot.

We all know the passage where Jacob wrestles with God and refuses to let go until God blesses him. The problem with that is God had already promised to bless Jacob before he was even born. Jacob didn't need to wrestle the blessing out of God's hand, but God allowed him to wrestle anyway. Truth is, God loves to wrestle. I think what we need to consider is, what will we do with God AFTER he gives us that blessing we wrestled from Him? Will we let go of Him? Often, we do exactly that. We vow to not let go of God until He blesses us, and then after He blesses us, we let go of Him. Bad idea.

I firmly believe that God will drop trouble into our lives just to hear our voice after a long silence. 

Save yourself a lot of trouble and just surrender now. God will have His way...(just ask Job or Jonah)...and His way, believe it or not, is much better than all of your beautiful plans and dreams.

Die to yourself daily and things will go SO much better in your life. Practice daily saying, "I Give Up!" and watch God do amazing things with your life. His will, His Kingdom, will come to your life, to your house, to your job, and things will be like Heaven...where His will is always done without question or gripe or complaint.

I recently discovered a phrase used by the early Church Fathers that says, "Conversatio Morem!". It translates to "Constant Conversion!" which honestly is what we all need to embrace. We all need a daily, constant surrender to Jesus in order to fully walk in The Kingdom of God.

"Man makes his plans but God orders his steps."
-Proverbs 16:9

Life in the Kingdom begins with surrender. The sooner you can practice this in your actual life, the sooner you can begin to live in the Kingdom of God, where His perfect will is always done.

God will not cooperate.

-kg

NOTE: This article originally appeared on the weekly [Subversive Underground] e-newsletter.

The Hokey Pokey

"You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out..."

We do this all the time in our spiritual life. We surrender to Jesus on Sunday, and we take it all back on Monday morning. We mean well. We intend to serve Jesus with our life, but the daily pressures of life wear on us and we end up returning to the old patterns of life.

The good news is, God knows that we're dust. He knows we're weak. He understands that the flesh is willing, but the maturing of our spirits takes time.

"If we are faithless, He will remain faithful, for He cannot disown Himself."- 2 Tim 2:13

God is patient with us, and because of this we still have hope.

"...you put your right foot in, you take your right foot out..."

I've been tested lately about some of the same things I've been through many times before.

Why does God keep putting me through these tests of faith? I look to the sky and ask, "Haven't I already learned this lesson three times before? I thought I passed this. Why are we having to go through this again, Lord?"

A dear friend reminded me the other day that God's purpose for allowing challenges in our life is to draw us nearer to Himself. "We just want God to fix it, or do it, or make it better, but God wants us to take His hand and walk through these things alongside Him," my friend said.

Still, I'm weary of putting my faith into action again and again. I'm tired of wondering if God will work this miracle and save my family (again), or if this time we'll have to endure the pain.

God whispers to me, "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all of these things (food, shelter, daily needs, etc.), "will be taken care of as well."- Matt 6:33

So, I do my best to seek the Kingdom of God. I try to focus on Him instead of on my own challenges. But still I find myself drifting back to the question; "What if this time God doesn't rescue us?"

"...you put your whole self in, you take your whole self out, you put your whole self in, and you shake it all about..."

God wants all of me. He wants all of you. He wants my time. He wants my heart. He wants my trust. He wants my entire life. He wants my "whole self in".

Surrender to Jesus is, in reality, a gradual exercise in trust. It would be wonderful if that one time I went down front and bent my knees on the altar was enough. I wish it were true. Maybe for someone else it is true, but for me, I must confess, I'm still daily learning to bend my knees, surrender my heart, and trust Jesus with my life...with my entire life.

Maybe, in some strange way, the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

"You do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about."

**

NOTE: Originally sent to the faithful subscribers of the [subversive underground] on 3/28/06