For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 1 Cor 13:12

It is this desire to find understanding that led me to the truth in Christ. But it has also made me feel very insecure, unsettled in everyday life. But now I think I “understand” how to close this gap, By faith! First, I cannot possibly understand every situation, and two, God does, So, the only way I can close the gap is by faith. Faith-based understanding.

Ironically, I have such confidence for this in tech / business meetings where my understanding is woefully incomplete. He will drop a word of knowledge, understanding in my spirit. I must believe for this well proven relationship to be everywhere, and every situation. Faith is how I can enter His rest as described in Hebrew’s 4. God is not striving, neither should we. Let Him bring it to us when we need it. He knows.

When we speak God’s word, supernatural forces go to work on our behalf.

Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Psalm 103:20

After fasting and being alone in the desert for 40 days, the devil tempted Jesus three times. Each time, Jesus spoke scripture from the Torah (Old Testament) to defeat the devil. This is one reason it is important to read the bible. It is a very powerful tool in our life.

There is one catch. You must speak these words with some degree of faith. Ask God for this.

When Mary found out she was pregnant, she could have freaked, knowing that being pregnant and unmarried could result in death, and at the very least, losing the man she loved. But as Elizabeth spoke…

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45

To stop natural law from killing her she could have tried to take the natural solution and kill her baby. She could have run and hid, then given the baby away. I’m sure many ideas raced through her mind in the dead of night. So many paths she could direct and be in control. Anything other than the unnatural walk of faith. In many cases, faith means do nothing except trust God. In Mary’s case, to save her life. How could he?

For nothing will be impossible with God. Luke 1:37

Do not be defined by your sin.

I know from my own experience, that when I have a nagging sin that I cannot get victory over, I tend to get a sense of self condemnation and unworthiness. But I can’t do it myself. The illusion that I can, the attempt to do so makes me self-righteous. The truth is, even in our best moments of righteousness, we fall way short of God’s righteousness.

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment… Isaiah 64:6

Rather, see yourself as already righteous. See yourself as God already sees you. How’s that? As a believer in Jesus Christ, Father God sees you through Jesus’ blood of atonement. He sees you as He sees Jesus — perfect, whole and complete.

Jesus was crucified alongside a two thieves — both guilty as sin. One saw Jesus, by faith, as his Savior. Jesus said to him, “today you will be with me in paradise”. We too, as believers, see ourselves should see our selves the same. As worthy of life with Him. The Apostle Paul had the same view…

…and [we] may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…” Phil 3:9

It is our own vanity that wants to build a bridge to righteousness. Why? So we can be in control. That is the opposite of faith.
God does want us to pursue righteousness…

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11

If your righteousness is not built on this foundation of the faith through the blood, through the cross, then it is destined for repeated failures and the accompanying corrosive emotion of condemnation. That’s no way to live.

Last night I was watching the Teen Choice Awards. Things haven’t changed much since the sixties, except that it’s all now just been branded.

This morning the Lord told me not to interpret my age in the context of contemporary culture. My age says I am out of date, unable to connect, irrelevant. Hollywood will not accept me as a relevant producer. God’s word says different…

A grey head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31

So I must train my mind to not see myself in the negative, even though Hollywood does discriminate. But God… He does not conform to culture, and He does not expect us to, either. He is the grand exception to the world system. That is one way our faith comes into play. We must believe that we, too are the grand exemption. But the exemption only happens when we are standing, thinking, doing by faith.

So too, do not allow yourself to “think” that your faith makes you irrelevant to the people. The irony is, it does in fact make you irrelevant to the culture, but your are not irrelevant to people; you are actually more relevant.

Do not play the voices of other people in my head, what I think they are saying about me… they wag on and on about my weaknesses and faults. Or they complement me in my carnal vanities, reinforcing my fallen nature. Either way, they separate me from what God thinks about me. And, God thinks I am wonderful. Train your mind on His word, what He says. For example, as lost and fallen, apart from his blood, He loved me enough to die for me. As a believer, under His blood, God sees me perfect, righteous and actually “unfallen”. God has made me a joint heir with his son Jesus Christ. I am entitled to everything He has given Jesus. I am now a child of the King.

I really should “think” that way.

Don’t wonder if God is going to do something good in your future, expect it to be so. Have conviction about the future.

Faith is… the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

The Princeton dictionary defines conviction as an unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence. The opposite of conviction is… doubt and uncertainty.

For this to work you must have the expectation that God brings good into your life.

For he who comes to God must believe that… he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrew 11:6

And of course, it all starts with believing in Him. So what is the result of believing this way?

…and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:7

We live in a false reality.

It’s our emotional outlook; the product of wounds and pleasures, mixed in a alchemy of dreams and imaginations. It makes for one strange reality. It is developed over years, and none can escape without help from God.

We interpret circumstances to reinforce that outlook, and deny interpretations that run contrary to it. The challenge is to not be conformed to this outlook, but to God’s Word and what we ‘think’ it says about us. But even this must go through our flawed emotional outlook, and it can get warped. We must have the working of the Holy Spirit to help us through. Over time we resolve to a more perfect solution. And this will be love. Freedom to love others as they are, freedom to love yourself as you are. And most importantly, understanding how great Father God’s love is for us, just as we are.

The song Orange Sky by Alexi Murdoch reflects this strange reality .

I think this song reflects the journey of the older brother of the Prodigal Son, as he returns back home. He has learned the profound truth, in your love, my salvation lies.

More on Alexi Murdoch here…

Not like we want to.

We cannot know God’s will for our life, but we can walk it perfectly. How? By faith. We ask God and believe that he is leading us sight unseen. But there’s more.

Does our life have a purpose?

Absolutely. It’s a purpose so profound that it was set at the creation of the world. But it can be so hard to know. Some things we do know. To be thankful in all things. To keep his commandments. To love your neighbor as yourself. But it’s hard to know the specific purpose for our life. Why does it feel like we’re in a dark room tripping over the furniture of life? Others describe it like walking a maze blindfolded. Confusing, uncertain and frustrating.

We can’t fully know it.

Yet, we know God is working in our life. All believers in Jesus Christ seem to be able to look back hours, days weeks and months and see hand of God working in their life. Working in many good ways that we never could have predicted or orchestrated. Yet, we are frustrated about not knowing the future. We can’t know it. At least not fully. Look at these two scriptures…

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. Ephesians 3:20

But we can do it.

How? By faith. That is the way to connect to God. Ask for wisdom and believe you have it. Then walk it out. But remember, his path is not a straight line. It can take many years to walk what seems like a short distance because he prepares our character.

Goals are important.

If you have both a strong desire to accomplish something and it advances the kingdom of God, then it’s probably a God given goal. The most fundamental and profound goal is to be married, love your spouse and raise your children in the love of God, whereby they will freely choose to raise their children knowing that same love. That’s why he created us. For companionship.

Words don’t take us as far as we think.

It has taken me years to realize the power of saying less. I’m a good talker. I enjoy it. But I’ve had to face the fact that in persuading other people, very little is accomplished through the force of words.

From the listeners standpoint, I’ve come to realize that a few words go a long way; a lot of words make the journey seem very long. If you want people to think you’re smart, don’t jabber away. We tend to do this when we feel insecure, filling the dead air with our words.

He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent. Proverbs 17:27-28

So if we’re not supposed to talk, how do we get people to buy into our idea? According to Harvard Business Review author Kimberly Elsbach, they’re not so much buying into our idea as they’re buying into us. In her article How to Pitch a Brilliant Idea, Elsbach uses the Hollywood screenwriting pitch as an example. While much of the article is spent giving excellent advice on the words and delivery of the pitch, Elsbach says people form their judgments from a variety of factors not dependent on words:

We all like to think that people judge us carefully and objectively on our merits. But the fact is, they rush to place us into neat little categories – they stereotype us… And they’re going to do it really fast. So the first thing to realize when you’re preparing to make a pitch to strangers is that your audience is going to put you in a box. And they’re going to do it really fast. Research suggests that humans can categorize others in 150milliseconds. Within 30 minutes, they’re made lasting judgments about your characters.

Elsbach goes on to talk about different stereotypes that pitchers are grouped into, and how to use those stereotypes to your own advantage. Like most human beings, the people receiving the pitch believe that creative types posses common traits. They include unconventionality, intuitiveness, sensitivity, narcissism, passion, youth and a fashion sense that encapsulates them all. One of the quickest way for us to bust that stereotype and disappoint their expectations is to jabber endlessly. It’s not about saying nothing. It’s about realizing that what we say isn’t everything.

Many people think God is ready to hurl lightning down from heaven to punish them for doing something wrong. Whenever something bad happens – storms, tornadoes, hurricane, the news commentators and the insurance companies call them acts of God.

But they are not God’s acts at all. They are from Satan, a fallen archangel once named Lucifer. The result of living in a world thrown off it’s original plan the sin of rebellion. God put Lucifer in command over the earth. Then, he led a rebellion against God for control of heaven. Now defeated, he operates an insurgency against God and God’s people. He led Adam into man’s great rebellion. Jesus says he (Satan) comes to steal, kill and destroy.

The truth is, God did act and bring something from heaven to earth. But it’s not lightning and tornadoes. It’s his son, Jesus under a new covenant…

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm… The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn [Jesus], whose names are written in heaven. Hebrews 12:18-23

For years, I thought God the father wasn’t to fond of me. He seemed like an angry Tony Soprano, the fictional mob boss with Jesus protecting me from getting hit. I think a lot of people see God this way. For more on this, check out my blog posting, Is God An Angry Tony Soprano?