Indagatio Veri

Prayer is much more than asking God to intervene in our lives. Prayer does not make God turn towards us, neither does it change Him or cause His involvement.  Prayer is much more personal and much more relational than that! If we keep prayer mainly as a religious practice to cause God to 'come down' and help us out in our situation, then we are relating with God from an old-covenant perspective.  The new dispensation under Jesus is that God is now with us! There is no separation, God does not need to 'come down from heaven', He has made His home in our very being.  The Old Covenant practice of twisting God's arm to get Him to do something is over; prayer now is our glorious exploration of the union that we already have. The word pray in the Greek is   proseú x omai  (from  4314   /prós , "towards, exchange" and 2172 /eu x omai , "to wish, pray") – properly, to exchange wishes;  pray  – literally, to  interact with  the Lord by swi...

It says in Acts 16:31, 'believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your entire household.' Viewing salvation as if it is a transaction has caused thousands of people to think they are saved by their vocal 'allegiance' to God or Jesus. As if attending church or saying 'Jesus is Lord' makes God change his perspective of you (Matthew 7:22). This perspective separates truth from experience, and makes faith out to be a cognitive response to a truth principle. Believing in Jesus doesn't mean you assent to a truth principle, it means you trust Him, have seen Him to be who He actually is. You have known Him through experience (see the Greek word Epignosko). This is the knowing talked about in scripture, it is a kind of knowing that implies transformation. There is a crowd of people who claim to be Christians based on right knowledge who's lives don't carry the flavor of knowing their freedom, forgiveness, and salvation that Jesus paid for....

Oh worship, what a magnificent thing, but unfortunately a practice that is complicated by religious tradition and obligation.  In the last blog I simplified in some ways the concept of what the church is, in other ways its' simplification left it in greater mystery than before.  Worship too will fade almost until it is unattainable, while at the same time it will stand out in renewed clarity. Worship, the very idea elicits images of people in pews singing from hymnals, the sound of voices mixed in harmony, and the utilization of words and phrases that are intended to teach the singer and hearer about who God is.  Worship is not singing, although you can sing in a worshipful way, it is not the words you speak, although words will give voice to the true intent of expression. Worship is not something that God wants us to do out of obligation, nor is it something that we can just conjure up in our own will power. Worship is merely an expression of affection of God, to God...

What is the church, what is prayer, what is worship? So many times our perspective and practice of these things are skewed from years of routine, dead tradition, and performance mentalities.  Let us define these together; I want these explanations to be deep but simple, challenging but hopeful,  understandable and yet insightful. Out of these 3 areas, the church is the first one we must tackle; and before we get started I want to say that I love the church.  I love God's people, and the Holy Spirit is alive and at work even when we don't see it.  There are many communities that honor each other well, who obey the Father's voice, who know who Jesus is, and live from His victory.  There are communities and leaders that I respect, that I know are Godly, and that cultivate genuine and intentional interaction with each other and with the Lord. I also recognize God's ability to work with all of us in the midst of our misunderstanding, our stupidity, and our inabil...

Read this out-loud to yourself. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed me in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as HE chose me in Him before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and blameless before Him.  In love HE predestined me for adoption as a son through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of HIS will, to the praise of HIS glorious grace, with which HE has blessed me in the beloved.  In HIM I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of my trespasses, according to the riches of HIS grace, which HE lavished upon me, in all wisdom and insight making known to me the mystery of HIS will, according to HIS purpose, which HE set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in HIM , things in heaven and things on earth. In HIM  I have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of HIM  who works all things ac...

'These signs will follow those who believe. . . (Mark 16:17)' 'He confirmed His word with the signs that accompanied it. . . (Mark 16:20)' 'You will do even greater things than I have done. . .  (John 14:12)' 'Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons; freely you have received freely give. . (Matthew 10:8) The very idea of God revolves around the understanding that there is something, or someone, supernatural (above nature).  Jesus, the incarnate God, is supernatural intervention itself. His life was marked by the miraculous because He was a walking miracle; God in human form. In the verses above, Jesus commissions His disciples to walk in the miraculous power of God.  In fact, when He ascended back into heaven He instructs them to 'wait until you have been imbued with power from on high (Luke 24:49).' Here is the principle; miracles will always be where God is simply because He is 'super'natural' himse...

April fools day, the 1 st day of the month of April, is a day where practical jokes are not only expected but encouraged. It is where you try to outwit, mess with, and prank those around you. Of course the best pranks are those that you don't see coming. In order to truly make a fool out of someone, your prank needs portray them as silly, incompetent, or stupid. . . at least that is how we traditionally view it. Some classic April Fools jokes include, but are not limited to, the rubber band on the spray nozzle, a bucket of water above the door, rearranging a room, or saran wrap on the toilet seat. Yet there is something, or someone, that has made the population of the world over look like an even bigger bunch of fools. The greatest April's fools joke of all time is still offending the proud and overly serious to this day. Besides April Fools, the month of April is also when we celebrate Easter, the death and resurrection of our Lord! Some of you may be calling me to stop...