I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, 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. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:16-21

This is one of Paul’s great prayers and praise sessions in scripture. Paul often begins with a teaching that takes his mind to the amazing abundance of God available to his people and then those very thoughts drive him to little pockets of praise throughout his writings. But in these sections we can find spiritual realities that we need to grasp so let’s reflect on this section of his letter to the Ephesians.

Paul had already prayed for a number of things for the church in this letter. Here he prays for two more things: power in our inner man and the capacity to grasp the immensity of the love of Christ. He prays for the church at Ephesus but, by extension, I will apply his prayers to us. He begins by praying that God, out of his superabundant resources, will strengthen our inner being with power. Our inner being contains both our soul and our spirit which need the power or the force of God for strength. We ingest things for physical energy but there is also spiritual energy that sustains us. Moses spent 40 days on Mt. Sinai in the presence of God without food or water. Something in the spiritual realm sustained him in the physical. No doubt we have a part in that. Moses’ part was to stay focused on God and to remain in his presence. Our part is similar. To stay focused on God and to stay in his presence through time in the Word, prayer, and praise. As we do, the Father imparts increasing power to our inner being and I believe even to our physical bodies indirectly.

The second thing Paul prayed in this section was for God to impart power so that we might have faith for Jesus to dwell in our hearts. This suggests that the extent to which Christ dwells in our heart is based on our faith and our faith depends on God’s power to increase it. Of course, we always have our part in this but Romans 12 says, “think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you” (Rom.12:3).

When we come to Christ we have faith, we have the Spirit indwelling us, and we have Jesus dwelling in our hearts through the Spirit. Each of these is given in an initial measure that can be increased and should be increased as we mature in Christ. There is always more and we should always desire more. Paul’s prayer reminds us that God is the one who ultimately enables that increase. He does so when we press in for more – again with more time in prayer, in the Word, constant repentance that continues to align us with God, more obedience, etc.

Paul’s goal for us in that prayer, however, is not power for power’s sake but rather power to comprehend the vastness of Christ’s love for us. Most humans on this planet hunger for love. They look for it in all the wrong places, medicate when they can’t find it, write endless songs about it, and make movies about man’s search for someone to love him. What we are truly looking for is God’s love because it is only the love of the Father that will not fade, will not die, will not wander, and that is given unconditionally.

To truly grasp, comprehend, or get hold of the immensity of Christ’s love for us would solve our insecurities, our search for significance, our fear of abandonment, our fear of the unknown and even our loneliness. When those needs are met we have peace and the world is looking for peace. Paul’s prayer reveals that our grasp of this love must come to us through revelation, an impartation from God, and personal experiences with Jesus. Let me encourage you to pray for those very things for yourself and others who need to find Jesus or grow in him.

It’s easy to read sections of scripture like this and assume that Paul’s wish for us “to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge” is simply poetic language that, in reality, is unattainable for broken humans. But, Paul follows that declaration with a reminder that God operates without limitation. Nothing is too hard for him and he can do immeasurably more than anything we could ever ask or imagine.

We often live emotionally and spiritually unsatisfied lives in this world but it is not because God is unwilling or unable to satisfy us. It is usually because we are not really hungry enough to press in or because we keep trying to find the things that satisfy through our own efforts or through sources the world offers us. When those things fail to satisfy us, we blame God for not meeting our needs. Our needs are not met because we keep picking fruit from the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil rather than seeking it from the hand of God. We keep drinking from polluted streams trickling from our culture rather that drinking from God, the very source of life and satisfaction.

We would do well to make Paul’s prayers for the church in Ephesus our own prayers for ourselves and for those we know who need more of God. Let me encourage you to read this great letter and discover what Paul had been praying for the church and then begin to pray those very prayers for yourself until God has given you the revelation you desire. That revelation, if written on your heart, will change your world.

But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city? (Jonah 4:11)

The above statement was God’s response to Jonah after the prophet complained about God’s mercy toward Israel’s long-time tormentor Assyria. He certainly had cause to complain from Israel’s point of view. Assyria was the dominant power in the Middle East around 700 B.C. and one of the cruelest nations in history. Assyria was the ISIS of their day. They had invaded Israel numerous times destroying cities, killing men, women, and children, and deporting many of the Jews as slaves. They were feared and hated.

It must have been mind-blowing to Jonah to get a word from the Lord commanding him to go the Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and preach repentance so that the city could avoid the judgment of God. First of all, Jonah believed Nineveh fully deserved to be judged by the God of Israel – not just judged but obliterated. Secondly, Jonah must have felt that as soon as he was identified as a Hebrew prophet, his life would be quickly terminated. But his greatest anxiety was that God was serious about extending mercy to those in the huge stronghold of the enemy if they repented.

You remember the story. Jonah tried to hide from God by booking passage on a ship and sailing away. But God pursued him with a storm. To prevent the ship from being sunk, Jonah was tossed overboard at his own request and was swallowed buy a great fish that God had prepared for that moment. After three days and nights in the belly of the fish he was puked up on dry land. God commanded him to go to Nineveh one more time and this time, with seaweed crusted in his beard, he obeyed. If he entered Nineveh fresh from the vomiting episode he would have been striking – smelly, disheveled, nervous, and bleached from the stomach acid of the fish. He would have looked like a man who had experienced the severe judgment of God and so might have been the poster child for avoiding such judgment.

At any rate, Jonah entered the gates of Nineveh and took several days to preach his way through it. From the king down, the city repented and God spared Nineveh from judgment. As a result, Jonah complained bitterly of God’s betrayal of Israel through the mercy He extended to the enemies of God’s people. But notice the heart of God, even toward those who had attacked his own. “But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city? “

God, especially as he is revealed in the Old Testament, has often been painted as a God of anger, judgment, and vengeance. Without doubt, God did send judgment on many nations but what we need to know is that the heart of God has no desire to judge or destroy. If you look at the details, he is incredibly long suffering and always looks for ways to avoid such judgment until he is left with no choice because of a nation’s persistent stubbornness, wickedness, and rebellion. God clearly exposes his heart in these matters when he says, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?”(Ezek.18:23)

Remember when he allowed Abraham to strike a deal for Sodom and Gomorrah that if only ten righteous people could be found there he would spare the cities. In another place, after years of rebellion, Israel was facing the judgment of God. Even then God said, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none” (Ezek.22:30). God’s holiness required judgment against sin but his love and mercy looked for anyone who would intercede for the nation as Moses had done in the wilderness of Sinai when God had threatened to destroy Israel after their persistent rebellion and unbelief.

Here is what we need to understand. There are times when persistent rebellion, unbelief, and unrepented sin may force God to honor someone’s own choices and release judgment or discipline to bring them to repentance. He may be “forced” to discipline a believer or judge a nation but it is never his heart, his desire, or his first choice to do so. He takes no pleasure in doing so and is quick to suspend that judgment or discipline when sincere repentance is offered. Like the father of the prodigal son, he is quick to forgive and restore anyone who returns – no matter what they have done.

Many of us have been taught that God is angry, quick to punish, and almost delighted to visit hardship, sickness, loss, and tragedy on people. That is never the case. When hardship comes or when loss or tragedy hammers us, God is rarely the source.   Even when he is, the discipline has come because of our persistent choices or the choices of someone to whom we are connected.  In all other cases, those things come to us as attacks from the enemy or simply as a result of living in a fallen world but God is with us in the midst of our pain. He has promised to never leave us or forsake us (Heb.13:5) and to make all things work together for good for those who love the Lord (Rom.8:28).

Jesus and the cross are our fullest revelation of God’s heart – not just toward his people but also toward the lost. We can be sure that God is for us when everything else seems to be against us and that his heart never delights in our pain. Regardless of the PR campaign that Satan has waged against the Father for millennia, he is a loving Father, who always wants the best for his children, not a sadistic abuser. Take that confidence with you into your prayer time and into your day. Take it into your crisis and your hardship. He is working behind the scenes to bring you good! Thank him for that and be blessed in Him.

With Passover and Easter coming up next week I thought I would use this week’s blogs to reflection on the single most significant event in post-Garden, human history – the death and resurrection of the Son of God.

As I look at Easter I wonder if it really had to be that way. Did Jesus really have to suffer for my sins? Couldn’t God have just swept them all away with an executive order and given Jesus a pass on his Passion? We could argue the point but the Father’s intentionality about the death of his only begotten tells me that there was no other way. Remember that Jesus asked the same question in the Garden of Gethsemane. The resounding silence of the Father answered the question.

His intentionality predates Adam’s sin. John tells us in his vision, “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev.13:8). The idea that in the mind of God Jesus was slain from the beginning of time tells us that, in his foreknowledge, God knew the path that man would take and the cost of redeeming his fallen creation even before he formed Adam. I find it remarkable that Elohim (Father, Son, and Spirit) was willing to pay that indescribable price in order to have a portion of his creation choose to spend eternity with him. That seems to be an almost obsessive love on the part of our Heavenly Father.

From the beginning of time, the cross would be the solution where God’s holiness and love would intersect. His holiness demanded that sin be dealt with rather than excused or ignored. Love desperately looked for a way to redeem the relationship between God and condemned man. Jesus willingly went to the cross to satisfy both the holiness of God and the love of God. Sin would be dealt with justly. Love would be triumphant.

The intentionality of God in his love was demonstrated from the very beginning. Immediately after the sin of Adam and Eve, God declared that the offspring of Eve (Jesus) would be in conflict with the serpent Satan and that the conflict would culminate with Jesus being bruised but the serpent would be crushed (Gen.3:15). Immediately after declaring that first Messianic prophecy, we are told that God covered Adam and Eve’s nakedness and shame with animal skins. At the outset, God sacrificed the innocent to cover the consequences of sin in man. From that moment on, sacrifices of innocent animals pointed to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God on the cross.   Sin condemned man as he ate from a tree in the Garden of Eden and man was set free from that condemnation as the Son of God hung on a tree (the cross) thousands of years later.

As God downloaded the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, a whole system of sacrifices was codified. Each sin offering pointed to the reality that sin deserved death, but that God would allow an innocent to take our place on the altar of judgment.   Paul declared that the “wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23). Sin earns death and death, in the spiritual sense, is separation from God. On that Passover Eve two thousand years ago, did Jesus simply die a physical death or did he also endure everything that would be experienced by those who die in sin? For a moment, on that dark Friday did Jesus experience the absolute desolation of the lost: fear, shame, guilt, unbearable loneliness, absolute darkness, and even torment so that we would never have to experience any of that? I’m not certain but I know that, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Cor.5:21).

I also know that this death, this sacrifice was not accidental, unplanned, or a last ditch effort to salvage men who had unexpectedly rejected Jesus. It was an intentional offering of himself on our behalf that had rested in the mind of God while the blue prints of this earth were still being drawn up. It is the intentionality of God’s unrelenting love. Passover and Easter are without question God’s lavish expression of his love for a fallen race.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us,

in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom.5:8)

Jim (not his real name) was, at one time, a well-known church leader in our area who ministered  to homosexuals in our area because he was once heavily involved in “the life” himself. God had delivered him. Jim had what seems to be a standard story for men who have fallen into homosexuality. As a young boy, he was molested by an older man and as a result developed profound confusion and shame about his own masculinity and his own sexuality. He began with homosexual experiences in high school. Those accelerated in college. Jim was a Christian who attended church and served faithfully in his church. He had a leadership gift so he was expected to marry, have kids, and succeed in life. He did just that but; in addition, he had a secret life and a secret struggle in which he was not succeeding. After being married for a number of years he gave into his secret, abandoned his family, set his faith aside,  and embraced an openly homosexual lifestyle. However, his family and friends did not give up on him and neither did the Lord.

After two years of living out his homosexual yearnings he repented, returned to his faith and family, confessed everything to his church, and began to walk in sexual purity as the Lord gave him strength. If you ask Jim, it took the Lord, his family, and his church to overcome his homosexuality.

First, through serious Bible study he was convinced that homosexuality is sin regardless of what the homosexual lobby declares. His openness finally took his sin out of the dark and brought it into the light so others could pray and help. His wife, who had continued to pray for him after he left her and his children, forgave him and took him back knowing that the road ahead would not be easy.

Jim will tell you that what he needed most was absolute truth and absolute love in his life and men who showed him how to have godly friendships with other men without sexual overtones. Jim told a group of pastors one time that when he was young he really didn’t understand what it meant to be a man. He said the world of men fascinated him but he just couldn’t  crack the code for entry into that world.

By nature, Jim was sensitive and artistic but didn’t find many masculine models for men with those traits. After being molested, his confusion was even greater. However, when he returned to his church and family, the men in his congregation affirmed his masculinity and began to introduce him to other parts of the masculine world that were foreign to him such as sports, hunting, fishing, etc. They made Jim part of the group, extended healthy hugs, let him ask questions without embarrassment and, in essence, let his latent masculinity develop at his own pace.

Over time, the old man diminished and the new man flourished. His yearnings for sexual encounters with men went away and he learned to enjoy a sexual relationship with his wife. He is still serving the Lord today but his “old identity” no longer defines him. Jim is a man who was set free by love, the work of the Holy Spirit over time, and learning what it meant to be a godly man through friendships with other godly men. Jim never experienced any kind of demonic deliverance but still found freedom through openness and a committed church and family.

Jim believes that, in addition to the molestation he experienced as a young man, he also had a genetic predisposition toward homosexuality. We need to be clear that God does not make us with that predisposition, rather when we live in a fallen world many things are broken and damaged as well as our genetics. Because I have a predisposition to something at birth does not make it God’s will for me  to give into those predispositions. I was born with a predisposition toward lust, lying, selfishness, and laziness. As I got older, those intensified because of my fallen nature until I submitted those sins to the cross and the Holy Spirit.

As Christians, we are called to overcome those predispositions by the power of the Holy Spirit and God’s divine weapons. If something is called sin in the Bible then God provides a way out. It may be a truth encounter, a deliverance session, a spiritual family who prays for us and models healthy gender roles, or even the supernatural healing of damaged genes.   In the meantime, God calls us to resist those temptations with his strength until we find freedom from those obsessive promptings.   As a heterosexual, I am called to live a celibate life if single or a faithful life if married. I am called to tell the truth when it seems easier to lie and to avoid drunkenness when I want to medicate some disappointment in my life. I am called to submit rather than demanding my way and to forgive those I would rather reject.  Homosexual leanings fall into the same category.

A person can have homosexual leanings or temptations, not give into them, and still be pleasing to the Lord just as a heterosexual  can have strong desires for someone to whom he or she is not married,  not give into the impulses,  and still be pleasing to God. If any temptation has become an uncontrollable obsession then the believer has fallen into some form of bondage and deliverance is probably in order.  But with every temptation the Lord provides a door of escape. “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor.10:13).  We can find that door  if we sincerely seek it.

Homosexuality is not a new sin that has taken God by surprise. In our generation, the church must be clear that it is sin while at the same time creating an atmosphere where this sin can be confessed like all other sins and God’s remedies applied. I’m sure there are issues I have not spoken to related to homosexuality but, perhaps, some of the stories I have shared will be helpful to some. Be blessed.

Homosexuality is not monolithic. There are various roads and causes that lead to people defining themselves as “gay” and giving in to the impulses and lifestyle. In my last blog, I talked about Mark who had mistaken friendship for homosexuality. In this blog we will look at another path.

Randy (not his actual name) came into my office several years ago. He was in his thirties, a professional in his community, and had driven a considerable distance to see me at the recommendation of a woman who lived in his town with whom I had worked several months earlier. John was raised in a conservative Christian denomination which he still attended. He was married with small children and worked in a profession that made him a very public figure. John came in and after a bit of chitchat about where he grew up and what he did for a living, he collapsed into his chair and announced that my office was his last stop.

Obviously, that phrase got my attention because it could have meant any number of things. Randy then began to tell me his story. He was raised in a good Christian home but when he was seven or eight years old a family friend had molested him. That experience filled him with confusion and shame and created a secret in his life that became a place where the enemy could work freely and without hindrance as he does in all the secret places of our lives. Randy had begun to have some homosexual experiences in high school but pushed back against the impulses. He continued to feel the contradictions in his life but married in college and had children. His wife was totally unaware of his secret struggle.

Randy told me that there were seasons in his life when he was able to manage his homosexual impulses but there were seasons when his impulses managed him. He was in one of those seasons and was obviously filled with shame as he told me about the secret liaisons he had been having with men he met online. He felt alienated from his wife, who was a great wife and mother, but for whom he felt no attraction. He believed that God hated him and that there was no way back but hoped that I could say something that would change his mind. Randy told me that if I could not give him hope about his situation he was going to leave his wife, his children, his job, his town, and his faith and fully embrace “the lifestyle” because he could no longer battle the impulses.

Randy’s first great obstacle to healing and freedom was his belief that God hated him, was repulsed by him, and would no longer have anything to do with him. After all, he had prayed “a million times” for God to take away the feelings he had for other men but those feelings had persisted. His conclusion was that God no longer heard his prayers because he was so disgusted by Randy and his secret life.

I asked Randy if he had ever heard God speak to him. He said that he believed God had spoken to him clearly once or twice in his life as he grew up and made career decisions. I asked if he were willing to let God speak to him now about his situation. He was reluctant but desperate so he agreed. We closed our eyes and I simply asked Jesus to speak to Randy and tell him how he felt about him. Within seconds, Randy began to weep and sob almost uncontrollably.

After a minute or two, I asked him what Jesus had said to him. Randy replied, “ He didn’t say anything…but I literally felt his arms around me and I know he still loves me. He’s not done with me.” That was the first necessary breakthrough for Randy because that supernatural moment with Jesus restored his hope that life might be manageable again.

The enemy loves to prompt us to sin, fill us with shame about our sin, and then whisper that God has turned his back on us because of our perversion. It usually takes more than quoting John 3:16 to overcome these lies of the enemy. It usually takes a personal experience with God to give us hope again and demonstrate that God is still there for us. Randy received that experience that afternoon in my office and it made everything else possible.

More about Randy and his victory over  a spirit in my next blog.

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? Ezek.18:23

The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice. I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. Ezek.22:29-30

One of the great lies of the enemy that keeps people from God is that God is a vengeful, angry deity sitting on a throne in heaven with a score pad just waiting to pour out his wrath on all those who fail to toe the line. Satan loves to paint God as the explosive, abusive father ready to backhand his kids at the slightest provocation. I believe that Satan whispered something akin to that view into the ears of Adam and Eve a millisecond after they sinned in The Garden. How else would you account for them running and hiding from a Father who had only ever shown them love?

However, that is not the God revealed in the Bible. But, you say, what about all the times he judged Israel and scattered them all over the world and what about the flood that wiped out every human being except for Noah’s little tour group on the ark? I didn’t say that God never judges unrighteousness. After all, he is holy. But what we need to understand is that it is never his heart to do so and it only comes after years of unrepented sin and constant warnings from the Lord.

Like a good father, he always wants what is best for his children. He gives them clear guidelines and spells out the consequences for disobedience long before discipline is ever administered. He does not punish weakness or ignorance but only rebellion and even then he tries to find another way.

In the two passages above, Ezekiel reveals the heart of God in these matters. God takes no delight in the death of the wicked but longs for them to repent so that he can forgive and bless. The book of Jonah revolves around Jonah being sent to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, who was a sworn enemy of Israel. Assyria was cruel and brutal in its treatment of captives and, yet, before judging this city he sent a prophet to warn the people. When Jonah vehemently objected to God showing mercy to this nation God responded, “But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city” (Jonah 4:11)? Jonah preached, Nineveh repented, and God withheld judgment. If you look well, that is the pattern throughout the Old Testament. Even before the flood Noah preached repentance for 120 years and God did not open the heavens until “every imagination was evil all of the time”(Gen.6:5).

The second text quoted from Ezekiel is set in the context of Israel’s flagrant sin and rebellion against God that had gone on for years even though God had repeatedly sent prophets to turn their hearts back to Him. But even in the face of unrelenting rebellion God looked for a way to express mercy rather than judgment. His holiness required justice and judgment unless one could be found who would stand before him and plead for mercy on Israel’s behalf as Moses had done in the wilderness. But no one stood and no one interceded for Israel so God was forced to honor his people’s choices and send judgment though it was not his heart to do so. God reveals his heart plainly when he tells us, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” (Ja.2:13).

However, many believers still view God as the angry, stern father who begrudges his children anything beyond the bare essentials and who keeps a belt handy for the slightest infraction. To view God that way hinders everything about our walk with the Lord. If we see God that way we avoid him rather than running to him. We rarely ask in prayer because we think the answer is already “No!” When we do ask, we ask with little faith and pray as if we must persuade God to dispense the smallest of blessings.

But Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn.14:9). Jesus was hardly the angry prophet ready to punish every transgression but rather was the Lamb of God ready to forgive every transgression. Jesus was incredibly gentle with sinners and broken hearts and was quick to express love, heal hurts, and restore bodies ravaged by disease. It seems that his most frequent emotion identified in the gospels was compassion and instead of making us pay for our sins he paid the price for us. What we see in Jesus is the Father’s heart as well.

We need to know that. One of our greatest weapons is “believing-prayer,” but how can we believe unless we see the Father as a God quick to forgive, quick to love, and quick to say, “Yes?” How can we come before him with confidence unless we see him as a Father who loves to see us come into his presence even with our imperfections and failings? How can we draw close unless we see him as a Father who longs to put his arms around us even if we have been prodigals? If we can’t see God this way then Satan has sold us a bill of goods designed to keep us far from the one who loves us more than we can imagine. If that is the case, we need to quickly rethink our view of God and know this – God has a heart for you.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, 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. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph. 3:16-21)

To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. (Col.1:29)

If you haven’t noticed, the devil had his way in many areas across the world during 2014. The Middle East continued to boil in turmoil. Race issues tore at the fabric of America once again. Russia ruthlessly pushed out to expand “the empire” once more. Washington D.C. couldn’t seem to get its act together at any level. Ebola is still ravaging parts of Africa and economies around the world are shaking.

For some believers, these are simply unavoidable signs of the end that we cannot stand against so we should just bunker in and wait for Jesus. That time may come but, in my opinion, this is not the time because too many people groups and nations have not yet been gathered in for the Lord of the Harvest. I believe that 2015 should be a year of pushing back against the enemy and defeating him on multiple fronts. The problem with such a view is that most of us still feel helpless in the face of such national and global calamities.

As this new year begins, we need to be reminded that there is the same power working within each of us that raised Jesus from the dead, toppled the Roman Empire, and spoke the universe into existence – just for starters. Paul sensed that divine power working within him and framed it as a kind of supernatural energy that enabled him to heal, cast out demons, preach in the face of fierce opposition and keep going when his natural strength had been depleted.

Paul asked the Lord to give the church at Ephesus the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that they might be aware of the power, authority, and strength available to them in Christ (see Eph.1:17-23). Interestingly, this power does not flow out of God’s desire for conquest but is rooted and established in love. Our capacity to experience the power of God is directly proportional to our understanding of the depth of God’s love for us and for all of his creation.

In order to walk in the power of God we must understand that his power is distributed in order to bless the people he loves. Jesus healed out of love. Jesus raised the dead out of love. Jesus cast out demons because he loved the people oppressed by the enemy. Jesus fed the 5000 because he had a love for these “sheep without a shepherd” and was concerned that they were hungry. He preached the good news because he loved lost people. He entrusts power and authority to us to be exercised on behalf of the people he loves. If we want an increase in power then we should be praying for an increase in love – a greater awareness of God’s love for us and a greater love for the world he cares about.

Great power resides within every believer but is released in greater ways when the exercise of that power is motivated by love and when that power reveals the love of God to those who have not known it before. My prayers this year will include a request for God to reveal his love to me in greater ways and for me to be an instrument of his love for others. The enemy cannot stand against love and it is love that will release the provision and power of heaven into every “hopeless situation.”

It’s Christmas Eve. Today millions of believers around the world will be finding ways to celebrate and remember the Father’s great gift of his Son to the world he created.   Such an act reveals or continues to confirm a number of things about the Father that we must remember in both good times and bad. The first revelation is the depth of God’s love for people – both the saved and the lost. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son” (Jn.3:16).

The incarnation of God – Immanuel, God with us – is a greater miracle than the creation of the universe. How does the infinite become finite? How does the one through whom, for whom, and by whom all things were made and hold together (see Col.1:16-17) shrink himself down, lay aside the powers of deity, and entrust himself to any part of humanity that has demonstrated its moral failings over and over again? It’s a remarkable thing that God would become part of his creation and play by the same rules as mere man with so much on the line. God loves but he is also a daring God.

Perhaps, it was necessary. I love Philip Yancey’s analogy in his book, The Jesus I Never Knew. He tells the story of taking care of fish in his aquarium. He talks about how he lovingly prepares a place for his fish to live, how he creates a safe and perfect environment for them, how he cleans the water, adjusts the temperature and feeds them every day. He is their protector, provider and sustainer. And yet, each day at his approach they run and hide with no seeming awareness of his good intentions. Yancey explains that he would have to become one of them to communicate who this great shadow is that hovers over their world from time to time and the good will he has in his heart toward them In essence, that is what Jesus did for us. However fearful we may have thought God to be, Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” Jesus shrunk himself down, took on bodily form, and spoke our language so that some, at least, might stop running and hiding from the very one who loves and cares for us.

Even more remarkable is the fact that the Father, Son, and Spirit all knew that this Christ-child was born to suffer a tragic and painful death. The death of Jesus was no surprise. John tells us in Revelation 13 that Jesus was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Every animal sacrifice, every Passover lamb slaughtered since the Exodus pointed to the stark reality that an innocent one would have to die for the sins of the guilty so that man could be reunited with his God once again. Knowing what awaited him, Jesus was still willing to be born into a world bent on his destruction.

On top of that rests God’s greatest gamble of all – free will. I believe free will is a necessary extension of love. God is love and love is never satisfied until love is returned. And for love to be love, it must be chosen not programmed in. For God to be loved by man, man must also be able to reject him. That is apparently true for the angels as well. The rejection of God is the door through which all evil comes into the world. To disallow evil is to disallow choice which is to disallow love. The irony is that in order for love to exist, God must allow free will to hurt the very ones he loves. Jesus would experience both love and hate, both tender embrace and the nails of Calvary. But to reclaim those who would return God’s love, heaven was willing to subject Jesus to the free will of man and for Jesus to face life on the same playing field as the rest of us.

On that field he was born into a poor, working class family in an obscure village in Israel. His mother and father were subjected to suspicion and shame due to the unlikely circumstances of Mary’s pregnancy. He wasn’t born into a palace surrounded by the best Jewish doctors available but in a stable with no friends or family at hand. When threatened to be slaughtered by Herod, angels didn’t take out the wicked king, but instead the little family, carrying the hope of the world, became refugees to Egypt where they hid for several years. He was loved by many but judged and hated by many more. He found friends but also betrayal. Jesus became like us, entered our aquarium, and eventually took our place on a cross. On the night of that entrance angels declared, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord” (Lk.2:11).

The Christmas story is truly the risk of love and God becoming one of us so that we might finally understand who had been moving over this aquarium we call earth.   May we run to him rather than hiding from his presence on this Christmas Eve.

There is an intimate relationship between joy and hope. While optimism makes us live as if someday soon things will go better for us, hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allow us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our heart. Joy in this perspective is the fruit of hope. When I trust deeply that today God is truly with me and holds me safe in a divine embrace, guiding everyone of my steps, I can let go of my anxious need to know how tomorrow will look, or what will happen next month or next year. I can be fully where I am and pay attention to the many signs of God’s love within me and around me. (Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, p.33)

I like what Nouwen has said in this paragraph but I also believe his last statement is much broader than joy. We need to look for the evidence of God’s love in the smallest and largest of things because our greatest need is to truly believe we are deeply loved by our Father and our Creator. The thing that keeps nibbling away at my faith and that keeps me from asking for outlandish things is that I’m not sure that he loves me enough to keep me safe and do those things for me.

The thing that keeps me from embracing my position in heaven and walking confidently in the gifts of the Spirit is my awareness of my failings and my doubt that God loves me all that much because of those failings. I then live with the sense that if God doesn’t love me all that much he won’t give me the gifts I hunger for nor be there for me when I try to exercise those gifts. I fear he will be an absent or indifferent father to me.

The other huge thing my doubt affects is my ability to love. My experience tells me that we can’t love others if we doubt that we ourselves are loved by someone significant to us. Knowing that God loves me is everything. Noticing all the ways he loves me confirms that love in my heart and when I have love I can give love.

We can easily become like the older son in the parable of the prodigal who is so caught up in the day to day business of life that he failed to notice how his father loved him and provided for him every day. Then, when he realized he hadn’t been given a big party, he decided that his father didn’t love him at all. So often we ignore the myriad of things God does for us and then decide in one moment that he has never loved us when one disappointment comes our way.

Think about the little things. Smell the roses and the coffee. The little prayers that were answered as well as the big ones. They are both from God. Thank him for every little thing and the big things will take care of themselves. When I come to truly believe that the God of Heaven loves me deeply and thinks about me continuously, I will walk across this planet with hope, joy and the confidence of knowing that I am his.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matt: 7:21-23)

Christ’s words at the end of his “Sermon on the Mount” are one of those texts that always arrests our attention.  How can men walk in the power of the Spirit so that they can perform miracles and not be known by Jesus?  Even more, how can they drive our demons and be considered evildoers?

With Good Friday upon us I am reminded of Judas. He walked with Jesus for three years. He kept company with the apostles.  When he was sent out with the twelve to heal and cast out demons there is no indication that he was unable to perform miracles. And yet, we are told that even as he traveled with Jesus and his disciples he stole money from time to time from the group’s traveling fund and eventually betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  Apparently, we can spend time in the presence of Jesus, fellowship with believers, and even see and do amazing things without truly turning out hearts to the Savior.

Judas was a double-minded man who had not fully made a decision to follow Jesus.  All indications are that he loved money and with that “idol” usually come the idols of power and status.  Perhaps he joined the mission believing that Jesus would establish himself as King of Israel and with his ties to the crown would come the financial perks, power, and standing he desired.  Each year he followed Jesus that vision seemed to slip away as he watched Jesus reject the power that circumstances offered him from time to time.  There were moments when the crowds wanted to declare him King and yet Jesus would slip away.  It’s possible that Judas began to resent Jesus or even feel betrayed as if Jesus were not making good on the bargain for political power that Judas had imagined.  In the end, whether to force Jesus to take power or simply wanting to make something out of this “failing enterprise,” Judas betrayed the King of Glory.

He had certainly called Jesus “Lord” and had apparently cast out demons and healed the sick in the name of Jesus but his heart was far from the one who would die for him.  In the end, he did not love Jesus and could not be counted as one of His.  Of course, there is a warning for all of us in this final stanza of the Sermon and in the story of Judas.

We can do amazing things in our own strength and with our own God-given talents.  We can even use the powerful name of Jesus to drive out demons and, perhaps, even to heal the sick.  We can stand on stages before thousands and call them all to faith and repentance.  We can ask others to give their hearts to Jesus when we have not yet given ours.

It’s possible to follow Jesus simply for personal gain without loving the one who died for us.  Any leader has followers who love him, will sacrifice for him, and have the same vision burning in their hearts that the leader possesses. At the same time others serve simply for the perks of power or fame.  In the end, they have no loyalty and will give themselves to the next highest bidder.  I believe those are the ones to whom Jesus will say, “ I never knew you.”

Sometimes, like the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation, I need to be reminded to return to my first love and to stir my heart for Jesus once again.  This seems to be the perfect time of year for that. Without becoming too introspective or self-focused it is still worthwhile to scan our own hearts from time to time to check our motives for following Jesus and to see if any idols have been silently erected in our hearts without us even noticing.

At Passover, Jewish mothers have the task of clearing every suggestion of leaven out of their homes and the father of the house is to double check to make sure that not even one crumb remains.  Leaven symbolizes sin and so perhaps at this time of year we might do our own house cleaning checking for leaven in our own hearts – divided loyalties, serving simply out of self-interest, maintaining the appearance of respectability, or simply out of habit after years church going.

Is anything crowding out Jesus or muddying the waters of our love and loyalty to Him?  If so clean it out.  Rekindle the fires of love and appreciation for the one who hung on a cross fore each of us and get back to serving the King of Kings.  It’s not enough that we do amazing things.  We must do those things out of love for the one who first loved us.  Be blessed this Easter!