Life Continues

As I reflect back to when I first arrived in Redding, California, I can hardly believe that I have been here for half of my allotted time!! I am here at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry for a nine month course. The first four and a half months have blown. my. mind. It's one thing to have read all the books and heard the podcasts but it's a whole new world actually being here.

I've been challenged, since being here, on the whole spirituality side of Christianity. I used to be so wary of becoming 'spirro' or hyper spiritual, so I shied away from it almost completely. I was aware of God being a spirit, and of spiritual things happening - like people seeing angels or demons, or witnessing the effects of a miracle or healing - but the idea of living out the supernatural in my everyday life was something I didn't even consider before reading Kris Vallotton's book, "Developing a Supernatural Lifestyle". My understanding of this was that certain people had been chosen or blessed by God to receive the supernatural gift of being a crazy Jesus freak - and that most definitely was not me!! I had been blessed to be a teacher, living a life for Jesus, and if He so deigned to put people in my life who were intrigued by my lack of swearing or my purity or some other excuse for living a half-effort life then I would be happy to explain my decision to follow Christ and how they, too, can make such a decision! (I hope you can detect the sarcasm in that last statement.) Let me say that there have been many people who are curious, but usually have the same answer - "Oh, that's really cool that you live like that, but it's not for me..." or "I totally respect your choice, good on you for being a believer." Oh yeah... I was "going into all the world and making disciples"... not.

Bill Johnson said yesterday, "A lot of people believe their intelligence will keep them from deception--and they are already deceived." This was totally me!! I was so caught up in not following signs and wonders, I was so careful not to be seen as offensively 'super spirro', I was thinking that I was being 'aware of the enemy's schemes' but really, I was deceived. 

Now don't get me wrong! I'm not deceived about following Jesus. Accepting that He died on our behalf is definitely the first step to living a fulfilled life. But that's the key - it's the first step!! Salvation is not the end goal! Salvation is the doorway to living a life that brings witness to Jesus and actually causes people to want to be involved!! Wow! What a revelation! For years of my life I heard that the biggest parties should be in the church... but I rarely actually see it. For so long I was loath to bring people into church because it was so irrelevant to where they are at. There's so much preaching on who we should be rather than who we are. We don't need to be reminded of our guilt and shame - there's a little (sometimes not so little!) bird on our shoulder who is constantly reminding us of our downfalls. The trouble is, that the church almost seems to capitalise on these thoughts and feelings to keep people coming to church. The bigger issue is that we are told that there is "no condemnation in Christ Jesus." So if we're feeling condemned when we're at church... something's gotta give!'

Let's change tack for a second. Jesus is perfect theology. What does this mean? It means that Jesus is the exact representation of His Father. He says so himself. If theology is the study of God, then Jesus is the one we can look to to see what God is like. (Yes, I understand the difference between how God related to the Israelites and others in the Old Testament - That's because of the old covenant He had - now we're under grace and Jesus made a way for us to be in relationship with the Father... In terms of our relationship with God - the new covenant is the only one we should be looking at.) When Jesus started His ministry, crowds flocked to Him because He had the words of eternal life. But sometimes we forget that they were also offended at Him! We know now that when Jesus mentioned 'eat my flesh and drink my blood" (Jn 6:53-56) He was talking about communion - but the crowds thought that He was talking literally and left Him!! He even asked His disciples if they wanted to leave too - the only reason they didn't was because they had nowhere else to go! Yes Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He is the same one who made a whip and drove people out of the temple! 

My interpretation of the gospels (an expose on the life and lifestyle of Jesus) tells me that Jesus liked to party! His first miracle was turning water into wine. Now, I don't believe that Jesus got drunk on wine, but when you look at Luke 7:34 it shows us that people were saying that Jesus was a glutton and a drunkard. If I read between the lines then based on the lifestyle of those days - it's likely that He got this reputation from banquets and parties. Here's something that struck me - If Jesus was accused of being a drunkard - then He must have been displaying carefree, crazy behaviours! (Note the carefree rather than careless...) David Riddell said that "to the defiled, all things are defiled." Someone posted on their FB status that "We usually don't see things as they are; we see things as we are."  Let's remember Micah - she was bitter in the castle when David danced before the Lord. She saw it as embarrassing and unrefined - but God was pleased. She was offended by David's passion due to her lack of it. In the same way, I used to be embarrassed for people who were overly spiritual (in my eyes), but that was actually blocking me from the anointing that God has in store for all believers!

Let's take a moment. If we weren't so concerned about people's thoughts and feelings - what would we do in the name of Jesus? Now I'm not at all talking about being offensive in the name of the gospel - but I have realised that all too often we project our thoughts onto situations and it's those projections that are holding us back - not reality! Wow! When we think that someone is too busy to let us love on them - without giving it a go - then we are robbing them from an encounter with God! How do you know if someone is too busy? They will tell you if you approach them!!! You can never know who God has put in your path to minister to until you step out and talk to them!

It is God's will that none should perish - yet people are going through life with little or no demonstrations of God's love because Christians are too concerned with staying out of people's faces! We're reacting to the consequences of the '80's with the 'turn or burn' message of salvation - but I believe that we're called to share love with the same passion - but change our message!! Love is the key. Love is the answer. What have you done lately that was out of love with no strings attached? Something that shifted in my mind and gave me such freedom is that Holy Spirit is the one in charge of salvations. Not me. It's my job to show God's love. Just little things are often the most meaningful! Listening to the rants of a homeless person - and actually caring. Giving away some money to a beggar - despite the fact that they could spend it on alcohol (it's not my responsibility to insure they spend it responsibly - it's my responsibility to give.)

I have never felt so alive as lately! I feel released to share the gospel message to any one who the Spirit leads me to. It's easy. God loves you! He loves you so much that He made a way to get rid of all the crap in your life and give you a new life instead. It will take effort. It will take patience. But your life can be transformed - starting today!! Do you understand how much God loves you!? Do you really!? Our Father gave EVERYTHING to have you close by Him. He wants YOU in His life. Take a moment to ask God to show you how much He loves you - I think you will be amazed!