Examining being born-again

I wonder, what does it mean to be born-again?  Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, had a great time grasping this concept declared by Jesus as a must for entering or even seeing the Kingdom of God in John chapter three.  It is clear in this section that this second birth is in relation to being born of the Spirit.  With this understanding we can infer that without the “born-again” experience we are spiritually dead and completely cut off from the Kingdom of God.  Jesus said in John chapter four to the Samaritan woman that God is Spirit and that those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.  If God is Spirit then it is no wonder that we must be born of Spirit to see His Kingdom, and it is no wonder that Scripture says that no man has seen God.  We see in John chapter 2 when Jesus performed His first miracle that He was focused on His hour having not come.  This phrase is used by Jesus to convey His death on the cross and the subsequent result of the Spirit being poured out.  But what does it look like to be born-again?  Back to John chapter three, Jesus gives us a wonderful description of one being born of the spirit by saying, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  By this description we can say that according to Jesus if you are born of the Spirit that you go where you wish and people can hear you but your origin and destination are unknown.  It would probably be OK to say that this is referring to a set direction; in other words, just as the wind can change direction suddenly so can you.  But this analogy puts the direction directly on the desire of the wind or the one born of the Spirit.  Most people are waiting for some super natural direction, but in being born-again Jesus says we can see the Kingdom of God, and it could be that in this seeing is freedom of direction, as in seeing what the Father is doing like Jesus.  Not so much a road map of go here and do this (although that is very legitimate) but more along the lines of seeing God’s ways and acting them out as circumstances demand.  To be born-again is more about administering justice than defining God.  Isaiah makes this case in point in the well know chapter about the true fast.  God’s will is clear.  All burdens, all bonds of wickedness (things people are trapped in), poverty, lack, fear, anything contrary to peace and love must be taken away.  Then again we still have difficulty in defining (and we always will if we consider the world as a valid expression of goodness) spiritual birth.  We have moral atheists, kind Buddhists, generous Muslims, and all kinds of cultural acts of kindness that have no roots in believing Jesus is the way.  We have immoral people doing wonderful and generous things in the name of self, and then “Christians” exhibiting very sinful behaviors and very few works of faith of the Isaiah 58 kind.  What are we to believe?  How do we have fellowship in the Spirit and not just a spirit of good works?  First John chapter four gives us a clue into this mystery.  We are instructed not to believe every spirit but to test them all.  What are we testing them for?  To see whether or not they are of God.  Why?  Because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  So we are testing spirits because of the actions and words of men.  John gives us the test in verse 2 by saying every spirit (of a man) that confesses Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.  But even historians can agree that Jesus was a real man, how is that a test?  We must be very deliberate in our understanding here.  To say that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh implies that this same Jesus had an existence before He was born as a man.  Looking at the name Jesus Christ we learn that we are not dealing with just a first and last name but a savior (Jesus) anointed to save (Christ).  As John the Baptist testified “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  The born-again person will have a speech consistent with the pre-existent nature of Jesus as God and proclaim Him as the sole means of deliverance from all bonds.  Any person who does not receive this testimony does not know God.  John takes this deeper by saying earlier in this work that if we hate our brother and yet claim to know God we are liars.  It must be understood that our treatment of others cannot be separated from our standing as believers.  It is by our love for one another (believers) that the world (unbelievers) will know that we are the disciples of Jesus.  We have many ways that we have defined believers in the church that excuse many things, but when we get down to the brass tacks we cannot live without love.  Much of the effort we put forth to prove the legitimacy of our belief to the world is a wasted effort.  We have every right to compete in the intellectual circles concerning Jesus, but the reality is that if our lives do not reflect the love of God then we are just moving ourselves and others away from the truth while we are claiming to proclaim it.  Now this will stir up some persecution, people will want to kill you if you truly hold to the Jesus line.  Not in judgment, not in anger, not in debating but in simply stating it is Jesus or hell.  No alternatives, no understanding, no other hope.  It really is the choice of the ages, and God lays both His hands open before us and says choose this day; blessing or cursing.  It is an amazing opportunity and one that I cannot pass up.  It is seeing this unconditional love that is being born-again.  It is the recognition of the gentle nature of a God who sees all the discrepancies in our life and invites us to the table anyway.  He is quite all right with all the struggles we come to the table with He is just not content with leaving you in them.  It is through His gentleness that we are made great, that we begin to truly reflect the image of Jesus.  I began by talking about what it means to be born-again and I must end with the reality that you cannot understand it unless you experience it.  We see through a glass dimly, and our Messiah is now seated on the right hand of the Father, but who we will become is yet to be fully revealed, but we can let the love of God move us, and this is what the Spirit says.

I Will Fight To The death For My Son

The other night I had a dream.  I was sitting in a fast food restaurant and my son, Levi, was present with me.  There were dark and demonic spirits present, black and floating, kind of like Dementors from the Harry Potter stories.  These evil spirits were trying to infect my son in some way and I was fully aware of it.  I said in my mind “I will fight to the death for my son.”  As I did this, these spirits changed their focus from Levi to me.  I felt a cold hand on my back, yet inside my back, gently pushing me forward.  I will fight to the death for my son was still repeating in my mind.  I was unaware of the exact aim of these creatures but I knew it was evil.  I was allowing myself to be manipulated by them waiting for just the right moment to spring out and utterly destroy them all.  I was not angry or filled with any king of rage, but it was love for my son that drove me.  I was then awakened by Levi’s crying and did not get to finish the dream.

I must tell you that my heart was greatly strengthened.  I knew that nothing can come against my son that I am not fully willing to and fully capable to defeat.  I only regret I woke up before administering my wrath against these dark forms.  My love for my son is greater than death, and the anthem has not left my heart that I will fight to the death for my son.

Now my thoughts are turned to Jesus.  He is fully God and as such all of creation is His, He is the everlasting Father.  The Father’s heart toward His sons (us) is “I will fight to the death for my son.”  In Jesus He did just that.  The cross is God fighting to the death for us to be fully liberated from the darkness.  What a glorious message!!  That our Father, at just the right moment, endured the sting of death to set us free and then rose from the grave proclaiming I will have you for Myself….See how great My love for you is.

Revival?

Many things in Christianity get a bad rap.  Most judgment comes from within the church; ministry against ministry and minister against minister, conservative against liberal, charismatic against traditional; denomination against denomination.  Why do we even need enemies outside the faith, we are just a bunch of backbiting slanderers.  The only thing that I am 100% sure of is that we need a revelation of Jesus!  He said it would be better for us if He goes away because if He goes away He would send the Comforter.  Who is comforted?  I long for a family of people that really love Jesus.  It seems like everyone is clamoring for position, power and influence in the body of Christ and I just want to hug someone. 

You are a God of love!!  Where are Your people of love?  You are a God of light!!  Where are the sons of the light?  Am I blind?  I surely hope so; blind to evil.  But I am afraid I am not blind, but because I say I can see my sin remains.  I am a hopeless finger pointer.  Right now I am pointing it at you, Mr. Christian.  Are you pointing your finger at me?  We must put away the pointing of the finger.  Sometimes I think we need a good strong dose of persecution here in the U.S. of A.  We have it too easy, way too easy for our own good.  What will it take for us to cast aside our foolishness?

Now it feels like I am continually trapped in styles of ministry.  Like I have to choose in what way I am to serve Jesus.  How much water is in the wine?  His glory is so watered down that it is barely recognizable.  We get one hallelujah and we think that revival is about to break out, and yet everyone goes home to their secret lives virtually absent of God.  There I go finger pointing again.

What is it though?  Revival.  Is it an animated preacher?  Is it signs & wonders?  Is it worship that really gets the crowd jumpin’?  Seriously, what is it and why do we want it?  Nobody likes walls (unless they are the kind of walls that keep out the enemy).  Revival can destroy walls (lies).  Everything is so twisted.  Good is spoken evil of while evil is praised as good. 

I want to take that word “revival” and hold it in my imagination, turn it around, examine it from the inside out and ask the Lord what it is we are all looking for.  When the meetings are over and everyone goes back to their life, what does it look like?  What is true cultural transformation?  What does it mean to “shift spiritual atmospheres”, and what does it look like when it happens?  I am dead serious folks!!  Is it enough to have a few healings, a miracle and someone raised from the dead?  Ouch!

When I examine revival what do I see?  I see love.  I see orphans and widows being fathered.  I see real equality expressed from the hearts of men toward all.  I see sin being repented of, for good, and righteousness prevailing, because people want to be righteous, not because they have had the hell scared out of them.  I see joy in the eyes of all no matter what they are doing!!  Happiness is I believe, the real mark of transformation.  Happiness in the middle of anything.

Need of the Hour

  When trouble enters your life it is an opportunity to seek the Lord.  We should prepare our hearts to seek the Lord when there is no trouble but if times of trouble come (and they will) we must gather together and seek the Lord with fasting and prayer.  During these times we must refrain from action until the Lord releases a prophetic word for us to stand upon in faith.  This is a much neglected step in our fasting and prayer, for we regularly look to the Scripture to obtain a word based upon similar situations, but we neglect that the Lord is alive and speaking today into our individual, corporate and governmental issues.  We have no right to judge the righteousness of our own hearts to be able to ascertain what the Lord is doing.  Who can know the mind of the Lord instinctively?  No one, He must reveal it by His Spirit.  To act otherwise is to prophesy out of our own imagination or to act presumptuously.  Tarry until. 

  Now when the word of the Lord is truly revealed concerning a situation we then no longer need to pray but move into praise and then strict obedience.  This is a great time of testing because outcomes may take more time then our hearts can bear, and troubles may not be abated but endured.  We can only endure these times of testing when we have a current word to stand upon in faith otherwise we are on shaky ground that would require returning to the Lord.  What I am saying is that if we have no word from the Lord we have no ground to stand on.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord.

  This time of waiting is the time of counting it all joy!!  Until the outcome of a situation is revealed we must refrain from leaving the fasting and prayer stage.  We are so deaf to the voice of the Lord that this process is almost unbearable causing us to listen to any voice that proclaims something favorable.  We don’t test the word nor do we continue to stand on it in faith but we just cease from seeking the Lord and go about business as usual claiming the Lord has spoken.  When the outcome does not pan out we are so hard hearted that we cannot seem to see or even care about our error.  No wonder our lives never enter into the deliverance stage and even better the plundering stage when we abound in joy and abundance. 

  We are in trouble.  So much sin and disobedience is in the land that we probably will not be able to avert judgment (See how God deals with the shedding of innocent blood 2 Kings 23:26).  Yet God is still calling us to truly seek Him.  This is no easy task and not for the fainthearted.  This is not time to cling to your religious systems and traditions, honestly what have those things done for us?  Right now I am listening to a prophetic worship set that is speaking that we are entering the time of singing, but what is the word of the Lord concerning our deliverance?  We cannot pass by issues that are not dealt with; we cannot skip ahead to results without entering into the work of repentance and prayer and fasting.  We need to do something differently!  It doesn’t matter how “cool” or “prophetic” your ministry is, what matters is faith in God and love.  It is high time we come together and wait for the release of a real prophetic word.

Overcoming Sorrow

Sorrow is an indicator of a loss of confidence in God.  Can this statement be absolutely true or are there circumstances that allow for sorrow that is not a result of a loss of confidence in God.  The first question we must ask ourselves is “is there anything that God cannot handle?”  Clearly we must conclude that nothing is impossible for God.  But what about something that catches God unaware or that was unexpected, does that have the power to leave you without His protection?  Beloved, there is nothing that can catch God unaware.  For the God whom I serve is fully aware of all things both past, present and future.  His eye is upon all things at all times all at once.  With this knowledge, there is nothing God cannot handle and there is nothing that will catch Him unaware then there is only one reason left that could cause us to have sorrow: We do not believe God is good.  Again, friends, I must announce to you now that God is perfectly good and there is no wickedness in Him.  There is no occasion possible that can move God to wickedness.  As a matter of fact we could logically reason that just as darkness is the absence of light, wickedness is the absence of good, and more still, since God is light then the presence of wickedness must mean that God is not present.  As the wickedness of men is unleashed upon creation, God is not present.  The very presence of God in any form and any amount would by the nature of God disrupt the wickedness at some level.  Jesus said about Himself that as long as He was in the world He is the light of the world.  The Lord of glory goes on to tell us that we are the light of the world.  As children of God and the bride of Christ we carry a deposit of the divine nature in the Holy Spirit making us ones that disrupt wickedness.  If we at any time find that we are not disrupting wickedness then we ought to reasonably conclude that God is not with us at that time, He has withdrawn Himself. 

Now let us again consider our opening statement: Sorrow is an indicator of a loss of confidence in God.  In serving the Lord is there room for sorrow if we believe?  Does not the Scripture speak of mourning?  Does not the Lord Himself grieve?  Are not tears a weapon of intercession of an invaluable worth?  Are not these things the substance of sorrow?  Is it not godly sorrow that leads us to repentance?  Yes, and Amen to all.  But can we not see that this sorrow in all instances requires that we turn to God?  Even in the case of Jesus, His sorrow was for the purpose of coming to joy, was for the purpose of overcoming the flesh, and was for overcoming the weakness of man while waiting for the strength of God to manifest.  Remember it is not the sorrow but the joy of the Lord that is our strength.  Sorrow is the product of living in a fallen world that lies under the sway or influence of the wicked manipulator who has only his own interests in mind; a world that at every turn is working ceaselessly and tirelessly to break the human spirit, a world that squashes attempts at good and generosity and righteousness. 

But what is the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow?  While the latter longs for position above men, the former is looking for the favor and rule of God over all life.  Sorrow comes for the ungodly when they find their flesh and mind dissatisfied.  Sorrow comes for the godly when they recognize that their lives fall short of the righteousness and glory of God.  The ungodly restrain themselves from almost no ends to achieve their goal.  While the righteous use great restraint in order to see the goodness of God manifest itself in the land of the living, in the hope of a righteous world coming under the rule of a righteous king, namely Jesus.  Godly sorrow is a holy disconnect between what God says and what man sees.  In this place of believing by faith, it becomes necessary to exercise our agreement with the prophetic promises of God daily or we will lose confidence.  The enemy of our soul does not relent in his desire to deceive us concerning these prophetic promises.  Likewise, our Bridegroom God does not relent in His intercession to God for revelation of His beautiful nature to be revealed to His own.  Why does Satan directly attack while Jesus simply intercedes?  It would seem a much more effective strategy to aggressively and relentlessly destroy Satan and all wickedness than to ever live to make intercession for us.  Scripture says concerning Jesus that He is to sit at the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made His footstool.  Who is making light of the enemies?  The Father; to whom Jesus is making intercession.  What does His intercession sound like?  Oh that we could hear the glorious sounds of Jesus’ intercession to the Father concerning us; the heavenly words, the display of emotions, the desire of His soul lay bare.  We cannot imagine the zeal and power and wisdom of His endless cry to His Father for a pure and spotless bride.  Father, I desire…, the John 17 prayer continued in the very throne room of heaven from a man passionately in love.  The world is dark, full of wickedness and cruelty, yet unlike Noah’s day, God has become an everlasting man who can sympathize with our infirmities and is waiting…waiting…waiting.  Wrath is delayed against wickedness and mercy is poured out like blood.  How long O Lord will the wicked prosper, how long will you keep back Your return?  Vindicate me Lord, for my life is falling apart, the world sits in accusation against me, my own household counts me a dog, yet You are my Rock.  You are the brightness of my countenance, the strength in my bones and the life of my blood.  Apart from You I can do nothing.  Let Your silence end, strengthen my soul to perform Your will for my life.

One day the sky is going to roll up like a scroll at the command of a king.  One day Jesus is going to descend from His place in heaven with a shout, the voice of an archangel, the trumpet of God, and all the dead in Christ shall rise and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them (the dead in Christ) in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  This is what all our preparation in this life is about!  We are not preparing ourselves just to endure hardships, but to receive and be received by our glorious bridegroom.  “The Spirit and the bride say come…” (Rev 22:17).  In longing for this day we enter into godly sorrow, mourning for the bridegroom, knowing that there is nothing we can either gain or lose in this life that can compare to the glory of the age to come.

Day of the Lord

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. - 1Th 4:16-18 NKJV


Imagine what this day will look like!! O glorious savior I long for the day when You come and take me into Your arms forever.

Meditations on Ephesians 1:17-19

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power - Eph 1:17-19 NKJV


You want to give to me. The king of the Universe desires to give to me. Gen 1:26 says “Let Us make man in Our image and according to Our likeness and give him dominion.” You have created me to be like You on three levels; image, likeness and dominion. You have desired to give me the Spirit of wisdom and revelation for knowing three things; the hope of Your calling, the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in the saints and the exceeding greatness of Your power toward us who believe. There are three manifestations of Your presence; Father, Son and Spirit. I am a three part being; spirit, soul and body. Psalm 27 tells us that David desired one thing; to dwell in the house of the Lord, behold His beauty and to inquire in His temple.

You are an amazing God, understanding the seen and unseen things in perfection. Nothing escapes Your knowledge, nothing extends beyond Your understanding, and You are calling us to be like You. Magnificent God, pour out Your love and grace upon me. I want to love like You love. I am not even going to attempt to break down these verses but instead I bask in the glory and goodness of Your person, Your presence. Strengthen our hands to do the work of the Lord and deliver us from the hand of the enemy. Your gentleness is making me great. Mold me, shape me, create me and make me like You in every way. I want all You have to give, for You desire to give to me.