God: "If you were the only person on the planet, do you think I would make you financially rich?"
God singled me out. He cut to the core of who I was and what I believed. The answer in my heart to His odd question, was a resounding, "Yeah, of course you would".
It was when I let God deal with me on a one-on-one basis that I could finally see the truth about money. When I let myself matter to God, I saw the way He felt about me.
God's heart as a father is to take care of His children- and in an extravagant way... For them to have more than enough. When the prodigal son came home, did His father give him only what He needed and nothing more? No, the father threw a lavish and expensive party! Everytime Jesus provided bread or wine, did he do so in a miserly way? No, the wine was the richest wine they had ever tasted and there were baskets full of extra food! Or look at the stars in the sky. What an extravagant gift to humanity! billions and billions, more than we can count.
Why?
What do these things communicate?
They communicate that God's supply for us is so much more than we will ever even be able to experience fully. We're so worried about bread and Jesus is just like:
“O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread?"
God cares about us. So why am I worried about bread? Why am I worried about whether or not He's going to take care of me? To Jesus, it's just overly common sense that He'll provide richly for us. So much so that He doesn't even feel the need to address it. He's just like, "They've seen my spectacular provision in the past, so I don't even have to address the lack of food. Of course they'll be taken care of extravagantly... That's why I'm going to talk about something else entirely."
So the question really is this: Are we seeing? Or do we still "not yet perceive". It must be frustrating for someone who loves so extravagantly to be constantly doubted by the one that He loves. And yet that love just keeps telling us the truth, over and over and over again. And the truth is that God will richly provide for us in far more abundance than we will even need. I pray that you'll receive that truth today.
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
A Father's Love
Jesus told us to pray to God as Father.
What father withholds gifts from his children on Christmas?
What father enjoys seeing their children hungry?
What father purposefully makes their child sick?
What father won't do everything possible to see their child well?
As children age, what father enjoys seeing their child struggle financially?
What father likes seeing their kid get picked on?
What father leaves when their kid disobeys?
What father ignores their child's heart desires?
What father only loves their child when they do things well?
What father only loves when their child serves him?
A terrible one.
As I'm writing this, I have this picture in my head of what a good father would love to see:
There's a boy playing basketball. But he's not just playing basketball. He's playing basketball from his heart and you can tell. He's pouring out all of who he is: emotionally, physically, mentally. He yells wildly to his teammates. He dives for the ball from his heart. When he messes up, he doesn't get discouraged at all. He just keeps playing. When he makes a great play from his heart, he pumps everyone up including himself. It's everything the son thought it would be and the son is loving every minute of it.
Or it's like William Wallace leading his troops to battle. Or in Rocky II, it's like Adrian telling Rocky to "Win". Or it's like falling in love. Or it's like freedom breaking free.
Jesus came to set the captives free. Real freedom. The kind that lets you loose to be you. The real you.
I say all of this as groundwork for what I know God wants to do in my heart... And something inside me knows it's not just for me. It's also for you. There's a freedom from bondage that God the Dad wants for our hearts and our lives. And to experience that, we have to stop falsely accusing God of being a terrible dad. If we want to live free, we can't keep thanking Him for bondage that He never put us in.
We've all had earthly dad's who succeeded and failed in certain areas. We all know some level of imperfect love. But there's a wild destiny that God has called you to. And to go there, you'll need to trust fully in the perfect love of your real dad in heaven. Because it's only when we experience that love that we'll be truly free.
God's working on me in this area. What you'll see in the blogs in the near future is what He's teaching me and what I'm struggling with. I hope to be honest... and at the same time, I hope to tell you the real truth that will set you free, just like it's setting me free.
What father withholds gifts from his children on Christmas?
What father enjoys seeing their children hungry?
What father purposefully makes their child sick?
What father won't do everything possible to see their child well?
As children age, what father enjoys seeing their child struggle financially?
What father likes seeing their kid get picked on?
What father leaves when their kid disobeys?
What father ignores their child's heart desires?
What father only loves their child when they do things well?
What father only loves when their child serves him?
A terrible one.
As I'm writing this, I have this picture in my head of what a good father would love to see:
There's a boy playing basketball. But he's not just playing basketball. He's playing basketball from his heart and you can tell. He's pouring out all of who he is: emotionally, physically, mentally. He yells wildly to his teammates. He dives for the ball from his heart. When he messes up, he doesn't get discouraged at all. He just keeps playing. When he makes a great play from his heart, he pumps everyone up including himself. It's everything the son thought it would be and the son is loving every minute of it.
Or it's like William Wallace leading his troops to battle. Or in Rocky II, it's like Adrian telling Rocky to "Win". Or it's like falling in love. Or it's like freedom breaking free.
Jesus came to set the captives free. Real freedom. The kind that lets you loose to be you. The real you.
I say all of this as groundwork for what I know God wants to do in my heart... And something inside me knows it's not just for me. It's also for you. There's a freedom from bondage that God the Dad wants for our hearts and our lives. And to experience that, we have to stop falsely accusing God of being a terrible dad. If we want to live free, we can't keep thanking Him for bondage that He never put us in.
We've all had earthly dad's who succeeded and failed in certain areas. We all know some level of imperfect love. But there's a wild destiny that God has called you to. And to go there, you'll need to trust fully in the perfect love of your real dad in heaven. Because it's only when we experience that love that we'll be truly free.
God's working on me in this area. What you'll see in the blogs in the near future is what He's teaching me and what I'm struggling with. I hope to be honest... and at the same time, I hope to tell you the real truth that will set you free, just like it's setting me free.
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