In my last update I talked about how the Lord has really been showing me the importance of relationship within the body.  More than just the importance, but the essential necessity of it!

While praying a couple of months ago the Lord gave me a little teaching vision to help me understand this.  Here it is and my interpretation of it:

I saw an easel with a painting on it.  I couldn’t see what was actually on the painting but there were people gathered around staring at it.  All of the sudden one person would pop up and say “I see Red, Blue and Green…”.  Another person would shoot up and say, “I see Yellow, Pink and Purple”.  And another person stood up and said, “I see Brown, Aqua, and Orange”.  Then it ended.

After this the Lord started to unpack the interpretation.  The painting is representative of the Kingdom of God.  The people surrounding the painting are the people of God.  Each person could see the painting (the Kingdom) but every person saw different colors in the painting.  While one person saw red, green and blue, another person saw yellow, pink and  purple.  All of these colors were in the painting but not one single person could see all the colors.  But, if all the people sat down and shared what they saw, then, AND ONLY THEN, would they get a complete picture of what the painting represented.

This is what the Kingdom of God is like.  Every person has a certain spectrum that they can see in the Kingdom of God, but not one person can see it all.  It’s only when we come together and each of us share what we see that we actually get an idea of what the Kingdom of God actually looks like.

This isn’t something specific to preachers, teachers, or pastors, this is everybody.  Every single person has a piece of the Kingdom of God planted inside of them and for us to not engage with these people is missing out on a certain fruit of God.  And for us to think that the “colors” we see are the only colors in the painting is selling not only God short, but ourselves.

Our church culture works against this idea.  We have rows and rows of people all facing one man.  There is no discussing or sharing, it’s all listening, one way.  Somehow we need to create an environment where our gathering is conversational instead of dictatorial.  I personally don’t think it’s possible to convert what we currently have to this model…because it’s not a model at all.  The model is life and relational.  It’s inviting people over to just talk and share.  Not a bible study or even a structured meeting, but simply being friends and doing life together. 

A great new friend I met here in Oklahoma City has a small house church gathering that he meets with on Tuesday nights, his name is Tony Jenkins (Diane who is seen commenting here is a part of that group as well).  But he has made a huge impact on how I view “church” and christian living.  He’s said something that I’ve mentioned before but I want to bring it out in fullness here.  He says, “Sermons don’t disciple people, people disciple people.” 

For us to think that our current church model is successful at discipling people is ridiculous.  We don’t need sermons about money, marriage, and relationship.  We need to be able to discuss them with people, and share our complicated life with them and in that process we will disciple and be discipled.  Why does someone that is going through a horrible marriage crisis need to sit through a 45 minute sermon on angels?  That person needs someone to talk to about their problems, and “church” isn’t conducive to it.

Unfortunately relationships are hard.  It’s hard to be honest with people.  I think we’re so enthralled with reality TV because it creates an artificial relationship.  We get to know someone intimately without ourselves being known.  It’s safer that way.  I’ve realized just recently how deceptive I am in relationships, not because I want to lie or be deceitful, but because I have such a fear of shame that won’t allow me to share the slightest bit of intimate opinions.  I’m working very hard on this and I’ve been in this darkness for so long that I’m not even honest to myself.  I’m so codependent that it’s kept me away from genuine relationship.

What’s the answer?  I think it’s simply talking to people and developing relationships on any level…not everybody has to be best friends, we just need to get to know each other.  This isn’t something you can program or organize.  Just gather around some food and talk about life.  God is in all things and His message speaks loudly from even the rocks, nothing will have to be forced or structured because the Kingdom is always available and ready.  Life has enough teaching opportunities that we wouldn’t have to hear another sermon again :-).

We’ve all had the question in our mind at one time or another…or constantly.  Why don’t they get healed when I pray for them?

Let’s look at the story in Mark 9:14-39 where Jesus and the 3 disciple’s were coming down from the mount of transfiguration incident.  Immediately they’re approached with the crisis of the demonized boy and his father. What was the first thing the father said?  “I have a son who is possessed by a devil and I brought him to your disciples to cast the devil out, but they could not do it.”  Let’s stop there for a minute.

This sounds a lot like our church these days…at least to what I have been exposed too.  The world has a problem and they are looking to us for the solution.  Cancer is eating the world alive and we’re supposed to have the answer to that disease.  But all to often cancer is brought to our feet and we can’t cast it out of the person…they don’t get healed when we pray.  As a church, we need to recognize failure when it’s standing right in front of our faces.  All to often we casually gloss over a prayer for healing that doesn’t produce a result.  We often say “Well, I did my part.  Now it’s time for God to do His.”  Is that really the answer?  I have many people who have told me “Results are God’s department.  We just pray.”  At first I really hated that statement because I thought it excused us from all responsibility.  But then I came to grips with it on a few different levels, and that’s a fine statement to make…and it’s true, but only to a point.  But let’s continue the story to see a side that maybe we have negelected.  Maybe we’re to quick to say “The results are God’s department.”

The first thing Jesus said in response the father’s statement was “You faithless people, how long must I be with you until you believe?”  He seemed a bit frustrated…but at who?  I personally believe He was frustrated at His disciples.  They just got back from a healing and preaching campaign through all the villages after Jesus gave them authority over all sickness and demons, but now they can’t produce the result needed.

The remainder of the story is that Jesus cast out the demon, the boy gets healed and the disciples ask the obvious question, “Why couldn’t we do it?”

Before we get to that point, let’s make some conclusions:

Do we see here that it was clearly Jesus’ will that the boy be healed?  That it was a lack on    the disciple’s part that didn’t produce the manifestation of God’s love?  How many times do we pray for someone, without result, and just pass on like it wasn’t God’s will or something?  Have we ever entertained the thought that it’s not God’s fault, but ours??

What if, everyone you prayed for with no result approached the Lord and said, “Paul couldn’t heal me, can you please help me?”  Would the Lord say “No, if Paul can’t do it, then I probably can’t.”  No, He’ll heal the person.  So where does the blame lie?  Is it really God’s fault or divine will that the lady across the street with cancer remains in death’s grips, even though Jesus gave us all authority over it?

What if we viewed our unsuccessful prayers for healing/deliverance as our own fault, not God’s?  And what does that tell us about the position of the church?  Bump that situation with the demonized boy a few years in the future after the ascension and the father wouldn’t have been able to take the boy to Jesus Himself…he would’ve been stuck with “Your disciples couldn’t heal my son.”  And that’s where the story would’ve ended.  Sadly, in my life, that’s where it has ended MOST of the time.

I haven’t let go of this, even though almost everybody I’ve talked to about it has tried to talk me out of it.  If someone doesn’t get healed when I pray for them, it’s my fault…not God’s.  And for me, this story proves that.  It clearly shows that it’s Jesus’ will to heal the oppressed, and it clearly shows that the disciples had a failure.  Can we please admit that our unanswered prayers of authority is failure instead of brushing it off as if nothing ever happened? 

We’re never going to grow unless we take responsibility here.  If we don’t think we have failures in this walk, then we’ll never have a desire to improve and then cancer, sickness and disease continues to trump the believer’s lack of belief.

At the end of the story where Jesus answers the question (more thoroughly in Matt 17:20) as to why the boy wasn’t healed, He said, “It was your unbelief.”  Then He gives an illustration of the mustard seed faith.  So many people refer to that illustration but completely ignore the context.  It’s not God’s fault that the people aren’t healed, it’s not the devil’s power, it’s solely based on our unbelief, our lack of faith.  It’s not the person’s fault they aren’t healed (imagine that!!!), it’s our fault.  Our faith and love should cover other people’s failures, our God really is that big.

So, reality check!  What does all this mean?  Jesus said, “This kind comes out by prayer and fasting.”  What kind?  Is it this kind of demon, or this kind of unbelief?  Doesn’t matter!!  Either way, Jesus gives us the key.  It’s by prayer and fasting.  If we’re out playing around with and in the world and being so caught up in it’s trance, then no wonder we aren’t producing results for the Kingdom!  Remember what Jesus said to Martha in Luke 10:42?  He said, “There is only one thing in this world to be concerned about, and Mary has discovered it.”  Well, if Jesus Himself said there is only one thing to be concerned about, then it really must be an important thing!  What is it? Look up at Luke 10:39 “Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.”  There it is.  Sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to what He teaches.

Our ability to sit in the presence of Jesus is the most important thing in this world.  It is the ONLY thing to be concerned about.  We need to be able to hear the voice of Jesus so that we can hear His teachings…scriptures are a part of it, but there is more to hearing His voice than just reading a book.  He wants to speak to us in our current situation with real, fresh, language.  We need to be there, at His feet paying attention to Him when He talks to us, not distracted and concerned with the things of this world.

When we do this, when the Lord walks us down the road of our unbelief and onto His road of faith (which He wants to do personally for each one of us) we will then have the faith to produce Kingdom results.  The buck stops here!

For an article I wrote on hearing the voice of God…Click Here.

It’s my opinion that we’ve been selling the world short with our gospel message. 

Do you remember the story of when Jesus was in the crowded house and a man with palsy had a few friends carry him to Jesus to get healed?  This story has burned in my heart for some time now and it pierces my heart everytime I think about it.

Do you remember the first thing Jesus said to the man? (This story can be found in Luke 5:17-36 & Mark 2:1-12)  He said “Your sins are forgiven”.  This drew harsh criticism from the Pharisees.  To which Jesus responded “Which is it easier to do, say ‘Your sins are forgiven’ or is it easier to say ‘Get up and walk’?”

Well, the obvious answer is that it’s easier to say “Your sins are forgiven” because no man can truly tell if his sins are forgiven or not because it’s an issue of the heart.  To say “Get up and walk” is a measurable command…either he gets up or he doesn’t.

In the midst of this dilemma Jesus says “So that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins…get up and walk.”  Jesus basically says “If I can do something impossible in the physical then you can trust that I can do the same in the invisible (spiritual realm).”  We know the rest of the story, the man get’s up and carries his bed out and all the people are bewildered.

We (or at least in my experience) have been running around giving the world a weak, partial gospel.  We go around telling people that their sins are forgiven but we are missing the part where we say “so that you may know”.

If you are thinking “Well, that was Jesus, we don’t have that power.”  Look at what Jesus told us as disciples:

23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
John 20:23

If Jesus gave us the same commission as He had (look at verse 21), to go about and forgive the sins of man, shouldn’t we have the same power and authority behind that commission?

Wouldn’t it be much easier to witness, evangelise, and share the gospel with the world if everytime we shared the gospel with a person we could say “So that you may know your sins are forgiven…” and bring the kingdom of God in their midst with real tangible evidence.  With the genuine power of God.  Remember when Paul said “The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power”.  This is true, Jesus not only preached the gospel, but He demonstrated the gospel.

We need to add “So that you may know…” to our gospel message.

A friend (more like a mentor) of mine, Steve Youngblood, of http://www.churchfoundations.com, has just started a blog.  He recently posted on something that has struck a chord with me ever since I heard him talk about it in a "Timothy Project" he did, here is a snippet from the post http://youngbloodaudio.com/blog/commitment-or-surrender:

This is probably the most significant revelation I’ve ever received from the Lord.  It’s actually the foundation and core to who I’ve become and what I’m doing.  I’ve been leary of writing about it because it’s been a continuing revelation and I’ve always felt that there was more to it.  But I’ve finally decided to put everything I’ve learned about it down in writing instead of letting these thoughts roam around in my head.  Hopefully it will benefit others in the process.

The Background:

It all started in August 19, 2004 when the Lord first spoke to me about developing in me an “attitude of purchasing”.  It was when I just started to practice and on purpose listen for Him speaking to me.  Since hearing God speak was new to me I thought it was a really weird phrase to bring up because I’ve never heard of it before, and even more, I didn’t know what it meant and unfortunately He didn’t choose to explain it all to me then.  It’s been a long, drawn out process.

Then, on September 9, 2004 He brought it up again, this time He called it a “spirit of purchasing”.

This phrase just sat in me for quite some time because He still didn’t explain what it meant.  I didn’t have any way to study it out because I didn’t know where to start, so I just kept it in my heart and trusted the Lord to teach me whenever He wanted to.

He FINALLY decided to let me peak into the revelation in June 2005 when I stumbled across Isaiah 55:1-3 on accident:

"Come, all you who are thirsty,  come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.  I will make an everlasting covenant with you,  my faithful love promised to David."
Isaiah 55:1-3

I finally realized I wasn’t crazy and just making things up!! Here the Lord is telling us to buy something from Him. He said “…you who have no money, come, buy eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost”.  This brought up the followup question that would be answered later…how do you buy something without money?

A few months later I saw the “spirit of purchasing” again, this time in the New Testament, in Revelation 3:18:

"I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."
Rev 3:18

Here, Jesus is telling us to buy from Him true gold and clean garments.  I finally saw something that speaks of a “spirit of purchasing” in the bible, but I still had no clue as to what it meant and what I should do with it.  So these 2 verses took up residence in my heart for quite some time until the next piece of the puzzle came.

The revelation finally became clear in February of 2006.  I had been reading these 4 books on repentance from Barry Hall (http://www.tasteheavennow.net , one of the most important things I’ve read to date.)  and one day while in the shower (I get a lot of revelations in the shower and when I would mow my grass ) all of the sudden the Lord spoke to me the answer, He said, “Repentance is the spirit of purchasing.  Repentance is the altar of trade, where you trade your ways for my ways.”….and then it all came together, it all made sense to me.  Then came the difficult part, articulating it.

So, how do you purchase something without money?  Well, if you ordered food at a restraunt and couldn’t pay the bill, you’d become the newest dishwasher!  You would have to “pay” for it with your own time and energy.

How does this fit in with the Kingdom of God?  As I’ve mentioned in a previous article “God doesn’t need your money", God cannot be bought with our manmade financial system.  A dollar bill is simply a little piece of paper, it has no value.  Gold and silver is of no value to God because it’s all His anyway.  We buy things from God with our own time and energy.  Time and energy that is already being used up and tied up in other things of the world.  We simply have to transfer that time and energy and turn it towards the Kingdom of God.  We’re already giving ourselves to things during a 24 hour timespan, we just have to redirect it towards the Kingdom.  We are repenting (trading our ways for God’s ways) because the Kingdom is here among us right now (God’s way of doing things is here and available right now)

“Repentance is the altar of trade.”  Is what the Lord told me.  Which means it’s the place of transaction.  Yes, repentance means turning around, it means changing your mind, but as it has been made known to me now,  it’s an actual transaction that takes place with God.  We meet God at the altar and make a purchase.

Here is the best example I’ve come up with so far to explain this concept:

If I’ve had a really rough, and stressful day at work I would usually come home, sit on the couch, and turn on the TV and relax for the night.  Well, God tells me in His word that He offers true peace, rest and joy in His presence.  However, my actions prove that I don’t believe that fully.  Instead of trusting in God that spending time with Him will be more rewarding, satisfying, peaceful and relaxing, I choose to turn to a worldly substitute, in this example it’s TV.  Leonard Ravenhill once said “Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for God’s joy”.  And that concept extends out to many other things.  The Lord want’s to be our source for everything we need, provision, peace,  joy, rest, hope, health, etc.  But since the world is seperated from God, it developed substitutes (weaker, broken copies) for the true and genuine things He offers.  We’ve created false gods.  

Another example that hits hard with me is when a problem arises, instead of seeking council from God we’ll often call all our friends and family first (if we ever actually consult God in the matter).  When financial distress hits, we’ll immediately go in overdrive trying to figure out how we can get more money to meet the need.

I know this has been true in my life.  I will often turn to the lesser, worldly substitute instead of the genuine gift of God.  But the real truth is that God has our every need and our only hope.  Honestly, why do we settle for anything less than the true, perfect, and eternal Kingdom of God that is available to us??

So the Lord has peace available for me…how do I purchase it?  I trade (repent) the way I normally receive peace from the world and take up the way God offers peace.  If I identify that I am receiving relaxation from a worldly substitute such as TV, I acknowledge it, and literally offer it up to God and trade the way I do things for His ways.  Anytime I would normally sit in front of TV to relax, I instead trade it for sitting in the presence of God.  If I identify that I often seek the council of friends about a problem before I seek the council of God, I’ll trade it.  Instead of talking to that friend I would enter the presence of the Lord and receive His council on the matter.

The real problem then roars it’s ugly head…our flesh.  Our flesh is completely, and utterly opposed to this, especially if it’s become a habit.  Your flesh wants results, and it wants it now.  It doesn’t have time to sit and wait in the presence of God.  Your flesh will always war with your spirit, get used to it and subdue it.  That’s what being born again is all about.  Our spirit man is no longer dead, it’s alive and it can overcome the flesh, it just needs to be worked up to become stronger, like a muscle.

I often refrain from discussing this with people because sometimes it looks like I’m talking about a works mentality.  But I’m not, this is the Kingdom of God.  It’s full of the spirit of purchasing.  Look at Jesus for example.  He traded His Kingship to be a servant, He traded His riches to become poor, He traded His righteousness for our sin, He traded His purity for our iniquities, He traded the form of God for the form of man, He traded His life for death….it’s all there, and there’s so much more.  I mean come on, think about it, we’ve been redeemed!!  We were bought with a price!  We are His purchase!  He PAID with His blood!  Jesus is the perfect example of a spirit of purchasing.

Don’t forget, we are to “follow after Jesus”.  He is our example remember, so we have to purchase (trade) just as He did…not for men’s souls, but for the propigation of the gospel (the gospel being that the Kingdom of God is here now and we can enter into it if we trade our ways for His - repentance).    Remember the foundation verse of this website?  Luke 14:25-35.  Within those verses  Jesus speaks of a man that didn’t “count the cost” and then later says that if you are not willing to give up (pay with) everything you have, you cannot be His disciple.  Then there’s the parable of the treasure in the field, and the pearl of great price, where Jesus speaks of selling everything in order to purchase the Kingdom of God.

Other examples:
The price for gaining your life is losing it. 
The price for becoming rich is to become poor.
The price for being first is to become last.

I now finally understand what He meant when He told me 2 ½ years ago about having a “spirit of purchasing”.  One thing I didn’t mention in the beginning was the reason He gave me for wanting to build this in me, He said, “because I want you to respect the gifts that I give you”.  Nobody respects a hand-out, a child born with a silver spoon in his/her mouth often grows up to be selfish and self-serving.  And I personally believe that some of the church has become this way as well with the gospel.  Many in the church have made the gospel to be self-serving.  Hoping that it will simply make our lives better, or make us rich, better our business, help us with our relationships, make us good, etc.  It’s all been focused around us…not Him. 

Jesus said, “follow after me”.  He didn’t say “sit and watch what I did from a distance”, He showed us the way, which implies at some point in our walk we have to choose to take the steps.  We have to trade our walk, our path, for His.

Heaven is free but the Kingdom is expensive.

It all comes down to belief.  Jesus said that the only work of God is to believe in Him.  Do we believe Him enough to give our entire life to Him, really?  Actually, to make it more real to me the Lord told me “I don’t want your life, I want your today.”  Ryan Lawson said in one of his messages, you’re only as good as a christian as you were today.  Did you give your energy and time to the Lord today?  What did you spend most of your time on?  Where your treasure is, your heart will be.  Our time is our real treasure.  Pretty tough stuff to swallow.

Take some time and analyze the substitutes you may have set up in your life.  In what ways are you turning to the weaker, worldly substitute of the genuine gifts of God?  It’s not just TV, there’s food (fasting is a great example of purchasing from God (repenting) ), books, knowledge, pornography, addictions, relationships, gossip, ego, the list goes on and on.  This sounds really harsh but the Lord spoke to me a couple of months ago about this, He said "anything you are doing, you’re choosing over me", and it’s the truth.  We need to learn to be in the presence of God and allow Him to direct our paths, our energy and our time.

If you want to really get into this I would strongly suggest you go to http://www.tasteheavennow.net and read the content online as well as buy the 4 books if you can.  The 3rd book is called Heart Training and it goes into intense detail of things to repent from that you probably haven’t even thought of.  The Lord really used Barry’s teachings to help build on this idea of “spirit of purchasing”, it fits right in with what the Lord taught me and Barry goes into great detail a gets real practical with the revelation he received about repentance.

    Today I want to share a very valuable lesson the Lord taught me a few months back while going through a dramatic change in my understanding and walk with God.  My understanding of being a son of God was transformed from head knowledge and brought to life by revelation (this is a completely different subject).  During this time I was meditating and talking with God about hearing His voice.  This was one of those awesome times when you get an immediate answer and understanding, I love it when that happens in contrast to waiting and waiting and waiting.

    I believe it’s God’s will for us to receive specific information and instructions when we ask Him questions.  Reading the gospels we see that Jesus always had an answer for His disciple’s questions, even when they didn’t ask them out loud.  Jesus also said it was better for Him to leave physically so that the Holy Spirit could come.  So having the Holy Spirit within us should be a better thing than having Jesus in the flesh.  This means we should have the ability to ask specific questions and receive specific answers, even on a greater level than the disciples when they walked with Jesus.  It’s difficult enough to obey Jesus’ commands, how much more difficult is it if we’re unsure of what He’s trying to tell us to do!?

    When I brought this to the Lord, this is what He taught me: When Little Paul (who is now 3) was born he had no idea who I was.  He couldn’t distinguish me from anybody else he was around.  After about a month he could distinguish my voice and knew when I was in the room but he didn’t understand a word I was saying.  He didn’t even know I was talking let along what words were, he was just comforted when he heard my voice.  After about 6 months he could distinguish my voice much better and could recognize a couple of words (mainly Yes and No! ).  As the months past he began to distinguish more words and began to interact and obey the words I gave him.  Now he’s 3 and our relationship is much better than it has ever been.  He’s talking to me and I’m talking to him and I can communicate with him, but it’s limited to his understanding.  Even though he can understand a lot of the words I say, he doesn’t have the capacity to really have a true, intimate relationship with me, not until we can fully communicate the expressions of our hearts.  That will take years and a lot of time with each other.

    So how do we grow in our relationship with God so we can learn His voice?  The same way little Paul will grow in relationship with me…by spending time the Father.  We can’t grow frustrated because we don’t receive specific answers for our problems, especially if we haven’t spent the time to grow in Him.  Sometimes when we don’t receive specific instructions, all we can do is sit with our Father and rest in His love for us.  But while we’re doing that we’re paying attention to what He does so we can learn and grow in Him.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to get into the Kingdom of Heaven. I say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye Matt 19:23-24

    I was driving down the road the other day and this thought came to me.  Why is it that so many American Christians are working and striving so hard to become rich when Jesus specifically says it’s very hard for a rich person to enter into the Kingdom?  It’s like we’re trying to set ourselves up for failure and make it more difficult.

    Every Sunday the church is filled with proclamations of income increases, promotions, and other money related prayers.  I think we spend more time worrying about money and the acquisition of it than we do worrying about the work of the Kingdom of God.

    We are deliberately making it difficult to enter the Kingdom.  Jesus is telling us all throughout the gospels, don’t live for this world, don’t live according to this world’s standards, don’t love the things of this world, but it seems to me that is exactly what the majority of the church is doing.

    The reason why Jesus said it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom is because “rich people” don’t think they need to rely on God for their provision.  They’ve proved to themselves that they are the ones that are responsible for what they have and what they will get.  When Jesus asks a rich person how to feed 5,000 people he  immediately looks in his pocket to see if he has enough money.

    The Kingdom of God operates differently than the world.  The Kingdom of God is not “heaven” after you die.  It is God’s way of doing things, and Jesus came to the earth to proclaim that God’s way of doing things was here on the earth now.  And in order to enter into the Kingdom, or God’s way of doing things, you must be born again, or from above.  We were born once into the ways of this world, we must be born again into the ways of the Kingdom.
 
    So, when we are “rich” it makes it hard to enter into the way God does things because it goes against everything we’ve known.  Thinking that when there is a need, provision is based on finances.  When there is sickness thinking the only hope lies in a pill or hospital.  Jesus came to demonstrate what the Kingdom of God looks like and how it operates, and it is supreme over this world.  That is why Jesus did the miracles, calmed the storms, walked on water, etc, it’s because He wasn’t operating according to the ways of this world, He was operating according to the ways of God, His Kingdom, and He demonstrated it.

    When we build our own kingdoms, with our own hard work and sweat, we protect it more and we have more pride in it and in ourselves.  So it becomes offensivee when someone attempts to take those things away, even if it’s Jesus.

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!
Luke 18:22-24

    I’m not going to tell you that Jesus isn’t asking you to sell everything you have.  I think Jesus is telling all of us to forsake all that we have and follow after Him (Luke 14:25-35), even our earthly possessions and plans.  Instead of thinking this verse is for someone else, imagine Jesus is talking directly to you right this very second.  How do you respond to this request?  Will you give it all or will you walk away sad.
 
    Really take a minute and think about how your heart responds to the question.  Is there an offense there?  If there is, begin to pray that God will take away that offense so you can fully serve Him.

    What if there isn’t offense in your heart?  Then you just need to obey it.  Begin the process of getting free from the bonds of this world and let God teach you how to follow after Him according to Luke 14:25-35.  Don’t be lukewarm in this area, be red hot with fire because the Lord spits the lukewarm out!  Obey this verse with great zeal and allow God to reveal His Kingdom to you.

    I’m sure some of you are saying…”Wait a minute, I’m not rich!”  Who are you comparing yourself to?  Your neighbor?  Let’s put this in proper perspective:

 
    Whether you consider yourself rich or not, Luke 14:25-35 still applies to you.
 
    Just like everything else in the Kingdom of God, if you want to be truly rich, you must give everything away.  In order to live, you must die. 
In order to be free, you must be bound to Jesus.

    What is holding you back?  Are you waiting until you have enough money to serve God and do the things He wants you to do?  Who’s will is coming first in that relationship, your’s or God’s?  God wants the first of everything, why do we always try to give Him the left overs?  We tend to wait until we’re done with our lives before we let Him use it.  He needs strong young people with life serving in His Kingdom.

    I just recently wrote about not being able to serve God and money at the same time.  It’s a pretty difficult concept, one I’m still trying to sort out myself.  Not to mention how it goes against the grain to an obscene degree.  Especially when you read Matthew 6:25-34 and actually try to walk it out!

    Let me tell you what being free from the bonds of money ISN’T.  It ISN’T having a lot of money saved up in the bank account, or having stock here and there just "in case" something happens you have the safety net of what some consider "financial security".  This may be a shock.  If you think being free from money means that you have a lot of it, that still reveals you are still in the bonds of it.  Anytime money is a measure of anything reveals that we are still living according to this world.  (It’s ok to have money in those terms, but the measure of it, whether a litle or a lot, cannot determine how you will live according to the Kingdom)

    Am I perfect in this?  By all means no!  But I am letting God work this out of me, remember, IT’S A PROCESS! 

    There is a lot of teaching (Good teaching) in the church about being good stewards of the things God gives you, money included if not foremost.  These are good teachings, but these teachings still keep you in bondage to money.  Thinking that you aren’t truly free unless you have a proper emergency fund, life/health/auto insurance, retirement funds, etc.  Money is still the master in these teachings.

    There are too many Christians who let money dictate whether they will/or to what extent they can serve God in their lives.  “I can’t do [*insert christian activity here*] because I have to work.”  Well, why do you have to work?  “I have bills to pay.”  Well, get rid of the bills!!  It’s really that simple.  Start by reducing your need for income.  This may require selling your car and getting something cheaper, something you can PAY FOR.  It may require selling your house (if you have a house payment/rent, it is probably your most demanding financial commitment), start thinking of ways to get out of it.  Yeah, these aren’t normal things to think about, it will require some creativity, but if we are going to be free from money, we really need to be free from it.  There is a lot we can do on our part to start to accomplish that.  Getting rid of all the fluff is a great place to start!

    Don’t let not having enough money (saved or income) keep you from serving the Lord according to His word.

    Have you ever looked at Jesus’ financial situation?  How did Jesus get His needs met?  Remember the tax bill that had to be paid (Matthew 17:27)?  What about the 5,000 hungry people:

"Jesus soon saw a great crowd of people climbing the hill, looking for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, "Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?" 6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. "
John 6:5-6

    Did you read that?  Jesus asked Philip KNOWING that He was going to feed them supernaturally!  It was a trick question to see where Philip’s mind was.  Was it on the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of this world?

"7 Philip replied, "It would take a small fortune to feed them!" 8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. 9 "There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?"
John 6:7-9

    What was Philip’s first response to the test?  He was thinking according to the world and not the Kingdom of God.  He looked and measured it by how much money they had.  They couldn’t meet the need because they didn’t have the required funds.

    I wonder if sometimes Jesus asks us questions like that to test us?  I wonder how dissapointed He is after 2000 years His followers still have a tough time believing Him and walking in His Kingdom.

    Here’s what would happen in today’s scenario if we had such a drastic financial need as feeding 5,000+ people.  We would reach into our pockets to check for cash.  If we didn’t have the money there we’d look at how much money we had in our checking account.  If the money wasn’t there we’d look at our credit card balances.  If we didn’t have enough there we’d take out a loan from the bank.  When do we decide to trust God?  When do we let the Kingdom of God operate in our lives?

    It’s so difficult in these days to think according to the Kingdom of God because we have so many safety nets to fall back on.  There isn’t any need to “trust God”, when you have a bank down the street who is willing to loan you the money at a mere 10% interest.  It almost looks stupid to wait on God.  Your on your knees seeking God for provision for your need and your family is looking at you like an idiot,  “Just use your credit card.”  It looks foolish to “go without” when it’s so easy to just "go get it".

    Matthew 6:33 says to seek the Kingdom of God FIRST, not as a last resort.  Seeking the Kingdom should be your life blood, it should be all you do.  The promise is that if you are seeking the Kingdom first all your needs will come to you. 

"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
John 6:27

    My message pretty much won’t change around here.  It’s simply, put your entire life into living for God and His will.  What I put on this website is just fuel for the fire.

    The problem is that I think we (as Christians) hear that so much that we think that just because we hear it we are actually living it out (it’s the doer of the word that is blessed, not just the ones that hear it).  As Christian Americans specifically, we need to wake up and get real with God and stop thinking that just because we go to church every Sunday, and maybe even volunteer or do a weekend mission trip that we are actually doing what Jesus called us to do.  Living according to Luke 14:25-35 requires everything from you.  It’s not how to fit doing "God’s work" into our current lifestyle, it is turning our lifestyle into nothing but His work.

    In the verse above Jesus is talking to some of the people that just witnessed the multiplying of the 5 loaves of bread.  The next morning they went across the sea to chase after Jesus, which you think would be a good thing, but Jesus actually rebuked them.  Jesus knew their motives, just like He knows ours.  He says:

"The truth is, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you saw the miraculous sign.”
John 6:26

    Take this verse and put it into today’s Americanized Christianity.  So many of us seek Jesus, not because of wanting to be in His presence and glory, but because He “feeds” us.  He “feeds” our lifestyle, or He “feeds” our principles for living, or He “feeds” our banks with money. 

    This doesn’t sit well for the current prosperity message that many of the prominent preachers are speaking of today.  Yes, God wants us to prosper, but not so we can build our own kingdom, it’s so we can build His.  If we mature from the prosperity message to the PROVISION message we would be much better off.  Provision for doing the will of God full time.  Not prosperity for our friends and neighbors to admire.  God’s supernatural prosperity is given to continue in His will without relying on the ways of this world.

    To many of us are seeking God’s PRESENTS instead of His PRESENCE.

    Jesus tells us here not to work for the food that will just spoil on us.  He said instead to seek and work for the true and eternal food that will never perish that only He can give.  He is literally telling us not to expend energy on the things that won’t last.  Yet, what do we spend so much of our time on?  Maintaining material things that is destined to come to an end.

    Remember, Jesus also said:

 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."
Matt 6:19

    Why can’t we simply take Jesus at His word and do what He says?  It’s hard that’s why!!!  We’ve been so conditioned, even in the church, to store up treasures here on earth.  Even in the church world a blessed life is measured by your house, car, and job.  We’ve lost touch of the true Kingdom of God that Jesus demonstrated and gave us freely.

    We need to get real and figure out what Jesus really wants from us.  How do we change from working for things that spoil and go bad on us, to seeking after the eternal things that Jesus wants and promises to give us?  We just start.  Wherever you are, you just start by making a decision to lay down the things we are working for that will just rust and corrode and learn to pick up the will of God and receive the things He wants to give instead of these poor manmade substitutes.

    In the fall of 2004 when I found the book by Jack Deere "Surprised By The Power Of The Spirit" I came face to face with myself and realized I was just like Jack, a bible deist.  It was the sneakiest distraction.  I thought I was doing God’s work and doing His study but instead I was just kidding myself.  I was more interested in learning about the bible and the teachings of the bible instead of getting to know the PERSON of the bible and the TEACHER Himself.  I worshiped the bible itself more than I worshiped my Father in heaven.  I didn’t do it on purpose, it just happened.

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This was an Easter letter I wrote this year about the cost of the Kingdom (for those that don’t think it costs you anything, read on):

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With every holiday there is a certain feel, or theme. With Thanksgiving it’s the theme of appreciation and family. With Christmas it’s about joy, peace, and happiness. I think the underlying theme for Easter is seeking. For little children it may be seeking Easter eggs for candy or toys, but I believe the true seeking is in our God seeking us, and us seeking our God. However, all three have something in common, we all look foolish in our pursuits. With the children, they look silly hunting hard-boiled eggs in their nice new pristine Easter outfits. With God it is Jesus claiming to be the Saviour of the world while hanging on a cross. Beaten and bruised He’s claiming to be Lord and authority of all, but what is a Saviour that can’t save himself? Then there’s us, Christian’s believe that this beaten and bruised man is in fact Lord, and that not only did He die on the cross, He rose from the dead and is still alive today…but you can’t see Him. (more…)

    Even though this website is named, HowToBecomeAMissionary.com, it’s actually about how to follow Jesus according to His word.

    In October of 2005 my wife and I felt the Lord leading us down a path. At first we thought it was a path of our own creation, but we quickly found out that it was Jesus trying to get us on His path, which, if you remember, is the narrow one.

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