Paradox.

“We fast track by slowing down.”

In an age of instant gratification that desires almost instantaneous results, my experience with God has taught me that if He is a God of suddenly, He is also the God of process. Simply because more often than not, even the “suddenly” moves of God are a result of deep process.

Miracles are the norm for God. But to me, the way He teaches us to travel towards them, is the real miracle. The real miracle lies in the person that He transforms us into, day by day, as we journey with Him. It lies in the process where we find each other deeper. The process is precisely where our scars meet His Strength and our weakness receives His Grace. It is the place that He loves to find us in because we start to become teachable enough to understand that the outcome is only a small part of our journey with Him, but the strength of our journey lies in the depths of our intimacy with Him.

It is where we learn to walk with The Lord and find our own unique rhythm and cadence. We learn to wholly and wholeheartedly lean on His Spirit to show us the next step and the next move. We realize that there are times we don’t even need to make a move simply because by virtue of what He has spoken, we can rest. We can abide in His Love and let the power thereof bring in the much needed renewal and revival in our souls. We can let Him anchor us in times that seem stormy, and teach us to navigate our way through the waves till calm is restored and the horizon, cleared.

The process is where He enables us to clear out the debris of doubt, anxiety or unbelief; beautifully replacing it all with the reality of a faith so fortified through the depths of The Father’s Love that it leaves no room for anything of the sort, simply because we have come to a deep place of trusting His Heart for us.

His Heart that is always full. His Heart that is undivided. His Heart that is unchanging.

The process is where our heart meets His and His desires become ours. His timing looks favorable and trustworthy. His outcome remains a guarantee of fulfillment, and His covenant with us is as sacred as ever. Slowly, as all of this begins to dawn on us, we start to feel increasingly liberated. Hand in hand with Immanuel, we recognize that the freedom we long for is right here with us. It’s in a complete dependency on The Lord.

For leaning on Him means gleaning from His Heart; the wisdom, the strength, the grace, the favor and the strategy we need at any given point in time. He is Immanuel – God with us. He is ever present and ever willing to help us, should we let Him.

For as we let Him, we morph into a version of ourselves that has transcended into a being that is joyfully carried on the wings of His Majesty and therefore, in the complete dependency thereof, has now found a new found freedom.

And when you really think about it, isn’t that yet another revelation of The Cross? Yet another revelation of The Love that loves us too much to leave us by ourselves and gave Himself up so that we never have to travel alone.

Never ever.

For we can choose to depend on The One who is padding by our side. The One who has gone before. The One who has our back.

Because He does, we don’t have to. Instead, we can embrace the freedom that is found in a total reliance on Him, a freedom that positions us to partner with Him as we learn to walk more intentionally and deliberately, sensitive to the prompting and the leading of His Spirit deep within. A journey thus surrendered not only acquires the true taste of Heaven, but witnesses the truth that as we slow down, He will speed us up.

The Paradox of God.

What can I say?

Completion.

“Identity is birthed in a state of total dependency.”

The Identity that God bestows upon us is not tied to the things of this world, rather it is tethered to The One who dwells in Eternity. When we yield our life to Christ, it is an absolute privilege to be connected to The One who orchestrates events and circumstances in our lives in a manner that would require us to seek Him. Whoever seeks, finds; and there is nothing better than finding The God of the Universe tabernacling in our midst. Simply because when we do, we begin to find ourselves too.

God, in my experience, reveals Himself through Jesus in innumerable ways. When we first receive Him in our hearts, it is a response of love to Love. He reveals Himself as the Lover of our souls who died and rose again in order that we may have a life beyond our past and a hope for the future, a life more abundant here on Earth and life everlasting in Heaven. This is the heartbeat of Perfect Love, which once tasted of begins to manifest seeds on the inside of us that gives us the heart to believe again. We are encouraged by Love to believe for an exceeding, abundant life which is sure to blow all our paradigms of what life can look like. One of the most beautiful verses from The Bible is as follows,

“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.” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)

I think it is imperative to note that The Word says, “according to the power that is at work within us.” I believe that The Lord says this because the degree to which we can enjoy a life abundant in the riches of Heaven depends on how much we have yielded to the work of The Holy Spirit who resides on the inside of us. The more we yield, the more it demonstrates our need for complete dependency on The Lord.

The Good News is that we can easily depend on Him for He is Faithful. As I write, I am reminded of yet another verse. Allow me to share it,

“He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’” (John 7:38, AMP)

In His encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus revealed Himself as the living water, that whoever drinks of, will never thirst again. It follows that as we surrender ourselves to the working of The Holy Spirit, He will give us revelation upon revelation of The Father’s Character and Heart, exemplied by the Person and Presence of Jesus Christ. The more we start to know Him, the more revelation we will inevitably receive of who we are IN Him. As He is, so are we in this world.

I know that is a loaded statement because He surely is a lot of things. His Character is faithful, steadfast, unchanging, immovable, unwavering. His personality is revealed as The Savior of nations, The Father of Love, The Warrior King, The Prince of Peace, The Joy of the world, The Alpha and Omega. In and through a relationship with The Holy Spirit, we too get to become all these things. We too can remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of The Lord. We too can cultivate the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. We too can resolve to finish what we start. We too can learn to war and contend against circumstances until they yield to the Promises of God on our lives, as surely as we have yielded to the work of God in ours.

This, to me, represents the birthing place of our Identity in Christ. The more we are yoked to Him, the more we are able to step into who it is that God is calling us to be, here on Earth. The more that we are able to step into that God ordained Identity, the more we are able to shine as beacons of light in a world that is lost, hurting and broken. The Eternal Words of Our King come to remembrance,

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16, NIV)

There is therefore, no need for us to hide or minimize ourselves. At the same time, it is vital to know that our place in Christ is both, royal and humble. We are seated in heavenly places in Christ in order that we may be humble enough to extend the same invitation to those that we are called to touch and transform. We are at The Right Hand of The Father in Heaven, and at His Feet here on Earth ; both at the same time. This posture, paradoxical as it is, is the heartbeat of our Identity in Christ.

It is an Identity that is birthed, cultivated, sustained and eventually brought to completion on the other side. The Word puts it like this,

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV)

On this side of Eternity, we depend on Him to reveal our Identity from glory to glory. On the other side, however, we will not need to depend on Him, for we will be found IN Him, and brought to completion. And this time, forevermore.

Amen.

True Liberty

“When a soul learns to be completely dependent on You, it is truly set free.”

Control is what is plaguing the world today. The need to control everything, from the outcome of circumstances and relationships to that of dreams and visions, we seem to want to control everything. The truth however, is a sheer contrast. What we feel when we are seemingly “in control” is the very thing that actually has us in bondage. In my walk with The Lord recently, I have had to let Him deal with me on this.

I too have control issues. I think all of us do. I believe it is a defense mechanism that we have constructed to create a false sense of security, a sense of security that is in fact, quite limiting and confining, a sense of security that betrays the truth that we fear hurt and disappointment, and we still haven’t quite learned to trust.

However, what I’m learning is that in order to grow in our walk with The Lord, it is vital that we learn to let him work with us as we slowly but steadily learn to let go and let Him. Surrender and control are antonyms. If I have my basics right, Jesus wants us to surrender. I believe this is because He wants us to experience true liberty of the soul.

The firmer our clasp on the things of this world, the more we are enslaved by them. The Bible clearly says,

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.”

This is not to say that we don’t enjoy the things of this world. In fact, I believe we honor our Father as we take delight in what He has created for us to enjoy. But at the same time, I also believe that our love for the things of this world cannot supersede our love for Our Father. He doesn’t mind us having things, He minds things having us. The words of Jesus come to mind,

“What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?”

A revelation of the all consuming Love of The Father is what gives us the courage to relinquish control and surrender. We surrender because we trust and know The One we are surrendering to. We surrender because we understand that our human strength is but frail, but that of The Father is infinite. We surrender because we know that our own resources are limited, but those of Heaven are inexhaustible. We surrender because we are Sons and Daughters who have supreme confidence in the nature and character of our Heavenly Father. We surrender because we have been chosen to.

As I write, Matthew 7:11 continues to reverberate in my spirit,

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

We are Children of a Father who gives good and perfect gifts. He never withholds a single, good thing from us. He may have to painstakingly work through our stubborn hearts till they are strong yet soft enough to hold the weight of the blessings He wants to unleash in our lives. But for all of this to manifest, a prerequisite is our willingness to release control and simply surrender.

I write all this because it is only when we yield to the power of surrender that we allow our souls to be completely dependent on Him. This can initially be both, terrifying and liberating. However, through each stage and season, it only keeps getting easier and better, simply because He will never ask us to do that which He doesn’t empower us to. It is the Holy Spirit that reveals the Goodness and the Perfect Love of Our Father, thereby creating in us a new found capacity to believe, and surrender all control to The One in whom all things hold together, in the first place.

The degree to which we surrender control is the degree to which we allow our souls to be dependent on Him, and the degree to which our souls learn to depend on Him is the degree to which we experience true spiritual freedom, which, on this side of Eternity, is our Promised Land.

Friends, we were never designed to be enslaved and ensnared by the things of this world, rather, we were called to have dominion over them. God says so in Genesis. The Fall through the first man, Adam, may have happened, but Redemption through Our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus, has too. The only possible response to this would be as The Passion Translation puts it,

“Let me be clear, the Anointed One has set us free – not partially, but completely and wonderfully free! We must always cherish this truth and stubbornly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.”

Our past may have been a track record of bondage to habits, behavior patterns, addictions, and relationships that were damaging our souls, but NOW that The Lover of our souls has bought us over from the dominion of darkness and brought us into His Marvelous Light, we have been set free forever. At this juncture, let me also be very clear that Jesus may have bought our freedom for us, but it is up to us to choose to walk in the fullness of that freedom. This is a choice we get to make every single day, in His Strength and by His Grace. The decision to choose to walk in the freedom purchased for us at Calvary is a decision that requires us to trust in His Will and Ways, as He gently works through those issues of our hearts, minds and souls that we had no hope for, but God. It is a brave decision that conveys to The Father that we trust Him to make whole that which was broken, to bind that which was wounded, to restore that which was plundered, to establish that which was shaky.

Friends, my own journey has required me to make this decision time and time again, and each time, He has come through. I am still learning to trust and surrender, but gain strength from reminding myself of all those times in my life where flesh and blood could have never saved me, but God. I’m sure you have had experiences of your own and can testify to His Faithfulness. So, together let us make a whole hearted decision today to not tackle things on our own, when we have both, the privilege and the obligation of learning to lean on Him, not because He needs us to, but because WE need to. For when a soul learns to be completely dependent on Him, it is truly set free.

Amen.