Author: Derek

Who or what guides your ministry? What’s your ministry modus operandi?

Ministering to need versus ministering from and in Him!

Ministry should be overflow from our growing intimacy with Jesus. What leads us in ministry? Is it really about getting to know, love and therefore overflow His Life into others; or is it something more selfish-like the need to feel helpful. Is our ministry soul led, or truly led by His Spirit and our growing intimacy with God. Who would you be, if He asked you to fast from all ministry? This is a question a mentor asked me, which started making me meditate on my real spiritual motivations for helping others.

The poor were with Him always, but He only did what He saw His Father doing!

Jesus did not let His ministry be led by the immediate needs around Him, He was thinking much more long term, and He was looking constantly to His Father and their relationship, to see what each day was meant to be.

We cannot let our ministry be led by the needs of others, we must instead be led by His Spirit. As many who are led by His Spirit are becoming the sons and daughters of God. The poor will be with you always. If Jesus would have ministered led by need, He would not have made it to The Cross. We too must not be led by other’s needs, but rather by His Spirit.

Having ministered for years and walked with many in ministry, i see this as a huge need and warning. There are always those who need around us, but we are to be the ones who are looking to The Father, then He will share His ministry with us for that person, if He choses, and we choose to partner with Him. It is soulful or soul led to go and use our gifts willy nilly, or as we choose. Jesus instead, only did what He saw the Father doing. So should we.

We feel good when we help others. And God likes to help people. But we cannot get our validation from our ministry. We get our validation directly from The Father, and He gives us the things we are meant to do along our path (Ephesians 2:10).
The good works prepared beforehand to be our way, He knows. He can reveal what these good works are, as we follow Him! We cannot just offer our own good works to Him and expect Him to bless us and be pleased.

We must do the actual good works which He has prepared for us! That’s a key to living ministry of His Life to others. Our ministry is a medium through which to get to know and Love God firstly and fore mostly. If we are not firstly meeting Him, we should not be ministering. When we do, we minister a false image of God to others. We misrepresent Christ to others. And they may feel helped, but we have not helped them eternally, or seeded their deeper heart or inner man.

I have seen this pattern of people getting their validation from helping others over and over. And I myself did so in my 20’s. I knew my spiritual gifts, but not yet how to follow God. So I used them to help others in order to feel good about myself. That is the opposite of Jesus Way. Jesus knew who He was when He laid down His Life, and He knew what He was doing. He was not doing it to validate His Own Identity, He knew He was a king while being treated as a thief. He was not victimized by the Cross.

In our days, the needs of others is increasing as the earth shakes ever more violently. Thus our focus on the Father must grow even more acute and specific. Many are doing more overt spiritual practices daily to keep the “main thing, the main thing.” Our relationship with God is much higher in importance than our ministry, and it is what we must be daily cultivating. Our growing intimacy with God is really all that matters. If He allows us to minister His Life to others, then wonderful, but first, we must be growing in His Life. He knows when to make us guardians of other’s souls. And He gives us His Authority to do so, in His Timing. But we are those hidden and grounded and founded in His Actual Life. This is our core spirituality.

Each of us has a path or way, according to Ephesians. Part of this way is caught up in the true church, His Body. But there are specific ways each of us are made to participate in that great spiritual organism, which is His House, Our Head. Our paths, are revealed by God as we seek Him daily.

We are all called to minister His Life, but first He ministers His Life to us. Jesus often retreated to the garden prayer space to be with His Father. He modeled our basic spirituality in doing so. He gave freely to all those who asked, but He also knew who The Father was giving to, and how. And those He gave more deeply to, and exactly what the Father was giving them. Our discernment is meant to reveal what is of Him and what is not of Him—what is in rebellion or transgression.

The ways of the world, the laws of death are always around us. And we, as ministers are displacers of death with His Life. We get to be salt and light-those who preserve and bring understanding; but we must do so from the firmness of our relationship in and to and with Him. Jesus modeled this clearly. He did not just go around helping everyone, and throwing out every dark spirit. He addressed what The Father was addressing through Him daily. Some days, He only taught His friends. Others, He delivered people from darkness or healed them. Others, He taught in the temple. He knew what to do daily, as His Eyes were always fixed on His Father.

The ways of death have to be weeded out of us daily. And in certain seasons of our own lives, that is His main concern. Other seasons, He offers us, firstly to His Own Body or House, and then outwards to those He is drawing in. But our main concern remains, to know and love and be formed, and in-formed, by God. We are His lovers firstly, then we come to love what He is loving, and in the way in which He is loving. His Sheep hear His Voice, because they are with Him constantly, and speak in His nuances and tone. That tone is love. God is able to love all those you cannot. And God will give you in and from His Own Heart, those you are meant to minister His Love into! Sometimes these folks are poor other times rich, but they are the ones you are given to minister His Life into, from the overflow of your ongoing conversing with Him.

Another way to approach this topic of not ministering only to need, is to focus on allowing ourselves to be given as gifts from The Father to the Son. If that is our primary mission, then when His Son chooses to give us outwardly to others, we are once again happy to be given. But our primary activity is to become gifts worthy of Jesus. If and when He wants to give us away, what another wonderful day, and way of knowing and communing with Our Lord!

In short, our core motivation in ministry needs to flow out of the formation of His Life in us—our deepening friendship with Jesus and His Father, is our basic purpose in life. To be in Him, is to begin to love what He loves and want to serve with Him, as He is a servant. But we must know the Servant, in order to serve In and with Him, and not just in our own power or desire, or need.

We must know His Life first, in order to serve and impart His Life to others. This is how we keep our ministry motivations pure in Him. And it is a basic practice for those in His Ministry, to return often to our first Love and Lover! Keep allowing Him to purify your motivations for ministry. Are they really flowing from and in Him? Are there any parts which are not? This is the core spirituality of ministers. It is not just being good at helping others meet Him or find their real questions, which it is also, but more importantly, it is to know and deepen our union and love of Jesus and His Father, in the grand power of His Holy Spirit! Then we can consider discipling His Being into others.

If you could not help anyone, would you still know who you are in Him? Was how one of my mentors put it. It’s a good question for those who like to help others and serve Him. Am I really mostly concerned with getting to know God, or doing good things in His Name? To know and love God and to love one another, was Jesus summation of all the law. The first —to love and know God, is primary! When we do this, we will find ourselves engulfed in His Love for others! He shares His cares with His Beloved, which we are, in His Son. Us caught up in Belovedness, become lovers of all He adores!

One way to go about this ministry purification process practically is to ask yourself, am I meeting and getting to know God through helping this person. If so, often He is meeting you in ministry. If not, you are probably just using your gifts for your own enabling or self ignobling purposes not His. Paul taught us to be careful how we spiritually build. Not just to build well, but build with and in Jesus—whatever is not actually in His Spirit, will be burnt away like straw burns! Things which last, are things actually in Him and participating in His Life! So, this is part of taking care of how we plant and build in other’s lives.

There are stages of spiritual growth, where He Himself gives you as a gift to the Body, or to others-it’s barely an honor when it happens, it’s experientially very humbling. Leadership is always a matter of knowing how incapable you are of doing any good in your own power—it is utter dependence, and requires much death to self. It’s not enviable, but when you meet a true elder, you can tell they have died so many times in order to live. Like John the Baptist, they have decreased that He may increase in them. So you feel mostly Him, when you around them. Ironically, you also feel they are very much themselves. That’s what eldership or later stages of maturation of His Life in people look like.

I grew up in ministry, so saw how much inner death is required to really allow it to continue to be your authentic spirituality and not just some religious job. It’s not easy, and to allow Him to elevate your authority in Him, is very humbling. The world wants to quickly elevate based on need and gifts. But Father elevates in His Own Ways for His Own purposes. Always, though great leaders, have this characteristic of thankfully returning to their own personal relationship with God, regardless of how He is using their outer life to help others.

You will know when those stages are reached, and you are starting to get to know Him in true ministry of His Life to others. You will already be close enough friends, that you will sense His leading you out into His Own Fields. But even there, like David, you must keep returning to this core friendship, especially as you move into king and queenly parts of His Life. When you begin to co-minister His Life with Him, you are getting to know Him as Ruler, King, Pastor, Shepherd, Teacher…He guides you into ever deeper parts of who He is over time. Be led by Him alone, and not your own spiritual talents or gifts, and He may plant them one day in soil which lasts forever! Be led by Him, not other’s needs.

Why does this matter? Because we as those who have chosen to follow in Jesus way, are constantly being refined in our deepest motivations, even for serving Him. It’s very easy in any type of helping profession to be drawn out from your true life in Him, to use your gifts for your own purposes. When you have spiritual gifts, you are a steward of something from God. And the way to care for and cultivate a gift is to keep returning to the Giver.

In our times, people reward charisma or great gifts of healing or spiritual talents…these are not true trophies. The true trophy is the Life of Jesus implanted in us, which shines like a Light in a very dark place. His Glory is over half of our true ministry on earth. To the degree it is formed in us and increasing; that is, to the degree we are growing in His Glory—from glory to Glory, we will bless all around us. We are light glowing air-fresheners on this planet. And our job is ultimately to be bright and fragrant! The world tends to value talents or gifts rather than identity. God, conversely, is more concerned with who we are, and who we are becoming in and through the Life of His Son in us, than what we do in this world. Doing flows from being. Being has to be prioritized. Is our actual inner being being daily baptized into His Name or Identity. That is what God looks at.

Anyone can be a celebrity, even a “spiritual” celebrity. But few have a Godly reputation, one that God Himself bestows! King David had one, even with his brokenness, God chose to spotlight His Life. Abraham had a life like that, so he could be called a friend of God. What an honor. The world accolades for the wrong reasons, and elevates things before it is time. We need to be very careful to allow Him to do all the spiritually promoting, especially in our celebrity culture.

Our friendship with God through Jesus is our core spirituality. From this precious friendship, comes all true lasting ministry. It is wise to cultivate that friendship above all else. If you get to minister with Him, wonderful. But it’s always Who your with and in which matters most!

I was fortunate or blessed to grow up under an earthly father whose ministry was an authentic part of his real spirituality. His actual relationship with God was the space where his serving others flowed from. That model has always stuck with me, as central. Anyone can help others, but not all meet Jesus in it, and therefore help others much beyond their current needs, into the life to come-His Life, which is already available to us here!

Timely, prophetic post for this current season!

Watch out the prophetic stream is a flowing’!

Started to flow in some prophecy this week, just practicing again how to get out of the way of the words, and let Him speak….I was praying on Easter and saw an opportunity over the next few months to meet The Resurrected Jesus! Just as He roamed the earth for 40 days after His resurrection, so He would meet us directly in the next few months in that respective Presence and Power. There is a great spiritual opportunity in the coming months, and an empowerment, re-comissioning, and release to disciple!

Look for the real spiritual Easter this year, beyond just the traditions, and also look for the Reality of the 40 days in which Jesus roamed around in His Resurrected form. Look for visitations in this time of trial and shaking. Look for His tangible self to show up in miraculous ways. There’s a window where He is making Himself overtly known! Just as He did after His resurrection. Watch for wonders to happen this month or so-serious signs. All is trembling but His Peace and Presence is in high contrast to this shaking.

Many will be forced to cling to The Living Christ. Others will be invited into His Actual Life and Presence.

Jesus said, “Do not be afraid, go tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will SEE me.” This is also for right now. Many will actually see Him—visitations in dreams and direct open vision etc. Mystical moments of encounter. Don’t fear Him in His Resurrected Form.

I think the next forty days have an open heaven or thin layer between realms. I think this is for us, and to bring His Peace and Presence into the global shakings. God is being Merciful again! In the midst of so many tragedies and manifestations of hatred, He is drawing nearer, and making His Presence more obvious. This is to show the high contrast between Him and His Way and the ways of darkness or rebellion. This is a time of stark contrasts. Jesus showed up in an in-between realms form. It startled people, but He was still recognizable to those He revealed Himself to. This in between expression of Christ is unique, in that we only really see something similar on the mount of Transfiguration in scriptures. Look for Him in this unique between worlds form!

In the resurrection story, the guards in the story took the money and told the lie. Look for that same sort of thing from the enemy—mis-interpretations, and cover ups of the fact that Jesus Resurrected and is still Alive and present. The authorities lied and covered it up, but Jesus had already told His friends where to meet Him!

But also a time of great comforting. Just as Jesus went around comforting and teaching in His Resurrected form, so in this hour, He is wanting to show up wherever people are looking for Him. The women at the tomb knew Him immediately when they were greeted by Him. And many sensitive and seeking women will see The Light and know Him this season!

A real revival among the women of the world (already starting!), even as the opposite spirit of oppression of women, which leads to hatred of men increases. He will make it obvious what His Purity is. And they will see and know and worship Him! Just as an anti-women spirit is oppressing women, so many women will be liberated not just from their oppression but also from the hateful desire to dominate or hate the opposite sex-from an anti-man spirit. We need to be careful not to move in either! Even the american elections are bringing this to light.

Look for great warfare in this area between the sexes. Discern as the women did who He really is, and worship there. He will heal, and send you then to tell the “brothers” all about it. Women will be used as powerful witnesses in these days! Watch for it, and take note when it happens. But also watch for increasing tension between the genders. What is not in Him, won’t hold! The two women were the first witnesses of the Resurrected Christ! They were open to the angelic visitation (intense spiritual experiences, outside your normal level—look for that this year also!), and then immediately recognized Christ. Look for revival among spiritually open women who are seeking Him! The movement started with two women!

Others needed convincing (the Philip’s in the story!). But He was very overt about His coming, and had told them beforehand where He would meet them.

Find Him in Galilee. Not always the obvious “holy” spaces like Jerusalem, but the unlikely ones-homes marketplace etc. The saltier ones connected to His Own Story. Look for Him in your homes and in the supermarket, on the road, and as you go towards. Not just in His Temple or institutional religious structures, though He can be there also (the temple which we are), but also on the way…stay alert to wherever He shows us, and listen. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see Lord!

Why galilee?
Galilee was His home turf, but you might think He would want them to meet Him in Jerusalem. Instead, He told them before He died and then the women again, to meet Him in Galilee. We need to be heading to Galilee to meet Him.
From encountering Him, making actual contact, we will then be sent out to make disciples again. There will be a re-commisioning for many in this coming season to go and really become disciplers not just disciples. Many who had previous stirrings towards deeper spirituality, will get re-stirred, re-called and re-inspired. A time of re-comissioning is upon us for many.

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go— THEREFORE (in that Authority, and Power) and disciple the nations.” He is making more of His Actual Authority available to His People in these coming days, in order to actually fulfill the great commission which was to disciple the nations. Not just save them, but disciple them—to become spiritual parents and mentors. Many will be called another level upwards in their spiritual growth this season. Look for accelerated spiritual growth. Suddenly parents! Sudden heirs. No longer slaves or those under guardians, but actual leaders in Him. Little rulers. Spiritual adulthood is being made available to many. An increase of levels of His manifest Authority are being made available!

So the empowered Great commission will become an emphases again. Disciple making. Many things have been restored through many movements to give us tools to truly disciple now. We will move in His Authority!

Jesus 40 days of roaming the earth after the resurrection were also a training period for His People. Look for rapid training and increased faith. Of course, it increased their faith to actually see and encounter the Risen Christ. He was clearly still alive, and now they had no doubt. He used this time, then to train them. He discipled them from this space, and then sent them out to go and disciple the nations. So there is an opportunity for intensified and more deep training in this season. Be open to be trained by the Risen Son!

There is a great window of opportunity in these next two months to walk in and with His Resurrective Power and Authority. He is Kind to make Himself so tactile and known. Don’t be afraid if You experience His Intensity. Jesus told them, not to fear, which of course is a natural response to more of His Presence when we are not used to it. Jesus in His Resurrected form was and is Intense. Look for the resurrected Jesus without fear.

More soon, on these exciting days just in front of us! Jesus last promises in the book of Matthew was to be with them until the end. May we be with Him in this exciting coming season! These are turbulent but potentially terrific days we are in now! Let us be with Him always!

And He promises, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Truth, The Way and The Life!

He is…so we are! The Three aspects of Christ as He named it:

The Truth, The Way, and the Life—we need to emphasize all three aspects of who Christ is. He is not just the truth. Most Christian films, for instance, emphasize the truth aspect, the information about Jesus and who He is. The gospel information is not the actual full gospel! The actual good news is Him, Himself, so it is rather an encounter with a Living God, and His story which transforms and forms us!

More mystical Jewish films like “Noah”, have more of an open dialogue midrashic approach which allow the viewer to form their own questions. And encounter a way or stream into God.

I prefer this method of discoursing with scripture. It allows people, as Jesus did when teaching, to encounter their own questions and the Reality in Him of their and His’ answers. It’s a different method of teaching. One of encounter with the living truth, not just the information about the Truth. Living from and in, rather than about and or even like Him. More a metaphor, less a simile.

Different cultures also tend to emphasize one of these aspects: truth, way or life. Paul addressed different cultures depending on which aspect they were drawn to. Thus, we need to be sensitive to which aspect each culture is meant to reflect and encounter Him through.

As I’ve been mapping it over the years—in a very general sense, southern cultures tend to be the life (visceral body oriented spirituality) part; northern, the truth part (knowledge ideas aspect), and the east in general, the way part (the I Am in His Being aspect)…just my take so far through observation. Different peoples encounter God uniquely! And we need to get His sense of how they are meant to meet Him, and what aspect of Himself He emphasizes or even incarnates, through them. As St Paul modeled for us. Peoples and cultures, are uniquely shaped conduits for specific aspects of His reflection of Himself! And, though we see through a cloudy glass, a shady mirror, still we look at His reflection mainly, and are then shown our own.

He is the knowledge of Reality, the way to live in it and with it, and the animating force which allows us to do so! What more do we need to become the sons and daughters of the Living God! He is the Real, He is the teaching about the Real and He is the animating Force which allows us to commune and be in what is Truly Reality! He calls us by name, and He causes us to stand and walk it out, by the sheer Force of His Own Name!

The great book starts with emphasizing the I am part (Genesis), moves on to the knowledge part (the rules and revelation at Sinai), and then into the incarnation part (the Life of Jesus)—this is how it looks when I come to earth exactly like you, and try to live from my Own Self. Jesus pulled it off, so we can see and join it! We have the perfect model of how to be in Him, and the knowledge and life force-power-to do so! But all three aspects are reflected throughout the Bible. He really Is the Truth, The Way and The Life! And we are invited to incarnate all three through the Life of Christ in us!

Although I think we are all a blend of each aspect of Christ, we are each drawn to Him in unique pathways which are particular to how we are made, and what He intended us to express about Him. We tend to meet Him in one dimension of who He is, and we tend to highlight that particular aspect! This is true of individuals and larger cultures. We become the living testimonies about this aspect of who God is, and draw all humankind towards Him.

When we sing the true song of ourselves, or rather allow it to be sung by the Father, others are brought into contact with that aspect of Him which we reflect most! I reflect the identity and symbolic aspects, you may be more one who primarily reflects His Thoughts or knowledge. Regardless, when we sing the song of our true selves, or allow Him to pronounce through the eternal songs we are, others around us are given freedom to sing their way, through Him, into theirs! This is part of what it means to be a living song about Jesus.

Fun thinking about how when Jesus named Himself! He appealed to all of humanity, each existing and potential culture and nation ever. And if we follow scriptures, these diverse and unique cultures and nations will be there at the end, each offering their unique crowns to Him, or specific reflections of His Glory He has placed on them.

Often, when I am ministering in different nations, I will ask Him, what aspect of You is this region meant to reflect, what’s blocking it, and how can we partner in bringing it back into a true reflection of You. All the world is His expression and we are partners in cleansing our perceptions by His, of Him!

Of course, we are meant to be getting to know and love all three aspects of His Being! And should be able to know Him in each aspect: the Living Truth, The Way and The Life which animates it all! We are in relation to a God who is all three! He tells us the information based on what is Real, He shows us the pathway or stream to Be, and He gives us the Life Force to live in it. What a God who has come into us! And what an unfathomable Beauty to allow to incarnate through us. May we continue to get to know the whole God, as He makes us more whole!

I continue to be fascinated about getting to know Him as The Truth, The Way and The Life. I want to know all of Him, to live in His Way, and to be fully animated by His Life!

A little Easter meditation

We are His reward for dying and suffering. A short Easter meditation:

Therefore He will see His offspring—His mighty spoil, which we are; because He submitted Himself to death and was counted among the rebels; yet He bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels. He took into Himself sorrows which we were not even aware we had. We are Christ’s reward for dying for us. How intense. He has been promised offspring, which we are. We are the reward given to brother Jesus by The Father. Let us live accordingly.

Yes, Jesus is my brother, and my friend. I experience Him like this in my personal spirituality. Many do not know the friendship of Jesus. Yet, He has called us brothers and sisters. That was and is His choice to consider us as siblings. Yes, we are also children, but let us also know Him as brother and best Friend. We don’t come to Him to receive gifts, though He offers us many (immediately upon suffering Jesus turns to give gifts to men, it is His Way to do so!); but, we come primarily as gifts given by The Father to The Son for all He has done. We are gifts from The Father given to His deserving Son. Let us live as gifts given back to Jesus for all He is and has done, and is doing!

This is a different motivation for living well, and one often overlooked. We are what Jesus saw on the cross—we are part of His many offsprings promised to Him by His Father-which offered Him hope. It was The Father’s idea to make many brothers and sisters of Christ in this way. We ourselves are Christ’s reward!

When we see ourselves as gifts of God to Jesus, we are no longer motivated only by what He can give us. We ourselves desire to become more perfect gifts given to The One True King! We are poems read out loud to Jesus for His Pleasure! Let Father be allowed to give us as gifts to His Son, who is most deserving!

A little meditation on growing in spiritual discernment…

The gift of discernment flows out of the gift of spiritual listening. We know spiritual things, spiritually. We listen and see in order to speak well. Isaiah, the prophet, puts it like this:

The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

In Isaiah 50, we are both getting a glimpse into Isaiah’s personal spirituality and Jesus’.

Isaiah had the gift of expression or words. It came in through the orientation of being teachable. Each day, he would pray that God open his ears to his instruction. Daily he grew by having spiritual hearing; and then look what happens—“You have given my tongue the gift to help encourage the weary.” That is what the gift of words is for. The word brings life. Spiritual words edify those in need. They bring refreshment. Here is the ministry of the prophet as well.

Jesus’ personal spirituality was to listen to the Father daily. He grew up spiritually by listening daily to His Father, and God also made Him a Teacher for all who were weary.

As often in David’s writing, here in Isaiah you start to feel the writer’s personal spirituality starting to stream into and reflect Christ’s. When we think of Jesus having a personal spirituality, we are talking about His unique relationship and way of communing with The Father.

David modeled and pointed towards the suffering servant, often lamenting in his poems and writings and channeling and forecasting the type of suffering Jesus would endure, in order to reconcile many to God.

Here in Isaiah we are getting a rare glimpse into this erudite writer’s personal spirituality in lines like these:

“The Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
The Lord God has opened My ear.

The gift of words or expression is developed from the gift and practice of spiritual listening. The purpose of the gift of words or expression to to help the weary. Our daily practice is to humble ourselves and listen for instruction, to be teachable. Out of this spiritual apprehension or comprehension, comes the ability to help others with your words and expressions.

Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. He woke up daily and listened to His Father. He grew in Wisdom like this. And then had the tongue of a Teacher. In His case, the great Teacher.

Recall that Isaiah, like Paul years later, was a highly educated man. Isaiah may be one of the best pure writers or expressers in the bible. But here we see that he was yielded to God’s instruction daily. That he was teachable, listening spiritually daily. Asking God to open his ears, not assuming he knew on his own. As Paul puts it later: “The man who thinks he knows does not yet know as he ought to know.”
True knowledge is spiritually obtained. As Paul also teaching: these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God…. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. (I Corinthians 2:10-13).

This waking up and asking God to open our ears so we can discern spiritual truths, and then offer them out to those who are hungry or weary; this is our most basic Christian spirituality. It is clearly illustrated in the lives of Isaiah, Paul, and most clearly, Jesus Himself. Spiritual discernment requires teachability. The gift of words pours out of the gift of listening well. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see the spiritual things of God. And let us then freely offer them to one another as words of life, and life-bringing. Let us become life bringers!

Open our spiritual ears that we may hear the instructions of God today. Then give us loosed tongues to release the words of life to those in need.

Throughout scriptures we are taught to be growing in spiritual discernment of things. To have ears to hear, and eyes to see. We need both ears and eyes to know God better. Then we use our tongue to bless others through. Our tongues are meant to be instruments of expressing what our spiritual ears and eyes have encountered! We listen and see—“fixing our gaze to gain understanding” like Daniel! Then we speak words of life out to those who are weary. And these words have power because they are born from the Spirit. Our practice is to listen and see well, then we can speak well. That is what scripture is teaching us.

The current global crisis in leadership and how to restore a true image of what leadership really is…

(The current global crisis in leadership: how to restore a true and healthy image of leadership.)

Nice meditation, I came across today, on kingship at a time of a clear leadership crisis globally, and certainly in America, as our elections approach. To think about what true leadership might look like, feels healthy. I appreciated coming across this article by an older friend Pieter Boss- thinker, city theologian, and social spiritual strategist (Serving the Nations, is he and his wife’s ministry; “Theology of the Nations” is his series of books) from the Netherlands. His thoughts are always refreshing, especially on cities and nations. Here, he is looking at models for true leadership or kingship. Good to remember the basics, in these days of confusion around true leadership.

I don’t usually re-publish other’s articles here, but this one felt timely in light of our current shakings in the area of leadership. We need clear images of what a leader actually is meant to be, look like, or echo. Even in our families, if we have no image of parenthood, how can we parent. If we have no image and relationship with The King, how can we ourselves be little kings down here? Or have wisdom in electing new leaders, who are properly reflecting His Image of leadership.

King and Kingship
Auteur: PieterDatum: 25-12-2013

“In 2013 our nation got a new king and celebrated 200 years of kingship. When Jesus was born three kings attended and (because?) he was announced to be the Christ and futureking, even King of kings. Two months ago I addressed, in Pretoria, a conference of African tribal kings. That makes five times “king” in a short time.
While in our nation there are discussions on the relevance and on the “purely ceremonial” function of kingship, not so in Jesus’ time or in our time in Africa.
What is king and kingship? The core of it is: On God’s behalf a person rules a nation.
This sounds alien and dangerous, at least anti-democratic, in modern ears. Could such a concept be God’s idea? Yes. Even from the beginning and into the Realm of Peace.
Moses taught us that Man was created in the image of God, and that Man was destined to rule the earth. This truth, though, was known before Moses. Egyptian and other ancient kings claimed they were the image of god, and therefore entitled to rule. In other words: the divine truth was known, but the ruler applied it just to himself, lifting himself above his nation and his subjects. That is the core corruption of this divine truth.
In an earlier blog, “The Glory of Hierarchy”, I argue that hierarchy is not lick-up-and-kick-down, but worship-up-and-care-down. French Kings showed the utter corruption of kingship: “The state, that is me”, and tyrants enrich themselves and murder opponents and subjects alike. But what does the modern king Willem Alexander of The Netherlands say? “I am your king, to serve the nation”.
True hierarchy, godly rule, is caring for the subjects, caring and nothing but caring, representing God to the subjects, on God’s behalf ruling a nation.
Kingship is at a large scale what Fatherhood is at a small scale. See my previous blogs on fatherhood. Happily there are fathers who intuitively show an image of God to their children. God wants his children and his nations to be ruled by someone showing God to them.
Christ is a political term; it means: the elect, like in ‘president-elect’ between the election and the inauguration. Jesus was born the Christ, the coming king, to show, after six (?) millennia of one-world-government-efforts, that true kingship, in righteousness and with cultural diversity, is possible, even for a good thousand years.”

We must contextualize the current elections in an image of The King and what true leadership should look like. Of course, we feel the gap now between His Kingship and what we see on earth, but we can also partly fill it! We try to elect echoes of that Voice! Echoes of The King. These are just mini-kings, but still we all need to see clear images of what The King looks like. Even in our homes.

All of us, in some sense, are just echoes. But we need to be echoing the right Voice. And we need to choose leaders who are echoing that Voice. In our leadership, that Voice and model, is Jesus-the Servant King who sacrifices is Life for all. So we need to be moving in His Way of leading others, of being little kings, even if, for just one day our little time on earth.

At times of global elections, it’s never about just who to vote for, it is rather about do we have a clear image and relationship with The Highest Ruler and model for all leadership, and can we make our current choices in the Light of that Image. This is one of the roles of imagination in making wise choices. To what degree is this person echoing a true image of leadership?

Ever increasing communion, semper crescis (the Life of Christ, ever increasing in His People)

(Christian spirituality towards a fuller formation: increasing communion with The Unifier)

The story of God, is one of ever increasing communion!

People seek unity or integration because we are made in the image of God who is One. And this God who is One, is also acutely and accurately busy making us one or whole. He is doing so by incarnating Himself into us, and expanding and walking His Life out in us.

We are those who choose to meet Him, and therefore be transformed by Him, in all we do.

In scriptures, Paul teaches us to be growing up into the fullness of maturity in Christ. We are responsible for growth, though it is God who actually grows us. We are nevertheless responsible to be in the right orientation to be formed by Christ. In this sense, we are not paralyzed by Grace, but activated and inspired by it. That is our part of spiritual formation. Belief, daily dying, turning often, a practice of confession etc. coming often or even living just near The Cross and living Reality of the Life of Christ. This tight friendship with who He really is, and what that living relationship requires of us.

God is not in a hurry (concerned but never worried) about anything, including our spiritual growth. He has all the “time” in this life and the next. But I do think we can accelerate our spiritual growth in the Life of Christ, partly by our willingness to submit, as His Spirit convicts us of unclaimed areas in ourselves. In the context of our friendship with Jesus, why not invite Him into the whole house! We are like houses, in which many rooms are still dark, and need His Life to light them up. Then we can paint and have fun in them, even host parties!

By unclaimed, i mean places where Christ has not yet been invited into. We are complex creations, and often not aware of even our own inner motivations. Out of the heart comes good and evil, so we are called to guard our hearts. Again that is something, we do! It is an active, not passive part of spiritual growth! Some of these parts of ourselves, are below the level of our awareness, and we must be shown them through prayer and even confession with others. Others in prayer, will often be given insights into our hearts, which we ourselves cannot see. This is one of the gifts of the Body with its many members. And one of the gifts of our lateral communion with His People.

A good test of whether we are growing in Christ, is do we see increasing spiritual fruit in our lives? Especially in the areas which may have been shut off from Him earlier. In those spaces, are we increasing in Love mainly, then all the other fruits of the Spirit–gentleness, kindness, patience etc…We can judge even ourselves by the fruits we are bearing and yielding. Do we have more self control this year than last, are we more filled with His Love for people, places and things, than we were before? Are we more willing to turn quickly when accused, to look at what in us is wrong or in need of confession. These are signs of growth, and we have to really be vigilant in watching over and governing, in this sense, our own spiritual maturation. David’s talking from his spirit to his soul, when he says, be still my soul and know!

In my own life, i think early on, i tried to appear holy or helpful, or even righteous; but did so mostly for “outer” purposes–ie to get acceptance or approval from others; to feel needed etc. But as I get older, i am more concerned with His Actual Formation in me. Am I seeing the fruits of His Life in me? Not, do others see me as holy–that’s performance orientation towards others, and we can often have the same orientation towards God–performing in order to gain acceptance and approval from Him. He has grown me there, to be much more concerned with, am I with and in Him while I’m doing this or that. That is growth for me. My inner motivation and drive shifted over time. I may look similar on the outside, but my heart has turned, at least enough to allow Him to drive my growth, instead of myself.

Looking carefully and pray-fully at our true inner motivations is a key practice. We have to get those to the Cross also, allowing that inner renovation to continue, so that we are not just performing our way towards Him. We often interrupt Him, in His growth process, by trying to take it over, or get His applause. The fact is He always applauds us-He approves of our beings, which He Himself made, and was willing to die for.

When I was younger, I had a dream I was on stage and wouldn’t stop performing until everyone clapped– you see this with many artist who base their approval in the eyes of men. Then one day, there was only one man in the audience, and He kept giving me standing ovations. Once I got into my heart, that Jesus would actually never leave me or forsake me, unlike many audiences, and really just like me regardless of my performance, things shifted in tone away from the desperate need for the approval of others. “Play until the fat lady sings, and the fat lady is Jesus, and He is always singing praises in love over His friends!” as one mentor put it.

There is also the religious struggle–to do good to be seen by others as good; or to do good to win God’s approval. Since the gospel clearly negates either orientation, and instead begins with God so loving you…we have to keep these daily stapled to His Cross. Are my charitous activities, my acts of altruism towards the world, truly motivated “out from” His Life in me? Am I really meeting Him and being formed by Him in collaborations of goodness, or am I doing good somehow still “for” Him, but outside of Him. Our good should be overflow from our level of communion. The fruits of the spirit flow from the Vine–apart from Him we can do no good thing.

This doesn’t mean we can’t help an elderly lady across the street. But it does mean we should do so “with” and “in” Him. Anyone can do good, but to do good in and from Him, changes the world and us. All activities are potential communions and collaborations with Christ. We can do the same action in or apart from Him. The action itself may be good, but it will not bear eternal fruit apart from Jesus Christ. So our real focus must be on union and communion with Him through all we do–even ministry.

When ministry is no longer a meeting place with God, it becomes sterile, or just religious. And we should do something else, until we can meet Jesus in it. Good works in themselves mean nothing really. Good works in Him, change the universe! The “in Him” part is the key both for our own transformation and for being truly lastingly helpful to others and our world.

If we minister for approval, we are doomed. If we minister to feel good about ourselves, we are weak. If we minister out of religious duty apart from Him, we are dangerous. Ministry is meant to be overflow from our intimacy with Christ. It is only fruitful in a meaningful and lasting way, if we are actually in Him.

Since, union is the key to all true ministry, we need to practice union. This is done in the grand old ways: prayer, study of scriptures, fellowship, worship, confession, praise thanks etc. But these activities have to become living temples of meeting. For if the Cloud leaves the temple, the temple is useless in itself. It no longer symbolizes or participates communion between God and us.

Our activities become religious shells with no life in them. Much as many of our church buildings have literally become. We are the people who are meant to be in living contact with Christ. If salt looses its saltiness what good is it? If we are not in Christ, what true help will we ever be to others, or ourselves. Apart from Him we cannot move towards wholeness, integration or oneness. Nor can we help transform others into His Likeness.

We see this shift in the church as a whole in our time from emphasis on outer structures, to inner formation. A focus on the true fruits of His Spirit forming in His People. It’s being named many ways–emphasizing discipleship not just initial salvation is one way it’s being highlighted. More emphasis on maturation in Christ, not just saving people, but fully aiding them in forming His Life in them. The People in Christ are the church, and less the external buildings and programs. This allows the outer forms which are meant to creatively flow from the inner Reality, to be much more flexible, dynamic, even improvisational. In the 4th C when Christianity is codified as a social institution, we lost some of this understanding of His Actual mystical Body which we are becoming. The House not built with hands, is still The House He lives in. Regardless of how its framed. The church has a great opportunity to collaborate with Christ in His creativity in making new shapes and forms through which His Kingdom flows to a needy world.

As we see this shift, we hear words like union, unity, wholeness as holiness, and many other fresh phrases currently being reclaimed and re-named in His True Church. The emphasis of prayer itself is a tremendously important sign of hope in our times. For prayer occurs at the deepest level of spiritual life, and always precedes fuller incarnation of Christ. Every revival started in prayer, and every true transformation as well. Prayer places us in the right orientation for transformation.

The original reformation movement was meant to be an opportunity for a new level of His Formation of His Life in His People. This new one will also be a similar opportunity for depth incarnation of the Life of Jesus in His People.

Many are reclaiming spiritual disciplines from the monastic or contemplative streams in our day. This is also a good sign that true formation of the Life of Christ is becoming the true motivation of His People, rather than just numbers of people saved or how big your church is. How deep is your church spiritually, or the small body of believers you are linked with. What level of communion with the Life of Christ, does your church contain? How deeply is the actual life of Jesus in your people? A tree is known by its fruit. These become more important questions as we go towards that deeper formation (or next level of incarnation and re-formation) we are currently in. Re-formation is really at opportunity for His deeper formation in His People. That is one of the things He is up to–a deeper baptism into His Name. So He can actually be the bread of Life in us for others.

The shift from old to new testaments had this shift of deeper incarnation. God is always moving in that direction! What was symbolized in the old, was incarnated in the new–the bread in the temple, becomes in Christ, the bread of Life; the wine becomes His Blood etc. We see this deeper level or completion of the symbols of the OT in the New. This process has not ended! At the reformation, a deeper formation started again, and then through the various prayer movements and awakenings, more of Him became present in His People. We now see a deeper level of incarnation in His People beginning, as His Kingdom approaches. Forceful people, lay hold–we say yes to the deeper incarnation of His Life in us! And we start there, if we want to see our world changed by His Kingdom. The King came, and is coming…as He approaches His people will become more and more available for His Life to come and be formed in them. We are being cleared out in this way for a fuller formation–another re-formation, which is really a greater formation of His Life in His People. This will shake the nations into a clear choice.

Our opportunity is to be more in His Name. There is no greater spiritual goal than this. To be found fully in Christ! Eclipsed by His Very Being! So we can truly be called, “Christ” ians. Those in a living union and friendship with Jesus.

Contact with Christ also facilitates unity and good fruits as a by product. In this sense, Christianity is less a religion than a spirituality of communion with Jesus. Less of an out applied in, and more of an in flowing outwards. As He sits within us, we are transformed, and He is able to act out through us. All activities become a potential meeting place, and manifestation of His Life in us, and then out though us. If we are not meeting Him in our actions, they are hollow, and straw which will be burnt when His Presence encounters them.

Spiritual growth is contingent on the actual Presence of Christ. And true spirituality will become a priority in our time. Apart from Him not only can we do no good thing, we can’t become better people–the masterpieces He has made us to be (Ephesians 2:10), the poems which only He can pronounce! Our beings must be in living contact with His Being for transformation to occur. That’s the law of spiritual things. For He alone is the sustainer grower, author and finisher of all truly good things. He alone is the Center that does hold. The unifier, The integrator, making all things whole in His Love. Redeeming all things into His Image of them– into what they truly are! Our true image comes clear in Christ as He forms His Own Oneness within us, we find that union leads towards unity! We find this first within ourselves, then we may be led to help others find it within themselves.

His True Image

From an article I’m working on about seeing and being in love with cities: Mending the imaginations of our neighborhoods and cities into His True Image.

I’m in love with cities!

“Each city and country has its gifts, and struggles, and unique broken but redeemable reflections of certain aspects of The Real. Finding their particular nuances and what aspect they reflect of God, has become part of my spirituality.” (from a book on the theology of cities, I’m reading; to disciple the nations you have to know them and love them first like people!)

Cities are like people to me-on a journey of becoming, in need of love and revelation to know themselves, just like us. I like walking alongside them, and enjoying what they already know, and seeing what they need. Listening to them on their own terms, not mine. Trying to hear them for what they truly are, not through my projections or needs on them.

In my life, I’ve fallen in love with many cities…
Each city reflects unique aspects: Antwerp has creative curious friendship; berlin a strong house for all nations and bold leadership-arm of God stuff; Prague, that sweet song of solomon fragrance, a lover’s attire, and a place of mystical exchanges in conversation; Austin, creative incubator, entrepreneurial catalyst haven…each city has their gifts and their struggles to become. It is a joy to get to know so many places well. So many places still yet to know and love in this life. Perhaps we never finish in loving…

Of course, like people, our very strengths unredeemed are also our greatest weaknesses, or areas of life which are hardest to live out. So the biggest wounds are often where the greatest strengths reside. I like looking there first to know and listen. So a place of friendship, can become insular; a place of leadership can become presumptuous, a place of curiosity can become mentally unstable etc—but just on the other side of these shadows, is the redeemed identity, standing in the Light, and reflecting upwardly. I like to bring salt and light right there. So I can see who the other really is.

I also like to think of how individual’s stories who live in a city, relate to the city’s biography. How our personal stories relate to our city’s narrative has always fascinated me. Why am I here in this place at this moment of our journeys. What developmental stage is my city at, and my own—how do they match and where do they not? I love asking these sorts of questions as I travel.

I have an insatiable appetite to love more places people and things, and to come to know God through them, and let them be loved by God into their true shining..let’s take off our outer masks and get to know one another deep to deep friend. I’m in love with what that outer expression is coming from! As Van Gogh said, “The way to know God is to love many things deeply.”

“We are trying to encounter and mend a fuller image of who God is by seeing a loving one another and places more precisely. We are doing a repairing of the imagination—how we image God, one another, and the earth itself. One way to do so, is to see one another more accurately. When we see well, we are engaged in healing the imagination of Reality. To baptize our imaginations is an act of healing for the world. When we see accurately, we help things be more truly themselves.”

When we were told to disciple the nations, it included cities. We were to disciple them into all three Names of God—the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Part of this holistic baptism into all three Names, is to see one another in love. We see through His Love, this lens made for the aperture of the spiritual imagination. We must wear it, or put it on, so we can see one another more as He does. This is the use of the imagination in discipleship. Blessed are you church, Jesus says through Peter, for The Father has revealed this to you. The Father had revealed the true identity of Jesus to Peter, so He could see that He was The Son of God. We are equally blessed when the Father shows us the true Identity of His Son, and as He reveals the true identities of one another through His lens of Love.

This is a key part of the role of imagination in discipleship of the nations. The baptized imagination sees more as He sees, the true identity of other. And can therefore call it forth and bless it into His Name. He is healing the nations through the imagination. We are no longer just using the imagination to carry gospel information, we are actually allowing Him to look out through the imagination and heal the nations. The sanctified imagination is part of what Christ uses to heal the nations. the cities, and the world itself.

Ultimately, we have to get a clear picture of who God is. When we do, we will see what parts of His Life are reflected in others around us, and our cities. And which parts are still being brought into alignment with His True Image. Then we ourselves can start to try on our eternal images, and we can help others put on theirs. By starting to wear our eternal clothes, we begin to imagine ourselves more as He sees us. By helping others try on theirs, we get to partner with Him in healing the nations!

Practices: When we pray, write down or draw what we see about whatever or whomever we are praying for. Gather them, and ask the Holy Spirit to amplify them towards a fuller picture, to fill in the poem of its true being.

Then our seeing becomes a way of getting to appreciate how God sees.
When we walk around our neighborhoods ask Him to draw your attention to things which represent the aspects of Him He wants to draw out and bless in that neighborhood. And which sins still need to be confessed for that area to become a clearer reflection of Him!

When we prayer walk our cities, start to enter His creative dialogue with her central symbols or meeting places. Be part of mending the imagination of your city! See what He wants them to be, if the patterns of sin were removed. Pray and confess those blocks of sin in each place which keep Him from expressing Himself more accurately.

You can do this in small groups or by yourself.
Try to paint or draw, dance, photo, or write how that place would look whole.
There are many other exercises I use, but these are a few.

Creative prayer walking, or walking with your imagination engaged in your relationship with Christ, can change the atmosphere of your sphere or domain of influence—your neighborhoods and cities can become a clearer reflection of His True image there. As you do so, you find that you yourself also become clearer in this creative collaborative partnership with God in mending the imagination of people places and things.

Prayer itself then can become a place where you get to know more of who God is, and how He sees yourself, your home, your neighborhood, and your city. Prayer becomes a way of getting to know and therefore love God more! And your place becomes a medium through which you come to appreciate all He sees. For the eyes of Lord are always watching, and caring for what He Himself made, knows, redeems and loves.

Notes towards an article on spiritual development and the generations:

(Spiritual Growth, hindrances and mandates for growth! Notes towards an article on spiritual development):

Slouching into spiritual parenting to be born. Most of us slouch into spiritual development rather than going for His greater formation in us, willingly and with gusto!

Yet,The bible is filled with models and encouragements towards spiritual growth. We are those growing into Christ’s Nature, and there are seasons of this growth. And we need help growing. We specifically need to know which season of His Life we are in, and who He is providing to aid us towards greater maturity.

We will be shown who our spiritual guardians are, and who we are meant to be guarding in terms of their spiritual growth. This does not have to be institutional, but rather can be organically led by the spirit. It is often discovered in prayer! Still, there are levels of authority and seasons to come under, and seasons to cover others in life. When we do not know who our spiritual parents are, or if we do not know who we ourselves are spiritually parenting, deep investment into the life of the spirit becomes confused. God is correcting this. There are also generational wounds which create role confusion.

Of course, all the five fold are not flowing in perfect tandem currently, but God is at work making us more one. Part of that work is confessing the generational blocks which have kept us from working in unity! And being a better expression or representative of His Body. We need to get ourselves into a place of least resistance to the formation of His full Body in with and through us. Some of this requires us to roll away man placed stones which were never meant to block His Resurrective life from flowing through His Body!

Generational wounds which block spiritual growth:

Growing up together into the fullness of who He made us, is our goal. Some of us are still slaves, others children, and some have become parents. We are to work in tandem under His Headship and in His Love to help grow one another up into the fullness of His Life in us, and thus into who we really are.

Galatians 4 and I John are the clearest passages where the process of true spiritual growth are revealed in The New Testament. Each has slightly different metaphors for the same process. And both writers are modeling what spiritual growth is supposed to look like. Both men are also speaking from a state of spiritual maturity. It looks like teaching laboring crying out until Christ is fully formed in others beneath them. Both men were spiritual parents to the church, so their model is one we can follow.

When young, we need guardians, and we need rules or spiritual boundaries, until we can embody them in our hearts more fully. Paul put it like this—you Galatians needed the Law until the fulfillment of the law came in Christ. Now no longer be slaves to the law, but those who live “in the law” of His Nature and Spirit. He was also speaking of stages of spiritual growth in this passage. (Galatians 4).

We also need to be named. Jesus asked Peter, who do you say I am, and then once Peter answered correctly, Jesus named Peter—told him who He was spiritually. Jesus gave Peter his spiritual identity! John blessed or commended the young for their spiritual discipline of following the word, and overcoming by believing and applying the word. He was naming where they were at, and offering a father’s blessing.

Looking here, at the need for guardians and external structures when young, then the passage into knowing the Father. That deeper sanctification. When you are meant to become an elder or mentor. To no longer be under guardians, but to be in Christ co-ruling with Him. In short, to know and manifest The Father.

John commends youth for following the word—the disciplined will; then there is a stage of the embodied will—Christ in us, through us, around us, our “knowing” of God. Where Your moral conscious is in tandem with your will. Here, John commends the elders for “knowing The Father.” They have embodied His very Life in theirs. These are two unique types of blessings depending on the stage of spiritual growth.

You can see with many of us, that there is this gap in that transition between child and adulthood. Coming under spiritual authority until you become one, is the basic method to pass from slave to co-heirs. In our days, usually trust in authority is the issue. But John commends youth for coming under guardians until they can know The Father more fully, and can cover others.

I think then you have this whole transition from youth into spiritual adulthood. Generationally, you can see how our blocks passed on to those beneath us. Fear of abuse in authority has kept us from coming under it, and thus accelerating our spiritual growth.

For many, adulthood as simply never looked attractive. There have been no models in their lives of the peace and fruits of true spiritual parenthood. But once you see one, you want to become one! Our culture elevates youth. But also lacks models of true adulthood. The scriptures are not like that. The fathers and mothers are indeed the most nobel and sacrificial, and trustworthy. Paul and John being good examples. They were able to pour out their lives like Christ for those beneath them. They manifested the fruits of the spirit!

Too many young people are sent out into ministry, before having come under, and being fully grown.

This is understandable given the generational wounds; and yet, it stunts or slows down spiritual growth. We can accelerate His growth in us, by coming into His order—the order of the family or Body of God.

You cannot just occasionally grab some fruit from elders, you have to actually seek them out and sit under them. And they in turn, have to say yes—to claim and name you as their own.

My generation has more of Bill Murray’s character’s problem in the film, “Lost in Translation”: i never wanted to be a father, i hate fathers. That’s our collective wound. We didn’t want to grow up, because we had no models or didn’t like what we saw. Or were abused by them.

But the way this stunts those beneath us, has become obvious. Owen Wilson, the son character in that film responded to his father: “come on man, lead. Lead.”
That’s the wound from both generations touching one another. It’s a great scene about what needs to be healed between the generations for their to become spiritual growth for both generations. Wilson’s character also reveals this ambiguity of not being sure if he is a legitimate son or not. The father had not named him, and claimed him, and he was on a quest to find out if this was his true dad. A perfect metaphor and picture of the two generations struggles to mature.

If we were not named or claimed by our fathers. And if the father’s never wanted to be fathers, we certainly have difficulty in even desiring to grow up spiritually. If the parents are distant, abusive or simply disown us, how can we grow and know who we are. I have friends whose fathers literally wrote them out of their wills. Other’s who were physically or emotionally abusive. How can one grow up in that environment, feeling safe enough to become. That’s a huge collective wound. But the heavenly father is unlike those earthly fathers, and covers us in safety, love kindness and instruction (his word) until we can become! To correct this experienced broken image of fatherhood, is a major task in our times. But we cannot mature without mending this image of God.

But the Bible is clear that we are to be maturing into His Headship and Nature. We should all be moving into spiritual adulthood in His Nature. We are meant to be growing into spiritual adults. And we are responsible for our own rebellions to this process.

From word ruled, to Christ embodied is the progression. The word becomes flesh in us! That’s the progression!

Where our very will is ruled by His Presence. Blessed are you older ones for you KNOW the Father. You have embodied His life. Until then, you are under the rules and structures of the bible and older believers.

In Galatians, Paul is talking about the overall passage of history, from a time of law to a time of incarnation; but it can also be applied to spiritual maturity. There is a time we are meant to be under the rules of the Kingdom and guardians. In this passage, it is revealing that it is good to be under the guardians, until the “appointed time” for be co-heirs. We are to come under the bible and guardianship until we have come to know or embody the Father. John echoes this same maturation process.

For John, there are youth, stewards and those who know. But the idea is the same. For a season we are to apply the word from the outside, to discipline our wills towards His Kingdom principles; then we enter a space of embodiment or knowing The Father, and there are other responsibilities—for one, to, like Paul and John become spiritual parents!

Paul is modeling spiritual parenting, in calling his children into maturity!
He is teaching them how this pattern is revealed in history, but he is also laboring and suffering like a mother and father for their maturity. That’s the role of the spiritual parent.

The role of the child is to come under guardians and the structures of scripture.
Galatians 4 maps what spiritual maturity is supposed to look like and be heading towards. In I John, we see the blessings for each stage of development. John blesses each stage—the youth are blessed for coming under guardians and applying the word; the older are blessed for knowing The Father. When we get older we are responsible for stewarding spiritual growth in Him. Continuing to grow ourselves in The father, and guarding or covering others as they grow.
The basic metaphor is from childhood into adulthood. Both Paul and John use the natural growth process applied spiritually.

There are many other embedded models for spiritual growth in scripture, but these are the clearest from the New Testament.

What Dallas Willard speaks of as growing into a place where Christ is embodied in the will. Or the embodied will—where Jesus is guiding even our unconscious processes. This is our goal. Where He has seeped into the whole self.

Until then, we use our disciplined will to obey. There is this passage in growth from mere obedience to embodiment or fuller incarnation of the Life of Christ in us.
Many of us have blocks around coming under true spiritual authority. This can be from having experienced abuse or neglect at the hands of elders. Or, just because we have not been around true spiritual authority before. But this keeps us from growing. We can accelerate our growth, by coming under more readily, the guardianship of scriptures and of stewards above us. Then we grow more quickly.

My generation really struggled with this “coming under”, and the one beneath us also struggles with it. My generation also inherited a distrust in authority on many levels. As Bill Murray said again, i never wanted to be a father, because i hate fathers! That’s a sad statement really.

We confess our sin of resisting and distrusting authority. And we ask to become trusted authorities! So that the younger can sit beneath us, and grow faster, even beyond our levels of growth.

Of course, the abuse of authority is a wound which takes time to heal, but if we resist the true Pauls and Johns in our lives, we slow down our own growth.
Paul was often frustrated that people were not maturing under his care. They should be eating meat, but still drinking milk.

John was frustrated that not only could they not come under the law, but also had trouble coming out from the “elements of the world”. Both are frustrating. And we see it daily. Those who should be already leading, still not fully under the laws of God and still swayed by the spirits and ways of the world—lust etc.
We are challenged throughout scripture to grow up into Him. To not stay as infants.
What are our personal blocks at the stage of growth we currently are. If younger, do we have blocks around applying the discipline of the scriptures or coming under spiritual leadership?

If we are adults do we have blocks still around covering others, or not being willing to guard and labor for those younger than us spiritually?

These are questions I’ve been asking in my studies of spiritual growth.
I also see one other factor. If we ourselves were not spiritually discipled well. Do we either not cover, or pre-send people into adulthood. That is do we release the child to flail there way out into the world, without having fully matured yet? This is a problem with our parenting. To send people out into ministry or whatever, before they are mature, is to invite spiritual disaster.

You see this in many ministers who were promoted before their time. Who did not wait until what John called, “the Father’s appointed time.”. We, as spiritual parents, are responsible to send well. To cover until its time to release the child. If we don’t do this well, the child will be eaten by wolves. And that is on our watch, and we are held responsible for it.

Wisdom is required to see where the child is at spiritually and what nutrients they need to mature to the point where they themselves can parent others.
Let us be growing in that wisdom.

In conclusion, we must confess our generation’s sins, which have kept us from spiritual maturity. We must confess the places where we have not come under His provided authority of both the scripture or word, and those people He has placed over us to protect and nurture our growth. Then we must take our position in the spiritual saga! Then we will receive the particular blessing of that stage of growth. If young, the blessing of overcoming and the opportunity to have great faith in what God has provided for our growth. If older, the pleasures and sanctified labors of spiritual parenthood which both Paul and John modeled very well.

If we believe the Bible, we have no choice to not be growing up spiritually—to be growing into the fullness of His Headship. Each of us is responsible to be growing whatever stage we in. I recognize that many have been wounded at each stage of growth, but this does not offer us an excuse not to apply His Cross and continue to grow up to become co-heirs with Christ! It is for His pleasure that we become Jesus’ brothers and sisters, first fruits of His Great actions on our behalf. Our God is Love and He has provided all we need at each stage to grow up in Him! Let us say yes, and receive it.

Of course, forgiveness has to come from both generations so we can work in tandem and all be maturing in Christ. The older must forgive their own parents, and then forgive the kids beneath them for their distrust and distance, or projections of their own experiences of neglect. The younger must confess rebellion from coming under authority, and forgive their spiritual parents for being resistant or not present in their lives. There is lots of needed forgiveness on all sides. But well worth it, if we want to get on with going deeper into the Life God has provided for us, through His Great sacrifice. We are meant to be His Masterpieces, and He who started a good work in us, shall finish it!

If we are not parenting, then something will come in to fill that gap. Both Paul and John mention this. False teachers had come into their congregations and started to false parent in their absence. False mentoring will always fill a vacuum. We, as spiritual parents are responsible to be present and labor and protect, as any good parent would. Children are responsible to respect and obey their parents. So each of us has a responsibility in spiritual growth.

confession for my generation of leaders:
I ask forgiveness for not always being there (present) as a parent. I avoided the role for part of my life, partly from fear of being no good at it. Or fear of failure, lack of models, or abusive models etc. I am sorry for the places where false parents came in to fill those gaps. Now, i take up that parenting mantle and ask to move in love with it. All of under His Headship forever.

I also ask forgiveness for sending you out from my protection pre-maturely, or not following up to make sure you had what you needed to flourish. I feel those spaces in through my prayers right now. You are guarded, protected and adored towards your own spiritual growth! Be blessed as you become who you truly are in Him!

At the same time, i have felt great resistance from younger ones at times also. Distrust and projected parent issues which made it difficult to disciple them. Paul also spoke of this issue, later in that same Galatians passage. “Have I now become your enemy? At first you would take out your own eyes and give them to me, now are you resistant from receiving my corrections and teachings?” Here is a father who is hurting, and experiencing some rejection from his spiritual children. So you see it goes both ways.

The fact is we are all growing under and into the same Head, but each of us is at a unique stage on that journey, and have particular aspects of His Life we need downloading into our hearts. When we do, we can help others just behind us. We each have our parts to play in the development of the overall organism of His Body on earth. Let us move in the blessing over each season of growth and press on towards the next level of His Life in us, and one another.

These are just a few of the generational blocks I see to us all growing up into Christ together. Some from experience, some from other’s experiences, and mostly from the scriptures. The older I get, the more I am concerned with the spiritual growth of others. The more I want to not block them from becoming. I try to confess things in myself which may block my growth, or block others from coming and receiving the portion of Christ I have received so far. These are just a few of my observations along the way.

Recently I’ve had several dreams about healing coming between the generations, so they can work in tandem to express His Body well. I’ve been praying into these gaps between generations-confessing sins on all sides. What generations really are, are generations of His Purposes. Often, this has little to do with physical age. Joshua, for instance lived through three generations of God’s purposes. Each of us is called to be aware of where we are spiritually in Him, and which parts of His Own expression He is partnering with us to birth and nurture. We need to know which generation we are in, and which one’s to help bless into becoming!

We live in a season of potential accelerated spiritual development. MLK was right in saying that our spiritual growth needs to catch up to our technological growth. Otherwise, we will not use it in wisdom and love. There is an opportunity to grow rapidly in our time, to be baptized more fully into His Life. To allow His deeper incarnation into the whole of our lives, and thus what is around us. Jesus is Lord over every aspect of Reality, and want to enter more fully into His People. This deeper incarnation may have begun at the reformation, but He is now offering a much deeper level of “being in Him”.

We are the ones who must say yes to this deeper embodiment of the Life of Christ in us, through us, and around us. He is offering us rapid discipleship if we align with Him in this generation. He is coming more directly to and into us in this season, and will resist whatever resist His Formation. We must come more quickly to His Cross, dying into a fuller expression of His True Headship in us. When we do, we will find our generational roles and purposes, and we will find those others He is properly linking us with. He is the teleological God—the God of great design! He is able to cause us to come into His Collaborations, and reveal to us our own true names.

Our Source of Love: The Father’s Heart! a word for our times…

This word came into my spirit recently about a return to the Father’s Heart. Thought I’d share it. And some of my own thoughts issuing from it.

“Many will become suddenly saints, by entering into loving intimacy with Father God. We will be more deeply baptized into The Name and Heart of The Father! These days are here, open to us–to know and love The Father, and found our very lives within His Heart of Love.

We will learn discernment by and through His Love. Love separates what is true and false. Love is the tone of truth; love is the key to discernment. God is One. Many will be suddenly burnt into place by His Love. By entering into His Heart of Hearts. This knowing exchange will bring true and lasting Peace. The Father’s heart will start to glow in His Body at a radiance and tangible manifest presence, which has not been seen, even at her best moments. She will glow in His Heart of Love. And many will see and come to the Fountain and Source of Love, the Father of all Life, and then quickly be shown who His Son Jesus really is!

A father evangelism is coming on the earth. People will speak from and about His Heart. There will come a fatherhood spirituality which will astound even His Own people. Not just power, knowledge, prophecy, but true Love. His Core Nature pouring forth into His People and Body. Love will be the distinguishing characteristic of His Church again. Not just good works but actual Love. He is revealing His Heart in our days. And many will meet the Father for the first time, even those who have long known His Son, will find themselves engulfed in The Father’s Heart! And this will be a sign for the world.

In His Church, we will see the people who have known His Eyes getting together with those who have known His Heart. His Arm will know His Heart and Eyes. He is One, and He is making us one integrated Body. He is integrating Himself in His People through Love-across denominations and forms of church. We will see prophetic people hanging out with pastoral hearted people. People who have long focused on His spiritual sight, will find those who have long dwelt in His fatherhood. We will see those most into His strategies of kingdom growth, exchanging with those who have gazed mystically at His works for many years. The Seers will become the on-the ground saints. And we will exchange blessings in Him.

The different parts of His body will start to share the different aspects of His Life with one another, and work more in tandem. His Eyes and Heart, His perception and His Love will be integrated, not just in his apostles, but in all His people. All the five fold are of course founded in Him, and will be unified by and in His Heart of Love. We will see another level of being bound together in love and freely exchanging our gifts and understandings. A time of unity in love is coming! It is for the good of the whole world. It is necessary.

The Father is pouring out His Very Self into His People and onto the earth. He will become the center of our conversations in the coming days. We will not be focused on controversies, on the wrong issues–we will be focused on being in Him, and what He is focused on. No longer chasing the wrong rabbits, but with spiritual efficiency looking through His Eyes, we will be moving from His Heart. There is a new level of integration being offered to His People.” This word continued, but I will stop there for now, and pick it up at the end of this article.

After getting this word started thinking about the inner workings of love. But, as the writer Raymond Carver asked, what is it, we talk about when we talk about love? Many of us don’t think much about having a Father centered spirituality. But the times are here, when more and more people will draw back into The Father’s Heart and start manifesting it outwards onto the earth. What is required in our times, is more love. Not even more action will help things, but more love flowing into action will. This is a clarion call to draw into The Father’s Heart of Love, and to live from it. That is the most helpful thing we can do for the world right now.

Many of us have been fortunate enough to meet some older ones, who manifest this father’s heart spirituality. We feel seen, safe and peacefully accepted around these people. For they are living from the safest place in the universe. We find ourselves drawn to, what they are living from. We want to know what we see.

It is good to see well. It is better and higher to love well. For when we love, we also see.

The Father’s Heart is made of love, and is the source of all love. For God is made out of love. Jesus came to guide us to this wellspring of all Love. He became our Lover to guide us into His Father’s Heart of Love.

St. Paul was able to integrate The Father’s Heart and His Eyes into his own life. You feel this especially towards the end of his ministry. We need both the heart of The Father, and His Sight. Allowing Him to integrate them in your own life is like an eagle flying in front of the moon. You bring the safe glow of fatherhood, with the keen accurate hawk like sight of Christ. A watchman who is also a father. We watch with Him because He likes to bear witness to His own activities. We see and give a testimony. But we also move into His Heart.

The Father’s Heart is the source of the universe. It is the cave which never ends, and is filled with love. We come out to the edge of the cave to help others and to interface with life down here; but the inner cave is our true home. Our home is in the Father’s Heart. It is the safest place there is.

There, we are so comforted adored engulfed in His Love for us and all, that we never want to leave this space.

For me, i worked many years with and in Jesus before really coming up and dwelling or abiding in The Father’s Heart. I met God in action helping others, so i got to know Him in service, out here, down here. It was a Jesus thing for me firstly. But gradually because of who Jesus is, i got drawn into The Life of His Father. Same love, but very different type of spiritual space in Father.

It has a solidity and Peace unlike anything I’ve known. Paul describes it, as do many others. Here, i just want to say, i felt some part of me was restless before coming home into The Father’s Heart. There is a calming effect at the core level when we dwell with Father there.

We are no longer in competition with the world around us. We are settled in ourselves. I try to stay there as long as i can. It’s become a practice for me. For my type of personality which is very prophetic and running around giving messages all the time, it is very healthy for me to pull back and just be in His Heart’s Being! I recommend it.

Plus, it allows your prophetic activity to others, to have that depth of love which only comes from having spent time with Father. You can tell when someone has been with Father God. There is a knowing in their being. That something which says, hey that person knows who they are, or where they come from, what they are grounded in. There is a peace in knowing. True knowing comes from sitting in the Father’s Heart.

I really want to be growing in both His Heart and His sight. For many years, i focused mainly on sight–far sight and insight vision, interpreting spiritual visions and impressions dreams etc. But as i get older, i find more of His Heart flowing into me, and i am more often drawn home to be with The Father. It is so restful in Him, and yet so alive.

Being so choreographic as i am, i struggle at times with feeling like I’m missing things. In the Father, you can’t miss anything. There is absolute Peace of being. The contemplatives wrote about this. But it is also very practical for a person constantly thinking of timing and planting at the right instant.

One of the things I’ve noticed about those who move in the Father’s spirit and heart, is that they are not worried. They are concerned, but not worried about things. They will speak for justice, but not anxiously. God is not anxious. Therefore, Paul teaches us to be anxious about nothing, but pray about everything until you are released into His Being.

There is also something unique about prophesying while sitting in His Heart which changes the tone of the message. Discernment itself is a matter of tone. The same information can be stated twice with opposite tones and mean something entirely different. The Tone of Love is the tone of The Father.

We discern what is of Him, by looking for a tone of love. Since love is the highest aspect of who God is, to dwell in His Love, as Paul stated in I Corinthians 14:1, is the highest goal of the spiritual life.

To receive His Love is the beginning of salvation. But to learn to live in it, is the mature life. To be loved yes, but to dwell in His Love and love others from that foundation of His Love, is the Christian life. We do not love just to be nice or atruistic. We are not just going around doing good for the sake of good. We are those doing good “in His Name!” To be in His Name, drawing our life from His, is to walk in love. Not I, but Christ, means among other things, that our good does not flow from ourselves, but from a Higher Source. This Higher Source is the life of The Father.

This is why Jesus is constantly stepping away and “plugging into” The Father. He especially does this before major events in His Life. Even Jesus, had this discipline of drawing near to the Father’s Heart before action.

Jesus invited and invites us to know The Father’s Heart of Love for us all. This was His primary mission on earth, and continues to be His invitation. That we would know and love God, and therefore love our neighbors.
Let us draw into The Heart of The Most High Father God this hour, and never leave our homes again. Thanks Jesus for making a way into The Father’s Heart for us, so we can come home and live in The Father’s Heart.

Accuracy of vision also requires us to be in His Heart in order to know and interpret. If we are not moving in His Love our vision is less accurate. Because it is divided. Remember God is One integrated Being, so when we see or get knowledge apart from being in His Love, we end up misinterpreting. We divide the message, rather than deliver it whole. So it makes us much more accurate in ministry to both see into and know His Heart on a matter.
Head and Heart must be home in Him.

Prophetic accuracy depends on being in the Father’s Heart of love. For what will last in the end, as Paul teaches us, is love. Prophecy will pass, His Love will remain. Therefore it is wise to desire to know His Love. For it is our eternal home.

What I want to see in the church right now is an increase in love flowing out from The Father’s Love. This requires a deeper communion with Father. This requires us to dwell more in The Father’s Heart. When we do, our social justice, prophetic words and acts, being salt and light (preserver and interpreter in the light of understanding) will have a warmth which draws others into the safest place in the universe. The source of all love. The origin of Love. For God is Love.

His Body needs His Heart. The Eyes and Heart are also meant to work in tandem.
All five fold aspects of His Being are meant to work also in tandem. Just as He divided them out as positions in the early church. We are meant to move in and know more of His Being. All five parts are knowable in His Heart. He is the apostle, prophet, teacher, pastor, evangelist. In His Heart all five aspects flow, and work as one.

I think you will start to see more of His People starting to live in, and therefore live out from His Father’s Heart. You will recognize them by their love. And the Peace they live in, and carry. Paul had this spiritual contentment in all circumstances. I think you will start to see more and more of this spiritual contentment in His Church.

She is currently being shaken in order to refine, but she is being shaken into His Heart of hearts. Look for the emerging of overnight elders. Those who have chosen to live in and from The Father’s Heart. God will mature them quickly to live and manifest from His Own Loving Heart towards the world. What took 40 years, will take four, for those who are willing to be formed. A quicker formation is available in our time. He told me “many will be suddenly burnt into place.” A sudden deepening of discipleship and formation of His Life in us, is necessary in days like these! Let us be ready for “sudden saints.”!! The suddenly saints will reflect the heart of the Father in an obvious overt way, which is unmistakable. This is act of Mercy in allowing people to taste, and turn to Him, and be truly saved. To enter the journey of the righteous ways into The Father. They will baptize many into the Name of The Father!

When we baptize, be sure to baptize into all three Names! He is emphasizing making sure we know and allow ourselves to be known by The Father who sees us as we are. Be baptized into the Name of The Father! For, as Paul put it, in the future we will see more clearly, then we will in perfect clarity, even as God already sees us. We can go forward, because the Father already knows us clearly, much better than we know ourselves. Then we will know what He already knows, and see clearly face to face. But already we can trust the one who already sees us clearly and loves us dearly! And we can baptize others into His Loving Being!

More from the words I’ve been receiving:
” This will balance the church with a new unity of being (inside and outside of the institutional church structures), and a tone of love, which will attract people to Christ and His Father. No longer will others only observe the sinful nature in His Church, but they will experience firsthand the amount of sheer love oozing from her very pores. They will see His people deeply in love with one another and others. And they will get that eternal fragrance of heaven. The perfume of Love will draw many to His reality. And love will become the true tone of the church’s real life on earth. The world will finally “know that they are christians, by their love.” Love will be the hallmark of christian spirituality again. Not controversy, but the splendor of lives in His Love.

For this to occur. This new re-formation of His Life in us. We must be baptized into all three Names, as Jesus told us to baptize others into the Name of The Son, The Father, and The Holy Spirit. So we must be baptized into all three persons of His Trinity. The Father’s Name is pressing more deeply into His Body currently, so that it lead the world into His Kingdom. We must come to be baptized into The Name, Identity, reality of The Father! We must approach and come to know and be known by Him more and more in this season. And the gates are open for just that now!

God is integrating His Body through His Love. The origin is the source of true formation. The origin place of His Body is His Heart. Let us draw into it forever. Amen. For we, like Jesus can do nothing apart from The Father. We only do what we see The Father doing. All action then on earth, flows out from His Love.

And, of course, the father’s heart brings healing just by being in it, or near it. So we who live from it, will be agents of healing for others. We will see more intense healing around us, as we live in and from His Heart.

So, this is call to draw near to, and up into, The Father’s Heart. This is a game changer. Our ministries will know peace in labor, as we do. Just as Paul, who labored as much as anyone, did so in spiritual contentment and inner rest in The Father, so this the challenge for our day as well.

When we live in His Love, we will perforce love those in need around us. The world needs His Love desperately in our day. And you will start seeing more sheer love as those draw near to His Heart of Love for this world.

The refugee crisis as well as the many other religious and racial shakings are making it clear, who is actually in and acting from His Heart of Love. This will increase and continue until we live in His Love. It is for our good to be called back to our origin and Source. The more we live from His Heart, the more the world will be truly blessed.

Many people when they think of love, think also of sexual union, as it is a core metaphor of intimacy. But, just as sex without love produces fruit without care, so when we do good works apart from His Heart, we bear fruit which won’t last. This is why God placed sex within the confines of a covenant love. This is one area which examples God’s unity of body and heart. The world separates physical pleasure from love. That is just the opposite of God’s Nature. God is One. So what we give our bodies to is to be in His Love.

This is also true with social work. We can help thousands of people, give our bodies to the flames, but as Paul taught, without love it is useless. It is so essential that we actually know His Heart of Love, that St John uses it as a way to discern false and true teachers. Again, two teachers can say the same thing, one in a spirit of love, the other in a religious or self inflating spirit, and the actual content alters. Love is the key to true spiritual discernment. From His Loving Heart, we can see what it is and flowing from His Heart. He is making His Body one as He is one so we can discern and interpret from His heart. The difference between the tree of life and the other tree, was His Love and Life was in the Tree of Life. And since we all have Eve’s tendency to discern poorly, let us lean towards Love to know which tree is which.

When i think of love, i think of inner glow of knowing, safety to be and become, rhythms of origin, I think of home in The Father’s Heart, and i think of real Peace. When we think of Peace, we think of The Father, and His Son, the Prince of Peace who shares freely what the Father has shared with Him. To stay in Peace is to abide in The Father’s House. Jesus is the way into The Peace of His Father. We bring Peace by abiding in His Peace. Let us be bringers of His Peace daily and especially this season on the earth. Let us dwell in The Father’s Heart!

Many are going to come into the Kingdom, top down this season, starting with the Father Himself. When you think of the conversation between Jews, Muslims and Christians, can you imagine that conversation occurring, engulfed in the loving presence of The Father. Then we would be getting somewhere. So believers really need to know and dwell in who Father actually is. If the Father has not been an active part of your personal spirituality, He soon will be. For Father is who Jesus pointed to, and as we point to Jesus, we point to who He loves most, and is adored by. And we are included in their relationship with one another. That’s where we live. Do not be surprise by the Father’s love overwhelming you at times in these coming days. He is pouring His very self out into our hearts. And, though we are partially embarrassed by this love, it is truly our home. Might as well get used to it, while here!

Outpourings of the Father’s love are about to become more common. Not all will know what is happening, but we who recognize, can discern His Love, will! Watch for waterfalls of The Heart of God. Don’t be surprised, but be strengthened by His True Love pouring out over all of creation. His Mercy is once again making His Heart known to mankind. We are the waterfall chasers and receivers, who know the source of the spiritual cascades! Be blessed to know the Father even deeper today friends! When He leans, everything is altered, even our fragile hearts.

For many years He has been giving me dreams about how all the different parts of the Body are meant to relate as One. I have seen the different wings of His Body, and their historic restorations and exaggerations. How each carries unique reflections of Him, when once redeemed and matured, will offer themselves to the whole. He has shown me where each part of the Body is at, developmentally; and what needs purging, but also what will work in perfect tandem once Love is applied. I have great hope for the whole church from these years of dreams. I think a key to this coming unity is a true knowing and love of The Father. The Father is able to make a house for His Son. And grow her up into The Head.

I think a key to this coming unification of expression in His Body, this new re-formation (or deeper formation of His Life in His People) is deeply abiding in The Father’s Heart, and therefore His Love. As we move towards the Bosom of The Father, we will find these things happening to us, through us, and around us. Love is the tone of the coming movements of God. And it is the key note or melody of His coming movements on earth. God is love, and we who seek Him are about to know it! Watch for love avalanches, cascades, waterfalls. Draw into The inner heart of The Father. This is more than a wave, it is an ocean of The Father’s Love, a tremendous outpouring as in the days of Noah, but this time we are to be flooded by His Love, caught up into His Heart, seen and seeing from The core of who The Father truly is. We are His children, and our daddy tells us what He is doing. And we have learned to trust Him. Be blessed in receiving His Heart for our times.” Amen again.