Known and Loved

One of the beloved Christmas stories is that of the Wise Men and their journey from the distant East to seek and worship the Messiah. What can we learn from these wise men? Did they just have a one-time encounter with God and then go home? I have my doubts. If this was truly a momentous occasion, a real encounter with the Messiah, I bet they went home and spread the good news… that a King who had all authority in heaven and on earth, a King whose kingdom would never end, had finally come for the world. They would likely spread the news- that Jesus was the answer to “The Great Question” of life, the universe, everything!”

As we await the celebration of the birth of our savior take a moment to examine not only how sweet this season is- but to look into the life of one of the Bible’s unsung heroes and what we can learn from him about how obedience is the highest expression of our LOVE for our Heavenly Father.

Everything in prayer life changes when we focus FIRST on just adoring God. Tell God how amazing, magnificent and wonderful he is. How you are blessed by the extravagance of His love. How he was YOUR Jesus and hero. And do you know why things change? It won't be because you are pumping up God’s ego and all of the sudden He says: “Well, they're is finally telling me how great I am- Now I am going to give out some rewards!” No. That’s not how things happened at all. Think about it. Why does God want us to spend our time in adoration? Though He is worthy of it, it’s not because He needs to hear it--- it’s because we need to hear it!

Why does Jesus tell us to go pray in secret? Remember Jesus also says in Matthew 6: for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. So- Why go to our secret place and petition God if he already knows our petitions and our needs? The point is this- Prayer doesn’t change God, it changes us. The point of petition is not to pray fervently for what we want. It’s a time to allow God to work on our hearts so our petitions come in line with what God wants.

When we fast, we set our hearts above on Jesus and it reminds us that God sustains us! It is here you realize that He is your provision for a fully satisfied life. Remember Jesus is our Daily bread! John 6:35: Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. The challenge for you is to be sure you are getting your daily diet of spiritual food! Every day you need SOUL FOOD!

The best road map of your soul is- to be like the FBI- and “follow the money.” Jesus called “Money” “Mamon” in order to personalize it as a rival God. “Money” wraps up all the resources of your spiritual wallet. Time, Talent, and Treasure- ask yourself: Where does it all go? It’s painful to expend resources on things you don’t like, but if it’s something you really love--- the money and the time flies right out of your wallet and eats up your schedule! Is Jesus the place where you are expending your resources?

What does Jesus mean by Giving in Secret? What is one factor that gets in the way of our giving and choosing to be a servant for Christ? It is our own self-righteousness. There is a difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When we choose to serve we put our “self” in charge and we hold the power. We expect “appreciation” for our deeds or we worry about being taken advantage of by those we are ”helping.” However, when we choose to be a servant we realize: A servant has no power. Servants are bound to allocate all of their resources to the master. When we choose to be God’s servants we surrender the “right” to choose who, what, where, when and how we will give and serve. We let God decide those things. Giving in secret is specifically designed to conquer our desire to have the power.

In today’s episode of Known and Loved we continue our series, A Secret Life, based on the teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6. In this series we are examining the question: How do we deepen our relationship with God and gain security in the truth that we are known and loved by him? We search for the answers to that question in this episode by examining the idea of pursuing a Secret life with God through our giving. Today we find that transforming lives comes from all aspects of giving. God doesn’t just want us to throw our money at things. He wants us to throw our lives and our hearts in with people. That means people will see it. The heart of Secret Giving is not that no one ever sees. It’s that you’re motivation isn’t in the being “seen.”

Today we aim to create the ambiance of The Secret Life. The goal is not to create a check-list, but rather to reorient our hearts. In this episode we  unpack a couple of classics in literature that help illustrate how to motivate our hearts toward the pursuit of a Secret Life with God. In unpacking these great works of literature we will see reflections of the gospel that will help orient our hearts toward Jesus. In John 15:9 Jesus says: "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.” Jesus says “I love you like God loves you. Stay in relationship with me, stay close to me, stay wrapped in my love.” He is saying: I treasure you! Treasure me! I am the only treasure that can’t be devalued! I love you above all else! Love me above all else! I call you precious, you are my own, make me your own! I am your One True treasure, your one true friend and your one true love!

In today’s episode of Known and Loved we begin a new series called A Secret Life based on the teachings of Jesus in Matthew chapter 6 on the spiritual disciplines of giving, praying and fasting. In this series we will be examining the question: How do we deepen our relationship with God and find security in the truth that we are known and loved by him? We will explore the answer to this question as we look at the pursuit of a secret life with God. Today we find that in Matthew 6 Jesus is not giving us a list of “things to do” so that we can “get rewards.” He is issuing an invitation. This invitation is addressed specifically to you. It is an invitation for you to get alone with God. It is an invitation to intimacy, to go into the Secret Place of your heart with Him. It is in the Secret Place, in pursuit of A Secret Life that you come to know and love Jesus and grow to understand how deeply you are known and loved by Him.

In today’s Episode of Known & Loved we conclude our Rest Assured series.  Colossians 2:3 refers to Jesus as: Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures. He is the ONE true treasure that will not fade away. Joy and pleasures forevermore are an unfading treasure for your eternity, but that richness is also available to you RIGHT now, in every moment that you place yourself in his presence. Where can we find pleasures forevermore? There is only one way. Jesus is the way!

Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, the story of his redemption of our souls, salvation for our lives and his coming again in glory is not just one more fairy tale to add to the heap. It is the one true story to which all other stories point. The Gospel is our bedrock for now and our hope for later. Those who know Jesus and call him Lord and Savior are a part of His Story. He is both our One True Story and our One True treasure. The question we must ask is this: How are we to live into the GREAT story?

Today we connect Psalm 16 with the story of Martha and Mary in Luke chapter 10. Here we find that each day we choose. We choose to run around by the tyranny of the urgent, fretting over things we cannot control and over the things we think we can control and all the “to do’s” on our list, and worry about not having enough time to do any of them. Or we choose the ONE THING we need- and sit at the feet of Jesus. Jesus even tells us which is the better choice— so choose what IS better!

Today we look to where we can find true joy. Psalm 16: 11 says: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” There is only one place where we can be filled with true joy! There is only one place where joy flows abundantly and eternally: In the presence of Jesus.  If we struggle with experiencing true joy, we have to ask ourselves this tough question: Where am I? We have a choice each day— we can place ourselves in the presence of the Lord every day. If we make this choice we find true joy.

In today’s episode of Known & Loved we look at who God is- and that He IS big enough. We examine His attributes and why we can trust Him, because not only is He eternal and outside of time, He intersected the timeline to rescue us!  We also look at His intentions for us in times of suffering or difficulty. God intends for us to give thanks in all circumstances— to be praying continuously through every circumstance, never losing hold of the joy we have in Him, while giving thanks, not necessarily for the suffering, but even in the midst of it. Here we find Psalm 16:11 is true- You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

The first time I found Grace drawing on herself I opened the palms of her hands and saw crosses and hearts on one hand, and "I LOVE GOD!" inscribed on the other. She looked up at me and said: “It’s because I just LOVE him so MUCH!” I want to love Jesus in a way that is “written” all over me. When my palms are open they are raised in delight of him and when my palms are clenched in fists I am holding on to him tightly, never wanting to be separated from him or his love. In a way, it seemed Grace’s love was imitating how Jesus loves. She wrote it on her hands, just like he did… See, I will not forget you, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. (Isaiah 49:16) (NIV 2002)

What makes you forget that you love God? What is the result? More importantly, how do you get back to him? I don’t know what makes you forget about God, but I know how we can get back to him! Remember who you are! Remember who loves you, and remember who you love. It is spelled out in Psalm 51 where we see David remember his one true love, go back to God, and become transformed. We continue to examine verses Psalm 9-10 and pair them with Psalm 51 to illustrate our SOUL SECURITY rests with Jesus, our one true love who knows and loves us.

Have you ever lost a child? If not, maybe you’ve been a lost child? Or maybe as a grown up you’ve just been lost in a scary place that you know is no place to be. If you’ve had any of these experiences you know to your core how desperate you feel in that moment. The question is— to what degree do we realize our spiritual lost-ness? We wander around the world looking for “home” searching for security, unfortunately, for many of us we wander endlessly lost, even with God right on our heels pursuing us. We try to compensate by finding other means of “comfort” and “security” from this world. We foolishly believe these will satisfy us but we know deep down that they don’t deliver. How can we be rescued from our lostness? JESUS is the answer!

This week we are looking at Psalm 16:8 from another angle, again with the aim of understanding that it is in fact Jesus who is our firm foundation. He is your belt of truth, your breastplate of righteousness, your feet of peace, your shield of faith, your helmet of salvation and your sword of the Spirit. Because of this you can STAND firm!

What does it mean to "set the Lord before us?" as Psalm 16 says. How do we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus? Today's look at Psalm 16: 7-8 connects with Philippians  4:8 and the list of "these things" that Paul tells us to meditate on. What are these things? How do they connect to Jesus? How do they help us keep our eyes on the Lord?