via Streams Ministries
by John Paul Jackson
Each year as January 1 approaches, many of us begin to think about making New Year’s resolutions. This year, as you contemplate potential changes in your life, remember that the choices you make today are important; they are uniquely powerful because God wrote your capability of making choices into your destiny.
We have the option of following Him, obeying Him and walking in wisdom; He instilled within us the ability to gather knowledge, assimilate it and then make the best decision we can based on our understanding.
This means that we are the architects of destiny. God is not the “architect” as much as He is the Creator of the spiritual and natural laws of the universe. In the midst of these laws, we devise our plans and draw up the architectural designs for our lives.
An example of a spiritual law would be that of sowing and reaping. No matter what type of seed we use, we will reap what we sow. If we sow discontent, we will reap discontent. If we sow faithfulness, we will reap faithfulness. An example of a natural law would be that of gravity or even glass — we discover right away that glass makes great windows but very poor load-bearing beams. These are laws, or “rules,” of the spiritual and natural realms.
For more about this topic, check out Maximizing Heaven's Help by clicking here.
We Design Our Plans Within God’s Confines
God gives us our callings, and we start planning for the future within His laws. However, Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” So all the while, we think we are putting together these grand architectural designs for our lives, but we are actually doing so in coordination with God as He helps us work through the laws and various steps of what He has called us to do.
Quite often, our choices are more important than we realize. God doesn’t command us to do what He has called us to do. He does not lay our destiny out before us and declare, “You will do this!” Instead, He looks for us to interact with Him in our process of walking it out.
He wants us to choose to seek His input — but we do not have to seek His input. The choice is up to us, because we are the architects.
I don’t know about you, but I have been guilty of designing my own plans, and they weren’t what God wanted me to do. Sometimes, God allows us to make a wrong choice; He lets us try to build something for Him that He does not want. This is like baking an apple pie for a friend who does not like apple pie. It could be the best apple pie in the world, but the friend will still say, “I don’t like apple pie.”
“But this is the best apple pie!”
“But I don’t like apple pie.”
The great thing is that if we have a heart for God, we will recognize that our choice was wrong, repent for it and then apply ourselves to what He has actually called us to do. For a season, I thought I was supposed to be in the business world. Even though I was successful, God let me know very, very clearly that business was not what I was called to do.
The Choice Is Up to You
The architect designs what the owner wants. If the owner wants a shopping mall, we design a shopping mall. If the owner wants an amazing high-rise building, we design an amazing high-rise building.
The owner tells the architect what he or she wants, and that person becomes the designer of that desire. Obviously, if we are walking with God, He has a lot to do with that design, but many, if not most, of the choices along the way remain in our hands.
Do Not Be Afraid of Mistakes
You, as an architect, employ everything you have (all of your skill, your knowledge of God’s Word and His ways, your discipline, your wisdom, etc.) to design the building God has called you to build: the destiny that God purposed you for. He created the spiritual and natural laws of the universe, put a destiny within you and then told you, “Now I am going to give you choices in this. You can get to do this.”
What has God told you to do? What architectural design waits on your table? In the process, don’t be afraid of making a mistake. The “owner” of this building project has an incredible love for you, and He is stronger than you are — He is fully able to keep you from falling (Jude 1:24). So keep your eyes on Him. Watch Him and see what He is doing. Then make your choices and step forward, holding firmly to His hand.
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter&article_id=180#.Tv831uRsiSo
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
Showing posts with label Streams Ministries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Streams Ministries. Show all posts
11/24/11
Simple Delight
Simple Delight
November 2011
by John Paul Jackson
http://www.streamsministries.com
God has never stopped being God, and He has never stopped wanting to manifest who He is to His people.
Have you ever known someone who is a true gift giver? People who express their love by giving gifts do not give out of obligation or burden; they give out of delight because it is in their hearts to give. It is how God made them.
Part of being a gift giver is paying attention to the details. It is being aware of the little things so that you can craft a gift that will be perfect for the recipient. God takes great delight in surprising His people with His goodness. He delights in being there for us, in coming through for us. He loves to give us the good gifts of His provision and grace that reveal to us His nature and His character. He will always turn out to be more than we expect.
However, we can get so wrapped up in the “big” things of God that we forget about the “small” things of God. Yes, He rejoices in the sacrifices we make for Him and the risks we take on His behalf. But He also rejoices in the whispers of His name and in the glances sent His direction. Every time His children reach for His hand, it is important to Him. These things matter to Him, more than we realize.
I think that as we rediscover God’s simplicity, we will rediscover our hope.
Eye Has Not Seen
Where hope and expectation collide, faith is birthed. Many of us in the Church have used up our hope, and our expectation in Him has become almost non-existent. Why? Because we have been lulled to sleep. Even in the most intense times of God’s presence, many of us do not expect Him to do what He has never done before — to touch what has never been touched or to heal what has never been healed.
We are not ready for 1 Corinthians 2:9, which states, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
We know that verse is true, but it is as if we know it from a distance; we have a hard time believing it is always true, all the time, in every life.
Yet God is a giver of gifts. And many gift givers do not want to give you something you have received before. Where is the delight in that? They want to give you something new — something that will bring you a new level of delight.
Ear Has Not Heard
Our belief system has taken us to a place where we “believe” God will do something, but we do not really expect Him to do it. We need to undo that mental process and begin to approach Him again like little children. They don’t know what to expect, but they know it is going to be good.
We try to make things so complicated, and in the process, we lose the simplicity of His existence. We forget the delight of the Father’s heart. We overlook the extravagant story offered by the “small” things.
I think that as we rediscover His simplicity, we will rediscover our hope. If we knew how easy it was for His children to delight Him, we would make delighting Him a daily goal, and as a result, we would fall that much more in love with Him.
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter&article_id=179#.Ts8bxRckKSo
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
November 2011
by John Paul Jackson
http://www.streamsministries.com
God has never stopped being God, and He has never stopped wanting to manifest who He is to His people.
Have you ever known someone who is a true gift giver? People who express their love by giving gifts do not give out of obligation or burden; they give out of delight because it is in their hearts to give. It is how God made them.
Part of being a gift giver is paying attention to the details. It is being aware of the little things so that you can craft a gift that will be perfect for the recipient. God takes great delight in surprising His people with His goodness. He delights in being there for us, in coming through for us. He loves to give us the good gifts of His provision and grace that reveal to us His nature and His character. He will always turn out to be more than we expect.
However, we can get so wrapped up in the “big” things of God that we forget about the “small” things of God. Yes, He rejoices in the sacrifices we make for Him and the risks we take on His behalf. But He also rejoices in the whispers of His name and in the glances sent His direction. Every time His children reach for His hand, it is important to Him. These things matter to Him, more than we realize.
I think that as we rediscover God’s simplicity, we will rediscover our hope.
Eye Has Not Seen
Where hope and expectation collide, faith is birthed. Many of us in the Church have used up our hope, and our expectation in Him has become almost non-existent. Why? Because we have been lulled to sleep. Even in the most intense times of God’s presence, many of us do not expect Him to do what He has never done before — to touch what has never been touched or to heal what has never been healed.
We are not ready for 1 Corinthians 2:9, which states, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
We know that verse is true, but it is as if we know it from a distance; we have a hard time believing it is always true, all the time, in every life.
Yet God is a giver of gifts. And many gift givers do not want to give you something you have received before. Where is the delight in that? They want to give you something new — something that will bring you a new level of delight.
Ear Has Not Heard
Our belief system has taken us to a place where we “believe” God will do something, but we do not really expect Him to do it. We need to undo that mental process and begin to approach Him again like little children. They don’t know what to expect, but they know it is going to be good.
We try to make things so complicated, and in the process, we lose the simplicity of His existence. We forget the delight of the Father’s heart. We overlook the extravagant story offered by the “small” things.
I think that as we rediscover His simplicity, we will rediscover our hope. If we knew how easy it was for His children to delight Him, we would make delighting Him a daily goal, and as a result, we would fall that much more in love with Him.
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter&article_id=179#.Ts8bxRckKSo
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
11/11/11
The More Important Thing
Streams Ministries October 2011 e-Letter
by John Paul Jackson
Several years ago, when Streams Ministries was still located in New Hampshire, I started hearing footsteps. Some of the time, it would be my editor coming into my office to tell me I had a phone call or something else, but at other times, no one would be there. I would hear someone enter, but the office would be empty.
Well, this is strange, I would think.
The Busy Body of Christ
All of us have experienced different seasons of busyness in life. I don’t mean periods of time when we are swamped for a week or two; I mean entire months and years of busyness, when we don’t have time for God because we are trying to do things for Him. In this story, I was in one of those seasons. I had not slowed down in a long time.
One day, I was in the office by myself. I heard someone come into the room and assumed that my staff had returned. I was on a roll, so I kept working, figuring they would tell me what they needed.
But no one said anything. The steps stopped right behind my chair, and the next thing I knew, I felt arms around me. The physical presence was so real that at first, I thought I was being hugged. But when I looked down, nothing was there.
I began to weep, overwhelmed by incredible love and compassion. Conviction dropped over me like a blanket. In a moment, I knew the Lord was showing me that I had gotten too busy for Him. I wasn’t giving Him time to touch me.
No Substitutions
We can have phenomenal experiences in God: visitations, translations, transportations, trances, dreams, visions, etc. We can learn to recognize His voice and have angels bring us messages of profound revelation. We can have extreme prophetic gifting and direct the courses of nations. But none of these things can act as a substitute for Him. Doing what God has called you to do is an excellent thing—but not when it takes His place.
Obviously, walking in our calling is very important, but we can’t ever forget why we are walking in our calling—why we wanted to take this road in the first place. Our focus can easily shift from God Himself to being busy with what He has given us to do.
Practice the Presence
Around the time of our move to New Hampshire, it seemed like everyone wanted a piece of my attention. I felt constantly pulled on. I love people and I want to help them, but that day in my office, I felt the Lord was letting me know, “John Paul Jackson, you’ve gotten so busy working for Me that you don’t have room for Me to touch you. You don’t make time for Me to touch you, like you used to.”
It may seem like an oxymoron, but sometimes we are so busy going after Him that we fail to wait for Him. As Isaiah 30:18 declares, God moves and acts on the behalf of those who wait for Him. They give Him time, and He responds.
No matter what happens in our relationship with God, what level of gifting we have, where we feel God has placed us in His body, the influence we may or may not have—we need to keep our gaze on the more important thing: God Himself.
Throughout our lives, there will be times when God calls us to hard work and other times when God calls us to rest; in both seasons, He is here. Where are you? Learn to hear His voice. Seek Him out. Let Him touch you. Practice the presence of God and grant Him the desire of His heart.
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter#.Tr0nVvKwW3c
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
by John Paul Jackson
Several years ago, when Streams Ministries was still located in New Hampshire, I started hearing footsteps. Some of the time, it would be my editor coming into my office to tell me I had a phone call or something else, but at other times, no one would be there. I would hear someone enter, but the office would be empty.
Well, this is strange, I would think.
The Busy Body of Christ
All of us have experienced different seasons of busyness in life. I don’t mean periods of time when we are swamped for a week or two; I mean entire months and years of busyness, when we don’t have time for God because we are trying to do things for Him. In this story, I was in one of those seasons. I had not slowed down in a long time.
One day, I was in the office by myself. I heard someone come into the room and assumed that my staff had returned. I was on a roll, so I kept working, figuring they would tell me what they needed.
But no one said anything. The steps stopped right behind my chair, and the next thing I knew, I felt arms around me. The physical presence was so real that at first, I thought I was being hugged. But when I looked down, nothing was there.
I began to weep, overwhelmed by incredible love and compassion. Conviction dropped over me like a blanket. In a moment, I knew the Lord was showing me that I had gotten too busy for Him. I wasn’t giving Him time to touch me.
No Substitutions
We can have phenomenal experiences in God: visitations, translations, transportations, trances, dreams, visions, etc. We can learn to recognize His voice and have angels bring us messages of profound revelation. We can have extreme prophetic gifting and direct the courses of nations. But none of these things can act as a substitute for Him. Doing what God has called you to do is an excellent thing—but not when it takes His place.
Obviously, walking in our calling is very important, but we can’t ever forget why we are walking in our calling—why we wanted to take this road in the first place. Our focus can easily shift from God Himself to being busy with what He has given us to do.
Practice the Presence
Around the time of our move to New Hampshire, it seemed like everyone wanted a piece of my attention. I felt constantly pulled on. I love people and I want to help them, but that day in my office, I felt the Lord was letting me know, “John Paul Jackson, you’ve gotten so busy working for Me that you don’t have room for Me to touch you. You don’t make time for Me to touch you, like you used to.”
It may seem like an oxymoron, but sometimes we are so busy going after Him that we fail to wait for Him. As Isaiah 30:18 declares, God moves and acts on the behalf of those who wait for Him. They give Him time, and He responds.
No matter what happens in our relationship with God, what level of gifting we have, where we feel God has placed us in His body, the influence we may or may not have—we need to keep our gaze on the more important thing: God Himself.
Throughout our lives, there will be times when God calls us to hard work and other times when God calls us to rest; in both seasons, He is here. Where are you? Learn to hear His voice. Seek Him out. Let Him touch you. Practice the presence of God and grant Him the desire of His heart.
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter#.Tr0nVvKwW3c
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
9/23/11
Today, if You Hear His Voice
September 2011 e-Newsletter
by John Paul Jackson
When Jesus was crucified, all the provision for our spiritual, emotional and physical healing was made. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we were healed.
The word transgression means “rebellion.” He was wounded for our rebellion, for the decisions of our hearts to turn away from Him.
The word bruised means “crushed” and “misshapen.” He was bruised for our iniquities; Isaiah says elsewhere that He wasn’t even recognizable as a man.
The word iniquity means “perversion.” There are sins and rebellion—and then there is perversion. Jesus died for the most perverse of humanity. There is healing even for those who are so lost and corrupted that their souls have deformed, and they are no longer considered normal by the rest of society. There is healing even for them.
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. The wounding of His soul allows for the healing of our souls.
When the stripes were made, all provision for healing was made. His stripes brought us complete freedom from physical pain and brokenness.
There is now nothing else that needs to be done for us, because Jesus did everything.
And everything He did for us—the purpose of His heart, His goal—can be summed up in a single phrase: He wants our hearts.
Related Topic: The Communion Effect
The Greatest Commandment
Salvation took effort on God’s part, but relationship with Him takes effort on our part. He is waiting.
As we spend time in Isaiah 53, we realize that it was not a small, flimsy agreement we made with the Father the day we accepted Jesus as our Savior. We were paid for with the blood of His Son. A significant price was laid down for our hearts.
And today, that is what He wants. He wants our hearts.
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
— Matthew 22:35–37
Jesus suffered the full wrath of God on the cross. Why? So He could have what He wanted: the heart of mankind.
Where is your heart today? How long has it been since you considered, really considered, what He did for you on the cross—the price that was paid for your freedom and the reason that price was paid?
If we want to see change in our circumstances, if we want to thrive while the rest of the world is spinning out of control, God cannot be a hobby in our lives, something we do during our free time—or a novelty item we decide to pick up again when we’re in trouble. He is worth more than that. One commandment is the first and the greatest: “Give Me your heart. I want your heart.”
Today, If You Hear His Voice
The Bible tells us to seek God while He may be found. It isn’t that He can’t be found all the time; it is that in His system of creation, our desires are very important. What we desire, we often obtain. If we want Him, we will find Him, but it is also true that if we want to ignore Him, we will be able to ignore Him.
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Seek Him while He may be found. Give Him what He longs for. Remember the greatest commandment and look to see His face. He is waiting.
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter#.Tnw5sM1vGuI
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
by John Paul Jackson
When Jesus was crucified, all the provision for our spiritual, emotional and physical healing was made. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, we were healed.
The word transgression means “rebellion.” He was wounded for our rebellion, for the decisions of our hearts to turn away from Him.
The word bruised means “crushed” and “misshapen.” He was bruised for our iniquities; Isaiah says elsewhere that He wasn’t even recognizable as a man.
The word iniquity means “perversion.” There are sins and rebellion—and then there is perversion. Jesus died for the most perverse of humanity. There is healing even for those who are so lost and corrupted that their souls have deformed, and they are no longer considered normal by the rest of society. There is healing even for them.
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. The wounding of His soul allows for the healing of our souls.
When the stripes were made, all provision for healing was made. His stripes brought us complete freedom from physical pain and brokenness.
There is now nothing else that needs to be done for us, because Jesus did everything.
And everything He did for us—the purpose of His heart, His goal—can be summed up in a single phrase: He wants our hearts.
Related Topic: The Communion Effect
The Greatest Commandment
Salvation took effort on God’s part, but relationship with Him takes effort on our part. He is waiting.
As we spend time in Isaiah 53, we realize that it was not a small, flimsy agreement we made with the Father the day we accepted Jesus as our Savior. We were paid for with the blood of His Son. A significant price was laid down for our hearts.
And today, that is what He wants. He wants our hearts.
One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
— Matthew 22:35–37
Jesus suffered the full wrath of God on the cross. Why? So He could have what He wanted: the heart of mankind.
Where is your heart today? How long has it been since you considered, really considered, what He did for you on the cross—the price that was paid for your freedom and the reason that price was paid?
If we want to see change in our circumstances, if we want to thrive while the rest of the world is spinning out of control, God cannot be a hobby in our lives, something we do during our free time—or a novelty item we decide to pick up again when we’re in trouble. He is worth more than that. One commandment is the first and the greatest: “Give Me your heart. I want your heart.”
Today, If You Hear His Voice
The Bible tells us to seek God while He may be found. It isn’t that He can’t be found all the time; it is that in His system of creation, our desires are very important. What we desire, we often obtain. If we want Him, we will find Him, but it is also true that if we want to ignore Him, we will be able to ignore Him.
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Seek Him while He may be found. Give Him what He longs for. Remember the greatest commandment and look to see His face. He is waiting.
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter#.Tnw5sM1vGuI
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
8/24/11
Valor
by John Paul Jackson, August 2011 e-Newsletter
http://www.streamsministries.com
The Bible says that in the last days, men’s hearts will fail them for fear. I believe we live in an era that has been prophesied for millennia.
The earth suffers all manner of geophysical, economic, political, religious, and war issues. We see fear mounting in the hearts of men and women across the globe. Truly, it is a difficult time — for those who don’t know God. However, for those who do know God, this time doesn’t need to be difficult. If we are willing, it could be the most exciting time of our lives.
In Judges 7 when Gideon finally realized there was no reason for him to be afraid anymore, the Bible says he “worshipped.” The Hebrew word used here for worship implies that you first bow in humility, then you stand to your feet, raise your hands and in a loud voice proclaim God’s glory. That is a very brave thing to do when you’re right outside the enemy’s camp.
But something had happened to this man, who had once hidden from his enemies in a winepress and described himself as the weakest person he knew. Essentially, he stood up, and in the face of all his fears, he declared, “You can’t kill me! Nothing you can do can harm me. I can defeat you. The angel has said it. God has shown it. I will do it.”
Fear and faith
It is difficult for fear and faith to exist in their fullness in the same place at the same time. Both are the belief that something that hasn’t happened is going to happen. Fear is the expectation of something bad, and faith is the expectation of something good. One cancels out, or neutralizes, the other, and one or the other is going to exist as the plumb line of a person’s life.
Fear produces a desperate survivalist mentality. We dare not help the person next to us because if we do, we might fall off the cliff ourselves. The more self-concerned and self-focused we are, the fewer people we impact, because all of our effort and energy is consumed with ourselves. Gideon was hiding in a winepress! What impact did he have on his community while in a winepress?
Yet it was there, in the winepress, that God met him and proclaimed him to be a mighty man of valor. The winepress was not his destiny, though he clearly thought it was. Instead, God called him a hero, and a hero is what he became.
Out of weakness made strong
The people of God are not born strong. We become strong:
"And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle." Hebrews 11:32–34
Out of weakness, God’s people are made strong. We become valiant in battle. We don’t start out valiant — we become valiant.
The enemy has created a realm of fear to keep us shackled to inaccurate images and concepts of who we are. But God wants to take you and raise you up as a hero. He wants to take the “impossible” destiny He has written for you and bring it into existence.
I will never forget what the Lord once spoke to me: There is no limit to what I can do if you can restore hope in the heart of the people.
Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). What do you hope to become? Who has God called you to be? The day is coming when you, like Gideon, will stand before your foes and declare, “You are defeated!”
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter&article_id=176&utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=August+E-letter#.TlSgBM2Vpgp
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
http://www.streamsministries.com
The Bible says that in the last days, men’s hearts will fail them for fear. I believe we live in an era that has been prophesied for millennia.
The earth suffers all manner of geophysical, economic, political, religious, and war issues. We see fear mounting in the hearts of men and women across the globe. Truly, it is a difficult time — for those who don’t know God. However, for those who do know God, this time doesn’t need to be difficult. If we are willing, it could be the most exciting time of our lives.
In Judges 7 when Gideon finally realized there was no reason for him to be afraid anymore, the Bible says he “worshipped.” The Hebrew word used here for worship implies that you first bow in humility, then you stand to your feet, raise your hands and in a loud voice proclaim God’s glory. That is a very brave thing to do when you’re right outside the enemy’s camp.
But something had happened to this man, who had once hidden from his enemies in a winepress and described himself as the weakest person he knew. Essentially, he stood up, and in the face of all his fears, he declared, “You can’t kill me! Nothing you can do can harm me. I can defeat you. The angel has said it. God has shown it. I will do it.”
Fear and faith
It is difficult for fear and faith to exist in their fullness in the same place at the same time. Both are the belief that something that hasn’t happened is going to happen. Fear is the expectation of something bad, and faith is the expectation of something good. One cancels out, or neutralizes, the other, and one or the other is going to exist as the plumb line of a person’s life.
Fear produces a desperate survivalist mentality. We dare not help the person next to us because if we do, we might fall off the cliff ourselves. The more self-concerned and self-focused we are, the fewer people we impact, because all of our effort and energy is consumed with ourselves. Gideon was hiding in a winepress! What impact did he have on his community while in a winepress?
Yet it was there, in the winepress, that God met him and proclaimed him to be a mighty man of valor. The winepress was not his destiny, though he clearly thought it was. Instead, God called him a hero, and a hero is what he became.
Out of weakness made strong
The people of God are not born strong. We become strong:
"And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle." Hebrews 11:32–34
Out of weakness, God’s people are made strong. We become valiant in battle. We don’t start out valiant — we become valiant.
The enemy has created a realm of fear to keep us shackled to inaccurate images and concepts of who we are. But God wants to take you and raise you up as a hero. He wants to take the “impossible” destiny He has written for you and bring it into existence.
I will never forget what the Lord once spoke to me: There is no limit to what I can do if you can restore hope in the heart of the people.
Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). What do you hope to become? Who has God called you to be? The day is coming when you, like Gideon, will stand before your foes and declare, “You are defeated!”
http://www.streamsministries.com/index.php?page=eletter&article_id=176&utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=August+E-letter#.TlSgBM2Vpgp
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
7/27/11
Let Go of the Box
July 2011
by John Paul Jackson
http://www.streamsministries.com
Isaiah 46:10 says that God declares “the end from the beginning” and “from ancient times things that are not yet done.” For God to do this, time must exist within Him, rather than He existing within time. If He were confined to time, time would be greater, or larger, than He, and therefore He would be limited and controlled by the time surrounding Him.
However, if time exists within Him, then He sees all of time at the same moment. Thus He is all knowledgeable. In addition, He can be everywhere at the same time, in all of time, so there is nothing He does not know and no place where He is not. With this understanding, we can be fully confident that we serve a God who is able to act on our behalf at levels of power and perfection that we cannot possibly comprehend.
For more information on the eternality of God, download Fireside Chat #53 by CLICKING HERE.
Matthew 17 gives us a glimpse of God’s true eternality. Jesus, Peter, James and John are on the Mount of Transfiguration. Clearly, the Father is there as well because He speaks audibly to His Son, and Peter, James and John hear His voice. God has brought two other men to speak with Jesus: Moses and Elijah. In that moment, there are elements of three separate eras of time in the same time, at the same place.
In an effort to understand Him, many people have come to believe that God is progressively eternal, meaning that He has limited Himself to our sense of timing and walks into each day just as we do — He doesn’t know what the future holds any more than we do. According to this opinion, God knows some things that haven’t happened yet, but He has chosen to limit His complete understanding.
That type of thinking immediately presents an issue: If God were progressively eternal and bound by time, in Matthew 17 He wouldn’t have been able to be in three separate times at the same time. He would have had to leave Jesus on the mountain to go get Moses and then leave again to go get Elijah. But clearly, He didn’t do that.
God existed before time ever began. Putting limits on Him doesn’t encourage us to see Him as He is. No, that type of thinking simply enables us to place Him in a nice, tidy little box that keeps Him safe and explainable. It cuts away the vastness, the amazement, the awe, the divine nature and the grace that surpass all understanding. God is not progressively eternal; He is eternal — period — because He is God.
Think big thoughts
Every morning, we are given our first opportunity to decide how we are going to think that day. Put very simply, we can choose to think big thoughts about God or small thoughts about God. We can continue as we have always continued with Him, taking the steps we have taken before, or we can choose to take new steps — steps that are different, ones that may draw us out of our comfort zones. But in the process, our day will conform to those thoughts, and those thoughts will further align our individual worldviews with His truth.
What does His eternality mean for us?
If God has all knowledge and is omniscient, which He does and which He is, that means there has never been a time when He didn’t know about you.
Long before time existed, God knew about you. He knew about me. He knew about our families and what we would do, and He planned us. That is why Acts 17:26–27 says:
He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
If He were suddenly to have a new thought about us, He would have gained knowledge. But He already has “all knowledge,” and “all knowledge” doesn’t change. If God were progressively eternal, He would not be God.
When we believe that God limits Himself, we are mentally putting away part of His deity, and anytime we “remove” any part of God’s deity, we make Him smaller and weaker in our own minds — which affects our decisions and our impact on the people around us. It affects our faith levels and our ability to trust Him. Many of us are all too close to removing God’s deity and making Him simply a “Higher Life Form.”
Someday when we stand before Him, He will never say to us, “You made Me too big. I wish I could do everything you thought I could do. Bless your heart.”
No, when we stand in front of God’s throne, we will be terrified because of His great strength, yet at the same time, we will know He loves us because we are not destroyed. We will realize, “In my grandest, wildest thoughts, I still made You too small!”
So today, take some time to reflect on these questions: Why do you love your heavenly Father? Why did you choose to commit your life to Him? What is it about Him that draws you?
Meditate on Him. Let Him boggle your mind, and let go of any thought process that would suggest God is small.
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
by John Paul Jackson
http://www.streamsministries.com
Isaiah 46:10 says that God declares “the end from the beginning” and “from ancient times things that are not yet done.” For God to do this, time must exist within Him, rather than He existing within time. If He were confined to time, time would be greater, or larger, than He, and therefore He would be limited and controlled by the time surrounding Him.
However, if time exists within Him, then He sees all of time at the same moment. Thus He is all knowledgeable. In addition, He can be everywhere at the same time, in all of time, so there is nothing He does not know and no place where He is not. With this understanding, we can be fully confident that we serve a God who is able to act on our behalf at levels of power and perfection that we cannot possibly comprehend.
For more information on the eternality of God, download Fireside Chat #53 by CLICKING HERE.
Matthew 17 gives us a glimpse of God’s true eternality. Jesus, Peter, James and John are on the Mount of Transfiguration. Clearly, the Father is there as well because He speaks audibly to His Son, and Peter, James and John hear His voice. God has brought two other men to speak with Jesus: Moses and Elijah. In that moment, there are elements of three separate eras of time in the same time, at the same place.
In an effort to understand Him, many people have come to believe that God is progressively eternal, meaning that He has limited Himself to our sense of timing and walks into each day just as we do — He doesn’t know what the future holds any more than we do. According to this opinion, God knows some things that haven’t happened yet, but He has chosen to limit His complete understanding.
That type of thinking immediately presents an issue: If God were progressively eternal and bound by time, in Matthew 17 He wouldn’t have been able to be in three separate times at the same time. He would have had to leave Jesus on the mountain to go get Moses and then leave again to go get Elijah. But clearly, He didn’t do that.
God existed before time ever began. Putting limits on Him doesn’t encourage us to see Him as He is. No, that type of thinking simply enables us to place Him in a nice, tidy little box that keeps Him safe and explainable. It cuts away the vastness, the amazement, the awe, the divine nature and the grace that surpass all understanding. God is not progressively eternal; He is eternal — period — because He is God.
Think big thoughts
Every morning, we are given our first opportunity to decide how we are going to think that day. Put very simply, we can choose to think big thoughts about God or small thoughts about God. We can continue as we have always continued with Him, taking the steps we have taken before, or we can choose to take new steps — steps that are different, ones that may draw us out of our comfort zones. But in the process, our day will conform to those thoughts, and those thoughts will further align our individual worldviews with His truth.
What does His eternality mean for us?
If God has all knowledge and is omniscient, which He does and which He is, that means there has never been a time when He didn’t know about you.
Long before time existed, God knew about you. He knew about me. He knew about our families and what we would do, and He planned us. That is why Acts 17:26–27 says:
He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
If He were suddenly to have a new thought about us, He would have gained knowledge. But He already has “all knowledge,” and “all knowledge” doesn’t change. If God were progressively eternal, He would not be God.
When we believe that God limits Himself, we are mentally putting away part of His deity, and anytime we “remove” any part of God’s deity, we make Him smaller and weaker in our own minds — which affects our decisions and our impact on the people around us. It affects our faith levels and our ability to trust Him. Many of us are all too close to removing God’s deity and making Him simply a “Higher Life Form.”
Someday when we stand before Him, He will never say to us, “You made Me too big. I wish I could do everything you thought I could do. Bless your heart.”
No, when we stand in front of God’s throne, we will be terrified because of His great strength, yet at the same time, we will know He loves us because we are not destroyed. We will realize, “In my grandest, wildest thoughts, I still made You too small!”
So today, take some time to reflect on these questions: Why do you love your heavenly Father? Why did you choose to commit your life to Him? What is it about Him that draws you?
Meditate on Him. Let Him boggle your mind, and let go of any thought process that would suggest God is small.
© 2011 Streams Ministries International
http://www.streamsministries.com
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