Experience the Impossible: Simple Ways to Unleash Heaven's Power on Earth (18 page)

It is impossible to reach our potential without learning to minister to ourselves.

O
ne of the most important lessons for us to learn in life is how to minister to ourselves. It is vital. It is so important that God will blind the eyes and deafen the ears of our closest friends so that we might be positioned to discover what He has already taught us that we have lost sight of. It is not punishment but rather His kindness leading us to our God-given strength. Often this kind of love positions us for our greatest promotion.

Knowing how to minister to ourselves has its anchor in what God says about us. Ministry to ourselves draws from God’s heart of love and applies directly to ours. It is using God’s Word to bring strength, understanding or just plain faith where we feel weak or confused.

Biblical meditation seems to be a lost art in many parts of the Church. Perhaps there is fear of it because of its counterfeit—Eastern meditation. The cultic version, which directs people to empty their minds, opens them to outside influence—and more times than not it is demonic. In biblical meditation, we fill our minds with what God is saying. In that process, we run it over
and over in our hearts and minds until understanding increases from the inside out. It may seem strange to say, but oftentimes our hearts get it before our minds do. My heart can burst with excitement over a truth that I cannot as yet fully articulate. That is okay. The process has begun. It is a divine process. It should not surprise us to discover that our spirits perceive truth before our minds.

There is something profoundly healing and refreshing that comes only from the presence of the Lord. Thanksgiving and praise help us enter that place. Something happens to the heart when we choose to honor Him in spite of our loss, trouble or place of weakness. Giving Him praise turns our attention from ourselves to Him. That is never a bad idea. Where this has really brought strength into my life is when I give Him praise for the very things I might question because of the problems I am facing. When facing the threat of disease, for example, I exalt Him as the healer. Please notice that this must not be a token expression. In fact, I have noticed that the darker the cloud over me, the more demonstrative I must become in expressing my heart for Him.

It is called a sacrifice, which is a step beyond convenience. At this point, rejoicing is the last thing I want to do in the natural. But I refuse to live confined by the natural. I choose, therefore, to move into a superior realm called the realm of faith. From that place, I rejoice and rejoice and rejoice. When we were in the world, we knew that joy preceded rejoicing. But in the Kingdom, rejoicing often precedes joy.

The last part of my
strengthening myself
process is seen in the company I choose to keep. I intentionally associate with people of great faith, hope and love. Some people drain you. When you are the most vulnerable in your faith is when you must become the most focused on whom you will allow to affect you. This is called wisdom, and wisdom is necessary, especially when our spiritual immune system is weakened. While it might not seem as though I am ministering to myself in this situation, I am, in
fact, choosing the environment I have purposed to live in. This is part of the equation for health.

While there might be some who take this as an invitation to independence and rebellion, those things only exacerbate the real problem. God describes us as members of one another, members of His Body on earth. The picture is beautiful and beyond comprehension. I resist any teaching that tends to lead people into independence and rebellion. Separation from the Body has caused many to be defiled.

David is my hero in this regard. He went through a series of rejections: from Saul, to his brethren, to the Philistines he had served, to the mighty men whose lives he saved from self-destruction. Each of these seasons seemed to lead further and further away from God’s purpose for his life—to become king of Israel. Little did he know that what seemed to take him far from the throne was actually taking him to the back door of the throne room. But the key that unlocked the door was strengthening himself in the Lord (see 1 Samuel 30:6). Learning to minister to himself was the final lesson that took him to his divine potential—being the king of Israel.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, I do not want to live overwhelmed by what I do not understand or have control of. Instead, I want to see through Your eyes. You see me differently than I do, and I am the one who needs to change. So please help me to see what You say about me in a way that increases my dependence and delight in You. I ask this for Your glory.

Confession

God’s strength is my portion and a part of my inheritance, for He is my strength. I will display His strength that He will receive honor by my stepping into His purposes for my life. And may the grace of God upon my life bring Him glory forever.

Faith explores what revelation reveals.

I
magine receiving a great inheritance of thousands of acres of land. Picture yourself standing on a hill and having the attorney point to a ridge off in the distance, saying, “You own everything between here and there.” Then imagine him pointing in another direction and announcing that you own all the land between here and that river. And so his descriptions go, pointing to things in the landscape that mark the boundaries of your inheritance. He announces it is all yours. That would certainly be great news. I cannot speak for you, but I would want to explore every bit of land I just inherited. To look at it from a distance and be satisfied with ownership would be an insult to those who paid a great price to leave something for me to enjoy.

So it is in the Kingdom. What Jesus gave us, that which cost Him everything, must be explored thoroughly. And faith is the vehicle that takes us on that great adventure.

So many believers spend their lives standing on that hill, confessing what is theirs, but never actually experiencing it firsthand. The pronouncement of ownership even takes on the element of pride with confession after confession, as they proclaim their great authority and purpose. It is okay for that to be a starting
place, but it is a great tragedy when we stay there. What God provided for us was not meant to be reduced to a confession. Instead, it was meant to be the invitation to pursue, apprehend and enjoy! It is the invitation to an adventure, the ultimate journey—for all that belongs to Jesus is ours to enjoy. It is unlimited in scope and can never be completely explored in this life. But that is no excuse to remain idle. This Kingdom must be enjoyed.

This is where my life in the secret place pays off most. It is there, alone with God, that I have the responsibility and privilege to be intensely specific in my requests. If I keep running into people going bankrupt, there is my assignment. If it seems as though everyone with sugar diabetes crosses my path, there is my assignment. If it seems as though marriages are crumbling around me, I must cry out for the insight and anointing needed to help bring about victory in those situations.

The Lord often uses the needs of people around me to alert me to what is available for me to pursue on their behalf. I do not believe the Lord simply wants me to carry their burdens. While showing compassion and mercy is vital, so is obtaining answers. Jesus was not known for comforting people in their problems and then leaving them to figure things out on their own. Within the King’s domain—the Kingdom—is the answer for every problem humanity will ever face. And those who “seek first His Kingdom” are those who are entrusted with the answers needed to change the circumstances and transform the people.

This is the beautiful privilege of those who discover the vastness of this inheritance. We must let faith take us into places in God we could never enter otherwise.

Prayer

Father, I am wonderfully overwhelmed by all that You have given to me in Jesus Christ. It is beyond my ability to comprehend. And even though my inheritance is so vast, I pray for the gift of holy
dissatisfaction with the status quo. I do not want to be satisfied with theories instead of tasting the realities of Your world that could change my life, as well as the lives of others, for all eternity. Please open my eyes to see what You have given me to pursue, what You have given me to apprehend, what You have given me to enjoy. My cry is that Your name will be exalted, and that people will become free through everything I taste of. You are truly good, always good. Thanks.

Confession

I refuse to be satisfied with theories and classroom ideals. I must taste and see that the Lord is good. My inheritance is vast and is beyond all comprehension. But it is not beyond my ability to taste and see. I commit myself, therefore, to a life of exploration, that God might be glorified and that people might see Jesus in me.

When God says no, a better yes is coming.

A
person who lives with an abiding understanding of God’s abundant goodness interprets the day-to-day stuff much differently than everyone else. Prayer is one of those necessary elements of the believer’s life that is sometimes as painful as it is rewarding. I can honestly admit that it is the lifestyle of prayer that has brought some of my greatest joys, which are then contrasted with some of my greatest frustrations.

Part of that frustrating journey is learning what to do with a
no
from God. And sometimes what is even worse is
silence
from God. For me it is more painful than no. I have learned to take comfort in the Psalms, as the psalmist often mentioned his frustration with God’s silence. Both the no and the silence are something we have been given to steward. It is an extremely important part of the process called maturity. It would be incorrect to say or imply that God is ignoring me or is unconcerned. Even if I feel that way, I must return to truth and embrace the fact that He is a perfect, loving father, who excels beyond my wildest dreams at being my Father—Papa God. He cares more than I do about any circumstance or dream I may have. He is that good.

Oftentimes silence from God means He has already given me the direction, insight or capacity for the situation. You have heard the phrase that someone is giving you “the silent treatment.” It is that person’s form of punishment. God’s silence is never punishment. Only in silence will I find what He has already downloaded into my heart. In that place, things come to the surface that I would not have been able to hear otherwise. It is as though the deep of God calls to the deep in me, bringing to the surface what might otherwise be untapped. It is painful, but needed.

I find the no of God fascinating, especially when you contrast it with what Jesus stated over and over again to His disciples: that they could have anything they asked for. It is interesting, though, that when James and John asked for the right to call down fire on the Samaritans, Jesus rebuked them and said no (see Luke 9:54–56). No is God’s trump card, used when a better yes is coming, or when a yes would undermine His eternal purposes.

One of the great stories in this regard is in John 11. Lazarus is sick and dying. Mary and Martha send a notice to Jesus saying, “He whom You love is sick” (verse 3). In other words, someone You already have a relationship with needs help, which should trump Your obligation to minister to the strangers You are presently with. Jesus states that the sickness is not unto death, and then stays where He is two more days (verses 4–6). Emphasis is put on Jesus’ love for this family, and then it states that He stays two more days without going to attend to their requests. Very few of us would interpret staying away from someone’s crisis moment as love. But that is what the God of love did.

If Jesus had gone immediately to minister to Lazarus, there certainly would have been a healing. Because He waited, there was a resurrection. No one day, became a bigger yes on another.

Living with hope that finds its anchor in the nature and promises of God enables us to discover the richness of God as
a Father and stay away from panic. In stewarding our hearts well, we learn to live knowing things will turn out even better than if we had had our own way.

Prayer

Dear heavenly Father, thank You for Your goodness that surpasses all comprehension. I rest in hope in the knowledge that You are looking out for me, with the loving heart of a Father. Help me with my tendency to panic when things do not work the way I think they should, and especially help and forgive me for the times I have thought You did not care. I know that is not possible. Please give me the grace never to go there again. I pray these things for Your honor and glory.

Confession

God is always good. He is a perfect, loving Father with my best always in mind. Instead of accusing Him of not caring, I will quiet my heart to find His purposes in my more confusing circumstances. I declare that I love the will of God and will yield to His purposes, all for His glory.

Evangelism in its purest form is an overflow of worship.

T
hese two subjects are intricately woven together in the heart, much more than we might think at first glance. The one difference is the level of urgency: worship, while absolutely appropriate and necessary now, will continue throughout eternity, while evangelism is only for this lifetime.

That might move some into thinking that evangelism is the believer’s top priority. After all, the saving of souls is paramount while we are still on this planet. That is, until you see that loving God first, along with all of its expressions and nuances, is actually what adds definition, power and presence to our evangelistic efforts.

There is a powerful connection between our love for God and our love for people. Evangelism often gets reduced to people becoming projects, and people hate being someone else’s project. Who wants to be the project of some religious zealot so he can feel good about his devotion to God? No one wants to be the notch on the back of someone’s Bible. Perhaps this is part of the reason that evangelism gets such a bad rap.

Yet evangelism is real and necessary, a passionate delight of our Father. He wants all to be brought into His family. An overriding theme of the New Testament message through Jesus Christ was that we are to love one another.
Another
for Jesus was more than just members of our families or even our church families. For Jesus, it was the man who was robbed and left for dead until the good Samaritan rescued him. For Jesus, it was the tax man who climbed the tree to see Him better, or the woman caught in the act of adultery. For Jesus,
another
was Pilate, who refused to release Him, the thief who hung next to Him on a cross, and the religious leaders who worked against His purposes.
Another
represents the people for whom He would die.

There can be no greater love in our hearts than our love for God. Anything we love above Him is idolatry. Yet our love for God, displayed through passionate worship, adds fuel and definition to our love for people. The second is enhanced by the first.

I remember a conversation with a young man from Sweden who loved his girlfriend very much. He was afraid to surrender to Christ because he thought it would take away from his ability to love her. Besides the obvious issue of putting her before God, he was missing the wonderful reality of how loving God first would affect the rest of his life. For me, I am actually capable of loving my wife more than I would be if she were number one. That is another one of those apparent contradictions of living in God’s Kingdom. In the same way that we live by dying, or that we are exalted by humbling ourselves, so I love my wife more by loving God first.

This concept is also true as it pertains to evangelism. Loving God first, best and most passionately releases us to love people more authentically and more effectively. Evangelism then becomes fueled by our love for God.

When Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up (see Isaiah 6), we read about the overwhelming sense of God’s presence one would expect. But the part that moves me most is Isaiah’s response.

God asked, “Whom shall I send?”

Isaiah said, “Send me!”

Anyone who truly worships God sees God’s heart. And anyone who truly sees God’s heart will have a similar response to that of this great prophet. “Send me!” This means that evangelism, being sent by God into the harvest fields, is never better than when it comes from the heart of the worshiper who has actually seen the heart of God in worship.

Prayer

My Father and my God, I love You. I love to worship You and give You honor. You are worthy of all glory, honor and praise. This is my delight. My passion is to touch Your heart in a way that glorifies You. But please help me never to become complacent in my affections for You at the expense of those who have not yet been brought in the family. Strengthen my zeal for worship in a way that affects my passion for the lost. I pray these things that the name of Jesus might be held in highest honor.

Confession

I was born to worship. Everything about me is an expression of God’s design enabling me to worship well. He has equipped me to serve and minister to Him effectively. I embrace this as a privileged lifestyle that God might be glorified, both in my worship, and through the people who are drawn to Him through my love.