Get Your Head in the Clouds

"Pursue the things over which Christ presides... Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that's where the action is. See things from His perspective." — Colossians 3:1-2, Message

We never have to worry that becoming a person who seeks things and sets our minds on things that are Above rather than focusing on the things and issues of this world will somehow render us, as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, “so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.” In fact, in the upside-down economy of the Kingdom of God, it's good to know that the very opposite is reality…

Jesus, when He was ready and willing to heal a deaf and dumb man, first looked up to heaven “and said, ‘Ephphata,’ which means, ‘Be opened!’ Instantly, the man could hear perfectly, and his tongue was freed so he could speak plainly!”—Mark 7:33-35

Jesus, when He was ready and willing to speak life into his dead friend Lazarus, and as a foreshadowing of His own destiny (and ours), “looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, thank You for hearing me.’”—John 11:39-44

Jesus, when He was ready and willing to obey the ultimate calling on His life simply out of a Love relationship with the Father, “looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you.”—John 17:1-5

The next time someone—especially the accuser's voice in your own head—tells you to “get your head out of the clouds,” put it right back in. Because, as Jesus modeled, it is Above where perfect power, goodness, friendship, and life have their headquarters, and when we fix our hopes there and get our perspective from there rather than the tangled mess that's right in front of us, all things are possible.

Becoming heavenly minded has nothing to do with covering our ears and looking the other way but is instead all about knowing and activating what it really means to pray “on earth as it is in heaven” into the people and situations of our lives, and to simply be ready and willing, knowing that the One who has gone before us will be coming back soon and is cheering us on until that day:
 

"You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed you—I have planted you—that you might go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit may be lasting, that it may remain, abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name as presenting all that I Am, He may give it to you." (John 15:16)

  

“We can do nothing else but watch and wait, which means enthusiastically, totally taken up, deaf toward everyone and [and everything] who would make us confused with doubts, blind to every fore that comes between us and that future of [and with] God. Only one thing is of importance to us: We want to see God; we want to hear God; we want to receive God; we want to know God; we want to serve God. We want inconceivably nothing else, in any case, nothing like we want God"—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

[photo:vagabondish.com]

The resurrection is not an isolated supernatural oddity proving how powerful, if apparently arbitrary, God can be when he wants to. Nor is it at all a way of showing that there is indeed a heaven awaiting us after death. It is the decisive event demonstrating that God’s kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven.
Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/710926

The resurrection is not an isolated supernatural oddity proving how powerful, if apparently arbitrary, God can be when he wants to. Nor is it at all a way of showing that there is indeed a heaven awaiting us after death. It is the decisive event demonstrating that God’s kingdom really has been launched on earth as it is in heaven.
Read more at: http://www.azquotes.com/quote/710926

 

On the Way Out the Door...

"Let your heart overflow with praise, for He is good: His faithful love endures forever" —Psalm 136:1, The Voice

It may be true that God liked the antiphonal response to the worship leader's cry so much that He hit the repeat button 26 times in this psalm just so that the point would be driven home to our often weak, doubting, exhausted hearts. After about the fourth or fifth response, though, it's tempting to say "OK, I get it already," and move on. And, also still feeling pretty much the same as you did before you started reading.

To which God might reply:

“If you want to really 'get it already,' hang out with Me for a second here. Forget about the fact that I liked to hit the repeat button 26 times and just soak on that opening phrase. Go ahead. You will find Me in those words, because I wasn’t kidding when I said ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.’ Take it all in, word by word.”

And as you do, even while looking at the clock and realizing that you really should be getting out the door soon, the conversation continues, as a son to his Father and a Father to His child…

“Well to be honest, this seems pretty redundant here; what am I missing?”

“OK, check out that fourth word. Endures. I want you to know without a shadow of a doubt that 'endures' doesn’t mean what you think it means at all. I am not reluctantly, sighing-ly putting up with your imperfect walk. I love cheering you on, 24/7! And when I say My Love endures to you, it means that, no matter how many times or how badly you trip up, or how lousy any particular day may be going for you, the power quality of that Love that is beyond your wildest dreams continues to exist in its same high octane goodness without wavering. Ever.

“Look, I know you’ve got to get on the road to work, but I want you to know one more thing that will be fuel for your day: One of the reasons I hit that repeat button 26 times is because there are no pages, no books, no libraries big enough that can contain the definitions of enduring Love I have for you. For starters: My Love never quits. My love alone is never fleeting and is always faithful, always loyal. My lovingkindness toward you is an endless supply of graciousness, mercy, and compassion, if you will just open your hand and receive it. Most of all, My Love is in My Son, who I gave for you so we could be talking like this. And not only that, My enduring Love toward you breaks through every cloudy day, screaming headline, and whispered joy-sucking accusation. ‘God is Love’ is who I Am, and there is nothing syrupy or boring or redundant about any of that. There is a reason that everyone seems to be singing that song lately about My goodness.

"Speaking of that, just one more thing: Don’t let the words stay on the page. The real power behind Me hitting that repeat button 26 times is not so much in the repetition itself, but in the declaration that will come from your heart and lips. Go ahead, do it. Crank up your iTunes in the car, and turn up the bass to the max. Let it out. It will change your perspective on a lot of things today, change your misconceptions about Me, and it will change you. Here, try this one on as you're heading out the door…

"O God, my heart is steadfast, in the confidence of faith; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises, even with all the faculties and powers of one created in Your image… For Your mercy and lovingkindness are great and high as the heavens. Your truth and faithfulness reach to the skies!”—Psalm 108:1, 4 Amplified

"Worship is forgetting about what's wrong with you and remembering what's right with God."--Mark Batterson

Seasoning with Royalty

“In a nutshell, the Bible from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 tells the story of a God reckless with desire to get his family back.”—Philip Yancey, “The Jesus I Never Knew”

 

While others crossed to the other side of the street, Jesus walked up to the tax collector’s booth and, in spite of its symbol of oppression and dishonesty, He looked into the eyes of a guy named Matt, loved him, invited him on an adventure he couldn’t have ever imagined or would live to regret, and even hung out with him and his ungodly friends for dinner.

The letters to the churches in the New Testament say a lot about having nothing to do with certain kinds of people and situations, but almost all of those are in the context of so-called fellow believers who are not living like they were rescued from the pits of hell or invited to live out the most practical, fantastic, holy romance with the God of the universe.

It is because God wants us to step into our identity as royalty, His sons and daughters, and to step away from distractions and things that would taint our faith so we can carry on the family heritage of being salt and light wherever our day takes us. Not merely in the comfy confines of our circle of church friends, but in the Master’s footsteps, out there at the tax collector’s booths of the world. The mission field, after all, isn’t just overseas. It’s also right there on Main Street.

And it can start with some pretty simple but underutilized things:

• Instead of crossing to the other side of the street, showing courtesy, patience, and a smile to the person at the checkout who may be stressed about a lot of things and just grateful to have a job to help make ends meet.

• Being unafraid to buy a high-octane coffee known by a sketchy-sounding name and quietly praying blessing on the person who poured it.

• Tipping, and doing so extravagantly.

• Saying thank you more often.

• Seeing the shocked and amazed expression when you add, “Have a great morning.”

In fact, Lord, help us to be a lot more like these guys: [CLICK ME.]

No, this is not the "four spiritual laws," but it does look a lot like the first step of how Jesus approached a guy named Matt. And much more than just being nice, cultivating the practice of putting prayer behind it all can be the supernatural spark that one day, even today, prompts someone we may never see again to hear, to receive, to accept an invitation to an adventure they couldn’t have ever imagined or would live to regret.

"Follow God’s example in everything you do just as a much loved child imitates his father. Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins. And God was pleased, for Christ’s love for you was like sweet perfume to him." — Ephesians 5:1-2, Living