Sometimes, we can get stuck in a rut where our motions run through autopilot cycles.
In that limitless moment of the mundane we can forget: forget where we've been, where we are going, where we are.
We forget who we are and why we are in this moment in the first place.
And I'm asking for us to wake up. Don't let the ordinary, the run of the mill lull us asleep.
We need to be aware and awake especially now. The enemy walks around with the intent to devour us; he is on the hunt to destroy us. Imagine his glee to find us blind, deaf and mute to everything around us. What easy prey we have made ourselves to be.
Wake up and realize that we are made for more.
Wake up and remember that we are citizens of a kingdom not of this world.
Wake up and recognize the mandate that God placed inside us.
God made us His image-bearers. We are the world's conduits of God, direct staircases into His presence and vessels of His goodness.
When we pour out, Heaven becomes a reality here on earth.
Change won't come unless we do. The culture will not change unless we change.
Wake up and fix your eyes on heaven. Change won't come if we stare at what's around us; it only comes when we are connected to the original intent found in Jesus and walk, stumble- hey, if crawling is all that's manageable, then crawl- through it in our here and now.
Walk through heaven here on earth.
Heaven is not a far-off concept. Eternity is closer than the air we breathe in. God didn't create us to twiddle our fingers and dwindle our time. A God-sized calling is on our lives. We need to get active with the power that's already activated within us.
With God, we are able!
But first we have to turn our minds onto the things above. We have to meditate on the reality we want to usher in.
Because we cannot be a sign of something we aren't first immersed in.
Despite our best intentions, we cannot lead people where we have yet to enter.
We cannot reflect what we don't first behold.
Fortunately, God has given us a way to take in His glory: His Son, Jesus. If we lock our eyes on Him and think about all He has done and all He will do, then His courage, His goodness, His love will flow out of us.
Before we can do, we have to be and before we can be, we have to think.
Heaven is not a far-off concept. Eternity is closer than the air we breathe in. God didn't create us to twiddle our fingers and dwindle our time. A God-sized calling is on our lives. We need to get active with the power that's already activated within us.
With God, we are able!
But first we have to turn our minds onto the things above. We have to meditate on the reality we want to usher in.
Because we cannot be a sign of something we aren't first immersed in.
Despite our best intentions, we cannot lead people where we have yet to enter.
We cannot reflect what we don't first behold.
Fortunately, God has given us a way to take in His glory: His Son, Jesus. If we lock our eyes on Him and think about all He has done and all He will do, then His courage, His goodness, His love will flow out of us.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:8-9
Before we can do, we have to be and before we can be, we have to think.
Effective change happens within. It starts with us first and only then will we be agents of sustainable change.
We need to start with our thinking, start with what's going on between our ears. So meditate. Don't be passive with the thoughts and words running through your mind. Capture every thought and place it against His truth. Can it stand? Does it hold up? If not, throw it out and replace it with God's word.
And feast on His word. Fill yourself with the wisdom within the pages of the bible so that you can recognize when something is not right. God has equipped us with tools to empower us. Let's jump into the Word and see what He says.
The following is what happens when you're aware of what's being said. When you actively listen, His truth comes in and teaches you, leads you, reminds you and fills you up again.
But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. David said about Him:
I saw the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
Acts 2:24-25
It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus. The grave was borrowed.
Underground, the enemy celebrated, thinking that he won. But Joseph's tomb was a loan.
And three days later, He rose from the dead, making a spectacle of those who triumphed in darkness.
Jesus is ALIVE!
♬The veil tore before You♬
While He died our death on the cross, miles away, inside the city's gates, inside the temple, the curtain that hung between us and the presence of the Holy of Holies tore from the top to the bottom.
When Jesus uttered "It is finished," those words, along with His blood, ushered in a new covenant, a new era. There was no longer a chasm between God and those who bore His image. No!
Jesus became the bridge that brought together man and God once again. Forever!
He did what we could never do after centuries of behavior control.
He made us home to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He made us clean; Jesus cleansed us and paved the way to God's throne.
...since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:19-22
♬You silenced the boast of sin and grave♬
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:55-57
Sin separates us from the presence of God. The minute our predecessors in Eden took a bite of the forbidden fruit, we couldn't approach God. To have a relationship, to be connected with Him was difficult.
But the blood soaked cross swallowed the consequence of sin. Jesus took on our penalty and broke us free from everything that could ever separate us from heaven. Everything.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39
♬The heavens are roaring
With praise of Your glory
For You are raised to life again♬
♬You have no rival
You have no equal
Now and forever God You reign♬
♬Yours is the kingdom
Yours is the glory
Yours is the name above all names♬
Acts 4:12 is one of my favorite verses. It encapsulates the Good News and its radical power.
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."
The great divide is healed and sealed in the personhood of Jesus. Once we accept Christ into our hearts and confess with our lips that He is Savior and Lord, salvation is a guarantee: we can't be separated from God's presence any longer. Jesus has paid the price; He gave up His own life to redeem us from the curse of sin and death. And with His sacrifice, God has subjected everything in heaven and on (and under) earth under His authority.
Nothing, not one circumstance, can uproot and steal His power.
There is not one district outside of His jurisdiction.
When Jesus speaks peace, chaos has to leave.
When Jesus speaks light, darkness disappears.
When Jesus speaks healing, diseases have to flee.
"...at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2:10-11
♬What a powerful name it is♬
The Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead finds it's home in you.
With Jesus, you can do anything.
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