Beloved Musings

Check out this week’s short teaching on holiness; a foundational principle in God’s kingdom that will take your journey with Jesus to a deeper level.

Your past does not define your future. Your past mistakes do not dictate how God can and will use you. All it takes is a willing heart and he will realign your purpose. We often get caught in this mindset that God can’t use us because we have done so many wrong things but if that was the case then the purpose of Jesus’ death would be greatly limited. Paul is easily the best example of this. He was at worst a murderer and at best a violent representative of the High Priest. And yet one day God shifts his direction. I find it interesting that the story doesn’t show Paul as this guy on a pursuit of Jesus but just one encounter changed his focus. And Paul went on to pen almost half of the New Testament! From murderer to God’s mouthpiece. That’s a dramatic difference. Jesus didn’t die to make you worthy, he died because you were already worthy of the sacrifice. Don’t ever let your past mistakes lessen the value of his sacrifice and don’t ever live from a perspective that all you can do is barely slide into heaven. All of heaven is behind us in the instant that we commit our lives to Jesus. His love is too great to put limits on what he will do for us. There are no limitations so know that you are worthy of the sacrifice, worthy to be used for great things, and worthy to pull heaven to earth everywhere you go.

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John 15 is my favorite chapter of the Bible. I find Jesus’ discussion about the vine and the branches so fascinating because he gives us this key to success by telling us to stay connected to him. It’s such a vital piece of understanding how to live a supernatural lifestyle; we can do nothing without him. A few days ago I was reading verses 7-8 when I realized something new. It says “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit…” The first part is already intriguing because Jesus tells us that if we stay connected we can ask for anything and it will be done. The possibilities are endless. Praying for the sick, praying for your family, praying for finances, praying for anything and expecting it to be done because of this intimate connection. But the fruit piece is a little confusing and doesn’t seem to fit and the receiving piece is also a little confusing because we have all had times when we asked for something and didn’t receive it (or are still waiting for it). But if we go back a few verses to what Jesus said in verse 2 it helps us to see this statement in context. Verse 2 says “…every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” If we are fruitful we are guaranteed to go through a pruning process so that the fruit will increase. And, when we ask the Father for something he takes us through this pruning process so that we will be able to carry what he gives us. It seems that God invites us to ask for what we need so that it creates the opportunity for him to reshape something in our lives. Of course the frustrating part in all of this is that the pruning process is different for everyone so we rarely know when the things we ask for will be released. But there is joy in the journey so we just have to remember that the process gets us to the place where we can bear more fruit and see more people blessed.

@genelloyd
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I don’t know who first came up with this phrase but I’m going to borrow it: Intimacy, “in to me see.” God has extended an invitation for us to peer into his heart and see what he is all about. We have the opportunity to draw close to the one who spoke everything into existence and the privilege to partner with him in establishing his kingdom on the earth. “Your kingdom come” is not just a catch phrase. It is a cry for the kingdom of God to supplant everything else. Because when his kingdom comes everything changes for the better. Haggai 2:7 tells us that Jesus is the desire of the nations. This is true even if the nations don’t overtly realize it because, as Bill Johnson likes to say, “everybody wants a king like Jesus.” But it all starts with a passionate pursuit of the one who has invited us into an amazing relationship. It all begins with an intentional desire to know him. He wants us to see what he is doing, hear what he is saying, and reflect both of those in our daily lives. Jesus only did what he saw the Father doing and only spoke what he heard the Father speaking. He lived each day from a place of intimacy with the Father. It wasn’t an afterthought. It was an intentional lifestyle. When we live our lives from this place of intimacy it changes our perspective on everything. We teach because we love. We write because we love. We pray because we love. Everything goes back to love. When you are in love with someone you want to tell everyone you know about that person. We tell others about Jesus because of our love for him. So ask God to let you peer into his heart and then go reflect what you see to everyone you meet.

@genelloyd
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What would you do if you were hungry and you had to search for something to eat? How much energy would you put into pursuing what you needed? I recently read something from Rolland Baker that provides some really good insight on this:

“The hungriest people will always push and shove their way to the front of the line to receive the bread. There’s no “Well, if we get it, we get it; if we don’t, we don’t.” Sometimes the Church is like that. “Whatever God wants to do is okay with me,” we say. “I’m here if He wants to show up.” Yet, something about the person with an all-consuming desperation for Jesus touches his heart.”

There’s a tenacity that comes with hunger. There’s a reality that if you don’t get fed you will die. It’s a survival instinct. Hungry people can’t sit in a soup kitchen and wait for someone to bring them food. They go and get what they need to survive. It breaks my heart to see so many spiritually starving people who sit in a church week after week without actually pursuing what they need. Passively sitting, waiting for God to come to you might work. But pursuing him with all you have, giving up anything that gets in the way, and going any distance to find him is a guarantee that you will be fed. Jeremiah 29:13 says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” There’s nothing passive about that statement. I often find myself asking God to give others more hunger. I want to see people passionately pursue God with everything they have because I know that level of passion will change the world.

@genelloyd
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So many of the physical miracles in the Bible deal with big diseases like leprosy, blindness, deafness, or being crippled and it’s really easy to think that more simple sicknesses are not miracle worthy. I remember offering prayer to a guy once who refused because he didn’t want God to waste any time or power on his relatively minor problem and that He should instead focus on bigger issues. It’s pretty easy to fall into that way of thinking; it’s easy to say “it’s just a cold, it will go away by itself in a few days.” Or “the doctor can take care of it so I don’t need God to intervene.” I love modern medicine but why would we ever take this perspective? When Jesus went to Peter’s house He healed his mother in law of a fever. He didn’t say, “it’s just a fever, it will be gone by tomorrow.” His perspective is different and His compassion is unreserved. And it’s the same in any other part of life. There really is nothing too small or too big that God can’t handle and there is nothing we need that he doesn’t care about. Jesus gave this great example about how God feeds the birds and clothes the flowers; if He cares about flowers, then he definitely cares about every need of every person on the planet. So no matter what you are in need of, God is ready to help. And when you encounter someone else with a need you can confidently declare His goodness because when we minister out of love it doesn’t matter what the problem is; there should never be a time where we pass up an opportunity to reveal God’s goodness even in the midst of the simplest of problems.

I’ve been writing a lot about love and intimacy lately. There is this passion within me to see the love of God pour through every believer because without love all ministry is pointless. 1 Corinthians 13 paints this picture of how prophecy, tongues, faith, etc. are all worthless when love is not the core element within each. It’s so true. I have seen people minister from pride; their words were amazing but their heart was in the wrong place. I have also seen people minister from love and the difference is night and day. Love is the key. Love always has to be the key. But there is another side to this story. Without love the gifts of the Spirit are pointless. But love without power is also pointless. I feel like we can flip this chapter around and say that love without power is nothing more than good intentions. I can love someone. I can teach them great Christian principles. But if I do not have the power to actually set them free from the addictions they are fighting, bring them deliverance from the demons that haunt them, or release joy and peace into their lives then I am still just making noise. People need to know true freedom and we aren’t doing a good enough job. Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the power came. What if we told all the believers to do the same. What if every believer was a passionate lover of God, loved every other person with God’s love, AND operated in the gifts of the Spirit? That would really change the landscape of the church. Power without love is pointless. Love without power is also pointless. There has to be a combination of the two to see people set completely free.

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Understanding God might seem tough especially when we look at the world around us and try to make sense of why he allows all the craziness we see on a regular basis. But once we get a feel for his nature it makes it a lot easier to realize that he is actively working to get us where he needs us to be. God’s early interaction with creation gives us some great insight into that nature; one of his first actions after creating mankind was to bless us. His relationship with Adam started with a blessing and an invitation to co-create with him by naming all the animals. God shows us right from the beginning that it is his nature to hang out with us, give us opportunities to help him, and to lavish his love on us. The problem is that we allow our perspective of God to be skewed by life’s situations and then start to wonder if he cares or if he is even listening. Throughout the Old Testament we see Israel in this constant back and forth struggle between following God or joining in on what the surrounding nations were doing. What I find so amazing about this is that God consistently responds with an invitation for the people to come back to him. Yes, there are prophecies about judgment but that judgment was only released because the nation ignored the invitation. Many of the bible’s prophetic books include God’s desire for the people to reconcile with him and have the added bonus of immediate restoration. His desire is to bless his creation. His nature is to see us succeed in the plans he has for us. It’s a new year so let’s start it off with the right perspective of what God thinks about all of us and toss aside any notion that doesn’t line up with his nature.

@genelloyd
www.nomorewounds.org

Did you ever stop and think about why you exist? Especially in the light of everything that is going on in the world (both good and bad), do you ever wonder if you have some type of divine purpose? So many people are going through life with no clue about their true identity. God has something very special planned for every person and right now is one of the most exciting times to be alive on earth because he is about to start using people in new and amazing ways. Ask him what you are supposed to be doing and go after it. And don’t let your experience determine your success. Passionately pursuing what God has for you is worth so much more than pursuing what others consider good experience. God made Solomon incredibly wise in an instant, and when you are pursing him, he hill deposit into your life exactly what you need to be the person he created you to be in the perfect moment that it is supposed to happen. You exist to uniquely impact the world in a way that only you can do. All of creation is waiting for you to realize your divine destiny and to step into that purpose. Can you see God stretching out his hand? Can you hear him telling you that you don’t have to worry because he has everything perfectly aligned? So what are you waiting for? Jump in!

There’s something about a good mystery that really intrigues me. I love trying to figure out the different plot lines in a movie, TV show, or book before the story comes to an end. I actually get this strange sense of achievement or victory whenever I can unravel the mystery half way through the story. Pursuing God is a lot like a good mystery. There is so much about him that we don’t understand and each new revelation takes us deeper into the reality of who he is. I love the mystery of who God is and I love pursuing him because it is in the pursuit that we get another clue to who he is and what he is doing. Each time we draw close it’s like unwrapping another layer to his identity, seeing his face from another perspective, and catching a new glimpse of his heart’s desire for us. Sometimes I just want him to tell me what is next so I can be prepared for what is coming but that also takes the surprise out of the equation. Just like a kid waiting for Christmas morning and wondering what is behind all the wrapping paper under the tree. There is a curiosity and excitement that goes with unwrapping each one of those gifts. And there is a curiosity with unwrapping each new season God has planned for us. Even as we wait for revelation, breakthrough, or for the waiting to be over, it’s important to enjoy the thrill of the mystery because knowing what’s coming isn’t nearly as exciting as having it all revealed in the moment. Enjoy the thrill, enjoy the moment, enjoy the pursuit.

@genelloyd
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