Mysteries of God

"To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God..."
(Luke 8:10 NASB)

Jesus: Believe & See
Holy Spirit: Listen
The Bible: Read it!

That's all I got to day about that.

Reconciliation

"The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes."
(1 John 2:9-11 NASB)

Even the slightest lingerings of bitterness held toward one another is the root to such as hatred; not only toward each other but to God Himself.

Be reconciled to one another.
Be reconciled to God.

Restoration

God has been pouring out His Spirit among many recently; through meetings, conferences, private counseling, home fellowships, even one on one with Himself; bringing healing, deliverance, renewal; all in very different ways, but with one purpose. RESTORATION.

"...and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:15-20 NASB)

We are in an amazing season right now in that God is breathing reconciliation across the land.
1. Where there has been division among brethren, even for years, there is now reconciliation.
In and from all directions, God is suddenly bringing healing & restoration among the estranged and brokenhearted.

2. God is bringing home His prodigals.
Everywhere I turn, the Lord brings me someone who has walked away from the faith, but who's heart is turning toward home!

What is revival?
"revive" - return to consciousness; give new life or energy to; restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state; be brought back to life, consciousness, or strength

While its effect, historically, has been to completely change the face of a town or city through the salvation of many, etc. revival in essence is the church RETURNING to its origin, therefore bringing light into a darkened place.

If therefore God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, His call then to the church right now is RESTORATION!
Be reconciled with one another and go out and bring home the prodigals!

Pruning

"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 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, and so prove to be My disciples. (John 15:1-8 NASB)

There is a difference between being pruned & cut off.
Those that ARE bearing fruit are yet still pruned.
Some of us may feel "over pruned", but it is only to bear more fruit. One that only bears a little fruit may receive some pruning, but if it then stops bearing fruit because of it, it becomes useless & then cut off.

Those who truly abide in Him will welcome pruning, knowing that it leads to more fruit.
"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4 NASB)

Those not abiding in Him, but merely in the garden, may resent their pruning and therefore dry up.

abide - dwell
dwell - inhabit or live in; exist or be situated within

Abiding in Him is not merely doing religious activities, going to church, praying, reading your bible or going to classes... It's a complete heart & mind shift that removes the striving and replaces it with peace.

peaceful - not disturbed by strife or turmoil or war

We were never promised a life without turmoil, but one of peace within it.

Welcome the pruning. Abide, do not resist. Because in your pruning, you will bear much fruit & with much fruit comes more seed, and with more seed...

He IS Good

Discouragement, confusion, fear... These things are obviously not associated with the Holy Spirit.
Why then, if we're walking daily with the Lord, faithful in seeking Him, not changing our "routine", do we find ourselves lacking or dry?
For one, personally, I find that I'm still more wrapped up in the flesh than I thought I was; that I rely, still, on seeing and feeling rather than believing.
Why? Why, after seeing so much of God at work, do we find ourselves in this position?
Well we can at least take heart in knowing that even the disciples went through this...

"Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, "Where is your faith?" They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?" (Luke 8:22-25 NASB)

This was right after, in the previous chapter, that Jesus healed a man from a distance just by a word & raising a young man from the dead...
Why were they still so fearful of the storm? Because they relied on the person, Jesus, to come do something! But His response wasn't "why are you so worried? I'm right here. I would've gotten around to it!" No, in fact it was "WHERE is your faith?" Well, where was it? Wrapped up in the man, Jesus, rather in God.
We forget that while Jesus walked the earth, He was fully man. Yes He was the Son of God, but that's just it. He was not walking the earth as God, but as a fleshly man who fully relied on His Father, not Himself (let alone another man.) He spent His whole time here pointing to the Father! "Don't look at me, look at My Father!"
So where was their faith? It was NOT in God, but the man, Jesus.

We now, in some ways have it harder because we don't have the man, Jesus, to point us to the Father... We do have some men we can look to, who can seem as if we're watching Jesus, but they're merely men as well, following their Father. But we do have the Holy Spirit...
Does that mean we should be on a 24/7 spiritual high? "Heck yesss!" ...actually, no.

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18 NASB)

We're BEING transformed... And from glory to glory. It's a process of trusting even when the fleshly responses set in.
When the Glory comes, take it in...ALL of it. And in the in-between-time, rest in that. Remember it. Muse on it. Because there will soon be another Glory.
He (not the man, but GOD) will calm the storm if you ask. And then at some point, YOU will calm the storm, because we will have been transformed into His image.

Let today, whether you're on a high or a low, be fully the Lord's. Regardless of your situation, He is God and He is GOOD.

Gospel = Love

The power of the gospel is wrapped in love. It cannot be delivered apart from it.
This is why our relationship with one another is key.

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34, 35 NASB)

How did Christ love us "...while we were yet sinners, He died for us." Though we were deserving of eternal separation, he not only found a way for reconciliation, He laid down His own life to bridge that gap.

How many of us will go to those lengths, not just to save a life, but to bring reconciliation?

If we want to see the church become a light again and the world reconciled to it's Heavenly Father, we must seek reconciliation with each other.

Remember Where You Came From

Step 1 of Evangelism:
Remember where you came from

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:4-9 NASB)

One of the main reasons we're not compelled to reach out to others is that we're comfortable in our "new skin" and find ourselves either looking down on those still under deception or we simply look away.
In time we're boastful and "thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to," setting ourselves up to be brought low.

But God is gracious in that though it pains Him to watch us walk in the pride of "our own accomplishments," He is yet patient and kind. He will speak to our hearts about compassion and wait for a response. He will set opportunities before us to compel us and sit patiently by as we see...and walk by on the other side of the road. He may even so much as pour out His Spirit, capturing our hearts, as if audibly sharing wonderful deep truths of His grace and mercy over our own lives, only to watch it fade into the cold as we walk out the door.

But even a God as gracious as this will lovingly discipline His children in order to train us up in the way we should go...

"Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner."
And Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he replied, "Say it, Teacher."
"A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both.
So which of them will love him more?" Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more."
And He said to him, "You have judged correctly."

For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." (Luke 7:36-43,47 NASB)

Much better to humble yourself than to be humbled (let alone suffer public humiliation.)

Even Jesus' rebuke was done with loving intentions to open Simon's eyes. He didn't slap him on the wrist & say "forget it. You'll never get it..." Instead His hope still was to change his heart.

Remember where you came from.